Scott talks to Heather Brandon-Smith of the Friends Committee on National Legislation about the effort to repeal the 2002 Iraq Authorization for Use of Military Force. Although the 2002 AUMF has been less widely cited as grounds for America's ever-expanding wars in the Middle East than the 2001 version (which authorized the war in Afghanistan), it has been used to justify the war against ISIS in Iraq and the Trump administration's assassination of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, among other...
5/4/21 Trita Parsi: Why Mohammed bin Salman Suddenly Wants to Talk to Iran
Trita Parsi talks about the possibility of diplomatic talks between Saudi Arabia and Iran, which he views as a consequence of the Biden administration's somewhat less aggressive stance toward the Middle East. People often allege that American military involvement abroad keeps the world safer; in reality, Parsi explains, it is only when the U.S. pulls back from conflict that countries must resort instead to diplomacy. He hopes Biden will make a commitment to ending some of America's forever...
4/30/21 Tom Collina on the Reckless Plan to Expand America’s Nuclear Arsenal
Scott talks to Tom Collina about the alarming plan to expand America's nuclear arsenal. The $2 trillion package, Collina explains, would include a large investment in what's known as the "nuclear sponge": a collection of ICBMs in America's heartland designed to draw a nuclear attack from America's enemies, rather than one targeted at Washington D.C. or other major cities. But this policy actually makes things far more dangerous, says Collina, since there's then tremendous pressure to fire...
4/30/21 Aisha Jumaan on US Complicity in Yemen’s Dire Humanitarian Crisis
Aisha Jumaan discusses the situation in Yemen. Although the Biden administration claimed earlier this year that it would end American support for Saudi "offensive operations" in Yemen, they have recently announced that certain support functions—like providing maintenance and spare parts for the Saudi air force—will continue. But this bald-faced reversal, says Jumaan, isn't even the main issue. Yes, the Saudis are killing innocent Yemenis in air strikes and other direct attacks, but by far the...
4/30/21 Andy Worthington on the Shameful Human Cost of Joe Biden’s Guantanamo Inertia
Scott interviews Andy Worthington about Guantanamo Bay, America's secret black site prison, where 40 men are still being held, some of them without ever having been charged with a crime. President Obama famously campaigned on closing Guantanamo, but ultimately was unable (or unwilling) to do so. President Trump, too, allowed the atrocious human rights abuses to continue throughout his administration. Worthington is optimistic about the possibility of change, but if the American people continue...
4/26/21 Dan Gifford: What Really Happened at Waco and How the Establishment Covered It Up
Scott talks to Dan Gifford, producer of the famous film, Waco: The Rules of Engagement, about the tragedy of the Waco siege, all the government and media lies to cover it up and what really happened behind the scenes. Gifford shares his decades of experience looking into this topic, including all the times when the government tried to shut him up. Discussed on the show: "What Really Happened At Waco And The Establishment Collusion to Cover It Up" (Dan Gifford) "Will ABC really tell us what...
4/23/21 Gareth Porter on Biden’s Promised Withdrawal from Afghanistan
Gareth Porter discusses the recent announcement that the Biden administration will withdraw all U.S. troops from Afghanistan by September 11 of this year. This is obviously a violation of the May 1 withdrawal agreement made under the Trump administration, but Porter is optimistic that Biden and his team are serious about getting out by this fall. Scott and Porter also talk about the latest negotiations in Vienna regarding American sanctions and the Iran nuclear deal. Porter worries that the...
More Interviews of Me
Thanks to Everyone’s Orphan for the list. Enough Already & Uighurs – Why Libertarian Osama Bin Laden’s Strategy to Take Down the US – Bob Murphy Conflicts of Interest #100 – Scott Horton Dismantles the War Party Narrative Ideological Underpinnings of the War on Terrorism – Washington Report on Middle East Affairs
Ideological Underpinnings of the War on Terrorism – Scott Horton to the IsraelApartheidCon 4/26/21
As detailed in his new book, Enough Already: Time to End the War on Terrorism, Israel and its U.S. lobby were key proponents of the disastrous 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, as well as providing the ideological underpinnings of a "global war on terror." Today they are virtually alone in advocating a U.S. war on Iran. How likely is it that the Biden administration will attack Iran? What would be the consequences?
4/21/21 Edward Hasbrouck on Abolishing the Draft Once and for All
Scott interviews Edward Hasbrouck about the effort to finally abolish America’s “selective service” requirement, the modern-day remains of what was once the draft. Hasbrouck explains how, after Nixon abolished the draft in the 1960s, Jimmy Carter reinstituted the system we have today, partially to combat national anxiety over the Iranian revolution and hostage crisis. Hasbrouck says that what the draft really is is an assurance to America’s war planners that there will always be an unlimited...
Events!
I’m doing two events this Saturday: WRMEA and IRmep‘s End Support for Apartheid Israel Conference at 1:00 PM Eastern and a speech to the Washington LP later that afternoon in Seattle with Peter R. Quinones, Matt Kibbe, Angela McArdle and others.
4/16/21 Ray McGovern: Biden and Blinken Blink on Ukraine
Scott interviews Ray McGovern about America’s perilous foreign policy stance in Eastern Europe. Over the last few years, the U.S. has increasingly thrown its support behind Ukraine—and specifically the pro-Western, anti-Russian forces in that country. This policy has shown itself to be extremely dangerous, given Russia’s clear willingness to go to war to defend its interests in Crimea and on its own border. Luckily, explains McGovern, the Biden administration seems to have backed down for the...
4/16/21 William Arkin: Why America Can’t End its ‘Forever Wars’
William Arkin discusses the changing nature of America’s military, specifically the way that operations have shifted away from traditional “boots on the ground” and toward drone strikes, special forces, civilian contractors and intelligence analysts. In fact, for every soldier on the ground in the Middle East today, Arkin estimates that there are at least one hundred other people around the world to support that soldier. This has led to a Faustian bargain for the American people: the number of...
4/15/21 Dan McKnight on America’s Ascendant Bipartisan Antiwar Coalition
Dan McKnight talks about the “Defend the Guard” movement, a set of bills that would mandate that a state’s national guard troops not be deployed overseas without an official declaration of war from congress. The legislation has sponsors in 31 states so far, and that number is growing. None of this, McKnight stresses, is a radical reinterpretation American law—it is just an attempt to follow the process that the constitution already lays out. It’s ridiculous, he says, that national guard troops...
4/14/21 Grant Smith on the Upcoming Israel Apartheid Conference
Scott talks to Grant Smith about the upcoming Israel Lobby Con, the annual conference hosting a range of expert speakers who offer opposing views to the mainstream zionist position that dominates American polite society. This year’s conference consists of two sessions, the first on Saturday 4/17 and the second on Saturday 4/24, and will be hosted on Zoom. Sign up for the conference at www.IsraelApartheidCon.org, watch live on YouTube or listen to the podcast afterward. Discussed on the...
