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.

Farewell to Ground Zero

Jonathan Schell, who lives in downtown New York City, began writing his “Letter from Ground Zero” column – still unnamed – almost before the white dust storm of 9/11 had settled. The first of what would become almost four-and-a-half years of such columns – piercing, questioning, thoughtful – appeared the next week in The Nation … Continue reading “Farewell to Ground Zero”

Can You Say ‘Permanent Bases’?

We’re in a new period in the war in Iraq – one that brings to mind the Nixonian era of “Vietnamization”: A president presiding over an increasingly unpopular war that won’t end; an election bearing down; the need to placate a restive American public; and an army under so much strain that it seems to … Continue reading “Can You Say ‘Permanent Bases’?”

The Bureaucracy Strikes Back

In the first installment of this series, I offered 42 names to begin what now seems an endless – and ever growing – list of top officials as well as beleaguered administrators, managers, and career civil servants who quit their government posts in protest or were ridiculed, defamed, threatened, fired, forced out, demoted, or driven … Continue reading “The Bureaucracy Strikes Back”

How Not to Ban Torture in Congress

Alfred McCoy, an expert on the CIA and its history of torture, has some actual news – the sort that’s been sitting unnoticed right in front of our collective, reportorial eyes. Last year’s clash between John McCain and the Bush administration over the senator’s successful attempt to attach a ban on torture and other abusive … Continue reading “How Not to Ban Torture in Congress”

When Two Worlds Collide

The president passed through his State of the Union address – ill-digested chunks of so many other speeches he’s given (“We’re writing a new chapter in the story of self-government – with women lining up to vote in Afghanistan, and millions of Iraqis marking their liberty with purple ink…") – largely untouched by the media. … Continue reading “When Two Worlds Collide”

Spying, Lying, and Saying No

On the day that Ayman al-Zawahiri appeared in his nine thousandth video from – assumedly – the remarkably technologized wilds of the Afghan-Pakistan border region, mocking President Bush for a botched Predator-drone missile attempt on his life, another article caught my eye. In a piece in the Los Angeles Times, headlined “CIA Expands Use of … Continue reading “Spying, Lying, and Saying No”

‘Maybe They Just Need to Have Their Civil War’

Here are a few headlines from stories you probably didn’t even see this week (and they could be multiplied numerous times over): “Another day of bloodshed in Iraq“ “Senior Sunni official killed in Iraq“ “U.S. Private Contractors leaving Iraq“ “Three Civilians, Seven GIs Killed in Iraq“ “Twelve U.S. servicemembers killed in Iraq since Friday” These … Continue reading “‘Maybe They Just Need to Have Their Civil War’”

The Devastation We Inflict

Vietnam was, for the United States, the war that never ended. Administration after administration has tried, with remarkable lack of success, to wipe it from memory or turn it, at least, into a curable medical condition (“the Vietnam syndrome”). After that war, a shattered military based on a national draft was rebuilt as an all-volunteer … Continue reading “The Devastation We Inflict”

Our Indian Wars Are Not Over Yet

In the 1940s and 1950s, when the generation of men now ruling over us were growing up, boys could disappear into a form of war play – barely noticed by adults and hardly recorded anywhere – that was already perhaps a couple of hundred years old. In this kind of play, there was no need … Continue reading “Our Indian Wars Are Not Over Yet”

Does the President Really Know Best?

In every way they could imagine – unnoticed in broad daylight and in the darkness of eternal secrecy – the president and his top officials have been hardest at work not at governing the country but at bulking up presidential powers. This, it now seems, was the centerpiece of an audacious lawbreaking plan – or … Continue reading “Does the President Really Know Best?”