Larry and Margaret were one of the few lucky couples of the Vietnam War to return to each other’s arms earlier than expected, but tragedy found a way back to them in the form of Margaret’s untimely death Margaret and…
Category: America’s Wars
Explainer: Can Online War Lead to Real War?
BY JENNIFER KELTZ In September, a drone attack crippled vital chokepoints in Saudi Arabia’s oil infrastructure. This attack, which the United States and Saudi Arabia blamed on Iran, is not an isolated incident: it occurred amidst rising tensions in a…
New York City’s Generation 9/11: Growing up Muslim and American
BY SARAH SAKHA My father goes by “Fred”; his real name is Farzad, which sounds distinctly non-white and Muslim. My mother goes by “Sarah”; her name is Soheila. They named me Sarah, so I would blend into my predominantly white,…
A Well-Intentioned Visa Program that Allows so Few to Immigrate
BY BASBIBI KAKAR Letting down their best allies Behind the Special Immigrant Visa program lies a powerful story of loyalty, risk and promises betrayed, for the tens of thousands of people who risked their lives to help the United States…
Coming to Terms with the Taliban
BY SEAN STEINBERG The Bush administration launched the “Global War on Terror” in the aftermath of 9/11 as an unambiguous moral crusade framed with damning, unequivocal rhetoric. Yet today, the United States is negotiating with the Taliban — the very…
Young Veteran Seeks Community in Aging Organization
BY JOHN PATRICK DEES Mike Drake slams down the phone. The Veterans of Foreign Wars elders have canceled on him again. Disappointed, Drake emails his friends; yet again, they will have to postpone. For months, Drake, a U.S. Army combat…
Four Piles: U.S. Humanitarian Relief After the Tohuku Earthquake
BY JILLIAN TIMKO Oshima Island, Japan Four piles: wood, debris, fishing equipment, and personal effects. For three days in March 2011, Marines from the U.S.S. Essex cleared and sorted the destruction caused by the Tohuku Earthquake on Oshima Island into…
Want to demolish a Palestinian home? Call the American Ambassador
BY CATE BROWN The traffic was bad. Saturday night and raining. Abed Sabbagh tapped his fingers on the dashboard of our taxi, gently strumming along to the oud streaming from Bethlehem’s 89.6FM. I watched as the procession of yellow license…
Fleeing from Fahaheel
BY S’HA SIDDIQI On August 2, 1990, a thunderous boom rattled the streets of Fahaheel, Kuwait. It was early morning and 26-year-old Asma Ahsan had just returned to bed after nursing her infant son back to sleep. Her eyes fluttered…
The Voice of Military Humor in a Post-9/11 World
BY DOMINICK TAO Like many of the 3-million U.S. military veterans of the Global War on Terrorism, Paul Szoldra left the Marine Corps with no clue what he wanted to do. It was 2010. Szoldra was 26. The war had…