Frida Berrigan, columnist for Foreign Policy in Focus, discusses US dominance of the global weapons market, the costly domestic upgrade cycle that is perpetuated by defense contractors selling current generation high-tech weapons abroad, the relatively low number of jobs created with money spent on the military compared to other sectors of the economy and how weapons manufacturers create demand for their products by promoting belligerent US foreign policy.
02/24/10 – Matthew Harwood – The Scott Horton Show
Matthew Harwood, author of the Guardian article 'Torture is a crime, not a state secret,' discusses the obfuscation of facts through the invocation of state secrets privilege in the Binyam Mohamed torture case, the lack of accountability for torturers within the justice system and the large number of innocent people swept up in the 'war on terror' dragnet.
02/23/10 – Chris Floyd – The Scott Horton Show
Chris Floyd, author of Empire Burlesque — High Crimes and Low Comedy in the Bush Imperium, discusses the media-designated 'post-war' status of Iraq, the real 'Mission Accomplished' goal of establishing a permanent US military footprint in Iraq, Ahmed 'hero in error' Chalabi’s talent for remaining politically relevant despite a total lack of public support, why only war criminals on the losing side need worry about prosecution and how ending the US empire would improve nearly all aspects of...
02/23/10 – Ray McGovern – The Scott Horton Show
Ray McGovern, former senior analyst at the CIA, discusses the successor to IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei, the rift between US intelligence agencies and the Obama administration over the 2007 Iran NIE, why Adm. Mike Mullen's resistance to Israel's hawkishness on Iran appears to be weakening, how the terrorist attacks of US-supported Jundallah have disrupted diplomacy with Iran and the new poll that indicates Americans are ready to be lied into yet another war.
02/17/10 – Will Grigg – The Scott Horton Show
Will Grigg, author of Liberty in Eclipse, discusses the Second Amendment's waning influence in the state of Massachusetts, the submit-to-authority indoctrination of children in public schools, the militaristic rituals that intrude on nearly all American social events, how the manufactured partisan divide functions as a political distraction and the Republican Party's hijacking of the Tea Party movement.
02/16/10 – Grant F. Smith – The Scott Horton Show
Grant F. Smith, director of the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy in Washington, D.C., discusses the US Treasury’s Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence (TFI) that is closely allied with the Israel lobby and enforces sanctions on Iran, how sanctions and embargoes punish the law abiding and make billionaires out of black market operators, Israel’s importation of Iran-sourced pistachios that violates its own 'Trading With the Enemy Act' and how the debate over Iran’s nuclear...
02/16/10 – Scott Horton – The Scott Horton Show
The Other Scott Horton (no relation), international human rights lawyer, professor and contributing editor at Harper’s magazine, discusses renowned forensic pathologist Michael Baden’s skepticism about the Guantanamo 'suicides' autopsies, the newest Seton Hall Law School report that rebuts the Pentagon response to their previous Gitmo expose, the known existence of sworn statements written by Camp Delta witnesses that have yet to be released, major news media reports on the 'suicides' that...
02/12/10 – Sheldon Richman – The Scott Horton Show
Sheldon Richman, senior fellow at The Future of Freedom Foundation, discusses the case for decentralized non-state national defense, the ideological line — created by an informed and assertive citizenry — that the government dares not cross, the deterrence of government abuse of power through nonviolent action and how society tends toward informal customs — not rampant lawlessness — in the absence of government.
02/12/10 – Jason Ditz – The Scott Horton Show
Jason Ditz, managing news editor at Antiwar.com, discusses his fight against the constant barrage of media disinformation on Iran's nuclear program, Ahmedinejad's proclamation that Iran has no need for nuclear weapons and how the Obama administration uses the UN Security Council to punish Iran's uranium enrichment while paying lip service to Iran's right to civilian nuclear power.
02/12/10 – Petra Bartosiewicz – The Scott Horton Show
Freelance journalist Petra Bartosiewicz discusses the trial and conviction of US-educated Pakistani neuroscientist Aafia Siddiqui for the attempted murder of US soldiers in Afghanistan, seemingly crucial setbacks in the prosecution’s case that were disregarded by the jury, allegations that during the previous five years Siddiqui was a 'ghost prisoner' subject to torture at Bagram prison and the immunity of federal prosecutors to charges of gross misconduct.
02/11/10 – Stephan Kinsella – The Scott Horton Show
Stephan Kinsella, fellow at the Mises Institute and author of the book Against Intellectual Property [.pdf], discusses the federal government's appropriation of the Bill of Rights - through the 14th Amendment - to regulate state powers, the debate about whether current lawlessness can rightfully be blamed on deviation from the beneficent Constitution or if the problem lies in the deeply flawed document itself and why ideas can't be property.
02/11/10 – Gareth Porter – The Scott Horton Show
Gareth Porter, independent historian and journalist for Inter Press Service, discusses Hamid Karzai's increased willingness to make a deal with the Taliban, the US determination to militarily weaken the Taliban before negotiating and the disastrous Afghan strategy born from a compromise between US political and military goals.
02/11/10 – Charles Goyette – The Scott Horton Show
Charles Goyette, former co-contributor to Antiwar Radio and author of The Dollar Meltdown: Surviving the Impending Currency Crisis with Gold, Oil, and Other Unconventional Investments, discusses the FED's attempt to prevent inflation after creating trillions in new money, our dim future of resource scarcity and martial law, the hyperinflation tipping-point ratio of deficit to national budget reached by the US, the looming reality of US sovereign debt default and the delusion of US fiscal...
02/10/10 – Brendan O’Neill – The Scott Horton Show
Please pardon the echo. Brendan O’Neill, editor of Spiked, discusses the failed 'Voltaire defense' used on behalf of Islamic protesters in a British free speech case, why the Chilcot Inquiry is nothing more than non-punitive talk therapy for the state, the scapegoating of Islamic extremism for the West’s abandonment of Enlightenment ideals and how controversial speech in Britain is silenced by legislation rather than challenged by public debate.
02/10/10 – Murray Polner – The Scott Horton Show
Murray Polner, co-editor of We Who Dared to Say No to War: American Antiwar Writing from 1812 to Now, discusses the ritualistic paeans to militarism embedded in American sporting events, the curse of conservative and liberal hawks, the fickle and fleeting nature of American antiwar activism and how Randolph Bourne’s refrain 'War is the health of the State' has become a truism.
