Stories by Fred Branfman

Fred Branfman's writing has been published in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Harper’s, and many other publications. He is the author of Voices From the Plain of Jars, and can be reached at fredbranfman@aol.com. subscribe to Fred Branfman's feed

My Experiences up Close with the People Who Bombed a 700-Year-Old Civilization into Dust

Posted on: Jul 18, 2013, Source: AlterNet

I learned how the power of the executive branch has corrupted mass media.

Why the U.S. Executive Branch Is a Clear and Present Danger to Our Democracy

Posted on: Jul 16, 2013, Source: AlterNet

Congress, judiciary and the mass media no longer provide constitutionally mandated checks and balances; they are largely extensions of Executive power.

5 So-Called Liberals Who Kowtow to U.S. Imperial Murder

Posted on: Jun 28, 2013, Source: AlterNet

What does it mean to be called a 'liberal' when you don't stand in the way of killing innocents?

World's Most Evil and Lawless Institution? The Executive Branch of the U.S. Government

Posted on: Jun 26, 2013, Source: AlterNet

Executive Branch leaders have killed, wounded and made homeless well over 20 million human beings in the last 50 years, mostly civilians.

America's Most Anti-Democratic Institution: How the Imperial Presidency Threatens U.S. National Security

Posted on: Jun 9, 2013, Source: AlterNet

It's evil, lawless and authoritarian. And as NSA leaker Snowden has shown us, its aims are to be all-powerful.

“A Lake of Blood and Destruction” – The Voices We Never Hear From America's Wars

Posted on: May 7, 2013, Source: AlterNet

Branfman's book "Voices From The Plain Of Jars: Life Under An Air War" brings us face to face with the almost unimaginable atrocities committed by the U.S. Military.

The Top 10 Most Inhuman Henry Kissinger Quotes

Posted on: Apr 24, 2013, Source: AlterNet

Ten quotes that illustrate his megalomania and indifference to the deaths of untold numbers of civilians.

America Keeps Honoring One of Its Worst Mass Murderers: Henry Kissinger

Posted on: Apr 16, 2013, Source: AlterNet

Including ten quotes that illustrate his megalomania and indifference to the deaths of untold numbers of civilians.

America's Spiritual Death: It's Time to Learn the Dark History of the U.S. You Were Robbed of ... and Oliver Stone Will Help

Posted on: Feb 21, 2013, Source: AlterNet

Stone's TV series, "Untold History of the United States," digs deep into American atrocities the mainstream media doesn't spend much time on.

Young Hillary Clinton Used to Think Kissinger Was Criminal and Immoral: Now in Laos, She Follows In His Footsteps

Posted on: Jul 9, 2012, Source: AlterNet

Clinton's visit to Laos should focus on cleaning up the 80 million unexploded bombs the US left behind from the Vietnam War. Instead, it's all about realpolitik.

When I Saw Noam Chomsky Cry

Posted on: Jun 17, 2012, Source: Salon

I first met Noam Chomsky in Laos, where I showed him the devastating effects of U.S. air raids.

Would We Be Better Off If John McCain Were President?

Posted on: Jul 17, 2011, Source: AlterNet

Presidents serve the institutional interests of the corporations behind them. A President McCain may have at least triggered a true progressive fight.

Obama's Secret Wars: How Our Shady Counter-Terrorism Policies Are More Dangerous Than Terrorism

Posted on: Jul 11, 2011, Source: AlterNet

Obama should be held accountable for vastly expanding the military establishment's worldwide license to kill.

WikiLeaks Revelation: How US Policy in Pakistan Heightens the Risk of Nuclear Attack

Posted on: Jan 16, 2011, Source: Truthdig

The Obama Administration is pushing for the very policies that are destabilizing Pakistan and its nuclear materials.

WikiLeaks' Most Terrifying Revelation: Just How Much Our Government Lies to Us

Posted on: Jan 3, 2011, Source: AlterNet

Wikileaks has shown that our government and military form a 'vast lying machine' that perpetrates mass murder in our name.

'Beyond Madness': Obama's War on Terror Setting Nuclear-Armed Pakistan on Fire

Posted on: Nov 3, 2010, Source: AlterNet

Rather than seeking to stabilize Pakistan, General David Petraeus has been irresponsibly lighting matches with his shortsighted use of Special Forces and drone strikes.

Hillary Clinton and State Dept. to Celebrate War Criminal Henry Kissinger, While the White House Repeats His Deadly Mistakes

Posted on: Sep 27, 2010, Source: AlterNet

Future historians will marvel at how U.S. leaders failed to learn from their horrific crimes in Indochina, and are instead repeating many of them today.

Mass Assassinations Lie at the Heart of America's Military Strategy in the Muslim World

Posted on: Aug 23, 2010, Source: AlterNet

Greatly expanded U.S. military Special Ops teams, U.S. drone strikes and private espionage networks run by former CIA assassins create a threat to our security.

5 Million Iraqis Killed, Maimed, Tortured, Displaced -- Think That Bothers War Boosters Like Christopher Hitchens?

Posted on: Jun 21, 2010, Source: AlterNet

The immensity of Iraqi civilian suffering is incomprehensible. How can war's cheerleaders claim to fight on behalf of the people whose lives they helped destroy?

A Warning From Noam Chomsky on the Threat Posed By Elites

Posted on: Jun 8, 2010, Source: Truthdig

As America’s economy and politics continue to unravel, it is clear that the elite mentality and the system it has created will produce more and more victims in the years to come.

Where Did Wall St. Get the Attitude That It Deserved to Rip Us Off?

Posted on: May 18, 2010, Source: Truthdig

Author Michael Lewis in his best-selling book takes us inside capitalism’s “doomsday machine,” and it’s your worst nightmare come true.

Copenhagen Won't Be Enough -- Only a 'Human Movement' Can Save Civilization from the Climate Crisis

Posted on: Dec 8, 2009, Source: Sacramento News & Review

A strange cloud envelops human civilization as its leaders fail to take the measures to protect it in Copenhagen that they themselves endorsed just five months ago.

Why Obama Has No Business Trying War in the Nuclear-Armed Powder Keg of Pakistan

Posted on: Oct 9, 2009, Source: Truthdig

The U.S. has even less control over events in Pakistan than it does in Afghanistan -- Obama's really playing with fire here.

Petraeus Is a Failure -- Why Do We Pretend He's Been a Success?

Posted on: Jun 23, 2009, Source: Truthdig

Petraeus's tragic blunders in Afghanistan and Pakistan leave only one option: he must be replaced.

Humans Seem Hell Bent on Committing Mass Suicide -- But There's Still Hope

Posted on: May 14, 2009, Source: AlterNet

Despite the endless human capacity for denial and self-destruction, the Earth can still be saved. But we must act now.

Brokaw's Blind Spot on Vietnam

Posted on: Apr 15, 2008, Source: Truthdig

How is it possible to write a book about the '60s without an in-depth discussion of the Vietnam War?

War Crimes in Indochina And Our Troubled National Soul

Posted on: Aug 30, 2004, Source: AlterNet

Swift Boat veterans' attack on John Kerry dishonors themselves and every brave soldier who spoke out against the atrocities committed in Vietnam.

Living as if We Were Dying

Posted on: May 25, 2000, Source: Sacramento News & Review

If you learned you were dying, would you reduce your workload, place a higher priority on love and relationship or switch mates? If so, why put it off just because you don't have a terminal illness yet?