As our nation debates the merits of President Donald Trump's call for withdrawing U.S. troops from Syria and Afghanistan, absent from the debate is the more pernicious aspect of US military involvement overseas: its air wars. Trump's announcement and General James...
Good Riddance to General Mattis and the Rest of Washington’s Mad Dogs of War
From the wailing and gnashing of teeth among the mainstream media and officialdom over General Mattis' (welcome) departure, you would think that the Rapture had come and Washington's ruling class was being unjustly left behind to eternal perdition. And if not that,...
Troops Out of Syria and Afghanistan? That’s a Good Start!
We all had a big shock this week when, seemingly out of the blue, President Trump announced that he was removing US troops from Syria and would draw down half of the remaining US troops in Afghanistan. The president told us the troops were in Syria to fight ISIS and...
ISIS Kidnaps Two Dozen; Six Killed in Iraq
Ringing in a New Year of War
Originally posted at TomDispatch. On December 9th, the Washington Post covered Donald Trump's offhand, if long expected, announcement of the ousting of retired Marine General John Kelly from an embattled White House. Its report focused on the chief of staff’s...
We Can End the US War on Syria
The US war against Syria was one that people almost stopped. President Obama was unable to get Congress to authorize the war in 2013, but the Pentagon and foreign policy establishment, who have long wanted to control Syria, pushed forward with war anyway. It has been...
A Short History of How the US Went to War in Syria
Here’s what got Secretary of Defense James Mattis all worked up! Even as what should have been a quick 2001 strike into Afghanistan bogged down into the quagmire of nation building, George W. Bush in 2003 invaded Iraq. The pretenses were all false. Terrorism was...
Merry Christmas to My Readers
Dear readers, I’ve been undergoing some pretty intense anticancer treatments the past few days and will be going through this throughout the holiday season. Despite the fact that I am getting better, some of the side effects are quite fearsome. This isn’t...


