Vance Says Bombing Iran Is Different From Other 'Dumb' Presidents' Military Actions
On Sunday talk shows, the vice president made the case for bombing Iran—a notable shift from his previous anti-war rhetoric.
Iraq
A Brief, Bloody History of All the Times the U.S. Caused Chaos in the Middle East
The conflict with Iran is the latest in a decadeslong series of regime change operations, long-term entanglements, and all-out wars that always seem to invite more problems.
U.S. Government: We Didn't Use 'Political Violence' in Iraq
A training slideshow reveals how deluded American leaders continue to be about the Iraq War, more than two decades later.
Tariffs Failed in the Middle East—America Shouldn't Make the Same Mistake
Protectionism in Egypt and Iraq fueled corruption, stagnation, and smuggling—not prosperity.
Alex Garland's Warfare Refuses To Soften the Blow of Combat
A Civil War follow up that depicts the bleak, meaningless, moment-to-moment terror of modern war.
The Best of Reason: Can Ultimate Frisbee Heal the Middle East?
The spread of Ultimate Frisbee testifies to a kind of Western soft power in the Middle East, one far friendlier than bombs or bullets.
Does Trump Want Lower Gas Prices or Oil Sanctions on Iran?
The Trump administration’s math on Middle Eastern energy supplies just doesn’t add up.
Can Ultimate Frisbee Heal the Middle East?
The spread of Ultimate Frisbee testifies to a kind of Western soft power in the Middle East, one far friendlier than bombs or bullets.
The White House's 'Feverish Dream' About $50 Million for Condoms in Gaza
The Trump administration made an extreme claim about wasteful foreign aid that just wasn't true.
Review: A True Crime Podcast About a Massacre in Iraq
Season three of the In the Dark podcast divulges new details about U.S. Marines' killings of 24 Iraqis in 2005.
Democratic Hubris Blows Up in Michigan
Democrats assumed they could campaign as neoconservatives while keeping Middle Eastern votes. They were wrong.
War Is a Self-Licking Ice Cream Cone
Washington risks Americans’ lives in wars of choice, then uses their deaths to justify more war.
The Military Tried To Hide Evidence of a Massacre. A Lawsuit Just Exposed It.
The New Yorker sued for photos of the Haditha killings in Iraq—and found audio of a Marine general bragging about covering up those photos.
Will Biden Sleepwalk Into a War With Iran?
Israeli leaders have been betting on a U.S.-Iranian war for a while. After this week, it might be at their doorstep.
Martin Indyk Got Us Knee-Deep Into the Middle East—and Then Tried To Get Us Out
The late U.S. diplomat helped form America’s policies towards Iran, Iraq, and Israel. By the end of his life, he'd had enough.
Biden Brags That 'the United States Is Not at War' As He Bombs Yemen
The wars aren’t over. America is still fighting—directly and indirectly—in the Middle East, Africa, and Eastern Europe.
Biden Sends U.S. Forces To Protect Israel's Borders for the First Time Ever
Washington quietly funded Israeli-Iranian proxy wars for years. Now American men and women are directly involved.
Endless War Continues
Plus: An immigration deal that's already collapsing, more expensive Big Macs, and Taylor Swift (because why not).
The Killing of 3 American Troops Was an Avoidable Tragedy
The U.S. base on the Jordanian-Syrian border has long been "strategic baggage."
The War on Terror Zombie Army Has Assembled
All of the unfinished U.S. conflicts in the Middle East are coming together into one big crisis for Biden.
The U.S. Is Done In Iraq
U.S. officials ritualistically tout their respect for Iraq’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, but every U.S. president over the last three decades has bombed Iraq in some way.
Why Are American Troops Still in Iraq and Syria?
Our troops are just sitting there with targets on their backs. Why?
Jacob Siegel: 'Disinformation' Is the Hoax of the Century
From Russiagate to COVID discourse, elites in government and the media are trying to control and centralize free speech and open inquiry.
Senate Finally Revokes the President's Authority To Bomb Iraq
Revoking the 1991 and 2002 authorizations for the use of military force would be a good start, but the 2001 authorization has been used dozens of times to justify conflicts in numerous countries.
