http://www.inthesetimes.com/archives/tags/war/ 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, 10 Oct 2005 06:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2341/a_fundamental_history_lesson/ To have witnessed even as a child the descent in Germany from decency to barbarism gave the question "how was it possible" an existential immediacy. So I have wrestled with that question, tried to reconstruct some parts of the past and perhaps intuit some lessons. The German-speaking refugees who came to this country in the '30s had enthusiastic feelings about the United States. Not only gratitude for saving them, giving many a chance for a new start, if often under harsh circumstances, but love and admiration for a country that was, when they arrived, still digging itself out from an unprecedented depression, under a leader whose motto was,"the only thing we have to fear is fear itself," unlike his German… religion war Fred Weir Mon, 11 Dec 2006 05:00:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2934/what_we_leave_behind/ In just one week in October, a series of bomb scares swept across Germany. Outside of Hannover, 22,000 people were evacuated when three bombs were discovered. A few days later in the same city, a weapons removal squad defused a 500-pound bomb found near the highway. Finally, a highway worker was killed when his cutting machine hit a buried bomb on the main highway into Frankfurt. The bombs hadn't been planted by terrorists, and they weren't the opening salvos of the next war. The culprit was unexploded ordnance left over from a war fought more than 60 years ago. "We'll have enough work to keep us busy for the next 100 to 120 years," the owner of a bomb-defusing company… weapons war Fred Weir Fri, 02 Nov 2007 05:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3368/suffering_secondary_trauma/ Much has been made of the line between genius and madness. Throughout history, many of our greatest innovators, artists, rebels and revolutionaries have teetered between the two, often falling into deep, dark periods of debilitating depression, mania and paranoia. Some make it out of the abyss. Others do not. One of those who met an ill fate was Iris Chang, the talented journalist who shot and killed herself in 2005 at the age of 36, leaving behind a husband and a 2-year-old son. A new book by Chicago-based journalist Paula Kamen called Finding Iris Chang: Friendship, Ambition and the Loss of an Extraordinary Mind (Da Capo Press, November 2007) looks at the complexity of Chang's psychology as it formed around… book war Fred Weir Tue, 06 Nov 2007 05:10:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3393/the_disturbing_sounds_of_the_turkish_march/ On September 16, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs Bernard Kouchner warned the world that when it comes to Iran's nuclear program: "We have to prepare for the worst, and the worst is war." The statement, predictably, caused great uproar, with criticism focused on what Sir John Holmes, head of the U.N. refugee agency, called the "Iraq taint." After the scandal about Weapons of Mass Destruction as the excuse for invading Iraq, evoking such a threat forever lost its credibility. Why should we believe the United States and its allies now, when we have already been so brutally deceived? There is, however, another aspect of Kouchner's warning that is much more worrying. When the newly elected French President, Nicolas Sarkozy,… europe theory war Fred Weir Thu, 15 Nov 2007 04:59:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3430/the_accidental_war/ It's become fashionable in conservative Washington circles--among commentators with extraordinary access to the Bush administration--to suggest that people concerned about the threat of war with Iran are howling at phantoms. As the New York Times' David Brooks wrote in a Nov. 6 column, "The Bush administration is not about to bomb Iran (trust me). It's using diplomacy to build a coalition to balance it, and reverse an ugly tide." Washington Post columnist George Will struck a slightly less friendly tone with those who would actually support strikes, but drew the same conclusion, writing on Nov. 11 that "some Washington voices, many of them familiar, are reprising a familiar theme • Iran's nuclear program is near a fruition that justifies preventive… iran war Fred Weir Thu, 27 Dec 2007 05:00:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3459/mcgovern_still_on_the_antiwar_path/ The old antiwar horse is still kicking. In 1972, South Dakota Sen. George McGovern (once a World War II bomber pilot) won the Democratic presidential nomination on an antiwar platform. In 2007, he's still got game. In March 2007, McGovern called on Vice President Dick Cheney to resign. A month later, opining in the Los Angeles Times, he revisited the trauma of the Vietnam War era and excoriated George W. Bush and Cheney for blithely sacrificing American lives once again. "We, of course, already know that when Cheney endorses a war, he exempts himself from participation," he wrote. "On second thought, maybe it's wise to keep Cheney off the battlefield -- he might end up shooting his comrades rather than… activism war Fred Weir Mon, 07 Jan 2008 05:00:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3461/the_fog_of_war_crimes/ A Marine squad was on a dusty road in Iraq, far from home. Suddenly, a deadly roadside bomb explodes the early morning calm and kills a lance corporal and wounds two other Marines. The mission: tend to the wounded and find those who were responsible ... Or make someone pay? Three sleeping families awaken to the sound of grenades and guns. By the end of the "operation," 24 people were dead, including three women and six children. Bullets, fired at close range, tore through bodies and lodged deep in walls. A one-legged elderly man was shot nine times in the chest and abdomen. A man who watched the violence from his roof across the road told The Washington Post that… military war Fred Weir