American Wars Are off the Charts Under Donald Trump

He’s failed to deliver his promised withdrawals from Afghanistan and Syria, vetoed an order to get out of Yemen, and expanded the U.S. bombing of Somalia, all while eyeing Iran.

Tom Engelhardt
By Tom Engelhardt
President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence greet military personnel during a visit to the Pentagon, July 20, 2017. (AP/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Here’s a statement it might be hard to disagree with: American war is off the charts. Still, I’d like to explain — but I’m nervous about doing so. I know perfectly well that the next word I plan to write will send most of you tumbling elsewhere in a universe in which “news” is the latest grotesque mass shooting; the craziest tweet from

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Imperialism, Intervention, “War On Terror” Detonate In Mogadishu

The recent devastating car bombing in Mogadishu has been blamed by Somali officials on the terrorist group al-Shabab. But the violence (and famine) that have beset Somalia have deeper roots — decades of imperialism and intervention, and use of Somalia as a staging grounds for the “war on terror.”

Roqayah Chamseddine
By Roqayah Chamseddine
Somalis remove the body of a man killed in Saturday's blast, in Mogadishu, Somalia Sunday, Oct. 15, 2017. The death toll from the huge truck bomb blast in Somalia's capital rose to over 50 Sunday, with more than 60 others injured, as hospitals struggled to cope with the high number of casualties, security and medical sources said. (AP/Farah Abdi Warsameh)

MOGADISHU, SOMALIA -- In the Somali capital of Mogadishu, nearly 400 were killed, hundreds more were injured, and dozens are still missing after a car bomb was detonated at a busy intersection. According to a Somali official, the original target was a newly erected Turkish military base, the largest of its kind, and the Somali National Intelligence

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What’s Drawing Somali-American Teens To Foreign Militant Groups?

Young members of the Somali-American community are disappearing in growing numbers, and the FBI is now investigating whether they’ve gone to fight in foreign wars.

Issa Mansaray
By Issa Mansaray
B. Todd Jones

MINNEAPOLIS -- Abdi Mohamed Nur, a 20-year-old Somali-American, reportedly left his family in Minnesota to travel to Syria to join and fight alongside the Islamic State (formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS) last month. Earlier this month, the FBI’s office in Minneapolis said Nur and about 15 other people from Minnesota

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Civil Rights Groups Protest Closures Of Muslims’ Bank Accts.

A Minneapolis-based bank has been closing the accounts of its customers in the Islamic community for years, but nobody can figure out why.

Katie Rucke
By Katie Rucke
Somali Americans

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn.-- For years, Twin Cities' residents who identify as members of the Islamic community say they have had their bank accounts closed unnecessarily and without reason by the Minneapolis-based TCF Financial Corp. In one case, an American citizen -- born and raised in Minneapolis -- had his bank account closed, along with his sister's

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50,000 Somali Kids At Risk: UN, Gov’t Ask For Help

“We have 50,000 children at the doorstep of death,” because of severe malnourishment”.

Associated Press
By Associated Press
Somalia Still Hungry

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Somalia's 2011 famine is over. Militants have been pushed out of Mogadishu. Political progress is being made. And yet the U.N. and Somali government are pleading with international donors to help a country they say is still in crisis. Aid groups, pressed to respond to emergency situations in Somalia in recent years,

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Ex-Soldier Sentenced to 7 Years for Attempting to Join African Terror Group

Arrested in Kenya, the American was originally thought to be on his way to join an al-Qaida-affiliated organization in Somalia.

Les Neuhaus
By Les Neuhaus
In this Thursday, Feb.17, 2011 file photo, al-Shabab fighters march with their weapons during military exercises on the outskirts of Mogadishu, Somalia.(AP Photo/Mohamed Sheikh Nor, File)

A former Army intelligence specialist accused of attempting to support a terror network in East Africa was given a seven-year sentence after pleading guilty in a Baltimore courtroom on Monday. The former soldier, Craig Baxam, 26, was convicted on the charge of destroying records he thought could be used in a terrorism investigation, The Baltimore

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