Latest

Atrocity Exhibition

These New Yorkers want to transform the September 11 museum, but can it be anything other than a purveyor of War on Terror propaganda?

China Says NSA Surveillance Is Intensifying

As Uncle Ben once said, with great power competition comes great espionage expansions. PLUS: Egypt buys a senator; and more!

Anatomy of a U.S. Foreign Policy Win

Ukraine gets weapons. Imran Khan gets dismissed and prosecuted. The only ones who lose are Pakistanis, and since when does the U.S. give a shit about them?

The Virgin Rome And The Chad Constantinople

Do you think about the Roman Empire a lot? Obviously. But which Roman Empire? And which successor to the Roman Empire? PLUS: Some appearances I'm doing.

Writing Villains: A Place To Put Bad Feelings

Waller Vs. Wildstorm #3, the big action issue, is in stores now! No spoilers, just notes on the catharsis of scripting people who do evil things, like "peace operations officer" Slade Wilson.

St. Augustine's 9/11 Anniversary

Lord, implored President Biden, let us "turn the page" on the War on Terror. Just not yet.

Drones Over Brooklyn, RICO for Cop City Protesters

As the Air Force pursues AI-powered drones for combat, the NYPD uses older models to spy on Caribbean Brooklyn. What starts as military tech doesn't stay as military tech. PLUS: Georgia files egregious charges against the anti-Cop City movement!

U.S. Foreign Policy Has an Extinction Agenda

As the world loses time to act, US elites are working to dominate the remains of a ruined planet.

Who Is And Isn't A Terrorist, January 6 Edition

An Iraq combat veteran turned Proud Boy sentenced for seditious conspiracy applies the logic of 9/11 to 1/6.

Military Judge Rejects CIA's 'Rectal Feeding' Narrative for Post-9/11 Sexual Assault

No previous judge has challenged the agency's line about what it did to 9/11-era detainees. PLUS: The absence of the U.S. military for the relief of Maui.

Rudy Giuliani Was A Creation of The New York Media

This is for every New Yorker who in the 1990s watched our local press launder a racist authoritarian mayor into someone who'd save the city from… the people who live here. He always was who he is now

A Really Good Place To Be A Climate Refugee

Ireland in August is a great place to contemplate the prospect of civilizational collapse.

This Is How Trump Becomes a Dictator

The former president doesn’t want to destroy the security state. He wants to bend it to his will.

Biden Goes All In On FBI/NSA Mass Surveillance

The White House's final offer on surveillance reform: nothing. At least they stripped away the pretense that there's any way to fix Section 702. PLUS: Pee-Wee's last adventure

Gillibrand And Biden Protect Troops The Military Simply Left To Be Sexually Assaulted

The chain of command was never more important than the right of servicemembers not to be sexually abused. I can still hear the Pentagon saying they should never break the chain

Mark Milley's Last Mistake

This guy simply should not have been chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. His final attempt to build the U.S. military of the future is gibberish.

CIA Story Time: From Patrice Lumumba's Assassination To Post-9/11 Torture

Before his death in 2008, CIA operator Larry Devlin lamented the persecution of agency interrogators. A forthcoming book sheds light on his role overthrowing Congo's first post-colonial government.

The Bipartisan Parts of the Defense Bill Suck, Too

House Republicans used $886 billion (!) NDAA as a pitchfork for a culture-war witchhunt. That just scratches the surface of what's wrong with this thing.

Babylon Makes The Rules-Based International Order

You know what clarifies the difference between the U.S.' order and international law? Syria. Guidance…

The Foreign Policy Elite Can't Understand How They Got Us Here

Richard Haass of the Council on Foreign Relations thinks the biggest danger to the world is the United States. But he doesn't mean it in the way that's, y'know, true.

Affirmative Action—But Only For The Military Academies

In a footnote, the Supreme Court directs Black and brown advancement into a uniform.

U.N.: U.S. Must 'Make Full Reparation For The Injuries Caused' by Gitmo

"Without accountability, there is no moving forward on Guantánamo," said a U.N. special rapporteur, shouting a truth into the void of U.S. foreign policy.

From Dan Ellsberg and Vietnam to Bob Gates and NATO Expansion

The ex-defense secretary wrote in his 2014 memoir that expanding NATO inevitably provoked Russia—and kept silent to George W. Bush instead of doing something about it.

