Articles by: Karen J Greenberg

Blindman’s Buff-America’s Continuing Quest to Hide Torture

Blindman’s Buff-America’s Continuing Quest to Hide Torture

In the Blindman’s Buff variation of tag, a child designated as “It” is tasked with tapping another child while wearing a blindfold. The sightless child knows the other children, all able to see, are there but is left to stumble around, using sounds and knowledge of the space they’re in as guides. Finally, that child does succeed, either by bumping into someone, peeking,[Read More…]

by 26/05/2023 Comments are Disabled World
Will It Never Stop? From Forever War to Eternal War

Will It Never Stop? From Forever War to Eternal War

“It is time,” President Biden announced in April 2021, “to end the forever war” that started with the invasion of Afghanistan soon after the tragic terror attacks on this country on September 11, 2001. Indeed, that August, amid chaos and disaster, the president did finally pull the last remaining U.S. forces out of that country. A year and a half later, it’s[Read More…]

by 12/04/2023 Comments are Disabled World
Gallows Humor in Washington and Brazil

Gallows Humor in Washington and Brazil

Americans tuning into the television news on January 8th eyed a disturbingly recognizable scene. In an “eerily familiar” moment of “déjà vu,” just two years and two days after the January 6th Capitol insurrection in Washington, D.C., a mob of thousands stormed government buildings in the capital city of another country — Brazil. In Brasilia, what New York Times columnist Ross Douthat ominously[Read More…]

by 30/01/2023 Comments are Disabled World
Guantánamo’s First 7,627 Days

Guantánamo’s First 7,627 Days

Will America’s Forever Prison Finally Close on Biden’s Watch? As of December 8, 2022, Guantánamo Bay detention facility — a prison offshore of American justice and built for those detained in this country’s never-ending Global War on Terror — has been open for nearly 21 years (or, to be precise, 7,627 days). Thirteen years ago, I published a book, The Least[Read More…]

by 09/12/2022 Comments are Disabled World
State of Disgrace in Washington

State of Disgrace in Washington

Well before the House select committee’s January 6th investigation began, trust in the classic American system of checks and balances as reliable protection against executive (or, more recently, Supreme Court) abuses of power had already fallen into a state of disgrace. A domestically shackled Biden presidency, a Congress unable to act, and a Supreme Court that seems ever more like[Read More…]

by 18/07/2022 Comments are Disabled World
Our Ukraine Wake-Up Call – The Global Age is Upon Us

Our Ukraine Wake-Up Call – The Global Age is Upon Us

In recent days, experts have begun laying out the potential hardships the Russian invasion of Ukraine might inflict here in the United States, thousands and thousands of miles from the battle zone. As former White House national security official Richard Clarke bluntly put it, “Russia will bring the war to our homeland.” He pointed to potential damage in two particular realms, possible[Read More…]

by 09/03/2022 Comments are Disabled World
Guantánamo’s Forever Elusive Endgame – Will We “Celebrate” Its 30th Anniversary?

Guantánamo’s Forever Elusive Endgame – Will We “Celebrate” Its 30th Anniversary?

It’s now more than 20 years later and that American offshore symbol of mistreatment and injustice, the prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, is still open. In fact, as 2021 ended, New York Times reporter Carol Rosenberg, who has covered that notorious prison complex since its first day, reported on the Pentagon’s plans to build a brand-new prefab courthouse at that naval base. It’s intended[Read More…]

by 20/01/2022 Comments are Disabled World
Are We Forever Captives of America’s Forever Wars?

Are We Forever Captives of America’s Forever Wars?

As August ended, American troops completed their withdrawal from Afghanistan almost 20 years after they first arrived. On the formal date of withdrawal, however, President Biden insisted that “over-the-horizon capabilities” (airpower and Special Operations forces, for example) would remain available for use anytime. “[W]e can strike terrorists and targets without American boots on the ground, very few if needed,” he explained, dispensing immediately with[Read More…]

by 09/12/2021 Comments are Disabled Imperialism
Never Having to Say You’re Sorry – No Accountability and No Apologies

Never Having to Say You’re Sorry – No Accountability and No Apologies

The anniversary of the 9/11 attacks was marked by days of remembrances — for the courageous rescue workers of that moment, for the thousands murdered as the Twin Towers collapsed, for those who died in the Pentagon, or in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, fighting off the hijackers of the commercial jet they were in, as well as for those who fought in[Read More…]

by 07/10/2021 Comments are Disabled Imperialism
The Endless Shadow of the War on Terror

The Endless Shadow of the War on Terror

It ended in chaos and disaster.  Kabul has fallen and Joe Biden is being blamed (by congressional Republicans in particular) for America’s now almost-20-year disaster in Afghanistan.  But is the war on terror itself over? Apparently not. It seems like centuries ago, but do you remember when, in May 2003, President George W. Bush declared “Mission accomplished” as he spoke proudly of his invasion[Read More…]

by 23/08/2021 Comments are Disabled Imperialism
Can Guantánamo Ever Be Shut Down?

Can Guantánamo Ever Be Shut Down?

Dealing with the Forever Prison of America’s Forever Wars The Guantánamo conundrum never seems to end. Twelve years ago, I had other expectations. I envisioned a writing project that I had no doubt would be part of my future: an account of Guantánamo’s last 100 days. I expected to narrate in reverse, the episodes in a book I had just[Read More…]

by 05/05/2021 1 comment Human Rights
Moving on from the War on Terror?

Moving on from the War on Terror?

