truthout--2020-09-11--US Wars Displaced at Least 37 Million People Since 9/11 Attacks

As the United States marks 19 years since the September 11 terrorist attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people , a new report finds at least 37 million people in eight countries have been displaced since the start of the so-called global war on terrorism since 2001 .
The Costs of War Project at Brown University also found more than 800,000 people have been killed since U.S. forces began fighting in Afghanistan , Iraq , Syria , Pakistan and Yemen , at a cost of $ 6.4 trillion to U.S. taxpayers .
“ The U.S. has played a disproportionate role in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in perpetuating war over the last 19 years , ” says report co-author David Vine , a professor of anthropology at American University .
This is a rush transcript .
Copy may not be in its final form .
AMY GOODMAN : It ’ s been 19 years since the coordinated attacks on the World Trade Center , the Pentagon and United Airlines Flight 93 killed nearly 3,000 people .
At 8:46 a.m. Eastern time , the first plane hit the north tower of the World Trade Center here in New York City @ @ @ @ @ @ @ presidential nominee Joe Biden will both visit the Flight 93 National Memorial near Shanksville , Pennsylvania , at different times .
Biden will also pay respects after attending a 9/11 memorial ceremony in New York , which Vice President Pence will also attend .
Today , the United States faces a terror of a different kind , as more than 191,000 people have died from the COVID-19 pandemic , and a new report projects the U.S. death toll could rise to as high as 3,000 people per day by December .
There were @ @ @ @ @ @ @ U.S. in the last 24 hours .
Time magazine plans to mark the approaching milestone of 200,000 COVID-related deaths in the U.S. with a cover that reads “ An American Failure ” and has a black border for only the second time in its history .
The first time was after 9/11 .
This comes as a new report finds the U.S.-led so-called global war on terrorism has displaced at least 37 million people in eight countries since 2001 .
The Costs of War Project at Brown University has also estimated more than @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wars since 2001 at a cost of $ 6.4 trillion to U.S. taxpayers .
The new report is titled “ Creating Refugees : Displacement Caused by the United States ’ Post-9/11 Wars.
” For more , we ’ re joined by its co-author , David Vine , professor of anthropology at American University .
His new book is out next month , called The United States of War : A Global History of America ’ s Endless Conflicts , from Columbus to the Islamic State .
He ’ s also the author of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Abroad Harm America and the World .
David Vine , welcome to Democracy Now !
It ’ s great to have you back with us , although this is a very sad day , on this 19th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks .
Can you talk about the findings of your report ?
DAVID VINE : Sure .
Thank you , Amy , for having me .
It ’ s great to be back .
The findings of our report are basically asking — the United States has been fighting wars continuously , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
We ’ re looking at what the effects of these wars have been .
The Costs of War Project has been doing this for about a decade .
We wanted to look specifically at how many people had been displaced by these wars .
Basically , we found that no one had bothered to investigate how many people had been displaced by the wars in what are now , actually , at least 24 countries that the United States has been involved in .
And we found that , in total , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ displaced in just eight of the most violent wars that the United States has either launched or participated in since 2001 .
That ’ s Afghanistan , Pakistan , Iraq , Somalia , Yemen , Libya , Syria and the Philippines .
And that ’ s a very conservative estimate .
We found that the actual total could be up to 48 to 59 million .
And I do think we have to pause on these numbers , because we — in many ways , our lives are drowning in numbers , about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ important to track quantitatively , but to wrap one ’ s mind around what — just 37 million people displaced is difficult , in fact , and I think it requires some active effort , certainly did for me .
Thirty-seven million , to put it in historical perspective , that ’ s more people displaced by any war since at least the beginning of the 20th century , with the exception of World War II .
And if our larger less conservative methodology is accurate , the 48 to 59 million estimate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ one saw in World War II .
Another way to try to wrap one ’ s mind around just the 37 million minimum figure , 37 million is about the size of the state of California .
Just imagine the entire state of California disappearing , having to flee their homes .
It ’ s about the size of all of Canada , or Texas and Virginia combined .
AMY GOODMAN : And for those enough who are lucky to have homes during this pandemic , I think people particularly appreciate — I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is thrown around , but what it means to be displaced .
Can you talk about why those eight countries ?
And can you correlate that with U.S. wars abroad ?
DAVID VINE : Sure .
Again , we wanted to focus on the most violent wars that the United States has been involved in , the wars that the United States has most deeply invested money , and , of course , the blood , the lives of U.S. military personnel , and , by extension , the lives that have been @ @ @ @ @ @ @ military personnel and others .
We wanted to look specifically at the wars the United States has launched , so the overlapping war in Afghanistan and Pakistan , the War in Iraq , of course ; wars that the United States has significantly escalated , Libya and Syria , Libya along with — and Syria , along with European and other allies ; and then wars the United States has participated in significantly , in ways including providing battlefield advisers , providing fuel , arms and others , in Yemen , Somalia and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wars , we have found displacement numbering in the millions .
And indeed , I think , you know , we have to recognize that displacement , the need to flee one ’ s home , to flee for one ’ s life , is — in many ways , there ’ s no way to calculate what that means for a single individual , a single family , a single community , but we did feel it was important to look at the total mass displacement that these wars have caused .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ are not saying the United States is solely to blame for this level of displacement .
Clearly , there are other actors , other governments , other combatants , who are important in the responsibility they bear for displacement in these wars : Assad in Syria , Sunni and Shia militias in Iraq , the Taliban , of course , al-Qaeda , the Islamic State , others .
U.S. allies , including Britain , also bear some responsibility .
But the United States has played a disproportionate role in waging war , in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the last 19 years .
And as you pointed out , this has cost U.S. taxpayers , U.S. citizens , U.S. residents in other ways , including the $ 6.4 trillion — and that ’ s trillion with a T , $ 6.4 trillion — that the Costs of War Project has estimated the United States has either spent or obligated already .
And that total is , of course , increasing by the day .
AMY GOODMAN : And , David Vine , the number of refugees the U.S. accepts from these @ @ @ @ @ @ @ causing ?
DAVID VINE : Yeah , and we can look at the fire in Lesbos that you referred to earlier , that has displaced some 13,000 people , a refugee camp on Lesbos that ’ s been totally destroyed .
And I would hope that people looking at the fires in California and Oregon and Washington could more easily empathize with the refugees in Lesbos and the refugees throughout the Greater Middle East , in particular , where fires — essentially , one large fire has been burning since October 2001 , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Afghanistan .
AMY GOODMAN : I wanted to turn to President Trump earlier this week telling reporters top Pentagon officials don ’ t like him because he wants to get the U.S. out of endless wars that benefit weapons manufacturers .
AMY GOODMAN : Sounds a little like , well , if Howard Zinn were alive , what he would say .
But Trump ’ s criticism of the military-industrial complex contradicts his own record of overseeing this historic increase in war spending , in the defense budget , in spending on military @ @ @ @ @ @ @ recently called Trump the “ booster-in-chief of defense contractors.
” Last year , Trump bypassed Congress so he could sell $ 8 billion of weapons to Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates .
Earlier this year , his administration ordered a reinterpretation of a Cold War-era arms treaty in order to pave the way for drone sales to go to governments that have previously been barred from such purchases .
Can you respond to what he said ?
DAVID VINE : In many ways , what Trump said is quite rich , so @ @ @ @ @ @ @ correct that weapons manufacturers have benefited greatly , to the tune of tens of billions of dollars , in addition to other infrastructure contractors , the companies that make military bases that now dot the Middle East .
But , you know , Trump , indeed , as Politico said , is the booster-in-chief .
He has overseen and pushed for military budgets that exceed those at the height of the Cold War .
And I think we have to ask : What are the enemies the United States faces today that require @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Does the United States need to be spending upwards of $ 740 billion a year to defend itself ?
Could we be spending this money in better ways to defend ourselves ?
And what needs , drastic , dramatic , pressing needs , human needs , are being neglected because we are pouring tens of billions , hundreds of billions of dollars into this war machine on a yearly basis ?
And I think COVID , of course , points to this , underlines it , more than ever .
