Blogger Marcy Wheeler discusses the laws governing assassination-by-drone; re-using “signature strikes” in Yemen, after large numbers of Pakistani civilian casualties prompted the US to briefly abandon the tactic; why Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s “insurgent math” applies to Yemen as well as Afghanistan; and why the government is throwing the book at whistleblower Bradley Manning.
04/24/12 – Mark Sheffield – The Scott Horton Show
Mark Sheffield of the Policy on Point blog discusses his article “Ignorance or Arrogance (or Both): The Long War Doctrine and Post-9/11 US Foreign Policy;” a comparison of the limited invasions and proxy wars between Vietnam and 9/11, and the lengthy full-scale occupations since then; looking at 9/11 through the eyes of Americans who don’t know or understand history; how the Bush Administration played right into Osama bin Laden’s hands by invading Afghanistan and Iraq; and the political...
04/23/12 – Joshua Freeman – The Scott Horton Show
Joshua B. Freeman, History Professor and author of American Empire, discusses his TomDispatch article on the “prison-corporate complex;” the late 19th century chain gangs in the South and industrial prison labor in the North; the return of involuntary servitude, i.e. slavery, in American prisons; how low-paid prisoners keep pressure on labor unions and generate profits for Fortune 500 companies; America’s huge prison population relative to the rest of the world; and why it’s time to revamp the...
04/23/12 – Gareth Porter – The Scott Horton Show
Gareth Porter, investigative historian and journalist specializing in U.S. national security policy, discusses Washington Post writer David Ignatius’s claim that a deal has already been made on Iran’s nuclear program and that ongoing talks are scripted; why the US and Iran can’t just “make a deal and shut up already;” how Benjamin Netanyahu’s bluff about attacking Iran is influencing US policy and helping the GOP win election; why it’s still unlikely NATO will drag the US into war in Syria,...
04/19/12 – Carol Moore – The Scott Horton Show
Carol Moore, author of The Davidian Massacre, discusses the 19th anniversary of the final siege against the Branch Davidians in Waco, TX; evidence that several Delta Force members were “pulling triggers” at Waco; Independent counsel John Danforth’s investigation and coverup; the FLIR cameras that captured FBI automatic weapons being fired to prevent the Davidians from surrendering; and how the current NDAA makes future Waco-type massacres and coverups even easier for the government.
04/19/12 – Jeese Trentadue – The Scott Horton Show
Jesse Trentadue, attorney and brother of Kenneth Trentadue (who was probably tortured and killed by FBI agents mistaking him for Richard Lee Guthrie – a.k.a. John Doe No. 2 – in the wake of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing), discusses the new book Oklahoma City: What the Investigation Missed-and Why It Still Matters by Andrew Gumbel and Roger Charles; the June 15th court deadline for the FBI to explain why the Murrah Building surveillance tapes are missing; allegations that FBI agents tried to...
04/19/12 – J.M. Berger – The Scott Horton Show
J.M. Berger, investigative journalist and terrorism consultant, discusses his article “Patriot Games: How the FBI spent a decade hunting white supremacists and missed Timothy McVeigh;” how years of bad reporting have muddied the waters of the Oklahoma City bombing story; the FBI’s PATCON operation of infiltrating (and possibly inciting) the radical right in the 1990s; sorting out the real members and government provocateurs within the Aryan movement; and how the government’s current...
04/18/12 – John Glaser – The Scott Horton Show
John Glaser, Assistant Editor at Antiwar.com, discusses his article “How to Make Syria Much, Much Worse; John McCain and Joe Lieberman’s meeting with leaders of the anti-Assad resistance; compelling arguments against arming Sunni “freedom fighters,” this time in Syria; why Kofi Annan’s ceasefire plan is still holding; how Libyan regime change destabilized the entire region; Zbigniew Brzezinski’s bellyaching about the end of American hegemony; and President Obama’s dismissal of...
04/18/12 – John Feffer – The Scott Horton Show
John Feffer, co-director of Foreign Policy In Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies, discusses his article “North Korea’s Failed Fireworks;” the UN Security Council’s condemnation of their dual-use missiles (even Iran is able to launch satellites without comment); North Korea’s commitment to spending a big chunk of their meager GDP on a single failed satellite launch; the known unknowns about Kim Jong Un (except he likes basketball); how an increasingly worldly and foreign-educated North...
04/17/12 – Eric Margolis – The Scott Horton Show
Eric Margolis, internationally syndicated columnist and author of War at the Top of the World and American Raj, discusses his article “Cuba Starts to Come Alive;” hanging out with Ernest Hemingway in pre-revolutionary Cuba; why meaningful reform will be delayed until the “old fossil” hardliners die off; how to liberalize the Cuban economy and property rights while preventing US domination; Midwest agricultural exports not subject to the embargo; how Venezuela filled the Soviet void and saved...
04/17/12 – Arash Norouzi – The Scott Horton Show
Arash Norouzi, artist and co-founder of The Mossadegh Project, discusses the Washington Post’s much-delayed admission that Iranian President Ahmadinejad didn’t say Israel should be “wiped off the map;” the context of Ahmadinejad’s speech and the origin of the quote – which compared Israel’s potential collapse to the fall of the USSR, the Shah’s regime and Saddam Hussein; putting an end to the seven year old anti-Iran talking point; and why we shouldn’t hold our breath waiting for other media...
04/16/12 – Chase Madar – The Scott Horton Show
Chase Madar, author of The Passion of Bradley Manning, discusses his article “Do the WikiLeaks War Logs Reveal War Crimes — Or the Poverty of International Law;” doubts about whether the “Collateral Murder” video shows war crimes in a legal sense; why the laws of war aren’t easily applied to the asymmetrical, occupation-type conflicts since WWII; how the UN provides “window dressing on great-power politics;” and the selective enforcement of military law (see Lt. Col. Ralph Kauzlarich v....
04/16/12 – Robert Parry – The Scott Horton Show
Robert Parry, founder and editor of ConsortiumNews.com, discusses his article “How Neocons Sank Iran Nuke Deal;” Obama’s conflict-averse, consensus building style of presidency; how Iran’s uranium swap deal with Brazil and Turkey was undermined by the US media, hardliners in government (but not Obama himself), and Israel; why Iran’s Green Movement is not a viable conduit for pro-US regime change, despite the fevered dreams of neoconservatives; and Benjamin Netanyahu’s complaint that the latest...
04/16/12 – Roy Guthman – The Scott Horton Show
Roy Gutman, Europe Bureau Chief for McClatchy Newspapers, discusses the latest developments in P5+1 talks on Iran’s nuclear program; the US government’s gradual acknowledgement of Ayatollah Khamenei’s seven-year-old fatwa against nuclear weapons; finding encouragement in the lack of deal-breaking preconditions, e.g., that Iran stop all nuclear enrichment before talks can begin; the domestic political calculations motivating Benjamin Netanyahu’s seemingly-crazy belligerence; and why the US...
04/13/12 – Jean MacKenzie – The Scott Horton Show
Jean MacKenzie, senior correspondent for GlobalPost, discusses her article on why the March 11 Kandahar massacre is much more surprising to Americans than Afghans; the success of US night raids in killing mid-level Taliban commanders – who are quickly replaced by younger, more hardcore fighters; the lack of a US endgame strategy, other than spinning withdrawal as a “victory;” and Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s odds of survival without US backing.
