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Archived
Programs 2003
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-> archives 2004
click for -> archives 2005 |
December 14th, 2003
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Special Briefing:
Saddam Captured
Brian Bennett (Middle East correspondent for Time
magazine based in Iraq, author of a recent article entitled "Who
are the insurgents?") on the disconnect between the Iraq insurgents
and the former dictator Saddam Hussein. According to Bennett,
in a live interview exclusive to Background Briefing, those who
have attacked the U.N., the Red Cross, the Iraqi police and the
American military do not appear directed by Saddam--a view which is
reinforced by the capture of Saddam, disheveled, disoriented and
without any way to communicate with anyone, other than the rats and
lice who infest the cell-like hole he was found in. Americans
are facing a genuine insurgency in Iraq that does not appear likely
to moderate simply because Saddam is in custody.
Tariq Ali (long-time political activist,
critic/analyst of Middle Eastern, neo-colonialism and
international affairs, filmmaker, novelist and author of "Bush in
Babylon: Recolonizing Iraq" and "Clash of Fundamentalisms") on what
the capture of Saddam means and doesn't mean and why it will all
likely be a circus of distraction from the real issue: the serious
dysfunctionality of the war and its aftermath, with dire
consequences as near inevitable.
Youssef Ibrahim (24 years as Senior
Middle-East foreign correspondent and reporter with the
New York Times and Wall Street Journal, Fellow at the
Council on Foreign Relations based in New York, Managing
Director of Strategic Investment Group, Consultant specializing in
"risk analysis") on how Saddam's capture will play to the Middle
East audience, to Europe and for domestic American
consumption. Will Saddam be placed on
a "show-trial" to play to Bush's re-election in
October? Ibrahim believes that a death sentence will be given
to Saddam, but what will he say while on trial? Will
he divulge his previous connections to Vice President Cheney,
Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld and a number of other
notables? What Saddam may reveal is not expected to be
flattering to his former U.S. patrons.
Joshua Marshall (is the author of the weblog,
www.TalkingPointsMemo.com , which many Washington insiders
consider an indespensible daily read, as well as a contributing
writer for The Washington Monthly) on the confused diplomacy coming
out of the Bush adminstration--offending allies while asking for
their help. Is there a "war within the war" as the neocons
struggle for power over the president with the forces of the more
mainline Republicans, as represented by James Baker. Some,
such as NYTimes columnist Paul Krugman, have suggested that Baker
has been dispatched to help extricate Bush from his neocon
handlers. Also, how will the capture of Saddam affect
political dynamics at home and abroad? |
December 7th, 2003
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Andrew Cockburn (Andrew
Cockburn is the author of several books on defense and
international affairs, including "Out of the Ashes: the
resurrection of Saddam Hussein," "Dangerous Liason," "The
Threat" and "Secret Power." He has also written about the
Middle East for The New Yorker and coproduced the 1991 PBS
documentary on Iraq title "The War We Left Behind." He lives in
Washington, D.C.) on the reality of Iraq, obscured by political fog
and negligent press. In this interview, Cockburn addresses
issues raised in a recent Los Angeles Times Op-Ed on the subject of
Iraqi nationalism and rejects the notion of splitting the country
into three separate regions, as some (Leslie gelb of the Council on
Foreign Relations) have suggested.
Dr. Robert Jay Lifton (distinguished Professor of
Psychology and Psychiatry at John Jay College and the Graduate
Center of the City University of New York. For more than forty
years as a writer, investigator, and psychiatrist, he has used the
skills of a researcher and the imagination of a healer of the mind
to confront some of the most disturbing events of our times. As a
witness, he analyzes how men and women lose and recreate their
humanity in extreme situations. Hiroshima, the Holocaust, the
Vietnam War, and now terrorist cults: these are the territory of
Robert Jay Lifton's explorations as he probes the profound
questions of death and its meaning for life. Robert Jay Lifton is
the author of many important works including The Nazi Doctors,
winner of the Los Angeles Times book prize; and Death in Life:
Survivors of Hiroshima, winner of a National Book Award. He also
wrote Home From the War: Vietnam Veterans: Neither Executioners Nor
Victims. In 2000, he published Destroying the World to
Save It: Aum Shinrikyo, Apocalyptic Violence, and the New Global
Terrorism. His most recent is Superpower Syndrome: America's
Apocalyptic Confrontation with the World) on the apocalyptic nature
of the "war on terror," on Superpower vulnerability and fear, on
how the US brings a "military fundamentalism" approach to a war of
fundamentalisms, on how a "quest for omnipotence" drives the Bush
administration. Lifton's body of work defines a unique
vision, combining history and psychology, in the analysis
of political events.
Dr. Mark Juergensmeyer (Director of Global and
International Studies and Professor of Sociology and Religious
Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is an
expert on religious violence, conflict resolution and South Asian
religion and politics, and has published more than two hundred
articles and a dozen books. His widely-read Terror in the Mind of
God: The Global Rise of Religious Violence (University of
California Press, revised edition 2003), is based on interviews
with violent religious activists around the world--including
individuals convicted of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing,
leaders of Hamas, and abortion clinic bombers in the United
States--and was listed by the Washington Post and the Los Angeles
Times as one of the best nonfiction books of the year. A previous
book, The New Cold War? Religious Nationalism Confronts the Secular
State (University of California Press 1993) covers the rise of
religious activism and its confrontation with secular modernity. It
was named by the New York Times as one of the notable books of the
year. His book on Gandhian conflict resolution has recently been
reprinted as Gandhi's Way (University of California Press 2002),
and was selected as Community Book of the Year at the University of
California, Davis. His most recent work is an edited volume, Global
Religions (Oxford University Press 2003), and he is working on a
book on religion and war, and an edited volume on religion in
global civil society. He has received research fellowships from the
Wilson Center in Washington D.C., the Harry Frank Guggenheim
Foundation, the U.S. Institute of Peace, and the American Council
of Learned Societies. He is the 2003 recipient of the prestigious
Grawemeyer Award for contributions to the study of religion, and is
the 2004 recipient of the Silver Award of the Queen Sofia Center
for the Study of Violence in Spain. Since the events of September
11 he has been a frequent commentator in the news media, including
CNN, NBC, CBS, BBC, NPR, Fox News and ABC's Politically Incorrect.)
on the origins of terror driven by extremist religion. |
November 30th, 2003
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Nicolas Confessore (Editor, Washington Monthly
website: www.washingtonmonthly.com, author of a breakthrough
account of Congressional Majority Leader Tom DeLay's so-called
"K-Street Project" called "Welcome to the Machine") on the advance
of the Republican party's effort to create a de-factor
one-party system. Confessore talks about the the passage of
the recent Medicare "reform" bill as a serious new
stage in the drive to one-party dominance of the US
government. The bill was passed without input or cooperation
of Democrats. In an unprecented move, Democrats were not even
permitted in the conference committee as the bill proceeded to a
final vote. Is this a signal that American democracy as we
have known it has ended, or is this a period of right-wing
extremism which the nation will pass through on the way to a
democratic renewal. Confessore discusses the prospects.
