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Kevin Gosztola of The Dissenter returns to the show to discuss the latest ruling in Julian Assange’s legal battle. The UK’s High Court granted Assange a full appeal. Gosztola and Scott dissect what that means and discuss where things could go from here.

Discussed on the show:

• “US Effort To Extradite Assange Hits Roadblock As British High Court Grants Appeal” (The Dissenter)

Kevin Gosztola is the managing editor of Shadowproof. He also produces and co-hosts the weekly podcast, “Unauthorized Disclosure.” He is the author of Guilty of Journalism: The Political Case Against Julian Assange. Follow him on Twitter @kgosztola.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: Roberts and Robers Brokerage Incorporated; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; Libertas Bella; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott.

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Gareth Porter comes back on the show to respond to claims that he’s an apologist for Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge. In explaining his 1975 book, Cambodia: Starvation and Revolution, he identifies a dangerous trend surrounding American wars abroad, which he himself fell victim to: The propaganda from U.S. war planners is often so egregious that dissenters are inclined to take precisely the opposite position, even when that position is also wrong. Scott cites the example of claiming Saddam Hussein was not responsible for the war crimes he did in fact commit, simply because the Bush Jr. administration painted him as almost comically threatening in order to justify the invasion of Iraq. Although Porter admits he got it wrong in Cambodia, the experience has made him a much more careful journalist since then, striving always to understand and take seriously every major argument on all sides of an important issue.

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.

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.; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; and LibertyStickers.com.

Donate to the show through Patreon, PayPal, or Bitcoin: 1KGye7S3pk7XXJT6TzrbFephGDbdhYznTa.

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Gareth Porter tells Scott why he’s optimistic that the war in Yemen will soon be coming to an end. For one thing, says Porter, the War Powers resolutions in both congress and the senate have created political pressure to end America’s backing of the Saudis, even if they don’t legally stop President Trump. The killing of Jamal Khashoggi also seemed to provide impetus that wasn’t there before, because it brought the war sharply into focus for Americans. Porter explains that the military and logistical support for the Saudis wouldn’t even need to end—simply stopping the sale of parts for their American planes would completely ground their air force, and that alone would effectively end the war.

Discussed on the show:

• “Is the End of the Brutal War in Yemen Finally at Hand?” (Antiwar.com Original)
• “S.J.Res.54” (Library of Congress)
• “H.Con.Res.138” (Library of Congress)
• Jamal Khashoggi
• “In Strategic Shift, U.S. Draws Closer to Yemeni Rebels” (WSJ)
• Northwest Airlines Flight 253
• “Inside Yemen’s secret prisons: ‘We could hear the screams’” (AP News)
• “12/17/18 Nasser Arrabyee on the Ceasefire in Hodeidah” (The Libertarian Institute)
• “Bolton’s Hawkish Syria Plan Backfired, Pushing Trump to Get Out” (The Daily Beast)

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.

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 LibertyStickers.com.

Donate to the show through Patreon, PayPal, or Bitcoin: 1KGye7S3pk7XXJT6TzrbFephGDbdhYznTa.

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Cato Institute fellow Ted Galen Carpenter talks about his latest article, “NATO Partisans Started a New Cold War With Russia.” He lays out the prevailing narrative about Russian aggression: Nixon and Kissinger were able to defuse the threat of global communism by negotiating with China, and shortly thereafter the Soviet Union collapsed, solving the Russian threat once and for all—that is, until Vladimir Putin began instigating conflicts with Georgia and Ukraine in the last decade. Carpenter explains that that’s pretty much all wrong. In fact, the “new cold war” began in the 1990s when President Clinton and America’s allies began expanding NATO closer and closer to Russia’s borders, something the U.S. had previously promised not to do. Carpenter thinks the entire narrative of Russian aggression in Eastern Europe is overblown, and that America should just get out of or dissolve NATO as soon as possible.

Discussed on the show:

• “NATO Partisans Started a New Cold War With Russia” (The American Conservative)
• “Newly Declassified Documents: Gorbachev Told NATO Wouldn’t Move Past East German Border” (The National Interest)
• Strobe Talbott
• “US: Lockheed Stock and Two Smoking Barrels” (corpwatch)
• “The Quiet Americans Behind the U.S.-Russia Imbroglio” (The New York Times)

Ted Galen Carpenter is a senior fellow for defense and foreign policy studies at the Cato Institute. Carpenter has written 10 books including “America’s Coming War with China: A Collision Course over Taiwan” and is a contributing editor at The American Conservative Magazine and the National Interest.s

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 LibertyStickers.com.

Donate to the show through Patreon, PayPal, or Bitcoin: 1KGye7S3pk7XXJT6TzrbFephGDbdhYznTa.

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Journalist Elijah Magnier joins the show for his analysis of President Trump’s pulling troops out of Syria. Although Trump has backed down from his original demands and acquiesced to a slower timeline for withdrawal, Magnier explains that it doesn’t matter much in terms of the overall war; ISIS really is all but defeated, and now the Kurds have made their own deal with Assad, getting protection from him in exchange for their support. Other insurgent forces are still active all over the region however, says Magnier, and there’s very little the U.S. and its allies can do about it. After all, if 100,000 troops couldn’t quell the insurgency in Iraq, maybe nothing can.

Discussed on the show:

• “Trump bows to domestic pressure by delaying his withdrawal from Syria; a storm is gathering in the Levant” (ejmagnier.com)
• Jamal Khashoggi

Elijah Magnier is a Senior Political Risk Analyst with over 32 years’ experience covering Europe & the Middle East. Find him at his website, ejmagnier.com or on Twitter @ejmalrai.

