Wars of Unintended Consequences
Originally posted at TomDispatch. TomDispatch began with the Afghan War — with a sense I had from its earliest moments that it was a misbegotten venture of the first order. Here, for instance, is a comment I wrote about that disaster in December 2002, a little...
Shut Down the Drone War
The August 29 U.S. drone strike in Kabul that killed ten civilians, including seven children, demonstrates the bankruptcy of the war on terror. Like many other drone strikes, the strike in Kabul targeted innocent people and achieved nothing except to blow up civilians...
Egypt Murders Its Citizens With Little Complaint From Washington
A celebrated ancient empire, Egypt was later ruled by other empires old and new. In 1952 the country went from monarchy to military rule. Until the 2011 Arab Spring explosion, which topped the Mubarak dictatorship, the armed forces kept control through military men...
Living With Vietnam and Afghanistan: It’s Not What You Did Then, But What You Will Do Now
Having suffered the trauma and moral distress of participating in war, in my case the American War in Vietnam, I have learned that "coming home," reintegrating, and living with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and moral injury can be aided or hindered...
Iraq Daily Roundup: Seven Killed
Twenty Years On, We’ve Learned Nothing From 9/11
Nothing upset the Washington Beltway elites more than when in a 2007 presidential debate I pointed out the truth about the 9/11 attacks: they attacked us because we’ve been in the Middle East, sanctioning and bombing the civilian population, for decades. The...
Saigon 1975, Kabul 2021, Baghdad 2024?
Washington’s reputation as an effective imperial power experienced another humiliating setback in August with the implosion of the U.S.-backed government in Kabul. The sight of helicopters urgently ferrying American diplomats from the embassy to the Hamid Karzai...
Ukraine, USA, Russia, and Spheres of Influence
On September 1, 2021, President Biden met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House and continued the American push into Russia’s sphere of influence that has made Russia feel so threatened. Zelensky has been frustrated because he has been pushing...
Hashtag #Untie_Our_Hands: How Many More Palestinians Must Die for Israel’s ‘Security’?
A large Israeli army campaign is taking social media by storm. The installed aim of what is known as the "#Untie_Our_Hands" initiative is the desire to kill, with no accountability, more Palestinian protesters at the Gaza fence. The campaign was motivated by...