Dr. Bajis Dodin (Palestinian-American, born in
Hebron, Palestine, Professor at American University in Cairo, Egypt
as well as Director of University of California
Education Center in Eqypt. Dr. Dodin is a lifelong peace
activist, who has advocated a "one-state solution," but recognizes
that as currently unrealistic and advocates a two-state solution)
was, in the last week, both in Jordan and the occupied Palestinian
territories. He provides an eyewitness account of
conditions in the occupied territories on Middle Eastern
perception of Bush's stealth arrival in Baghdad--seen not as the
action of a "liberator" basking in the praise of those he has
"liberated," but that of an occupier, terrified of the deadly
insurgency directed against him. Within the last few days he
has met with the Speaker and members of the Jordanian
parliament, the Iraqi Minister of Energy (the Iraqi Minister
of Water was also present) and he discusses their pessimistic
outlook. He speaks of the wide disparity of news
reporting between the American and world press, how the Middle East
regards the US as having been hijacked by extremists and that
"there is no functioning State Department." He says
that putting Iraq right must involve a genuine committment to
the United Nations and be linked to resolution of the
Israeli/Palestinian conflict, because the latter gives credibility
to the former.
Max Blumenthal (investigative reporter who recently won a
presitigious Online Journalism Award for his Salon.com article "The
Day of the Dead" on the murder of hundreds of women in Ciudad,
Juarez. Blumenthal has written for Salon, the
Washington Monthly, the American Prospect and others. He also
has a forthcoming piece on how the wealthy Ahmansons fuel hard
right-wing Christian Reconstructionist ideology in American
politics, which will be published at Salon.com.) on the deaths in
Juarez and how the political culture of Mexico may have played a
role in preventing a solution to these terrible crimes.
He speaks about this heinous situation in compelling
terms, drawing a portrait of free trade gone mad in a place where
there is no law, replaced by a feral culture fed and feeding on
greed. He also speaks of his research into Christian
Reconstructionism, an extremist movement seeking to supplant
democracy in the United States with a theocracy led by
American "mullahs" enforcing religious laws most citizens would be
appalled at.
On Max Blumenthal's award (from Jounalists.org)
Why Awards Matter:
"Some people routinely skip awards dinners. After all, it's just a
list of winners and you can always catch up later. But the ONA
attendees who made that choice this go round missed a lot. Anyone
who cares about the present and the future of online journalism
couldn't help but be moved by Max Blumenthal's stirring acceptance
of the independent feature journalism award for Salon.com's
"Day of the Dead". Anytime someone wonders why online
journalism matters I'll think of Max's passion and commitment to
telling the story of the women of Juarez." |
November 23rd,
2003
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Dr. Charles
Kupchan (Dr. Kupchan is an Associate Professor of
international relations in the School of Foreign Service and
Government Department at Georgetown University. He is also a Senior
Fellow and Director of Europe Studies at the Council on Foreign
Relations. Dr. Kupchan was Director for European Affairs on the
National Security Council during the first Clinton administration.
Before joining the NSC, he worked in the U.S. Department of State
on the Policy Planning Staff. Prior to government service, he was
an Assistant Professor of Politics at Princeton University.
He is the author of The End of the American Era (2002), Power in
Transition: The Peaceful Change of International Order (2001),
Civic Engagement in the Atlantic Community (1999), Atlantic
Security: Contending Visions (1998), Nationalism and Nationalities
in the New Europe (l995), The Vulnerability of Empire (1994), The
Persian Gulf and the West (1987), and numerous articles on
international and strategic affairs. Dr. Kupchan received a B.A.
from Harvard University and M.Phil. and D.Phil. degrees from Oxford
University. He has served as a visiting scholar at Harvard
University's Center for International Affairs, Columbia
University's Institute for War and Peace Studies, the International
Institute for Strategic Studies in London, and the Centre d'Etudes
et de Recherches Internationales in Paris.) on the recent state
visit of President Bush to England: What does the visit mean
for Bush domestically and internationally? What does the
visit mean for Blair? What are Blair's
motivations? Does England's future lie with America or with
Europe?
Dr. Omer Taspinar (Director of the Project on
Turkey for the Saban Center for Middle East Studies at the
Brookings Institution and an Adjunct Professor, European and Middle
East Studies, Johns Hopkins University) on the recent bombings in
Turkey--Who is responsible, what are they trying to accomplish,
what do the bombings mean to the strategic relationship with
the US and how will Turkey respond.
Spencer Ackerman (Assistant Editor at The New
Republic and co-author, with Franklin Foer, of a breakthrough
analysis of Vice President Dick Cheney, called The Radical: what
Dick Cheney really believes) on how Vice President
Cheney probably wields more power and influence than any Vice
President in American history. Cheney's influence on and
creation of policies which have dramatically changed the course of
history is discussed. Josh Marshall on Ackerman and Foer's
reporting: "I can't say enough good things about this
piece. It not only goes into fascinating detail about
the back-and-forth between Cheney's Office of the Vice President
and the CIA over the last two years, it also gives an insightful
reading of the evolution of Cheney's own foreign policy views going
back into the mid-1980s . . . for now this is the piece on Cheney,
the intel wars, and Iraq. It convinces me even more of something
I've thought for some time: that Cheney's office is a rogue
operation in this administration and one with the defining
influence." |
November 16th, 2003
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Anatol Lieven
Dr. Samer Shehata
David Neiwert
Bernard-Henri Levy |
November 9th, 2003
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Christopher Hedges
Ivo Daalder
Toby Dodge |
November 2nd, 2003
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Elizabeth Drew
Sidney Blumenthal
Graeme Fuller |
October 26th, 2003
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SPECIAL TO BACKGROUND BRIEFING:
Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson, IV (Special
Assistant to the President and Senior Director for African Affairs
at the National Security Council from June 1997 until July 1998. In
that capacity he was responsible for the coordination of U.S.
policy to the 48 countries of sub-Saharan Africa. He was one of the
principal architects of President Clinton's historic trip to Africa
in March 1998. Ambassador Wilson was the Political Advisor to the
Commander-in-Chief of United States Armed Forces, Europe,
1995-1997. He served as the U.S. Ambassador to the Gabonese
Republic and to the Democratic Republic of Sao Tome and Principe
from 1992 to 1995. From 1988 to 1991, Ambassador Wilson served in
Baghdad, Iraq as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy.
