Pentagon

Washington, DC (AFP) – The US must examine whether American-made military gear in Yemen is being transferred to unintended recipients, including Al-Qaeda and Iran-backed rebels, a top general said on Tuesday. General Joseph Votel, who heads US Central Command covering the Middle East, expressed concern to senators about a CNN investigation that found weaponry and […]

Donald Trump

America’s Endless Wars on Autopilot in our Endless Trumpworld

Andrew J. Bacevich

(Tomdispatch.com) – The news, however defined, always contains a fair amount of pap. Since Donald Trump’s ascent to the presidency, however, the trivia quotient in the average American’s daily newsfeed has grown like so many toadstools in a compost heap, overshadowing or crowding out matters of real substance. We’re living in TrumpWorld, folks. Never in […]

Pentagon

Our Man from Boeing: Has the Arms Industry Captured Trump’s Pentagon?

Tomdispatch

By Mandy Smithberger and William D. Hartung | – ( Tomdispatch.com) – The way personnel spin through Washington’s infamous revolving door between the Pentagon and the arms industry is nothing new. That door, however, is moving ever faster with the appointment of Patrick Shanahan, who spent 30 years at Boeing, the Pentagon’s second largest contractor, […]

Pentagon

So Much Losing: America’s Small Unending Wars of the 21st Century

William J. Astore

(Tomdispatch.com ) – One of the finest military memoirs of any generation is Defeat Into Victory, British Field Marshal Sir William Slim’s perceptive account of World War II’s torturous Burma campaign, which ended in a resounding victory over Japan. When America’s generals write their memoirs about their never-ending war on terror, they’d do well to […]

Pentagon

Do we need Tanf? US’s 4,775 global Military ‘Sites,’ cost us $716 bn/ yr.

Nick Turse

( Tomdispatch.com) – The U.S. military is finally withdrawing (or not) from its base at al-Tanf. You know, the place that the Syrian government long claimed was a training ground for Islamic State (ISIS) fighters; the land corridor just inside Syria, near both the Iraqi and Jordanian borders, that Russia has called a terrorist hotbed […]

Pentagon

Trump’s 3 Generals may be Out, but the Forever War Lobby Still Rules

Danny Sjursen

( Tomdispatch.com) – Leave it to liberals to pin their hopes on the oddest things. In particular, they seemed to find post-Trump solace in the strange combination of the two-year-old Mueller investigation and the good judgment of certain Trump appointees, the proverbial “adults in the room.” Remember that crew? It once included Secretary of State […]

Featured

Mattis was no Shining Knight: From backing Yemen War to Whitewashing Khashoggi Murder

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment): Official Washington was horrified at the resignation on Thursday of Secretary of Defense James Mattis, who wrote Trump a letter (below) that said “Because you have the right to have a Secretary of Defense whose views are better aligned with yours on these and other subjects, I believe it is right […]

Pentagon

The New Role of the US Navy as Brig for the World

Karen J. Greenberg

( Tomdispatch.com) – I grew up in New London, Connecticut, watching many a military ship float by my window. New London was home to the Coast Guard Academy and sat across the river from a U.S. Navy submarine base. Uniformed guardsmen, sailors in training, and sub crews leaving port would regularly wave to my friends […]

Pentagon

Are Trump & Khashoggi Case dragging down SecDef Mattis, Last Adult in Room?

AFP

Washington, DC (AFP) | – US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis tells Pentagon reporters he has seen ‘no smoking gun’ tying the Saudi crown prince to Khashoggi’s killing US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, who has enjoyed a level of bipartisan support rarely seen in Washington, is facing mounting public criticism amid the fallout from the slaying […]