About This Package
NEWS: Who participated, and how you can, too.
August 22, 2008
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The military map and database at the heart of our package "Mission Creep: US Military Presence Worldwide" was created over a period of roughly a year with a yeoman's effort by a large number of contributors. Senior editor Michael Mechanic headed the editorial side under the direction of editor Monika Bauerlein, while Mother Jones media architect Nick Aster and freelance flash programmer David Cole handled the technical end. Adding to the distinguished freelance writers whose contributions grace this package was a team of intrepid editorial interns and fellows who conducted research for the country profiles under the watch of assistant editor Celia Perry. They include Brittney Andres, Steve Aquino, Justin Elliott, Jesse Finfrock, Daniel Luzer, Casey Miner, Gary Moskowitz, Joyce Tang, Andre Sternberg, Caroline Winter, and Nichole Wong, plus assistant editors Nick Baumann and Jen Phillips. Mechanic and Perry edited the country profiles with help from associate editor Kiera Butler, research editor Leigh Ferrara, managing editor Elizabeth Gettelman, assistant editor Phillips, multimedia editor Laura McClure, and contributing editor Jennifer Vogel. Copy editor Nicole McClelland fixed our typos and grammar. The project was accomplished, in part, with contributions to the Mother Jones Investigative Fund by Philip Straus, the Colombe Foundation, and our generous readers.
How you can participate: Building the database was a Herculean task, and the world moves fast. In the weeks leading up to the launch of this project, Russia ravaged Georgia; Pakistan's Musharraf agreed to step down; and the Mauritanian army overthrew the country's elected leaders. (Never heard of Mauritania? Well, some of us hadn't heard of the European countries San Marino and Andorra prior to this project.) Think of this not as a static effort, but a living project. Should you come across a country profile you think lacks key information, or that contains information you suspect is inaccurate, please let us know, and back up your assertions with reputable and verifiable sources so we can follow up and make changes where appropriate. We've set up an email account for this purpose. Please send updates here.