Daniel Ellsberg’s Heroism Began with Listening to the Antiwar Left

The whistleblower confronted his complicity in the Vietnam-era war machine. His successors within it prefer to show up at Henry Kissinger's gala.

"This Is About The Way The WORLD Is About To BE…"

Issue 2 of the critically-acclaimed WALLER VS. WILDSTORM is on sale at comic stores everywhere. It's time to build that Wall. PLUS: U.S. intelligence's latest end run around the Constitution: buying your data!

Abolish Section 702

There should be no future for Section 702, an enduring vestige of the post-9/11 security state. To kill it, all Congress has to do is do nothing.

If 9/11 Was God's Vengeance for Homosexuality, What's Pat Robertson's Death During Pride Month?

God was very, very far from the War on Terror. Those who wanted to make it an explicit religious war were not.

When Protest Is 'Terrorism,' Material-Support Charges Are Next

Wednesday's arrests of the Atlanta Solidarity Fund over Cop City could be a strike against protest infrastructure nationwide, warns Cat Brooks of the Anti-Police Terror Project.

The Three Laws of Robotics Will Be Violated Like All Other Laws

The Air Force might not have run an AI test that prompted a machine to kill its overseer with a drone. The Air Force colonel who brought it up did so as a warning.

How To Deter FBI Surveillance Crime: Make Them Write It Down

A recent spy-court document suggests that fear of getting caught stops the FBI from a lot of its "backdoor searches." How might a criminologist view this phenomenon?!

Based Fiona Hill

Here's a rare example of an eminence willing to take clear-eyed stock of most of the world's rejection of coalescing Cold Wars. PLUS: Elon Musk, antisemitism, capitalism and Magneto! AND: Get used to being a needle in U.S. intelligence's HAYSTAC!

Why the Right Embraces Military-Veteran Vigilantes

The extreme right is often misconstrued as anti-war. In reality, it wants to wage its war on American soil—against people whose Americanness it won’t recognize.

A Strangler in a Strange Land

Daniel Penny killed Jordan Neely with his bare hands on video, but every institution in New York seems to be on Penny’s side. Why?

The Killing of Jordan Neely In The Shadow of The Rent Guidelines Board

Homelessness can happen to anyone in this economy, and anyone means you and me. Don't live in New York if you're afraid of New Yorkers.

Emptying Guantanamo Is Not The Same As Closing Guantanamo

New column for The Nation – and you, the FOREVER WARS subscriber – just dropped. Unless the post-9/11 forever prison is permanently shuttered, it’s only a matter of time before one of Biden’s successors takes up Trump’s unrealized call to fill it back up with “some bad dudes.”

U.N.: Free Abu Zubaydah—and Pay Him

An extraordinary report from the United Nations says the detention of the first forever-prisoner the U.S. tortured after 9/11 and then threw into Gitmo amounts to an "enforced disappearance."

How To Read an Intelligence Leak

One of the recent ChudLeaks claims Afghanistan is fertile soil for the so-called Islamic State. Let's step back for some perspective. PLUS: The Pegasus cyberweapon is back.

'This Was Nineveh, After All…'

Have you read Salar Abdoh's Out Of Mesopotamia? Because I can't stop thinking about it. PLUS: Tortuguita's autopsy; Guantanamo and the Yemen war; and are we sure we're not incentivizing China to invade Taiwan?

The Chud Era of National Security Leaks

Expanding the Security State means relying on millions of people with secret clearances. As time passes, more and more of them are going to be inveterate posters. PLUS: Tech bros kill each other and blame the homeless!

Will Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson Close The Homan Square Black Site?

The incoming mayor put closing Homan Square in his platform. Veteran organizers and abolitionists are optimistic he'll follow through. PLUS: Is Chinese diplomacy ending the Yemen war?

Eating King Crab Legs During The Fall

That's what Iraqis call the 2003-2011 U.S. Occupation. Here's my call for reparations at Notre Dame's 2023 War & Peace Forum. PLUS: Does MAGA want to join the ranks of those who attack lower Manhattan on a Tuesday morning?

Kane of Terror

WALLER VS WILDSTORM #1 is here! That can only mean one thing: this edition is going to talk about writing one of the major characters in the miniseries. Minor spoilers follow, so get the issue!

What Gives You The Right To Fuck With Our Lives?

Disconnected thoughts, memories and podcasts 20 years after the invasion of Iraq. PLUS: Lee Harris, an innocent man railroaded by a Chicago cop turned Gitmo torturer, is free!