Recent Airstrikes Are Our Periodic Reminder That We're Fighting a War in Syria
Four years after IS was officially defeated, the U.S. continues to keep hundreds of troops in Syria to fight the vanquished terrorist group.
Sen. Rand Paul: 'Dr. Fauci Is Disingenuous. He Is Conflicted.'
The Kentucky Republican also expressed disappointment that Congress has not repealed the war on terror authorization of military force.
John Bolton Is Still Wrong About Iraq
Bolton says the Bush administration's biggest error in Iraq was failing to invade Iran too. That's madness.
Two Decades Later, the War in Iraq Is Over—Right?
There’s no vital U.S. interest served by this indefinite advise-and-assist mission in the region.
Why Is It So Hard for Congress To End a War?
Lawmakers are once again trying to reclaim their war powers through AUMF repeal.
Examining America's War in Iraq After 20 Years
It was a blunder. Worse than that, it was a crime.
Conservative Cancel Culture Comes to Kurdistan
Religious Kurds used social media to shut down a rap concert—and they're swinging their weight around politics, too.
Midterm Polling, PayPal, and Patellas
Plus: The editors consider Ye and social media, then field a question about the TARP bailouts during the 2008 fiscal crisis.
Are We Past 'Peak Petrostate'?
It's the economics of energy production that make petrostates more trigger-happy, Emma Ashford argues in Oil, the State, and War.
Biden Told Congress U.S. Troops Are Fighting in the Middle East. Now He Says They Aren't.
He claims he'll be "the first president to visit the Middle East since 9/11 without U.S. troops engaged in a combat mission there." But that's not true.
Destroying Islamic Fundamentalism With Books
Ideas Beyond Borders is bringing ideas about pluralism, civil liberties, and critical thinking to hotbeds of Islamic extremism.
Faisal Saeed Al Mutar, Melissa Chen: Bringing Enlightenment Values to the Middle East
The co-founders of Ideas Beyond Borders talk about bringing Steven Pinker and John Stuart Mill to an audience dying for them.
From Iraq to Ukraine, the American Press Loves a War
Today's journalists aren't speaking truth to power by not-so-subtly agitating for direct military involvement in Ukraine.
'Fear Is the Tool of Totalitarians': Ron Paul on War, Money, and the Libertarian Moment
The former Texas congressman and presidential candidate says his goal was to get people to think about freedom.
Strikes on U.S. Troops Show the Need To Withdraw From Iraq and Syria
Biden rightly stuck to his guns when he defended the long-overdue U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, but he fails to apply the same logic elsewhere.
Will America's Military Reckon with the Reckless Murders Perpetuated by Its Drone Wars?
A new, heavily investigated report shows a Pentagon uninterested in correcting its deadly errors.
Iraqi Comedian Ahmed Albasheer: The U.S. Invasion Created a Thousand Saddams
"Anyone in a black suit and a black mask can break into my house and take me and kill my family."
Biden Won't End the Warfare-Surveillance State
National security reporter Spencer Ackerman on 9/11, mass surveillance at home, and failed wars abroad.
Spencer Ackerman: How 9/11 Destabilized America and Produced Trump
The Reign of Terror author on fighting surveillance and interventionism done in the name of stopping jihad.
9/11's Lesson: War Doesn't Work
Historian Stephen Wertheim says two decades of failed wars have finally made America more likely to embrace military restraint.
Why It Took So Long To Leave Afghanistan: Antiwar.com's Scott Horton
The foreign policy author and podcast host discusses Joe Biden's withdrawal and how to fix U.S. foreign policy.
Scott Horton: U.S. Should Have Pulled Out Of Afghanistan Years Ago
The Enough Already: Time To End the War on Terror author on fixing foreign policy in the Joe Biden era.
After 18 Disastrous Years, the U.S. Should Withdraw All Troops From Iraq
I witnessed firsthand how U.S. actions that favored one group inevitably angered another, which is why the war is an endless game of whack-a-mole.
