Brett Wilkins

In the pre-dawn darkness of Monday, August 10, 1970, Dan Mitrione’s bullet-ridden body was discovered in the back seat of a stolen Buick convertible in a quiet residential neighborhood of Montevideo, the Uruguayan capital. He had just turned 50, and he had recently started a new dream job, although it was thousands of miles from … Continue reading “Teaching Torture: The Death and Legacy of Dan Mitrione”

Seventy-five years ago, the United States waged the only nuclear war in history. Among the truths held self-evident by millions of Americans is the notion that the atomic destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki saved lives, both American and Japanese. The choice, Americans are told starting as school children and throughout their lives by largely uncritical … Continue reading “Nuclear War or Invasion: The False Dichotomy of Hiroshima and Nagasaki”

The US military’s Africa Command (AFRICOM) is denying local media reports that three children were killed in an air strike targeting al-Shabaab militants in southern Somalia last Wednesday. Local media and AFRICOM report that the US carried out an air strike near the town of Jilib in Middle Jubba province on July 29. According to … Continue reading “AFRICOM Denies Reports of 3 Somali Children Killed in US Strike”

Last week, an Afghan government air strike targeting Taliban militants in western Herat province killed 45 people, including civilians. In an unprecedented move, the United States condemned the strike and called for an investigation. It was an act of breathtaking hypocrisy from a nation whose bombs have killed thousands of Afghan men, women and children, … Continue reading “The Breathtaking Hypocrisy of the US Condemning an Afghan Air Strike”

For nearly three days in late July 1950, US Army and Air Force troops bombed, strafed, shelled and shot hundreds of Korean men, women and children to death at and around a bridge in the hamlet of No Gun RI For nearly half a century, the US military denied any such massacre had occurred, although … Continue reading “Massacre at No Gun Ri”

Australian media are reporting new war crimes committed by Special Air Services (SAS) troops in Afghanistan, including the mass murder of unarmed civilians and planting weapons on the bodies of civilians to cover up unlawful killings. The new revelations come weeks after Australia’s special forces chief admitted that SAS soldiers committed war crimes in Afghanistan, … Continue reading “New SAS War Crimes Revealed as Australia Braces for Report”

A prominent Canadian human rights lawyer has submitted a request to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate senior US and Israeli officials for alleged war crimes committed against the Palestinian people. William Schabas, a professor of international law at Middlesex University in London, filed a lengthy Article 15 communication with the ICC’s Office of … Continue reading “New ICC Complaint Filed Over US-Israel War Crimes in Palestine”

For a brief moment in the summer of 1945 there was joy in Korea. Koreans, who had suffered tremendously during half a century of brutal Japanese occupation and World War II, celebrated what they believed was their liberation by victorious US and Soviet forces. Full of hope for a future free of foreign rule, they … Continue reading “The Korean War and US ‘Total Destruction’ Began 70 Years Ago”

The United States plans to reinterpret a decades-old arms control agreement so that US weapons companies can sell more unmanned aerial drones to nations including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, whose air strikes in Yemen have killed thousands of civilians. An unnamed US government official and several arms industry executives told Reuters that … Continue reading “US to ‘Reinterpret’ Arms Pact To Sell More Drones”

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) this week introduced a bicameral bill meant to improve reporting, investigation and, ultimately, prevention of civilian casualties. On Wednesday, Khanna introduced the Protection of Civilians In Military Operations Act, which he said will "ensure that the Pentagon provides accurate data not only on civilians killed in … Continue reading “Warren and Khanna Introduce Bill To Increase Military Accountability for Civilian Casualties”