From the tributes paid to Trump's nominee for Secretary of Defense you'd expect retired Marine Corps General "Mad Dog" Mattis to be some kind of 'warrior poet'. Dig a little deeper. His quips about warfare are neither amusing nor benign.

The "most revered Marine in a generation" advised his troops that fighting is "a hell of a hoot. It's fun to shoot some people. I'll be right up there with you. I like brawling."

While the presidential election campaign was going on, America was up to its eyeballs in the mass murder of thousands of people, and the starvation of millions more. These war crimes were never mentioned, and many may never have heard about the country being devastated: Yemen.

I asked 15 people educated in the U.S. to point to Yemen and Syria on a map. 3 could. 

I don't blame people who don't know about the world, because they've been taught by a system which puts America first.

However, the region throughout and beyond the Middle East — from Afghanistan down to Somalia — is roiling right now. Millions are trying to leave, beset by bombs and starvation, caught between the imperialist countries seeking control and the reactionary fundamentalist Islamists seeking to push them out.

The question for us must be what is the U.S. doing there?

Aftermath of the Saudi bombing of the funeral hall, Sana'a, October 8. (AP photo)

On Saturday, October 8, hundreds of people gathered in Yemen’s capital Sana’a to mourn the death of the father of an official in the government backed by the Houthi movement and elements of the former regime. These are forces which have been under assault by Saudi Arabia and its allies, including the U.S., for the last 18 months.

Once again, Bay Area residents and visitors suffer the noise and vibration, pollution, and fear of a mid-air crash as fighter jets terrorize small children, seniors, pets, and local wildlife. The U.S. Military establishment is in town to recruit kids to sign up to go kill for Empire.

When the President says so. Deployment of 600 more troops to Iraq is "consistent with Mr. Obama's policy not to commit American ground forces again in Iraq," says the White House.

Debra Sweet | September 10, 2016

It's no secret that government leaders conspire to advance U.S. hegemony in the Middle East with their illicit 'war on terror' response to the September 11, 2001 destruction of the World Trade Center in New York City. That horrific event advanced the criminal program of your government, sacrificing liberty to a false promise of security:

"Our grief is not a cry for war,"  messaged a grouping of artists drawn together by the events of September 11th, 2001. Once again, it's time for those who share this same sensibility — all of us who want a better world — to cry out in protest: All this has not been done in our names! We rededicate ourselves to resist the machinery of war and repression and rally others to do everything possible to stop it. The U.S. must end these wars now!

Debra Sweet | August 26, 2016

When people living in the U.S. express disbelief, or shock, that the U.S. is involved in overt wars & secret ops in 7 Muslim countries, because Obama "wouldn't do that," tell them about Yemen.

Very regularly over the last 11 years, since World Can't Wait was formed to drive out the Bush regime, I've received suggestions, and sometimes grand plans for how to raise the demand to abolish nukes, the military machine, the drones, spying, and so forth.

In the Wake of the Orlando Massacre by Resisting and Opposing U.S. Wars for Empire

When I woke to the news Sunday morning June 12th about the horrific massacre at the LGBTQ night club, Pulse in Orlando FL, my heart was very heavy and my gut twisted. As speculation by the media and officials about the shooter were being made I became very worried. Would this act of violence against LGBTQ people by a man who they said claimed allegiance to ISIS be used as justification for yet more bombing of innocent people, more indefinite detention, more repression of civil liberties by our government?