Originally posted at TomDispatch. Iraq and Afghanistan are separated by more than 1,000 miles and, although they both exist in what is now known as the Greater Middle East, they had little in common – at least until March 2003, when the Bush administration...
Enduring Bases, Enduring War in the Middle East
Originally posted at TomDispatch. Meet the hottest new commander in the increasingly secretive world of American warfare, Lieutenant General Raymond “Tony” Thomas. A rare portrait in the Washington Post paints him as a “shadowy figure” – an...
How We Learned To Stop Worrying About People and Love the Bombing
Originally posted at TomDispatch. Torturers, rapists, murderers: for more than a decade as I researched my history of the Vietnam War, Kill Anything That Moves, I spent a good deal of time talking to them, thinking about them, reading about them, writing about them....
America Revisits the Dark Side
Originally posted at TomDispatch. They’re back! From the look of the presidential campaign, war crimes are back on the American agenda. We really shouldn’t be surprised, because American officials got away with it last time – and in the case of the drone...
The Logic of the Police State
Originally posted at TomDispatch. Sometime in late November, after the Paris terror attacks but before the one in San Bernardino, I was walking to New York’s Grand Central Station to catch the subway home. In front of one of its main entrances, the police had set up...
America’s Secret African Drone War Against ISIS
Originally posted at TomDispatch. Am I the only person who still remembers how Pentagon officials spoke of the major military bases already on the drawing boards as the invasion of Iraq ended in April 2003? It was taboo back then to refer to those future installations...
Who Will Fight the Islamic State?
Originally posted at TomDispatch. In the many strategies proposed to defeat the Islamic State (IS) by presidential candidates, policymakers, and media pundits alike across the American political spectrum, one common element stands out: someone else should really do...
America’s Reckless War Against Evil
Originally posted at TomDispatch. In the muddled midst of last week’s mass killing in San Bernardino, California, a few words skittering across my Twitter feed gave me pause. “On this awful shooting: Is U.S. culture evil? Enemy of our civilization? Must...
An Invitation to Collective Suicide
Originally posted at TomDispatch. Let’s consider the two parties in Washington. I’m not referring to the Republican and Democratic ones, but our capital’s war parties (there being no peace party, of course). They might be labeled the More War Party...
The National Security State’s Incestuous Relationship With ISIS
Originally posted at TomDispatch. Honestly, I don’t know whether to rant or weep, neither of which are usual impulses for me. In the wake of the slaughter in Paris, I have the urge to write one of two sentences here: Paris changed everything; Paris changes...


