CounterPunch Op-Ed

Mel Goodman is the national security columnist for counterpunch.org.

Recent News and Latest Book

The US and the War Crimes in the War on Terror

The most prominent war crimes were the Central Intelligence Agency’s detentions and renditions program as well as the sadistic program of torture and abuse, which have been devoid of any accountability whatsoever.  One of the leaders of the program, Gina Haspel, even became Donald Trump’s CIA director.

Is the US Finally Losing Influence in the Middle East?

Biden had to take on the military establishment, seasoned policymakers, and celebrity pundits in allowing the withdrawal from Afghanistan that Donald Trump had negotiated.  Former secretary of defense Robert Gates once assured Afghan President Hamid Karzai that “we’re not ever leaving [Afghanistan}.”  Gates was speaking for a powerful constituency within the national security community that opposed the efforts of Obama and Donald Trump to end the military mission.