Harper's Magazine, one of the best publications in America today, continues to expose hypocrisy in American government and the violence that is integral to our country today.  Read Scott Horton's shocking investigation into the deaths of three detainees at the U.S. prison at Guantánamo Naval Base.  These three men each "committed suicide" in one night, in the same way:  by first (somehow) stuffing rags down their own throats and then (improbably) hanging themselves.

Consider what would happen if America's military became known more for humanitarian aid than for anything else.  This NPR story from Juan Forero on U.S. Army aid work in Haiti shows what a shift in America's priorities could mean for the ...

Another in Understanding Government’s “Public Service Announcement” series profiling the careers and challenges of notable government employees By Norman Kelley The United States Army is one of largest organizational components of the federal government, and even older than the Republic itself and its Constitution, which it is pledged to protect and defend. The Army joins the Navy, Marines and the Air Force to make up the U.S. Armed Forces, headquartered in the iconic Pentagon. The Army has often been seen as the most democratic of the armed services – a melting-pot of sorts, bringing in people from different walks of life and training them to work as a team for the common defense of the nation. [caption id="attachment_6669" align="alignleft" width="146" caption="Lt. Col. Jennifer Sirois"][/caption] With the end of the military draft in 1972, the Army maintained this reputation, but its makeup changed most markedly with the decision, in 1978, to allow women to join this all-volunteer force, integrating female soldiers into all services (except combat units).  So the untold story of the contemporary modern army is the inclusion of another pool of talent: women. Women now serve in 91 percent of all Army occupations and make up 14 percent of the active Army (see also WITA) and it is already hard to imagine the U.S. Army without a strong female contingent. The Making of an Officer No better example of this is Lt. Col. Jennifer Sirois, U.S. Army Reserve, who because of a mandatory Congressional policy, called “up or out” by Army officers, will be required to leave the service since she hasn’t moved up in rank in the proscribed time. Despite that, Sirois treasures her time in the Army and the privilege to serve her country. Her career has been a dramatic illustration of what a woman can do in her nation's defense.

Check out Brian Mockenhaupt's profile of a new "SimCity Baghdad" simulation in The Atlantic.  The Army's School for Command Preparation in Leavenworth, Kansas, has started using "UrbanSim" software to help officers understand the dynamics of Iraqi cities and towns and the people who can help or hinder soldiers' efforts ...

The federal government could be liable up to an unbelievable $500 billion, reports the New York Times' Campbell Robertson, after Federal Judge Stanwood R. Duval ruled that the Army Corps of Engineers did not maintain a navigation channel, leading to Hurricane Katrina flooding. The ruling is in response to ...

By Norman Kelley With America deeply involved in two wars and with our troops spread all over the world, is it time to dust off the idea of a military draft?  Soldiers, sailors, and airmen and women are being sent back time and again to Middle East danger zones, with an increasing number of suicides attributed to the stress of these constant rotations.  All this is unfolding despite the existence of a massive list of possible replacements – the 14 million names collected and tracked by the U.S. Selective Service System (SSS). Finding replacements through the Selective Service would mean reviving the draft, an idea that now sounds more like a distant echo of the 1960s than a real tool of U.S. policy.  Yet taxpayers are paying $24 million per year to keep the Selective Service System, and its 2000 draft boards around the country, at the ready in case of a draft.  When billions and trillions of dollars are the stuff of daily headlines, $24 million may not seem like much.  But is there any reason for the continued existence of the Selective Service System?

The New York Times' Mark Mazzetti and Eric Schmitt note that Robert Gates's removal of David McKiernan as top Afghanistan commander is one of a half-dozen major personnel changes he has made in his 2 1/2 years as Defense Secretary. The George W. Bush ...

Steve Vogel of the Washington Post reports:

The Army Reserve and U.S. Customs and Border Protection will sign an agreement today to create a partnership aimed at filling some of the growing federal agency's 11,000 job openings with Army reservists.

Army reservists ...

Victims of Hurriance Katrina have sued the Army Corps of Engineers for an estimated $100 billion in damages, reports Richard Fauset of the Los Angeles Times.

At the heart of the lawsuit is a widely derided navigational channel, built and operated by the Corps, called the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet. The ...

Barack Obama never said he was going to pull out of Iraq quickly, and he said he was going to do more to stabilize Afghanistan.  TIME reporters Aryn Baker and Loi Kolay argue that if we don't do more in that war-torn country now, the eventual result could be ...