Stan Goff

Goff served 26 years in the U.S. armed forces, most of them in the Special Forces. He is now a committed and articulate anti-imperialist, as both an organizer and a writer. His experience as one small part on the tip of a claw of the imperialist beast as well as his articulate and well-reasoned analysis have made him a semi-regular feature in the more radical wing of the U.S.'s progressive media outlets, and also someone I find both challenging and stimulating. I don't necessarily agree with everything he says, but what he says cannot be ignored.

Here is an interview with him on CounterPunch. And here are a couple of recent pieces of Goff's writing from the same site, a letter to U.S. troops in Iraq, and a rant written during the April 2004 uprisings in Iraq. I found this last one quite challenging, and think all progressives, particularly those of us who try to combine a life of relative privilege with an attitude of nonviolence, should read it -- again, I'm not saying right now what parts I agree with and what parts I don't, but we all need to deal with the issues he raises. The Freedom Road Socialist Organization web site also hosts two good articles that he has written on the military and masculinity: A Ramble Through Gender & the Military and Rape Culture and the Military.

I haven't read either of his books, but these last two articles have been written as part of his process of putting together a book called Sex & War, which will be out some time in 2005, and I definitely plan on reading that.