Patrick Cockburn, Middle East correspondent for The Independent, discusses his article “Why War is Marching on the Road to Damascus;” assigning blame for the Houla massacre and whether it will spark US intervention; why Syria looks like Lebanon before its disastrous 15-year civil war; Saudi Arabia’s continued fight against Iran’s 1979 revolution and the Shia revival; why NATO “safe haven” zones would exacerbate conflict in Syria and lead to wider war; Iraq’s export of suicide bombers; how...

Patrick Cockburn, Middle East correspondent for The Independent, discusses Moammar Gadhafi’s death and NATO’s “mission accomplished” in Libya; why the rebel factions will have to find a new cause to rally around, or else face divisions and infighting; why the Arab spring is a genuine grassroots movement, not a CIA-engineered series of color coded revolutions; and having to rely on human rights NGOs for reports critical of Libya’s NTC, since the media doesn’t do its own investigations or...

Patrick Cockburn, Middle East correspondent for The Independent, discusses his article “Iraq cleric says his forces could attack US troops” on the dangers Muqtada al-Sadr poses for an extended US occupation; Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s ability to play all sides against each other while his grip on power tightens; how the abundant foreign influences in Iraq create divisions along religious and sectarian lines and make a political settlement impossible; and why we’ll have to wait and...

Patrick Cockburn discusses recent moves by the administration to try to stay in Iraq and why their presence will remain a politically divisive issue – there if not here, the very small number of members of al Qaeda in Yemen, why NATO, not the Libyan rebels, will fill the power vacuum created when Gadhafi is eventually ousted, skirmishes in Libya where the media outnumber the fighters (on both sides), the bin Laden/al Qaeda strategy of provoking the U.S. to invade and occupy the Middle East to...

This interview is from the KPFK 90.7 FM Los Angeles broadcast on January 14th. The original program is here. Patrick Cockburn, Middle East correspondent for The Independent, discusses how Muqtada al-Sadr’s return to Iraq has changed the political landscape and made a full US withdrawal by year’s end more likely; how otherwise-nationalist Iraqis use foreign allies as leverage against domestic sectarian/religious rivals; why the Pentagon seems to have drunk its own surge narrative Kool-Aid (in...

Patrick Cockburn, Middle East correspondent for The Independent, discusses the extreme poverty on display in Kabul despite the many NGOs and billions of dollars in aid spent since 2001; subcontracted rebuilding projects in dangerous and remote areas that are especially prone to fraud and waste; the Afghan government’s inextricable ties to the heroin trade; how the US squandered any goodwill remaining from overthrowing the Taliban; and how the US praises Afghan 'democracy' while ignoring the...

Patrick Cockburn, Middle East correspondent for The Independent, discusses the revival of al-Qaeda in Iraq (and its minimal relation to bin Laden's group), how the Sadrists are the only grass roots political movement in Iraq, how Prime Minister Maliki's grip on power is an impediment to a coalition government and why the decisive outcome of Iraq's civil war greatly decreases the chance of another major conflict

Patrick Cockburn, Middle East correspondent for the London Independent and author of the book Muqtada: Muqtada al-Sadr, the Shia Revival, and the Struggle for Iraq, discusses the recent bombing attacks against Shia pilgrims in Iraq, the continued political impasse over which alliance of parties will be able to form a government, the question of whether whoever comes to power will insist upon the Dec. 2011 deadline for U.S. withdrawal or bow to Pentagon plans to retain bases there and the...

Patrick Cockburn, Middle East correspondent for The Independent, discusses the failure of Iraqi elections to create a functional government, inadequate basic services in Iraq after seven years of occupation, the tendency of countries with oil-based economies to become dictatorships and why the Kurds are better served in the short term by continued autonomy rather than an independent state.

Patrick Cockburn, Middle East correspondent for The Independent, discusses the four major political coalitions vying for power in Iraq, why sectarian conflicts (despite what most Iraqi's say) remain the basis for Iraq's political disputes, the multitude of forces working against a US presence in Iraq beyond 2011 and how the Marjah offensive marks a return to propagandized embedded journalism.

Patrick Cockburn, Middle East correspondent for The Independent, discusses the Iraq bombings that undermine Nouri al-Maliki's claim of improved security in Baghdad, the US government spin machine that defines terrorist attacks as indicators of progress, the difficulty of fighting and winning wars against failed states, the marked decline in Iraq's Sunni population and the strange US determination to pacify Afghanistan.