War on Terror — Bunk History

The Devil Presenting St. Augustine with The Book of Vices by Michael Pacher, 1471-1475

St. Augustine's 9/11 Anniversary

Lord, implored President Biden, let us "turn the page" on the War on Terror. Just not yet.

by Spencer Ackerman via Forever Wars on September 11, 2023

US military pilots operating Predator drones from the ground control station.

The Forgotten Crime of War Itself

A new book argues that efforts to humanize war with smarter weaponry have obscured the task of making peace the first goal of foreign policy.

by Jackson Lears via New York Review of Books on March 31, 2022

Donald Rumsfeld in Kandahar, Afghanistan, in 2005 (Jim Young-Pool/Getty Images).

Lasting Cruelties

A new book situates the War on Terror as a story of domination which traces back to the founding of the US as a settler-colonial and slaveholding behemoth.

by Lyle Jeremy Rubin via Dissent on March 30, 2022

Blood over image of Afghan security in Kabul

The War on Terror: 20 Years of Bloodshed and Delusion

From the beginning, the War on Terror merged red-hot vengeance with calculated opportunism. Millions are still paying the price.

by Tariq Ali via The Nation on September 7, 2021

9/11 Forever

Far from a relic of the past, September 11 continues to normalize previously unimaginable forms of state-sanctioned barbarity.

by Joseph Margulies via Boston Review on September 7, 2021

George W. Bush giving speech

In the Shadow of 9/11

Two new books argue that the War on Terror changed American politics, but what if the sources of its violence were already long present in the country?

by Samuel Moyn via The Nation on September 7, 2021

How the War on Terror Undermined American Democracy

Spencer Ackerman’s new book argues that the forever wars created the conditions for Trump’s rise.

by Patrick Iber via The New Republic on August 5, 2021

The wreckage of the Twin Towers on 11th September 2001.

The Legacy of 9/11

After 20 years of foreign policy failures following the attacks on the World Trade Center, America is finally rethinking its place in the world.

by Stephen Wertheim via Prospect Magazine on July 14, 2021

Image of Sergeant Pete Thibodeau during the War on Terror.

The Sum of All Beards

How did facial hair win American men’s hearts and minds? Thank the War on Terror.

by Adam Weinstein, Adrian Bonenberger via The New Republic on June 4, 2019

How Should We Memorialize Those Lost in the War on Terror?

Americans have erected countless monuments to past wars. But how do we pay tribute to the fallen in a conflict that may never end?

by Elliot Ackerman via Smithsonian on January 2, 2019

Barbara Lee speaking at a House of Representatives podium.

The Origin of Endless War

On Barbara Lee and the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force.

by Richard Beck via n+1 on August 11, 2017

A Black man in a hoodie.

The Hoodie and the Hijab

Arabness, Blackness, and the figure of terror.

by Leah Mirakhor via Los Angeles Review of Books on June 6, 2015

Wrongly Accused of Terrorism: The Sleeper Cell That Wasn't

Six days after 9/11, the FBI raided a Detroit sleeper cell. But, despite a celebrated conviction, there was one problem — they’d gotten it wrong.

via Retro Report on November 19, 2013

Illustration of George W. Bush on a missile towards U.S.

Lie by Lie: A Timeline of How We Got Into Iraq

Mushroom clouds, duct tape, Judy Miller, Curveball. Recalling how Americans were sold a bogus case for invasion.

by Tim Dickinson, Jonathan Stein via Mother Jones on December 20, 2011

George W. Bush

George W. Bush Declares a War on Terror

Bush’s 2002 State of the Union address kicked off a war that continued well into the 21st century.

via Voices & Visions on January 29, 2002

Donald Trump shakes the hand of a border patrol officer while a line of others waits to meet him.

State of Exception

National security governance, then and now.

by David Klion via The Drift on June 24, 2025

George W. Bush delivering a speech.

George W. Bush Lives on in Donald Trump’s Migrant Policies

The “war on terror” led to a sweeping curtailment of immigrants’ rights that swept up green card holders as well as citizens.

by Branko Marcetic via Jacobin on March 27, 2025

Twin towers missing; twin towers visible with surroundings missing.

How the War on Terror Warped the American Left

A new book on how 9/11 altered the national psyche also demonstrates how it stunted progressive politics.

by Gal Beckerman via The Atlantic on September 10, 2024

Reflections in a store window of people watching the 9/11 attack on television.

The World That September 11 Made

Richard Beck’s “Homeland” traces the far-reaching aftereffects of the attacks and tries to recover the events of the day, as they happened.

by Ed Burmila via The New Republic on September 9, 2024

Jimmy Carter and Max Cleland unveil a memorial to Vietnam Veterans during Veterans Day ceremonies at Arlington National Cemetery in 1978.

The History Behind the Attacks on Tim Walz's Military Record

In 2002, Republicans attacked the patriotism of a distinguished Democratic veteran. It worked and they've kept doing it ever since.

by Kyle Longley via Made By History on August 29, 2024

New York City's Twin Towers.

New 9/11 Evidence Points to Deep Saudi Complicity

Two decades of U.S. policy appear to be rooted in a mistaken understanding of what happened that day.

by Daniel Benjamin, Steven Simon via The Atlantic on May 20, 2024

Joe Biden and George W. Bush.

Biden Is Repeating Bush’s Post-9/11 Playbook. It’s Not Working.

Like his predecessor, the president is decrying anti-Arab and Muslim hatred while helping fuel it. People are refusing to let him get away with this hypocrisy.

by Saliha Bayrak via The Nation on February 23, 2024

A Taliban soldier standing on the ruins of the Bala Hissar fortress, Kabul, Afghanistan, 2021.

The Price of American ‘Safety’

New books on the War in Afghanistan endeavor to tell the realities of occupation and the "war on terror."

by Suzy Hansen via New York Review of Books on February 20, 2024

Two American soldiers in UCP uniforms with an Iraqi man in the background.

Universal Failure

Universal Camouflage Pattern became a symbol of an unpopular war. Today, it’s being reappraised by those too young to remember the invasion of Iraq.

by Charles McFarlane via The Baffler on January 4, 2024

Shrapnel damage to an exterior of a home in Rehovot near Tel Aviv, Israel.

The Problem With America's Reagan-Era Approach to Terrorism

While condemning terrorism should be a no-brainer, "moral clarity" has not guaranteed sound U.S. counterterrorism policy.

by Joseph Stieb via Made By History on October 26, 2023

Photo of George Bush giving a speech.

Why Did the United States Invade Iraq? The Debate at 20 Years.

The invasion is still the most important foreign policy decision by a 21st century U.S. president, so the surfeit of analysis should surprise no one.

by Joseph Stieb via Texas National Security Review on June 6, 2023

George W. Bush on the day of the 9/11 attacks, which were used to publicly justify the 2003 invasion of Iraq. But by many accounts, the plan to invade Iraq had already started taking shape months before.

George W. Bush Misrepresented Our Work at CIA to Sell the Iraq Invasion

Two former CIA officials weigh in: "It's time to call him what he is: 'A liar.'"

by Mattathias Schwartz via Insider on March 20, 2023

A Known and Unknown War

Twenty years later, I am living through the making of the Iraq War as history.

by Michael Brenes via Contingent on March 20, 2023

Iraq and the Pathologies of Primacy

The flawed logic that produced the war is alive and well.

by Stephen Wertheim via Foreign Affairs on March 17, 2023

Censored text and George W. Bush with a black bar covering his eyes. Art by Alex Cochran.

What Really Took America to War in Iraq

A fatal combination of fear, power, and hubris.

by Melvyn P. Leffler via The Atlantic on January 23, 2023

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