The United States @ @ @ @ @ @ @ And this is in no small part because the United States has been pouring money into this war machine while neglecting human needs in the United States and around the world — healthcare needs , pandemic preparedness , affordable housing , the environment .
This money that we ’ ve been pouring into the war machine , of course , could have been addressing the global warming that one sees , that plays some role in the fires one is seeing across the West Coast , among many other pressing needs that the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ This is an amazing fact you ’ ve pointed out , David Vine : The U.S. military has waged war , engaged in combat or otherwise invaded foreign lands in all but 11 years of its existence .
DAVID VINE : That ’ s right .
The past 19 years of war , many people often see it as exceptional , as strange that people entering college today or most people enlisting in the U.S. military today will not have seen a day of their life or will not — have no memory @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the United States was not at war .
In fact , this is the norm in U.S. history .
And the Congressional Research Service shows this on a yearly basis in a report that you can find online .
This is not just me , although I have a list of the wars , expanding on the Congressional Research Service list .
These are wars and other forms of combat that the United States has engaged in since independence .
And indeed , in 95 % of the years in U.S. history , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the United States has been involved in some form of war or other combat .
And one needs to look at this much longer-term trend , this longer-term pattern that extends beyond the war , the so-called war on terror that George W. Bush launched in 2001 , to understand why the United States has poured so much money into these wars and why the effects of these wars have been so horrific for the people involved .
AMY GOODMAN : David Vine , you report in your forthcoming book , The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ History of America ’ s Endless Conflicts , from Columbus to the Islamic State , that U.S. bases abroad enable combat in 24 countries : quote , “ Thousands of U.S. military bases in nearly 100 foreign countries and territories — more than half of them built since 2001 — have enabled the involvement of U.S. military forces in wars and other combat deployments across at least 24 nations since the George W. Bush administration launched its war on terror , ” so-called , following the September 11 , 2001 , attacks .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ States currently has about 800 military bases in around 80 foreign countries and territories .
This is more bases than any nation in world history .
The United States has , as you alluded to , had even larger numbers of bases .
At the height of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan , there were upwards of 2,000 bases abroad .
And part of what my book , The United States of War , shows is that this is also a long-term pattern .
The United States has been building military bases @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lands of Native American peoples , then increasingly outside of North America , and eventually encircling the globe , particularly after World War II .
And what I show is that these bases have not only enabled war , they ’ ve not only made war possible , but they ’ ve actually made war more likely .
It ’ s made war a far-too-easy policy choice decision for powerful decisionmakers , leaders , politicians , corporate leaders and others .
And we need to basically dismantle this infrastructure of war that the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ does the United States have dozens of military bases in the Middle East , in virtually every country outside of Yemen and Iran ?
These bases , of course , are in countries that are led by undemocratic regimes , not spreading democracy — far from it — in many cases , actually blocking the spread of democracy , and making these wars possible , that — I think it ’ s important to underline again — beyond displacing 37 million people , at least , and perhaps up to 59 million people @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of , as the Costs of War Project has shown , around 800,000 people .
And this is just in five of the wars — Afghanistan , Pakistan , Iraq , Libya and Yemen — the United States has — U.S. combat has taken the lives of around 800,000 people .
But there are also indirect deaths , deaths that have been caused by the destruction of local infrastructure , healthcare services , hospitals , food sources .
And those total deaths could number upwards of 3 million people .
And I think @ @ @ @ @ @ @ again , myself included , have not really reckoned with the total damage that these wars have caused .
We haven ’ t even begun to wrap our minds around what it would mean to have this level of destruction in our lives .
AMY GOODMAN : And you have , for example , the effects of soldiers on bases , like what happened in the Philippines , where the authoritarian leader , President Duterte , just pardoned a U.S. soldier who was found guilty of murdering a trans woman off a base @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is another cost of war .
We need to look at the costs of war in terms — the human costs in terms of direct combat deaths , injuries in these wars , the “ wars on terror , ” numbering in the tens of millions , but we also need to look at the deaths and injuries that are caused on a daily basis around U.S. military bases around the world .
These bases have — in addition to enabling the wars that the United States has been fighting , they have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ local populations , including in the Philippines and in , as I said , around 80 countries and territories around the world , damage to their environments , their local communities , in a whole variety of ways .
AMY GOODMAN : David Vine , I want to thank you so much for being with us , professor of anthropology at American University , co-author of the new report on the Costs of War Project headlined “ Creating Refugees : Displacement Caused by the United States ’ Post-9/11 Wars.
” Your new book @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of War .
This is Democracy Now !
We ’ ll be back in 30 seconds with the African American scholar and icon Barbara Smith , as we look at the issue of terrorism at home , as we look at the threat of white supremacist violence .
Stay with us .

As the United States marks 19 years since the September 11 terrorist attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people, a new report finds at least 37 million people in eight countries have been displaced since the start of the so-called global war on terrorism since 2001. The Costs of War Project at Brown University also found more than 800,000 people have been killed since U.S. forces began fighting in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Pakistan and Yemen, at a cost of $6.4 trillion to U.S. taxpayers. “The U.S. has played a disproportionate role in waging war, in launching war and in perpetuating war over the last 19 years,” says report co-author David Vine, a professor of anthropology at American University.
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: It’s been 19 years since the coordinated attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and United Airlines Flight 93 killed nearly 3,000 people. At 8:46 a.m. Eastern time, the first plane hit the north tower of the World Trade Center here in New York City. Today, President Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden will both visit the Flight 93 National Memorial near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, at different times. Biden will also pay respects after attending a 9/11 memorial ceremony in New York, which Vice President Pence will also attend.
Today, the United States faces a terror of a different kind, as more than 191,000 people have died from the COVID-19 pandemic, and a new report projects the U.S. death toll could rise to as high as 3,000 people per day by December. There were more than 1,200 new deaths in the U.S. in the last 24 hours. Time magazine plans to mark the approaching milestone of 200,000 COVID-related deaths in the U.S. with a cover that reads “An American Failure” and has a black border for only the second time in its history. The first time was after 9/11.
This comes as a new report finds the U.S.-led so-called global war on terrorism has displaced at least 37 million people in eight countries since 2001. The Costs of War Project at Brown University has also estimated more than 800,000 people [dead] in U.S.-led wars since 2001 at a cost of $6.4 trillion to U.S. taxpayers. The new report is titled “Creating Refugees: Displacement Caused by the United States’ Post-9/11 Wars.”
For more, we’re joined by its co-author, David Vine, professor of anthropology at American University. His new book is out next month, called The United States of War: A Global History of America’s Endless Conflicts, from Columbus to the Islamic State. He’s also the author of Base Nation: How U.S. Military Bases Abroad Harm America and the World.
David Vine, welcome to Democracy Now! It’s great to have you back with us, although this is a very sad day, on this 19th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Can you talk about the findings of your report?
DAVID VINE: Sure. Thank you, Amy, for having me. It’s great to be back.
The findings of our report are basically asking — the United States has been fighting wars continuously, as you said, for 19 years. We’re looking at what the effects of these wars have been. The Costs of War Project has been doing this for about a decade. We wanted to look specifically at how many people had been displaced by these wars. Basically, we found that no one had bothered to investigate how many people had been displaced by the wars in what are now, actually, at least 24 countries that the United States has been involved in.
And we found that, in total, at least 37 million people have been displaced in just eight of the most violent wars that the United States has either launched or participated in since 2001. That’s Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Somalia, Yemen, Libya, Syria and the Philippines. And that’s a very conservative estimate. We found that the actual total could be up to 48 to 59 million.
And I do think we have to pause on these numbers, because we — in many ways, our lives are drowning in numbers, about COVID, about many things that are important to track quantitatively, but to wrap one’s mind around what — just 37 million people displaced is difficult, in fact, and I think it requires some active effort, certainly did for me.
Thirty-seven million, to put it in historical perspective, that’s more people displaced by any war since at least the beginning of the 20th century, with the exception of World War II. And if our larger less conservative methodology is accurate, the 48 to 59 million estimate, that is comparable to the displacement one saw in World War II. Another way to try to wrap one’s mind around just the 37 million minimum figure, 37 million is about the size of the state of California. Just imagine the entire state of California disappearing, having to flee their homes. It’s about the size of all of Canada, or Texas and Virginia combined.
