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Scott interviewed Andrew Cockburn about some recent articles he’s written. They start with a piece digging into the actual national security budget, which is much higher than people typically think. They also talk about the consequences of the war on terror, Julian Assange, the threat of government censorship and more.

Discussed on the show:

• “Our Real National Security Budget” (Substack)
• “The Pentagon’s Silicon Valley Problem” (Harper’s)

Andrew Cockburn is the Washington editor of Harper’s Magazine and the author of The Spoils of War: Power, Profit and the American War Machine and Kill Chain: The Rise of the High-Tech Assassins. Follow him on Twitter @andrewmcockburn.

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

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Aniqa Raihan joins Scott to discuss her article for Foreign Policy in Focus, “A Beginner’s Guide to the Unrecognized Villages of Israel.” Raihan explains how the bedouins of Israel—who are citizens—have been continually deprived of their homes, land, and other vital resources. The Bedouin people are regularly forced from their homes and villages, many of which are unrecognized by the state of Israel and reappropriated for other purposes. Scott then asks about the BDS movement; Raihan explains the goals and origins of the movement and how it’s scaring the Israeli establishment.

Aniqa Raihan is a former Next Leader at the Institute for Policy Studies and a past member of Students for Justice in Palestine at George Washington University. Follow her on Twitter @niqray.

Discussed on the show:

• Bedouins
• Unrecognized Bedouin villages in Israel
• Negev Desert
• Adalah.org
• “Israeli Supreme Court allows state to replace Bedouin village with Jewish one” (Palestine Monitor)
• “The Cases of the Villages Atir and Umm al-Hiran” (Amnesty International)
• Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS)
• “Reagan Outlines His Stand on Jewish Settlements” (New York Times)
• “U.S. Finalizes Deal to Give Israel $38 Billion in Military Aid” (New York Times)

Today’s show is sponsored by: NoDev, NoOps, NotIT, by Hussein Badakhchani; The War State, by Mike Swanson; WallStreetWindow.com; Roberts and Roberts Brokerage Inc.; LibertyStickers.com; TheBumperSticker.com; 3tediting.com; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; and Darrin’s Coffee.

Check out Scott’s Patreon page.

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Investigative journalist Gareth Porter returns to the show to discuss his article for The American Conservative, “Translated Doc Debunks Narrative of Al Qaeda-Iran ‘Alliance’.” Porter explains how Americans are manufacturing a nonexistent relationship between Iran and Al Qaeda in much the same way they did with Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein in the lead up to the Iraq war. Porter then details the specifics of the document and the context in which it was written. Scott and Porter discuss at length how Iran and Al Qaeda have been conflated previously, diverting attention away from Al Qaeda in the lead up to 9/11. Lastly the two turn to Porter’s second article, “Israel’s Ploy Selling a Syrian Nuke Strike,” which unearths the lies underlying Israel’s 2007 bombing of Syria.

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.

Discussed on the show:

• Long War Journal
• “Burnt Offering,” by Gareth Porter (The American Prospect)
• “Iran Proposal to U.S. Offered Peace with Israel,” by Gareth Porter (IPS News Agency)
• People’s Mujahedin of Iran (MEK)
• Abu Musab al-Zarqawi
• “Questions Mount Over Failure to Hit Zarqawi’s Camp” (Wall Street Journal)
• “Avoiding Attacking Suspected Terrorist Mastermind” (NBC News)
• 1998 killing of Iranian diplomats in Afghanistan
• Khobar Towers bombing
• “Khobar Towers Investigated: How a Saudi Deception Protected Osama bin Laden” (Part 1), by Gareth Porter (IPS News Agency)
• Saif al-Adel
• “US intelligence does not show Syrian nuclear weapons program, officials say,” by Larisa Alexandrovna (Raw Story)
• “US, Israel refuse to cooperate with inquest into Syria strike,” by Larisa Alexandrovna (Raw Story)
• Olli Heinonen
• Mohamed ElBaradei
• “How Syrian Nuke Evidence was Faked,” by Gareth Porter (Consortium News)

Today’s show is sponsored by: NoDev, NoOps, NotIT, by Hussein Badakhchani; The War State, by Mike Swanson; WallStreetWindow.com; Roberts and Roberts Brokerage Inc.; LibertyStickers.com; TheBumperSticker.com; 3tediting.com; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; and Darrin’s Coffee.