During "Desert Shield" he was the acting Ambassador and was
responsible for the negotiations that resulted in the release of
several hundred American hostages. He was the last official
American to meet with Saddam Hussein before the launching of
"Desert Storm." Ambassador Wilson was a member of the U.S.
Diplomatic Service from 1976 until 1998. His early assignments
included Niamey, Niger, 1976-1978; Lome, Togo, 1978-79; the State
Department Bureau of African Affairs, 1979-1981; and Pretoria,
South Africa, 1981-1982. In 1982, he was appointed Deputy
Chief of Mission in Bujumbura, Burundi. In 1985-1986, he served in
the offices of Senator Albert Gore and the House Majority Whip,
Representative Thomas Foley, as an American Political Science
Association Congressional Fellow. He was Deputy Chief of Mission in
Brazzaville, Congo, 1986-88, prior to his assignment to Baghdad.
Ambassador Wilson was raised in California and graduated from the
University of California at Santa Barbara in 1972. He is a graduate
of the Senior Seminar (1992), the most advanced International
Affairs training offered by the U.S. Government. He speaks fluent
French. Ambassador Wilson holds the Department of Defense
Distinguished Service Award, the Department of State Superior and
Meritorious Honor Awards, the University of California, Santa
Barbara Distinguished Alumnus Award, and the American Foreign
Service Association William R. Rivkin Award. Additionally, he has
been decorated as a Commander in the Order of the Equatorial Star
by the Government of Gabon and as an Admiral in the El Paso Navy by
the El Paso County Commissioners.) on the intense controversy
related to the outing of his wife, an undercover CIA agent, by the
White House as an act of revenge for his publicly announcing that
Iraq was not attempting to buy uranium in Africa, as President Bush
had asserted in his 2003 State of the Union Address. Wilson
also talks about the Neocons, saying that they are "parasites" who
have attached themselves to the Republican party, to its great
detriment.
David Corn (Washington editor of The Nation
magazine. He writes on a host of subjects, including politics, the
White House, Congress and the national security establishment. He
has broken stories on George W. Bush, Newt Gingrich, Oliver North,
Colin Powell, Richard Gephardt, Hillary Clinton, Rush Limbaugh, the
Central Intelligence Agency, the Pentagon and other Washington
players and institutions. Corn has contributed articles, including
political satire and book reviews, to the Washington Post, the New
York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the
Boston Globe, Newsday, Harper's Magazine, The New Republic, Mother
Jones, The Washington Monthly, the Village Voice, Slate and Salon,
and he contributes a weekly column on national politics--"Loyal
Opposition"--to www.TomPaine.com and www.Alternet.org. Corn
frequently is a guest on television and radio talk shows. He is a
contributor for Fox News Cable and has been a regular on CNN,
C-SPAN, and MSNBC. He also has been a substitute co-host for CNN's
Crossfire and has appeared on The McLaughlin Group (NBC/PBS),
Washington Week in Review (PBS), ABC News, CBS Morning News, Fox
Television News, The Capital Gang (CNN), Equal Time (CNBC), Tim
Russert (CNBC), and other shows and networks. He was a co-host
(with Pat Buchanan) of the nationally syndicated radio show
Buchanan and Company. He has contributed commentary to NPR, BBC
Radio, CBC Radio and Pacifica Radio, and he has been a guest on
scores of call-in radio programs. His forthcoming The Lies of
George W. Bush: Mastering the Politics of Deception, due out from
Crown Publishers this September, will detail a pattern of deceit
that has become commonplace in Washington today. Corn, is a Phi
Beta Kappa graduate of Brown University. He previously worked for
Ralph Nader's Center for Study of Responsive Law and Harper's
Magazine.) on the Bush presidency and its apparent inability to
communicate truthfully. Corn identifies and
outlines many examples of falsehoods and speculates
as to why so much lying, and why the media does
not hold the President accountable. |
October 19th, 2003
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Joseph Cirincione
(Senior Associate and Director, Non Proliferation Project, Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace, member Council on Foreign
Relations and the International Institute for Strategic Studies,
Professor Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, author
of "Deadly Arsenals: tracking weapons of mass destruction," editor
"Repairing the Regime: preventing the spread of weapons of mass
destruction," "Iraq: a new approach," "Central America and the
Western Alliance," producer "Proliferation 2001") on the absence of
WMD's in Iraq, the Kay Report, and what this may mean for U.S.
strategic plans in the region. Cirincione notes that while
Bush's credibility (and his polling numbers) is falling
domestically, they are abysmal internationally. How
will the shattering of American credibility and prestige
around the world affect our standing internationally, our
diplomatic initiatives and our our own security?
Dr. Ann Florini
(Senior Fellow, Governance Studies Program, Brookings Institution,
author "The Coming Democracy: New Rules for Running a New World"
and "The Third Force: The Rise of Transnational Civil Society,"
co-author of ""Secrets for Sale: How Comercial Satellite Imagery
Will Change the World." PhD in Political Science, UCLA.
Formerly a Senior Associate, Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace,Georgetown University, UCLA, United Nations
Association of the USA and Brookings Institution; Research
Director, Project on World Security, Rockefeller Brothers Fund.
Currently, Senior Associate and Director, Project on Transparency
and Project on Transnational Civil Society, Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace, written articles published in Foreign
Policy, International Studies Quarterly and International Security.
Currently completing a book on transnational governance.) on how
democracy can be promoted, advanced and sustained worldwide via
citizen empowerment and governmentaltransparancy. |
October 12th, 2003
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Stephen Pizzo (investigative journalist
specializing in business and financial issues, author of the New
York Times bestseller "Inside Job: the Looting of America's Savings
and Loans," "Profiting from the Bank and S&L Crisis," "The
Ethic Gap: the Crisis of Ethics in the Professions," numerous
articles in a variety of publications ranging from the New York
Times to the Washington Post to the Los Angeles Times and to Mother
Jones. See recent articles at TomPaine.com , Misleader.com ,
and Alternet.org .) Pizzo has been nominated for a
Pulitzer Prize and has won many other journalistic prizes,
including the George Polk Award, the George Loeb Award, the
Investigative Reporters and Editors book of the Year Award, Media
Alliance Meritorious Achievement Award, the Project Censored Award
and many others) on the cronyism between the Bush administration
and the corporations profiting off the rebuilding of Iraq. The
Bush adminstration talks about a level playing field, but, in
reality, the fix is in. Pizzo also states that what is
happening now is the embodiment of Eisenhower's warning
against the military/industrial complex. He feels that the
privatization of military projects has many
pitfalls.
Susan Milligan (Congressional reporter, Boston Globe) on her
recent trip to Iraq. Ms. Milligan discusses the
rebuilding effort, the on-the-ground reality of life in Baghdad,
the seige mentality of the CPA bunkered in the former palaces and
how moved she was by the plight of the Iraqis, "who have been
through so much turmoil." She perceives that the average
Iraqi looks at the American occupiers and says "meet the new boss,
same as the old boss."
