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Joe Kent returns to the show to talk about the American mission in Iraq and Syria. Before three Americans were killed by a drone on the border of Syria two weeks ago, the troops stationed there were said to be on an anti-ISIS mission. But now US forces are fighting the very Shia militias that Washington has been funding. Kent has a lot of personal experience in the region and a deep knowledge of the factional dynamics at play. He and Scott talk about how ridiculous and dangerous the American deployments are.

Discussed on the show:

• JoeKentForCongress.com

Joe Kent is a retired Army Special Forces soldier who is running for Congress in Washington State. Follow him on Twitter @joekent16jan19

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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William J. Astore returns to the show to discuss his latest article for Antiwar.com “On Afghanistan, Trump Is Right To Be Skeptical.” Astore discusses Trump’s apparent cognitive dissonance: he’s happy to bomb the Middle East indiscriminately, but is skeptical of escalating troops in Afghanistan and speculates that it’s Trump’s impatience, which is frequently a danger, which may be a saving grace in Afghanistan. Astore thinks Trump might have a nose for a losing approach, and that the last thing Trump wants is to be associated with what he believes is a losing effort in Afghanistan. But Trump, like Obama, faces increasing pressure from his generals. Scott and Astore discuss how the lack of an anti-war movement both in politics and in society generally have incentivized Barack Obama and Donald Trump to fold to the national security state and prolong the wars. Finally, Astore is particulary worried that the latest propaganda that Russia and Iran are backing the Taliban could lead to something far more serious.

William J. Astore is a retired lieutenant colonel (USAF). He is a contributing writer at Antiwar.com and TomDispatch.com. Read all of his work at his website BracingViews.com.

Discussed on the show:

• “Petraeus: Afghan war a ‘generational struggle’ that will not end soon” (PBS)
• Pashtuns
• “Afghanistan: Operation Enduring Musery,” by Eric Margolis (Huffington Post)
• “Trump Says U.S. ‘Losing’ Afghan War in Tense Meeting With Generals” (NBC News)
• Helmand Province
• “Petraeus backs July 2011 Afghan withdrawal date” (CNN)
• Erik Prince
• “Bannon & Kushner Want to Outsource Afghanistan to Mercenaries,” by Mark Perry (The American Conservative)
• “How Obama Abandoned Democracy in Iraq” (Politico)
• “How America Armed Terrorists in Syria,” by Gareth Porter (The American Conservative)
• “CNN Poll: Afghanistan war arguably most unpopular in U.S. history” (CNN)
• “John McCain and Lindsey Graham: Why we need more forces to end the stalemate in Afghanistan” (Washington Post)
• Our Latest, Longest War: Losing Hearts and Minds in Afghanistan, edited by Aaron B. O’Connell
• “Empire of Bases,” by Chalmers Johnson (New York Times)
• Bagram Air Base
• “Douglas Macgregor Full interview with Tucker Carlson (8/1/2017)” (YouTube)
• “Toward an ‘America First’ Foreign Policy,” by Douglas Macgregor (Washington Times)
• “Inside the Pentagon’s Fight Over Russia,” by Mark Perry (Politico)
• Ayman al-Zawahiri
• “Battlefield Casualties and Ballot Box Defeat: Did the Bush-Obama Wars Cost Clinton the White House?” (SSRN)

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Trita Parsi, the president of the National Iranian American Council, returns to the show to discuss Donald Trump’s motivation to spurn the Iran deal. Parsi explains that the Iran Deal is in danger because of an inexplicable desire on Donald Trump’s part to destroy the deal, dating back to his campaign. Parsi speculates that, in addition to Trump’s opposition to Barack Obama, his hatred of the Iran Deal is the result of his seemingly new infatuation with the Saudi Arabians who have been vehemently opposed to the Iran Deal from its inception. Trump’s plan appears to be to make Iran’s life as difficult as possible such that Iran will ultimately break the deal. Making things worse, even some of the so-called adults in Trump’s administration believe that a limited conflict against Iran in Syria and elsewhere would convince Iran to back down. Parsi explains why history shows that a U.S. conflict with Iran is highly unlikely to achieve its goals. Finally, while Iran and the United States appear to have common cause in the Middle East, the ultimate question and tension between the two is who will be the dominant power in the Middle East? Parsi explains that the desire to be hegemon will ultimately prove to be the stumbling block.

