That long Labor Day weekend, traditionally a time of rest, lies ahead. It marks the end of this summer's not-so-silly season, a few days when TomDispatch shuts down and everyone who can light a barbecue or visit that favorite end-of-summer vacation restaurant is...
The President, Cindy Sheehan, and How Words Die
"See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda." - George Bush, "President Participates in Social Security Conversation in New York," May 24, 2005 Forced from his...
The Achilles Heel of Torture
Extraordinary renditions, torture, abuse, humiliation, detention without charge or end, an obsession with protecting American officials (and military men) from future foreign or domestic criminal charges for their acts these are the cornerstones of foreign...
Military Families May Once Again Lead Us Out of War
On the April day in 2003 when American troops first entered Baghdad, historian Marilyn Young suggested that Operation Iraqi Freedom was "Vietnam on crack cocaine." She wrote presciently at the time: "In less than two weeks, a 30-year-old vocabulary is back:...
George’s Lucky ‘Top 13’ Summer-of-Cindy Reading List
It's been a month of momentous White House announcements. First, there was Laura's gender-bending, glass-soufflé-dish breaking decision to choose Cristeta Comerford for the previously all-male post of White House head chef. Then came the issuing of the...
On Being in a Ditch at the Side of the Road
Retired four-star Army General Barry McCaffrey to Time magazine: "The Army's wheels are going to come off in the next 24 months. We are now in a period of considerable strategic peril. It's because Rumsfeld has dug in his heels and said, I cannot retreat from my...
How to Prosecute the Plame Case
Rumors and leaks continue to swirl around the case of outed CIA agent Valerie Plame and the various journalists and Bush "senior administration officials" believed to be involved in some fashion in her outing. Whole forests have undoubtedly been pulped for...
Iranian Ironies
We have now reached another of those recurring tinderbox moments relating to Iran. Yesterday, the Iranians officially relaunched their nuclear program, beginning a suspended process of uranium conversion at a facility near Isfahan. In this, Iran's emboldened clerical...
The Bush Administration’s Not-so-Silly Season
"Asked about continued political challenges such as Iraq and Social Security, Bush said he doesn't care about the polls. "Q: But power is perception. "THE PRESIDENT: Power is being the president." -George Bush in an interview with Texas reporters G-SAVE Yourself! Last...
A Young Man’s Death in Iraq
I'm too old for the typical Web site with lots of posted back-and-forth commentary. So the TomDispatch e-mail box is and often I regret this normally my own private adventure. I'm regularly amazed by the letters that come in, many encouraging, some...


