National Security State

By Andrew J. Bacevich | ( Tomdispatch.com ) | – – We have it on highest authority: the recent killing of Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour by a U.S. drone strike in Pakistan marks “an important milestone.” So the president of the United States has declared, with that claim duly echoed and implicitly endorsed […]

Bill of Rights

Dear Mr. Holder: Why Ed Snowden can’t get a Fair Trial in your National Security State

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Former US Attorney General Eric Holder said in an interview that what NSA whistle blower Edward Snowden did was illegal but added “”We can certainly argue about the way in which Snowden did what he did, but I think that he actually performed a public service […]

National Security State

The Pentagon’s War on Accountability: At $600 Bn a Year, Why aren’t any Wars being Won?

contributors

By William D. Hartung | (Tomdispatch.com) | – – Now you see it, now you don’t. Think of it as the Department of Defense’s version of the street con game, three-card monte, or maybe simply as the Pentagon shuffle. In any case, the Pentagon’s budget is as close to a work of art as you’re […]

Militarization

No US Troops on the Ground in Iraq & Syria . . . until there Were

contributors

By Peter Van Buren | ( Tomdispatch.com ) | – – One of the most popular apps these days is Snapchat. It allows the sender to set a timer for any photo dispatched via the app, so that a few seconds after the recipient opens the message, the photo is automatically deleted. The evidence of […]

Drone Warfare

Surges, Mission Creeps & Drones in the Mideast: America’s Forever War

contributors

By Tom Engelhardt | ( Tomdispatch.com ) | – – There are the news stories that genuinely surprise you, and then there are the ones that you could write in your sleep before they happen. Let me concoct an example for you: “Top American and European military leaders are weighing options to step up the […]

Counter-Terrorism

Chomsky – How the Elites’ ‘War on Terror’ Multiplies Terror

contributors

By Noam Chomsky | ( Tomdispatch.com ) | – – [This piece, the second of two parts, is excerpted from Noam Chomsky’s new book, Who Rules the World? (Metropolitan Books). Part 1 can be found by clicking here.] In brief, the Global War on Terror sledgehammer strategy has spread jihadi terror from a tiny corner […]

National Security State

US spends as much as next 11 countries on War Industries; why do Cruz/Trump want to Spend More?

contributors

Bear F. Braumoeller | (The Conversation) | – – One of the prominent themes in this year’s presidential primaries is the state of the American military. In his April 27 foreign policy speech, Republican front-runner Donald Trump summed up the majority view of the GOP: [W]e have to rebuild our military and our economy. The […]

Bush

Not al-Qaeda: Abu Zubayda as Bush’s Mengele Experiment

contributors

By Rebecca Gordon | ( Tomdispatch.com) | – – Intro: Rebecca Gordon catches the nightmarish quality of those [Bush] years, now largely buried, in the grim case of a single mistreated human being. It should make Americans shudder. She has also just published a new book, American Nuremberg: The U.S. Officials Who Should Stand Trial […]

Barack Obama

The Iraq War Never Ended: An Interview with Anand Gopal

contributors

By Charles Davis | ( TeleSur | – – The U.S. is at war with the same extremist group it claimed to have defeated five years ago, and it’s relying on sectarian extremists to "win" again. The United States is winning the war on terror, just as it always has. The Islamic State group is […]