Global Reach

Forget the will-America-become-an-empire debate, Chalmers Johnson advises: America already has an empire, and its essential unit is the armed enclave. "Once upon a time, you could trace the spread of imperialism by counting up colonies," he writes. "America's version of the colony is the military base, and the impact and reach of our colonial empire has become reduced to a single word: Footprint."

Elsewhere in the imperium: a report in Southern Exposure claims that reconstruction contractors in Iraq are raking in the dough for frequently shoddy work.