War Reporters Used to Prefer Morality Over Impartiality

Robert Fisk / Truthdig Feb 8, 2009 I wonder -- in an age when the BBC can refuse help to the suffering because of its "impartiality" -- whether we still report war with the same power and passion as the men and women of an earlier generation. Dig deeper ( 4 Min. Read )

Leave World War II Out of Gaza

Robert Fisk / Truthdig Jan 17, 2009 I have long raged against any comparisons with the Second World War -- whether of the Arafat-is-Hitler variety once deployed by Menachem Begin or of the anti-war- demonstrators-are- 1930s-appeasers, most recently used by George Bush and Lord Blair of Kut al-Amara. Dig deeper ( 5 Min. Read )

Digging Into Franco’s Bloody Reign

Staff / Truthdig Oct 17, 2008 An acclaimed Spanish judge has ordered the unearthing of some of the unmarked graves of the tens of thousands who were killed during the first two decades of Gen. Francisco Franco's fascist rule of Spain, formally declaring the repression by Franco and associates as a "crime against humanity." Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Horrors of War Our Leaders Never Have to Confront

Robert Fisk / Truthdig Sep 23, 2008 I'm not sure of this, but I think -- I suspect and feel -- that the Great War, the war of 1914-1918, is beginning to dominate our lives even more than the terrible and infinitely more costly conflict of 1939-1945. The Second World War may haunt our lives. The First World War, it seems to me, imprisons us all. Dig deeper ( 5 Min. Read )

Truthdigger of the Week: Edwin O. Guthman

Staff / Truthdig Sep 8, 2008 Truthdig tips its hat this week to Edwin O. Guthman, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, World War II veteran, professor and former press secretary to Robert F. Kennedy. Guthman, who died Aug. 31, was a true class act, a mentor to many and, as the Los Angeles Times noted, a top-notch editor who earned the No. 3 spot on President Richard Nixon's enemies list for what the Times called his "aggressive pursuit of Watergate stories." Updated Dig deeper ( 4 Min. Read )

The Military-Industrial Complex: It’s Much Later Than You Think

Chalmers Johnson / Truthdig Jul 28, 2008 Since 1961, there has been too little serious study of, or discussion of, the origins of the military-industrial complex, how it has changed over time, how governmental secrecy has hidden it from oversight by members of Congress or attentive citizens, and how it degrades our constitutional structure of checks and balances. Dig deeper ( 15 Min. Read )

Bush Compares Today’s World to WWII

Staff / Truthdig May 30, 2008 Speaking at the United States Air Force Academy graduation ceremony in Colorado Springs on Wednesday, President Bush readied the Class of 2008 for their future in the military by making repeated references to "the Greatest Generation" and World War II -- oh, and also by body-slamming graduates. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

A Papal Primer on Global Diplomacy

Staff / Truthdig Apr 19, 2008 Pope Benedict XVI's latest major stop on his U.S. tour took him to the United Nations, where he held forth about the need to prioritize human rights for all and pointed out how the majority of power to impact global events still remains in the hands of very few key players. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Iwo Jima Vet: Time Magazine Cover ‘a Disgrace’

Staff / Truthdig Apr 18, 2008 It's become a visual meme in our culture, but some World War II veterans don't believe that Joe Rosenthal's seminal image of Americans hoisting the flag on Mount Suribachi should be appropriated or altered in any way. In fact, some vets, like Donald Mates, believe repurposing the photo, as Time magazine has just done for an issue about global warming, is tantamount to blasphemy. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Peace Sign Turns 50

Staff / Truthdig Mar 20, 2008 It started as a rallying image for the British anti-nuclear movement in the late '50s and went on to become one of the world's most instantly recognizable -- and widely adopted -- symbols. But did you know that the iconic peace sign was originally derived from the semaphore alphabet? Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Greenspan: Dark Days Ahead for the Global Economy

Staff / Truthdig Mar 17, 2008 Those hoping for better news about the state of the U.S. economy -- not to mention the bigger picture -- aren't going to hear it from former Fed chair Alan Greenspan anytime soon, judging by his ominous forecast released Monday. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

The Gardens of the Devil

Robert Fisk / Truthdig Mar 1, 2008 The first time I saw one, my first instinct was to pick it up. It shone in the sunlight, bright green, something new and fresh amid the dry grass of the south Lebanon hills. The little cluster bomblet seemed to have been made to hold in the hand. No wonder the little children died. Dig deeper ( 4 Min. Read )