As part of our weeklong coverage marking the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks and the launch of the United States’ so-called war on terror, we take a look at the human, financial and environmental costs of U.S. military intervention around the world with Neta Crawford, co-founder of Brown University’s Costs of War Project. Researchers at the Costs of War Project estimate that nearly a million people have been killed as a direct result of U.S. military violence in the Middle East since 2001. At least half are estimated to be civilians. An additional 3.8 million deaths can be attributed to the indirect effects of war, including injuries, famine and long-term health conditions. And the wars have also increased the U.S. debt, […]

“The 'war on terror' was always a construct to be waged, never quite to be ended.” We discuss the origins and impacts of the global “war on terror,” launched by the U.S. government in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C., with Spencer Ackerman, author of Reign of Terror: How the 9/11 Era Destabilized America and Produced Trump. “We saw, beginning at the very outset of the 'war on terror,' our leaders told us to understand 9/11 as an assault of a foreign civilization, one that had nothing to do with the consequences of American extractive and exploitative foreign policy in the Muslim world or its support for Israel.” Ackerman says the “war on terror” and its repercussions have […]

In the five years since the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan following the complete withdrawal of U.S. troops from the country, millions of Afghan refugees have been forced out of neighboring Iran and Pakistan, where they had been living and “dumped at the border” without immediate access to food, water or shelter. At the same time, conditions for women and girls in Afghanistan continue to deteriorate, as basic rights to education, freedom of movement and access to services are increasingly curtailed under the Taliban’s authoritarian rule. “It’s a crisis for humanity,” says Jan Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, speaking to Democracy Now! from Kabul. “We’re so overstretched and underfunded. […]

Almost 25 years ago, just days after the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center, President George W. Bush addressed the nation, making the case for war against al-Qaeda, whose leader, Osama bin Laden, was based in Afghanistan. “I sensed that something like this was not going to go unpunished,” Afghan American New Yorker and women’s rights activist Masuda Sultan told Democracy Now! at the time. Within a few weeks, the U.S. invasion began. Sultan would lose 19 members of her family when the U.S. military bombed their village outside of Kandahar. We revisit our coverage of the initial U.S. invasion, including our first interviews with Sultan in 2002, and speak to Sultan again today. She reflects on her experience, including […]

Trump Predicts Iran War and High Fuel Prices Will Last Until November, Houthis Seize Red Sea Port City Near Bab al-Mandab Strait, Investors Ditch U.S. Treasuries, Sending U.S. Bond Yields to Highest Levels Since 2007, Rubio Defends U.S. Strikes on Boats, Calls Victims “Narco-Terrorists” , Trump Pledges $5,000 Payment to All U.S. Adults If Republicans Win Midterm Elections, Democratic Sen. John Fetterman Tells GOP Midterm Political Convention He’ll Work with Trump, Trump Administration Proposes Overhaul of 2030 Census, 200,000 Salvadorans in U.S. Face Uncertain Future as Temporary Protected Status Expires, The Guardian: ICE Obtains Judge’s Approval to Force-Feed Cuban Detainee on Hunger Strike, Israeli Airstrike Flattens Home in […]