Tom Engelhardt

An editor in publishing for the last 25 years, Tom Engelhardt is the author of The End of Victory Culture, a history of American triumphalism in the Cold War era, now out in a revised edition with a new preface and afterword, and Mission Unaccomplished, TomDispatch Interviews With American Iconoclasts and Dissenters. He is at present consulting editor for Metropolitan Books, a fellow of the Nation Institute, and a teaching fellow at the journalism school of the University of California, Berkeley. Visit his Web site. This article originally appeared at TomDispatch.com. To stay on top of important articles like these, sign up to receive the latest updates from TomDispatch.com.

Empire v. Democracy: Why Nemesis Is at Our Door

The dream of the Bush administration – eternal global domination abroad with no other superpower or bloc of powers on the military horizon and a Republican Party dominant at home for at least a generation – long ago evaporated in Iraq. A midterm election and subsequent devastating polling figures tell the tale. The days when … Continue reading “Empire v. Democracy: Why Nemesis Is at Our Door”

The Forgotten American Dead

Rural America Pays the President’s Price in Iraq When we hear about the American dead in Iraq, we normally learn about the circumstances in which they died. Last Saturday, for instance, was, for American troops, the third bloodiest day since the Bush administration launched its invasion in March 2003 – 27 of them died. Twelve … Continue reading “The Forgotten American Dead”

The State Spies on the Union

State of the what? Let’s see, 28 percent, 31 percent, 33 percent, 35 percent. That pretty much sums up the state of the president – or, at least, of his ever more dismal approval ratings in four of the latest major polls (and don’t even mention his state of approval in similar nose-diving polls abroad). … Continue reading “The State Spies on the Union”

Over the Top in Iraq

It’s been a repetitive phenomenon of these last years – when fears about disaster (or further disaster, or even the farthest reaches of disaster) in Iraq rise, so does the specter of Vietnam. Despite the obvious dissimilarities between the two situations, Vietnam has been the shadow war we’re still fighting. The Bush administration began its … Continue reading “Over the Top in Iraq”

George Bush’s Crusading Scorecard (01-2007)

Just five days after the September 11th attacks in 2001, in a Q and A with reporters on the South Lawn of the White House, a president with a new mission, a new cause, and a new purpose in life told the American people that, though they had to “go back to work tomorrow,” they … Continue reading “George Bush’s Crusading Scorecard (01-2007)”

Bush’s Sacrificial Americans

On January 4th, the Pentagon “announced the identities” of six American soldiers who had died between December 28th and New Year’s Eve. It was just one of many such listings over these last years and, like similar announcements, this one had a just-the-facts quality to it – spare to the bone, barely more information than … Continue reading “Bush’s Sacrificial Americans”

Raptors, Robots, and Rods from God

Just this week, the Bush administration is considering making a little futuristic news. The president might soon approve “a major step forward in the building of the country’s first new nuclear warhead in nearly two decades,” the Reliable Replacement Warhead. If only names were reality… Critics are already claiming that the new “hybrid” design of … Continue reading “Raptors, Robots, and Rods from God”

Baghdad 2025: The Pentagon Solution to a Planet of Slums

In our world, the Pentagon and the national security bureaucracy have largely taken possession of the future. In an exchange in 2002, journalist Ron Suskind reported a senior adviser to President Bush telling him: “that guys like me were ‘in what we call the reality-based community,’ which he defined as people who ‘believe that solutions … Continue reading “Baghdad 2025: The Pentagon Solution to a Planet of Slums”

Doubling Down on the Imperial Mission in 2007

Okay, folks, it’s time for a year-opening sermon. And like any good sermon, this one will be based on illustrative texts, in this case from 2006, and inspirational passages plucked from them. Its goal, as in any such quest, will be to reveal a world normally hidden from us in our daily lives. Every day, … Continue reading “Doubling Down on the Imperial Mission in 2007”