Check out Scott’s Patreon page.

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Michael Klare joins Scott to discuss his latest article for TomDispatch.com “The Trump Doctrine: Making Nuclear Weapons Usable Again.” Klare describes how the U.S. nuclear weapons stock has been upgraded, making them operational in any possible scenario. According to Klare the Americans and the Russians are racing to upgrade their nuclear weapons to make them more flexible—all of which increases the threat of nuclear war. There’s a great paradox at work here: Trump is on the one hand being accused of being too friendly with Vladimir Putin while on the other refusing to negotiate with the Russians on nuclear weapons. Klare and Scott then discuss whether the U.S. could attempt to use tactical nuclear weapons in North Korea—and why doing so would result in disaster. Scott reviews Barack Obama’s record on nuclear weapons—one of the few areas he wasn’t always awful. Finally Scott and Klare consider the atrocities of nuclear war and the subsequent fall out.

Michael Klare is the author of “The Race for What’s Left.” He is a regular contributor at TomDispatch.com.

Discussed on the show:

• “Ronald Reagan’s Disarmament Dream” (The Atlantic)
• “How Russia Hawks Are Selling Trump On Sending Weapons To Ukraine” (BuzzFeed)
• James Mattis
• “War with North Korea would be ‘catastrophic,’ Defense Secretary Mattis says” (CBS News)
• “How Washington hard-liners helped to create the North Korean crisis” (Washington Post)
• “Remarks By President Barack Obama In Prague As Delivered” (White House)
• New START (Treaty)
• The Doomsday Machine, by Daniel Ellsberg
• “Foreign policy journalists are questioning a report claiming Trump’s national-security adviser said he has the intelligence of a ‘kindergartner’” (Business Insider)
• “Trump’s Nuclear Experience” (Slate)

Today’s show is sponsored by: NoDev, NoOps, NotIT, by Hussein Badakhchani; The War State, by Mike Swanson; WallStreetWindow.com; Roberts and Roberts Brokerage Inc.; LibertyStickers.com; TheBumperSticker.com; 3tediting.com; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; and Darrin’s Coffee.

Check out Scott’s Patreon page.

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Phil Giraldi is the executive director for the Council for the National Interest. His latest article for Unz.com is “Boy Is This Stupid or What?” Giraldi details how the fight against ISIS in east Syria took a strange turn after the U.S. and coalition forces had reduced Raqqa, the capital of the caliphate, to rubble. After backing ISIS into a corner the coalition struck a deal with the remaining local fighters to leave under a conditional truce. Scott worries that scattered ISIS fighters—many of whom returned to their home countries—only makes blowback more likely. Giraldi then addresses the wild situation in Lebanon and Saudi Arabia where the Prime Minister resigned under clear pressure from Saudi Arabia, all of serves only to increase the simmering tensions in the region.

Phil Giraldi is a former CIA Case Officer and Army Intelligence Officer who spent twenty years overseas in Europe and the Middle East working terrorism cases. He is the executive director for the Council for the National Interest and writes regularly for Unz.com.

Discussed on the show:

• “Raqqa’s Dirty Secret” (BBC)
• “Lost in reverie: Mattis claims UN let US intervene in Syria, although it never did” (RT)
• Washington’s Secret Wars, by Phil Giraldi (Antiwar.com)
• NATO vs. Syria, by Phil Giraldi (The American Conservative)
• “Trump erroneously says Lebanon is ‘on the front lines’ fighting Hezbollah, a partner in the Lebanese government” (Chicago Tribune)
• “Arab League designates Hezbollah as terrorist organisation, increasing regional tensions” (The Independent)
• “Lebanon PM forced by Saudis to resign, says Hezbollah” (BBC)

Today’s show is sponsored by: NoDev, NoOps, NotIT, by Hussein Badakhchani; The War State, by Mike Swanson; WallStreetWindow.com; Roberts and Roberts Brokerage Inc.; LibertyStickers.com; TheBumperSticker.com; 3tediting.com; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; and Darrin’s Coffee.

