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William J. Astore
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William J. Astore, a retired lieutenant colonel (USAF), taught for six years at the Air Force Academy. A TomDispatch regular, he currently teaches at the Pennsylvania College of Technology and is the author of Hindenburg: Icon of German Militarism (Potomac Press, 2005), among other works. He may be reached at wastore@pct.edu

Blog Entries by William J. Astore

The National Security State Wins (Again)

(21) Comments | Posted May 15, 2012 | 12:17 PM

Why the Real Victor in Campaign 2012 Won’t Be Obama or Romney

Cross-posted with TomDispatch.com.

Now that Mitt Romney is the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party, the media is already handicapping the presidential election big time, and the neck-and-neck opinion polls are...

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Weapons ‘R’ Us

(11) Comments | Posted January 24, 2012 | 3:38 PM

Making Warbirds Instead of Thunderbirds

Cross-posted with TomDispatch.com

Perhaps you’ve heard of “Makin’ Thunderbirds,” a hard-bitten rock & roll song by Bob Seger that I listened to 30 years ago while in college.  It’s about auto workers back in 1955 who...

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Fighting One Percent Wars

(85) Comments | Posted December 8, 2011 | 12:44 PM

Why Our Wars of Choice May Prove Fatal

Cross-posted with TomDispatch.com

America’s wars are remote.  They’re remote from us geographically, remote from us emotionally (unless you’re serving in the military or have a close relative or friend who serves), and remote from our major...

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How the Military and the Civilian Are Blurring in Washington

(22) Comments | Posted June 14, 2011 | 4:02 PM

Crossposted with TomDispatch.com

I have a fairy tale for you.  Once upon a time, a representative democracy was established with a constitution that distilled the wisdom of the ages.  Its foundational principles included civilian control of the military and a system of checks and balances that encouraged vigorous...

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The Crash and Burn of Old Regimes: Washington Court Culture and Its Endless Wars

(150) Comments | Posted May 12, 2011 | 2:07 PM

Crossposted with TomDispatch.com

The killing of Osama bin Laden, “a testament to the greatness of our country” according to President Obama, should not be allowed to obscure a central reality of our post-9/11 world.  Our conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, and Libya remain instances of...

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Let's Be Heroes to Our Veterans

(159) Comments | Posted April 11, 2011 | 9:51 AM

War is remote from the daily concerns of most Americans. It is not, of course, remote from our troops and veterans. As I write this, our troops are engaged in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya, as well as several other places not normally featured in daily headlines. In prosecuting these wars,...

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Six Vows to Support Our Troops

(17) Comments | Posted February 21, 2011 | 1:25 PM

Crossposted with TomDispatch.com.

“Support our troops” is an unconditional American mantra.  We’re told to celebrate them as warrior-liberators, as heroes, as the finest fighters the world has ever known. They’re to be put on a pedestal or plinth, holding a rifle and a flag, icons...

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The New American Isolationism: The Cost of Turning Away From War's Horrific Realities

(62) Comments | Posted November 1, 2010 | 3:30 PM

Crossposted with TomDispatch.com.

A new isolationism is metastasizing in the American body politic.  At its heart lies not an urge to avoid war, but an urge to avoid contemplating the costs and realities of war.  It sees war as having analgesic qualities -- as lessening a collective feeling...

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Why It's Wrong to Equate Military Service With Heroism

(352) Comments | Posted July 22, 2010 | 10:36 AM

Crossposted with TomDispatch.com.

When I was a kid in the 1970s, I loved reading accounts of American heroism from World War II.  I remember being riveted by a book about the staunch Marine defenders of Wake Island and inspired by John F. Kennedy’s exploits saving the sailors he commanded...

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Hope and Change Fade, but War Endures: Seven Reasons Why We Can't Stop Making War

(133) Comments | Posted July 8, 2010 | 6:38 PM

Cross-posted with TomDispatch.com.

If one quality characterizes our wars today, it’s their endurance.  They never seem to end.  Though war itself may not be an American inevitability, these days many factors combine to make constant war an American near certainty.  Put metaphorically, our nation’s pursuit of war...

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Doubling Down in Afghanistan: Why We Refuse to Fold a Losing Hand

(49) Comments | Posted June 3, 2010 | 12:37 PM

Crossposted with TomDispatch.com.

As Congress moves toward rubber-stamping yet another “emergency” supplemental bill that includes more than $33 billion for military operations, mainly to fund the latest surge in Afghanistan, maybe we should take a page from the new British government.  Facing debilitating deficits, the conservative Tories...

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American Kleptocracy: How Fears of Socialism and Fascism Hide Naked Theft

(115) Comments | Posted April 22, 2010 | 11:16 AM

Crossposted with TomDispatch.com.

Kleptocracy -- now, there’s a word I was taught to associate with corrupt and exploitative governments that steal ruthlessly and relentlessly from the people.  It’s a word, in fact, that’s usually applied to flawed or failed governments in Africa, Latin America, or the nether regions...

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Obama at the Precipice: Tough Guys Don't Need to Dance in Afghanistan

(39) Comments | Posted October 11, 2009 | 7:11 PM

It's early in 1965, and President Lyndon B. Johnson faces a critical decision. Should he escalate in Vietnam? Should he say "yes" to the request from U.S. commanders for more troops? Or should he change strategy, downsize the American commitment, even withdraw completely, a decision that would help him focus...

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A Seven-Step Program to Return America to a Quieter, Less Muscular, Patriotism

(10) Comments | Posted September 3, 2009 | 12:50 PM

Cross-posted with Tomdispatch.com .

I have a few confessions to make: After almost eight years of off-and-on war in Afghanistan and after more than six years of mayhem and death since "Mission Accomplished" was declared in Operation Iraqi Freedom, I'm tired of seeing simpleminded magnetic ribbons on vehicles...

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Selling Education, Manufacturing Technocrats, Torturing Souls

(15) Comments | Posted May 28, 2009 | 5:03 PM

Crossposted with TomDispatch.com


The Tyranny of Being Practical


Hardly a week goes by without dire headlines about the failure of the American education system. Our students don't perform well in math and science. The high-school dropout rate is too high. Minority students are falling...

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Mary McCarthy in Vietnam, Barack Obama in Afghanistan

(1) Comments | Posted April 16, 2009 | 10:36 PM

Cross-posted from TomDispatch.com

In 1967, outraged by the course of the Vietnam War, as well as her country's role in prolonging and worsening it, Mary McCarthy, novelist, memoirist, and author of the bestseller The Group, went to Saigon, then the capital of South Vietnam, to judge the situation...

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Aboard the Imperial Star Ship Ameriprise

(10) Comments | Posted March 26, 2009 | 1:25 PM

Crossposted with TomDispatch.com

Heading for the Final Frontier


I grew up in the 1970s on reruns of the original Star Trek with Captain James Tiberius Kirk at the helm, backed by that ever logical Vulcan, Mr. Spock, Dr. "Bones" McCoy, and the rest of the...

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