The Merchants of Death and Me

I attended a recent talk on “defense cooperation” between the United States and the Arab world. Inevitably, no one on the panel of five bothered to ask why the United States should be fueling an arms race by selling to nearly every country in the region, but as each speaker had a personal interest in … Continue reading “The Merchants of Death and Me”

Shadow Warriors: Movin’ On Up

For decades the U.S. military has waged clandestine war on virtually every continent on the globe, but for the first time, high-ranking Special Operations Forces (SOF) officers are moving out of the shadows and into the command mainstream. Their emergence suggests the U.S. is embarking on a military sea change that will replace massive deployments, … Continue reading “Shadow Warriors: Movin’ On Up”

The New Face of War

The assassination of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden did more than knock off U.S. Public Enemy Number One. It formalized a new kind of warfare, where sovereignty is irrelevant, armies tangential, and decisions are secret. It is, in the words of counterinsurgency expert John Nagl, “an astounding change in the nature of warfare.” This type … Continue reading “The New Face of War”

The Unseen Slaughter

In the early 1970s, I spent two summers slinging pork loins in a Chicago meat-packing factory. Rose Packing Company paid a handful of college students $2.25 an hour to process pork. Donning combat boots, yellow rubber aprons, goggles, hairnets, and floor-length white smocks that didn’t stay white very long, we’d arrive on the factory floor. … Continue reading “The Unseen Slaughter”

UN Expert Calls On US To Halt CIA Targeted Killings

Targeted killings, including those using drones, are increasingly being applied in ways that violate international law, according to a report issued Wednesday by a United Nations expert on extrajudicial killings. The report by special rapporteur Philip Alston will be presented to the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva on Thursday. It says that while targeted … Continue reading “UN Expert Calls On US To Halt CIA Targeted Killings”

Israel Gags News on Extrajudicial Killings

RAMALLAH – An Israeli journalist remains under house arrest and another lives abroad after they broke news on Israeli undercover units carrying out assassinations or "targeted killings" of non-combatant Palestinian political opponents. Anat Kam, 23, who used to work for the Israeli news site Walla, was arrested last December for allegedly copying secret Israeli Defense … Continue reading “Israel Gags News on Extrajudicial Killings”

Sunday: 8 Iraqis Killed, 47 Wounded

At least eight Iraqis were killed and 47 more were wounded in today’s attacks, but good news came out of Iraq as well. An Iraqi-American contractor held hostage in Iraq was released in good health into U.S. custody. Also, a bomb attack in Qaim apparently killed an Iraqiya candidate.

American Death Squad

As the story of Bush administration’s war crimes comes out in fits and starts, it appears that torture is only one aspect – and not the worst, by any means – of this horrific history. In an interview in mid-March, Seymour Hersh let slip the following: "After 9/11 – I haven’t written about this yet … Continue reading “American Death Squad”