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.

Is Lockheed Martin Sequester-Proof?

Bipartisanship in Washington is a rare thing these days.  However, no beltway battle in recent memory has been quite as partisan as the one over sequestration and its $85 billion in across-the-board government spending cuts.  Yet, for all the rancor between Democrats and Republicans over that so-called meat ax or poison pill, there has been … Continue reading “Is Lockheed Martin Sequester-Proof?”

War on Terror, Women, and Children

The Global War on Terror has had many victims since it was launched by President George W. Bush soon after September 11, 2001.  In his “crusade,” a word he used publicly before he thought better of it (“This crusade,” he said, “this war on terrorism”), the history of kidnappings and renditions, torture and abuse, imprisonment … Continue reading “War on Terror, Women, and Children”

The Shadowy Boondoggle That Is ‘Homeland Security’

Once upon a time, “homeland” was a word of little significance in the American context.  What American before 9/11 would have called the United States his or her “homeland” rather than “country”?  Who sang “My homeland, ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty”?  Between my birth in 1944, as World War II was drawing to … Continue reading “The Shadowy Boondoggle That Is ‘Homeland Security’”

The Hidden History of Water Torture

Sometimes, the world can be such a simple, black-and-white sort of place.  Let me give you an example.  Imagine for a moment that the Iranians kidnap an American citizen from a third country.  (If you prefer, feel free to substitute al-Qaeda or the North Koreans or the Chinese for the Iranians.)  They accuse him of … Continue reading “The Hidden History of Water Torture”

Why Latin America Didn’t Join Washington’s Torture Posse

There was a scarcely noted but classic moment in the Senate hearings on the nomination of John Brennan, the president’s counterterrorism “tsar,” to become the next CIA director.  When Senator Carl Levin pressed him repeatedly on whether waterboarding was torture, he ended his reply this way: “I have a personal opinion that waterboarding is reprehensible … Continue reading “Why Latin America Didn’t Join Washington’s Torture Posse”

A Conspiracy of Stupidity

You could, of course, sit there, slack-jawed, thinking about how mindlessly repetitive American foreign and military policy is these days. Or you could wield all sorts of fancy analytic words to explain it.  Or you could just settle for a few simple, all-American ones.  Like dumb. Stupid. Dimwitted. Thick-headed. Or you could speak about the … Continue reading “A Conspiracy of Stupidity”

Locking Down the Borders

In the always-good-news category, a Monday front-page New York Times piece by David Sanger and Thom Shanker, filled with obvious administration leaks, lays out another step in the White House’s march out of American legality. As it has codified its drone assassination strikes, so it has been codifying and “legalizing” another new right of the Executive Branch — the right to launch … Continue reading “Locking Down the Borders”

The American Lockdown State

Consider Inauguration Day, more than two weeks gone and already part of our distant past.  In its wake, President Obama was hailed (or reviled) for his “liberal” second inaugural address.  On that day everything from his invocation of women’s rights (“Seneca Falls”), the civil rights movement (“Selma”), and the gay rights movement (“Stonewall”) to his wife’s new bangs and Beyoncé’s lip-syncing was fodder … Continue reading “The American Lockdown State”

Why It’s ‘Legal’ When the US Does It

Credit the Arab Spring and what’s followed in the Greater Middle East to many things, but don’t overlook American “unilateralism.” After all, if you want to see destabilization at work, there’s nothing like having a heavily armed crew dreaming about eternal global empires stomp through your neighborhood, and it’s clear enough now that whatever was … Continue reading “Why It’s ‘Legal’ When the US Does It”