Jacob Hornberger, founder and president of The Future of Freedom Foundation, discusses his "Freedom vs. the State" college speaking tour with FFF vice president Sheldon Richman; the merits of Michael Swanson's The War State; and why JFK was indeed serious about reigning in the CIA after the near-cataclysmic Cuban missile crisis.

Clive Stafford Smith, the founder and Director of Reprieve, discusses Shaker Aamer's continued detention in Guantanamo despite being cleared for release by the Bush and Obama administrations; Aamer's physical and psychological damage from severe torture and confinement; why the UK doesn't want him back; and how Guantanamo has damaged the US's reputation worldwide.

Flynt Leverett, author of Going to Tehran, discusses why the US got so involved in Syria after the Arab Spring; the lousy record of US-backed regime changes in the Middle East and beyond; how support for Syria's rebels draws out the stalemate and creates a humanitarian disaster; Obama's commitment (or lack thereof) to an Iran nuclear deal; and Sy Hersh's reporting on Syria's sarin gas attack.

Michael Rattner, President Emeritus at the Center for Constitutional Rights, discusses the federal court dismissal of a joint CCR/ACLU lawsuit challenging US drone killings of three American citizens; the court's deference to presidential authority without regard to due process of law; and the proper definition and application of the laws of war.

Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Seymour Hersh discusses his article on the Pentagon's skepticism about going to war in Syria following the Sarin gas attack in August 2013; evidence that the attack was carried out by Turkish-backed rebels, not the Assad government; and why Obama backed down on his "red line" in Syria after going full-bore in Libya.

Ray McGovern, a retired CIA officer turned political activist, discusses how the US intelligence community helped prevent military intervention in Syria; John Kerry's repeated lies about the Sarin gas attack and an "unbelievably short war" scenario; Obama's surprising resolve to defy the neoconservatives and the Israel lobby; and why the rift with Russia shouldn't nix an Iran nuclear deal. Transcript: We move on to our next guest, it's the great Ray McGovern, for 27 years he was a CIA analyst...

Major Todd E. Pierce, a former JAG defense attorney at Guantanamo, discusses why we're all Cheneyites now; the post-Cold War US policy of military domination abroad and authoritarianism at home; why conservatives don't really mind one-world government - so long as they're in charge of it; and how the Law of War is displacing the US Constitution.

Syndicated columnist Eric Margolis discusses the decidedly undemocratic Afghan national elections; the CIA-friendly drug dealers and warlords running for president; the Taliban's exclusion from the political process; and why the new government will probably "invite" US forces to stay indefinitely.