News & Comment
Blogs and Opinion
What We Know About Iran by David Isenberg, | April 25, 2006
Our intel stinks and bombing is a bad idea. read more »Listening To Bin Laden by Tom Porteous, | April 25, 2006
His historical views are as perverse as his morality—so why do his words still carry weight in the Arab and Muslim world? read more »A Paper Lid On Iraq's Volcano by Robert Dreyfuss, | April 24, 2006
Will putting lipstick on the new Iraqi prime minister make him anything other than what he is? read more »Death And Taxes: Your Letters by TomPaine.com Readers, | April 21, 2006
From bankrupt college students to bankrupt Hamas, everybody needs more money in this week's letters. read more »Iran: Don't Do It by Matthew Yglesias, | April 20, 2006
It's very simple. Any sort of military action against Iran would be counterproductive, if not outright insane. read more »Slowly Creeping Up The Abu Ghraib Ladder by Ethan Heitner, OurFuture.org | April 19, 2006
The man who instituted the aggressive misuse of dogs, stripping detainees naked, leashing them and other humiliating tactics designed to terrorize “high value” detainees at Guantanamo Bay, and was brought over to “Gitmo-ize” detention procedures in Iraq shortly before abuses were documented at Abu Ghraib, will finally spea read more »Hamas And Israel: Hard Choices by Rami G. Khouri, | April 19, 2006
The hopes of pragmatic new leadership in the region have been dashed by insistence on the same old script—for now. read more »Roll Call On Rumsfeld by Jim Lobe, | April 18, 2006
By critiquing his managment style, senior officers are implicitly speaking out against Rumsfeld's ideology of war. read more »Iraq War, Round Two by Robert Dreyfuss, | April 17, 2006
With mid-term elections in mind, are Bush and Cheney planning a major assault to break all resistance to U.S. dominance in Baghdad? read more »Hurting Peace, Not Hamas by Michelle Woodward, | April 14, 2006
By cutting funding to elected Palestinian representatives, the U.S. and the EU are dooming the region to continued chaos. read more »
The Latest
Gates Proposal Would Cut Thousands of Defense Jobs, mcclatchydc.com | August 10, 2010
Defense Secretary Gates Targets Jobs , USA Today | August 10, 2010
More Spending Is Needed on Weapons Systems, Panel Says, The New York Times | July 30, 2010
Even as political pressure grows to reduce the federal budget deficit, a blue-ribbon board led by former top national security officials called on Thursday for more spending on weapons systems. read more »
Panel Seen Approving F-35 Engine, Risking Veto, The New York Times | July 27, 2010
Despite increasing calls from lawmakers for deficit reduction, one military program opposed by the White House and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates — an alternate engine for the joint strike fighter — so far refuses to die. read more »
Education Funds Out of Senate War Bill, Politico | July 23, 2010
The Senate sent back to the House Thursday night a stripped-down $59 billion war funding bill, after striking all of the added education assistance which Democrats had wanted to avert threatened teacher layoffs in the fall. read more »
Defense Contractor: It’s ‘Important’ That Taxpayers Keep Wasting Money On Weapons System Nobody Wants , wonkroom.thinkprogress.org | July 8, 2010
Last month, the House of Representatives passed the fiscal year 2011 defense authorization, including funding for a second engine for the F-35 fighter jet that the Department of Defense has repeatedly said it doesn’t want. read more »
U.S. Ramps Up Withdrawal From Iraq, USA Today | August 31, 2009
The U.S. military is packing up to leave Iraq in what has been deemed the largest movement of manpower and equipment in modern military history — shipping out more than 1.5 million pieces of equipment from tanks to antennas along with a force the size of a small city. The massive operation already underway a year ahead of the Aug. 31, 2010 deadline to remove all U.S. read more »
Senate Rejects Additional F-22 Fqunding, CNN | July 22, 2009
The Senate voted block expansion of one of the country's most controversial and expensive defense programs, the F-22 fighter jet program. The vote gave the White House and Pentagon a key victory over congressional supporters of the F-22, many of whom represent states and districts where jobs are tied to the production of the jet. read more »
Deaths of U.S. Troops Exceed 5,000 In Wars, USA Today | July 21, 2009
The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan reached two solemn milestones Monday: July has become the deadliest month for U.S. troops in Afghanistan, and the combined death toll surpassed 5,000. Four Americans were killed by a roadside bomb in eastern Afghanistan on Monday, U.S. military spokesman Lt. Robert Carr said. That brings the number of U.S. servicemembers killed so far this month to at least 30. read more »
U.S. Report On Terrorism Detainees Delayed 6 Months, Reuters | July 21, 2009
A key report ordered by U.S. President Barack Obama as part of his effort to close the internationally condemned Guantanamo prison will be delayed six months, but officials insisted they were still on track to shut it down by January. read more »
