National Security State

By Pratap Chatterjee | (Tomdispatch.com) | – – In a trio of recent action-packed movies, good guys watch terrorists mingling with innocent women and children via real-time video feeds from halfway across the world. A clock ticks and we, the audience, are let in on the secret that mayhem is going to break loose. After […]

Far Right

What GOP New Yorkers just voted for: Torture, Syria Intervention, murder of innocents

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – In the wake of his big win in New York, I want to push back once more against the normalization of Trump as a legitimate presidential candidate, given his policy positions. Let us remember what the Republicans of New York voted for (there are hardly any […]

Bill of Rights

Jailed without trial for Life? Guantanamo’s Lawlessness may outlast the Obama Administration

contributors

By Karen J. Greenberg | (Tomdispatch.com) | – – Can you believe it? We’re in the last year of the presidency of the man who, on his first day in the Oval Office, swore that he would close Guantánamo, and yet it and everything it represents remains part of our all-American world. So many years […]

Militarization

The Euphemisms of War and Covering up American Military Failure

contributors

By William J. Astore | ( Tomdispatch.com) | – – Introduction | By Tom Engelhardt | – – At the moment, there are a maximum of 3,870 U.S. military personnel (or 7,740 actual boots on the ground) in Iraq supporting the war against the Islamic State. That’s the “official cap” imposed by the Obama administration, […]

Bush

One Reason the GOP Bigwigs hate Trump: He told the truth about Bush WMD Lies

Juan Cole

By Brian Glyn Williams | (Informed Comment) | – – Recently Donald Trump broke with Republican convention and roiled the party base by boldly stating “You call it whatever you want. I want to tell you. They [the Bush administration] lied. They said there were weapons of mass destruction [in Iraq]; there were none. And […]

Constitution

Unconstitutional: How the Imperial Presidents went to War all by themselves

contributors

By Andrew J. Bacevich| ( Tomdispatch.com ) | – – Let’s face it: in times of war, the Constitution tends to take a beating. With the safety or survival of the nation said to be at risk, the basic law of the land — otherwise considered sacrosanct — becomes nonbinding, subject to being waived at […]

Bill of Rights

How Bush-Cheneyism made Mideast in its Image: Wars, WOT, With us or Against Us

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Thirteen years after the illegal US invasion of Iraq, it is worth considering its full impact on this country and on the region. Bush-Cheneyism had a number of key pillars, among which these were prominent: 1. Aggressive unilateral warfare, with the domestic advantage of making the […]

Democratic Party

Dear Candidates: What’s the US Military for and What exactly do you want from the Mideast?

contributors

by Peter Van Buren | ( Tomdispatch.com) The nuances of foreign policy do not feature heavily in the ongoing presidential campaign. Every candidate intends to “destroy” the Islamic State; each has concerns about Russian President Vladimir Putin, North Korea, and China; every one of them will defend Israel; and no one wants to talk much […]

Militarization

Has the Pentagon become Lawless, Corrupt & only overseen by Civilian Hawks?

contributors

Gregory D. Foster | ( Tomdispatch.com ) | – – Item: Two U.S. Navy patrol boats, with 10 sailors aboard, “stray” into Iranian territorial waters, and are apprehended and held by Iranian revolutionary guards, precipitating a 24-hour international incident involving negotiations at the highest levels of government to secure their release. The Pentagon offers conflicting […]