This article originally appeared at TruthDig. “Over there, over there, / Send the word, send the word over there. / That the Yanks are coming, / the Yanks are coming … / We’ll be over, we’re coming over, / And we won’t come back till it’s over, over there.” ~ An...
Millions of American troops have spent countless holidays away from home, in Iraq, Afghanistan and various smaller wars across the region – it’s worth asking what it’s all for. The memories can be fond, some of them anyway. Patrolling in the morning with a platoon...
Originally posted at TomDispatch.I remember Chalmers Johnson once describing to me his surprise on discovering that, after the Cold War ended and the Soviet Union imploded, the whole global military structure that Washington had set up – which he later came to call...
The Saudis did 9/11. Okay, probably not their government or their intelligence services directly – though there is some controversial, if circumstantial evidence that raises serious questions – but rather their citizens (15 out of 19 hijackers) and their ideology. The...
This article originally appeared at TruthDig. The whole charade plays best as farce. Absurdity incarnate. The sight of former President George W. Bush receiving a medal from Democrat Joe Biden – once an ardent opponent of Bush’s war policy – in Philadelphia for “his...
Today, every public institution will pause and go through the motions of "thanking" America’s veterans; but the whole pretense ignores that the populace hardly cares about foreign policy. Veterans’ Day – maybe we ought to drop the whole charade. Don’t get me...
The United States military is actively fighting in seven Muslim-majority countries; and no one cares. As Americans go to the polls today in a ritual pretense of democracy, they will vote for one of the two major political parties on issues ranging from healthcare to...
We aren't miracle workers. We’re just soldiers after all – kids barely out of their teens and officers in their mid-20s do most of the fighting. Still, policymakers in Washington, and citizens on Main Street both seem convinced that the mere presence of a few hundred...
This article originally appeared at TruthDig. It’s time to ask an uncomfortable question: What exactly is the U.S. getting out of its partnership with Saudi Arabia? The answer is: nothing but headaches, human rights abuses and national embarrassment. In the cynical...
This week, the Taliban ambushed the latest senior U.S. commander in Afghanistan – General Miller. Though he was unhurt, senior Afghan officials were killed. I knew one of them – General Raziq – and he might just have been a war criminal…that’s instructive. by Danny...
