Jason Leopold, investigative reporter and Deputy Managing Editor of Truthout, discusses his interview with former Guantanamo detainee David Hicks; the deleterious effects of torture on victims, guards, writers and readers; Hicks’ soul-searching youth, conversion to Islam, and journey to Afghanistan; how Australian Prime Minister John Howard enlisted Dick Cheney’s help in getting a military commission indictment against Hicks, to help his reelection bid; and why a nine month plea deal isn’t the...
02/15/11 – Gareth Porter – The Scott Horton Show
Gareth Porter, independent historian and journalist for IPS News, discusses the importance of National Intelligence Estimates in determining US foreign policy and war-making abilities; how the Afghanistan NIE allows the military to measure their own success, leaving out a CIA assessment of the supposedly diminishing numbers of Taliban; debunking the military’s “taking the fight to the enemy” explanation for increased attacks; Gen. McChrystal’s well-reasoned “insurgent math;” and why Gen....
02/15/11 – Eric Margolis – The Scott Horton Show
Eric Margolis, foreign correspondent and author of War at the Top of the World and American Raj, discusses Egypt’s faux revolution, where there’s still a military dictatorship but no longer a pretense of civilian authority (Mubarak wore a suit, not a uniform); how the US refusal to deal with political centrists (like Muslim Brotherhood) enables radical parties to come to the fore; and the criminal charges against former Pakistani president Musharraf that remind us of the still unsolved mystery...
02/14/11 – Ivan Eland – The Scott Horton Show
Ivan Eland, Senior Fellow at The Independent Institute and regular contributor to Antiwar.com, discusses the historical revisionists coming out of the woodwork for Ronald Reagan’s 100 birthday; Reagan’s overrated presidency, from foreign policy to the economy; why the Soviet collapse had more to do with a failed economic model than provocative US policy; how Iran Contra dealt a huge blow to Constitutional checks and balances, with the Executive branch doing an end-run around Congress and the...
02/14/11 – Jason Ditz – The Scott Horton Show
Jason Ditz, managing news editor at Antiwar.com, discusses the Egyptian army’s assertion of power, and not all in a good way; protesters split on living under martial law for the near future; uncertain prospects for democratic representation, as the military may run their own candidate in elections (if there are any); Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s improbable conversion from super-villain to lukewarm US ally; and the popular uprisings brewing in Algeria, Jordan, Yemen and Bahrain.
02/11/11 – Samer Muscati – The Scott Horton Show
Samer Muscati, Iraq and UAE researcher for Human Rights Watch, discusses the rampant torture of prisoners in Iraqi prisons; how Prime Minister Maliki effectively runs the entire government’s security apparatus, while vacancies remain in the important ministries of defense, national security and the interior; the continuity of torture from Saddam Hussein, to US and British occupation forces, to sectarian militias, and now Maliki’s government; and Iraq’s significant oil revenues that are...
02/11/11 – Philip Giraldi – The Scott Horton Show
Former CIA officer Philip Giraldi discusses why the Egyptian revolution is good for everyone, even Israelis; how the Egyptian army’s refusal to fire on demonstrators finally convinced Mubarak to step down; the broad American support for Egypt’s protesters, who happen to look like us and profess to want the same things; competition for loot and power within the remnants of Egypt’s ruling class; and the sorry state of leadership in the American Conservative movement.
02/11/11 – Ahmed al-Assy – The Scott Horton Show
This interview is excerpted from the KPFK 90.7 FM Los Angeles broadcast of February 11th. The original is available here. Ahmed al-Assy, an Egyptian-American living in Egypt and a participant in the Tahrir Square protests, discusses Hosni Mubarak’s resignation and the making of history in Egypt; the under-reported protester casualties, as the government withheld bodies and hospitals refused to issue death certificates; and how Egyptians will continue to reject Omar Suleiman and any other...
02/11/11 – Pepe Escobar – The Scott Horton Show
This interview is excerpted from the KPFK 90.7 FM Los Angeles broadcast of February 11th. The original is available here. Asia Times columnist Pepe Escobar discusses the Egyptian moment, a mash-up of the French Revolution and the Berlin Wall’s destruction; the Arab world’s reclaimed dignity, after humiliations in colonial and post-colonial times; and how culture and language barriers prevent the revolutionary spirit from spreading from the Mideast to the Central Asian “Stans,” despite the...
02/11/11 – Adam Morrow – The Scott Horton Show
Adam Morrow, journalist with IPS News, discusses how Egyptian protesters remained peaceful despite scores of agent provocateurs inciting violence, attempting to discredit the demonstrations; crucial infrastructure in Tahrir Square (electrical, bathrooms) completed by volunteer professionals in hours, while it typically took the government years to respond to citizens' needs; WikiLeaks documents that make the Egyptian government indistinguishable from Israel on Gaza policy; protesters staying...
02/10/11 – Marcy Wheeler – The Scott Horton Show
Marcy Wheeler, blogging under the pseudonym “emptywheel” at firedoglake.com, discusses the 44 thousand emails the hacker group “Anonymous” procured from private security firm HB Gary Federal, in retaliation for being “outed;” the three security firms (HB Gary, Palantir, and Berico Technologies) that submitted proposals (indirectly) to Bank of America for solving their WikiLeaks problem through a disinformation and smear campaign against WikiLeaks supporters like Glenn Greenwald and David...
02/10/11 – Noah Shachtman – The Scott Horton Show
Noah Shachtman, editor of WIRED magazine’s Danger Room blog, discusses the doubling of air strikes in Afghanistan this year; wartime images that more often come from a soldier’s YouTube video than from the media; how Gen. McChrystal took Gen. Petraeus’s COIN doctrine far more seriously than Petraeus himself did; and why Obama’s July 2011 Afghanistan withdrawal date is a total fiction – nothing more than a talking point.
02/10/11 – Jason Ditz – The Scott Horton Show
Jason Ditz, managing news editor at Antiwar.com, discusses CIA chief Leon Panetta’s (correct) prediction that Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak will step down; the lack of concessions offered to Egyptian protesters, other than promises to end the 30-year Emergency Law at some unspecified future date; slow progress in reforming Tunisia’s government, despite a new head of state; and the Egyptian army’s two week detainment of the Google executive who helped start the protests.
02/10/11 – Adam Morrow – The Scott Horton Show
Adam Morrow, journalist with IPS News, discusses the celebratory mood of protesters in Cairo just minutes before Mubarak's speech, where he was expected to resign; the largest turnout for demonstrations yet, nearly 2 million Muslims and Coptic Christians united in revolt by some counts; the diversity of religious and political views represented at Tahrir Square — certainly nothing to indicate a Muslim fundamentalist uprising; and how, despite news coverage focused in Cairo, the protests are...
02/10/11 – Chase Madar – The Scott Horton Show
Chase Madar, member of the National Lawyers Guild, discusses his mock 'Opening Statement for the Defense of Bradley Manning, Soldier and Patriot;' Manning’s disillusionment with US 'democracy building' in Iraq, that amounted to repressing free speech and rounding up critics of government for detention and torture; a list of his alleged leaks, from the Collateral Murder video to the State Department 'Cablegate,' that Americans have the right to know about; the obligation of soldiers to take...