Anne Louise Bardach
(Newsweek International, contributing
editor Vanity Fair, Visiting Professor International Journalism UC
Santa Barbara, author Cuba Confidential: Love and Vengeance in
Miami and Havana, has been reporting on Cuba for the last 11 years)
on life in Cuba, the future of the "revolution," the anti-Cuba
dynamic in Florida and GOP politics, the hypocrisy of a trade
embargo with Cuba and a thriving one with China and her
belief that the embargo has been a folly and a failure for
over 40 years. |
October 5th, 2003
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Colonel W. Patrick Lang (retired senior officer of U.S. Military
Intelligence and U.S. Army Special Forces (The Green Berets). He
served in the Department of Defense both as a serving officer and
then as a member of the Defense Senior Executive Service for 32
years. He is a highly decorated veteran of several of America?s
overseas conflicts including the war in Vietnam. He was trained and
educated as a specialist in the Middle East by the U.S. Army and
served in that region for many years. He was the first Professor of
the Arabic Language at the United States Military Academy at West
Point, New York. In the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) he was
the ?Defense Intelligence Officer for the Middle East, South Asia
and Terrorism,? and later the first Director of the Defense Humint
Service.? For his service in DIA, he was awarded the ?Presidential
Rank of Distinguished Executive.? This is the equivalent of a
British knighthood. He is an analyst consultant for many television
and radio broadcasts, among them the Jim Lehrer ?Newshour.? Member,
Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity) on the misuse of
intelligence to serve a political agenda, the Plame Affair, and the
serious problems that lie ahead in restoring Iraq to functionality
in the context of an insurgency against the US occupation. In the
course of this interview,he speaks about media being pressured by
the Bush administration to not have on critical voices such as his
on the air.
Dr. Imad Khadurri (Iraqi Nuclear Scientist, holds
Masters in Physics from the University of Michigan and PhD in
nuclear reactor technology from the University of Birmingham,
England. Worked in Iraqi Atomic Energy Technology from 1968 to
1998) on the Kay report, how he knew there were no WMD's, how the
war justification was built on a foundation of lies. Although a
very private man, was moved to speak out a year ago when he saw
Bush first speaking about the "Iraqi threat" in the justification
the neocons used to take the US into the Iraqi quagmire. Despite
his unsurpassable level of background and authority in the Iraqi
weapons program, he couldn't get anyone in US intelligence, the
military or the administraion to pay attention to what he had to
say, "because the facts that I had did not serve their political
agenda to prosecute this criminal war." He sources much of the fake
intel with the Iraqi National Congress. Link: www.iraqsnuclearmirage.com
Sheldon Rampton (co-author "Weapons of Mass
Deception," "Toxic Sludge is Good for You: Lies, Damn Lies and the
Public Relations Industry," "Trust Us, We're Experts: How Industry
Manipulates Science and Gambles with your Future," "Mad Cow USA:
Could the Nightmare Happen Here?;" Rampton also is with PR Watch
and the Center for Media and Democracy) on the confabulation of
evidence and the manipulation of public opinion leading to war.
Rampton talks about the willing uncritical compliance of the media
in the run-up to war, becoming a de-facto mouthpiece for the Bush
administration. Rampton also speaks about media coverage of war,
embedded, cheerleading and uncritical. Rampton reveals the
little-known background of the the Iraqi National Congress as a
creation of an American Public Relations firm, The Rendon Group.
Links: www.prwatch.org ,
www.prwatch.org/cmd/ |
September 28th, 2003
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Susan Eisenhower, President of the Eisenhower Institute,
granddaughter President Dwight Eisenhower
Nina Khrushcheva, Professor New School, NYC,
grand-daugher of Russian Premier Nikita Kruschev
Rahul Mahajan, author of "The New Crusade:
America's War on Terrorism" and "Full Spectrum Dominance: US
Power in Iraq and Beyond," founder No War Collective
Philip Coyle, former Assistant Secretary of
Defense and director of operational test and evaluation at the
Pentagon from 1994 to 2001 |
September 21st, 2003
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Dr. Paul Krugman (Professor of Economics Princeton
University, author "The Great Unraveling: Losing our way in the new
century," columnist for the New York Times) on the Bush
presidency--how it's economic policies are unsustainable
and how they likely mask a hidden agenda to defund, eliminate
or "privatize" social security, medicare and other government
programs. Krugman also talks about the dissembling and
distortions of the Bush administration, which led to a belligerent
unilateralism alienating the US from its traditional allies and
ultimately to war, something Krugman refers to as "an awesome
screwup." Krugman, pointedly, addresses the radicalism and
audacity of today's GOP, saying that our country is being taken in
a "revolutionary" virtual coup, which most people have not
recognized--and which will produce a United States far different
from that which it was in the 20th century, back to the "gilded
age" of robber barons and a huge gulf between rich and poor.
Youssef Ibrahim (formerly 25 year veteran reporter
with the NY Times, fellow at the Center for Foreign Relations,
Op-Eds have appeared in many publications, consultant to the
petroleum industry) on the unprecendented anger in the Arab world
against the United States resulting from the war in Iraq, the
sabre-rattling against Iran and Syria, and the failure to be
even-handed vis-a-vis the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Ibrahim sees the neocon cabal at their patron Bush as having led
the US into an inextricable quagmire from which come negative
consequences which are already apparent, but will likely become far
worse.
Uri Avnery (long-time Israeli peace activist,
founder of Gush Shalom www.gush-shalom.org/english/ ) on the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Avnery challenges the
"mythology" propagated in the US media about Arafat, saying that,
contrary to the "lies," the Palestinian leader was
Democratically elected, enjoys widespread public support and is
genuinely and legitimately positioned to negotiate peace.
This point of view, which is never heard in the US, expressed as it
is by a respected Israeli activist, will be startling for many
Americans. Also not heard are Avnery's other insights shared
in this interview--that the Likud party has never wanted peace,
just land and power, and that American "Christian Zionists" have
been pushing this conflict, both in Israel and in the United
States, with the Likud and smaller radical parties to their
right. Avnery makes his points with considerable force and
authority. |
|
September 14th, 2003
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Adam Shapiro (International Solidarity
Movement-accompanied an ambulance into Yasser Arafat's compound
during the IDF seige in March 2002 and was trapped inside with
Arafat for some time and observed the Palestinian leader at close
hand) and Dr. Rabab Abdulhadi (Professor at New
York University of Middle-Eastern studies) on the Israeli cabinet's
initiative to exile President Arafat. Shapiro and Abdulhadi
analyze the strategic consequences of exiling or killing Arafat
on Israel, the Palestinians, overall Middle-East peace and
stability and to the United States. The analysis is critical
of Israeli and Palestinian leadership, as well as of US policy as
it applies to the peace process, a roadmap clearly no longer
traveled by anyone. Can we put things right on a course
towards peace? What steps must be taken? Can current
leadership take us there? What role should the United States
play? These questions and more frame the discussion.
