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Derrick Crowe
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Derrick Crowe is a Political Director at Brave New Foundation. He is also a five-year veteran of Capitol Hill and a trained “Creating a Culture of Peace” nonviolence facilitator. His writing has been featured on The Huffington Post, MichaelMoore.com and AlterNet.

In Washington, D.C., Derrick served as communications director for U.S. Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.). Prior to working in Smith’s office, he worked in communications for U.S. Rep. Charlie Stenholm (D-Texas), House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), and the national office of the Children’s Defense Fund.

Derrick left D.C. once it became clear that Democrats opposed the President’s strategic decisions while making war rather than challenging the militarization of the national economy and the overall use of war to resolve international conflicts. As a Christian (Episcopalian), he believes the teachings of Jesus bar the use of violence in conflict. An active member of the peace movement, he organized vigils and participated in civil disobedience actions to
call for the end of the Iraq war. He blogs on current events from a Christian nonviolence perspective at http://returngood.com.

Derrick and his wife, Laurie, live in Austin, Texas, with their two cats, Honey and Fuzz.

Blog Entries by Derrick Crowe

Ike's Nightmare

1 Comments | Posted January 17, 2012 | 16:24:33 (EST)

Fifty-one years ago today, President Dwight D. Eisenhower issued his final, prescient warning about the rising power of the military industrial complex. More than half a century later, we find ourselves in a political system which has ignored Eisenhower's sound advice as the influence of the war industry on our...

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1,501 Good Reasons To End the Afghanistan War

Posted May 20, 2011 | 19:35:50 (EST)

According to the website iCasualties.org, which tracks U.S. troop deaths and injuries in Iraq and Afghanistan, the number of troops killed in connection with the Afghanistan war now exceeds 1,500.

Here are the names of the U.S. troops that have been killed since the death of Osama bin...

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Four American Lives and $4 Billion Wasted on Afghanistan War Since Bin Laden's Death

Posted May 13, 2011 | 21:10:50 (EST)

This is the end of the second week since Osama bin Laden's death. During those two weeks, we've wasted four more American lives and another $4 billion, continuing a war strategy that contributed little to nothing to bin Laden's death and that makes no sense now that al...

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Don't Let Bin Laden Have the Last Laugh. Get Our Troops and Our Tax Dollars Home.

Posted May 4, 2011 | 21:46:39 (EST)

Osama bin Laden is dead. Al Qaeda is no longer in Afghanistan in any significant numbers. While the Afghanistan War long ago lost a strategic rationale supported by actual outcomes on the ground (insurgent-initiated attacks continue to rise every year, despite the massive escalations of the past two years), bin...

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Century Foundation Calls for Real Political Talks Now to End the Afghanistan War

Posted March 23, 2011 | 21:55:24 (EST)

A new report put out today by The Century Foundation urges the start of serious peace talks among the parties to the Afghanistan War. The report warns that even with the massive influx of U.S. troops over the past year, the war has settled into a stalemate in which neither...

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Petraeus, McCain Continue Afghanistan War Spin, But No One Buys It (Nor Should They)

Posted March 15, 2011 | 05:01:58 (EST)

General David Petraeus is set to testify before Congress today, and he's expected to again try to put a positive spin on a war effort that's utterly failing to meet the goals set by its backers. While intelligence assessments show that tactical moves on the ground in Afghanistan...

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Pentagon Assertions of "Progress" In Afghanistan Are a Bad Joke

Posted March 9, 2011 | 14:10:02 (EST)

The Pentagon wants you to ignore some inconvenient facts about the failure of the escalation strategy in Afghanistan.

The latest Petraeus/Gates media tour is under way in preparation for the general's testimony to Congress next...

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Afghanistan War Not Worth the Burning of Children and Treasure

Posted March 4, 2011 | 17:16:27 (EST)


Fresh from the reported killing of more than 60 civilians, U.S. forces in Kunar Province, Afghanistan, killed nine boys gathering firewood on a mountainside. General Petraeus says he's sorry.

"We are deeply sorry...

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Rethink the Cost of War With Us on March 12

Posted March 2, 2011 | 12:58:32 (EST)

The movement to end the Afghanistan War is gaining momentum, and on March 12, it will gain some more. In a little less than two weeks, supporters of Rethink Afghanistan ("Rethinkers") will get together with their neighbors in hundreds of communities to talk about what can be done locally to...

