A Proposal to Reduce Political Partisanship In Uniform
Military members have to walk a line between their own political beliefs and what the State asks of them as members of the profession of arms. In principle, it […]
A Meditation For Good Friday
This was part of a series of dramatic monologues that people in my parish were asked to come up with for the Stations of the Cross yesterday. Each Station […]
The Interrogator’s Confession: A Book Review of Consequence: A Memoir by Eric Fair
Consequence: A Memoir is the confession of a good man who became complicit in evil. Eric Fair, an American and a Christian with a strong sense of vocation to God […]
“I Made Horrible Mistakes”: Regrets Of An American Torturer
Diagram of stress positions, from a US military handbook for interrogators. A day after reading a very disheartening Religious News Service story about how nearly two-thirds of Americans […]
Book Review: Annie Jacobsen’s The Pentagon’s Brain: An Uncensored History of DARPA
The Pentagon’s Brain: An Uncensored History of DARPA, America’s Top Secret Military Research Agency (New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2015). Annie Jacobsen Since 1958, DARPA, the […]
Was Kunduz A War Crime?
A week after US warplanes bombed a hospital run by Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in Kunduz, Afghanistan on 3 October, killing over twenty staff and patients, Afghanistan, there is some debate […]
Jeffrey Toobin on ”Cafeteria Government”
Whatever one thinks of Ms. Davis, Jeffrey Toobin’s short essay on the New Yorker website raises some interesting points about whether religious accomodation amounts to “cafeteria citizenship” and even to […]
One Human Cost Of The Drone War
While amusing (at least, amusing i suppose to pilots) the caption of this image suggests that it can’t be that easy being an Air Force drone operator. Besides the […]
Is PTSD A Defence For Moral Lapses? The Case of Senator Walsh
In yesterday’s post on military medals and integrity, I mentioned that embellishing one’s credentials is a fairly common failing. A case in point is U.S. Senator John Walsh […]
David Rothkopf on the “Ragged Edges” of Modern Conflict
Barring some awful, “Guns of August” style massive conflict that may be waiting around the corner (an uncomfortable thought in July of the centennial year of 1914, when so […]