Unlearned Lessons from An Endless War

The 'Indispensable Nation' Learns It Might Not Be Great-Power-Competitive

Longtime U.S.-client Saudi Arabia is out for "a diversified portfolio of relationships," says a source close to the royals. The China-brokered detente with Iran shows that yesterday's price is not today's price

'Even Our Breath Will Be For Sale'

A few notes on my Rolling Stone piece about the 20th anniversary of Iraq, as well as a video of a panel I was on in D.C. on the subject. PLUS: Worldwide Threats, Nordstream counternarratives, and a legendary natsec blazing session

Biden: Department of Homeland Security 'As Important As It’s Ever Been'

Maybe in the sense that it's never been important. But as DHS turns 20, the administration is signaling that the post-9/11 institution is here to stay

When They're White, They're 'Tactical Athletes'

Edited by Sam Thielman IN REIGN OF TERROR, now available in paperback, I wrote: Never would America acknowledge that the violent, reactionary dangers that it attributed to its enemies were also part of its own history. That was the meaning of Oklahoma City. It was the meaning of January 6.

Michael Molcher on Judge Dredd and The Endpoint of 'Policing by Consent'

Molcher's new book, I Am The Law: How Judge Dredd Predicted Our Future, is a great one. He speaks to FOREVER WARS about the politics of crime

FOREVER WARS: The Escalation

I'm going to start writing a column for The Nation. But this newsletter will continue—independently. I'll even reprint the paywalled columns here, for paid subscribers.

We Will Remember Who Collaborates With The Aliens

I don't know what these weird flying objects are either, but just in case, let's let this be said. PLUS: While we overfocus on UFOs, avoidable railroad horrors lead to avoidable disaster in Ohio. And the first page of WALLER VS. WILDSTORM!

The Worst Argument For The China Cold War

Conflict with China will not "cure American political polarization," so let's pop this balloon. PLUS: Ilhan Omar's defenestration! A fake China missile gap! And the F-22 has its bar mitzvah!

Brandon's Weapons Bazaar

New arms-sales data just dropped. Joe Biden has been so good for the weapons-export market that an analyst wonders if this is "a new normal," rather than a Ukraine-specific uptick. PLUS: Majid Khan is free! ALSO: A corrupt spyhunter mook at the NY FBI, you say?

Saying The Quiet Part Out Loud About War With China

The Pentagon says it doesn't want a war after an Air Force general predicted it. But what anyone wants is less important than what the dynamics of "Great Power Competition" yield. PLUS: Really good books by Kerry Howley and Sevgi Soysal.

Terrorism and Counterterrorism in Cop City

We get a potential glimpse into the future of the War on Terror at Atlanta's $90 million law-enforcement training center—and the police shooting of a protester. PLUS: U.S. strikes in Somalia, raids in Syria and ominous signs at Guantanamo

Of Course Davos Wants To Hear from Henry Kissinger

What better forum could there be for one of the 20th century's ghouls to tell those who most benefit from the world as it is what they want to hear? PLUS: The U.S. arms market in Yemen will not be undersold!

Is He Really Ending 2022 by Writing about Ottoman History?

Free Daniel Hale

And with that, we'll see you in 2023. But first, don't turn away from Lynzy Billing's unforgettable ProPublica report about the cost of a parcel of rice, a can of oil and some sugar.

Some of Those That Work Fusion Centers Are The Same As Constitution-Enders

Oath Keepers in the Department of Homeland Security "would ultimately choose the Oath Keepers over the department," says Daryl Johnson, whom DHS canceled for warning about this kind of thing. PLUS: I'll be speaking at a Thursday press conference for clemency for drone whistleblower Daniel Hale.

A Yemen War Resolution Will Be A Moment of Truth for Biden

"Consequences" for MBS seems like a quaint idea, post-Ukraine. PLUS: Biden's December 2022 War on Terror disclosure form shows an increase in U.S. troops in Niger.

As Xi Visits Saudi Arabia, U.S. Tells Mideast Allies Not To Comparison Shop

How to wage two Cold Wars at the same time? With security architecture that works like a walled garden. Would the Gulfies buy a Mac when all their stuff runs on Windows?

Twitter’s Secrets Are in the Worst Possible Hands

The social media company’s entire business was content moderation. Its “free speech” king has destroyed it. Now what? PLUS: Come see Spencer talk in Manhattan on Tuesday!

Until The Twitter Ban Takes Us

No one knows if or when the purge will come for us, but there's an enriching and affordable way to reject it—a FOREVER WARS subscription.

