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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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Gareth Porter, an award-winning journalist and author of Manufactured Crisis: The Untold Story of the Iran Nuclear Scare, discusses the Obama administration’s support for Syrian regime change even though they knew it would become a disastrous sectarian war; and the gaggle of ideologues, defense contractors and military officials intent on starting new wars and escalating old ones for fun and profit.

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Rick Sterling, an investigative journalist and member of Syria Solidarity Movement, discusses the propaganda campaign to keep Syrian regime change policy on the table long enough for Hillary Clinton to get elected president and get a real war started; and how Bernie Sanders can help get deluded leftists off the Clinton bandwagon and focused on stopping the neocons and liberal hawks running US foreign policy.

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Daniel Lazare, author of The Frozen Republic: How the Constitution Is Paralyzing Democracy, discusses the US’s imposition of a no-fly zone in northern Syria to protect Kurdish allies fighting Syrian government-allied forces; and how this marks a dangerous escalation in the war.

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Daniel Davis, a retired Lt. Col. in the US Army, discusses his firsthand account of life in Iraq from Irbil in Kurdistan, where the people want an end to war and sectarian strife; and why the supposedly imminent attack on Mosul could be delayed by refugee concerns and a lack of operational agreement between the many factions involved.

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Bette Dam, a Dutch journalist and author of A Man and A Motorcycle: How Hamid Karzai Came to Power, discusses her work on a biography of Taliban leader Mullah Omar; how the US can spend 15 years in Afghanistan without making any progress on a military or political resolution; and the media’s overblown estimation of the Taliban’s strength and unity.

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Reuters journalist Jonathan Landay discusses the US’s inability to stop Shi’ite militias from massacring Sunni civilians when Falluja was retaken from the Islamic State in June; and why a future campaign to take Mosul could result in the sectarian-cleansing of Sunnis from the city.

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Andrew Cockburn, author of Kill Chain: The Rise of the High-Tech Assassins, discusses how the US is aiding and abetting Saudi Arabia’s brutal war in Yemen by supplying planes, bombs and missiles in a $60 billion arms sale – the largest in US history.

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Ramzy Baroud, a US-Arab journalist, media consultant, and author, discusses Israel’s different excuses over the years for their never-ending blockade on Gaza – which has nothing to do with radical Islam or Hamas.

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