At this year’s Freedom Fest, in Rapid City, South Dakota, Scott Horton, Abby Hall Blanco, and Ayaan Hirsi Ali debated whether the wars in the Middle East post 9/11 have been justified to stop the spread of Islamic fundamentalism.
In the affirmative was Ayaan Hirsi Ali, an author, and activist for NATO’s continued presence in Islamic countries in the name of protecting human rights. Hirsi Ali has worked for the American Enterprise Institute and was a fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School for Government. She has also appeared on Fox News and Prager University.
In the negative was Scott Horton, author of Fool’s Errand: Time to End the War in Afghanistan and the critically acclaimed Enough Already: Time to End the War on Terrorism, host of The Scott Horton Show and editorial director of Antiwar.com alongside Abby Hall Blanco, research fellow at the Independent Institute and associate professor of economics at Rubel School of Business and co-author of Tyranny Comes Home and the newly released Manufacturing Militarism: U.S. Government Propaganda In the War on Terror.