http://www.inthesetimes.com/archives/tags/military/ In These Times features award-winning investigative reporting about corporate malfeasance and government wrongdoing, insightful analysis of national and international affairs, and sharp cultural criticism about events and ideas that matter. en-us Expression Engine jessica@inthesetimes.com seamus@inthesetimes.com Mon, 01 Oct 2001 14:01:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/1623/test_anxiety/ In the first few months of the Bush administration, international treaties have been falling faster than old-growth trees. The rebuke of the Kyoto global warming accord grabbed the headlines, but there have been a slate of others: the convention on small arms trade, the chemical and biological weapons treaty, the international ban on whaling, and the Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty. Now the Bush administration wants to end the moratorium on testing nuclear weapons and junk the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. Bush fumed against the test ban treaty repeatedly during his campaign, alleging that it undermined national security. Since the election, Bush has remained stubbornly mute on his personal position on resuming nuclear tests. (The current moratorium on nuclear testing was put… government: military Michelle Chen Mon, 29 Oct 2001 11:16:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/1593/the_long_war/ When the Joint Chiefs of Staff were looking for a name for the new war on terrorism, they baptized it "Infinite Justice." It is now clear that George W. Bush's war indeed will be infinite—the real question is to what extent the war will serve justice, abroad or at home. Bush's speech to a joint session of Congress on September 20 followed a week in which the administration conducted a spin campaign designed to soften up the American people for the long war. And in that extraordinarily fierce and bellicose address, Bush raised the bar so high that it is apparent this war could last for years. There was a fundamental contradiction in Bush's speech, which went largely unremarked in… government: military Michelle Chen Tue, 19 Feb 2002 15:20:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/1416/sky_high/ Clad in a leather bomber jacket and surrounded by the weapons of the war on terrorism, President Bush was certainly trying to link his new budget to the fight against the “axis of evil.” At the Elgin Air Force base in Florida on February 4th, he announced his request for a $48 billion increase in military spending, the largest in almost two decades. If Bush has his way, the total budget for military spending in 2003—including military functions of the Coast Guard and the Department of Energy—will reach $396 billion, an $87 billion increase from when he took office in January 2001. Standing against a backdrop of F-15 and F-16 fighter planes, an A-10 warthog, and a huge American flag,… government: military Michelle Chen Fri, 06 Dec 2002 15:40:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/431/no_child_left_unrecruited/ In another sign of the U.S. military’s increasing encroachment into civilian life, all high schools are now obligated to provide the Pentagon with the names, addresses and phone numbers of their juniors and seniors. Any school that refuses to comply with these provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act and this year’s National Defense Authorization Act stands to loose all federal funding. The U.S. military is a growing force in public education. In middle schools, students are being targeted with programs such as the Young Marines and the Navy’s Starbase-Atlantis. In high schools, the Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps (JROTC) is spreading across the country. Currently about 500,000 students in more than 3,000 high schools participate in the program,… education government: military Michelle Chen Fri, 31 Jan 2003 19:00:01 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/423/israels_slippery_moral_slope/ Following my last military reserve duty, I was kicked out of my unit, the educational corps of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). There was a surrealistic dimension to the whole experience. I had driven a few hours to a base located near the Egyptian border after having been asked to lecture about “leadership” to 60 soldiers from the Givati infantry brigade who were about to begin an officers’ training course. These young men are the military’s future commanders, its elite. I decided to concentrate, in the lecture’s first part, on the relationship between leadership and moral virtue, examining the characteristics distinguishing leaders such as Hitler, Stalin and Pol Pot from others like Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela.… government: military middle east Michelle Chen Fri, 04 Apr 2003 17:20:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/441/virtual_war_and_reality/ The technology of smart-bomb war transports death and destruction to the virtual realm. With one hand on a joystick and eyes on a video screen, a bomb can be dropped here, a cruise missile targeted there. The vaunted accuracy of these weapons (and they can be accurate) make the splattered guts of what once were human beings (in those too-common instances when a market or hospital is bombed) the fault of a technical glitch, an unfortunate failure in a system that otherwise delivers surgically precise mayhem. Time to reboot and accept that what was lost is no longer there. This distancing of cause and effect takes advantage of the natural human propensity to disconnect ourselves from the results of our… government: military technology war in iraq Michelle Chen Mon, 11 Aug 2003 08:30:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/464/this_summer_the_worm_is_turning/ Ah, this is the life. To be on vacation near the ocean, sunning on the beach by day, and, by night, hearing Hardball’s Chris Matthews, of all people, repeatedly