Blaming The Afghans One Last Time

U.S. watchdog SIGAR told true stories about the trees of the Afghanistan war. It avoided talking about the forest—and the people trying to survive the changing ecosystem.

U.S. Intelligence Begins To Rethink Its Analysts' Emirati Career Path

A War-on-Terror retirement plan for U.S. intelligence officers grows into an espionage problem. PLUS: WALLER VS. WILDSTORM is delayed, but not canceled! AND: A note on trans panic and the midterms.

The Department of Homeland Security Is Still Lying To Congress About Its Portland Protest Surveillance

A knowledgeable former DHS official refutes a misleading claim in a recent DHS report. PLUS: Let's talk about antisemitism.

Talleyrand Quotes Set To Crass Beats, f/Mike Duncan of Revolutions

Joe Biden's Disposition Matrix

The Obama administration created a bureaucratic entity with life-or-death power to "dispose" of suspected terrorists. A senior official confirms that Biden has brought it back.

The Biggest Gang in Haiti is the United States

Washington is preparing yet another military intervention in Haiti, all on the pretext of saving Haitians from the chaos it creates and exploits. Haitians deserve reparations, not soldiers.

Friend of Jim Lee

So I couldn't tell you last week that I was on a panel with the comics heroes of my youth, but here’s video of it. Subscribers only, so subscribe!

Guantanamo Bay in The January Sixer Imagination

It turns out jail isn't what they thought it would be. You'll never guess what they think Guantanamo is. PLUS: Checking in on The Woke Military

Me and WALLER VS. WILDSTORM at New York Comic Con

I kind of can't say more than that right now? But come say hi if you're there this week.

Reading 'Lazarus' in the Year Minus-X

I'm not writing this because Greg Rucka recommended REIGN OF TERROR in the backmatter of Lazarus: Risen #7, out now from Image Comics. But I'm not not writing this because Greg Ru

The 'Woke Military' Will Let You Join The Oath Keepers

Current Pentagon policies against far right or white supremacist extremism in uniform are "absolute milquetoast," according to a senior Pentagon official.

U.S. Rejected Taliban Seat on Board of Fund Controlling Afghanistan's Wealth

Now the Taliban, which is the government, opposes the Afghan Fund. A U.S.-appointed Afghan trustee is warning Washington against weaponizing it.

REIGN OF TERROR Wins A 2022 American Book Award

I know, it's tacky to talk about your awards. But if you don't, no one will recognize. Read this post in Ric Flair's voice.

CNN Hires Ex-Cop Who Defended NYPD's Mass Violation of Muslim Civil Rights

John Miller recently slipped into apparent perjury about mosque surveillance before the City Council, but he's trustworthy enough for CNN. PLUS: China accuses the NSA of data theft

The Kalashnikov of Drones, Kinda Sorta

Turkey's Bayraktar-2 is not a liberation tool favored by guerillas. But for states looking to engage in some drone warfare of their own, it sure lowers the barrier to entry.

An Energy Weapon Is About To Freeze The UK's Working Class

It's not so much the cold as the neoliberal energy decontrols and skyrocketing prices. Like in a postapocalyptic movie, our correspondent looks for salvation in his propane stove.

But Without Debt, Who Will Fight Our Wars?

Usually politicians deny that there's a Poverty Draft in the "All-Volunteer Military." But even a meager amount of student-debt forgiveness has the mask flying off.

The War on Terror Isn't Over, According to Biden's Justice Dept.

Edited by Sam Thielman SINCE THE U.S. MILITARY departed Afghanistan a year ago, the Justice Department under President Biden has asserted in at least four cases that the end of that war has no bearing on the broader War on Terror. Crucially, these are the cases of four people

WALLER VS. WILDSTORM Is The REIGN OF TERROR of Comics

In November, DC Comics will publish a book I wrote along with my friend Evan Narcisse and drawn by the brilliant Eric Battle. I can't wait for you to see this dream of mine come true.

When Reactionaries Fight Alphabet Boys

For socialists, FBI vs MAGA looks like an Iran-Iraq War, as those that work forces face hostility from those that burn crosses. But if MAGA doesn't actually start shooting, history suggests a detente

Substack Retaliates Against FOREVER WARS Editor

Spencer took the newsletter off Substack when his contract ended. They got mad at the blog post explaining why and took away Sam’s freelance gigs because he…edited it

First Impressions on the Execution of Ayman al-Zawahiri

Like Obama with Osama bin Laden, Biden did not portray Zawahiri's death as an end to the War on Terror, but instead as a kind of a kind of proof of concept. But what did it prove, and what is the concept?