AMY GOODMAN: And for those enough who are lucky to have homes during this pandemic, I think people particularly appreciate — I mean, the word “refugees” is thrown around, but what it means to be displaced. Can you talk about why those eight countries? And can you correlate that with U.S. wars abroad?
DAVID VINE: Sure. Again, we wanted to focus on the most violent wars that the United States has been involved in, the wars that the United States has most deeply invested money, and, of course, the blood, the lives of U.S. military personnel, and, by extension, the lives that have been affected, the family members of U.S. military personnel and others. We wanted to look specifically at the wars the United States has launched, so the overlapping war in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the War in Iraq, of course; wars that the United States has significantly escalated, Libya and Syria, Libya along with — and Syria, along with European and other allies; and then wars the United States has participated in significantly, in ways including providing battlefield advisers, providing fuel, arms and others, in Yemen, Somalia and the Philippines.
In each of these wars, we have found displacement numbering in the millions. And indeed, I think, you know, we have to recognize that displacement, the need to flee one’s home, to flee for one’s life, is — in many ways, there’s no way to calculate what that means for a single individual, a single family, a single community, but we did feel it was important to look at the total mass displacement that these wars have caused.
It is important to note, we are not saying the United States is solely to blame for this level of displacement. Clearly, there are other actors, other governments, other combatants, who are important in the responsibility they bear for displacement in these wars: Assad in Syria, Sunni and Shia militias in Iraq, the Taliban, of course, al-Qaeda, the Islamic State, others. U.S. allies, including Britain, also bear some responsibility.
But the United States has played a disproportionate role in waging war, in launching war and in perpetuating war over the last 19 years. And as you pointed out, this has cost U.S. taxpayers, U.S. citizens, U.S. residents in other ways, including the $6.4 trillion — and that’s trillion with a T, $6.4 trillion — that the Costs of War Project has estimated the United States has either spent or obligated already. And that total is, of course, increasing by the day.
AMY GOODMAN: And, David Vine, the number of refugees the U.S. accepts from these wars, whose displacement the U.S. is causing?
DAVID VINE: Yeah, and we can look at the fire in Lesbos that you referred to earlier, that has displaced some 13,000 people, a refugee camp on Lesbos that’s been totally destroyed. And I would hope that people looking at the fires in California and Oregon and Washington could more easily empathize with the refugees in Lesbos and the refugees throughout the Greater Middle East, in particular, where fires — essentially, one large fire has been burning since October 2001, when the U.S. launched its War in Afghanistan.
AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to turn to President Trump earlier this week telling reporters top Pentagon officials don’t like him because he wants to get the U.S. out of endless wars that benefit weapons manufacturers.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Biden shipped away our jobs, threw open our borders and sent our youth to fight in these crazy, endless wars. And it’s one of the reasons the military — I’m not saying the military is in love with me. The soldiers are. The top people in the Pentagon probably aren’t, because they want to do nothing but fight wars so that all of those wonderful companies that make the bombs and make the planes and make everything else stay happy. But we’re getting out of the endless wars.
AMY GOODMAN: Sounds a little like, well, if Howard Zinn were alive, what he would say. But Trump’s criticism of the military-industrial complex contradicts his own record of overseeing this historic increase in war spending, in the defense budget, in spending on military equipment, selling weapons overseas. Politico recently called Trump the “booster-in-chief of defense contractors.” Last year, Trump bypassed Congress so he could sell $8 billion of weapons to Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates. Earlier this year, his administration ordered a reinterpretation of a Cold War-era arms treaty in order to pave the way for drone sales to go to governments that have previously been barred from such purchases. Can you respond to what he said?
DAVID VINE: In many ways, what Trump said is quite rich, so to speak. Indeed, he is correct that weapons manufacturers have benefited greatly, to the tune of tens of billions of dollars, in addition to other infrastructure contractors, the companies that make military bases that now dot the Middle East. But, you know, Trump, indeed, as Politico said, is the booster-in-chief. He has overseen and pushed for military budgets that exceed those at the height of the Cold War.
And I think we have to ask: What are the enemies the United States faces today that require a military budget of this size? Does the United States need to be spending upwards of $740 billion a year to defend itself? Could we be spending this money in better ways to defend ourselves? And what needs, drastic, dramatic, pressing needs, human needs, are being neglected because we are pouring tens of billions, hundreds of billions of dollars into this war machine on a yearly basis?
And I think COVID, of course, points to this, underlines it, more than ever. The United States was not prepared for a pandemic. And this is in no small part because the United States has been pouring money into this war machine while neglecting human needs in the United States and around the world — healthcare needs, pandemic preparedness, affordable housing, the environment. This money that we’ve been pouring into the war machine, of course, could have been addressing the global warming that one sees, that plays some role in the fires one is seeing across the West Coast, among many other pressing needs that the world faces today.
AMY GOODMAN: This is an amazing fact you’ve pointed out, David Vine: The U.S. military has waged war, engaged in combat or otherwise invaded foreign lands in all but 11 years of its existence.
DAVID VINE: That’s right. The past 19 years of war, many people often see it as exceptional, as strange that people entering college today or most people enlisting in the U.S. military today will not have seen a day of their life or will not — have no memory of a day of their life when the United States was not at war.
In fact, this is the norm in U.S. history. And the Congressional Research Service shows this on a yearly basis in a report that you can find online. This is not just me, although I have a list of the wars, expanding on the Congressional Research Service list. These are wars and other forms of combat that the United States has engaged in since independence. And indeed, in 95% of the years in U.S. history, all but 11 years in U.S. history, the United States has been involved in some form of war or other combat.
And one needs to look at this much longer-term trend, this longer-term pattern that extends beyond the war, the so-called war on terror that George W. Bush launched in 2001, to understand why the United States has poured so much money into these wars and why the effects of these wars have been so horrific for the people involved.
AMY GOODMAN: David Vine, you report in your forthcoming book, The United States of War: A Global History of America’s Endless Conflicts, from Columbus to the Islamic State, that U.S. bases abroad enable combat in 24 countries: quote, “Thousands of U.S. military bases in nearly 100 foreign countries and territories — more than half of them built since 2001 — have enabled the involvement of U.S. military forces in wars and other combat deployments across at least 24 nations since the George W. Bush administration launched its war on terror,” so-called, following the September 11, 2001, attacks.
DAVID VINE: Indeed. The United States currently has about 800 military bases in around 80 foreign countries and territories. This is more bases than any nation in world history. The United States has, as you alluded to, had even larger numbers of bases. At the height of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, there were upwards of 2,000 bases abroad.
And part of what my book, The United States of War, shows is that this is also a long-term pattern. The United States has been building military bases abroad since independence, initially on the lands of Native American peoples, then increasingly outside of North America, and eventually encircling the globe, particularly after World War II.
And what I show is that these bases have not only enabled war, they’ve not only made war possible, but they’ve actually made war more likely. It’s made war a far-too-easy policy choice decision for powerful decisionmakers, leaders, politicians, corporate leaders and others.
And we need to basically dismantle this infrastructure of war that the United States has built up. Why does the United States have dozens of military bases in the Middle East, in virtually every country outside of Yemen and Iran? These bases, of course, are in countries that are led by undemocratic regimes, not spreading democracy — far from it — in many cases, actually blocking the spread of democracy, and making these wars possible, that — I think it’s important to underline again — beyond displacing 37 million people, at least, and perhaps up to 59 million people, these wars have taken the lives of, as the Costs of War Project has shown, around 800,000 people. And this is just in five of the wars — Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Libya and Yemen — the United States has — U.S. combat has taken the lives of around 800,000 people.
But there are also indirect deaths, deaths that have been caused by the destruction of local infrastructure, healthcare services, hospitals, food sources. And those total deaths could number upwards of 3 million people. And I think most people in the United States, again, myself included, have not really reckoned with the total damage that these wars have caused. We haven’t even begun to wrap our minds around what it would mean to have this level of destruction in our lives.
AMY GOODMAN: And you have, for example, the effects of soldiers on bases, like what happened in the Philippines, where the authoritarian leader, President Duterte, just pardoned a U.S. soldier who was found guilty of murdering a trans woman off a base.
