My Friends at Historians Against the War (HAW) have Important Reading Recommendations, America!

Far too often, Americans walk around saying, "I don't know much about history". Then they go and do stupid things or allow leaders they voted for to do so.

Historians Against the War (see http://www.historiansagainstwar.org/ ) have been doing a great service to American History narration by putting out a spate of important writings on the issues of the past decade, including the wars on Terror, on/in the Middle East and in South Asia.

Check some of these writings out at the links below.


“Our Laws Condone Torture”
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2009/08/25/cole/index.html
By Juan Cole in Salon.com, posted September 8

“The Phoenix Program Was a Disaster in Vietnam and Would Be in Afghanistan--And the NYT Should Know That”
http://hnn.us/articles/116462.html
By Jeremy Kuzmarov, History News Network, posted September 7

“These Colors Run Red!: The U.S. Follows the Soviet Union into Afghanistan”
http://amconmag.com/article/2009/oct/01/00018//
By Andrew J. Bacevic, The American Conservative, October 1, 2009 issue

“Battle for Honduras—and the Region”
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090831/grandin
By Greg Grandin, The Nation, August 31 issue

“From My Lai to Lockerbie”
http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175108/nick_turse_from_my_lai_to_lockerbie
By Nick Turse, TomDispatch.com, posted August 30

“Saigon 2009: Afghanistan Is Today's Vietnam. No Question Mark Needed.”
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/08/20/saigon_2009
By Thomas H. Johnson and M. Chris Mason, foreignpolicy.com, posted August 20

“Lesson of Vietnam Lost in Afghanistan”
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20090820_vietnams_lesson_lost_in_afghanistan
By Stanley Kutler, Truthdig, posted August 20

“Is Obama Aware of the History of Failure that Marks Our Drug War in Latin America?”
http://hnn.us/articles/114765.html

By Jeremy Kuzmarov, History News Network, posted August 17
In addition, this week's "Life during Wartime" cartoon by Josh Brown, posted on the HAW home page (http://www.historiansagainstwar.org), offers a chilling parallel between Afghanistan and Vietnam.

Members of the working group at HAW for this project are Matt Bokovoy, Carolyn (Rusti) Eisenberg, Jim O'Brien, Maia Ramnath, Sarah Shields. They write:

“On behalf of the HAW Steering Committee, we plan to send a message every two weeks with links to on-line articles that provide historical background on HAW-relevant topics. Suggestions for inclusion are welcome: they can be sent to jimobrien48@gmail.com. Members of the working group for this project are listed below.”