The Ghost Era of FOREVER WARS Begins

FOREVER WARS is no longer a Substack. PLUS: Biden's Mideast apology tour. AND FINALLY: merch!

Forever Wars #100

That's how many editions Sam and I produced in the past 52 weeks. Time for some anniversary journalism. Like all anniversary journalism, this edition will be lazy.

United Nations Warns of Yemen's Next Disaster

As President Biden attempts to reset relations with Riyadh, the U.N. details the limits of the ceasefire in Yemen—and says it's "about to get much worse."

Matt Bors' JUSTICE WARRIORS Puts Comics in an Illegal Chokehold

The GOAT political cartoonist talks to FOREVER WARS about bringing his critique of our collapsing society to comic books, the medium he was born to work in. Sorry to Mr. Gotcha.

Part of How They Took Away Your Bodily Autonomy Was Through Terrorism

Bombings, arsons, assassinations. Stalkings, clinic invasions. Assaults, bomb threats. Finally, Supreme Court justices.

Eric Greitens' Death Squad Politics

An accused rapist who trades on his Navy SEAL credentials fantasizes about a violent purge. He likes boasting that the cops are with him. Haha, j/k…unless..?

Few of The President's Men

A bitter irony of the January 6 Committee is that it's paving a road to rehab for Constitutional vandals like Bill Barr.

Ottomans vs. Vampires: Saladin Ahmed on His New Comic, DRAGON

The Summertime FOREVER WARS Work Slowdown

Honestly? It's getting hot out and this newsletter is bleak. Let's take some deep breaths

You Guys Actually Worship Cthulhu

The SBC has pledged to handle their accusers with "Christlike compassion." In a moment when they must repent and pay restitution, they still see themselves in Jesus' sandals.

What America Does Abroad Is What America Does at Home

Human life means nothing to America, domestically or internationally. We who live here will simply have to overcome America for the sake of those who can't. Not great

Civil Libertarian Opposition To New Domestic-Terrorism Bill Weakens

The Buffalo attack has given new life to a Democratic bill establishing domestic counterterrorism offices within DHS, DOJ and the FBI. The ACLU and others no longer oppose it.

Basketball Is Broken

After a second consecutive semifinals loss, a Sixers fan loses faith in the Process—in more ways than one.

When Terrorism Is White, As It So Often Is

Don't go looking for consistency in the application of counterterrorism. The only relevant consistency is America's tolerance of white terrorism, terror as American as apple pie.

Democrats must make abortion the center of their politics

Conservative Christians rewrote history so they could tell each other their whole religion hinged on abortion. It doesn’t, but the fundamental rights of laborers absolutely do.

Who Becomes A "Terrorist" in Post-Roe America?

The fusion centers that DHS set up early in the War on Terror can be used to police your uterus. No federal abortion ban necessary.

Despair Is Premature And Rage Is Insufficient

When the country that considers itself the definition of freedom takes away the most basic freedom of more than half its people, the only response is to resist until the end.

The Defense Industry Is Winning in Ukraine

I know, big surprise. But this stuff is worth tracking, especially as the war bogs down.

NSA Gives $10 Billion Contract To Company With Ex-NSA Director on Its Board

I simply do not know how Amazon, which entirely coincidentally put Ret. Gen. Keith Alexander on the same board as Jeff Bezos, swung this one. PLUS: Neal Adams, RIP.

As Elon Musk Seizes Twitter, Watch His Pentagon Moves

The world's wealthiest troll, who recently claimed his satellite array defeated a Russian attack, is the exact sort of bullshitter the Defense Department drools over.

COVID-19, Season 3 Opener

It's my turn to get the coronavirus and, unfortunately, I'm writing about it. Don't worry, this isn't going to be one of those Substacks.

Life After Being The Center of The World

The hüzün of Istanbul, rendered by Orhan Pamuk, has some lessons for an America that sees itself as the axis on which the earth rotates.

At War With the Pedophile Knowers

Conservatives claim to care about keeping children safe from predation. At their own institutions, children are horrifyingly unsafe, and they’re all looking for the guy who did this.

How The Forever Wars Were (Mis)Reported For 20 Years

I was honored to be part of this discussion with Azmat Khan, Murtaza Hussain and Alice Speri at the International Journalism Festival.

