William M. Arkin (born May 15, 1956) is an American political commentator, activist, journalist, blogger, and former United States Army soldier.

Arkin served in U.S. Army intelligence from 1974 to 1978. He has served as an independent consultant and held positions at the Institute for Policy Studies, Center for Defense Information, Greenpeace, the Natural Resources Defense Council and Human Rights Watch. He has worked as a NBC News military analyst and written columns for the Los Angeles Times and Washington Post. From 2007-2008, he was Policy Fellow at the Kennedy School of Government in the Carr Centre for Human Rights Policy, Harvard University.

A later work is Code Names: Deciphering U.S. Military Plans, Programs and Operations in the 9/11 World.

On October 15, 2003, William Arkin released video and audiotapes documenting General William Boykin's framing of the "War on Terrorism" in religious terms in speeches at churches. Arkin followed up with a Los Angeles Times op-ed piece that accused the general of being "an intolerant extremist" and a man "who believes in Christian 'jihad'." Arkin further wrote, "Boykin has made it clear that he takes his orders not from his Army superiors but from God — which is a worrisome line of command."^{[citation needed]} Arkin refused to release the full transcripts of the talks that Boykin gave, despite numerous requests from various media sources.

Cathleen Ann O'Brien (born December 4, 1957, Muskegon, Michigan) is an American who claims to be a victim of Project MKULTRA, a program funded by the Central Intelligence Agency to research the use of drugs for intelligence purposes. O'Brien made these claims in Trance Formation of America (1995) and Access Denied: For Reasons of National Security (2004) which she co-authored with her husband Mark Phillips. O'Brien is one of many people publicly claiming to have survived "CIA mind control" programs.

There is no credible evidence for O'Brien's memories, which were retrieved through the use of hypnosis. The specific program which she claimed was responsible for her dissociative identity disorder, Project Monarch, is not mentioned in reviews of MKULTRA, its alleged parent program. Because most MKULTRA records were deliberately destroyed in 1973 by order of then CIA Director Richard Helms, it has been difficult, if not impossible, for investigators to gain a complete understanding of the more than 150 individually funded research sub-projects sponsored by MKULTRA and related CIA programs. She also claims recollection of child abuse - to her and her daughter - by international pedophile rings, drug barons and satanists, as part of a sex slave aspect to her 'trauma based mind control programming'. Individuals; from United States, Canadian, Mexican and Saudi Arabian government officials, to stars of the Country and Western music scene; are among those she accuses of these crimes. Investigations into the story produced no credible evidence and numerous inconsistencies.

War Machine (James Rupert Rhodes) is a fictional character, a comic book superhero appearing in comic books set in the Marvel Comics universe. The character of James Rhodes first appeared in Iron Man #118 (January 1979) by David Michelinie, John Byrne and Bob Layton. The War Machine armor, which became Rhodes' signature armored battlesuit, was designed by Len Kaminski and Kevin Hopgood.

Also known by his nickname Rhodey, Rhodes has been a featured character in the Iron Man animated series, Iron Man: Armored Adventures and The Invincible Iron Man animated film. He was first portrayed by actor Terrence Howard in the 2008 film Iron Man. Don Cheadle replaced Howard in the 2010 sequel Iron Man 2 and will reprise the role in Iron Man 3.

In addition to Iron Man and his own title War Machine, Rhodes has been featured in the ensemble titles West Coast Avengers; Force Works by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning; Sentinel Squad O*N*E; The Crew by Christopher Priest; and Avengers: The Initiative by Dan Slott and Christos Gage. Rhodes was also featured in the alternate-reality Marvel MAX imprint's U.S. War Machine series by Chuck Austen, and U.S. War Machine 2.0, by Austen and Christian Moore.