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.

This Is What Defeat Looks Like

How about a moment of silence for the passing of the American Dream? M.R.I.C. (May it rest in carnage.) No, I’m not talking about the old dream of opportunity that involved home ownership, a better job than your parents had, a decent pension, and all the rest of the package that’s so yesterday, so underwater, … Continue reading “This Is What Defeat Looks Like”

Me and OFAC and Ahmed the Egyptian

The big war news on the front page of the New York Times last weekend was headlined: "U.S. Is Planning Buildup in Gulf After Iraq Exit."  Its first sentence: "The Obama administration plans to bolster the American military presence in the Persian Gulf after it withdraws the remaining troops from Iraq this year, according to officials and diplomats."  … Continue reading “Me and OFAC and Ahmed the Egyptian”

Mapping America’s Shadowy Drone Wars

These last weeks, there have been two “occupations” in lower Manhattan, one of which has been getting almost all the coverage — that of the demonstrators camping out in Zuccotti Park. The other, in the shadows, has been hardly less massive, sustained, or in its own way impressive — the police occupation of the Wall … Continue reading “Mapping America’s Shadowy Drone Wars”

The End of America’s Pacific Century

Usually it’s the giant stories that catch your eye. The wars, the uproars, the Arab Spring — the things you can’t miss. But every now and then, news stories about easily overlooked subjects somehow manage to shine the strongest light on a changing world. The Cohn sisters, Claribel and Etta, from a wealthy Baltimore family, … Continue reading “The End of America’s Pacific Century”

How the American Taxpayer Got Plucked in Iraq

Who doesn’t like roasted chicken? Fresh, crispy with a little salt, it falls off the bone into your mouth. It’s a great thing, unless the price is $2.5 million of your tax dollars. As a Foreign Service Officer with a 20-year career in the State Department, and as part of the George W. Obama global … Continue reading “How the American Taxpayer Got Plucked in Iraq”

WikiLeaked at the State Department

It’s hardly a secret at this late date that, while the Obama administration arrived in office promoting “a new standard of openness” in government, in practice it’s cast not sunshine, but a penumbra of gloom over the workings of Washington. Talk about a closed and punitive crew. Its Justice Department has notoriously gone after government … Continue reading “WikiLeaked at the State Department”

How Washington Creates Global Instability

It was built for… well, not to put too fine a point on it, victory. I’m talking, of course, about the ill-named Camp Victory, the massive military complex, a set of bases really, constructed around an old hunting lodge and nine of former dictator Saddam Hussein’s opulent palaces near Baghdad International Airport. Within months of … Continue reading “How Washington Creates Global Instability”