liken Bush to Ted Baxter, the obtuse anchorman on the old Mary Tyler Moore Show. As I eat fried calamari and striped bass, I get to see Matthews, hardly a friend of progressives, hammer Team Bush over their serial lying about weapons of mass destruction and yellowcake. Was Bush such a clueless puppet, sputters Matthews, that he simply read whatever Cheney or Rumsfeld put in front of him and told him to sell to the nation? Why, I must be in Margaritaville. Since Team Bush came to power, those of us… government: military media war in iraq Michelle Chen Mon, 11 Aug 2003 09:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/465/when_warriors_dissent/ Soldiers of the first U.S. invasion force to enter Iraq have expressed widespread resentment for Bush administration officials. “If Donald Rumsfeld was here, I’d ask him for his resignation,” Spec. Clinton Dietz of the 3rd Infantry’s 2nd Brigade told ABC News in a July 15 report. Another sergeant said, “I’ve got my own ‘Most Wanted List,’ [and] the aces in my deck are Paul Bremer, Donald Rumsfeld, George Bush, and Paul Wolfowitz.” Those are the four men running U.S. policy in Iraq. This is pretty serious stuff. GIs might gripe among themselves in the barracks, or the mess hall, but rarely are those complaints publicly expressed. Even in the aftermath of the Nuremberg trials, the universal soldier’s credo is: Ours… government: military politics war in iraq Michelle Chen Wed, 03 Sep 2003 12:55:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/468/rods_from_god/ With no fanfare, the Bush Administration is taking military control of what it terms “near space,” thereby laying claim to the area of the Solar System that lies between the Earth and the Moon’s orbit. “A key objective … is not only to ensure U.S. ability to exploit space for military purposes, but also as required to deny an adversary’s ability to do so,” is how the Pentagon’s 2001 Quadrennial Defense Review explained U.S. strategy. Indeed, the success of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq depended on the use of more than 50 military satellites to direct U.S. missiles and bombers to their intended targets. “I’d call this the first real space war,” says Brig. Gen. Larry Jones, commander of… government: administration government: military Michelle Chen Fri, 05 Sep 2003 07:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/348/military_families_against_the_war/ Millions of Americans are anxious about and even opposed to the American war on Iraq and to the bloody occupation that has followed it. But for Stan Goff, it’s personal. A career soldier and Vietnam veteran, Goff is an organizer of Bring Them Home Now, a fledgling movement of hundreds of relatives of U.S. troops in Iraq who say their family members in uniform are being made to fight an illegal and immoral war. Goff is also the parent of one of those soldiers, a son who just last month was sent into Iraq to work as an army mechanic. “My son wrote an e-mail back that he’s already been under attack by mortars twice,” says Goff. Bring Them Home… activism government: administration government: military social justice war in iraq Michelle Chen Tue, 02 Mar 2004 09:00:01 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/401/coming_to_grief/ Like the breeze of late winter, a single word, unspoken, has rippled through the recent funerals of several U.S. service members returned from Iraq. Families and military press officers have different reasons for tight lips on the topic. But suicide among Iraq war soldiers, 29 cases by recent count, says volumes about drooping troop morale and raises further doubts about how accurately the toll on service members is being measured and how much more they will bear. Demands are sharpening for release of an Army Surgeon General’s report about the prevalence of depression and suicide among service members stationed in Iraq and Kuwait. In February, an Army trainee stationed in North Carolina, Jeremy Hinzman, sought refugee status in Toronto as… government: military medical and health war in iraq Michelle Chen Tue, 18 May 2004 13:20:01 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/743/depleted_morality/ It’s a year into the occupation and U.S. troops are being killed at a rate of more than four a day. These deaths from roadside bombs, suicide attackers, anti-U.S. militia and mobs of angry civilians make headlines. More quietly, American soldiers also are beginning to suffer injuries from a silent and pernicious weapon material of U.S. origin—depleted uranium (DU). DU weaponry is fired by U.S. troops from the Abrams battle tank, A-10 Warthog and other systems. It is pyrophoric, burning spontaneously on impact, and extremely dense, making DU munitions ideal for penetrating an enemy’s tank armor or reinforced bunker. It also is the toxic and radioactive byproduct of enriched uranium, the fissile material in nuclear weapons. When a DU shell… government: military medical and health war in iraq Michelle Chen Wed, 02 Jun 2004 00:09:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/761/george_kids/ In 1968, the legendary U.S. labor organizer Cesar Chavez went on a 25-day hunger strike. While depriving himself of food, he condemned abusive conditions suffered by farm workers. The slogan of his historic union drive was: “Si se puede!” Yes, we can! In early May, George Bush went on a four-day bus ride. While stopping for multiple pancake breakfasts, he praised tax cuts and condemned everyone who says American workers need protection in the global economy. His battle cry for laissez-faire economics? “Yes, America can!” The echo was probably intentional. Bush is so desperate for the Hispanic vote that he has taken to shouting “Vamos a ganar! We’re going to win!” during stump speeches in Ohio. But the main purpose… government: military social justice war in iraq Michelle Chen Mon, 04 Oct 2004 09:03:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/1122/the_home_front/ On September 