Clyde Prestowitz (former trade negotiator under
President Reagan, founder and president Economic Strategy
Institute, author of "Rogue Nation: American unilateralism and the
failure of good intentions) on the WTO meeting in Cancun, Mexico,
the crisis of competition brought onto third-world farmers by
governmental price subsidies for crops grown in the United States
and Europe. Farmers in the third world, unable to compete
with subsidized prices, are finding themselves in desperate straits
and their countries are facing a loss of their agriculture
industry. Prestowitz also talks about the disconnect between
how America perceives itself and how it is perceived by others, and
how it is becoming more and more to be thought of as an arrogant
"rogue nation" which ignores laws and violates human rights as it
pleases.
Wayne Madson (former officer with the National
Security Agency - NSA - during the Reagan administration and author
of "America's Nightmare: the presidency of George Bush the second")
on the enormous amounts of money being spent by the Pentagon on the
Iraq war and the enormous sums which will be spent. Madson
also reflects on how the war is going, how the US has lost
prestige, respect and good-will worldwide and how things might be
expected to develop.
|
|
September 7th, 2003
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General Wesley K. Clark
(Ret.) On Iraq war planning failures.
Tariq Ali On deteriorating conditions in
Iraq
Dr. Martin
Hart-Landsberg and
Dr. Seung Hye Suh On the developing diplomatic
crisis over North Korea
|
August 31st, 2003
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Jessica Stern (former member National Security Council
under President Clinton, former fellow specializing in terrorism
for the Council on Foreign Relations, author of "Terror in the Name
of God: why religious militants kill," Ms. Stern was the
inspiration for the Nicole Kidman character in the film "The
Peacemaker") on what motivates terrorism and why religion often
supplies the ideological underpinnings of terrorism. Ian and
Jessica Stern dialog on how these factors apply to what is
happening now in Iraq and elsewhere. The religious factionalism in
Iraq will likely increase, and with it terrorism in an accelerating
cycle of violence. The Bush adminstration seems at a complete loss
as to what to do in Iraq, having won the war while quickly having
lost the peace, via a complete loss of preparation in the war's
aftermath and an ideological marriage to a worldview which is
fundamentally unrealistic. The Bush administration appears to have
made one of the worst foreign policy blunders in US history. Ms.
Stern's book is particularly timely with the impending execution of
abortion-provider murderer Paul Hill. Incidentally, Hill has,
oddly, been given the almost unprecedented privelege of a press
conference in which to characterize himself as an heroic martyr,
who expects a "great reward" in heaven for his murderous activity
on earth. The parallels between Hill's rhetoric and that of Jihadi
terrorists (rewards in heaven for murderous martrydom on earth per
the 9/11 hijackers) are somewhat striking, with both acting in the
"name of God." The question is begged: if Jihadis are referred to
as "Islamic terrorists," why aren't Hill, and others like him,
referred to in the US media as"Christian terrorists?"
Robert Baer (former CIA officer, author "See No
Evil" and the newly published "Sleeping with the Devil: How
Washington Sold our Soul for Saudi Crude") on who is likely behind
the recent spate of bombings in Iraq. Baer's extensive first-hand
knowledge as a CIA officer, specializing in Iraq and Saudi Arabia,
puts him in a uniquely qualified position to comment on the
situation America finds itself in with respect to the Iraq debacle.
Bush, in desperation, seems now to need the previously despised UN,
which Secretary Powell had made a justification to--all of which
has now been revealed as false--to clean up the mess which Iraq now
most certainly is. Baer's book, "Sleeping with the Devil," deals
with his assertion that the real source of funding and direction
for the 9/11 attack lay with elements in Saudi Arabia, a fact which
the Bush administration strategically ignored, as Baer puts it, out
of "willful blindness," so that their long-held ambition to attack
the impotent Iraq could be realized. Baer further asserts that
Wahabi extremists in Saudi Arabia (who view themselves as the
"co-rulers," with the royal family, of the oil-rich state) have
done unparalleled damage to Islam, one of the world's great
religions, by their complicity in terror.
Christopher Hartman (Research Director with United
for a Fair Economy www.ufenet.org) on how economic inequality is
continuing to grow in the US as the gulf between rich and poor
widens. Joining Ian on the program for this segment is colleague
Jonathan Taplin as they engage Hartman on a discussion on what
Hartman refers to as Bush's "shrink, shift and shaft" budget.
Hartman asserts that Bush seeks to shrink government to nothing
more than a "Watchtower state," limited to military, police and
property-rights protection. He says they wish to shift the tax
burden off investiments and onto wages, off of federal progressive
taxation and onto state and local taxation that hit low and
middle-income people the hardest. Finally, he says that the Bush
administration seeks to "shaft" people who depend on government
safety nets or investment in equality of opportunity. Ian, Jonathan
and Christopher also discuss other aspects of this era of greed in
the US, including the absurd levels of executive compensation vs.
what laborers receive, the disappearance of the middle-class and
the stunning gulf between rich and poor. Instead of a "Watchtower
State," Hartman envisions an "opportunity state," in which all
citizens have a genuine equal opportunity with an adequate safety
net for those in need. |
August 24th, 2003
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Denis Halliday (former Assistant Secretary General
of the United Nations, former Director of the Iraq oil-for-food
program, nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize 2001) on the
deteriorating situation in Iraq, the attack on UN Headquarters in
Baghdad, the question of UN collaboration with the US in Iraq, the
failure of the occupation in Iraq and the need to establish a
time-table for establishment of peace and order via a functional
Iraqi police force, the formation of an indigenous military to
guard the borders, the creation of system of law and justice, the
restoration of water, electricity and telephone infrastructure--in
short, the basics of a functioning civil society. The failure
to do so will exacerbate the anger of a populous now pushed to a
breaking point of hopelessness, frustration and rage, and promote a
escalating cycle of violence.
Eman Ahmed Khammas (Co-Director Occupation Watch,
website: www.occupationwatch.org ) via satellite phone
directly from Baghdad, Ms. Khammas, provides an extraordinary
eye-witness account of what life is like now in Iraq. Her
voice pleading to be heard, sends a distress signal to the
world. In a gripping account otherwise unheard in US media,
she describes what it's like to live without lights,
air-conditioning (temperatures can approach 120 degrees),
telephones, social services, police, fire, hospitals. She
condemns the occupation authorities for making little to no
progress in restoring basic services like electricity and
water. "The people here cannot believe," she says, that a
powerful, technically sophisticated nation like the United States
cannot make the electricity work in Baghdad." She describes a
horrendous crimewave that has swept the city. "Crime is the
king here now," she says. "People are afraid to go out
without escort, and even then, it is unsafe. Women have been
raped . . . nowhere is there safety." This is a
not-to-be-missed interview, giving an all-important on-the-ground
first-person account.
