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"Losing" the World: American Decline in Perspective by Noam Chomsky, tomdispatch.com | February 15, 2012
Significant anniversaries are solemnly commemorated -- Japan’s attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, for example. Others are ignored, and we can often learn valuable lessons from them about what is likely to lie ahead. Right now, in fact. The Iraq war is an instructive case. It was marketed to a terrified public on the usual grounds of self-defense against an awesome threat to survival: the “single question” was whether Saddam Hussein would end his programs of developing weapons of mass destruction. When the single question received the wrong answer, government rhetoric shifted effortlessly to our “yearning for democracy,” and educated opinion duly followed course; all routine. Later, as the scale of the U.S. defeat in Iraq was becoming difficult to suppress, the government quietly conceded what had been clear all along. read more »Bachmann & Bin Laden at CPAC by Terrance Heath, OurFuture.org | February 9, 2012
Kicking Down the World's Door by Tom Engelhardt, tomdispatch.com | February 6, 2012
Make no mistake: we’re entering a new world of military planning. Admittedly, the latest proposed Pentagon budget manages to preserve just about every costly toy-cum-boondoggle from the good old days when MiGs still roamed the skies, including an uncut nuclear arsenal. All this should reassure us that, despite the talk of massive cuts, the U.S. military will continue to be the profligate, inefficient, and remarkably ineffective institution we’ve come to know and squander our treasure on. Still, the cuts that matter are already in the works, the ones that will change the American way of war. They may mean little in monetary terms, but in imperial terms they will make a difference. A new way of preserving the embattled idea of an American planet is coming into focus and one thing is clear: in the name of Washington's needs, it will offer a direct challenge to national sovereignty. read more »Not a Peep About the President's Praise for War by Laura Flanders, The Nation | January 27, 2012
The grades for the president's State of the Union are in and the critics have been kind. In fact, it's chilling to see just how few hits the president takes for couching his entire address in unqualified celebration of the U.S. military. Speaking of the troops, President Obama began: "At a time when too many of our institutions have let us down, they exceed all expectations." The president chose to celebrate the U.S. military; the press chose not to raise a peep about the spread of US militarism. Yet U.S. targets proliferate—abroad—with unmanned drones assassinating un-convicted suspects in innumerable undeclared wars. And militarism spreads at home. The 2012 National Defense Authorization Act makes indefinite military detention without charge or trial a permanent feature of the American legal system. It's kind of the critics not to mention that—or the president's four-year-old pledge to close Guantánamo, and to restore the "rule of law." read more »Mitch Daniels' SOTU Response Wrong on Social Security by Daniel Marans, OurFuture.org | January 25, 2012
In the GOP response to President Obama’s state of the union address, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels argued that Social Security should be means-tested, rather than asking the rich to pay their fair share of taxes to the program. While this proposal may sound innocuous, in fact, means testing would save Social Security little money, erode its fundamental character, and cost it political support. read more »I Represented All Teachers by Sara Ferguson, Huffington Post | January 25, 2012
I'm a runner, and before every race I write students' names on my jersey. "Because you keep me going," I tell them. As I attended President Obama's State of the Union address Tuesday night, I was not alone. I represented all of the teachers and support staff from across the country who are struggling with too few resources and too little support. This invitation was an honor, but my dedication to education is not exceptional or unique. Because, for all teachers, it is our students that keep us going. That commitment to quality public schools is even more important during these tough and uncertain economic times. Public schools and teachers need the basic resources necessary to effectively do their jobs. Our students deserve the best this country has to offer, and we all have a shared responsibility to make sure they receive it. However, too many politicians are balancing the budgets on the backs of students. read more »Leave Iraq to the Iraqis by Christopher Hill, slate.com | January 20, 2012
The narrative of contemporary Iraq is becoming etched in stone: United States troops are leaving, and the country is falling apart. Iraq, we are told, is once again on the brink of dictatorship, this time under Shiite politician Nouri al-Maliki, the prime minister since 2006. The notion that Iraq’s ongoing political problems were caused by America’s departure, or that they could be improved by its return, is something that only a solipsistic American could believe. In fact, not everything that happens in Iraq reflects the presence — or absence — of U.S. troops. Iraq’s political problems are of Iraq’s making, and they need to be resolved by Iraqis. Outside mediation can help. But no one should be under the illusion that foreign troops, engaged for eight years as a post-invasion occupying force, are ideal for this task. read more »Election Will Decide Which New Wars Will Be Waged by William Pfaff, truthdig.com | January 18, 2012
Now that America’s primary elections have eliminated the more implausible contenders for the Republican presidential nomination, it is possible to take a clearer look at what the electorate will be up against when the conventions are over in the fall, and when the newly elected president assumes (or resumes) command of American foreign policy. Barring the unforeseeable, the Democratic candidate will be Barack Obama. If the polls, and the wishful thinking of old-school Republicans, are right, the Republican candidate will be Mitt Romney, who has displayed the least ignorance of foreign policy issues among the surviving primary candidates. If Romney succeeds, and does what all the Republican candidates (Ron Paul excluded) have promised — strike Iran, or sustain Israel in attacking that country — the United States would begin 2013 in or at the edge of a new Middle Eastern war, estranged from the European democracies, as well as from much of the non-Western world. read more »The Extreme Rick Santorum by Eugene Robinson, The Washington Post | January 18, 2012
Before there was the Tea Party to define the phrase “far-right fringe,” there was Rick Santorum. He’s a nice-guy zealot who should never be allowed anywhere near the Oval Office. It’s understandable that progressives would be tempted to cheer Santorum’s sudden rise as a viable candidate for the Republican nomination. The likely nominee, Mitt Romney, would love to be able to moderate his rhetoric and begin running a more centrist campaign that could appeal to independents in November. But if Santorum continues to pose a threat, Romney will likely have to move even further right — ceding valuable political ground to President Obama. And if Santorum somehow manages to win the nomination, he will be easier for Obama to beat than Romney. I mean, Obama beats him easily. Doesn’t he? read more »Danger Waters: The Three Top Hot Spots of Potential Conflict in the Geo-Energy Era by Michael T. Klare, tomdispatch.com | January 11, 2012
Welcome to an edgy world where a single incident at an energy “chokepoint” could set a region aflame, provoking bloody encounters, boosting oil prices, and putting the global economy at risk. With energy demand on the rise and sources of supply dwindling, we are, in fact, entering a new epoch — the Geo-Energy Era — in which disputes over vital resources will dominate world affairs. In 2012 and beyond, energy and conflict will be bound ever more tightly together, lending increasing importance to the key geographical flashpoints in our resource-constrained world. In the new Geo-Energy Era, the control of energy and of its transport to market will lie at the heart of recurring global crises. This year, keep your eyes on three energy hot spots in particular: the Strait of Hormuz, the South China Sea, and the Caspian Sea basin. 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 »
