It may sound melodramatic but one of the most tragic examples of blowback from our terror war in Pakistan is that the Taliban there are now trying to prevent Pakistani children from getting the polio vaccine, which has been available to Americans since the 1950's and...
A Word (or Two) on the Petraeus ‘Apology’
Looking perhaps a little smaller, bereft of his familiar chestful of medals or his over-starched ACUs (Army Combat Uniform), (Ret.) Gen. David Petraeus began his road to public redemption this week with a speech designed to make him look contrite over an extra-marital...
Mainstream Lookback at Iraq: Yes, You Can Scream Now
Twitter has been on fire today with myriad quips, snarks, I told you sos and above all, honest lamentations on the 10th anniversary of the American invasion of Iraq. There's also something else -- blowback on the mainstream punditocracy and media sheeplesphere, not so...
Finally: Mainstream Compares COIN to Waterloo
The Battle of Waterloo was a decisive defeat for the Emperor Napoleon: his losses forced his abdication, restored King Louis XVIII to France's throne, and sent the former emperor away for the rest of his days in exile on the isle of Saint Helena. In other words, it...
Convenient “Clerical Error” Gives Rosy Picture of Afghan Progress
Let's hope that newly minted Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel will live up to some of our expectations and not be afraid to tell it like it is. Let's start with Afghanistan. We just found out today that an alleged data entry glitch in the Pentagon program that spits...
Gen. Allen: Afghanistan ‘Graveyard’ Swallows Another Career
This week Marine Corps General John Allen joined a long and lamentable list of American leaders who have succumbed to the ancient affliction that conventional rhetoric has deemed the "graveyard of empires." He is not the first, but given that the United States seems...
Gareth Porter Wins Top Gellhorn Journalism Prize!
I just found out that my friend and familiar Antiwar.com byline (and radio guest) Gareth Porter, has just won the Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism in London. This honor is for his outstanding research into the military's targeted killing strategy in Afghanistan....
Onward, Ray Bradbury 1920-2012
I hate a Roman named Status Quo! Of course Ray Bradbury would have hated such a man, too. When he wrote these words as part of the gripping dialogue in his 1950 would-be classic, Fahrenheit 451, he was railing against the conformity and emptiness, the...
Pentagon Caught in Another Lie About Soldiers’ Health
(Reposted from The American Conservative) For years, Pentagon officials have insisted that the open-air burn pits incinerating tons of garbage and other waste on U.S. bases in Iraq and Afghanistan could not be causing long-term health problems for our troops. But an...
State Department Moves to Fire Peter Van Buren
The State Department is moving to fire Peter Van Buren, who we have profiled extensively as the man who exposed the fatal weaknesses in our so-called counterinsurgency strategy in Iraq and who has been an ardent critic of the U.S war and diplomatic policies in both...


