Month: August 2008

[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 and build ever more effective, ever more invasive and destructive weaponry not just … Continue reading “The Future of Death
at the Pentagon”

"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. Ever since that famous victory, the interventionist consensus has been … Continue reading “Foreign Lobbyists and the Making of US Policy”

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 Osama bin Laden, the U.S. government began pulling troops, materiel, and intelligence … Continue reading “636’s Law”

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 two politicians living on borrowed time – Ehud Olmert and Mahmoud Abbas – than as … Continue reading “Occupation by Another Name”

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. Iraqi forces also withdrew from a Diyala city … Continue reading “Tuesday: 47 Iraqis Killed, 79 Wounded”

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 Delaware senator has been one the leading congressional supporters of U.S. militarization of the Middle East and Eastern Europe, … Continue reading “The Biden Betrayal”

[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 heritage, which continues to this day, … Continue reading “Outlaw Administration”

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 about 45 religious families on a ridge next to the Palestinian … Continue reading “Israel’s Outposts Seal Death of Palestinian State”

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 found dead in their cells on June 10, 2006, issued a 934-word statement on Friday that … Continue reading “Guantánamo Suicide Report:
Truth or Travesty?”

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 of his speech excoriating Eastasia. The crowd responds enthusiastically, and the narrator, … Continue reading “The Evil Empire Revisited”