David Enders, a journalist with McClatchy Newspapers, discusses Syrian opposition leader Sheik Mouaz al Khatib's half-serious offer to negotiate with the government; the large gap between Khatib's moderate-sounding talk and the frightening extremism of some opposition fighters; the tens of thousands of estimated casualties; the myriad regional militias joining in the fight; and why voting has been substantially delayed in Iraq's Kurdistan region.
DOJ White Paper on Assassinations of U.S. Citizens
Okay, so I just read this "white paper"Â [pdf] by the Justice Department explaining the reasoning behind presidential assassinations of American citizens. Tomorrow The Other Scott Horton will be on the show to really explain, but best I can tell they claim that if a "high level official" designates an American citizen abroad a "operational leader" of al Qaeda then they can be killed. Being a citizen does not "immune" one from such treatment. All laws against murder are void when violated by...
02/05/13 – Will Grigg – The Scott Horton Show
Will Grigg, blogger and author of Liberty in Eclipse, discusses the life and death of ex-Navy SEAL sniper Chris Kyle; doubts about the bravery and heroism of soldiers in a war of occupation; Ron Paul's controversial tweet (he who lives by the sword dies by the sword) on Kyle's death; why many conservative Christians revere authoritarian government violence instead of the teachings of Christ; how WWII ushered in a new era of state-worship for Americans; and how guilt contributes to PTSD.
02/05/13 – Rob Prince – The Scott Horton Show
Rob Prince, lecturer in International Studies at the University of Denver, discusses the background of the Mali-Algeria crisis; France's economic interests in north Africa; the long history of warm US-Algeria relations - despite outward appearances; how the In-Amenas gas facility hostage fiasco badly hurt Algeria's terrorism-fighting credentials; and the US's militarization of Africa as part of the "Asia pivot" change in foreign policy.
02/05/13 – The Other Scott Horton – The Scott Horton Show
The Other Scott Horton, Columbia law professor and Harper's Magazine journalist, discusses the DOJ's abbreviated explanation to Congress why the Obama administration has the right to assassinate US citizens; Constitutional protections against secret government interpretation of the law; the Open Society Foundations report on international cooperation with the CIA's extraordinary rendition program; and how the government is redefining terms to fit their dubious legal arguments....
02/04/13 – Will Grigg – The Scott Horton Show
Will Grigg, author of Liberty in Eclipse, discusses why we shouldn't be too excited about country sheriffs opposing the federal assault weapons ban; how Waco became the template for law enforcement operations; the state's openly-declared monopoly on the use of force; why local TV news is always on the cops' side; and why even Idaho sheriffs think constitutionalists are little more than domestic terrorists.
02/04/13 – Lew Rockwell – The Scott Horton Show
Libertarian icon Lew Rockwell discusses why the Right is all aflutter about the Red Chinese menace; China's remarkable rise from death camp to civilization; why the US is pushing a Japan-China confrontation; the virtues of made-in-China products and free market trading; and why any country aspiring toward economic or military improvement is automatically a "threat" to the US.
02/04/13 – Philip Giraldi – The Scott Horton Show
Philip Giraldi, executive director of the Council for the National Interest; discusses Obama's apparent endorsement of Israel's airstrike in Syria; the 2011 presidential "finding" authorizing covert action against Damascus and Tehran; why Saudi Arabia and Qatar are undermining Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood; the arms-smuggling angle of the Benghazi scandal; and the US's increasing disregard for national sovereignty.
Legalize Ivory
The commie "War on Ivory" is, of course, killing the elephants it's supposed to save. Doug Bandow breaks it down. "Failure is not for wont of conservation efforts. Reported the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES): 'record levels of ivory were seized and sustained throughout the period 2009 to 2011.' But that was not nearly enough. "Earlier this month the New York Times reported: 'As ivory poaching becomes more militarized, with rebel...
David Enders: US effort to undercut Islamist rebels in Syria fails
Poor Barack Obama: How to support an al Qaeda war against the Ba'athists (What, those guys don't get along?) in Syria while pretending to regret that that is exactly what you're doing? Well, they set up some new sock puppets, but it looks like it didn't take. "A U.S.-supported push to form military councils across Syria to unite the hundreds of groups fighting to topple President Bashar Assad and coordinate the provision of aid to secular rebel groups appears largely to have failed. "Rebels...
Mali Government Waterboards Rebels
Well, good. At least Obama will have solid Republican support for this one: "Three suspected jihadists arrested in the days since the liberation of Timbuktu said Friday that Malian soldiers were torturing them with a method similar to waterboarding. "The three are being held in an earthen cell in what remains of the military camp in the town, which was freed this week by French and Malian soldiers after nearly 10 months under radical Islamist rule." Any further blowback against the U.S., its...
02/01/13 – Daniel Larison – The Scott Horton Show
Daniel Larison, senior editor at The American Conservative, discusses Secretary of Defense nominee Chuck Hagel's poor performance in his Senate Armed Services Committee hearing; how the neoconservatives continue to hold sway over the Republican Party on foreign policy; why conservatives keep voting Republican even though they are continually stymied on immigration and abortion issues; and how the GOP has become a political dinosaur.