DAVID VINE: Yes, this is another cost of war. We need to look at the costs of war in terms — the human costs in terms of direct combat deaths, injuries in these wars, the “wars on terror,” numbering in the tens of millions, but we also need to look at the deaths and injuries that are caused on a daily basis around U.S. military bases around the world. These bases have — in addition to enabling the wars that the United States has been fighting, they have very immediate harms that they inflict on local populations, including in the Philippines and in, as I said, around 80 countries and territories around the world, damage to their environments, their local communities, in a whole variety of ways.
AMY GOODMAN: David Vine, I want to thank you so much for being with us, professor of anthropology at American University, co-author of the new report on the Costs of War Project headlined “Creating Refugees: Displacement Caused by the United States’ Post-9/11 Wars.” Your new book, coming out, The United States of War.
This is Democracy Now! We’ll be back in 30 seconds with the African American scholar and icon Barbara Smith, as we look at the issue of terrorism at home, as we look at the threat of white supremacist violence. Stay with us.


truthout--2020-09-11--Crucial Testing for Child Lead Poisoning Has Plummeted During Pandemic

Families skipping or delaying pediatric appointments for their young children because of the pandemic are missing out on more than vaccines .
Critical testing for lead poisoning has plummeted in many parts of the country .
In the Upper Midwest , Northeast and parts of the West Coast — areas with historically high rates of lead poisoning — the slide has been the most dramatic , according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention .
In states such as Michigan , Ohio and Minnesota , testing for the brain-damaging heavy metal fell by 50 % or more this spring @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ The drop-off in April was massive , ” said Thomas Largo , section manager of environmental health surveillance at the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services , noting a 76 % decrease in testing compared with the year before .
“ We weren ’ t quite prepared for that.
” Blood tests for lead , the only way to tell if a child has been exposed , are typically performed by pricking a finger or heel or tapping a vein at 1- and 2-year-old well-child visits .
A blood test @ @ @ @ @ @ @ critical steps in accessing early intervention for the behavioral , learning and health effects of lead poisoning and also identifying the source of the lead to prevent further harm .
Because of the pandemic , though , the drop in blood tests means referrals for critical home inspections plus medical and educational services are falling , too .
And that means help isn ’ t reaching poisoned kids , a one-two punch , particularly in communities of color , said Yvonka Hall , a lead poisoning prevention advocate and co-founder of the Cleveland @ @ @ @ @ @ @ comes amid COVID-related school and child care closures , meaning kids who are at risk are spending more time than ever in the place where most exposure happens : the home .
The CDC estimates about 500,000 U.S. children between ages 1 and 5 have been poisoned by lead , probably an underestimate due to the lack of widespread testing in many communities and states .
In 2017 , more than 40,000 children had elevated blood lead levels , defined as higher than 5 micrograms per deciliter of blood , in the 23 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ June and July data in some states indicates lead testing is picking up , it ’ s nowhere near as high as it would need to be to catch up on the kids who missed appointments in the spring at the height of lockdown orders , experts say .
And that may mean some kids will never be tested .
“ What I ’ m most worried about is that the kids who are not getting tested now are the most vulnerable — those are the kids I ’ m worried might not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Stephanie Yendell , senior epidemiology supervisor in the health risk intervention unit at the Minnesota Department of Health .
There ’ s a critical window for conducting lead poisoning blood tests , timed to when children are crawling or toddling and tend to put their hands on floors , windowsills and door frames and possibly transfer tiny particles of lead-laden dust to their mouths .
Children at this age are more likely to be harmed because their rapidly growing brains and bodies absorb the element more readily .
Lead poisoning can ’ t @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are more likely to fall behind in school , end up in jail or suffer lifelong health problems such as kidney and heart disease .
That ’ s why lead tests are required at ages 1 and 2 for children receiving federal Medicaid benefits , the population most likely to be poisoned because of low-quality housing options .
Tests are also recommended for all children living in high-risk ZIP codes with older housing stock and historically high levels of lead exposure .
Testing fell far short of recommendations in many parts of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , with one recent study estimating that in some states 80 % of poisoned children are never identified .
And when tests are required , there has been little enforcement of the rule .
Early in the pandemic , officials in New York ’ s Erie County bumped up the threshold for sending a public health worker into a family ’ s home to investigate the source of lead exposure from 5 micrograms per deciliter to 45 micrograms per deciliter ( a blood lead level that usually requires hospitalization ) , said Dr. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ health commissioner .
For all other cases during that period , officials inspected only the outside of the child ’ s home for potential hazards .
About 700 fewer children were tested for lead in Erie County in April than in the same month last year , a drop of about 35 % .
Ohio , which has among the highest levels of lead poisoning in the country , recently expanded automatic eligibility for its Early Intervention program to any child with an elevated blood lead test , providing the opportunity for occupational @ @ @ @ @ @ @ supports for school ; and developmental assessments .
If kids with lead poisoning don ’ t get tested , though , they won ’ t be referred for help .
In early April , there were only three referrals for elevated lead levels in the state , which had been fielding nine times as many on average in the months before the pandemic , said Karen Mintzer , director of Bright Beginnings , which manages them for Ohio ’ s Department of Developmental Disabilities .
“ It basically was a complete stop , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ referrals have recovered and are now above pre-pandemic levels .
“ We should treat every child with lead poisoning as a medical emergency , ” said John Belt , principal investigator for the Ohio Department of Health ’ s lead poisoning program .
“ Not identifying them is going to delay the available services , and in some cases lead to a cognitive deficit.
” One of the big worries about the drop in lead testing is that it ’ s happening at a time when exposure to lead-laden paint chips , soil @ @ @ @ @ @ @ because of stay-at-home orders during the pandemic .
Exposure to lead dust from deteriorating paint , particularly in high-friction areas such as doors and windows , is the most common cause of lead exposure for children in the U.S. “ I worry about kids in unsafe housing , more so during the pandemic , because they ’ re stuck there during the quarantine , ” said Dr. Aparna Bole , a pediatrician at Cleveland ’ s University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children ’ s Hospital .
The pandemic may also compound exposure to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ landlords and homeowners try to tackle renovation projects without proper safety precautions while everyone is at home .
Or the economic fallout of the crisis could mean some people can no longer afford to clean up known lead hazards at all .
“ If you ’ ve lost your job , it ’ s going to make it difficult to get new windows , or even repaint , ” said Yendell .
The CDC says it plans to help state and local health departments track down children who missed lead tests .
Minnesota @ @ @ @ @ @ @ steep drops in lead testing to figure out why , said Yendell .
But , Yendell said , that will likely have to wait until the pandemic is over : “ Right now I ’ m spending 10-20 % of my time on lead , and the rest is COVID.
” The pandemic has stretched already thinly staffed local health departments to the brink , health officials say , and it may take years to know the full impact of the missed testing .
For the kids who ’ ve been poisoned and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not be obvious until they enter school and struggle to keep up .

In areas with historically high rates of lead poisoning, the slide has been the most dramatic.
Families skipping or delaying pediatric appointments for their young children because of the pandemic are missing out on more than vaccines. Critical testing for lead poisoning has plummeted in many parts of the country.
In the Upper Midwest, Northeast and parts of the West Coast — areas with historically high rates of lead poisoning — the slide has been the most dramatic, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In states such as Michigan, Ohio and Minnesota, testing for the brain-damaging heavy metal fell by 50% or more this spring compared with 2019, health officials report.
“The drop-off in April was massive,” said Thomas Largo, section manager of environmental health surveillance at the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, noting a 76% decrease in testing compared with the year before. “We weren’t quite prepared for that.”
Blood tests for lead, the only way to tell if a child has been exposed, are typically performed by pricking a finger or heel or tapping a vein at 1- and 2-year-old well-child visits. A blood test with elevated lead levels triggers the next critical steps in accessing early intervention for the behavioral, learning and health effects of lead poisoning and also identifying the source of the lead to prevent further harm.
