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.

AFRICOM Behaving Badly

Originally posted at TomDispatch. There were those secret service agents sent to Colombia to protect the president on a summit trip and the prostitutes they brought back to their hotel rooms. There was the Air Force general on a major bender in Moscow (with more women involved). There were those Drug Enforcement Administration agents and … Continue reading “AFRICOM Behaving Badly”

The US Military’s Battlefield of Tomorrow

Originally posted at TomDispatch. Years ago, Chalmers Johnson took a term of CIA tradecraft, “blowback,” and put it into our language. Originally, it was meant to describe CIA operations so secret that, when they blew back on this country, Americans would be incapable of tracing the connection or grasping that the U.S. had anything to … Continue reading “The US Military’s Battlefield of Tomorrow”

In the Middle East, Bet on a Winner (Iran!)

Think of it as the American half-century in the Middle East: from August 17, 1953, when a CIA oil coup brought down democratically elected Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh and installed the Shah as Washington’s man in Tehran, to May 1, 2003, when George W. Bush landed on the USS Abraham Lincoln off the coast … Continue reading “In the Middle East, Bet on a Winner (Iran!)”

Hunting Humans by Remote Control

Originally posted at TomDispatch. Drones seemed to come out of nowhere, sexy as the latest iPhones and armed to kill. They were all-seeing eyes in the sky (“a constant stare,” as drone promoters liked to say) and surgically precise in their ability to deliver death to evildoers. Above all, without pilots in their cockpits, they … Continue reading “Hunting Humans by Remote Control”

How To Create an Afghan Blackwater

The other day, as I was reading through the New York Times, I came upon this headline: “Powerful Afghan Police Chief Killed in Kabul.” His name was Matiullah Khan. He had once been “an illiterate highway patrol commander” in an obscure southern province of Afghanistan and was taken out in a “targeted suicide bombing” on … Continue reading “How To Create an Afghan Blackwater”

Your Money at War Everywhere

Originally posted at TomDispatch. Fifteen to 20 years ago, a canny friend of mine assured me that I would know I was in a different world when the Europeans said no to Washington. I’ve been waiting all this time and last week it seemed as if the moment had finally arrived. Germany, France, and Italy … Continue reading “Your Money at War Everywhere”

Can You Say ‘Blowback’ in Spanish?

Originally posted at TomDispatch. One of the mysteries of our era is why there seems to be no learning curve in Washington. Over the last 13 years, American wars and conflicts have repeatedly helped create disaster zones, encouraging the fragmentation of whole countries and societies in the Greater Middle East and Northern Africa. In the … Continue reading “Can You Say ‘Blowback’ in Spanish?”

Growing Up in the Shadow of the American War State

Originally posted at TomDispatch. It’s a structure we’ve seldom taken the true measure of, since ground was first broken for its construction in September 1941. With its 6.6 million square feet of floor space, it ranked as the largest building in the country until the World Trade Center came along in 1973 – a position … Continue reading “Growing Up in the Shadow of the American War State”

How To Create a National Insecurity State

Originally posted at TomDispatch. In our era in Washington, whole careers have been built on grotesque mistakes. In fact, when it comes to our various conflicts, God save you if you’re right; no one will ever want to hear from you again. If you’re wrong, however… well, take the invasion of Iraq. Given the Islamic … Continue reading “How To Create a National Insecurity State”

Is Drone Warfare Fraying at the Edges?

Originally posted at TomDispatch. It was a typical little news story on Washington’s drone wars – six paragraphs from Yemen, the sort of minimalist report that, in these years, has also regularly come out of Pakistan or even, from time to time, Somalia. “A U.S. drone attack in Yemen killed four suspected al-Qaeda militants on … Continue reading “Is Drone Warfare Fraying at the Edges?”