William J. Astore: The American Military Uncontained
Chaos Spread, Casualties Inflicted, Missions Unaccomplished: It’s 1990. I’m a young captain in the U.S. Air Force. I’ve just witnessed the fall of the Berlin Wall, something I never thought … Continue reading
Andrew Cockburn: The Kingpin Strategy — Assassination as Policy in Washington and How It Failed, 1990-2015
As the war on terror nears its 14th anniversary — a war we seem to be losing, given jihadist advances in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen — the U.S. sticks stolidly … Continue reading
David R. Loy: Why We Love War
War is hell, and today more than ever. Although high-tech weapons make it a videogame for some, those same weapons make it unbelievably destructive for many more. Whatever valor was … Continue reading
Marc Jampole: Drones dehumanize the enemy and make it easier to go to war
It’s so easy to kill an animated figure on a screen in a video game. And then another, and then another, each of them so realistic in their detail that … Continue reading
W. J. Astore: A Nixon Quote Explains the Root of So Many U.S. Foreign Policy Blunders
On 30 April 1970, 45 years ago this month, President Richard M. Nixon ordered an invasion into Cambodia. Explaining his reasoning for widening the war in Southeast Asia, Nixon declared: … Continue reading
John Samuel Tieman: War Without Cost and Patriotism Without Sacrifice or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Draft
It is the logic of our times, No subject for immortal verse— That we who lived by honest dreams Defend the bad against the worse. — Cecil Day-Lewis . I … Continue reading
Andy Piascik: Looking Back at the Vietnam War
It’s been 40 years since the end of the Vietnam War. At least that’s what it’s called in the United States, the Vietnam War. In Vietnam, it’s called the American … Continue reading
B. Traven: Fire in the Hole: A New American Military Disaster, Yemen
The Unifed States has spent the last twenty-five years pulling Israel’s and Saudi Arabia’s chestnuts out of the fire in the Middle East. First with Desert Storm in Kuwait in … Continue reading
Marc Jampole: House budget funds war and cuts everything else
Snip, snip, snip. They’re cutting down the nets. I’m not talking about overjoyed college basketball players standing on ladders to cut down the basket nets to the cheers of rabid … Continue reading
William D. Hartung: Military Strategy? Who Needs It?
The Madness of Funding the Pentagon to “Cover the Globe” President Obama and Senator John McCain, who have clashed on almost every conceivable issue, do agree on one thing: the … Continue reading
Nan Levinson: The Big Dick School of American Patriotism
Let’s face it: we live in a state of pervasive national security anxiety. There are various possible responses to this low-grade fever that saps resolve, but first we have to … Continue reading
Major General Walter Stewart (U.S. Army, ret.): Chris Kyle did not live long enough
Sniper Chris Kyle did not live long enough. I don’t say this in the context of his and Chad Littlefield’s senseless murder at the hands of a supposed brother-in-arms, but … Continue reading
Doug Anderson: Tet, 1968-2015, A Valentine
Clouds heaped three tiers high on the horizon. Lightning whitens the chambers tier by tier all the way up. And again. Thunder like arc light bombing and more flashes. They’re … Continue reading
Andy Piascik: How About Sanctions Against the United States?
As Washington’s allies in Ukraine burn people alive and the United States imposes sanctions on Russia and Venezuela, it’s essential to keep in mind which country it is that’s the … Continue reading →