Investigative journalist and historian Gareth Porter returns to the show to do a deep dive on the history of the Iraq War. Porter begins by detailing the role of the air force in propagating the neoconservatives’ goals and the behind-the-scenes struggle for power that took place between the army and the air force. Scott then asks Porter: how could the neoconservatives not realize that overthrowing Saddam Hussein would empower the Iranians? On their way through the history of the Iraq War Scott and Porter land on the brutal torture carried out by American allies, the myriad failures of David Petraeus, and how the first sign of democracy ripped the country apart. The two then discuss the conditions that led to the Sunni-based insurgency, the creation of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, and the sectarian civil war that followed. Porter then recalls his first appearance on the Scott Horton Show, which was to discuss the pre-conditions the United States was creating in Iraq for war with Iran. Finally Scott asks Porter about the Obama years and how a new president who ran against the record of the former president managed to make the same mistakes.

Gareth Porter is an investigative historian and journalist on the national security state and author of Manufactured Crisis: The Untold Story of the Iran Nuclear Scare. Follow him on Twitter @GarethPorter and listen to Gareth’s previous appearances on the Scott Horton Show.

• “3/20/18 Jonathan Schwarz on the history and lies of the Iraq War” (The Scott Horton Show)
• “A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm by David Wurmser 1996” (ScottHorton.org)
• “Coping with Crumbling States: A Western and Israeli Balance of Power Strategy for the Levant by David Wurmser 1996” (ScottHorton.org)
• Ahmed Chalabi
• “9/10/2001: Rumsfeld says $2.3 Trillion Missing from Pentagon” (YouTube)
• “US: Lockheed Stock and Two Smoking Barrels,” by Richard Cummings (Playboy)
• Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq
• “Burnt Offering,” by Gareth Porter (The American Prospect)
• “How Ahmed Chalabi Conned the Neocons,” by John Dizard (Salon)
• Ali al-Sistani
• Muqtada al-Sadr
• “Part 1: How Petraeus Created the Myth of His Success,” by Gareth Porter (Truth-Out)
• Salvador Option
• “Ex-State Dept. official: Hundreds of detainees died in U.S. custody, at least 25 murdered.” (ThinkProgress)
• “Frago 242,” by Justin Raimondo (Antiwar.com)
• “Rumsfeld and Pace Discuss Torture” (C-SPAN)
• Ahmed Yassin
• 2004 Fallujah ambush
• The Long Road Home
• Rejectionists
• Zalmay Khalilzad
• Abu Musab al-Zarqawi
• “Transcript: President Bush, Part 2” with Katie Couric (CBS News)
• 2006 al-Askari mosque bombing
• “The Other Scott Horton“
• Nouri al-Maliki
• U.S.-Iraq Status of Forces Agreement
• The Good Soldiers, by David Finkel
• “08/16/10 – David Finkel” (The Scott Horton Show)
• Collateral Murder (WikiLeaks)
• Ayad Allawi
• “The Real Head-Drilling “Butchers” of Iraq,” by Dan Sanchez (Antiwar.com)
• “Inside Obama’s War Room,” by Michael Hastings (Rolling Stone)
• “The Redirection,” by Seymour Hersh (The New Yorker)
• “How America Armed Terrorists in Syria,” by Gareth Porter (The American Conservative)
• “Quiet Support for Saudis Entangles U.S. in Yemen” (The New York Times)
• “Mutual suspicion frays historic US-Saudi ties” (Financial Times)

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: Zen Cash, The War State, by Mike Swanson; WallStreetWindow.com; Roberts and Roberts Brokerage Inc.; LibertyStickers.com; TheBumperSticker.com; and ExpandDesigns.com/Scott.

Check out Scott’s Patreon page.

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