The Journalist and the ‘Fixer’: Who Makes the Story Possible?

By Nick Turse / TomDispatch Oct 5, 2017 When it comes to overseas reporting, “fixers”—those resourceful, wired-in locals who know all the right people—often make stories possible. Dig deeper ( 11 Min. Read )

U.S. Special Ops Forces Deployed to 137 Nations—So Far—in 2017

By Nick Turse / TomDispatch Jun 27, 2017 A lack of meaningful strategic results from these deployment levels has not led Washington to raise fundamental questions about ways the U.S. employs its elite forces. Dig deeper ( 13 Min. Read )

The Year of the Commando

By Nick Turse / TomDispatch Jan 5, 2017 In one conflict zone after another across the northern tier of Africa and the Greater Middle East, U.S. special operations forces waged their particular brand of low-profile warfare during 2016. Dig deeper ( 15 Min. Read )

Chris Hedges: Vietnam War, Like the Later Iraq and Afghanistan Wars, Was ‘One Long Atrocity’ (Video)

BLANK Jan 4, 2017 Hedges and Nick Turse, author of “Kill Anything That Moves: The Real American War in Vietnam," discuss how American wars of occupation are "primarily about murder."Chris Hedges and Nick Turse, author of “Kill Anything That Moves: The Real American War in Vietnam," discuss how American wars of occupation are "primarily about murder." Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

An Interrogation in the President-Elect’s Private ‘Public’ Park

By Nick Turse / TomDispatch Nov 28, 2016 High above, in Manhattan’s very own gilt "White House," Donald J. Trump was huddled with his inner circle, plotting how they would “drain the swamp” and remake Washington, perhaps the world. Dig deeper ( 10 Min. Read )

Rebirth of a Nation?

By Nick Turse / TomDispatch Nov 16, 2016 There’s good reason to assume Donald Trump will be a Clintonesque hawk or even worse, but there is also reason to believe—due to his propensity for lies, bluster and backing down—that he could turn out to be less bellicose. Dig deeper ( 10 Min. Read )

My Military, Win, Lose or Draw

By Nick Turse / TomDispatch Sep 29, 2016 Although American politicians like Hillary Clinton regularly insist that the U.S. possesses “the greatest military” on the planet, they avoid addressing what the country’s armed interventions have actually accomplished when it comes to policy goals -- the true measure of success in war. Dig deeper ( 11 Min. Read )

What the U.S. Military Doesn’t Know (and Neither Do You)

By Nick Turse / TomDispatch Sep 7, 2016 Exactly how many times U.S. soldiers have parachuted into the sky over Africa is unknown. But according to America’s premier think tank for evaluating the military, the program in which they do so consistently produces poor results. Dig deeper ( 10 Min. Read )

We Have Met the Alien, and He Is Us

By William J. Astore / TomDispatch Jul 14, 2016 Only when we see the evidence of our own invasive nature can we begin to become the kind of land we say we want to be. Dig deeper ( 10 Min. Read )

Leaker, Speaker, Soldier, Spy: The Charmed Life of David Petraeus

By Nick Turse / TomDispatch Jul 6, 2016 It seems a robust Rolodex with the right global roster, a marquee name and a cultivated geopolitical brand covers a multitude of sins. And that’s precisely the type of firepower that Petraeus brings to the table. Dig deeper ( 12 Min. Read )

The Numbers Racket: U.S. Africa Command Clams Up After Contradictory Statements to Congress

By Nick Turse / TomDispatch Jun 29, 2016 Somehow, between 2015 and 2016, more than 200 AFRICOM missions from 2014 simply vanished. And the Senate Armed Services Committee apparently hasn't bothered to ask for clarification. Dig deeper ( 9 Min. Read )

Hillary Clinton’s State Department Let South Sudan Use Child Soldiers

Staff / Truthdig Jun 11, 2016 Hillary Clinton spent years vowing to defend the rights of children worldwide, but under her leadership the State Department played a central role in allowing rebel forces in southern Sudan to use child soldiers in defiance of a 2008 law forbidding it. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )