Spiral: Trapped In The Forever War
by Mark Danner /
2016 / English / PDF
159.7 MB Download
The War on Terror has led to fourteen years of armed conflict, the
longest war in America's history. Al Qaeda, the organization that
attacked us on 9/11, has been replaced by multiple jihadist and
terror organizations, including the most notorious-ISIS. Spiral is
what we can call a perpetual and continuously widening war that has
put the country in a "state of exception." Bush's promise that we
have "taken the gloves off" and Obama's inability to define an end
game have had a profound effect on us even though the actual combat
is fought by a tiny percentage of our citizens. In the name of
security, some of our accustomed rights and freedoms are
circumscribed. Guantanamo, indefinite detention, drone warfare,
enhanced interrogation, torture, and warrantless wiretapping are
all words that have become familiar and tolerated. And yet the war
goes badly as the Middle East drowns in civil wars and the
Caliphate expands and brutalized populations flee and seek asylum
in Europe. In defining the War on Terror as boundless, apocalyptic,
and unceasing, we have, Mark Danner concludes, "let it define us as
ideological crusaders caught in an endless war."
The War on Terror has led to fourteen years of armed conflict, the
longest war in America's history. Al Qaeda, the organization that
attacked us on 9/11, has been replaced by multiple jihadist and
terror organizations, including the most notorious-ISIS. Spiral is
what we can call a perpetual and continuously widening war that has
put the country in a "state of exception." Bush's promise that we
have "taken the gloves off" and Obama's inability to define an end
game have had a profound effect on us even though the actual combat
is fought by a tiny percentage of our citizens. In the name of
security, some of our accustomed rights and freedoms are
circumscribed. Guantanamo, indefinite detention, drone warfare,
enhanced interrogation, torture, and warrantless wiretapping are
all words that have become familiar and tolerated. And yet the war
goes badly as the Middle East drowns in civil wars and the
Caliphate expands and brutalized populations flee and seek asylum
in Europe. In defining the War on Terror as boundless, apocalyptic,
and unceasing, we have, Mark Danner concludes, "let it define us as
ideological crusaders caught in an endless war."