Trita Parsi is the president of the National Iranian American Council and the author of “Losing an Enemy: Obama, Iran and the Triumph of Diplomacy.” Parsi is the recipient of the 2010 Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order. Follow him on Twitter @tparsi.

Discussed on the show:

• “Gates: Saudis want to fight Iran to the last American” (ForeignPolicy.com)
• Rex Tillerson
• James Mattis
• H.R. McMaster
• Joseph Dunford
• Sebastian Gorka
• International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
• Olli Heinonen
• Non-Proliferation Treaty
• “Monitoring and Verification in Iran” (IAEA.org)
• Gordon Prather (Antiwar.com)
• “How Bush Pushed North Korea to Nukes,” by Gordon Prather (Antiwar.com)
• “When the Ayatollah Said No to Nukes” (ForeignPolicy.com)
• George W. Bush Axis of Evil Speech (YouTube)
• “Trump lets Iran deal live, but signals he may not for long” (Seattle Times)
• Islamic Dawa Party

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Professor of chemical engineering at USC Muhammad Sahimi returns to the show to discuss the latest Saudi crackdown on the local Shia population. Sahimi explains how Wahhabi clerics have ratcheted up tensions and violence against Saudi Shiites who face continual oppression from the Saudi government. Saudi hostility toward Shia in the region often receives attention, but now it’s time to pay more attention to how they treat their own people, Sahimi says, which includes mass torture and execution of dissidents. Sahimi explains that the reason we don’t hear about Saudi atrocities in the United States is because the Saudis are protected by the establishment in the United States and believes that the Saudis are exploiting its alliance with the U.S. and its fear of Iran to lobby the U.S. to fight Shias in the Middle East.

Muhammad Sahimi is the NIOC Chair in petroleum engineering at the University of Southern California and a contributor at Antiwar.com and the Huffington Post.

Discussed on the show:

• Shia Islam in Saudi Arabia
• Wahhabism
• Nimr Baqir al-Nimr
• “Saudi Arabia executes 47 people in one day including Shia cleric” (The Guardian)
• “Saudi Arabia: Death penalty used as political weapon against Shi’a as executions spike across country” (Amnesty International)
• “Saudi Arabia: Treat Shia Equally” (Human Rights Watch)
• “When Beheading Won’t Do the Job, the Saudis Resort to Crucifixion” (The Atlantic)
• Sophie Scholl
• Mohammad bin Salman
• “Saudi Arabia’s mounting security challenges” (Al Monitor)
• “Saudi Arabia: 14 Protesters Facing Execution After Unfair Trials” (Human Rights Watch)
• “After Decisive Reelection, Rouhani Pushes More Diplomacy With the West” (Antiwar.com)
• “The Proxy Battle for Bahrain” (New York Times)
• Al-Awamiyah
• Rafah Border Crossing (Egypt)
• “The Shia are in power in Iraq – but not in control,” by Patrick Cockburn (The Independent)
• Saudi King: “U.S. policy had now given Iraq to Iran as a ‘gift on a golden platter.'” (WikiLeaks)
• Prince Saud al-Faisal
• “The toxic rivalry of Saudi Arabia and Isis” (Financial Times)
• “Iran Warned Houthis Against Yemen Takeover” (Huffington Post)
• “Iran outflanking Saudi Arabia in Yemen” (Al Monitor)
• “Saudi Arabia urges US attack on Iran to stop nuclear programme” (The Guardian)
• “Sharon Says U.S. Should Also Disarm Iran, Libya and Syria” (Haaretz)
• “David Ignatius’ 15 Years of Running Spin for Saudi Regime,” by Adam Johnson (FAIR.org)”
• Emails Expose How Saudi Arabia and UAE Work the U.S. Media to Push for War,” by Ben Norton (Alternet)
• “Germany Rebukes Its Own Intelligence Agency for Criticizing Saudi Policy” (New York Times)
• “Prince Mohammed bin Salman: Naive, arrogant Saudi prince is playing with fire,” by Patrick Cockburn (The Independent)
• Operation Decisive Storm

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Director of the Ron Paul Institute Daniel McAdams returns to the show to discuss his latest article, “Russia Sanctions and the Coming Crackdown on Americans“. McAdams details the phony justification for the sanctions, how hardcore neocons are leading the Russia hysteria, and why it poses a serious threat to our first amendment rights. Scott and McAdams discuss whether Trump is totally and completely lost or whether he has one or two good instincts and if they will be revealed when he finally makes a decision on Afghanistan. McAdams explains why the neocons are flourishing under Trump and how both sides of the Trump administration divide (the nationalists and the neocons) are both pro-war in different ways. Finally, Scott asks about Venezuela and wonders which is to blame: the inherent problems of socialism or American intervention.

