Gareth Porter, independent historian and journalist for IPS News, discusses his article “How McChrystal and Petraeus Built an Indiscriminate ‘Killing Machine’;” how Bob Woodward propagated the “surge” myth that special forces raids won the war in Iraq; targeting “insurgents” with drone surveillance and computerized cell phone tracking, while removing humans from intelligence analysis; why rounding up innocent people for interrogation, based on who or what they know, is a war crime; entering...

Gareth Porter, independent historian and journalist for IPS News, discusses why the US seems to crank up the pressure on Pakistan every time the Afghan War takes a turn for the worse; the domestic national security reasons for Pakistan’s government/military alliance with the Haqqani network; why provocative and threatening pronouncements by US officials aren’t as persuasive as they used to be; and why the Obama administration has decided to run for reelection on a reckless foreign policy – one...

Gareth Porter, independent historian and journalist for IPS News, discusses the two recent Washington Post articles on the growth and evolution of CIA and JSOC; how the creation of “career track” government jobs gave new life to the unsuccessful drone war in Pakistan; CIA analysts who doubt the wisdom of policy decisions but lack the opportunity to officially object; the logic of the “permanent war state;” and why we can expect future blowback from US efforts to befriend Libya’s...

Gareth Porter, independent historian and journalist for IPS News, discusses his trip to Pakistan, where his investigative efforts were stonewalled by the US military and the UN; upcoming articles on US drone strikes and excessive reliance on cell phone intercepts for drawing up the “hit” list; his article “Hariri Bombing Indictment Based on Flawed Premise” about how communications link analysis (or six degrees of Kevin Bacon) is used to prove preconceived ideas, not find the truth; and how the...

This interview is from the KPFK 90.7 FM Los Angeles broadcast of August 12th. Gareth Porter, independent historian and journalist for IPS News, discusses the infamous “laptop of death” documents from which the vast majority of “evidence” about Iran’s supposed clandestine nuclear weapons program comes from; the conspicuous mistakes in the documents that lead him to believe a foreign intelligence agency (probably Mossad) fabricated them; how Iran’s refusal to turn over military missile...

This interview is also available (here) in a version packaged for broadcast on KPFK 90.7 FM in Los Angeles, with an introductory summary of foreign policy news and Antiwar Radio interviews from the week of July 11-15. Gareth Porter, independent historian and journalist for IPS News, discusses his article “What Is Sadr’s Game on Future US Troop Presence?” at antiwar.com, about Moqtada al-Sadr trying to have it both ways, by privately agreeing to an extended US troop presence (and getting free...

Gareth Porter, independent historian and journalist for IPS News, discusses the Obama administration officials who lied us into an Afghan surge (even though reporters are supposed to use more diplomatic language); how Mullah Omar’s Taliban avoided trouble with the US and tried to keep bin Laden in check; how Bill Clinton’s “Monica Missiles” destroyed a chance to get bin Laden, as well as a few training camps; how the Pakistani Taliban’s formation shows the ideological split between al-Qaeda...

Gareth Porter, independent historian and journalist for IPS News, discusses his article “Obama Leaves Door Open to Long-Term US Afghan Combat;” the “lunatic warmonger” Republicans who reversed course after hearing the “end the wars” demands of their constituents; how Obama essentially traded the domestic Democratic political agenda for the Afghan surge; how, despite the minimal drawdown, David Petraeus got almost everything he wanted; the hubris of Robert Gates, who had no idea the US national...

Gareth Porter, independent historian and journalist for IPS News, discusses his article “90% of Petraeus’s Captured ‘Taliban’ Were Civilians,” fact checking Afghan War statistics to prove US claimed gains were illusory; the maze of US, JSOC, NATO jails and prisons, Petraeus’s effective PR blitz in late 2010 that pushed back withdrawal to 2014 and beyond and the expectation for a summer drawdown.

This interview is from the KPFK 90.7 FM Los Angeles broadcast of June 10th. Gareth Porter, independent historian and journalist for IPS News, discusses his article “Slain Writer’s Book Says US-NATO War Served al-Qaeda Strategy” about murdered Pakistani journalist Syed Saleem Shahzad’s last work; evidence that al-Qaeda in Pakistan is more powerful than previously thought; why scaling back the US empire won’t come until economic collapse demands it; and a formula for winning the Global War on...

Gareth Porter, independent historian and journalist for IPS News, discusses his article on Syed Saleem Shahzad, “Slain Writer’s Book Says US-NATO War Served al-Qaeda Strategy;” al-Qaeda’s successful plan to draw the US to Afghanistan and keep them there, slowly bleeding the empire dry like the Soviets before; why Osama bin Laden was never more than a figurehead, while Egyptian Ayman al-Zawahiri remains the real strategist of al-Qaeda; and how Pakistan’s tribal regions have been radicalized,...

Gareth Porter, independent historian and journalist for IPS News, discusses Asia Times journalist Syed Saleem Shahzad’s apparent murder by Pakistan’s ISI for exposing al-Qaeda’s infiltration of Pakistan’s military; how the Afghan Taliban and al-Qaeda share a common opposition to US occupation, but not much else; the strained and complicated US/Pakistan relationship; the preliminary “talk about talk” dialogue with the Taliban that is highly unlikely to end in a peace deal; and how Washington is...

Gareth Porter, independent historian and journalist for IPS News, discusses David Sanger’s latest inflammatory and inaccurate NY Times article on Iran’s nuclear program (you’d think the second paragraph alone would have killed the article – how are multiple bullet-points on page 7, of a 9 page report, in any way “buried”); how the IAEA goes beyond its mandate when dealing with Iran, demanding information they have no right to; Israel’s document forgeries and efforts to frame up Iran; and why...