Iraq War

By Neta C. Crawford | – Even if the U.S. administration decided to leave — or was evicted from — Iraq immediately, the bill of war to the U.S. to date would be an estimated US$1,922 billion in current dollars. This figure includes not only funding appropriated to the Pentagon explicitly for the war, but […]

Afghanistan

Is American Exceptionalism Killing the Planet? The Many Abuses of Endless War

William J. Astore

( Tomdispatch.com) – Ever since 2007, when I first started writing for TomDispatch, I’ve been arguing against America’s forever wars, whether in Afghanistan, Iraq, or elsewhere. Unfortunately, it’s no surprise that, despite my more than 60 articles, American blood is still being spilled in war after war across the Greater Middle East and Africa, even […]

Afghanistan

What hope for a New Generation of US Troops graduating into the Forever Wars?

Danny Sjursen

(Tomdispatch.com) – Patches, pins, medals, and badges are the visible signs of an exclusive military culture, a silent language by which soldiers and officers judge each other’s experiences, accomplishments, and general worth. In July 2001, when I first walked through the gate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point at the ripe young age […]

Barack Obama

No, Trump’s Withdrawal from Syria is not Like Obama Leaving Iraq

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Some observers are likening Trump’s abrupt departure from Syria and President Barack Obama’s withdrawal from Iraq in 2011. The two events show no resemblance whatsoever, and the frequently-made charge that Obama could have stayed in Iraq is incorrect. Here’s the difference. 1. Obama did not betray America’s allies in Iraq, […]

Afghanistan

From Baghdad to Kabul: One Officer’s Journey from True Believer in our Forever Wars to Dissident Veteran

Danny Sjursen

( Tomdispatch.com) – Recently, on a beautiful Kansas Saturday, I fell asleep early, exhausted by the excitement and ultimate disappointment of the Army football team’s double overtime loss to highly favored Michigan. Having turned against America’s forever wars and the U.S. military as an institution while I was still in it, West Point football, I’m […]

Featured

How Bush’s War on Iraq Produced Trumpism, Instability, Refugees and Climate Catastrophe

Juan Cole

This sort of glib rhetoric was to cost the lives of nearly 5,000 American military personnel and the lives of several hundred thousand Iraqis

Iraq War

Iraqi Oil for Israel? 15 Years later, new Light on the Iraq War

contributors

By Gary Vogler | ( University of Kansas Press Blog) | – – April 24 marks the 15th anniversary of my initial entry into Baghdad as the senior oil advisor to retired Lieutenant General Jay Garner, our US government civilian leader in Iraq. It was the beginning of my six plus years in Iraq working […]

Bush

Will Bolton and MEK pull an Iraq War-like Chalabi-type Scam on Iran?

contributors

By Nadejda K. Marinova (Author of Ask What You Can Do For Your (New) Country: How Host States Use Diasporas (Oxford University Press, 2017).[1] Informed Comment | – – On the fifteenth year anniversary of the Iraq war, several things are evident. One is the carnage that the war inflicted, with over 500,000 and by […]

Iraq

Why are only tinpot War Criminals Punished? What about the Architects of the Iraq War?

contributors

By Peter Singer | (Project Syndicate) | – – It is unlikely that former US President George W. Bush or any member of his administration will ever stand trial for initiating a war of aggression in Iraq. But it is still worth recounting the illegality of that act, not least because it is directly relevant […]