Rend Rahim Franke (Executive Director of the Iraq
Foundation, website: www.iraqfoundation.org ) on the poor
record of progress towards democracy the occupation has
thus far achieved. She discusses the obvious failures, the
disparity between what has been promised and what has been
delivered, and what steps must be taken to forge a humane and
workable road ahead.
Nancy Lessin and Charlie Richardson
(Co-Founders of Military Families Speak Out, websites:
www.bringthemhomenow.org ,www.mfso.org ) on their belief that US
soldiers in Iraq are "cannon fodder" for Bush's imperial
ambitions. They are, according to Lessin and Richardson,
ill-supplied, ill-supported and "mission-less," sitting in a bunker
behind barbed wire, accomplishing nothing. When out on
patrol, soldiers are subject to attack, frightened, and prone to
over-reaction. Many soldiers are mystified as to why when are
told by the Commander-in-Chief, that they are "liberating" a
population from a dicatator, why their presence is obviously
resented. Where are the "sweets and flowers" which were
supposed to greet them. Why, they ask, when Bush declares the
"Mission Accomplished" in his staged landing on the Abraham Lincoln
months ago, are soldiers dying every day? Nancy and Charlie
have a son assigned to duty in Iraq. They receive information
directly from soldiers in the field and report on their websites
(referenced above) true accounts of what it's like to be a soldier
in Iraq. |
August 17th, 2003
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Dr. George Akerlof (Nobel Prize Laureate, 2001 for
Economic theory, Professor of Economics, UC Berkeley) on the Bush
administration. Dr. Akerlof is sharply critical of George W.
Bush and his policies, pointedly saying that he is "the worst
President in the history of the United States." Although he
is critical "across the board," of the Bush administration, Dr.
Akerlof details the economic disaster Bush's policies
portend. He says that Bush's tax cuts are a
wrongly "permanent" answer to a short-term
recession, leaving the nation with red ink "as far as the eye
can see." Beyond the fact that the tax cuts do nothing to
actually stimulate the economy, since the wealthy have no need
to spend per se, they cripple the government's ability to deal with
future crisis, and that inability produces a crisis of national
security. Bush's failure is so monumental, his creation of
debt and defict so collosal, that it threatens the future of
the United States. Akerlof says that Bush and his corporate
backers are "looting the country." From what Akerlof, whose
authority and expertise is impeccable, says, it's clear that no
American will remain unharmed by these policies, which are the
product of a radical and reckless mind, and do not reflect
tradtional "conservatism" in any respect.
Max Blumenthal (Investigative jounalist with The
American Prospect and Salon.com) on the behind-the-scenes players
who created the California Gubenatorial Recall. Blumenthal
traces the recall drive from its first inception to the Republican
consultants, to the elected officials to the money people, to
Darrell Issa who was a "useful idiot" for the
plotters and to the White House itself. The complexity
of right-wing elements who have conspired to sow this electoral
chaos in California is woven by Blumenthal into a clearly emerging
picture, a picture of an ideology which views democracy as
something to be scorned and manipulated. No amount of chaos
is too much for the extremists involved in the recall, who with
right-wing talk radio, and with their confederates at the highest
level of Republican power. The Clinton impeachment, Ken
Starr, the 2000 debacle in Florida, the redisctricting in Texas and
now the coup in California--these and much more all part of a
pattern? According to Blumenthal, it is.
Dr. Don McCanne (President Physicians for a
National Health Care Program www.pnhp.org ) on one of the most
important issues facing our nation: health care. Why is it
that the United States spends more for health care and gets the
least of any country in the world. Why are so many Americans
without access to care? Why are medical bills the major
source of personal bankruptcy in the country? Why are all
attempts to get national health care immediately attacked by the
old accusation of "socialized medicine?" Why is our system
based on the concept: "your money or your life." Is there a
better way. Absolutely, says Dr. Don McCanne, who has devoted
his life to advancing the cause of "Single Payer National Health
Coverage." We can have a system, says Dr. McCanne, which
covers all Americans, doing a better job than we have now, without
costing a penny more than we now spend. So, who opposes this
plan? The health insurance industry and, to a lesser extent,
the pharmaceutical industry. The insurance industry adds a
layer of cost to health care which does nothing for America.
So why is it there? Lobbyists, campaign finance--all the
usual suspects behind most of our country's problems. This is
crucial issue about which we must all become more
aware. |
August 10th,
2003
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Lt. Colonel Karen
Kwiatkowski(USAF
recently retired from active duty, Office of the Secretary of
Defense, Under Secretary for Policy: Near East/South Asia,
SubSarahan Africa Directorate, AFHq, National Security Agency,
adjunct faculty University of Maryland) on the outright capture of
US foriegn policy by the NeoCon cabal now in power within the GW
Bush administration. The hardcore NeoCons, including Cheney,
Perle, Rumsfeld, Libby, Feith, Bolton, Wolfowitz have labored in
exile trying to advance their imperialistic remake of the
world. Reagan kept them at bay, as did the first George
Bush. Clinton left them to wander in the wilderness. It
was GW Bush ("we can fill him with ideas"--Richard Perle) who
fatefully placed them in power and they now have the run
of his presidency. Lt. Col Kwiatkowski discusses the
circular reasoning, the group think, the false premises, the hidden
agendas, of the NeoCons as they contrive and conspire in the
Pentagon to manipulate the military, the press, the politicians, to
advance their agenda, via cooked intel, baseless propaganda and
selective use of facts. This is a brave and genuinely
patriotic effort by someone on the inside to alert the citizenry as
to what a clear and present danger the NeoCons pose, not only to
world peace, but to the United States itself.(See Briefing Notes
for articles by Lt. Col. Kwiatkowski.)
Patrick Caddell (former pollster for President
Jimmy Carter, political consultant, MSNBC commentator) on the
political debacle/spectacle of the California Gubenatorial
Recall. Caddell, who is no fan of Governor Davis, nor of the
Republican conspirators who conceived and funded his removal,takes
a plague on both their houses" approach. Ian questions the
recall as democracy gone awry, while Caddell says it's "people's
democracy in action." If this is a political circus, then who
are the clowns? How does a political mess on top of an
economic mess serve the people of this state? These questions
and more are addressed.
