Mark Perry joins the show to talk about President Trump’s bombshell news that he plans to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria. Perry says most people in the military think this is absolutely the right move, despite many loud claims to the contrary from pundits on both left and right. Perry considers it eminently reasonable to take the position that American military presence probably can’t singlehandedly shift the political landscape in Syria—not to mention the fact that our presence endangers the...

William Hartung comes on the show to discuss the latest in Yemen, particularly with respect to the political relationship between Saudi Arabia and the U.S. He explains that the Saudis finally have an opportunity to use all the American weapons they’ve been buying for the last few decades, essentially as a stimulus program for America. President Trump loves to claim that these sales are great for the economy, but the deals aren’t nearly as big as he sometimes claims, in reality supporting only...

Reese Erlich talks to Scott about the war in Yemen and about his latest article on the Russiagate controversy. Erlich thinks we can be cautiously optimistic about Yemen now that public pressure against the war is mounting (a recent poll found that 75% of Americans oppose it), and with the senate passing its resolution invoking the War Powers Act. This resolution doesn’t actually make the war illegal, but politically it may force President Trump’s hand. The same poll that showed public...

Nasser Arrabyee gives the latest on the war in Yemen, following the recent peace talks in Sweden where the UN negotiated a ceasefire in Hodeidah. Despite only moderate political pressure from the United States to end the war, Arrabyee thinks that increased media attention and public awareness of the war has helped create pressure on Saudi Arabia, the U.S., and the UN. Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman started this war to help make his reputation as a strong leader, explains Arrabyee, but now...

Ted Snider details Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s intriguing and complex past helping to steal nuclear parts from America, for which he is now being investigated in Israel. Although most of the investigation and press coverage focuses on the associated corruption scandal and not the truly shady history, Snider believes Netanyahu could be in real political trouble. Even if he gets removed from office, neither Snider nor Scott thinks it likely that much will be made of Israel’s secret nuclear...

Jonathan Hafetz of the ACLU joins the show to talk about one of their clients, an American citizen detained in Iraq for over a year without charges because of allegations of his being an enemy combatant. Thanks to the efforts of Hafetz and his organization, this man is finally going free. Discussed on the show: U.S. Citizen, Detained Without Charge by Trump Administration for a Year, Is Finally Free Habeas corpus Anwar al-Awlaki Jonathan Hafetz is a senior staff attorney at the ACLU Center for...

Peter Van Buren comes on the show to talk about his latest article on the Mueller investigation, which he believes is more conspiracy theory than truth. He points out that there’s still no evidence of blackmail based on personal matters, and that none of the supposed Trump Tower business deals in Russia have been shown to be illegal. Moreover, if the Russians really have Trump in their pocket, they don’t have a whole lot to show for it since Trump’s policies really haven’t been very friendly...

David Swanson discusses Pearl Harbor with Scott, an event that has become sanctified as a U.S. holiday, and, worse than that, is used as part of the perpetual narrative that America is always the victim and every war we fight is just. Swanson unveils some of the true history of the attack on Pearl Harbor, beginning with the fact that Roosevelt’s administration had numerous warnings and lots of intelligence that the Japanese were planning an attack. Newspapers in Hawaii were even predicting it...

Karen Kwiatkowski was one of the whistleblowers on the malfeasance of intelligence agencies leading up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, recently documented in Rob Reiner’s film, Shock and Awe. Kwiatkowski explains that the American people are usually inclined toward an anti-war position, and they voted for candidates like Bush Jr., Obama, and Trump in part because all promised less war and no nation-building. She hopes that the obvious reality that none of them follow through on these promises...

Sheldon Richman comes back on the show to talk about his recent article on Ukraine, and another recent Libertarian Institute article on Pearl Harbor. He outlines some of the history of FDR’s involvement in the lead-up to the attack on Pearl Harbor, explaining how much evidence there is for the fact that his administration was looking for a way to get the United States involved in the war, and only chose Japan after failed attempts to provoke an attack by Germany. Many claim that U.S....

Robert Naiman of justforeignpolicy.org joins Scott to talk about efforts in the senate and the house to end the Saudi-led war in Yemen using the War Powers Resolution. Naiman explains that there are two wars going on, both of which the United States is involved in: one is the explicit U.S. campaign against AQAP, loosely and perhaps legitimately justified by the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force, while the other is led by Saudi Arabia and the UAE, but with U.S. support. The house and...

Trita Parsi talks about President Trump’s efforts to use sanctions to pressure the Iranian people into overthrowing their government. Parsi and Scott believes this strategy is futile, likening it to the possibility of Americans overthrowing our entire system of republican democracy out of frustration with a particular president. Trump initially boasted about how well his oil sanctions were working, but the Iranian economy quickly rallied, partly due to waivers allowing 11 countries to keep...

Retired U.S. Army Col. Andrew Bacevich, author of the new book, Twilight of the American Century, joins the show to talk about the nomination of retired general John Abizaid as ambassador to Saudi Arabia, which Bacevich says should be an occasion to reflect on what has gone wrong in the terror war—but likely will not be. Bacevich claims that conservatives have not been forthcoming about their errors in supporting the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, even when they make small concessions...

Journalist Barry Lando talks about the history of American hostilities in Iraq, beginning with Saddam Hussein’s invasion of the oil fields of Kuwait after Kuwait refused to forgive Saddam’s debts from his war against Iran. Lando explains that Saddam had been led to believe the United States wouldn’t intervene if he invaded. This was probably out of ignorance on the part of the American government, who didn’t expect him to move beyond the oil fields that bordered Iraq, but it’s also possible...

Dave Lindorff joins Scott to talk about his recent article, “The Pentagon’s Massive Accounting Fraud Exposed,” in which he outlines the results of the recent audit of U.S. military spending. The Pentagon’s cavalier attitude toward flunking their audit reveals that they don’t really care what the voters think, knowing they’ll get the funding they want no matter what. In fact, explains Lindorff, much of the supposedly “lost” money is lost because it was never actually spent in the first place....