Thirty Months To The Beginning of Extinction

The IPCC's latest report is a grim reminder that the U.S.' response to the Russian aggression in Ukraine threatens the long-term viability of human life on earth.

How The U.S. Moves in Europe vs. How The U.S. Moves in Asia

Prepare for more U.S. troops permanently stationed in Europe. Meanwhile, the Transportation Command outlines some logistical problems for U.S. hegemony in the Pacific.

Saving Ukraine vs. Defeating Russia

A month into the invasion, these two goals look the same. Biden's regime-change line is a reminder of how divergent they are.

Maybe Take It Seriously When Coup Advocates Talk About Throwing People in Guantanamo?

I read Ginni Thomas' texts to Mark Meadows and it turns out that the longer a forever prison stays open, the worse an assumption it is that only Those People end up there

Protect trans kids.

A thoughtless sop to bigots in Texas has endangered trans children and their only advocates. It’s time to stand up for them. PLUS: Madeleine Albright, remembered

The Second U.S. Sacrifice of Yemen

A hidden casualty of Russia's Ukraine invasion is Yemen, as the Saudis and the Emiratis raise the cost for the U.S. of increasing oil production. It's an oil prince's world; people just die in it.

His Torture Was 'On-The-Job-Practice' for CIA Interrogators' ‘Certification’

Langley's case for abusing Ammar Al-Baluchi was 'weak,' 'fuzzy and circular,' & 'extra-legal,' says a secret 2008 CIA inspector general report that FOREVER WARS is publishing for the first time.

Report of the CIA Inspector General Regarding Allegations of Torture Made by Ammar al-Baluchi

Paragraphs 35b to 145, redacted and unclassified

Pentagon Official Rules That A Man The CIA Raped And Tortured Can Go Free

Majid Khan's sentence has been reduced to time served. His lawyer doesn't expect bureaucratic subterfuge before Khan flies out of Guantanamo Bay.

As The Invasion of Ukraine Goes On, Pressure To Escalate Goes Up

The Biden administration is, correctly, against a no-fly zone. The problem will be keeping that politically tenable.

Trust The CIA About What It Should Cover Up, Says Supreme Court

The leading liberal on the Court expressed impressive credulity in blocking an attempt at justice for torture. But Abu Zubaydah's attorneys see a path forward.

So, Just Making Sure That We Agree: It's OK To Seize Oligarchs' Stuff Now

President Biden has vowed to confiscate the assets of parasitic oligarchs. FOREVER WARS has a modest proposal for the expansion of this exciting new front in the class war.

Making Ordinary Russians Suffer for Putin's Invasion

Neither Putin nor his oligarchs will suffer from U.S. and European economic siege warfare—it's part of how Putin rose to power in the first place. Plus: a Xius ex machina?

U.S. Bombs Somalia as Russia Bombs Ukraine

You do not, in fact, have to choose between American and Russian imperial aggressions. Better to bear witness to what is being done in your name.

Pennsylvania Man Charged With Torture Outside Official CIA Channels

The Justice Department really had the nerve to boast about indicting its second U.S. citizen under the 1994 federal torture statute. Also: nothing about Ukraine.

The Digital Offertory and the Militant Right

GiveSendGo isn’t just another far-right Kickstarter clone. It’s an expression of long-established Christian financial frameworks.

The CIA Has Been Stealing Your Data For Years

We don't know much more than that, but thanks to a bulk-surveillance disclosure last week, we know that.

How A Song About a Dog Toy Kept Me From Shitting Myself in Iraq

When An Iraqi Traffic Cop Offers To Share The Porn on His Phone

I randomly came across a forgotten story I wrote on an embed in Baghdad during the 2007 surge. A real dudes-rock moment from across cultures.

'America Is Not A Land of Crime, Horror, Murder, Hatred, and Bloodshed'

Censors on school boards and in legislatures have attacked a vast breadth of literature as “obscene.” You'll be shocked how they define obscenity! PLUS: The death of Whatshisname, leader of ISIS

Teamwork

Matthew Cole's new book Code Over Country reveals what the War on Terror awoke within SEAL Team 6

Iran, Sanctions and Inflation as a Weapon of Mass Destruction

In a new paper, an economist reconceives a pillar of U.S. foreign policy as an indiscriminate weapon that works by harming not regimes but their people.

Marxist Dialectic of The Sewer People

Build Back Better (Weapons Sales Only)

You wanted health care, affordable housing and a dignified wage? Best I can do is help the arms trade.

