Gareth Porter

Gareth Porter is an investigative historian and journalist specializing in U.S. national security policy. The paperback edition of his latest book, Perils of Dominance: Imbalance of Power and the Road to War in Vietnam, was published in 2006.

How the ‘Self Licking Ice Cream Cone,’ Prolonged the 20-Year War

Reprinted with permission from Responsible Statecraft. There is a rapidly growing political demand for making American officials accountable for the failures of the Afghanistan War, with a focus now on the military leadership and top generals’ role in keeping forces there for 20 years despite all the signs they knew the war was unwinnable. One … Continue reading “How the ‘Self Licking Ice Cream Cone,’ Prolonged the 20-Year War”

Corporate Media Stirred Global Terror Hysteria To Push Postwar Hostility Toward New Afghan Govt

Reprinted from The Grayzone with the author’s permission. Following the Taliban’s victory over the US military, US corporate media has churned out a new narrative about the imminent threat of terrorism from Afghanistan that sets the stage for future military interventions. Blasted out in a stunningly disciplined fashion, the media has demonstrated as clearly as … Continue reading “Corporate Media Stirred Global Terror Hysteria To Push Postwar Hostility Toward New Afghan Govt”

Afghanistan Collapse Reveals Beltway Media’s Loyalty to Permanent War State

Reprinted from The Grayzone with the author’s permission. In the wake of a remarkably successful Taliban offensive capped by the takeover of Kabul, the responses of corporate media provided what may have been the most dramatic demonstration ever of its fealty to the Pentagon and military leadership. The media did so by mounting a full-throated … Continue reading “Afghanistan Collapse Reveals Beltway Media’s Loyalty to Permanent War State”

How Washington’s Top Taiwan Specialist Embraced Separatist Party Leader and Opened New Cross-Strait Crisis

Reprinted from The Grayzone with the author’s permission. Why did the top think tank Taiwan specialist ignore a longstanding U.S. policy that blocked any move by the Taiwanese leader that might have disrupted the political basis for China-Taiwan cooperation? And why did he give a free pass to the leader of Taiwan’s separatist party? An … Continue reading “How Washington’s Top Taiwan Specialist Embraced Separatist Party Leader and Opened New Cross-Strait Crisis”

Eisenhower Rejected Military Chiefs’ Demand for Nuclear War on China, Classified Account of ’58 Taiwan Strait Crisis Reveals

Reprinted from The Grayzone with the author’s permission. A previously censored account of the 1958 Taiwan Strait crisis that was sponsored by the Pentagon has been published in full by the leaker of the Pentagon Papers, Daniel Ellsberg. The report provides a hair-raising portrait of a reckless US military leadership relentlessly pressing President Dwight Eisenhower … Continue reading “Eisenhower Rejected Military Chiefs’ Demand for Nuclear War on China, Classified Account of ’58 Taiwan Strait Crisis Reveals”

Leak Reveals Power Shifting to Hard-Liners in Iran

A leak of remarks by Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif has brought to light serious conflicts he had on foreign policy with Qassem Soleimani, the late, charismatic head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force and, more importantly, revealed dramatic new evidence of the IRGC’S much greater power within the Iranian establishment. That … Continue reading “Leak Reveals Power Shifting to Hard-Liners in Iran”

Vienna Talks Reveal Biden Team’s Attachment to Sanctions That Would Torpedo Iran Deal

Reprinted from The Grayzone with the author’s permission. The Biden administration signaled once again at the April 9 Vienna meeting on the Iran nuclear deal that it intends to maintain Trump-era Iran sanctions in an effort to win political and military concessions going well beyond the original deal itself. Team Biden continued to insist during … Continue reading “Vienna Talks Reveal Biden Team’s Attachment to Sanctions That Would Torpedo Iran Deal”

Pentagon Campaign to Recruit Vietnam as Military Ally Against China Exposed Delusions of US War Strategy

Reprinted from The Grayzone with the author’s permission. When the Pentagon began gearing up for a future war with China in 2018, Defense Department officials quickly realized that they needed access to Vietnamese territory for troops armed with missiles to hit Chinese ships in a US-China conflict. So they initiated an aggressive campaign to lobby … Continue reading “Pentagon Campaign to Recruit Vietnam as Military Ally Against China Exposed Delusions of US War Strategy”

Trump Administration Insider Reveals How the US Military Sabotaged a Peace Agreement To Prolong War in Afghanistan

Reprinted from The Grayzone with the author’s permission. In an exclusive interview with The Grayzone Col. Douglas Macgregor, a former senior advisor to the Acting Secretary of Defense, revealed that President Donald Trump shocked the US military only days after the election last November by signing a presidential order calling for the withdrawal of all … Continue reading “Trump Administration Insider Reveals How the US Military Sabotaged a Peace Agreement To Prolong War in Afghanistan”

US State Department Accusation of China ‘Genocide’ Relied on Data Abuse and Baseless Claims by Far-Right Ideologue

Reprinted from The Grayzone with the author’s permission. Both President Joe Biden and his Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, have endorsed former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s last-minute accusation of Chinese “genocide” against the Muslim Uyghur population in Xinjiang province. But an investigation of published work by the researcher Pompeo relied on to level his … Continue reading “US State Department Accusation of China ‘Genocide’ Relied on Data Abuse and Baseless Claims by Far-Right Ideologue”