Imperial Irony: New York Times Announces Halt to 'At War' Section Even as Endless US War Continues

Following the announcement Tuesday that the New York Times "At War" section--which has explored the "experiences and costs of war" for the past two and a half years--is ending this week, peace advocates were quick to note that the United States' actual "forever war" outlasting a forum dedicated to covering it should be a sobering reminder of the nation's destructive and bloody foreign policy nearly two decades after the invasions of Afghanistan and then Iraq.

The news came just one week after Stars and Stripes provided an account of U.S. military veterans who fought in Afghanistan watching their children deploy to the same ongoing war.

"The forever war outlasting the NYT section on the forever war is a very forever war thing to happen," tweeted Zeke Johnson, senior director of programs at Amnesty International USA.

Lauren Katzenberg, editor of the Times "At War," offered her reflections about the worrisome termination of the project on social media.

"There are fewer and fewer spaces that exist," said Katzenberg, "to examine the experiences of war and the toll they've taken on both Americans and the citizens of other nations for whom the cost of recent conflicts is almost insurmountable, yet too often forgotten."

Progressive publications--including this one--will continue to provide critical analyses of U.S. imperialism and endless war, of course, but the cessation of the Times "At War" forum, given the stature and resources of the newspaper, illustrates an instructive failure of the U.S. corporate media system.

According to Katzenberg, a final piece will be published Thursday by Nick Turse, managing editor of TomDispatch.com and himself one of the most trenchant critics of U.S. militarism and its inhumane as well as counterproductive approach to foreign policy.