In the first two months of Joe Biden’s presidency, you could feel the country holding its breath. Sheltered in place, hidden behind masks, unsure about whether to trust in a safe-from-pandemic future, we are nonetheless beginning to open our eyes collectively. As part of this reemergence, a wider array of issues — those beyond Covid-19 — are once again starting[Read More…]

by 25/03/2021 Comments are Disabled Imperialism
 Donald Trump’s Failed State: America’s Daunting New World and the Coming Election

 Donald Trump’s Failed State: America’s Daunting New World and the Coming Election

These past few months, it’s grown ever harder to recognize life in America. Thanks to Covid-19, basic day-to-day existence has changed in complicated, often confusing ways. Just putting food on the table has become a challenge for many. Getting doctors’ appointments and medical care can take months. Many schools are offering on-line only instruction and good luck trying to get a driver’s[Read More…]

by 30/10/2020 1 comment World
Accountability Is Gone in America

Accountability Is Gone in America

Whether you consider the appalling death toll or the equally unacceptable rising numbers of Covid-19 cases, the United States has one of the worst records worldwide when it comes to the pandemic. Nevertheless, the president has continued to behave just as he promised he would in March when there had been only 40 deaths from the virus here and he said, “I don’t[Read More…]

by 03/08/2020 Comments are Disabled World
 America’s Pandemic Role Reversal

 America’s Pandemic Role Reversal

Remember the song “Over There”? “Over there, over there Send the word, send the word over there That the Yanks are coming, The Yanks are coming, The drums rum-tumming everywhere…” Maybe not, since it was popular so long ago, but it was meant to inspire American troops saying goodbye to their country on their way to a Europe embroiled in[Read More…]

by 18/05/2020 Comments are Disabled World
While Rome Burns – Trump Gets What He’s Always Wanted

While Rome Burns – Trump Gets What He’s Always Wanted

Last month, Donald Trump retweeted a doctored photo of himself playing the fiddle that was labeled “My next piece is called: nothing can stop what’s coming.” It was clearly an homage to the Emperor Nero who so infamously made music while Rome burned. To it, the president added this comment: “Who knows what this means, but it sounds good to me!” Whether[Read More…]

by 07/04/2020 Comments are Disabled World
us supreme court

How Democracy Ends – Not With a Bang But With a Whimper

In this fast-paced century, rife with technological innovation, we’ve grown accustomed to the impermanence of things. Whatever is here now will likely someday vanish, possibly sooner than we imagine. Movies and music that once played on our VCRs and stereos have given way to infinite choices in the cloud. Cash currency is fast becoming a thing of the past. Cars[Read More…]

by 28/02/2020 1 comment World
Guantánamo’s Indelible Legacy

Guantánamo’s Indelible Legacy

Co-Written by Karen J. Greenberg & Joshua L. Dratel In January 2002, the Guantánamo Bay Detention Facility in Cuba opened its gates for the first 20 detainees of the war on terror. Within 100 days, 300 of them would arrive, often hooded and in those infamous orange jumpsuits, and that would just be the beginning. At its height, the population would rise to nearly[Read More…]

by 20/01/2020 Comments are Disabled World
 The War on Words in Donald Trump’s White House

 The War on Words in Donald Trump’s White House

How to Fudge, Obfuscate, and Lie Our Way into a New Universe These days, witnessing the administration’s never-ending cruelty at the border, the shenanigans of a White House caught red-handed in attempted bribery in Ukraine, and the disarray of this country’s foreign policy, I feel like I’m seeing a much-scarier remake of a familiar old movie. The cast of characters[Read More…]

by 22/11/2019 Comments are Disabled World
What the Child Detentions at the Border Really Tell Us

What the Child Detentions at the Border Really Tell Us

  Lately, I’ve been thinking about the Grimms’ fairy tale Hansel and Gretel. Terrified by cruel conditions at home, the brother and sister flee, winding their way, hungry and scared, through unknown woods. There, they encounter an old woman who lures them in with promises of safety. Instead, she locks one of them in a cage and turns the other[Read More…]

by 26/07/2019 Comments are Disabled Human Rights
Redacting Democracy: What You Can’t See Can Hurt You

Redacting Democracy: What You Can’t See Can Hurt You

The Nobel Prize-winning Czech author Milan Kundera began his 1979 novel, The Book of Laughter and Forgetting, by describing two photographs. In the first, two men are standing side by side, a Czech nationalist later executed for his views and the country’s Communist ruler. In the second, the dissenter is gone, airbrushed out. Just the dictator remains. Today, if Kundera hadn’t written[Read More…]

by 14/05/2019 1 comment World
Citizenship in the Age of Trump

Citizenship in the Age of Trump

It turns out that walls can’t always be seen. Donald Trump may never build his “great, great wall,” but that doesn’t mean he isn’t working to wall Americans in. It’s a story that needs to be told. This past month, for instance, claims of ISIS’s near total defeat in Syria have continued to mount. As a result, numerous foreigners who had traveled[Read More…]

by 21/03/2019 Comments are Disabled World
Creating a Global Lost Generation

Creating a Global Lost Generation

Halfway through 2018, MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski hurled a mother-to-mother dagger at Ivanka Trump. How, during the very weeks when the headlines were filled with grim news of child separations and suffering at the U.S.-Mexico border, she asked, could the first daughter and presidential adviser be so tone-deaf as to show herself hugging her two-year-old son? Similarly, six months earlier, she had been[Read More…]

by 22/01/2019 Comments are Disabled Human Rights
Guantánamo’s Last 100 Days : The Story That Never Was 

Guantánamo’s Last 100 Days : The Story That Never Was 

In the spring of 2016, I asked a student of mine to do me a favor and figure out which day would be the 100th before Barack Obama’s presidency ended. October 12th, he reported back, and then asked me the obvious question: Why in the world did I want to know? The answer was simple. Years before I had written[Read More…]

by 02/03/2017 1 comment Human Rights, World