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 LibertyStickers.com.

Check out Scott’s Patreon page.

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Matthew Hoh talks about Trump’s move to withdraw troops from Syria and Afghanistan, something Hoh hoped President Obama would do instead of sending even more troops into Iraq. Hoh explains the difficulties of “winning” any kind of war in Afghanistan. The main problem is that most Afghans see Americans as an occupying force, and they’ll even support the Taliban over a foreign occupation. He thinks a war in Iran would go the same way, except probably even worse. Danny Sjursen also joins the call, and he and Hoh discuss the fallout from America’s wars, especially the physical and psychological damage so many veterans suffer when they come home from war. Both agree that the best way to support veterans is to “create fewer of them.”

Discussed on the show:

• Zalmay Khalilzad
• “Life under the Taliban shadow government” (Overseas Development Institute (ODI))
• “C.I.A.’s Afghan Forces Leave a Trail of Abuse and Anger” (The New York Times)
• Civilian Deaths in Iraq and Syria – Airwars
• CODEPINK
• Iran Air Flight 655
• National Security Act of 1947
• Give an Hour
• Semper Fi Fund

Matthew Hoh is a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy and formerly worked for the U.S. State Department. Hoh received the Ridenhour Prize Recipient for Truth Telling in 2010. Hoh is a member of the Board of Directors for Council for a Livable World and is an Advisory Board Member for Expose Facts. He writes on issues of war, peace and post-traumatic stress disorder recovery at matthewhoh.com.

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 LibertyStickers.com.

Check out Scott’s Patreon page.

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Neta Crawford discusses her work on the Costs of War project, which tries to assess the costs, in both lives and dollars, of America’s wars in the Middle East. The project has estimated the 500 thousand have been killed due to combat, which includes American soldiers, enemy combatants, and civilians. It doesn’t include what’s known as “excess deaths,” meaning civilians who die from deprivation, lack of medical care, and destroyed or degraded infrastructure as a result of the war. These deaths are even harder to measure because they rely on survey data, which Crawford’s project does not use. The project also does not include Syria, Yemen, or Lybia. As a result these numbers are extremely conservative. Her work has also estimated the cost of these wars at over 5 trillion dollars, which includes money already spent, money that’s been promised to programs for veterans, and estimates for interest payments on the money the government has borrowed to finance the wars.

Discussed on the show:

• “Costs of War Project: The $5.6 Trillion Price Tag of the Post-9/11 Wars” (Watson Institute)
• Iraq Body Count
• Frontier Corps
• “PRESS RELEASE: Yemen War death toll now exceeds 60,000 according to latest ACLED data” (Acled Data)
• “11/11/18 Andrea Carboni on an Accurate Estimate of the Death Toll in Yemen” (The Libertarian Institute)

Neta Crawford is chair of the Political Science Department at Boston University. She is the author of Accountability for Killing: Moral Responsibility for Collateral Damage in America’s Post-9/11 Wars. Follow her project on Twitter @CostsOfWar.

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 LibertyStickers.com.

Check out Scott’s Patreon page.

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Alex Kane joins the show to talk about his latest article, which explores how the Leahy Law might be applied to U.S. assistance to the Israeli military. The Leahy Law is supposed to prevent American support to any military units that have committed human rights violations, which seems probable in the case of Israel given the number of Palestinian protestors that have been killed. The Leahy Law does not apply to American support for Israel in general, which is just as well since it seems unlikely that there is political will to end that. But certain humanitarian groups are interested in using the law to bring attention to specific violations by specific military units—this type of awareness may make Americans less likely to support military aid to Israel in general in the future.

Discussed on the show:

• “Inside Sources Say the State Dept Refuses To Trace Whether Israel Is Using U.S. Military Aid Illegally” (In These Times)
• “Leahy Fact Sheet” (State Department)
• Foreign Assistance Act Of 1961
• Ahed Tamimi
• “Bill to Expel Families of Palestinians Who Attack Israelis Pass 1st Reading in Knesset” (Al Bawaba)

Alex Kane is a freelance journalist who’s writing appears in Ha’aretz, the Intercept and elsewhere. He’s formerly an editor at Mondoweiss and Alternet. Read more of his work at his website and follow him on Twitter.

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 LibertyStickers.com.

Check out Scott’s Patreon page.

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Retired Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Davis joins the show to discuss President Trump’s announcements that he wants to pull troops out of both Syria and Afghanistan. Davis is pleased with this news, and addresses the common but unfounded concern that if America pulls out of certain countries, terrorist activity will rise up there. For one thing, he explains, terrorist planning and coordination still goes on under the nose of American troops even when they are occupying a country. More importantly, however, most of the major attacks were planned right here in the U.S., or in Europe, where the military clearly is not going to station troops on every corner or drone bomb neighborhoods. Finally, American occupation if anything only encourages more attacks, since the family members of civilian victims are often incited to radicalism when they would not otherwise have been.

Discussed on the show:

• 9/11 Report
• “60 Terrorist Plots Since 9/11: Continued Lessons in Domestic Counterterrorism” (The Heritage Foundation)
• Khalid Sheikh Mohammed

Daniel Davis did multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan during his time in the army. He writes a weekly column for National Interest and is the author of the reports “Dereliction of Duty II: Senior Military Leaders’ Loss of Integrity Wounds Afghan War Effort” and “Go Big or Go Deep: An Analysis of Strategy Options on Afghanistan.” Find him on Twitter @DanielLDavis1.

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 LibertyStickers.com.

Check out Scott’s Patreon page.

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