U.S. Economic Strangulation Could Kill More Afghans Than 20 Years of U.S. War

So this is how we "end" Forever Wars: through inflicting by inflicting catastrophic economic damage as an American policy choice. Call it population-centric vengeance.

Jonathan and Spencer Go to White Castle

The first Katz x Ackerman collab

Strawberry Fields Forever

The Guantanamo Bay detention facility, an atrocity, turns 20 years old on January 11. Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see.

The Onset of Normalization

January 6 was and is a political problem. Without political solutions, there will be more January 6ths.

Today We’re Gonna Give It 35 Percent

You don’t want to work *and* you have no ideas.

We Hope Yule Log Off Whenever Possible

My Christmas present to you is no newsletters until 2022. But first, here’s what Biden makes of his first year of Middle East policy and what I make of three great books/comics.

Here’s The Money You Raised To Protect Abortion Access in Texas

And why we need to do this in the first place.

A Murder Scheme Straight Out of Early Steely Dan

Edited by Sam Thielman EVERYTHING THAT FOLLOWS COMES FROM an indictment. The Justice Department will have to prove its accusations in court. People are innocent until proven guilty; cops lie; prosecutors lie; indictments are best understood as theories of a case. Imagine every sentence I write about this contains the

CAIR Infiltrated by Islamophobic Organization; Alleges Israeli Connection

A stunning betrayal by a trusted senior official goes back at least 13 years, and likely longer, the Muslim civil rights group said Thursday. And he may not be the only mole

The Bastard Children of the 2001 Authorization to Use Military Force

A first look at new research from the Brown University Costs of War Project. Plus: the global policeman turns off his body camera

Behind The Guantanamo Theater

Technocracy can make some good points, but it’s no match for War on Terror politics. The Biden administration sat this one out. Scenes from a Senate judiciary committee hearing

The Peril and the Promise of Biden’s Drone Review

The drone-strike reduction seems to be real. But so is the pull of the status quo, reflected in the Pentagon’s force-posture overview.

Guantanamo Bay, From Cage To Threshold

Dick Durbin says Guantanamo “does not reflect who we are or should be.” He’s right about that second part.

A Song All By Himself

Farewell to Stephen Sondheim, the best to ever do it. But from your bookshelf to your music stand to your Netflix queue, he can never truly be gone.

Who Must Be A Terrorist, And Who Can Never Be

If Ilhan Omar and Lauren Boebert are in an elevator together, the dangerous one isn’t Omar. Weird how the War on Terror instructs otherwise, huh

Major General Despair

The wages of exalting generals and admirals come when we see them express open contempt for the people who exalted them.

Never Mind Yemen, Biden OKs $1 Billion in Weapons Sales To Saudis

Once upon a time, an administration told a story about how it was going to end a war. Then it erased the distinction between peace and a Saudi victory.

Science Fiction Land

What happens when the theme-park guys come for Jack Kirby and Chloe Zhao

Another War on Terror Ghoul Enters The Biden Administration

Ken Wainstein will run the intelligence shop at the Department of Homeland Security. They tried to make me to go to his rehab and I said no, no, no

Nihilistic Feelings Are Moving

If I try reading The Apocalypse and The End of History by Suzanne Schneider, I see right through them.

Enough Human Misery, Let’s Talk about Some Recent Books

‘I Was Raped By The CIA Medics,’ Says Black-Site Survivor

In his first-ever statement, Majid Khan detailed the vengeful reality of the post-9/11 CIA: “The more I cooperated and told them, the more I was tortured.”

The War Crimes Trials That Never Happened

In 1971, one of the greatest journalists of the Vietnam War asked a question that echoes decades later. Join me... and ponder the question... What If?

On U.S. Intelligence’s Wiki, Anxiety About Legal Challenges To Drone Strikes

Who wants to read a never-before-published document leaked by Edward Snowden? It’s weird

"On U.S. Intelligence’s Wiki, Anxiety About Legal Challenges To Drone Strikes," Oct. 22, 2021

Intellipedia entry: “Targeted Killing-Policy, Legal and Ethical Controversy” (PDF) Appended to this article.

The Only Man Who Could Have Stopped The Iraq War Is Dead

Colin Powell chose to sell a war he knew was wrong. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis were unavailable for comment on his death

"Fear Itself," Oct. 12, 2021

Terrorism, Structural Racism, And Facebook

The ‘radical indifference’ of the surveillance-capitalist giant reflects and entrenches a racialized understanding of political violence.

