Home
Archive
Columnists
Video
Blogs
Discuss
About
Search
Donate
Advertise
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Register to Vote: Rock the Vote, powered by Working Assets Wireless
  • AlterNetYour turn

Support AlterNet
Do you value the information you're getting from AlterNet? Please show your support with a tax-deductible donation.


Feedback
Tell us how we're doing.

Stories by William O. Beeman

Lethal Field Work: Anthropologists Cry Foul Over Colleagues' Aid to Iraq Occupation

The U.S. military is recruiting anthros to help navigate Iraqi culture -- not everyone is happy about it.
Posted on Apr 5, 2008

The Gender Circus

Like it not, there is no single, clear biological, psychological or cultural definition of "male" and "female.
Posted on Feb 5, 2004

U.S. Once Again Showing How Poorly It Grasps Iraq

Fight in shrine town manages to insult all Iraqis and create new 'martyrs.'
Posted on Dec 2, 2003

Iraq War a Poor Vehicle for the Spread of Democracy

As the situation in Iraq deteriorates, President Bush has outlined a grand vision for democracy in the Middle East. But the U.S. will have to change tactics quickly if legitimate elected bodies are to rule in Iraq.
Posted on Nov 13, 2003

Iraqi Civil War Brewing

The assassination of an important Shi'a leader signals the first shot in an Iraqi civil war that experts warned would ensue if Saddam were removed without careful planning.
Posted on Aug 29, 2003

Iran's WMD Problem

The Bush administration is turning up the heat on Iran over its alleged nuclear weapons program, but any evidence for such a program is scant.
Posted on Jul 1, 2003

Barbershop Wisdom Says Bush in Trouble

The war in Iraq was sold to the U.S. public in ways that resonate with Americans' moral views about violence. With those rationales falling apart, you can hear the tide of public opinion turning.
Posted on Jun 12, 2003

The Emerging Shiite Powerhouse

The U.S. invasion lifted the veil on the real face of power in Iraq, an enormous Shiite Muslim bloc which is spread across the Middle East.
Posted on May 21, 2003

Bombing with a Message

The choice of target in the Riyadh bombings reveals a group more concerned with ousting the Saudi royal family and not connected to Bin Laden.
Posted on May 15, 2003

Who is Michael Ledeen?

From "creative destruction" to "total war," the guiding beliefs of the most aggressive foreign policymakers in the Bush administration may originate in the works of an influential yet rarely seen neoconservative.
Posted on May 8, 2003

The Iraqi Hydra Grows New Heads Every Day

With the removal of the Baathist regime, a whole host of would-be leaders has bubbled to the surface in Iraq, representing a mix of conflicting allegiances and ideologies.
Posted on Apr 24, 2003

The Elusive Weapons Of Mass Destruction

U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix has been virtually ignored by the U.S. press lately, but he's been far from silent.
Posted on Apr 17, 2003

Is Iran Next?

Iranians look east to Afghanistan and west to Iraq and feel trapped. How we will they react?
Posted on Apr 10, 2003

The Shi'ite Wildcard

While their ties to Iran have long troubled the United States, as Iraq's majority religion Shi'ite Muslims must be given a real stake in the country's reconstruction.
Posted on Apr 8, 2003

Is U.S. Backpedaling Into a Quagmire?

Rosy prognostications of a quick and painless war have evaporated in the face of Iraqi resistance. Predictions about the discovery of weapons of mass destruction may prove just as empty.
Posted on Mar 27, 2003

The Day After the Attack

Experts on Iran and the Kurds dread the aftermath of a U.S. invasion of Iraq, which they say would destabilize the entire region.
Posted on Sep 25, 2002

Send Peacekeeping Troops to Palestine

Now that Bush has finally recognized the need for U.S. involvement in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, he needs to take the next important step: commit peacekeeping forces to enforce the peace.
Posted on Apr 8, 2002

Postscript to Sept. 11 -- What Would Margaret Mead Say?

During the 100th anniversary of Margaret Mead's death, Americans would do well to consult the anthropologist's prescient observations of U.S. culture during wartime.
Posted on Dec 3, 2001

Understanding Osama bin Laden

The media is pointing fingers at Osama bin Laden, but the causes of his anger are rarely discussed. Here is why he and his followers hate the U.S. so violently.
Posted on Sep 12, 2001