Military

The Pivot to Africa

By Nick Turse, TomDispatch Sep 7, 2013 From the Middle East to South America, the Pentagon is increasingly engaged in shadowy operations whose details emerge piecemeal and are rarely examined in a comprehensive way. Nowhere is this truer than in Africa. Dig deeper ( 21 Min. Read )

‘Surveillance State’ Legislation Would Bar Some NSA Decryption

Alexander Reed Kelly / Truthdig Sep 7, 2013 Disclosures about the NSA's secret campaign to undermine online privacy protections have prompted Rep. Rush D. Holt Jr., D-N.J., to propose legislation that would prohibit the agency from installing "backdoors" into encryption intended to protect email, online transactions and other communications. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

‘Left, Right & Center’: The Syrian Debate Crescendo and More NSA

Staff / Truthdig Sep 7, 2013 Truthdig Editor-in-Chief Robert Scheer and the other "Left, Right & Center" panelists discuss Obama's failure to win broad support for military action against Syria during the G-20 Summit in Russia. The lack of enthusiasm is not helping him win over Congress. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Hope in a Time of Permanent War

By Henry A Giroux, Truthout Sep 6, 2013 How might it be possible to imagine hope for a better world for humanity in a country that has sanctioned state torture, is about to bomb Syria and kill untold numbers of civilians, spies on its own citizens, extends the reach of the punishing state into all aspects of society, and inflicts violence on black and brown youths through racial profiling and the machinery of the mass incarceration state? Dig deeper ( 17 Min. Read )

A USAID Worker’s Suicide Raises the Flag on a Troubling Issue

BLANK Sep 6, 2013 The suicide of a USAID worker, the first in a decade of deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, spotlights a gap in policy, and a potentially wider problem. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Alone and Delusional on Planet Earth

By Tom Engehardt, TomDispatch Sep 6, 2013 In an increasingly phantasmagorical world, here’s my present fantasy of choice. Dig deeper ( 14 Min. Read )

On Syria, the Wrong Questions

Eugene Robinson / Truthdig Sep 6, 2013 Congress is asking the wrong questions about Syria. The issue can't be who wins the civil war. It has to be whether the regime of Bashar al-Assad should be punished for using chemical weapons -- and, if the answer is yes, whether there is any effective means of punishment other than a U.S. military strike. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Seven Little Words; Let’s Go to War Again

Richard Reeves / Truthdig Sep 6, 2013 I have been appalled and outraged by the stupidity and ignorance of American leaders going into one war after another in places with strange names, faraway countries where we never had a chance to prevail. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

What Happened to the Anti-War Movement?

David Sirota / Truthdig Sep 6, 2013 A mere 72 hours after President Obama delivered an encomium honoring the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, he announced his intention to pound yet another country with bombs. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Syria Fact Check

Staff / Truthdig Sep 6, 2013 This week on Truthdig Radio in association with KPFK: Juan Cole pokes holes in the case for bombing Syria; WikiLeaks lawyer Michael Ratner; "ghetto tracker"; and Exxon's gay shame. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Rep. Alan Grayson to Congress: Reject ‘Warmongering’ and Focus on Problems at Home

Alexander Reed Kelly / Truthdig Sep 5, 2013 In the wake of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's voting 10 to 7 to authorize strikes on Syria, Florida Democrat Rep. Alan Grayson told "Democracy Now!" on Thursday: "I am very disturbed by this general idea that every time we see something bad in the world, we should bomb it. … The president has criticized that mindset, and now he has adopted it. It’s simply not our responsibility to act alone and punish this." Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Making the World Safe for Banksters: Syria in the Cross Hairs

By Ellen Brown, Web of Debt Sep 5, 2013 Iraq and Libya have been taken out, and Iran has been heavily boycotted. Syria is now in the cross-hairs. Why? Here is one overlooked scenario. Dig deeper ( 7 Min. Read )