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.

Living the Nuclear Past – and Future

Originally posted at TomDispatch. Let me tell you a little story about Hiroshima and me: As a young man, I was anything but atypical in having the Bomb (we capitalized it then) on my brain, and not just while I was ducking under my school desk as sirens howled their nuclear attack warnings outside. Like … Continue reading “Living the Nuclear Past – and Future”

Bases: One Down, Who Knows How Many To Go?

Originally posted at TomDispatch. As TomDispatch’s Nick Turse reminds us today, the United States remains an imperial military presence unlike any other – not just in this moment but in the history of empire. Never has a single country had so many military bases on so many parts of Planet Earth. Consider that a striking … Continue reading “Bases: One Down, Who Knows How Many To Go?”

Ringing in a New Year of War

Originally posted at TomDispatch. On December 9th, the Washington Post covered Donald Trump’s offhand, if long expected, announcement of the ousting of retired Marine General John Kelly from an embattled White House. Its report focused on the chief of staff’s “rocky tenure” there with a nod to his many merits, among them that he “often … Continue reading “Ringing in a New Year of War”

On Board the USS Detention

Originally posted at TomDispatch. After six all-American decades in business, Toys “R” Us crashed in 2018, closing its 735 U.S. stores and filing for bankruptcy. As it happens, however, the Washington-branded outfit, Mistreatment and Misconduct “R” Us (or M&M “R” Us), continues to thrive, as it has this century so far. In case the holiday … Continue reading “On Board the USS Detention“

The Coming of Hyperwar

Originally posted at TomDispatch. Imagine, for a moment, a country that no longer rebuilds or reinforces its sagging infrastructure but just can’t stop pouring money into its military. Oh wait, you don’t have to imagine that at all! You just have to look at the United States. This fall, for instance, the president who swore … Continue reading “The Coming of Hyperwar”

Rule Number One in Warfare: Know Your Enemy

Originally posted at TomDispatch. It’s now more than 17 years later, years in which American commanding generals in Afghanistan repeatedly hailed the U.S. military’s “progress” there and regularly applauded the way we had finally “turned a corner” in the Afghan War — only to find more Taliban fighters armed with RPGs around that very corner. … Continue reading “Rule Number One in Warfare: Know Your Enemy”

Misremembering Vietnam

Originally posted at TomDispatch. “I’m going to Saigon,” said Secretary of Defense James Mattis last month before correcting himself. “Ho Chi Minh City – former Saigon.” It was the fifth time that Mattis would meet with his Vietnamese counterpart, Minister of National Defense Ngo Xuan Lich, and it marked the defense secretary’s first visit to … Continue reading “Misremembering Vietnam”

Entering the Second Nuclear Age?

Originally posted at TomDispatch. He was the candidate who, while talking to a foreign policy expert, reportedly wondered "why we can’t use nuclear weapons." He was the man who would never rule anything out or take any "cards," including nuclear ones, off the proverbial table. He was the fellow who, as president-elect, was eager to … Continue reading “Entering the Second Nuclear Age?”

The Pentagon Has Won the War That Matters

Originally posted at TomDispatch. In June, Austin “Scott” Miller, the special-ops general chosen to be the 17th U.S. commander in Afghanistan, appeared before the Senate Armed Services Committee. Like so many of the generals who had preceded him, he suggested that he saw evidence of “progress” in the Afghan war, even if he refused to … Continue reading “The Pentagon Has Won the War That Matters”

17 Years of War (and More to Come)

Originally posted at TomDispatch. We’re already two years past the crystal anniversary and eight years short of the silver one, or at least we would be, had it been a wedding – and, after a fashion, perhaps it was. On October 7, 2001, George W. Bush launched the invasion – "liberation" was the word often … Continue reading “17 Years of War (and More to Come)”