Noam Chomsky talks to Jacobin about why the US withdrawal from Afghanistan won’t change US imperialism, the many war crimes of George W. Bush, and why he still believes in average people’s ability to push back against the war machine.
The decade began with Bush-era jingoism intact. Then, the unthinkable happened: radical critiques of America’s endless wars and reflexive militarism that were once hopelessly marginal went mainstream.
Two decades ago, the mainstream media responded to the September 11 attacks by stacking their news coverage and pundit commentary with the country’s most belligerently pro-war voices. We are still paying for their appalling misjudgment.
No matter how many times the doctrine has proved a bloody failure, the American military keeps coming back to counterinsurgency tactics.
A consensus is growing that the worldwide post–9/11 “forever war” must come to an end. But that goal is in danger of being watered down to the point of meaninglessness by politicians and think tanks still in thrall to the national security state and its war on terror.
Since the War on Terror began, the US military has used aerial bombing campaigns to avoid American combat losses. But they’ve led to a staggering number of civilian deaths.
From the debacle in Afghanistan to the ongoing devastation of COVID-19 to the unhinged cruelty of the Republican Party, Noam Chomsky notes, there is plenty of room for despair in America right now. But he insists that, despite it all, we have ample reason for hope.
The US military preys on the country's poorest students.
Pointing to Taliban human rights violations, war hawks wish US troops were back in Afghanistan. Somehow they’ve already forgotten that the recklessness and sadism of those troops is why the Taliban came roaring back in the first place.
The United States won't be able to control terrorism, because it is unwilling to alter its imperial policies.
The US spends around $48 billion on the war on drugs each year. The massive spending doesn’t do much to stop drug use, but it has been a major boon for arms and security contractors and human rights abusers around the world.
From his new memoir, it’s clear that Barack Obama believes process is politics. But no amount of “process” will solve the problems that plague us — for that, we need the political will he could never muster as president.
Noam Chomsky talks about US hypocrisy in stoking needless conflict with China, the unnecessarily bloody and grinding war in Afghanistan, and why the United States could easily solve climate change.
Rep. Liz Cheney, daughter of Dick, is trying to prolong her father's endless war in Afghanistan. You would think that every Democrat would be united in opposing such a policy, right? Well, you would be wrong.
The idea that the United States should have stayed in Afghanistan to stop it from falling to the Taliban is dangerously misguided. But there is one thing the US can and should do: admit every single Afghan refugee.
In New York’s 11th Congressional District, two veterans are competing for the Democratic nomination. One is a centrist who will strengthen the military-industrial complex; the other is a democratic socialist who built her career fighting it.
Several new memoirs from disillusioned military veterans reflect on the horrors of war. They’re essential tools for challenging US empire.
US politicians used the attacks of September 11, 2001, as a pretext to launch their own campaign of terror, from Afghanistan to Iraq to dozens of “counterterrorism” operations in Africa. Though less visible now, the murderous “war on terror” continues.
Friedman fires more volleys of cliche into the densely packed prejudices of his readers.
The victims shown in Dirty Wars never become more than victims. Jeremy Scahill is the star here.