Because of the pandemic, though, the drop in blood tests means referrals for critical home inspections plus medical and educational services are falling, too. And that means help isn’t reaching poisoned kids, a one-two punch, particularly in communities of color, said Yvonka Hall, a lead poisoning prevention advocate and co-founder of the Cleveland Lead Safe Network. And this all comes amid COVID-related school and child care closures, meaning kids who are at risk are spending more time than ever in the place where most exposure happens: the home.
“Inside is dangerous,” Hall said.
The CDC estimates about 500,000 U.S. children between ages 1 and 5 have been poisoned by lead, probably an underestimate due to the lack of widespread testing in many communities and states. In 2017, more than 40,000 children had elevated blood lead levels, defined as higher than 5 micrograms per deciliter of blood, in the 23 states that reported data.
While preliminary June and July data in some states indicates lead testing is picking up, it’s nowhere near as high as it would need to be to catch up on the kids who missed appointments in the spring at the height of lockdown orders, experts say. And that may mean some kids will never be tested.
“What I’m most worried about is that the kids who are not getting tested now are the most vulnerable — those are the kids I’m worried might not have a makeup visit,” said Stephanie Yendell, senior epidemiology supervisor in the health risk intervention unit at the Minnesota Department of Health.
Lifelong Consequences
There’s a critical window for conducting lead poisoning blood tests, timed to when children are crawling or toddling and tend to put their hands on floors, windowsills and door frames and possibly transfer tiny particles of lead-laden dust to their mouths.
Children at this age are more likely to be harmed because their rapidly growing brains and bodies absorb the element more readily. Lead poisoning can’t be reversed; children with lead poisoning are more likely to fall behind in school, end up in jail or suffer lifelong health problems such as kidney and heart disease.
That’s why lead tests are required at ages 1 and 2 for children receiving federal Medicaid benefits, the population most likely to be poisoned because of low-quality housing options. Tests are also recommended for all children living in high-risk ZIP codes with older housing stock and historically high levels of lead exposure.
Testing fell far short of recommendations in many parts of the country even before the pandemic, though, with one recent study estimating that in some states 80% of poisoned children are never identified. And when tests are required, there has been little enforcement of the rule.
Early in the pandemic, officials in New York’s Erie County bumped up the threshold for sending a public health worker into a family’s home to investigate the source of lead exposure from 5 micrograms per deciliter to 45 micrograms per deciliter (a blood lead level that usually requires hospitalization), said Dr. Gale Burstein, that county’s health commissioner. For all other cases during that period, officials inspected only the outside of the child’s home for potential hazards.
About 700 fewer children were tested for lead in Erie County in April than in the same month last year, a drop of about 35%.
Ohio, which has among the highest levels of lead poisoning in the country, recently expanded automatic eligibility for its Early Intervention program to any child with an elevated blood lead test, providing the opportunity for occupational, physical and speech therapy; learning supports for school; and developmental assessments. If kids with lead poisoning don’t get tested, though, they won’t be referred for help.
In early April, there were only three referrals for elevated lead levels in the state, which had been fielding nine times as many on average in the months before the pandemic, said Karen Mintzer, director of Bright Beginnings, which manages them for Ohio’s Department of Developmental Disabilities. “It basically was a complete stop,” she said. Since mid-June, referrals have recovered and are now above pre-pandemic levels.
“We should treat every child with lead poisoning as a medical emergency,” said John Belt, principal investigator for the Ohio Department of Health’s lead poisoning program. “Not identifying them is going to delay the available services, and in some cases lead to a cognitive deficit.”
Pandemic Compounds Worries
One of the big worries about the drop in lead testing is that it’s happening at a time when exposure to lead-laden paint chips, soil and dust in homes may be spiking because of stay-at-home orders during the pandemic.
Exposure to lead dust from deteriorating paint, particularly in high-friction areas such as doors and windows, is the most common cause of lead exposure for children in the U.S.
“I worry about kids in unsafe housing, more so during the pandemic, because they’re stuck there during the quarantine,” said Dr. Aparna Bole, a pediatrician at Cleveland’s University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital.
The pandemic may also compound exposure to lead, experts fear, as both landlords and homeowners try to tackle renovation projects without proper safety precautions while everyone is at home. Or the economic fallout of the crisis could mean some people can no longer afford to clean up known lead hazards at all.
“If you’ve lost your job, it’s going to make it difficult to get new windows, or even repaint,” said Yendell.
The CDC says it plans to help state and local health departments track down children who missed lead tests. Minnesota plans to identify pediatric clinics with particularly steep drops in lead testing to figure out why, said Yendell.
But, Yendell said, that will likely have to wait until the pandemic is over: “Right now I’m spending 10-20% of my time on lead, and the rest is COVID.”
The pandemic has stretched already thinly staffed local health departments to the brink, health officials say, and it may take years to know the full impact of the missed testing. For the kids who’ve been poisoned and had no intervention, the effects may not be obvious until they enter school and struggle to keep up.
Tired of reading the same old news from the same old sources? So are we! That’s why we’re on a mission to shake things up and bring you the stories and perspectives that often go untold in mainstream media. But being a radically, unapologetically independent news site isn’t easy (or cheap), and we rely on reader support to keep the lights on.
If you like what you’re reading, please consider making a tax-deductible donation today. We’re not asking for a handout, we’re asking for an investment: Invest in a nonprofit news site that’s not afraid to ruffle a few feathers, not afraid to stand up for what’s right, and not afraid to tell it like it is.
This piece was reprinted by Truthout with permission or license. It may not be reproduced in any form without permission or license from the source.


truthout--2020-09-11--Sanders Lambasts GOP Senate for “Totally Inadequate” COVID Relief Bill

In a speech on the Senate floor Thursday following the defeat of the GOP ’ s latest coronavirus stimulus package , Sen. Bernie Sanders slammed the chamber ’ s Republicans for offering “ totally inadequate ” relief for jobless , hungry , and eviction-prone Americans after happily approving massive tax cuts for the wealthy and a $ 740 billion budget for the Pentagon .
“ The Senate Republican bill provides nothing for rent , nothing for mortgages , nothing for food , nothing for hazard pay , nothing for healthcare , nothing for public transportation , and nothing to prevent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , firefighters , and construction workers that will take place as cities and states struggle economically , ” said the Vermont senator , who joined the united Democratic caucus in voting down the legislation .
Sanders noted that the GOP bill — which does not include any additional aid for state and local governments — would not prevent teachers and other public employees from losing their jobs due to steep budget cuts that are already having a destructive impact across the nation .
As of August , according to the Center on Budget @ @ @ @ @ @ @ million public-sector workers had lost their jobs since February , an estimated 668,000 ( 59 percent ) of them in education.
” “ The same Republicans who had no problem voting for a trillion-dollar tax break for the top one percent and large corporations two years ago are now telling 40 million Americans who are struggling to pay for housing that we can not afford to help them pay their rent or mortgage , ” Sanders continued .
“ The same Republicans who just voted to provide $ 740 billion for the Pentagon @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wars are now telling 30 million workers who lost their jobs that we can not afford to continue the $ 600-a-week supplement they were receiving in unemployment benefits.
” In order to meet the needs of tens of millions of Americans who are struggling to afford basic expenses amid the ongoing public health and economic crises , Sanders said the Senate must urgently approve a relief package that taxes recent billionaire wealth gains to extend Medicare coverage to all for a year , provides $ 2,000 per month in direct payments to every @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the duration of the pandemic , and extends the $ 600 weekly federal unemployment supplement that the GOP allowed to expire at the end of July .
“ Instead of more austerity for the working class of this country , ” Sanders said , “ we need to impose austerity on the billionaire class and on Wall Street .
”

In a speech on the Senate floor Thursday following the defeat of the GOP’s latest coronavirus stimulus package, Sen. Bernie Sanders slammed the chamber’s Republicans for offering “totally inadequate” relief for jobless, hungry, and eviction-prone Americans after happily approving massive tax cuts for the wealthy and a $740 billion budget for the Pentagon.
“The Senate Republican bill provides nothing for rent, nothing for mortgages, nothing for food, nothing for hazard pay, nothing for healthcare, nothing for public transportation, and nothing to prevent the mass layoffs of teachers, nurses, firefighters, and construction workers that will take place as cities and states struggle economically,” said the Vermont senator, who joined the united Democratic caucus in voting down the legislation.
