Oppose Afghanistan But Not a Pacifist? Tough.
While Obama used his Nobel Peace Prize speech to legitimize Afghanistan using just war principles, soldiers are currently unable to invoke these principles in refusing to serve. When we punish soldiers who heed their moral compasses, we deny them religious freedom, and our democracy is threatened. It’s time to allow those who oppose the war on ethical grounds the option of ‘Selective Conscientious Objection.’
Could we just look in the mirror, please?
Escalating Afghanistan: What Did You Do in the Class War, Daddy?
Don’t the clergy have a duty to challenge the march of folly in Afghanistan and Pakistan?
In this video Rachel Maddow suggests a way to honor the prize while holding the president accountable.
Why Obama for the Nobel? A Nudge? A Reminder?
You can either trust Rush Limbaugh or look at past awards for clues.
The fact is that we are already committed to war in Afghanistan; we are already in. And while many of us may want to get out, the question is how?
Nothing like dropping in a lot of trigger-happy hired guns to win hearts and minds, right?
Afghan Idol: Can a Talent Competition Save a Nation?
An interview with the director of Afghan Star, a documentary that follows a tense but cathartic talent competition.
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.
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.
Found in Translation: How a Thirteenth-Century Islamic Poet Conquered America
The best-selling poet in America today was born in Afghanistan, practiced a form of Islam that originated in Iraq, and has been dead for 800 years. How did a white man from Tennessee, who doesn’t read a lick of Persian, make Rumi accessible to mainstream America?
Responses to the taking of innocent life vary according to whose innocent life has been taken.
RDPulpit: Israel in Gaza: Right but not Smart
Israel is still using a strategy of domination in its struggle with Hamas, trying to use force to gain security. But this is a recipe for endless war.
Deconstructing the systematic political theology in the president’s Easter address; are American soldiers merely imitating Christ?