KtBlog

523_001

Dear Cruelest Month: Spring Isn’t Arab

Once upon a time we lay in bed trying to imagine what shelling sounded like. We being me and the man I loved. Ah, those early days of my Orientalism…

charlie-hebdo-trinity

Why Are You Laughing?

Two ways of looking at “Je suis Charlie.”

"The Fall of Man, after Hendrick Goltzius" by Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com, via Flickr.

Edens Everywhere

It wouldn’t be paradise if it weren’t already lost.

Iraqi women voting on December 15, 2005. By james.gordon6108, via Flickr.

Hamdia’s Research

Celebrating International Women’s Day in Baghdad.

Jason Sagebiel in his office in Iraq.

The Songs of War

In the first years of the Iraq War, what distinguished Maj. Gen. David Petraeus’s success in the north from his fellow commanders’ difficulty in the south was his correct assessment…

Killing the Buddha

Unspun

I join Chris Hedges and General Brent Scowcroft as a talking head for Al Jazeera’s new documentary news program, Faultlines, about religion in the military. I was invited to be…

Killing the Buddha

U.S. Army Chaplain: “We hunt people for Jesus.”

“Special forces guys, they hunt men, basically. We do the same thing as Christians, we hunt people for Jesus. Hunt ’em down.” That’s Lt. Colonel Gary Hensley, who at the…

Killing the Buddha

Klingenschmitt’s Revenge

My cover story for the May Harper’s, “Jesus Killed Mohammed” — subscription only, but an exclusive excerpt is available here on KtB and the hard copy’s on the newsstand tomorrow…

crosstank

Jesus Killed Mohammed

The crusade for a Christian military.

Mansur al-Hallaj hanged and stoned.

How to Make a Martyr

When a death becomes larger than life, memory hangs in the balance.

"When I finally recognize his costume, I smile, shake my head, and say, 'Look at you!'"

Prime Directive

This Halloween, how about wearing a truly monstrous costume? A haunting excerpt from A Good War is Hard to Find

Iraqi prisoner, Abu Ghraib prison; Virgin Mary statuette, Houston, Texas.

Our Lady of Minor Hostilities

A new icon emerges from Iraq.

 An Easter service sponsored by US military chaplains, in the public plaza adjacent to the Imperial Palace, 1948.

Red Flags and Christian Soldiers

Operation Gospel – A primer from the last time the U.S. occupied foreign lands.

Mitre Peak, New Zealand

Coming Home, O Lord, I’m Coming Home

An expat returns to America just in time for holy war.

Bagdhad, before the war.

Living with the Enemy

An American woman residing at a hotel in Baghdad sends word to friends back home of the horror and beauty she bears witness to.

Dr Strangelove, or: How I learned to stop worrying and love rapid dominance.

The Father of All Bombs

Meet the man who brought shock and awe to the world.

"The idea is to get the other side to quit by not firing a shot..."

Dear Doctor Ullman

An email exchange with Harlan Ullman uncovers the doubts of a defense intellectual.