It has long been called the most dangerous place in the world. Still, few Americans know anything about the place; nor could they point out the troubled region of Kashmir on a map. Yet for 62 years India and Pakistan have contested for control of the province. In...

I lost my temper. In retrospect I was out of control. Waving my pistol around like a damn cowboy and screaming at a frail old man who didn't know anything. It was New Year’s Eve 2006, just south of Baghdad, and yet another roadside bomb had just exploded near my...

This article originally appeared at TruthDig. It was big news. U.S. military forces streamed into Saudi Arabia in response to a supposedly serious threat to the kingdom’s eastern region. The American troops were invited by nervous Saudi royals; it wasn’t an...

Originally posted at TomDispatch. Recently, at a confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Mark Esper, President Trump’s nominee to be the new secretary of defense, faced questioning on all sorts of subjects, including on his past position...

It was a lonely place for me. Actively dissenting in a public forum against the wars I’d fought in and the institution to which I’d dedicated my adult life since age seventeen. It was, as I’ve often said, the atheist in the monastery syndrome. I was passionate, more...

This article originally appeared at TruthDig. Empires in decline tend to behave badly. Indeed, whether British, French or Russian, the twilight years of imperialism often brought brutal repression of subjects abroad, the suppression of civil liberties at home and...

I was just about the youngest person in the room. I usually am when I address veterans’ peace organizations. Of course, when I speak at universities, it’s the exact opposite case. Being a 35-year old post 9/11 antiwar vet can be a bit lonely, a feeling of being stuck...

It is undoubtedly my favorite part of every wedding. That awkward, but strangely forthright moment when the preacher asks the crowd for any objections to the couple’s marriage. No one ever objects, of course, but it’s still a raw, if tense, moment. I just love it. I...

Uncle Joe has never been much for apologies. Whether it was his backing of the ‘90s crime bill that helped fuel mass incarceration, or his mistreatment of Anita Hill during the Clarence Thomas hearings, Biden has been loathe to admit wrong and make amends. Thus it was...

This article originally appeared at TruthDig. “It is natural for mankind to set a higher value on courage then timidity, on activity than prudence, on strength than counsel.” ~ Montesquieu, “The Spirit of the Laws” They are undoubtedly...