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.

How War Targets the Young

Originally posted at TomDispatch. America’s forever wars and their fallout over these last 18 years have been hell for kids. Just ask Ismail or any of the other 56 wounded children who survived an August 2018 attack on their school bus in northern Yemen by Saudi planes armed with American weaponry. Of course, you can’t … Continue reading “How War Targets the Young”

Remembering America’s First (and Longest) Forgotten War on Tribal Islamists

Originally posted at TomDispatch. Retired U.S. Army Major Danny Sjursen offers a year-ending look at what “forever war” really means in the American experience. To do so, he turns not to the wars in which he personally took part in Afghanistan and Iraq, but to one that took place almost a century before his birth … Continue reading “Remembering America’s First (and Longest) Forgotten War on Tribal Islamists”

Lessons From Battling the Pentagon for Four Decades

The other day, after a three-year legal struggle, the Washington Post broke a story about a secret Afghan War project of the Office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction. Its focus was hundreds of interviews with American figures – from top officials and generals to lesser actors of every sort – involved in … Continue reading “Lessons From Battling the Pentagon for Four Decades”

Moral Injury and America’s Endless Conflicts

Originally posted at TomDispatch. Many men do monstrous things. And some men are very nearly monsters, capable of killing without compunction or remorse. In the everyday civilian world, we generally seek to lock them up. In war, they have a chance to fully flower. And if they serve in militaries that fight serial conflicts where … Continue reading “Moral Injury and America’s Endless Conflicts”

What My Personal War Costs Me

Originally posted at TomDispatch. Think of it as a small miracle of sorts. This country has now been at war continuously for 18 years, ever since President George W. Bush and his top officials announced a "Global War on Terror" within days of the 9/11 attacks and, not long afterward, launched the invasion of Afghanistan. … Continue reading “What My Personal War Costs Me”

America’s Arms Sales Addiction

Originally posted at TomDispatch. Honestly, if a single corporate entity controlled three-quarters of the global market in a product, you’d call it a monopoly, right? Well, in 2011, that was the situation of the United States when it came to the arms trade. This country sold more than three-quarters of the weapons on the global … Continue reading “America’s Arms Sales Addiction”

How To Make American Foreign Policy Yours

Originally posted at TomDispatch. In case you hadn’t noticed (and not to notice you’d have to be blind), we’re not exactly alone in this country anymore. We were true pioneers in what might be considered a great American tradition of interfering in the affairs of other nations – think about just how radically the U.S. … Continue reading “How To Make American Foreign Policy Yours”

Watching My Students Turn Into Soldiers of Empire

Originally posted at TomDispatch. What a strange world we’re in! Imagine that only recently Donald Trump announced the withdrawal of the remaining 1,000 U.S. military personnel from Syria (launching a bloodbath in Kurdish-controlled areas on its northern border in the process). He was, if you remember, bringing them all “home.” Almost immediately, however, Secretary of … Continue reading “Watching My Students Turn Into Soldiers of Empire”

Bases, Bases, Everywhere, and Not a Base in Sight

Originally posted at TomDispatch. In January 2004, Chalmers Johnson wrote this about what he called America’s “empire of bases” or its “Baseworld”: “As distinct from other peoples, most Americans do not recognize – or do not want to recognize – that the United States dominates the world through its military power. Due to government secrecy, … Continue reading “Bases, Bases, Everywhere, and Not a Base in Sight”

Why Those ‘Endless Wars’ Must Never End

Originally posted at TomDispatch. Here’s the strange thing for the self-proclaimed greatest power in history, the very one that, in this century, has been fighting a series of unending wars across significant parts of the planet: if you exclude Operation Urgent Fury, the triumphant invasion of the island Grenada in 1983, and Operation Just Cause, … Continue reading “Why Those ‘Endless Wars’ Must Never End”