Portside

...only relatively low-level soldiers and contractors have been held responsible for crimes committed in the war on terror.

We spend $32 million per hour on wars started during the Bush administration. The economic costs of the war on terror has cost Americans a staggering $5.6 trillion since 2001, when the U.S. invaded Afghanistan.

In September 2001, the Bush administration launched the “Global War on Terror.” Though “global” has long since been dropped from the name, as it turns out, they weren’t kidding.

240,000 civilian deaths and 21 million more have been displaced. And yet a congressional commission is urging yet more money for a bloated Pentagon. We should be spending less time figuring out how to fight wars, and how to forge partnerships...

Ex- Bush official confesses. President George W. Bush would have ordered the war even without United Nations support. "That led to a war that resulted in catastrophic losses for the region and the United States-led coalition, and that destabilized the entire Middle East". This should not be forgotten, since the Trump administration is using much the same playbook to create a false impression that war is the only way to address the threats posed by Iran.

During the Cold War, the supposed threat of Communism was the justification for super-sized budgets and a continuous stream of wars and interventions-some overt, others covert or proxy-none of which had anything to do with defending the United States-and none of which ended in victory. These were sold to the American people as being fought to "defend freedom" or "support democracy." After the Cold War ended it became more difficult to justify such a massive military.

Labour leader will resume electioneering with emphasis on links between terrorism at home and wars abroad

The danger of Donald Trump resorting to military action to prop up his failing policies cannot be over-looked. National Security Advisor Michael Flynn threatened retaliation against Iran, which for those of us of a certain age sounded like the Gulf of Tonkin incident (used as justification for War in Vietnam) - later proved to be a fabrication. What really is Iran with a population of 82 million people? Here is a report on what is actually happening in Iran today.

Though President Obama rejected the “Global War on Terror” label in favor of the anodyne “overseas contingency operations,” the conflict remains global, and it remains a war. No one even claims that the bombs we’re dropping over Syria are “smart.” And no one except the grieving families even try to count those they kill.