W.J. Astore Recent news that the planned Eisenhower Memorial in Washington, D.C. remains in trouble greatly saddens me. When I was young, I considered myself a moderate Republican/conservative Democrat. I recall favoring Gerald Ford over Jimmy Carter in the 1976 presidential election. My idea of a Democrat was someone like Senators Scoop Jackson and Sam…
W.J. Astore (Also at Huffington Post at this link.) This year the USA celebrates the 200th anniversary of The Star-Spangled Banner. Francis Scott Key wrote the lyrics, inspired by the battle at Fort McHenry during the War of 1812, and it officially became the National Anthem in 1931. Notoriously difficult to sing (my favorite rendition…
W.J. Astore General John Allen wants to “destroy the Islamic State now.” So he says in an article for Defense One. Allen, a retired Marine Corps general who led troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, is currently a distinguished fellow at the Brookings Institution. But what is distinguishing him in this article is his crusader-speak, a…
Why You Should Expect More Bombs to be Dropped Everywhere By William J. Astore Read the entire article at TomDispatch.com When you do something again and again, placing great faith in it, investing enormous amounts of money in it, only to see indifferent or even negative results, you wouldn’t be entirely surprised if a neutral observer…
Michael Murry As a veteran of the Nixon-Kissinger Fig Leaf Contingent (Vietnam 1970-72) I have always thought that the American slogan “Peace With Honor” had little to do with Peace and nothing to do with Honor. Over forty years later, witnessing the U.S. military floundering about in — and flailing away at — Afghanistan and…
Clay Bonnyman Evans This essay is adapted from a chapter in a book (not yet available) about Lt. Bonnyman and Tarawa, yesterday, today and tomorrow. Despite an overwhelming post-9/11 cultural consensus, serving in the military does not automatically make anyone a hero. That’s just an empty, self-regarding myth Americans tell themselves to soothe a guilty…
W.J. Astore There you go again, President Obama, echoing a line delivered by that consummate actor, Ronald Reagan. Yes, we’re bombing Iraq again, in the name of humanitarianism. This time, we’re only getting the “bad” Iraqis, so it’s OK. Right? The only “humanitarian” bombing I’ve ever heard of is in fiction; specifically, in Slaughter-House Five,…
W.J. Astore In April of 2009, I wrote the following article for TomDispatch.com on the situation in Afghanistan. During his 2008 campaign for President, Obama had claimed that Afghanistan was the right war to be fighting, and that Bush and Company had taken their eye off the Afghan ball when they chose to invade Iraq…
My Opposition to the Vietnam War Greg Laxer. Introduction by William Astore. This week, historians have marked the 100th anniversary of World War I, a cataclysm that resulted in the deaths of more than nine million soldiers and the collapse of four empires. Yet there’s another grim anniversary that has gone mostly unmarked: the 50th…
W.J. Astore The U.S. military today openly boasts of global reach, global power. Full spectrum dominance is the goal, with that spectrum encompassing land, sea, and air operations, but also extending to space (“the shining stars, and beyond,” one Air Force advertisement claimed) and cyberspace. The desire for global dominance has deep roots in American…
The Contrary Perspective 