Daniel McAdams is the executive director of the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity and the cohost of the Ron Paul Liberty Report. Follow him on Twitter @DanielLMcAdams and read all of his work over at Antiwar.com.

Discussed on the show

• “It’s not Russia that’s pushed Ukraine to the brink of war” (The Guardian)
• Sergey Lavrov
• “Fire McMaster,” by Justin Raimondo (Antiwar.com)
• Hamilton 68 Dashboard (German Marshall Fund)
• PropOrNot
• Lew Rockwell (LRC.com)
• “Alliance for Securing Democracy” (German Marshall Fund)
• Mike Chertoff
• David Kramer
• Michael Morell
• Bill Kristol
• Michael McFaul
• Mike Rogers
• Project for the New American Century (PNAC)
• Eric Margolis
• “McMaster ousts second official on National Security Council” (Washington Post)
• Hersha Ali (woman who says all Muslims are awful)
• Robert Parry (AlterNet)
• “Exclusive: Google, CIA Invest in ‘Future’ of Web Monitoring” (Wired.com)
• Venezuela has lower corporate tax rate than the United States (TaxFoundation.org)
• “Senate, Obama extend sanctions on Venezuela after prodding by Rubio” (The Hill)
• “Collateral Damage: U.S. Sanctions Aimed at Russia Strike Western European Allies,” by Diana Johnstone (Counterpunch)
• “This OPEC Country Has the Largest Proven Oil Reserves (and It’s Not Saudi Arabia)” (Fox Business)
• “The Koch Brothers, Hugo Chavez and the XL Pipeline,” by Greg Palast (GregPalast.com)
• Peace and Prosperity 2017 (Ron Paul conference in September in D.C.)

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Josh Ruebner, director of the U.S. campaign for Palestinian Rights, and author of “Shattered Hopes: Obama’s Failure to Broker Israeli-Palestinian Peace” joins the show to discuss his latest article “New U.S. bill would punish settlement boycotters.” Ruebner explains how the act would criminalize U.S. corporations and individuals for supporting or furthering the impact of a boycott against Israel. Despite obvious major free speech restrictions the bill has support from both Democrats and Republicans, many of whom are already backing off their commitment to the bill. What’s really disturbing about the bill according to Ruebner is that companies could be criminalized even if their business decisions had the effect, but not intent, of furthering a boycott on Israel. Beyond that, if the bill became law, Attorney General Jeff Sessions would have the power to throw someone in jail ostensibly for their political beliefs. Ruebner explains how the bill has already created blowback against AIPAC and Israel: Constituents are pressing members of Congress on this issue for the first time and the progressive wing of the Democratic party is feeling more emboldened to speak out in support of the Palestinians, making it clear that the base of democratic voters no longer on board with Israeli policy of the past. Finally, Ruebner discusses the necessary conditions for a political solution between Israel and Palestine and how the BDS movement has successfully convinced companies to divest from Israel.

Josh Ruebner is the director of the U.S. campaign for Palestinian Rights. He is the author of “Shattered Hopes: Obama’s Failure to Broker Israeli-Palestinian Peace” and the upcoming book “Israel: Democracy or Apartheid State?“. Follow Josh on Twitter @joshruebner.

Discussed on the show:

• American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)
• Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS)
• “ACLU Letter to the Senate Opposing Israel Anti-Boycott Act” (ACLU)
• “‘Netanyahu doesn’t have a vision for peace,’ Gillibrand says at town hall aroused by boycott bill” (Mondoweiss.net)
• Bill of attainder
• Export-Import Bank of the United States
• “34 House Dems condemn Israeli charges against Issa Amro — follower of civil rights movement and Gandhi” (Mondoweiss)
• “American attitudes on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict” (Brookings Institutem)
• “State Dept: Israeli Settlements, Lack of Hope Drive Palestinian Violence” (Antiwar.com)
• “ZOA calls on Rex Tillerson to quit over State Department saying Palestinian terrorism stems from ‘lack of hope’” (Jewish Telegraphic Agency)
• “Obama hands Israel the largest military aid deal in history,” by Rania Khalek (Electronic Intifada)
• Lockheed Martin
• Leahy Law
• “Explained: Palestinian citizens of Israelis” (Middle East Monitor)
• Palestinian Right of Return
• “BDS Victory: Veolia sells Israel businesses targeted by Palestinian-led boycott campaign” (Mondoweiss.net)
• BDSMovement.net

