Feared Taliban Leader Killed, But Military Strategy is Not the Answer in Afghanistan
A gathering of senior scholars in the field agree that the US presence in South Asia invokes a colonial legacy and undermines peace.
The Legacy of Bush, Gambler of Other People’s Fortunes, Is Still With Us
A look at Bush’s gambling habit is instructive as Obama works to fix the problems of his predecessor with a team cut from the Bush administration cloth.
An uptick in tourism could transform the ancient city of Babylon back into a major destination for tourists, which according to several conservative Christian evangelicals, could set the stage for the ‘last days’ of history.
Dilemmas of American Empire: Can Obama Pull Off a Game-Changer in Iraq, Iran, and Afghanistan?
For Obama to steer us back to the softer side of Empire, withdrawing from Iraq and Afghanistan (and negotiating with Iran), he’ll have to overrule his key officials, Hillary Clinton and Dennis Ross, risk alienating Israel for its own good, and stand up to bracing public attacks. And he'll need a hand from a strong, anti-imperial religious and secular peace movement.
Disco-Reggae at Abu Ghraib: Music, the Bible and Torture
What does it mean when a country that likes to proclaim itself a defender of freedom plays a song about liberation to people it is torturing?
After months of silence, the US State Department finally condemns the murders of 24 young men who were gay, or perceived to be gay.
RDPulpit: Torture Needs You
Relieved that Guantanamo Bay is closing? Don’t rest easy. Until we accept our collective responsibility for torture, and the fact that it requires not just the torturer's denial, but ours, it will prevail.
What in the Name of the Crusades are Tennessee Evangelicals Doing in Kurdish Iraq?
In an exclusive interview, investigative reporter Mike Reynolds uncovers the special relationship between Iraqi Kurds and a group of American evangelicals that practices “spiritual warfare,” harbors a deep animosity toward Islam, and views the region as the evangelistic final frontier.
The Shoe Thrower: What Bush Didn’t Understand
A young Iraqi woman, frustrated and in tears, explains to her classmates: “If Iraqi people come at you with shoes, you have lost their hearts and lost the war and God help us all.”
Evil has been a favorite foreign policy tool for conservatives in and around the Bush Administration; problem is, there are often unintended consequences.
RD10Q: Heavy Metal Islam: Rock, Resistance, and the Struggle for the Soul of Islam
The author discusses his journey through a Muslim subculture, the connection between Nietzsche and Hendrix, and how heavy metal might end the war on terror...
The words of our top general in Iraq—words I’ve described as myths—are those that the president says will determine his war policy.
Deconstructing the systematic political theology in the president’s Easter address; are American soldiers merely imitating Christ?