Gareth Porter, an award-winning investigative journalist and author of Manufactured Crisis: The Untold Story of the Iran Nuclear Scare, discusses why the entire war on terror since 2001 has been a “bait-and-switch” operation wherein the US pretends to fight terrorism while sacrificing the safety of Americans to back the interests of regional allies like Saudi Arabia. Check out my Patreon page https://www.patreon.com/scotthortonshow

Sheldon Richman, Executive Editor of The Libertarian Institute and author of many books, discusses The Libertarian Institute’s future without co-founder William Norman Grigg, who recently passed away; the slate of new up-and-coming libertarian writers and the general expansion of the movement; the upcoming release of Grigg’s book on the wrongful imprisonment of Christopher Tapp and Scott Horton’s book on Afghanistan; and why North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is rightfully concerned about...

Philip Giraldi, executive director of the Council for the National Interest and a former CIA officer, discusses the intelligence community’s anger at the White House’s politically-motivated assessment of the Syrian chemical weapons attack, which places all the blame on the Syrian government and offers little hard evidence to support the claim. Check out my Patreon page https://www.patreon.com/scotthortonshow

Joey Lawrence, a professional photographer and war documentarian, discusses Obama’s initial military intervention in Syria to save the Yazidis from a massacre on Mount Sinjar in 2014; why Turkish President Erdogan dares attack the Kurdish YPG militia with embedded US troops nearby; and whether the US will turn its back on its Kurdish allies once the war against ISIS is over. Check out my Patreon page https://www.patreon.com/scotthortonshow

Grant F. Smith, director of the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy in Washington, DC, discusses how difficult it is to get any information out of US intelligence agencies by using a Freedom of Information Act request, especially when it relates to CIA-budgeted aid to Israel or Israel’s nuclear weapons program. Check out my Patreon page https://www.patreon.com/scotthortonshow

Theodore Postol, Professor Emeritus of Science, Technology, and National Security Policy at MIT, discusses his critique of the White House Intelligence Report claiming that the Syrian government was responsible for a chemical weapons attack in Khan Shaykhun on April 4th. Postol debunks claims that photos of a metal tube inside a crater are evidence of a Syrian air attack that released sarin gas. A more plausible scenario is that a Russian air strike on an ammunition dump created a large...

Yakov Hirsch, a writer for Mondoweiss.net, discusses how “hasbara culture” has infected the minds of Israelis with a “macho victimhood” ideology and tilted media coverage (led by Jeffrey Goldberg, the “most toxic person in American culture”) so Americans are misled into thinking Palestinians are the aggressive occupiers of Israeli land, instead of the other way around. Check out my Patreon page https://www.patreon.com/scotthortonshow

Eric Margolis, a journalist and author of American Raj, discusses the signs of an impending US troop surge in Afghanistan to finally “win” the war after 16 years; and the potentially disastrous consequences if Trump’s bellicosity on North Korea ever turns into military action. Check out my Patreon page https://www.patreon.com/scotthortonshow

Nick Mottern, the founder and coordinator of Knowdrones.com, discusses his organization’s use of targeted advertising to educate military drone operators and the general public that these deadly strikes are illegal, kill innocent civilians, and are not about fighting terrorism.

Daniel McAdams, Executive Director of the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity, discusses the bipartisan coalition of top US politicians, including John McCain, who accepted money from the MEK to lobby for their removal from the State Department’s terrorism list; and Rand Paul’s assertion that the US should stay out of the Syrian civil war, in direct contradiction to warmongers McCain and Lindsey Graham.

Matthew Hoh, a Marine veteran and former State Department official, discusses his recent activism on Palestinian rights issues; the common myths recited to Americans to keep them from learning the truth about Israeli apartheid; the new generation of Palestinian and American non-violent activist leaders; and why Gaza is shaping up to be one of history’s greatest human catastrophes.

Gene Healy, a vice president at the Cato Institute, discusses the media’s strained constitutional justification for Trump’s “limited military activity” in Syria; and why the 1973 War Powers Resolution doesn’t give the president a free pass to initiate offensive military strikes without congressional approval, contrary to popular opinion.

John Feffer, co-director of Foreign Policy In Focus and author of the dystopian novel Splinterlands, discusses the lazy thinking among foreign policy pundits who insist North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is either a child or a madman who only understands force and can’t be reasoned with. Feffer attempts to read the despot’s mind to find out what he wants for himself and his country, and thereby determine how the US can use diplomacy instead of missiles to reach a peaceful resolution with the...