[Note for TomDispatch Readers: This is the second post in a pre-Labor Day "best of TomDispatch" series. The first was Chalmers Johnson's 2005 "Smash of Civilizations." Now, we backpedal another year to 2004 and reconsider the Pentagon's ceaseless efforts to dream up...
The Future of Death
Foreign Lobbyists and the Making of US Policy
"Politics stops at the water's edge" is an old aphorism that aptly describes the history and current trend of American politics. The period marking the run-up to World War II was the last time we saw any meaningful discussion of America's role in the world....
636’s Law
Why do politicians make disastrous decisions with the consistency of iron filings obeying a magnet? Decisions that in retrospect (and frequently in prospect) seem doomed to failure? After 9/11, did it make any sense when, after coming close to the point of capturing...
Occupation by Another Name
Meron Benvenisti in an excellent article mentions the "success of the propaganda campaign known as 'negotiations with the Palestinians,' which convinces many that the status quo is temporary." There's indeed no better way to describe the ongoing talks between the...
Tuesday: 47 Iraqis Killed, 79 Wounded
Updated at 7:01 p.m. EDT, Aug. 26, 2008Diyala province continues to be the focus of violence and politics today as a large bombing killed or wounded dozens in Jalawla. Overall, at least 47 Iraqis were killed and 79 more were wounded in the latest attacks across Iraq....
The Biden Betrayal
Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama's selection of Joseph Biden as his running mate constitutes a stunning betrayal of the antiwar constituency who made possible his hard-fought victory in the Democratic primaries and caucuses. The veteran...
Outlaw Administration
[Note for TomDispatch readers: This is the first of a "best of TomDispatch" series I'll be posting in the week leading up to Labor Day, each with a new introduction by the author. Few in the United States give much thought any longer to the looting of Iraq's cultural...
Israel’s Outposts Seal Death of Palestinian State
Yehudit Genud hardly feels she is on the frontier of Israel's settlement project, although the huddle of mobile homes on a wind-swept West Bank hilltop she calls home is controversial even by Israeli standards. Despite the size and isolation of Migron, a settlement of...
Guantánamo Suicide Report:
Truth or Travesty?
Two years and two months after three prisoners at Guantánamo died, apparently as the result of a coordinated suicide pact, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS), which has been investigating the deaths ever since the long-term hunger strikers were...
The Evil Empire Revisited
In George Orwell's 1984 there is a memorable scene when the speaker from Oceania's Ministry of Truth is addressing a rally, the culmination of Hate Week against the enemy, Eurasia. He receives a message mid-sentence, then smoothly shifts gears to deliver the remainder...