Jackie Cabasso (Executive DirectorWestern States
Legal Foundation www.wslfweb.org, an Oakland , California-based
organization that monitors US nuclear weapons programs and
policies) on the Bush/NeoCon drive to construct factories which
will assemble new generations of nuclear weapons, which are meant
to actually be used, instead of as deterrence. Cabasso paints
a troubling picture of an administration which is not averse to the
unleashing nuclear fury on the planet. She says Americans
must inform themselves and take action to stop nuclear
proliferation before its too late.
|
August 3rd,
2003
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Seymour Hersh (Pulitzer
Prize-winning investigative reporter, New Yorker magazine
reporter/columnist www.newyorker.com, author of a number
of books, including "The Dark Side of Camelot," "The Samson
Option," "The Target is Destroyed" and "The Price of Power")
on the veiled connection of elements in Saudi Arabia to
support for al Qaeda and the 9/11 terror attacks on the US.
Also Hersh assails the "dumbing down" and disengagement
of the US Congress over the last thirty years, leaving the Bush
administration unchecked and our governmental system
unbalanced. Also, Hersh addresses the real state of affairs
in Iraq and what the Bush/NeoCon agenda may portend both in the
Middle East and in the United States.
Robert Baer (former CIA officer, author "See No
Evil" and the newly published "Sleeping with the Devil: How
Washington Sold our Soul for Saudi Crude") on how the real source
of funding and direction for the 9/11 attack lay with elements
in Saudi Arabia, a fact which the Bush administration
strategically ignored, as Baer puts it, out of "willful
blindness," so that their long-held ambition to attack
the impotent Iraq could be realized. Baer asserts
that Wahabi extremists in Saudi Arabia (who view themselves as
the "co-rulers," with the royal family, of the oil-rich state)
have done unparalleled damage to Islam, one of the world's
great religions, by their complicity in terror. He further
projects that the extremists in Saudi Arabia, if they
ascend to unrivaled power, may well shut down the oil fields,
causing enormous economic disruption to the world
economy. Despite the corruption and extremism he
identifies, Baer feels that Saudi Arabia is not without hope and
may well find its way to a more rational and humane future.
With respect to Iraq, Baer says that the US must engage UN
cooperation, something the NeoCons don't seem to welcome.
Why?
Col. Patrick Lang (former head of Middle East
intelligence Defense Intelligence Agency, President Global
Resources Group and Middle East analyst for PBS's News
Hour with Jim Lehrer) on how Iraq, with its diverse population, is
the most complex of Middle Eastern countries. Lang
explains how US actions, in attacking Baathist elements and
attributing the widespread insurgency only to them, seems to be
playing into the hands of the extremist religious elements,
something which will produce an anti-US regime and an outcome
precisely the opposite of that which the Bush/NeoCon crowd had
intended. (See Col. Lang's article "Speaking Truth to Power"
at www.americamagazine.org)
|
July 27th, 2003
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Abbas Khadim (former Iraqi dissident who opposed Saddam
Hussein in the US-encouraged uprising after the first Gulf War, now
a graduate student studying in the United States. After
joining in the uprising, Khadim saw thousands of his compatriots
slaughtered by Hussein's military and barely escaped with his
life.) on who is attacking US troops in Iraq, what needs to be done
to bring stability, why rebuilding the infrastructure is
crucial and the steps that the US must take now to prevent the
situation from becoming a disastrous quagmire. The solution
is complicated by the fact that, because Iraqi freedom fighters
were terribly betrayed by Bush the first after the Gulf War, and
after a decade of debilitating sanctions and because of
the now evident lack of post-war planning by GW
Bush, Rumsfeld, et al, Khadim sees the US as currently having
limited credibility in Iraq. Many observers believe that this
pre-emptive attack on Iraq may be one of the worst mistakes in the
history of US foreign policy. Clearly, what the US does now
in Iraq will have enormous consequences for America and the Middle
East for some time to come.
Saud Ashgar (interviewed from Dhahran, Saudi
Arabia, retired engineer Aramco) and Dr. Ali Alyami (
www.saudiinstitute.org , Saudi native, college professor, human
rights activist) on the criticisms of the Saudis which have swirled
through the US media in the wake of last week's 9/11 report.
Mr. Ashgar asserts that the Saudis are actively fighting al Qaeda,
that they are making advances with respect to human
rights issues and positive reforms. He suggests that
anti-Saudi propaganda is being pushed by the Israeli lobby.
Dr. Alyami is a strong critic of the House of Saud and the
oppressive religious police which make Saudi Arabia one of the most
repressive societies in the world. Dr. Alyami says that the
issues of corruption and repression in Saudi Arabia are matters of
fact, not merely propaganda. This discussion outlines the
central conflict, as tradition confronts modernity, as the
religious police confront rationalism and human rights, in this
country, which is perhaps both blessed and cursed by its
enormous and coveted energy resources.
Dr. Raphe Sonenshein (Professor of Political
Science, Cal State Fullerton www.fullerton.edu ) and Dr. Shaun
Bowler (Professor of Political Science, University of California at
Riverside www.ucr.edu ) on the unprecedented history-making recall
election to be held on October 7, 2003. Dr. Sonenshein points
out that the two-part ballot may produce an odd un-democratic
outcome: if 49.999% of voters vote NOT to recall Davis
(potentially millions), Davis will be removed and replaced by one
of possibly dozens of candidates who will likely have received only
a tiny fraction of the votes to keep Davis in office. Dr.
Bowler believes that, despite those who predict certain doom for
the Democrats, Davis actually can win. Both foresee a
potentially fearsome no-holds-barred political fight as Davis
struggles to survive and the Republicans work to destroy him and
ascend to power. For the Democrats, Sonenshein holds, the
risky tactic of putting everything behind Davis is the best,
and perhaps only, viable strategy. But, according to Shaun
Bowler, there is risk for the Republicans too: if they lose after
ginning up the recall, they could marginalize themselves
indefinitely in California, the nation's most populous state and
most powerful economy. This is the first in what will be
on-going coverage and analysis of the California Recall.
