Why Obama’s Iran Policy Will Fail
There's an old joke that goes something like this: A self-absorbed fellow, meeting a friend, launches into an endless soliloquy about himself, then abruptly stops and says, "Well, enough about me. Now, tell me what you think of me." Sometimes Washington has...
The Great Superpower Meltdown
Think of us as just having passed through the failed era of "must" in Washington. For almost eight years, George W. Bush made speeches and appearances in which he hectored this or that country, or enemy, or people about what they "must" do. Never, I suspect,...
Obama’s Choice
Three Cheers for the War Dividend
[Note to TomDispatch readers: I'll be on the road for the next week with limited e-mail access. I may not be answering letters and requests. Be patient. For those of you living in the Santa Fe, New Mexico, area, this Wednesday night (Oct. 21) at 7 p.m. at the Lensic...
Who’s Next? Lessons From the Long War and a Blowback World
Is it too early – or already too late – to begin drawing lessons from "the Long War"? That phrase, coined in 2002 and, by 2005, being championed by CENTCOM Commander Gen. John Abizaid, was meant to be a catchier name for George W. Bush's "Global War on Terror." That...
Will You Love Every Future President?
October 7th marked the eighth anniversary of the Bush administration's invasion of Afghanistan and so of the... well, can we really call it a war?... that won't end, that American commanders there now predict could last for another decade or more. And yet, here's the...
Apocalypse Then, Afghanistan Now
Here's the thing: This may be our next "Vietnam moment," but Afghanistan is no Vietnam: there are no major enemy powers like the Soviet Union and China lurking in the background; no organized enemy state with a powerful army like North Vietnam supporting the...
War of the Worlds
Cold War’s Ghost Blocks Mideast Peace
And you thought "don't ask, don't tell" was a U.S. law on gays in the military that Barack Obama has promised to change. As it turns out, the same phrase plays quite a different role in the Middle East, where Obama seems to have no intention of changing it at all....