Sanders noted that the GOP bill — which does not include any additional aid for state and local governments — would not prevent teachers and other public employees from losing their jobs due to steep budget cuts that are already having a destructive impact across the nation. As of August, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, “about 1.1 million public-sector workers had lost their jobs since February, an estimated 668,000 (59 percent) of them in education.”
“The same Republicans who had no problem voting for a trillion-dollar tax break for the top one percent and large corporations two years ago are now telling 40 million Americans who are struggling to pay for housing that we cannot afford to help them pay their rent or mortgage,” Sanders continued. “The same Republicans who just voted to provide $740 billion for the Pentagon and the military-industrial complex to wage endless wars are now telling 30 million workers who lost their jobs that we cannot afford to continue the $600-a-week supplement they were receiving in unemployment benefits.”
Watch the senator’s speech:
In order to meet the needs of tens of millions of Americans who are struggling to afford basic expenses amid the ongoing public health and economic crises, Sanders said the Senate must urgently approve a relief package that taxes recent billionaire wealth gains to extend Medicare coverage to all for a year, provides $2,000 per month in direct payments to every working class person in the U.S. for the duration of the pandemic, and extends the $600 weekly federal unemployment supplement that the GOP allowed to expire at the end of July.
“Instead of more austerity for the working class of this country,” Sanders said, “we need to impose austerity on the billionaire class and on Wall Street.”
Tired of reading the same old news from the same old sources? So are we! That’s why we’re on a mission to shake things up and bring you the stories and perspectives that often go untold in mainstream media. But being a radically, unapologetically independent news site isn’t easy (or cheap), and we rely on reader support to keep the lights on.
If you like what you’re reading, please consider making a tax-deductible donation today. We’re not asking for a handout, we’re asking for an investment: Invest in a nonprofit news site that’s not afraid to ruffle a few feathers, not afraid to stand up for what’s right, and not afraid to tell it like it is.
This piece was reprinted by Truthout with permission or license. It may not be reproduced in any form without permission or license from the source.


truthout--2020-09-11--Trump Is Conveniently Ignoring the Climate-Fueled Fires Raging in the West

On Thursday morning , as deadly wildfires fueled by drought and climate change caused power outages and forced hundreds of thousands of people to evacuate their homes across three Western states , President Trump was tweeting about anything else .
New Mexico would not be “ GREAT ” unless President Trump is reelected , the president warned , and , he claimed , “ America ’ s suburbs ” will be “ OVERRUN ” with protesters and low-income housing projects .
Trump attacked political rivals , including President Obama and Mitt Romney .
He railed against efforts to send mail-in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sees as a threat to his electoral chances .
The list goes on .
Meanwhile , California fire officials reported on Thursday that another life was lost as overnight weather conditions allowed “ many fires to grow significantly with extreme fire behavior , ” bringing the state ’ s death toll from wildfires to eight so far this year .
Across California , Oregon and Washington , wildfires consumed large swaths of land and destroyed homes and businesses .
Pictures of ominously red skies in cities across the Southwest and Northwest circulated on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Gov .
Kate Brown warned that 35 major fires and multiple smaller fires could result in the worst loss of life and property in state history .
“ Winds continue to feed these fires and push them into our towns and cities , ” Brown said in a press conference .
“ Right now , more than 300,000 acres are burning across the state , which is the equivalent to over 500 square miles .
In some parts of the state that are not burning , some of the worst fire conditions in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ dry brush and dry winds.
” Oregon fire officials were hopeful that changes in the weather on Thursday would allow for firefighters to make some headway , but they were still bracing for serious damage as fires continued to spread and the state confirmed at least three deaths , according to local reports .
In Washington , multiple fires caused power outages , forced hundreds of families to evacuate and filled the Puget Sound area with smoke , according to the Seattle Times .
More than 500,000 people have evacuated their homes in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that contribute to the size , intensity and number of fires that break out in the western U.S. during fire season , and climate change is a factor that impacts multiple regions at once .
Ryan Richards , a senior policy analyst at the Center for American Progress who has studied the impacts of wildfires on public lands and communities , said ecologists and atmospheric scientists continue to observe “ abnormal ” levels of dryness in vegetation across the West .
“ This past month has really been kind of a perfect storm @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the scale of the climate crisis is going to mean , ” said Richards said in an interview .
“ It ’ s just incredible the number of fires all at one time , some in places that historically burn but also some that don ’ t … you ’ re just watching what had been wildland fires turn into urban fires , and fire crews and agencies hit their capacity for being able to respond.
” As of this writing , Trump has not made any public statement of support for victims @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Northwest , where Democratic governors and mayors have publicly clashed with the president as he attempts to turn conflicts between racial justice protesters , police and extremist right-wing agitators into election-year propaganda .
Trump knows he probably won ’ t win California , Washington and Oregon in the presidential election , and he has focused attacks on “ Democrat cities ” in blue states .
Trump routinely attacks or ignores anyone and anything that contradicts the narratives driving his reelection campaign – including his claims that white , suburban communities are threatened by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and only Trump can save them .
However , as the raging wildfires make clear , communities in the U.S. are indeed under threat – from climate disruption .
In 2016 , researchers at Columbia University and the University of Idaho estimated that human-caused climate change caused an additional 16,000 square miles of western forest land to burn , nearly doubling the acreage that would have burned naturally .
Droughts and record heat waves in California and beyond have sucked moisture out of dead trees and vegetation , creating conditions for monster fires @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have consumed a record 3.1 million acres in California alone and destroyed more than 3,900 structures , according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection .
Entire neighborhoods in Washington and Oregon have been lost , according to Oregon Gov .
Kate Brown and various reports .
Trump approved a disaster declaration for Oregon late last night , but he did not bring up the fires at an earlier campaign rally in Michigan .
“ This week ’ s events out West show that we are living in a time when @ @ @ @ @ @ @ these major disasters , ” Richards said .
When fires erupted in California last month , Trump blamed California , saying “ you got ta clean your floors , you got ta clean your forests ” and made a vague threat to pull federal funding for firefighting and prevention because “ they don ’ t listen to us.
” Indeed , the brutal reality of the climate crisis is an inconvenient one for Trump , who pulled the U.S. out of the Paris Climate Accord and embraced the fossil fuel industry .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ environmental regulations , many of them put in place during the Obama administration to reduce climate-warming pollution .
A White House fact sheet released on Tuesday detailing Trump ’ s “ commitment ” to “ improving the environment ” failed to mention climate change even once .
Trump did not address climate change in a speech on Tuesday touting his administration ’ s “ environmental accomplishments ” either .
Now , as the West suffers another disastrous fire season , Trump ’ s silence speaks louder than words .

On Thursday morning, as deadly wildfires fueled by drought and climate change caused power outages and forced hundreds of thousands of people to evacuate their homes across three Western states, President Trump was tweeting about anything else.
New Mexico would not be “GREAT” unless President Trump is reelected, the president warned, and, he claimed, “America’s suburbs” will be “OVERRUN” with protesters and low-income housing projects. Trump attacked political rivals, including President Obama and Mitt Romney. He railed against efforts to send mail-in ballots to potential voters, which he sees as a threat to his electoral chances. The list goes on.
Meanwhile, California fire officials reported on Thursday that another life was lost as overnight weather conditions allowed “many fires to grow significantly with extreme fire behavior,” bringing the state’s death toll from wildfires to eight so far this year. Across California, Oregon and Washington, wildfires consumed large swaths of land and destroyed homes and businesses. Pictures of ominously red skies in cities across the Southwest and Northwest circulated on social media.
On Wednesday, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown warned that 35 major fires and multiple smaller fires could result in the worst loss of life and property in state history.
“Winds continue to feed these fires and push them into our towns and cities,” Brown said in a press conference. “Right now, more than 300,000 acres are burning across the state, which is the equivalent to over 500 square miles. In some parts of the state that are not burning, some of the worst fire conditions in three decades persist – dry air, dry brush and dry winds.”
