Sam SmithWatching Wolf Blitzer shortly before Obama launched his Libyan Whatever It Is, it occurred to me that two of the most profound commentaries on American politics these days are The Office and Parks & Recreation. Someone was trying to explain to Blitzer how there was going to be a bifurcated military operation, with one … Continue reading War as office politics
War
Flotsam & Jetsam: The forgotten war that still kills
Sam SmithRecent news that the last American veteran of World War I had died didn't get a lot of attention because the war he fought in had long ago been forgotten by most Americans and is ignored by historians and the media. In my book, Why Bother, I wrote about it: |||| How many school … Continue reading Flotsam & Jetsam: The forgotten war that still kills
Things they don’t tell us about war
Sam Smith War is the joint exercise of things we were trained not to do as children. War is doing things overseas that we would go to prison for at home. Anyone can start a war. Starting a peace is really hard. Therefore it is much harder to be a peace expert than a war … Continue reading Things they don’t tell us about war
FINDING THE RIGHT WORDS
Sam Smith Like most media, the Progressive Review has repeatedly defined what has been going on in Iraq and Afghanistan as wars. But two pieces of news in the past twenty-four hours have raised questions is to whether this is still wise. - The US has revealed it is spending hundreds of millions on airbases … Continue reading FINDING THE RIGHT WORDS
Eight hours in a basement for peace
Sam Smith, 2010 Last Saturday I spent eight hours with three dozen other people in a basement conference room of a Washington hotel engaged in an extraordinary exercise of mind and hope. The topic was, by itself, depressingly familiar: building an anti-war coalition. What made it so strikingly different was the nature of those at … Continue reading Eight hours in a basement for peace
INDIVIDUAL & INSTITUTIONAL MADNESS
Sam Smith The recent murders at Ft. Hood recall Pascal's observation that "Men never do evil so cheerfully and so completely as when they do so from religious conviction." Of course, the assumption in this country at the moment is that only Muslims are evil, which ignores Christians doing evil to Muslims in Afghanistan or … Continue reading INDIVIDUAL & INSTITUTIONAL MADNESS
All war all the time
Sam Smith, 2008 - As it tries to recover from the most expensive failure in American military history, the Pentagon has its eyes on an easier target. The beauty of this adversary is that it is not from an indecipherable culture, it doesn't speak a strange language and it doesn't scatter IEDs in the path … Continue reading All war all the time
Resurrection in a pew
SAM SMITH - The memorial service for Gene McCarthy ran a bit long, considering it was a tribute to a man who had once suggested reducing the number of commandments from ten to four. And it was disturbing to see Bill Clinton shamelessly delivering a tribute to a man of integrity, especially one who had … Continue reading Resurrection in a pew
How to tell if you’ve won
Sam Smith December 2001 THERE seems to be some confusion in Washington these days as to the nature of victory. To help the Beltway discourse, the Review provides some handy hints to determine whether you've won or lost: - If, in the course of battle, you not only destroy your enemy but greatly harm yourself, … Continue reading How to tell if you’ve won
A speech CSPAN didn’t like
Sam Smith [C-SPAN broadcast in 1999 the first rally in opposition to the Bosnian war with one exception: your editor's speech. C-SPAN even left in the part where a singer announced, "I'm the warm-up act for Sam Smith" but the speech itself was cut. Here's the speech.] I am a native of this place. You … Continue reading A speech CSPAN didn’t like
A history of the Iraq war told entirely in lies
[Although it would take much of the media and prospective Democratic presidential candidates much longer to discover that they had been deceived, Harper's was on to the case early and asked your editor to write a history of the Iraq war told entirely in official lies. The story ran in the October 2003 issue, about … Continue reading A history of the Iraq war told entirely in lies
The abolition of war
Sam Smith 2007 Could the end of war be the abolition movement of the 21st century? Even leaving morality aside, it would make a lot of sense. The United States, for example, hasn't won a war - in the sense of gaining something significant other than the symbolism of "victory" - in over sixty years. … Continue reading The abolition of war
Following the war
Sam Smith 2003 AND NOW THE NEWS MODELS AT CNN lift up the shell and - whadayaknow? - it's not Adolph Hitler under there at all but just some dispirited, ill-trained and ill- motivated Iraqis in soldiers' uniforms looking to surrender. The news media used the same con in Gulf War One to grab audience … Continue reading Following the war
Time warp
Sam Smith, 2002 - I was 34 when the draft ended. In the preceding years my own views had shifted from those of a cold war liberal to those of an ambivalent apathetic and finally to those of a situational pacifist. But whatever my personal beliefs, I was deeply and constantly conscious of the inevitability … Continue reading Time warp
How to tell if you have won
Sam Smith, January 2002 - There seems to be some confusion these days as to the nature of victory. To further the discourse, here are some handy hints to help figure out whether you've won or not: o If, in the course of battle, you not only damage your enemy but do great harm to … Continue reading How to tell if you have won
