Major Danny Sjursen comes back on the show to talk about the blowback from America’s many wars in the Middle East. He explains a process with which listeners of this show will no doubt be familiar, by which the U.S. sets itself up for future wars by arming and training a generation of young rebels to help fight the current wars. All too often, the veterans on America’s side of the war then become either extremists or a part of the next brutal regime that takes the place of the old one—justification for more war either way.

Discussed on the show:

• “Backfire, a Generation of American Folly” (TomDispatch.com)
• Haqqani network
• CIA backing of Al-Nusra
• Jewish Museum of Belgium shooting
• Fortress on a Hill Podcast

Danny Sjursen is a major in the U.S. army and former history instructor at West Point. He writes regularly for TomDispatch.com and he’s the author of “Ghost Riders of Baghdad: Soldiers, Civilians, and the Myth of the Surge.” Follow him on Twitter @SkepticalVet.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: Kesslyn Runs, by Charles Featherstone; NoDev NoOps NoIT, by Hussein Badakhchani; The War State, by Mike Swanson; WallStreetWindow.com; Roberts and Roberts Brokerage Inc.; Zen Cash; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; and TheBumperSticker.com.

Check out Scott’s Patreon page.

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