Mike Pilewski writes about life, politics and culture in the United States
A few years ago, in the early stages of the Iraq war, some Americans complained that the military action was illegal. This puzzled my brother-in-law. “How can a war be illegal?” he asked me. I was flattered at the chance to show that my years of studying history and political science had not been in vain. I told him about … >>
That Barack Obama! You never know what he’s going to do next. One night, he’s cracking jokes at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. The next night, he tells us Osama bin Laden is dead. I have to offer my congratulations. Obama had promised to go after bin Laden, and he got him. I’m happy to see that the president can … >>
Of all the villains in the world, Mu’ammer Gaddafi is the one I’ve liked best. That’s because he always follows through. He’s not only talked about a pan-Arab or pan-African union; he’s tried to create one — first by attempting to persuade his neighbors, then by trying to annex two of them. Gaddafi designed the Libyan flag himself: a solid … >>
I don’t know about you, but I’ve been fascinated by the news reports of recent weeks. The demonstrations that toppled regimes in Tunisia and Egypt have spread to Algeria, Jordan, Yemen, Bahrain, Iran, Libya, Lebanon, Oman and even Saudi Arabia. Kuwait took the hint and offered concessions before any protests happened. As George W. Bush said, several years too early, … >>
Victory was in the air, and it seemed the appropriate thing to do. George W. Bush, perhaps nostalgic for the service he’d abandoned in 1971, wore a military pilot’s uniform as he stepped out of a fighter plane onto the deck of an aircraft carrier. The ship was full of troops returning to California after they’d defeated the Iraqi army … >>
Here’s a little history quiz for you. Which war was the longest in American history? If you answered “Vietnam,” you’d have been right until about three weeks ago. US combat there officially lasted eight years and eight months. But this June, it was overtaken by Afghanistan, where fighting has gone on uninterrupted since October 2001. The arrival of this fact … >>
It’s the first thing most of us are told before going abroad: “Don’t be an Ugly American.” We’re reminded — by our teachers, by the government, by travel websites — that we are all ambassadors of our country. People abroad will judge our country by the actions of the individuals they meet. The Ugly American was the title of a … >>
How lucky we are when our problems are trivial! Flying to Istanbul on Christmas Day, my only complaint was that Turkish Airlines had seated me next to a large, burly man instead of a lovely Czech supermodel. Had I instead been flying to Detroit that same day, I would have come close to being blown up. It was only a … >>
This time, all the TV networks carried the speech. That’s how important it was — the strategy so long in coming on how to win a war many consider unwinnable. Speaking at the prestigious West Point military academy, Barack Obama said that over the next six months, America would send another 30,000 troops to join the roughly 70,000 already in … >>
First grade started as the world was about to end. A siren went off at the school, and hundreds of us kids were led down to the basement. We were stunned to find ourselves in a vast concrete cavern lined with barrels of water and big boxes of crackers. This fallout shelter would keep us alive if Pittsburgh were destroyed. … >>