Oregon fire officials were hopeful that changes in the weather on Thursday would allow for firefighters to make some headway, but they were still bracing for serious damage as fires continued to spread and the state confirmed at least three deaths, according to local reports. In Washington, multiple fires caused power outages, forced hundreds of families to evacuate and filled the Puget Sound area with smoke, according to the Seattle Times. More than 500,000 people have evacuated their homes in Oregon alone.
There are myriad factors that contribute to the size, intensity and number of fires that break out in the western U.S. during fire season, and climate change is a factor that impacts multiple regions at once. Ryan Richards, a senior policy analyst at the Center for American Progress who has studied the impacts of wildfires on public lands and communities, said ecologists and atmospheric scientists continue to observe “abnormal” levels of dryness in vegetation across the West.
As of this writing, Trump has not made any public statement of support for victims of the climate-fueled disasters unfolding in the Northwest.
“This past month has really been kind of a perfect storm for making it clear to us what the scale of the climate crisis is going to mean,” said Richards said in an interview. “It’s just incredible the number of fires all at one time, some in places that historically burn but also some that don’t … you’re just watching what had been wildland fires turn into urban fires, and fire crews and agencies hit their capacity for being able to respond.”
As of this writing, Trump has not made any public statement of support for victims of the climate-fueled disasters unfolding in the Northwest, where Democratic governors and mayors have publicly clashed with the president as he attempts to turn conflicts between racial justice protesters, police and extremist right-wing agitators into election-year propaganda. Trump knows he probably won’t win California, Washington and Oregon in the presidential election, and he has focused attacks on “Democrat cities” in blue states. Trump routinely attacks or ignores anyone and anything that contradicts the narratives driving his reelection campaign – including his claims that white, suburban communities are threatened by left-wing mobs and people of color, and only Trump can save them.
However, as the raging wildfires make clear, communities in the U.S. are indeed under threat – from climate disruption. In 2016, researchers at Columbia University and the University of Idaho estimated that human-caused climate change caused an additional 16,000 square miles of western forest land to burn, nearly doubling the acreage that would have burned naturally.
A White House fact sheet detailing Trump’s “commitment” to “improving the environment” failed to mention climate change even once.
Droughts and record heat waves in California and beyond have sucked moisture out of dead trees and vegetation, creating conditions for monster fires. So far this year, fires have consumed a record 3.1 million acres in California alone and destroyed more than 3,900 structures, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Entire neighborhoods in Washington and Oregon have been lost, according to Oregon Gov. Brown and various reports. Trump approved a disaster declaration for Oregon late last night, but he did not bring up the fires at an earlier campaign rally in Michigan.
“This week’s events out West show that we are living in a time when the climate crisis is manifesting itself in these major disasters,” Richards said.
When fires erupted in California last month, Trump blamed California, saying “you gotta clean your floors, you gotta clean your forests” and made a vague threat to pull federal funding for firefighting and prevention because “they don’t listen to us.” Indeed, the brutal reality of the climate crisis is an inconvenient one for Trump, who pulled the U.S. out of the Paris Climate Accord and embraced the fossil fuel industry. The Trump administration has rolled back dozens of environmental regulations, many of them put in place during the Obama administration to reduce climate-warming pollution.
A White House fact sheet released on Tuesday detailing Trump’s “commitment” to “improving the environment” failed to mention climate change even once. Trump did not address climate change in a speech on Tuesday touting his administration’s “environmental accomplishments” either.
Now, as the West suffers another disastrous fire season, Trump’s silence speaks louder than words.
Tired of reading the same old news from the same old sources? So are we! That’s why we’re on a mission to shake things up and bring you the stories and perspectives that often go untold in mainstream media. But being a radically, unapologetically independent news site isn’t easy (or cheap), and we rely on reader support to keep the lights on.
If you like what you’re reading, please consider making a tax-deductible donation today. We’re not asking for a handout, we’re asking for an investment: Invest in a nonprofit news site that’s not afraid to ruffle a few feathers, not afraid to stand up for what’s right, and not afraid to tell it like it is.
Copyright © Truthout. May not be reprinted without permission.


truthout--2020-09-11--Universities Should Learn Lessons of 9/11 and Transform in the Face of Pandemic

Nineteen years ago , I ( Sepehr Vakil ) was wrapping up my last summer before college visiting my dad in South Carolina .
I was getting ready to enter the University of California , Los Angeles ( UCLA ) as a freshman to study engineering .
I was the stereotype , the “ American dream ” realized , the successful culmination of an Iranian family ’ s journey to the United States .
We had immigrated from Iran when I was a small child , in the midst of the deadly Iraq-Iran War .
The summer of 2001 was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for my family — not only had I been accepted to a top public university , but I would be studying to become an engineer ( a particularly lauded career in the eyes of the Iranian diaspora ) .
But of course , the memory of that time in my life is not all hope and unbridled optimism .
At the end of the summer , militarism and war interrupted our life again , this time on American soil .
Just days before the UCLA Fall quarter was to begin , the events @ @ @ @ @ @ @ alter the world and herald a new reality for Muslim and Middle Eastern populations in the U.S. Late in September , I set off to UCLA , blissfully unaware of the impact 9/11 would have on my ensuing college experience .
Yet the events of that day had a profound impact on not only my college experience , but on my life to this day .
Over the past year , the two of us ( Sepehr Vakil and education policy scholar Julissa Muñiz ) have been conducting a historical study of student @ @ @ @ @ @ @ following the calamitous events of 9/11 .
What we are learning has significant implications for how universities are ( and should be ) wrestling with the triple scourges — COVID-19 , economic collapse and anti-Blackness — steamrolling our society as we write this piece .
We summon the comparison to the current moment ( some have called COVID-19 “ this generation ’ s 9/11 ” ) with great caution , as some in recent days have recklessly called for counterterrorism as the preferred national strategy .
And yet , we believe there is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ look at 9/11 that can guide institutions of higher education seeking to step up boldly and morally in the current moment .
Fall 2020 is already underway in a world radically altered and rapidly shifting in profound ways .
Between an ongoing international public health crisis and a global uprising against anti-Blackness and systemic racism , colleges and universities are scrambling to determine how they will manage what will be the most uncertain academic year in decades .
Like K-12 schools , they have their hands full grappling with the seemingly impossible politics @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in this perilous time .
The devil is in the details — from the consequences of the massive shift toward online and hybrid models of instruction , tuition adjustments , questions around student health , safety and housing , and if and how sports will resume , universities are facing their toughest challenge of this generation .
Some will survive , others sadly will not .
All will be transformed .
But how ?
The response ( and lack thereof ) of universities in the wake of 9/11 offer key insights into what @ @ @ @ @ @ @ critically , what it ought to look like .
After 9/11 , there was widespread trauma ; however , Muslim and Middle Eastern students suffered the added injuries of surges in anti-Muslim racism and discrimination .
As a freshman engineering student at UCLA in 2001 , I ( Sepehr ) vividly recall receiving a prank call by a member of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity attacking my Iranian identity , levying a slew of racialized epithets , and threatening to physically assault me .
Our research reveals my personal experience was reflective of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for Muslim and Middle Eastern students at UCLA .
For example , several Muslim students reported being called “ terrorist ” in Westwood only hours after the attack , and in a Daily Bruin opinion column , a student contributor issued openly racist threats to the entire Muslim community : “ recent events have called you and your organizations into question , and our eyes are on you.
” Similar to 9/11 , our current moment is one of collective trauma .
COVID-19 is an international phenomenon ravaging far-reaching parts of our planet @ @ @ @ @ @ @ violence in the U.S. signal a remarkable shift in the global conversation around racism .
And yet , also similar to the 9/11 moment , while we are “ in this together , ” the reality is that those who have died at the hands of COVID-19 and police brutality are disproportionately Black , Indigenous and People of Color ( BIPOC ) .
Universities need to own this reality , lest they repeat the kinds of indignities experienced by Muslim and Middle Eastern students on college campuses after 9/11 .
Now is the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of BIPOC student organizations , create institutional supports for mental health and self-care , financially support the students most gravely affected by campus closures and cultivate anti-racist campuses .
In the academic year directly following 9/11 , UCLA smartly created a series of seminars designed to help students not only cope but to theorize the events in a broader historical context .
Still , these optional one-unit courses were mostly relegated to the margins of the main curriculum and relied on unpaid faculty volunteers .