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Foreign Policy in Focus columnist Conn Hallinan returns to the show to discuss his latest article for Foreign Policy in Focus, “The Tortured Politics Behind the Persian Gulf Crisis.” Hallinan details the reasons for the rising tensions between Qatar and their former friends in the Gulf over. According to Hallinan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are angry about Qatar’s largely independent foreign policy, which Qatar has used to develop relationships with Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood. For Saudi Arabia, who’s leading the blockade of Qatar, this is just one of a series of really inept steps that the Saudis have taken, which are destabilizing the country. Donald Trump has been generally supportive of the blockade in spite of the fact that the largest U.S. base in the middle east is in Qatar. All of this makes U.S.-Iranian relations that much more tense. Scott wonders what would happen if the United States broke the Iran Deal, and whether or not a war with Iran might be on the horizon. Scott teases his upcoming book on the never-ending war in Afghanistan. and Hallinan explains why the conflict between India and Pakistan is the most frightening stare down in the world today. Finally the two discuss the rising tide of populism in the United States and Europe.

Discussed on the show:

• Gulf Cooperation Council
• Muslim Brotherhood
• Qatar has highest per-capita income in the world
• King Salman of Saudi Arabia
• “As Yemen War Rages On, Saudi King Elevates the War’s Architect—His Own Son—to Be Crown Prince” (DemocracyNow!)
• “Saudi Arabia has played Donald Trump like a fiddle when it comes to the dispute with Qatar” (The Independent)
• “Qatar hosts largest US military base in Mideast” (CNN)
• “Trump scolds Qatar as Tillerson seeks to ease crisis” (Reuters)
• “Emirati ambassador: US should rethink its air base in Qatar” (Military Times)
• “UAE orchestrated hacking of Qatari government sites, sparking regional upheaval, according to U.S. intelligence officials” (Washington Post)
• “Young Saudis See Cushy Jobs Vanish Along With Nation’s Oil Wealth” (New York Times)
• House of Saud
• Wahhabism
• Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT)
• “Brace Yourselves for Iran Deal Repeal” (Slate)
• “Steve Bannon: ‘We’re going to war in the South China Sea…no doubt'” (The Guardian)
• H.R. McMaster
• “Have Hawks Won a Round on Iraq Escalation?” by Gareth Porter (Antiwar.com)
• Pashtuns
• Kashmir
• “A Global Nuclear Winter: Avoiding the Unthinkable in India and Pakistan,” by Conn Hallinan (FPIF.org)
• “Doomsday Prep for the Super-Rich” (The New Yorker)
• “How Jeremy Corbyn managed to bring Ukip voters back to Labour” (The Guardian)
• “Bill Burr Doesn’t Have A Lot Of Sympathy For Hillary Clinton – CONAN” (YouTube)

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West Virginia House of Delegates representative Pat McGeehan joins Scott to discuss shis “Defend the Guard” bill. McGeehan discusses his attempts to defang the empire from the bottom up by passing a bill refusing to allow their state guard services to be nationalized and used in unconstitutional wars. McGeehan’s bill stated that no West Virginian guard unit could be deployed overseas without an expressed declaration of war from the U.S. Congress. He then relays a story about how adjutant general of the West Virginia national guard addressed him about the bill after receiving a call from the Pentagon, which threatened to move the West Virginia national guard onto the BRAC List or relocate them to other states. The bill didn’t pass, but the movement seems like it’s catching momentum.

McGeehan also describes his history in the military, explaining how the number of innocents slaughtered in Afghanistan changed his views on U.S. foreign policy. Those experiences changed McGeehan from a George W. Bush guy to a Ron Paul guy.

Pat McGeehan is a two-term representative in the West Virginia House of Delegates and a graduate of the U.S. air force academy. He is the author of “Stoicism and the Statehouse.” Follow him on Twitter @McGeehan4WV.

