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.

2018 Looks Like an Arms Bonanza

Originally posted at TomDispatch. Here’s a cheery note for you: the last mass killing of 2017 took place moments before midnight on New Year’s Eve. A 16-year-old New Jersey boy picked up a semi-automatic rifle, “lawfully acquired” by a member of his family, and killed his father, mother, sister, and a family friend. In doing … Continue reading “2018 Looks Like an Arms Bonanza”

The Coming Year in Special Ops

Originally posted at TomDispatch. If you want to know something about life in America these days, consider how New York Times columnist David Leonhardt began his first piece of the year, “7 Wishes for 2018”: “Well, at least it’s not 2017 anymore. I expect that future historians will look back on it as one of … Continue reading “The Coming Year in Special Ops”

Seeing Our Wars for the First Time

Originally posted at TomDispatch. He left Air Force Two behind and, unannounced, “shrouded in secrecy,” flew on an unmarked C-17 transport plane into Bagram Air Base, the largest American garrison in Afghanistan. All news of his visit was embargoed until an hour before he was to depart the country. More than 16 years after an … Continue reading “Seeing Our Wars for the First Time”

Three Administrations, One Standard Playbook

Originally posted at TomDispatch. In a Washington politically riven in ways not seen since the pre-Civil War era, take hope. Despite everything you’ve read, bipartisanship is not dead. On one issue, congressional Democrats and Republicans, as well as Donald Trump, all speak with a single resounding voice, with, in fact, unmatched unanimity and fervor as … Continue reading “Three Administrations, One Standard Playbook”

A Wider World of War

Originally posted at TomDispatch. Ambassadors of the traditional kind? Who needs them? Diplomats? What a waste! The State Department? Why bother? Its budget is to be slashed and its senior officials are leaving in droves ever since Donald Trump entered the Oval Office. Under Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, hiring is frozen, which means those … Continue reading “A Wider World of War”

A Country Addicted to War

Originally posted at TomDispatch. It’s been going on for so many years – Predators cruising, looking for their prey. Some attention has since been paid to the phenomenon and to the devastating effect their actions have had on their victims, but it hasn’t really mattered. The predation has only spread. Oh, before I go any … Continue reading “A Country Addicted to War”

Curating Guantanamo

Originally posted at TomDispatch. Few Americans ever took in the vastness of the prison outsourcing system the administration of George W. Bush set up from Afghanistan to Iraq, Thailand to Poland, the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean to Guantánamo Bay in Cuba. In those years, I began referring to that global network … Continue reading “Curating Guantanamo”

Making Nuclear Weapons Usable Again

Originally posted at TomDispatch. Speaking of the situation on the Korean peninsula, he predicted that there would be "the greatest slaughter." He later requested 34 nuclear weapons for possible use in connection with the Korean situation. He would later claim that he had considered dropping "30 to 50 tactical atomic bombs" and had suggested laying … Continue reading “Making Nuclear Weapons Usable Again”

How To Wield Influence and Sell Weaponry in Washington

Originally posted at TomDispatch. When it comes to the art of the deal, at least where arms sales are concerned, American presidents, their administrations, and the Pentagon have long been Trumpian in nature. Their role has been to beat the drums (of war) for the major American weapons makers and it’s been a highly profitable … Continue reading “How To Wield Influence and Sell Weaponry in Washington”

Washington’s Drug of Choice in the War on Terror

Originally posted at TomDispatch. As you read today’s piece by historian and TomDispatch regular Alfred McCoy, author most recently of In the Shadows of the American Century: The Rise and Decline of U.S. Global Power, think of Afghanistan as the gateway drug for three Washington administrations. Within weeks of the 9/11 attacks, George W. Bush … Continue reading “Washington’s Drug of Choice in the War on Terror”