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General Petraeus and ISAF, Blaming the Victims Again?

Posted February 22, 2011 | 10:50:29 (EST)

General Petraeus and his public relations team reportedly engaged in a scummy attempt to deflect blame for an alleged civilian casualty event on Sunday, suggesting that Afghan parents caught in the crossfire of a coalition raid burned their own children to incriminate international forces. International forces led by...

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On Anniversary of Marjah Push, Escalation Strategy Still Failing

Posted February 13, 2011 | 16:16:44 (EST)

Exactly one year ago, on February 13, 2010, the U.S.-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan launched the first major military operations enabled by President Obama's 30,000 troop increase. President Obama and the high priests of counterinsurgency warfare, Generals David Petraeus and Stanley McChrystal, made two major assertions about...

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Young Filmmakers Decry the Trillion-Dollar Cost of Two Dumb Wars

Posted February 10, 2011 | 11:53:47 (EST)

What would you do with $1 trillion? Unfortunately, one of Washington, D.C.'s answers over the last decade has been, "waste it on two wars that make us less safe and cause deep suffering at home and abroad." The true costs of those bad decisions will be paid by today's youth,...

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2010: Worst Year for Civilian Deaths of the Afghanistan War

Posted February 2, 2011 | 08:46:50 (EST)

Last year was the worst year for civilian deaths in the war so far, and irregular armed groups backed by the U.S. and by the Afghan government are preying on the population while recruiting and abusing children. Go team.

I'm almost numb from continually relaying reports like this, but every...

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Indiana Politicians Find Billions to Spend on Afghanistan War, but Can't Find $500,000 to Save a Baby's Life

Posted December 9, 2010 | 18:42:17 (EST)

The state of Indiana just denied life-saving surgery to a six month old after making deep budget cuts to their state health care safety net. The surgery saved the lives of 58 of the last 60 kids to get it. "Too bad, kiddo, we can't afford it."

Except,...

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Hungry for Some Truth on the Afghanistan War

Posted November 29, 2010 | 16:13:23 (EST)

When will the Obama administration stop damaging its credibility by denying the failure of the Afghanistan War? It seems every day we get another report showing that the Taliban's momentum continues despite President Obama's massive troop increase. But, somehow, the administration's talking points seem to stay the same....

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The Pentagon Gives Itself an E for Effort on the Failing Afghanistan War

Posted November 24, 2010 | 18:39:44 (EST)

Released on the eve of the December strategy review, the Pentagon's latest "Report on Progress Toward Security and Stability in Afghanistan (.pdf)" shows that the insurgents' momentum has not been broken, despite repeated claims by U.S. and NATO officials.

Here's how the report describes the insurgency, emphasis...

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Tell Congress to Hold Blackwater/Xe Accountable

Posted November 18, 2010 | 17:11:47 (EST)

Last week, Brave New Foundation's Robert Greenwald wrote about the damage done to U.S. interests around the world by for-profit security contractors like Blackwater / Xe:

Drunken shootouts and debauchery, meaningless death and mayhem... Thanks in part to the rapacious greed injected into war-fighting by the liberal use of...
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This Veterans Day, Honor Those Who Say "No" to Immoral War

Posted November 10, 2010 | 20:23:03 (EST)

November 11 is Veterans Day, the 10th Veterans Day since the Afghanistan War began. The burden of this brutal, futile war falls heaviest on a very small slice of the population: military members and their...

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Delaying an Afghanistan Drawdown Is Political and Policy Suicide

Posted November 10, 2010 | 12:32:30 (EST)

McClatchy reports that the Obama administration is "moving away from 2011 Afghan date." If this is true, Hope and Change have absolutely collapsed. The president will have shown that he can be bullied into whatever policy the Republicans and the generals want. That's political and policy suicide. The...

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Petraeus and Co. Can't Keep Their Spin Straight on the Afghanistan War

Posted November 3, 2010 | 13:42:01 (EST)

Afghanistan continues to become less secure, despite the best efforts of General Petraeus and his press team to spin the bad news coming out of that country. Recently he and his team have tried to claim that:

  • data showing worsening civilian casualties somehow show that the U.S.-led International Security Assistance...
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