17, it came to pass in New Jersey that party faithful applauding a chipper talk about the war by Laura Bush shouted down a mother in their midst and made sure she was arrested. She had come from a nearby town to ask a simple question: Why was her only son, Seth Dvorin, 24, sent to Iraq like a sitting duck? And how many more families will be forced to make a needless sacrifice like hers? “When they reacted to the question I shouted by surrounding me and shouting me down, it felt like ignorance,” says Sue Niederer. “People have a right to speak. They could hear my question. Maybe they could learn something if it ever got… activism government: administration government: military social justice war in iraq Michelle Chen Sun, 24 Oct 2004 18:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/1401/bush_war_against_the_military/ George W. Bush so often invokes his nominal title of “commander in chief” at veterans’ rallies, on military bases and during presidential debates that he now appears like some latter-day caudillo. But his claims to be a commander of any kind in any serious way are a figment of his imagination. Discounting that he sent American troops into Iraq on false pretenses, a real commander would fight for the welfare of his troops. But Bush has demonstrated a consistent unwillingness to do so, and as a result many high-ranking officers have endorsed Kerry, including retired Navy Adm. William Crowe and former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Army Gen. John Shalikashvili. Bush has failed the military on almost every… government: administration government: military election 2004 Michelle Chen Tue, 30 Nov 2004 07:00:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/1710/breaking_the_code_of_silence/ When members of the Army’s 343rd Quartermaster Company refused orders in Iraq last month they considered too dangerous, it didn’t surprise Michael Hoffman. He had expected something like this. Hoffman, 25, went to Iraq with the Marines, then returned to help found Iraq Veterans Against the War this past July. “When [soldiers] are asked to put their life on the line for no clear reason. ...” he says, breaking off. “They’re still human beings and they still have a breaking point.” The national conversation about the war largely has taken place absent those who are fighting it. The military makes it hard for its members to speak independently. In a culture that prizes obedience, loyalty and duty, no one is… government: military war in iraq Michelle Chen Mon, 13 Dec 2004 09:00:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/1744/a_dubious_doc/ Just before the election, a film about Iraq hit art house theaters around the country. Voices of Iraq claimed to be a groundbreaking film in which “150 DV cameras [are] distributed across Iraq for the Iraqi people to show the world who they are and what Iraq will be.” The results? People seem happy that Saddam is gone and optimistic that, if the United States stays in Iraq, democracy will prevail. They seem unafraid of bombs going off nearby. People say Saddam funded al Qaeda. Former Iraqi political prisoners are shown laughing off the stories of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib—what Arab man wouldn’t want a female American soldier to play with his penis? The film begins with shaky handheld… government: military war in iraq Michelle Chen Fri, 03 Jun 2005 07:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2136/the_children_crusade/ Tarsha Moore stands as tall as her 4-foot 8-inch frame will allow. Staring straight ahead, she yells out an order to a squad of peers lined up in three perfect columns next to her. Having been in the military program for six years, Tarsha has earned the rank of captain and is in charge of the 28 boys and girls in her squad. This is Lavizzo Elementary School. Tarsha is 14. The Middle School Cadet Corps (MSCC) program at the K-8 school is part of a growing trend to militarize middle schools. Students at Lavizzo are among the more than 850 Chicago students who have enlisted in one of the city's 26 MSCC programs. At Madero Middle School, the MSCC… education government: military Michelle Chen Tue, 28 Jun 2005 07:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2179/torture_fatigue/ "The Christian in me says it's wrong," Army Specialist Charles A. Graner Jr. said of torturing prisoners in Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. "But the corrections officer in me says I love to make a grown man piss himself." Photos taken of him demeaning captives at Abu Ghraib exposed Graner as the sadist that his surroundings allowed him to be. But are the differences between brutal correctional officers like Graner and other Americans as stark as we would like to think? An acquaintance of mine recently admitted how much he enjoyed watching the torture scenes in the new blockbuster, Sin City. "I know it's strange," he said, "but there's something I get out of seeing torture and violence like that… media military and armaments Michelle Chen Thu, 18 Aug 2005 13:05:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2282/will_withdrawal_make_gaza_a_frontier_ghetto/ Now that the withdrawal from Gaza is underway, and the settlers being relocated have failed to transform their personal trauma into a national trauma, it is high time to ask whether or not the dismantlement of Jewish settlements and redeployment of troops will advance Israeli-Palestinian peace. Published in 2003, James Ron's thoughtful book Frontiers and Ghettos provides a convincing answer to this question. A sociology professor at McGill University and the Canada Research Chair in Conflict and Human Rights, Ron examines two spatial metaphors-ghettos and frontiers. He suggests that until the mid '90s, the West Bank and Gaza Strip were Israel's ghettos. Ghettos are densely institutionalized by the state, since they are within its legal sphere of influence, and serve… military and armaments middle east Michelle Chen