Check out Scott’s Patreon page.

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Representative John Duncan from the 2nd district of Tennessee joins Scott to discuss his impending retirement, his close friendship with Ron Paul, and how his antiwar views developed during his time in Congress. Duncan recalls his meetings leading up to the Iraq War with Condoleezza Rice and George Tennant and reflects on how his vote against the Iraq War went from being his least popular vote to his most popular vote. Duncan then discusses his article “There’s Nothing Patriotic or Conservative About our Bloated Defense Budget.”

Congressman John Duncan has represented the 2nd District of Tennessee since 1988. Follow him on Twitter @RepJohnDuncanJr.

Discussed on the show:

• Lawrence Lindsey
• “Conservatives Against a War with Iraq,” by John Duncan (Antiwar.com)
• “Don’t Attack Saddam,” by Brent Scowcroft (Wall Street Journal)
• Coleen Rowley
• “F.B.I. Whistle-Blower Colleen Rowley Says No to Occupation” (Democracy Now!)
• “GOP Lawmakers Who Voted Against Iraq War Stand Their Ground 10 Years Later” (Huffington Post)
• “No Fiscal Conservatives at the Pentagon,” by John Duncan (LewRockwell.com)
• “Vote against Iraq War proves popular in hindsight,” by John Duncan (The Tennessean)
• “1,000 from Tennessee National Guard to deploy to Poland in 2018” (AZ Central)
• “Rep. John Duncan On Opposing New Russia Sanctions” (NPR)
• Wilson, by A. Scott Berg
• “Obama’s Trillion-Dollar Nuclear-Arms Train Wreck” (Democracy Now!)
• “A Return to the Peace Party,” by John Duncan (The American Conservative)

Today’s show is sponsored by: NoDev, NoOps, NotIT, by Hussein Badakhchani; The War State, by Mike Swanson; WallStreetWindow.com; Roberts and Roberts Brokerage Inc.; LibertyStickers.com; TheBumperSticker.com; 3tediting.com; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; and Darrin’s Coffee.

Check out Scott’s Patreon page.

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Derek Davison joins Scott to discuss his article “60 Minutes Imagines a Different War in Yemen.” Davison recalls how 60 Minutes described the reality of Yemeni suffering—but with one major exception: it never mentioned the United States’ crucial role in enabling the war and blockade. Davison explains why the United States is involved in Yemen at all and that, while it began under Obama, it’s only gotten worse under Donald Trump. Further, while it seems the tides of public opinion may be turning against Saudi Arabia, Davison is skeptical that it will have any effect on Washington policy. Scott and Davison then pivot to prince Mohammad bin Salman’s power play in Saudi Arabia.

Derek Davison is a freelance writer. His work appears at LobeLog and Jacobin. Learn more about his work at his site And That’s The Way It Was and follow him on Twitter.

Discussed on the show:

• @emptywheel: “I ask again: Why are we calling Yemen a famine rather than genocide?“
• Plausible Deniability
• “Quiet Support for Saudis Entangles U.S. in Yemen” (New York Times)
• Flynt Leverett
• Mohammad bin Salman
• Ro Khanna
• “Yemen’s cholera outbreak now the worst in history as millionth case looms” (The Guardian)
• “Power Play,” by Derek Davison (Jacobin Magazine)
• “Guardian, NYT Paint Power-Grabbing Saudi Dictator as Roguish, Visionary ‘Reformer’,” by Adam Johnson (FAIR)

Today’s show is sponsored by: NoDev, NoOps, NotIT, by Hussein Badakhchani; The War State, by Mike Swanson; WallStreetWindow.com; Roberts and Roberts Brokerage Inc.; LibertyStickers.com; TheBumperSticker.com; 3tediting.com; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; and Darrin’s Coffee.

Check out Scott’s Patreon page.

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