Repatriated Guantánamo Bay detainment camp prisoners have once again been mistreated at the hands of their home countries despite "diplomatic assurances" of humane treatment made to the US government, according to a Human Rights Watch report released Wednesday. The...
[Note for TomDispatch readers: In the weeks when the first Gulf War was underway – it seems a lifetime ago – I began researching a book on the history of American triumphalism (which I came to call "victory culture"), especially as I had experienced it in my...
In the year 701 B.C., the Assyrian king Sennacherib besieged Jerusalem. The Bible records the words that the Assyrian general, Rabshakeh, addressed to Hezekiah, king of Judah: "Now, behold, thou trusteth upon the staff of this bruised reed, even upon Egypt, on...
American military aid to Israel has been increased yet again, which leads us to ask the inevitable question: What are we getting for our money? Well, we're getting this, as well as this, and this – not to mention this. The regularly quoted figure is $3.5 billion...
Last December, when the U.S. Marine Corps charged four infantrymen for the murder of 24 civilians in the Iraqi town of Haditha on Nov. 19, 2005, the counts represented the most serious case of alleged war crimes committed by Marines in Iraq or Afghanistan. An official...
BAQUBA - Amid the violence and chaos in Diyala province, kidnappings continue unabated, bringing an uncertain fate for the abducted and unanswered questions for their families. Kidnapping has become another form of violence, to add to car bombs, assassinations,...
Updated at 12:05 a.m. EDT, Sept. 6, 2007At least 51 Iraqis were killed and 65 wounded during attacks that included bombing civilians in Sadr City and Mosul. Ten American soldiers were also killed in separate events. Two GIs were killed today and another was wounded...
In a classic case of "close, but no cigar," Newsweek recently reported that in the early winter of 2004-2005 U.S. soldiers nearly stumbled on Osama bin Laden's mountain hideout in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. As we approach the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11...
News that José Padilla's lawyers are seeking to hold former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and 59 other U.S. officials responsible for "abusive and unconstitutional tactics used against Mr. Padilla while he was held in military custody as an enemy...
For months – perhaps even a couple of years – I have been downplaying the likelihood that Bush would be so foolish as to start a war with Iran, especially in light of how much more difficult such a war would be than the war on Iraq and how thinly the...
