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.

Bringing the Battlefield to the Border

Originally posted at TomDispatch. Predator drones, tested out in this country’s distant war zones, have played an increasingly prominent role in the up-armoring of the U.S.-Mexican border. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) launched its first Predator in 2004, but only really ramped up drone use in March 2013. There have been approximately 10,000 Predator flights … Continue reading “Bringing the Battlefield to the Border”

Washington’s Walking Dead

Originally posted at TomDispatch. When it comes to the national security state, our capital has become a thought-free zone. The airlessness of the place, the unwillingness of leading players in the corridors of power to explore new ways of approaching crucial problems is right there in plain sight, yet remarkably unnoticed. Consider this the Tao … Continue reading “Washington’s Walking Dead”

A Shadow War in 150 Countries

Originally posted at TomDispatch. In the dead of night, they swept in aboard V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft. Landing in a remote region of one of the most volatile countries on the planet, they raided a village and soon found themselves in a life-or-death firefight. It was the second time in two weeks that elite U.S. … Continue reading “A Shadow War in 150 Countries”

The Military-Industrial Complex in Iraq

Originally posted at TomDispatch. Call it what you will – Iraq War 3.0, the war against ISIS, the new Syrian War – it was regularly headline-making news in this country in the second half of last year: the stunning advances of the Islamic State (IS) movement; its newly proclaimed “caliphate”; the collapse of the Iraqi … Continue reading “The Military-Industrial Complex in Iraq”

Unpacking the War on Terror

Originally posted at TomDispatch. About a year ago, I hit the road for a couple of months. I went to Albany and Albuquerque, Berkeley and Boston, Chapel Hill and Chicago, Seattle and Schenectady. I wasn’t reporting. I wasn’t writing. I sure wasn’t vacationing. No, I was out on a book tour in support of the … Continue reading “Unpacking the War on Terror”

How the Iraq War Began in Panama

Originally posted at TomDispatch. So many years and wars later, it’s easy to forget what a total television hit the first Gulf War of 1991 was. Just in case you no longer remember – and why should you? – that was the war that was to bury America’s defeat in Vietnam forever and signal the … Continue reading “How the Iraq War Began in Panama”

The Senate Drone Report of 2019

Originally posted at TomDispatch. It was December 6, 2019, three years into a sagging Clinton presidency and a bitterly divided Congress. That day, the 500-page executive summary of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s long fought-over, much-delayed, heavily redacted report on the secret CIA drone wars and other American air campaigns in the 18-year-long war on terror … Continue reading “The Senate Drone Report of 2019”

Beyond the Senate Torture Report

Originally posted at TomDispatch. It came from the top and that’s never been a secret.  The president authorized the building of those CIA "black sites" and the use of what came to be known as "enhanced interrogation techniques" and has spoken of this with a certain pride. The president’s top officials essentially put in an … Continue reading “Beyond the Senate Torture Report”

The Pentagon as President Obama’s Great White Whale

Originally posted at TomDispatch. There’s finally good news when it comes to the renewal of the Faith. I’m talking, of course, about the nuclear faith. In case you happen to have forgotten, that’s the Cold War belief that a U.S. arsenal big enough to destroy several Earth-sized planets and on a hair-trigger alert remains crucial … Continue reading “The Pentagon as President Obama’s Great White Whale”

Thank You for Making War!

Originally posted at TomDispatch. Often enough when something goes missing, it takes a while to realize that it’s gone. An example that came to me recently is the once-commonplace word “peace.” It’s not just that, in a time of public dissatisfaction with America’s wars, there’s no mention of a “peace movement” or “peace signs,” but … Continue reading “Thank You for Making War!”