Fear Itself

In the post-9/11 era, police departments blur the lines that separate them from spy services. More and more Americans get the treatment the CIA gives our non-American comrades

Yes, Why Not Let Abu Zubaydah Testify?

On one hand: The CIA might not be able to get foreign spy services to torture people. On the other: A tortured man could pursue justice. 🤔

Watching The FBI Lose, Destroy the Documents Justifying Surveillance

What started as an audit of the Carter Page espionage investigation has expanded and “identified systemic noncompliance” with crucial surveillance constraints.

Disparate Fronts: Seth Meyers, Press Freedom, and Our Abortion Fundraiser

Just some random things thrown together as me and Sam report out larger stories. Also, an abortion-access fund update.

‘A More Sustainable And Agile Counterterrorism Approach’

An overlooked speech by Joe Biden’s White House homeland-security adviser points to a return to the Sustainable War on Terror. It looks like we’re at the end of the war’s end.

The Time The CIA Director Came To Hear My Band 

The Time the CIA Director Came to Hear My Band

Return to Little Pakistan: Mohammad Razvi Holds It Together

During COVID-19, as after 9/11, the son of a bodega owner navigated the city’s power structure on behalf of his frightened neighbors. Part 3 in a series

Return To Little Pakistan: Bobby Khan v. The Police

An immigrant born to working-class activism stands up to an NYPD reborn in the CIA's image. Part 2 in a series

Return To Little Pakistan: The Reign of Terror in Brooklyn after 9/11

Pundits and politicians declared America united while "unity” preyed upon New York City’s Muslim communities. We must never forget. Part 1 in a series

Paywalled for a good cause

Ms. Marvel, the Intersectional X-Men, and the War on Terror: A Conversation Between Spencer Ackerman and Saladin Ahmed

Ms. Marvel, the Intersectional X-Men, and the War on Terror: A Conversation Between Spencer Ackerman and Saladin Ahmed

Stream A New Ted Leo Song Inspired By REIGN OF TERROR

Over 900,000 People Dead, a ‘Vast Undercount,’ and $8 Trillion Looted 

These are the findings of the Costs of War Project. What would you rather have had for the $8,094 that you, personally, spent on the War on Terror?

Victims of A Drone Strike, Momentarily Visible

All eyes were on Kabul just in time to catch a glimpse of people the U.S. killed with its robot airframes. Will we look away now that U.S. troops have left Afghanistan?

Biden Won't Free The Last Two Afghans at Guantanamo Bay

The Taliban won. The president said the war is over. But Asadullah Haroon and Muhammad Rahim will have to wait on the Periodic Review Board.

This Could Be the Next Afghan Insurgency

Two leading anti-Taliban figures are ready to fight. One is a close CIA ally. What could possibly go wrong?

‘Deus Vult,’ Said The Cosmopolitans

After 9/11, conservative Christians and contrarian secularist intellectuals entered an alliance of convenience against Islam. Guess whose priorities won out?

White Replacement Theory v1.0 Is Returning

Before they chanted it in Charlottesville, they saw it in “sharia law.” As MAGA struggles for a line on Afghanistan, they’re finding it in refugees Biden isn’t even letting in.

Everything That Will Follow A Taliban Victory Is Still A Part of America's War

Many Afghans are likely to suffer under the Taliban. The U.S. owes them reparations, not more bloodshed.

REIGN OF TERROR Is Here

My book about the War on Terror arrives today. The first skirmish over it points to what may follow.

The CIA’s Outsourced Torture Is Lost To History

The CIA's notorious practice of kidnapping and displacement gave birth to the post-9/11 torture program. We know nearly nothing about it.

Out of The Newsroom   

I’ve been part of newsrooms since I was 19. Goodbye to all that.

Against National Security

For nearly 20 years, I’ve been a “national security” reporter. I hate that term. Here’s why I won’t use it anymore.

Say Their Names

In the War on Terror, the Pentagon’s decision not to count casualties has robbed the dead of their very names.

‘The Remaining 40 Detainees Are All High Risk’

After Monday’s release of Abdul Latif Nasser, 39 captives remain at the U.S. Naval base, imprisoned by shameless lies.

This Is Forever

The War on Terror never ended. Covering it properly requires jettisoning some long-standing journalism practices – but not standards.

Tracing the continuities, departures and permutations of the War on Terror.

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