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.

Military Families May Once Again Lead Us Out of War

On the April day in 2003 when American troops first entered Baghdad, historian Marilyn Young suggested that Operation Iraqi Freedom was “Vietnam on crack cocaine.” She wrote presciently at the time: “In less than two weeks, a 30-year-old vocabulary is back: credibility gap, seek and destroy, hard to tell friend from foe, civilian interference in … Continue reading “Military Families May Once Again Lead Us Out of War”

George’s Lucky ‘Top 13’ Summer-of-Cindy Reading List

It’s been a month of momentous White House announcements. First, there was Laura’s gender-bending, glass-soufflé-dish breaking decision to choose Cristeta Comerford for the previously all-male post of White House head chef. Then came the issuing of the presidential vacation reading list. Besieged in Crawford’s Green Zone by Cindy Sheehan and her supporters, but also by … Continue reading “George’s Lucky ‘Top 13’ Summer-of-Cindy Reading List”

On Being in a Ditch at the Side of the Road

Retired four-star Army General Barry McCaffrey to Time magazine: “The Army’s wheels are going to come off in the next 24 months. We are now in a period of considerable strategic peril. It’s because Rumsfeld has dug in his heels and said, I cannot retreat from my position.” Cindy Sheehan testifying at Rep. John Conyers … Continue reading “On Being in a Ditch at the Side of the Road”

How to Prosecute the Plame Case

Rumors and leaks continue to swirl around the case of outed CIA agent Valerie Plame and the various journalists and Bush "senior administration officials" believed to be involved in some fashion in her outing. Whole forests have undoubtedly been pulped for the endless flood of summer stories about the Plame case and yet something has … Continue reading “How to Prosecute the Plame Case”

Iranian Ironies

We have now reached another of those recurring tinderbox moments relating to Iran. Yesterday, the Iranians officially relaunched their nuclear program, beginning a suspended process of uranium conversion at a facility near Isfahan. In this, Iran’s emboldened clerical regime defies the European troika – France, Germany, England – with which it has been in negotiations, … Continue reading “Iranian Ironies”

The Bush Administration’s Not-so-Silly Season

“Asked about continued political challenges such as Iraq and Social Security, Bush said he doesn’t care about the polls. “Q: But power is perception. “THE PRESIDENT: Power is being the president.” –George Bush in an interview with Texas reporters G-SAVE Yourself! Last week, the State Department issued an “updated worldwide caution” about “extremist violence” against … Continue reading “The Bush Administration’s Not-so-Silly Season”

A Young Man’s Death in Iraq

I‘m too old for the typical Web site with lots of posted back-and-forth commentary. So the TomDispatch e-mail box is – and often I regret this – normally my own private adventure. I’m regularly amazed by the letters that come in, many encouraging, some stunningly thoughtful (often with striking turns of phrase), and every now … Continue reading “A Young Man’s Death in Iraq”

Dating Cheney’s Nuclear Drumbeat

In a recent piece, "The Media’s Roving Eye," trying to establish a timeline that would offer context for the Plame case, I wrote the following: “Vice President Cheney started the administration’s atomic drumbeat to war in Iraq with a series of speeches on Saddam’s supposed nuclear capabilities and desires beginning in August of 2002. (The … Continue reading “Dating Cheney’s Nuclear Drumbeat”

The Spies Who Came in From the Hot Tub

Like so much else in our moment, it contravened laws the U.S. had once signed onto, pretzeled the English language, went directly to the darkside, was connected to various administration lies and manipulations that preceded the invasion of Iraq, and was based on taking the American taxpayer to the cleaners. I’m talking about a now-notorious … Continue reading “The Spies Who Came in From the Hot Tub”