I recently was in Vietnam and spent some time in prosperous, capitalist Saigon, now called Ho Chi Minh City, and toured the American War Museum. I believe there are a number of parallels between the Vietnam and Iraq War and that history could repeat itself now in...
U.S. Marine, 286 Others Killed Across Iraq
Hollow Justice and Courts of Order in an Age of Government-Sanctioned Tyranny
By John W. Whitehead “The Constitution is not neutral. It was designed to take the government off the backs of the people.” – Justice William O. Douglas Justice in America makes less sense with each passing day. A Michigan couple that has been raising...
American Exceptionalism and Its Discontents
Originally posted at TomDispatch. We’re now passing through a no-name election season of a particularly lusterless sort, but don’t count on that for 2016. Here, in fact, is a surefire prediction for that moment, which (given the nature of modern...
A Note From the Recovery Room
I underwent surgery on Wednesday, and will be needing some recovery time. I'm not sure how much time I'll need at this point, so suffice to say here that there will be no Friday column, and perhaps no Monday column either. I very much regret missing two whole columns...
Citizenfour’s Escape to Freedom in Russia
In early September in Russia, National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden told me about a documentary entitled Citizenfour, named after the alias he used when he asked filmmaker Laura Poitras to help him warn Americans about how deeply the NSA had carved...
Another Town Falls to ISIS; 114 Killed Across Iraq
The Drug War Doesn’t Work Abroad Either
As an October 20 piece in Stars and Stripes reminds us, the U.S. has been fighting a second war in Afghanistan without much success – that would be the one against poppy production. Poppies are the flower from which opium is derived, so the U.S. campaign against their...
Resisting US Bases in Okinawa
They come in kayaks and canoes to protect the bay, maintain a tent city on the beach, and hold candlelight vigils. From posters to marches, songs, and a petition expressing international solidarity, Okinawan residents have left no question about their fierce...
Don’t Ask the Pentagon Where Its Money Goes
President Barack Obama proudly signed the law that repealed the Pentagon’s