Robert Koehler

War spews hell in all directions. Just ask the guys at Talon Anvil, a secret U.S. "strike cell" recently exposed by the New York Times as a unit with a reputation for ignoring the rules of engagement and killing lots and lots of civilians with drone strikes as it plays war with ISIS. Part of … Continue reading “Poisoning Ourselves With War”

War spews hell in all directions. Just ask the guys at Talon Anvil, a secret U.S. “strike cell” recently exposed by the New York Times as a unit with a reputation for ignoring the rules of engagement and killing lots and lots of civilians with drone strikes as it plays war with ISIS. Part of … Continue reading “The Many Ways War Is Poisoning Us”

A new defense budget looms. Maybe we’re running out of wars to fight, but no matter. The proposed figure before Congress is bigger than ever: $778 billion. How fascinating – and how irrelevant – that the vote is scheduled just a few days after the New York Times published its investigation of a U.S. airstrike … Continue reading “How Many Dead Kids Before We Admit US ‘National Security’ Is a Lie?”

The Pentagon’s offer of “condolence money” to the relatives of the ten people (seven of them children) who were killed in the final U.S. drone strike in Afghanistan – originally declared righteous and necessary – bears a troubling connection to the government’s ongoing efforts to get its hands on WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and punish … Continue reading “Julian Assange: A Threat to War Itself”

“For Washington, it seems that whatever the problem is, the answer is bombing.” So wrote Stephen Zunes, in the wake of Joe Biden’s first act of murder as president . . . excuse me, his first act of defensive military action: bombing a border post in Syria last week, killing 22 of our enemies. This … Continue reading “The US War Machine Doesn’t Want Us to Take War Personally”

So here’s an odd, mostly overlooked scrap of recent news: Donald Trump wants to end the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq before he leaves office, and is expected to announce a drawdown of troops in both countries. Currently there are approximately 4,500 troops in Afghanistan and 3,000 in Iraq. The drawdown would leave 2,500 troops … Continue reading “Beyond Simplistic ‘Peace’”

When the mainstream media writes about war, even critically, the image that often comes to mind for me is an infant wrapped in plastic. That infant is naked reality, a.k.a., the present moment, suffocating and screaming for its life; the plastic smothering it are the journalistic euphemisms by which murder and terrorism turn into abstract … Continue reading “Maneuvering Hell for Our Advantage”

The annual defense budget, passed recently by both the House (377-48) and Senate (82-8), came in at $738 billion for 2020, up from last year a sweet $22 billion. War hits the motherlode every year. “The money just isn’t there” for virtually anything that matters – you know, healthcare for all, free college tuition, clean … Continue reading “Given $738 Billion, US War Budget Hits the Motherlode (Again)”

“Everyone wants to play with the big boys, and the only way to become one of the big boys is to have nuclear toys.” Attention Planet Earth! Attention Planet Earth! It is time to grow up. The words are those of Mohamed ElBaradei, then director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, from a 2005 … Continue reading “A Tight Grip On Our Nuclear Toys”

The U.S. government protects itself, not democracy. That’s what is most apparent about its 18-count indictment of Julian Assange, not to mention the ongoing imprisonment of Chelsea Manning, for the leaking and release of State Department and military documents and videos a decade ago. The current reporting on the indictment is mostly about Assange himself: … Continue reading “Assange Indictments Hide the Context of War”