The ACLU reports that due to Chelsea Manning’s attempted suicide on July 5th in the Fort Leavenworth military prison she could face additional charges including “resisting the force cell move team;” “prohibited property;” and “conduct which threatens.” The...
Nationalism and Soldier-Worship Are Always Bipartisan
My intention was to tell anyone who gave me trouble that I was a Jehovah’s Witness, or maybe a Quaker. Turns out, the only problem I suffered from sitting each time I was present for the presentation of colors, the National Anthem, and the Pledge of Allegiance at the...
Stay Out of Libya
We’re back in Libya, with US warplanes bombing targets in the city of Sirte, on a mission that, according to the Pentagon, has “no endpoint at this particular moment.” And that statement sums up perfectly the Sisyphean task that presented itself to US policymakers...
242 Killed in Iraq; Khalidiya Operation Succesful
Lessons From the Deep State
On the eve of the Democratic National Convention, WikiLeaks – the courageous international organization dedicated to governmental transparency – exposed hundreds of internal emails circulated among senior staff of the Democratic National Committee during the past 18...
$400 Million: The Partial Price of Peace?
When the US government sends $400 million in cash, stacked on pallets, to Iran on the same day the Iranian government releases four imprisoned Americans, it looks an awful lot like ransom. On the other hand, when the US government decides to keep $400 million sent to...
The Sacrifice Captain Khan Shouldn’t Have Had To Make
It was impossible not to be moved as Khizr and Ghazala Khan, two Muslim immigrants from Pakistan, stood before the Democratic National Convention and mourned their son Humayan, a U.S. soldier who’d been killed in Iraq. Humayan, his grieving father recalled, was...
Anbar Council Claims Civilians Killed in Airstrikes; 106 Killed in Iraq
NATO and Trump’s Misconceptions
Again Trump has it backwards. According to NATO's internal logic, the US should pay the members – not the other way around – for providing services to the empire and a tripwire for war. The empire doesn't protect; it provokes and endangers. Who would...
US Military Pivots to Africa and the News Is Grim
Originally posted at TomDispatch. Someday, someone will write a history of the U.S. national security state in the twenty-first century and, if the first decade and a half are any yardstick, it will be called something like State of Failure. After all, almost 15 years...


