Andy Worthington, author of The Guantanamo Files, discusses the film You Don’t Like the Truth: 4 Days Inside Guantánamo about child soldier and Canadian citizen Omar Khadr’s interrogation in Guantanamo; Khadr’s travails in Afghanistan, where he was nearly killed by a US airstrike then captured and accused of killing a medic; the US government’s decision to treat child soldiers as regular prisoners in contravention of international norms; and how military commissions have made it a war crime to...
10/14/11 – Ray McGovern – The Scott Horton Show
Ray McGovern, member of Veterans For Peace and former senior analyst at the CIA, discusses his article “Petraeus’s CIA Fuels Iran Murder Plot;” fixing the facts around the policy yet again, this time to start a war with Iran; why you can bet Petraeus’s first objective as CIA director was to make analysts stop honest assessments of the failing Afghanistan War, and start saying “the surge worked;” how Obama’s advisors are limiting his options and trapping him into a war with Iran; and why you...
10/14/11 – Max Blumenthal – The Scott Horton Show
Max Blumenthal, author of Republican Gomorrah: Inside the Movement that Shattered the Party, discusses the “price tag” attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians, meant to extract a “price” when the Israeli government dares to defy the settlers’ wishes; why the state of Israel has no more respect for Israeli Arab property rights or religious expression than the settlers do; how Israel’s government allied with the Bedouin and Druze (and later betrayed them) to divide and conquer any...
10/14/11 – Flynt Leverett – The Scott Horton Show
Flynt Leverett, former Senior Director for Middle East Affairs at the National Security Council, discusses his article “Iranian ‘plots’ and American hubris;” why the strange assassination plot is at cross-purposes with Iran’s policy objectives (but syncs perfectly with Israel’s); Iran’s reliance on foreign proxy groups and asymmetric warfare for national defense, in lieu of a powerful conventional military; US policy towards Iran that says, in essence, a meaningful defensive deterrence is...
10/13/11 – Danny Panzella – The Scott Horton Show
Danny Panzella discusses the Occupy the Fed protests, meant to educate people about the Federal Reserve and supplement the Occupy Wall Street protests; uniting Left and Right through common interests, like kicking billionaires off welfare; how Leftists concerned about ending government regulation fail to appreciate the severity of regulatory capture and the revolving employment door between financial firms and government; the "Bernanke bucks" educational fliers that catch the eye and summarize...
10/13/11 – Eric Margolis – The Scott Horton Show
Eric Margolis, internationally syndicated columnist and author of War at the Top of the World and American Raj, discusses his healthy skepticism of all FBI sting operations, especially this latest Iranian assassination plot; the curious targeting of Saudi Arabia’s ambassador – hardly a powerhouse political figure; cooperation between the US, Israel and Saudi Arabia on getting rid of the Assad government in Syria; the long term neoconservative plan to break up Arab countries into stateless...
10/13/11 – David Enders – The Scott Horton Show
David Enders, freelance journalist and author of Baghdad Bulletin, discusses his article “A reporter in Libya wonders about lessons of war;” the racism against black Africans in Libya, which has led to large scale killing and rape by the rebels (turning Susan Rice’s warning on its head); waiting to see if Gaddafi loyalists are massacred once the rebels (courtesy NATO) finally take Sirte; and how Enders could have loaded his car with anti-tank missiles, thanks to huge caches of unsecured...
10/12/11 – Philip Giraldi – The Scott Horton Show
Former CIA officer Philip Giraldi discusses the inside information on the alleged Iranian plot to assassinate Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the US; indications that the plot was legitimate but an amateurish rogue operation – not the work of Iran’s government; escalating talk of “all options on the table” for military retaliation against Iran; and why it’s never a good sign when Saudi Arabia and Israel agree on a common regional enemy.
10/12/11 – Daphne Eviatar – The Scott Horton Show
Daphne Eviatar, Senior Associate in Law and Security for Human Rights First, discusses the UN report on widespread torture in Afghan-run detention facilities; the difficulty of assessing US torture-prevention programs that are kept secret; discarding established conventions for prisoners of war, as the US makes up new rules and prisoner classifications on the fly; and how, ten years after 9/11, indefinite detention in military custody has become the new normal.
10/12/11 – Jennifer Lynch – The Scott Horton Show
Jennifer Lynch, staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, discusses her article “Newly Released Documents Reveal Defense Department Intelligence Violations;” how the Army is illegally using National Security Letters to engage in domestic surveillance, including of Planned Parenthood for some reason; how “exigent letters” are even more prone to abuse than NSL’s; the generally positive television portrayal of cops with unlimited authority; and how oversight and accountability are...
10/12/11 – Kurt Haskell – The Scott Horton Show
Kurt Haskell, Detroit area attorney and fellow passenger with “underbomber” Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab on Northwest Airlines flight 253, discusses Abdulmutallab’s surprising guilty plea that means Haskell can’t be a defense witness; why the well-dressed man who helped Abdulmutallab board the plane in the Netherlands is probably an undercover intelligence agent for the US; waiting for sentencing in January after the story disappears from the news cycle; and the cumulative circumstantial evidence...
10/11/11 – David Enders – The Scott Horton Show
David Enders, freelance journalist and author of Baghdad Bulletin, discusses why US combat troops will finally withdraw from Iraq this year (even if “advisors” and CIA/counterintelligence assets are staying long-term); Iraq’s broken infrastructure and authoritarian government – the legacy of eight years of occupation; why Iran and Iraq are natural allies with much in common; and how Iraq’s foreign policy is influenced by the large number of refugees still living in Syria.
10/11/11 – Adam Morrow – The Scott Horton Show
Adam Morrow, journalist with IPS News, discusses the latest violence between Coptic Christians and Muslims in Egypt; the possibility of agents provocateurs instigating violence, since Egypt has enjoyed a thousand years of relatively peaceful religious coexistence; the foundering revolution, as elections are repeatedly delayed and Mubarak cronies still run the country; and how the CIA’s penchant for regime change has cast doubt on the authenticity of popular resistance movements, even when they...
10/11/11 – Greg Gordon – The Scott Horton Show
Greg Gordon, investigative reporter for McClatchy Newspapers, discusses his article “FBI’s case against anthrax suspect rife with questions;” the government’s accidental court filing (since retracted) that claimed Bruce Ivins couldn’t have made the anthrax that killed five people in 2001; why the anthrax wasn’t really “weaponized;” and why the FBI’s circumstantial case against Ivins – from his supposedly misleading anthrax sample submission, to his fear of losing his funding and job – could be...
10/11/11 – Marcy Wheeler – The Scott Horton Show
Blogger Marcy Wheeler discusses her blog post about the “other guy” killed with Anwar al-Awlaki, “How Can Samir Khan Be ‘Collateral Damage’ If OLC Memo Restricted Civilian Death;” how assassinations justified by secret intelligence are replacing criminal trials based on disclosed evidence; why Obama’s reluctance to take credit for Awlaki’s assassination – after bragging about killing Osama bin Laden – could mean he’s worried about being prosecuted; and the secret legal interpretation of the...
