Thanking Veterans For Their “Service” – But Why?

In a normal sane world, one would think that this is primarily a moral and ethical question.

The Saker
By The Saker
Thank You Veterans

Depending on the context, the small word “why” can be totally innocuous or it can be just about the most subversive and even sacrilegious word one can utter.  This is probably why I love this word so much: it’s ability to unleash tremendous power against all sorts of sacred cows and unchallenged beliefs.  So, today I want to ask everybody why so

Read Full Article

A Badge of Shame: The Government’s War on America’s Military Veterans

The government’s efforts to wage war on veterans, especially those who speak out against government wrongdoing, is downright appalling.

John Whitehead
By John Whitehead
Veterans Day New York

Not all heroes wear the uniform of war. In the United States, however, we take particular pride in recognizing as heroes those who have served in the military. Yet while we honor our veterans with holidays, parades, discounts at retail stores and restaurants, and endless political rhetoric about their sacrifice and bravery, we do a pitiful job

Read Full Article

“Is This What We Destroy Lives For?” Iraq, Afghanistan Vets’ Guilt, Unanswered Questions Spike Suicide Rate

While the VA report may call the jump in young veteran suicides an “urgent crisis,” it unfortunately seems to be a crisis with no end in sight until the country is finally forced to reckon with its dark legacy of regime-change wars and military occupations around the world.

Whitney Webb
By Whitney Webb
Afghanistan | Veterans Suicide

WASHINGTON --  New data released Wednesday by the Department of Veterans Affairs has shown that the suicide rate among young military veterans continues to climb, despite a decline in the overall suicide rate among U.S. military veterans, amid department efforts to combat the problem. The new data was made available in the VA’s National Suicide

Read Full Article

The Connection Between Gun Violence, Suicide Rates and Aggressive US Foreign Policy

While the causes of America’s suicide-driven gun epidemic are complex and myriad, it’s clear that one group contributes to the statistics above all others: military veterans.

Will Porter
By Will Porter
A U.S. army soldier from Blackfoot Company, 2nd Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment interrogates a Iraqis during an operation in the village of Walush in Diyala province, Iraq, Dec. 9, 2007. Marko Drobnjakovic | AP

In recent months a string of school shootings in the United States has rekindled the debate over gun violence, its causes and what can be done to stop it. But amid endless talk of school shootings and AR-15s, a large piece of the puzzle has been left conspicuously absent from the debate. Contrary to the notion that mass murderers are at the

Read Full Article

Politicians Want You to Think Questioning War Disrespects Veterans Like Me. They’re Wrong.

Questioning War is a Civic Duty. Why Do So Few Do It?

Kevin Basl
By Kevin Basl
Veterans protested war by marching to McCormik Place, the venue for the NATO meetings, and throwing their medals toward the building in a gesture of opposition to U.S. military action. (Photo Norbert Schiller/Mint Press)

How do you motivate men and women to fight and die for a cause many of them don’t believe in, and whose purpose they can’t articulate? That’s what Phil Klay, author and U.S. Marine Corps veteran, asks in an essay published this month in The Atlantic. Unfortunately, he points out in a recent New York Times op-ed, “Serious discussion of foreign

Read Full Article

Mass Shooters are Disproportionately US Veterans

Military veterans are more than twice as likely to be mass shooters

David Swanson
By David Swanson
A U.S. Army soldier shares a bag of sunflower seeds with a fellow soldier, as they wait for a helicopter to pick them up in a field of barley nearly ready to harvest, outside Tall Ash Shawr, a village in northwestern Iraq, Monday, May 19, 2003. (AP/Brennan Linsley)

Editorial -- Are veterans of the U.S. military disproportionately likely to be mass killers in the United States? Asking such a question is difficult, first because of concerns of profiling, discrimination, etc., and second, because it’s hard to answer. It’s important to answer because it’s important for us to know whether military training is

Read Full Article