Way back in the summer of 2009, when the US withdrawal from Iraq was being touted as yet another great triumph by the Obama administration, we wrote in this space: "Was withdrawal from Iraq just another campaign promise, made to be broken – like Obama’s pledges...

Originally posted at TomDispatch. On the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings, Brian Williams led off NBC Nightly News this way: “On our broadcast tonight, the salute to the warriors who stormed the beaches here in Normandy...” It’s such a...

The debate over America’s Middle East policy has reached a new level of surreality. In the wake of President Obama’s West Point commencement address last month – in which he pledged to “ramp up” U.S. support for Syrian rebels seeking to overthrow President Bashar...

The fighting continued today for some members of Iraq’s army, Peshmerga troops, tribal fighters and even Iranian soldiers. However, many Iraqi soldiers simply gave up. At least 120 people died, but many uncounted militants were also reported killed in air strikes. At least 30 people were wounded. Tallying casualties in the hot zone is nearly impossible and these figures are only an estimate of known casualties.

After a month of media attention-grabbing shootings in Isla Vista, California, Las Vegas, and now at an Oregon high school, President Obama devoted some time in a Tuesday Q&A session on Tumblr.com to these sad incidents, saying that we should "be ashamed" to have...

Several more cities fell today, and even more will likely fall in the coming days. Due to the chaos, it impossible to estimate how many have been killed this week, but at least 161 people were killed today, and 119 more were wounded. Also, Turkey has threatened retaliation if any of at least 76 Turkish hostages are harmed.

President Obama has announced that all U.S. forces will be withdrawn from Afghanistan by the end of 2016, just before he leaves office. By taking this action, Obama is finally saying "touché" to a military brass that he believed sandbagged him in...

Originally posted at TomDispatch. The United States has been at war – major boots-on-the-ground conflicts and minor interventions, firefights, air strikes, drone assassination campaigns, occupations, special ops raids, proxy conflicts, and covert actions – nearly...

I've been plagued with kidney stones recently and I'm afraid I'm in no shape to write today: but these things tend to pass rather quickly (no pun intended!) so I'll be back at the usual stand on Friday.

At least 36 people were killed and 69 more were wounded officially; however, many more were killed as several northern cities, including Mosul, fell into militant control.