The “War on Terror” Was a War of Terror

Three days after terrorists killed almost 3,000 people in the United States on September 11, 2001, President George W. Bush stood behind a pulpit at the Washington National Cathedral and spoke to a nation in shock. “Our responsibility to history is already clear,” he proclaimed, “to answer these attacks and rid the world of evil.” The vow was, of course, preposterous. Yet the “war on terror” that…
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For 25 Years, the War on Terror Has Turbocharged Surveillance and Imperialism

Truthout was founded in 2001, with George W. Bush in the White House and war hawks circling the halls of power. Haymarket Books was founded the same year. Over the wildly tumultuous political period since, our two organizations have connected organizers, activists, and curious readers with books, essays, and reported pieces that have informed and aided their efforts to understand the world and…
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From Southeast Asia to Middle East, US Bombs Are a Failed Foreign Policy Choice

The U.S.-Israeli war on Iran opened not with a declaration, not with diplomacy exhausted, but with airstrikes. Among the first confirmed casualties were more than a hundred schoolchildren killed in a strike on their elementary school in southern Iran. Within a month, 850 U.S.-made Tomahawk missiles were used to strike Iran. President Donald Trump has delivered on his promise to bomb Iran…
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On Mother’s Day, I Will Mourn Alongside the Grieving Parents of Minab

A video of Makan Nasiri has been shared over and over on social media in recent weeks. It starts off with vignettes familiar to so many parents: a young child opening the door to be surprised by a birthday cake, then walking with friends, then dancing joyfully with an older relative. Halfway through, though, there’s a sharp transition. Nasiri was a student at Shajareh Tayyebeh elementary school in…
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Afghans Stranded in Qatar Express Betrayal at Trump’s Push to Send Them to DRC

The Trump administration is moving to force Afghans who worked alongside the U.S. military either back to the war-torn nation or to the Democratic Republic of Congo (D.R.C), veterans and refugee advocates say. Those Afghans have been stranded at a former U.S. military base in Qatar since 2021, and fear imprisonment and execution by the Taliban’s government if they are pushed back to Afghanistan.
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Afghanistan War Veteran Dies in ICE Custody One Day After Arrest

On March 13, multiple Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in unmarked vehicles surrounded Mohommad Nazeer Paktyawal in front of his home in Texas as he prepared to drive his children to school. The 41-year-old father of six children, who had served alongside the 3rd Battalion of the U.S. Army Special Forces in Afghanistan, died in ICE custody the next day, leaving his family in shock…
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