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.

War Crimes as Porn

The history of war-atrocity snapshots did not start with the Abu Ghraib screensavers from hell. After all, photography itself came into being as the industrializing West was imposing its rule on much of the planet. That imposition meant wars of conquest; and such colonial wars, in turn, meant slaughter. From the moment the wooden sailing … Continue reading “War Crimes as Porn”

Turning Points and
Ebbing Tides

The press tells us that our “thrilled” president was “conservative” or “carefully guarded,” or expressed “cautious optimism” in responding to the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the smalltime thug, beheader, fomenter of Sunni/Shia civil war, and all-around violent extremist who became an American poster boy for terrorism in Iraq. Who had even heard of him … Continue reading “Turning Points and
Ebbing Tides”

The ‘Incident’ at Haditha

First news stories about the My Lai massacre (picked up from an Army publicity release), March 1968: The New York Times labeled the operation a significant success: “American troops caught a North Vietnamese force in a pincer movement on the central coastal plain yesterday, killing 128 enemy soldiers in day-long fighting.” United Press International called … Continue reading “The ‘Incident’ at Haditha”

Iran-Contra All Over Again

You never can be too early when it comes to an anniversary. It’s barely June, but a quick look down the road reminds us that the 20th anniversary of the Reagan administration’s Iran-Contra Affair lies just ahead this November. As Greg Grandin reminds us, Irangate (as it came to be known in the wake of … Continue reading “Iran-Contra All Over Again”

The Tangled Web
of American ‘Intelligence’

In recent months, among other uproars and scandals, Americans learned that the Defense Department has been collecting intelligence on and tracking domestic antiwar activists; that, since 2001, the National Security Agency (NSA) has had a presidentially authorized, law-breaking, warrantless surveillance program to listen in on the international phone calls of possibly tens of thousands of … Continue reading “The Tangled Web
of American ‘Intelligence’”

Drifting Down the
Path to Perdition

[This interview is the second of two installments. To read the first, click here.] TomDispatch: I’d like to turn to the issue of oil wars, energy wars. That seems to be what holds all this incoherent stuff together – minds focused on a world of energy flows. Recently, I reread [President Jimmy] Carter’s 1979 energy … Continue reading “Drifting Down the
Path to Perdition”

The Delusions of
Global Hegemony

I wait for him on a quiet, tree and wisteria-lined street of red-brick buildings. Students, some in short-sleeves on this still crisp spring morning, stream by. I’m seated on cold, stone steps next to a sign announcing the Boston University Department of International Relations. He turns the corner and advances, wearing a blue blazer, blue … Continue reading “The Delusions of
Global Hegemony”

How the Bush Administration Deconstructed Iraq

After five months of confusion, bickering, dickering, dithering, and strong-arm tactics from Zalmay Khalilzad, our ambassador to Iraq, and various high American officials arriving on the fly, Prime Minister-designate Nouri al-Maliki has reportedly chosen his cabinet, and a government will evidently be established in Baghdad’s Green Zone. At the moment, its reach seems unlikely to … Continue reading “How the Bush Administration Deconstructed Iraq”

Fantasies of American Preponderance

“We must perhaps reluctantly accept that we have to help this region become a normal region, the way we helped Europe and Asia in another era. Now it’s this area from Pakistan to Morocco that we should focus on. … The world has gotten smaller and is getting smaller and smaller all the time. … … Continue reading “Fantasies of American Preponderance”