Author: Peter Maass

I was born and raised in Los Angeles. In 1983, after graduating from the University of California at Berkeley, I went to Brussels as a copy editor for The Wall Street Journal/Europe. I left the Journal in 1985 to write for The New York Times and The International Herald Tribune, covering NATO and the European Union. In 1987 I moved to Seoul, South Korea, where I wrote primarily for The Washington Post. After three years in Asia I moved to Budapest to cover Eastern Europe and the Balkans. I spent most of 1992 and 1993 covering the war in Bosnia for the Post.

The U.S. Military Is a Machine of Impunity

The Intercept
Dec. 26, 2021

My education in wartime savagery started in Bosnia in the 1990s. Reporting on the war, I visited death camps, saw civilians get shot and beaten, interviewed torturers, and was arrested multiple times for being in the wrong place and asking too many questions. ... (Read more)

“Love Thy Neighbor” (Pages 149-150)

Love Thy Neighbor: A Story of War
By Peter Maass
Knopf 1996

(Pages 149-150)

This was an intimate war. It was not a war in which fighter pilots took off from one country, flew a thousand miles to another country, dropped their payloads and then returned to the country they took off from, never seeing the ... (Read more)

As Omicron Surge Begins, Hospitals Have New Reason to Open Covid-19 Wards to Journalists

The Intercept
Dec. 19, 2021

Michael Dowling made an unorthodox move when the Covid-19 pandemic got underway. Dowling is the chief executive of the largest hospital network in New York, and he decided that instead of barring journalists from Northwell Health’s facilities, he would let a documentary ... (Read more)

Stanley McChrystal Accidentally Reveals the Dishonesty of U.S. Generals

The Intercept
Dec. 4, 2021

It is time to make a strange addition to the shortlist of essential documents on the dishonesty of America’s generals: a new book from retired Gen. Stanley McChrystal titled “Risk: A User’s Guide.”

McChrystal was removed from his command by President Barack Obama ... (Read more)

“The First Wave” Shows What We Haven’t Seen of Covid-19

The Intercept
Nov. 20, 2021

AT LONG ISLAND Jewish Medical Center, a loudspeaker announces an emergency in one of the rooms. It is March 2020, and the Covid-19 pandemic has just begun to take hold in the U.S. A team of nurses and doctors in the hospital is preparing a patient for ... (Read more)

How Hospitals Became Vaults That Hid Evidence of Covid-19’s Toll

The Intercept
Nov. 13, 2021

United Memorial Medical Center is a small hospital in a working class part of Houston, with just over 100 beds and 40 doctors. Most of its patients lack health insurance, and a wrecking company is located opposite its main building, which has the look of a brutal ... (Read more)

After Afghanistan Disaster, the Pentagon Is on Track To Get Even More Money

The Intercept
Nov. 7, 2021

AROUND MIDDAY ON August 15, the president of Afghanistan, Ashraf Ghani, was told by an adviser that Taliban fighters had entered the presidential palace and were looking for him room by room. This was not true, but Ghani, aware that ousted presidents ... (Read more)

Colin Powell Was a Nice Man Who Helped Destroy Iraq

The Intercept
October 18, 2021

“I am saddened by the death of Colin Powell without being tried for his crimes in Iraq.” —Muntadher Alzaidi

Colin Powell is being hailed, at his death, as a trailblazer. He certainly was that.

Raised in the South Bronx by immigrant parents, Powell was a graduate ... (Read more)

America’s Generals Are Cowards. Fire Them All.

The Intercept
Sept. 23, 2021

IF YOU ARE waiting for an American general to resign or be fired over the drone strike that killed seven children and three men in Kabul last month, you will likely experience the meaning of infinity.

You might think that the Pentagon would be scrambling to find ... (Read more)

General Failure: How the U.S. Military Lied About the 9/11 Wars

The Intercept
September 8, 2011

Pretty much every day since 9/11, the U.S. military has disciplined soldiers who failed to do their jobs properly. They have been punished for minor offenses, like being late for duty, and for serious crimes, such as murder or assault. Since 2001, there have been more ... (Read more)