Discussed on the show:

• Tenth Amendment Center
• “The American Empire Must Be Stopped” Scott Horton speaks at Nullify Now Los Angeles (Tenth Amendment Center)
• Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) List
• Article 1, Section 8, Clause 11
• Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists (AUMF)
• Supremacy Clause
• Militia Clause
• The Betrayal of the American Right, by Murray Rothbard
• James Stockdale
• “My Father, the Spy in the Hanoi Hilton,” by Jim Stockdale II (The Daily Beast)
• Epetitus (Stoic philosophy)
• Just War Theory (St. Thomas Aquinas)
• Federalism
• “Book Review: ‘Stoicism and the State House'” (Tenth Amendment Center)
• Cato the Younger

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Gareth Porter returns to the show to discuss his latest articles for the American Conservative, “How America Armed Terrorists in Syria” and “How CIA and Allies Trapped Obama in the Syrian Arms Debacle.” Scott and Gareth discuss how U.S. national security policy since Obama took office has been largely been, either directly or indirectly, in support of al-Qaeda and that unlike George W. Bush, who empowered al-Qaeda accidentally, Barack Obama did it with full understanding of the likely consequences of his policies. Gareth then explains how U.S. policy in the Middle East, and in Syria particularly, changed with the outbreak of the Arab Spring, which the U.S. saw as an opportunity to foment revolution with the goal of regime change. According to Gareth, Obama’s advisors failed to warn him that arming Assad’s enemies in Syria would increase the role of Hezbollah and Iran, and ultimately backfire—just another example of how the U.S. foreign policy machine is always able to rationalize their views, no matter how ill-fated, in order to advance their supposed interests. Gareth also explains why the Iran Deal pressured Obama into opposing Iran everywhere else in order to placate Saudi Arabia and many of his advisors, including David Petraeus. Finally, Scott and Gareth touch on the considerable role Israel and the U.S.’s Sunni allies in the region play in determining U.S. policy.

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.

Discussed on the show:

• “A hawkish Kerry emerges as point man in Obama’s push to punish Syria” (Reuters)
• Robert Baer: “If you want a serious interrogation, you send a prisoner to Jordan. If you want them to be tortured, you send them to Syria. If you want someone to disappear – never to see them again – you send them to Egypt.” (Wikipedia)
• The Long Game, by Derek Chollet
• “Clinton: Arming Syrian Rebels could help al Qaeda” (CBS News)
• “See last item – AQ is on our side in Syria.” (Hillary Clinton Email Archives, WikiLeaks)
• “In the Matter of Amendment of the Designation of al-Qa’ida in Iraq” (Federal Register, 2012)
• “Animosity between David Petraeus and Iranian commander, Qassem Soleimani, still on display,” (Washington Post)
• New York Times: “The White House needed to placate the Saudis”
• “Obama to Iran and Israel: ‘As President of the United States, I Don’t Bluff’,” by Jeffrey Goldberg (The Atlantic)
• “The Redirection,” by Seymour Hersh (The New Yorker)
• “Remember the Golan Heights?” by Eric Margolis (EricMargolis.com)
• Yinon Plan
• “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)
• “Sunnis vs. Shiites and the Lesser of Two Evils” (The Aspen Institute)
• Camp Speicher Massacre
• “Secret Israel-Syria Peace Talks Involved Golan Heights Exit” (New York Times)
• “John Kerry and Bashar al-Assad dined in Damascus” (The Telegraph)
• “The Real Reason to Intervene in Syria,” by James Rubin (ForeignPolicy.com)
• “Contra Iran,” by Michael Oren (The New Republic)
• Israeli consul general in New York to Jodi Rudoren “Let them both bleed, hemorrhage to death” (New York Times)
• “America Had Already Lost Its Covert War in Syria—Now It’s Official” (The Century Foundation via Gareth Porter’s Twitter feed)
• “08/15/12 – Flynt Leverett” (The Scott Horton Show)
• “US watched ISIS rise in Syria and hoped to ‘manage’ it — Kerry on leaked tape,” by Philip Weiss (Mondoweiss.net)
• “Behind Biden’s gaffe lie real concerns about allies’ role in rise of the Islamic State” (Washington Post)
• “How We Would Fight China” (The Atlantic, 2005)
• “Don’t attack Saddam,” by Daniel Scowcroft (Wall Street Journal)
• “Did Robert Gates Manufacture the Iran Crisis?” (Huffington Post)
• Manufactured Crisis: The Untold Story of the Iran Nuclear Scare, by Gareth Porter
• “Gareth Porter Interview Series on His New Book Manufactured Crisis: The Untold Story of the Iran Nuclear Scare” (The Scott Horton Show)

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