Andrew Bacevich, author of “America’s War for the Greater Middle East: A Military History” joins Scott to discuss his article for The American Conservative “Yes Congress, Afghanistan is Your Vietnam.” Bacevich explains that the division between Trump’s advisors on how to proceed in Afghanistan has created a stalemate in the Oval Office. It’s noteworthy, Bacevich says, that there hasn’t been a comprehensive report from the Trump administration outlining the United States’s foreign policy...

Executive director of the Council for the National Interest and former CIA officer Phil Giraldi returns to the show to discuss his latest article for The American Conservative, “Hack or Leak: Who Really Stole the DNC Files?” While there isn’t conclusive evidence for any of the potential explanations for how the information got from the DNC computer to WikiLeaks, Giraldi explains that no one seems to be particularly interested in investigating who was responsible. Did the Russians hack the DNC?...

You are listening to the Scott Horton Show. 8/8/17 Ramzy Baroud on the Palestinian response to the Jerusalem Attack

William J. Astore returns to the show to discuss his latest article for Antiwar.com "On Afghanistan, Trump Is Right To Be Skeptical." Astore discusses Trump's apparent cognitive dissonance: he's happy to bomb the Middle East indiscriminately, but is skeptical of escalating troops in Afghanistan and speculates that it's Trump's impatience, which is frequently a danger, which may be a saving grace in Afghanistan. Astore thinks Trump might have a nose for a losing approach, and that the last...

Trita Parsi, the president of the National Iranian American Council, returns to the show to discuss Donald Trump's motivation to spurn the Iran deal. Parsi explains that the Iran Deal is in danger because of an inexplicable desire on Donald Trump's part to destroy the deal, dating back to his campaign. Parsi speculates that, in addition to Trump's opposition to Barack Obama, his hatred of the Iran Deal is the result of his seemingly new infatuation with the Saudi Arabians who have been...

Professor of chemical engineering at USC Muhammad Sahimi returns to the show to discuss the latest Saudi crackdown on the local Shia population. Sahimi explains how Wahhabi clerics have ratcheted up tensions and violence against Saudi Shiites who face continual oppression from the Saudi government. Saudi hostility toward Shia in the region often receives attention, but now it's time to pay more attention to how they treat their own people, Sahimi says, which includes mass torture and execution...

Director of the Ron Paul Institute Daniel McAdams returns to the show to discuss his latest article, “Russia Sanctions and the Coming Crackdown on Americans“. McAdams details the phony justification for the sanctions, how hardcore neocons are leading the Russia hysteria, and why it poses a serious threat to our first amendment rights. Scott and McAdams discuss whether Trump is totally and completely lost or whether he has one or two good instincts and if they will be revealed when he finally...

Josh Ruebner, director of the U.S. campaign for Palestinian Rights, and author of "Shattered Hopes: Obama's Failure to Broker Israeli-Palestinian Peace" joins the show to discuss his latest article "New U.S. bill would punish settlement boycotters." Ruebner explains how the act would criminalize U.S. corporations and individuals for supporting or furthering the impact of a boycott against Israel. Despite obvious major free speech restrictions the bill has support from both Democrats and...

Foreign Policy in Focus columnist Conn Hallinan returns to the show to discuss his latest article for Foreign Policy in Focus, "The Tortured Politics Behind the Persian Gulf Crisis." Hallinan details the reasons for the rising tensions between Qatar and their former friends in the Gulf over. According to Hallinan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are angry about Qatar's largely independent foreign policy, which Qatar has used to develop relationships with Iran and the Muslim...

West Virginia House of Delegates representative Pat McGeehan joins Scott to discuss shis "Defend the Guard" bill. McGeehan discusses his attempts to defang the empire from the bottom up by passing a bill refusing to allow their state guard services to be nationalized and used in unconstitutional wars. McGeehan's bill stated that no West Virginian guard unit could be deployed overseas without an expressed declaration of war from the U.S. Congress. He then relays a story about how adjutant...

Gareth Porter returns to the show to discuss his latest articles for the American Conservative, "How America Armed Terrorists in Syria" and "How CIA and Allies Trapped Obama in the Syrian Arms Debacle." Scott and Gareth discuss how U.S. national security policy since Obama took office has been largely been, either directly or indirectly, in support of al-Qaeda and that unlike George W. Bush, who empowered al-Qaeda accidentally, Barack Obama did it with full understanding of the likely...

Executive director of the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity Daniel McAdams returns to the show to discuss his latest article, "House Passes New Russia Sanctions, Pumps Adrenaline into Cold War 2.0." McAdams recaps the latest vote for sanctions against Russia, Iran and North Korea, which passed nearly unanimously, why the overwhelming support makes it unlikely Trump will veto the bill, and how sanctions on Russia will act as a form of protectionism for the U.S. energy industry with...

Veteran war correspondent Elijah Magnier joins Scott to discuss his recent article, “First ‘Islamic State’ and then the US breaches Sykes-Picot with one objective: the Partition of Syria and Iraq.” Magnier explains how the U.S. is aiming to partition Syria and Iraq by placing permanent bases in northeast Syria and why, despite a potential ally in the Syrian and Iraqi Kurds, the U.S. is unlikely to be able to cut off Bashar al-Assad from the rest of Mesopotamia for long. Magnier says that...

Afghan war whistleblower Daniel Davis returns to the show to talk about his latest article, “I Interviewed the War-Weary Residents of Mosul. The Fight for the City Is Far From Over.” Davis talks about his trip to northern Iraq, heroic stories of everyday people resisting ISIS in Mosul, and rumors of Iraqi soldiers committing atrocities against suspected ISIS members. Davis explains that the war against ISIS isn’t over: ISIS members are supposedly shaving their beards and pretending to be...

Dr. Ramzy Baroud, author of “My Father Was A Freedom Fighter: The Untold Story of Gaza,” joins Scott to discuss the Israeli suffocation of the Palestinians in Gaza. Baroud explains how the nearly two million Palestinians living in Gaza are managing to subsist despite heavy restrictions on their life, including physical confinement and outright bans on farming and fishing. The suicide rate in Gaza is dramatic and on the rise as people have started to lose hope—and things are only getting worse....