U.S. Military

How the Pentagon Really Gets Funded

by Philip A. Reboli October 1, 2014

Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War by Robert Gates (Knop 2014), 640 pages. The most interesting parts of former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates’s memoir, Duty, are about how he navigated the Department of Defense (DoD) bureaucracy and the special interests who live off it. A recurring theme is the difficulty Gates had in getting the DoD ...

The U.S. Base on Diego Garcia: An Overlooked Atrocity

by Sheldon Richman June 4, 2013

The largest criminal organizations in the world are governments. The bigger they are, the more capable of perpetrating atrocities. Not only do they obtain great wealth through compulsion (taxation), they also have an ideological mystique that permits them uniquely to get away with murder, torture, and theft. The U.S. government is no exception. This is demonstrated by, among many other ...

TGIF: So What If Freedom Isn’t Free?

by Sheldon Richman May 31, 2013

“Freedom isn’t free.” We’ve all heard this glib line. It usually is uttered as an admonition to those who criticize some government imposition that is defended in the name of national security. The last time I heard it I had just condemned military conscription — the draft — as slavery. It’s also brought out to rebut those who refuse to ...

Identity Politics Über Alles

by Wendy McElroy February 20, 2013

Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY) is backing a bill to reinstate the draft, but he wants to include women this time. Gender and liberal feminists are responding in various ways, but they seem to have arrived at the same conclusion: an endorsement of drafting women. The why of it Many gender and liberal feminists view female conscription as a Left ...

Reviving a Peculiar Institution

by Tim Kelly July 24, 2012

In a recent New York Times op-ed column, Thomas Ricks called for reinstating military conscription. He quoted Gen. Stanley McChrystal, who said at the 2012 Aspen Ideas Festival, “I think if a nation goes to war, every town, and every city needs to be at risk. You make that decision and everybody has skin in the game.” Ricks, ...

Soldier of Empire

by Scott McPherson May 12, 2012

Soldier, soldier, how you soar Aloft in that elevated status Reserved to those who trade In war and oppression. Soldier, soldier, do not fear; You’ll never hear an unkindness — Insulated from the truth Of murder and rapine. Soldier, soldier, may you take This blue-blood daughter’s hand? Honored would her father be To hear tales of empire. Soldier, soldier, how is it that Across the spectrum of politeness We speak of hope and ...

The U.S. Military and Massacres

by Tim Kelly March 29, 2012

The murderous rampage of U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales in Afghanistan has received much deserved media attention. Sgt. Bales’s shooting spree, killing 17 Afghan civilians, was quickly condemned by the Obama administration as a horrible incident and an aberration that was in no way representative of the “exceptional character” of the U.S. military. It is a matter of state ...

Blue Angels Budget Blues

by Laurence M. Vance December 13, 2011

The Navy's Blue Angels flight-demonstration team is in trouble. And not because their commander resigned earlier this year after flying his F/A-18 Hornet below minimum altitude at an air show in Virginia and causing a month-long safety stand-down. Headquartered at the Pensacola Naval Air Station, the Blue Angels have been flying and thrilling audiences for more than 60 years. The ...

Veterans Day: Thanks but No Thanks

by Tim Kelly November 11, 2011

Veterans Day honors those citizens who fought in the U.S. governments wars wars supposedly waged to preserve Americans liberty. Most Americans uncritically accept this last part, and believe they owe the U.S. military a debt of gratitude for their freedom and independence. This belief is so widely held that it has become a tenet of the country's civic faith. However, ...

The Military-Industrial Complex: The Enemy from Within

by John W. Whitehead October 11, 2011

Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes ... known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few.... No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst ...

An Open Letter to the Troops: You’re Not Defending Our Freedoms

by Jacob G. Hornberger May 31, 2011

Dear Troops: Yesterday — Memorial Day — some people asserted, once again, that you are “defending our freedoms” overseas. Nothing could be further from the truth. Those people are just repeating tired old mantras. The reality is that you are not defending our freedoms with your actions overseas. In fact, it is the exact opposite. Your actions overseas are placing our ...

Military Whitewashes and Cover Ups

by Future of Freedom Foundation August 27, 2004

  Holding the Pentagon Accountable: For Abu Ghraib Editorial New York Times Closer to the Truth Editorial Washington Post Pentagon Doesn't Get It: Buck Stops Higher Up