With the academic year underway , universities have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and designing a radically different kind of curriculum — one that prioritizes self-care and flexibility while simultaneously engaging students in a Paulo Freireian-inspired critical reading and writing of our new world .
Faculty across all disciplines ( yes STEM professors , you too ! )
should be constantly updating syllabi and working to create pedagogical space inside and outside of their classes for rigorous inquiry at the intersections of race , science , public health , democracy and policing .
Learning outside of the classroom should be supported with institutionally funded student and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and working groups .
And , particularly for faculty of color who so often are unrewarded for their “ invisible labor , ” administrators need to show their solidarity not through carefully manicured statements but through using university budgets to fuel efforts to transform the university .
Finally , this is a moment to rethink the research purposes of the university .
Before , but particularly after 9/11 , UCLA did more than its fair share in advancing the military-industrial-academic complex .
Hallways in the legendary Boelter Hall , where I ( Sepehr @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an engineering student , were adorned with research posters containing logos acknowledging funding from the Department of Defense , Raytheon and other “ defense ” companies .
The university was regularly tapped for expertise to aid in counterterrorism , which in its most generous reading is an implicit endorsement of the politics of militarism , war and empire .
In this extraordinary historical moment , we have the opportunity to catalyze a paradigm shift in what university research can and should be .
We have the opportunity to usher in a new urgency @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of university research .
Innovation in science and technology can be untethered from corporate and military priorities , hitched instead to the wagon of ecological and planetary well-being .
We can aggressively recommit to the arts and humanities .
Universities can partner and show solidarity with communities most acutely impacted by pandemics , racism and war , or the next unpredictable yet inevitable set of crises we will collectively face .
This is a profoundly moral moment , and a highly consequential crossroads for higher education in the U.S. What colleges and universities @ @ @ @ @ @ @ months will shape the character and meaning of higher education for decades to come .

Part of the Series Despair and Disparity: The Uneven Burdens of COVID-19
Nineteen years ago, I (Sepehr Vakil) was wrapping up my last summer before college visiting my dad in South Carolina. I was getting ready to enter the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) as a freshman to study engineering. I was the stereotype, the “American dream” realized, the successful culmination of an Iranian family’s journey to the United States. We had immigrated from Iran when I was a small child, in the midst of the deadly Iraq-Iran War.
The summer of 2001 was an exciting, proud and happy time for my family — not only had I been accepted to a top public university, but I would be studying to become an engineer (a particularly lauded career in the eyes of the Iranian diaspora). But of course, the memory of that time in my life is not all hope and unbridled optimism. At the end of the summer, militarism and war interrupted our life again, this time on American soil. Just days before the UCLA Fall quarter was to begin, the events of September 11, 2001 would irrevocably alter the world and herald a new reality for Muslim and Middle Eastern populations in the U.S. Late in September, I set off to UCLA, blissfully unaware of the impact 9/11 would have on my ensuing college experience. Yet the events of that day had a profound impact on not only my college experience, but on my life to this day.
Over the past year, the two of us (Sepehr Vakil and education policy scholar Julissa Muñiz) have been conducting a historical study of student life at UCLA in the year immediately following the calamitous events of 9/11. What we are learning has significant implications for how universities are (and should be) wrestling with the triple scourges — COVID-19, economic collapse and anti-Blackness — steamrolling our society as we write this piece. We summon the comparison to the current moment (some have called COVID-19 “this generation’s 9/11”) with great caution, as some in recent days have recklessly called for counterterrorism as the preferred national strategy. And yet, we believe there is much to be gained from a historical look at 9/11 that can guide institutions of higher education seeking to step up boldly and morally in the current moment.
Fall 2020 is already underway in a world radically altered and rapidly shifting in profound ways. Between an ongoing international public health crisis and a global uprising against anti-Blackness and systemic racism, colleges and universities are scrambling to determine how they will manage what will be the most uncertain academic year in decades. Like K-12 schools, they have their hands full grappling with the seemingly impossible politics, logistics and ethics of opening up in this perilous time. The devil is in the details — from the consequences of the massive shift toward online and hybrid models of instruction, tuition adjustments, questions around student health, safety and housing, and if and how sports will resume, universities are facing their toughest challenge of this generation. Some will survive, others sadly will not. All will be transformed. But how?
The response (and lack thereof) of universities in the wake of 9/11 offer key insights into what this transformation may look like and, critically, what it ought to look like.
Provide Institutional Support for Vulnerable Students
After 9/11, there was widespread trauma; however, Muslim and Middle Eastern students suffered the added injuries of surges in anti-Muslim racism and discrimination. As a freshman engineering student at UCLA in 2001, I (Sepehr) vividly recall receiving a prank call by a member of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity attacking my Iranian identity, levying a slew of racialized epithets, and threatening to physically assault me.
Our research reveals my personal experience was reflective of a broader culture of harassment and suspicion for Muslim and Middle Eastern students at UCLA. For example, several Muslim students reported being called “terrorist” in Westwood only hours after the attack, and in a Daily Bruin opinion column, a student contributor issued openly racist threats to the entire Muslim community: “recent events have called you and your organizations into question, and our eyes are on you.”
What colleges and universities decide to do in the next several months will shape the character and meaning of higher education for decades to come.
Similar to 9/11, our current moment is one of collective trauma. COVID-19 is an international phenomenon ravaging far-reaching parts of our planet, and the uprisings against racist police-perpetrated violence in the U.S. signal a remarkable shift in the global conversation around racism. And yet, also similar to the 9/11 moment, while we are “in this together,” the reality is that those who have died at the hands of COVID-19 and police brutality are disproportionately Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC). Universities need to own this reality, lest they repeat the kinds of indignities experienced by Muslim and Middle Eastern students on college campuses after 9/11.
Now is the time to listen to the specific demands of BIPOC student organizations, create institutional supports for mental health and self-care, financially support the students most gravely affected by campus closures and cultivate anti-racist campuses.
Re-envision Pedagogical Philosophies and Practices
In the academic year directly following 9/11, UCLA smartly created a series of seminars designed to help students not only cope but to theorize the events in a broader historical context. Still, these optional one-unit courses were mostly relegated to the margins of the main curriculum and relied on unpaid faculty volunteers. With the academic year underway, universities have a responsibility to support faculty in imagining and designing a radically different kind of curriculum — one that prioritizes self-care and flexibility while simultaneously engaging students in a Paulo Freireian-inspired critical reading and writing of our new world.
Faculty across all disciplines (yes STEM professors, you too!) should be constantly updating syllabi and working to create pedagogical space inside and outside of their classes for rigorous inquiry at the intersections of race, science, public health, democracy and policing. Learning outside of the classroom should be supported with institutionally funded student and faculty-led panels, teach-ins, book clubs and working groups. And, particularly for faculty of color who so often are unrewarded for their “invisible labor,” administrators need to show their solidarity not through carefully manicured statements but through using university budgets to fuel efforts to transform the university.
Rethink Research Priorities
Finally, this is a moment to rethink the research purposes of the university. Before, but particularly after 9/11, UCLA did more than its fair share in advancing the military-industrial-academic complex. Hallways in the legendary Boelter Hall, where I (Sepehr) spent many a sleepless night as an engineering student, were adorned with research posters containing logos acknowledging funding from the Department of Defense, Raytheon and other “defense” companies. The university was regularly tapped for expertise to aid in counterterrorism, which in its most generous reading is an implicit endorsement of the politics of militarism, war and empire.
In this extraordinary historical moment, we have the opportunity to catalyze a paradigm shift in what university research can and should be. We have the opportunity to usher in a new urgency, relevancy and morality into the lifeblood of university research. Innovation in science and technology can be untethered from corporate and military priorities, hitched instead to the wagon of ecological and planetary well-being. We can aggressively recommit to the arts and humanities. Universities can partner and show solidarity with communities most acutely impacted by pandemics, racism and war, or the next unpredictable yet inevitable set of crises we will collectively face.
This is a profoundly moral moment, and a highly consequential crossroads for higher education in the U.S. What colleges and universities decide to do in the next several months will shape the character and meaning of higher education for decades to come.
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