Medical Mystery Takes a Toll on Cambodian Children

Alexander Reed Kelly / Truthdig Jul 12, 2012 Medical professionals are puzzling over why a hand, foot and mouth disease has killed so many children in a relatively small outbreak in Cambodia. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Obama’s Assassination Machine

Staff / Truthdig Jul 14, 2011 Fred Branfman was in Laos when the U.S. began covertly dropping bombs on the country's civilian population in 1969 as part of its military operations in neighboring Vietnam. Today, he writes about the Obama administration's international counterterrorism plan, which involves 60,000 Special Operations forces worldwide. (more) Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Democracy Building Is Back in Fashion

William Pfaff / Truthdig Jul 6, 2011 I heard a brilliant young Harvard scholar, influential in the Obama administration, explain that the future of successful American action in Central Asia lies in a "surge" of civilian political and developmental action to rescue the people of the region from their present backwardness. Dig deeper ( 4 Min. Read )

Speaking Ill of ‘the Best and the Brightest’

Robert Scheer / Truthdig Dec 22, 2010 One of “the best and the brightest” died last week, and in Richard Holbrooke we had a perfect example of the dark mischief to which David Halberstam referred when he authored that ironic label. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Crowd Panic Causes Deadly Crush in Cambodia

Staff / Truthdig Nov 23, 2010 A local festival took a fatal turn in Cambodia on Monday night, when a stampede occurred after panic broke out among a crowd packed onto a bridge, causing dozens to be trampled or flung off the side. Updated Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Court Finds Khmer Rouge Officer Guilty of War Crimes

Staff / Truthdig Jul 26, 2010 He was involved in the torture and killing of more than a million people over the course of four years, but key Khmer Rouge operative Kaing Guek Eav, aka "Duch," got off easy as he was sentenced by a U.N.-affiliated court Monday. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Inching Toward a Ban on Land Mines

Staff / Truthdig May 8, 2010 Here's some good news: The White House is currently in a "vigorous debate" over whether or not to sign the Ottawa Treaty, an international agreement to ban land mines, as pressure from Capitol Hill and NGOs pushes the administration to reconsider the country's decade-old refusal to sign. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

As Iraq Threatens to Come Apart, U.S. Problems in Afghanistan Mount

William Pfaff / Truthdig Apr 7, 2010 Washington once again finds itself dangerously entangled with the hostile policies, nationalistic interests and supporters, and personal ambitions of a foreign figure whom it counted on to serve American interests. Dig deeper ( 4 Min. Read )

Unintended Consequences in Nuclear Pakistan

Fred Branfman / Truthdig Oct 9, 2009 The Obama administration has already begun to escalate the fighting in Pakistan, a policy that could make even the Nixon-Kissinger destruction of Cambodia seem like a pleasant memory.The escalation of U.S. incursions into Pakistan could make even the destruction of Cambodia seem like a pleasant memory. Dig deeper ( 7 Min. Read )

American ‘Twisted Travelers’ Charged for Child Sex in Cambodia

Staff / Truthdig Sep 2, 2009 The US government is cracking down on American sex tourists who take trips to Cambodia to molest minors, an unfortunately common phenomenon in that country, with the new "Twisted Traveler" international law-enforcement initiative -- and three U citizens just became the first to find out what the changes mean for those who get caught. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

McNamara’s Evil Lives On

Robert Scheer / Truthdig Jul 8, 2009 It was the stark evil Robert McNamara perpetrated as secretary of defense that must indelibly frame our memory of him. To not speak out fully because of respect for the deceased would be to mock the memory of the millions he caused to be maimed and killed in a war that he later freely admitted never made any sense. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Cambodia Déjà Vu: the Invasion of Pakistan

William Pfaff / Truthdig May 14, 2009 Last September, during the American presidential campaign, I wrote a column declaring that the United States had again invaded Cambodia, only this time "Cambodia" was Pakistan. President George W. Bush had ordered U.S. ground attacks on the Taliban inside Pakistan's Tribal Territories, without Pakistan's authorization. Dig deeper ( 4 Min. Read )