Senator Mike Gravel (former US Senator Alaska
1969-81, served on the Finance, Interior and Environment and Public
Works committees, chaired the Energy, Water Resources and
Environmental Pollutions subcommittees, noted for entering the
entirely of the Pentagon Papers into the Congressional Record,
founded the National Initiative for Democracy www.ni4d.us ,
www.philadelphiatwo.org intended to invigorate the
American electoral process via "direct democracy") on the
challenges posed by North Korea as it continues to threaten nuclear
militarization, while it's population barely subsists in a dismal
abyss of poverty and famine. South Korea is, in contrast,
booming, with its industrious population fueling the 11th largest
economy in the world. How can the North Korean threat be
defused peacefully? Is reunification of North and South a
possibility? Ian and Senator Gravel discuss the
issues. |
July 20th,
2003
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Special
Note: In this program Philip Knightly asserts (at about
the 14:00 minute point) that the extremely controversial forged
Niger document yellowcake uranium ore is a "red herring" because,
according to his source, Iraq was already in possession of "500
tons of yellowcake" at a facility just outside of Baghdad, and
that this possession was legal. Although many in
the US media have mis-reported that Iraq was "seeking" 500 metric
tons of yellowcake ore, the reality is that they already had
it. This fact would have necessarily been known to
Washington, London and the UN, since it was overtly stated in the
National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) from last October. The
pre-existence of the ore is corroborated by George Tenet in an
official statement released by him. Also under-reported in
the US media is the fact that yellowcake ore, by itself, is
useless. It requires an infrastructure and equipment that
Saddam was very far, if not impossibly far, from
possessing. The logic of this issue has not been assembled by
the media: even if the Niger document were not a forgery and
Saddam actually was seeking more yellowcake ore, why is this such a
specific threat that war is an appropriate response, especially
since Iraq ready had hundreds of tons of the material? If
Knightly is correct, and it would appear that he is, then Bush, or
his speech-writer, Steven Hadley, may well have consciously
used the forged Niger document in his State of the Union
address to suggest to American people that Iraq was attempting to
acquire materials which it did not already possess for purposes
which would threaten the US. That being the case, then no
element of Bush's representation on this matter was true.
(Corroboration: George Tenet's press release
here)
Philip Knightly (British
journalist The Independent, author "The Second Oldest Profession,"
"The Master Spy: the Story of Kim Philby") on the unfolding scandal
revolving around the recent suicide of UN weapons inspector David
Kelly, who was the source of a BBC report that British Prime
Minister Tony Blair had "sexed up" dubious intel on Iraqi WMD's to
justify a case for war on Iraq. That intel was later used by
GW Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell. Dr. Kelly was
distraught over the matter, knowing the truth as he did, but
being pressured as he was by the British government and their
"Official Secrets Act." Confronted on the Kelly
suicide by British journalists while on a trip to Japan, Blair
was asked "do you have blood on your hands?" and "will you
resign?" This tragedy may provoke an inferno which could
consume the career of the Prime Minister, and impact President
Bush's political fortunes as well.
Reed Hundt (former FCC Chairman, www.reedhundt.com ,
author "You Say You Want a Revolution: a story of information
age politics" ) on the surprising grass-roots rejection of the
recent FCC vote to further deregulate ownership
restrictions, which would allow for further media
consolidation, likely resulting in even worse news and information
programming than we now see. Most surprising, perhaps, has
been the activation of the members of congress, including dissident
Republicans, who have voted, in both the Senate and the House,
to reverse the FCC order. Ultimately, however, a reversal of
the FCC via legislation would require the signature of GW Bush,
which is unlikely. That the public and the legislature is
aware and taking action bodes well for a future time when
those currently in power are out of office and media regulation may
be restructured to better reflect the reality of public
interest being properly served by the national resource
of our broadcast spectrum.
James Dobbins (former special diplomatic envoy to Bosnia,
Kosovo, Haiti, Somalia, Afghanistan, Assistant Secretary of State,
Special Advisor to the President, Special Assistant to the
President, Ambassador to the European Community, Director of the
International Security and Defense Policy Center of the Rand
Corporation) on the enormous challenges of rebuilding the Iraqi
infrastructure and providing humanitarian aid in what many feel may
become a deteriorating Vietnam-like quagmire. Did Bush have a
war plan, but not a peace plan? Will international
cooperation be inevitable in what is the largest rebuilding task
since World War II?
|
|
July 13th,
2003
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Ray McGovern (27 year CIA
veteran, provided daily briefings for Presidents Kennedy through
GHW Bush, Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity) and Andrew
Wilkie (Senior Intelligence Analyst for the Australian Office of
National Assessments until he resigned in protest against the Iraq
war) on the use of cooked intel, single-source non-corroborated
information and outright forgeries all apparently "selected"
to serve a pre-determined and politically-driven outcome.
This misuse of the intelligence gathering and analytical process is
the reverse of professional practice and has seriously compromised
the integrity and credibility the Bush administration and the US,
British and Australian intelligence services. The
bogus intel was used to sell the Iraq war to the
American people and the world. This conflict
is now far from Bush's "mission accomplished" rhetoric
and increasingly appears to be an inextricable quagmire, with
the US now in full counter-insurgency mode, while the country
languishes with a broken infrastructure. McGovern and Wilkie
discuss the politicization of coalition intelligence services, CIA
director Tenet's laughable "apologia" and how media in the US is
giving Bush a relatively soft ride on this matter.
Akwe Amosu (Executive Editor/Producer
www.AllAfrica.com) on Bush's recent 5-nation tour of Africa.
Ian and Ms. Amosu discuss the diverse issues
which dramatically impact Africa, a continent with great
beauty, natural resources and potential, but with grievous
problems, ranging from drought and starvation,
to regional conflicts, to political
corruption, and to the catastrophic spread of
AIDS. A positive engagement of the United States with Africa
could be genuinely beneficial. But, how sincere and effective
will Bush's efforts be? Do African oil and potential African
markets influence the President's agenda? Will US troops be
sent to Liberia? These issues and more are discussed.
Robert Boston (author "The Most Dangerous Man in America: Pat
Robertson and the rise of the Christian Coalition," Communications
Director Americans United for Separation of Church and State) on
the business relationship between the President of Liberia (Africa)
Charles Taylor, widely cited as cruel and corrupt, and American
evangelist Pat Robertson in the operation of a gold mine, called
"Freedom Gold." Robertson has been outspoken in his defense
of the Liberian dictator. Boston discusses Robertson's
entrepreneurial pursuits, which included an African diamond mine
(in Zaire with another dictator: Mbutu) and an oil refinery.
Robertson, who ascribed 9/11 to gays and lesbians and who believes
that "endtime prophecy" is unfolding (with Bush's help) in the
Middle East, is also involved in the secretive Council for National
Policy, a little known organization which puts the most powerful
right-wing elements in America together to set and advance their
agenda--all behind closed doors.
Kalle Lasn (Editor in Chief Adbusters magazine,
www.adbusters.org , author "Culture Jam: the uncooling of
America" ) on the insightful and subversive magazine's effort
to "un-brand America" ( www.unbrandamerica.org ). This effort
proceeds from the thesis that the US has become more a "brand,"
and less a nation with laws, principles and ideals which serve
its citizenry. Lasn talks about corporatism as displacing
democracy, marketing displacing communication, and the corporate
media as vehicle which, instead of empowering with information and
thoughtful entertainment, has become corrosive to the
human experience. Adbusters and Unbrand seek to create
awareness and, from that, action. From the "Unbrand" website:
"In the end, the Resistance was known for one thing - they simply
would not participate. Not in the 24-hour economy, the
60-hour work week, the flag-waving parades, the media manias, the
permanent fear, the cheers for the troops. And then there was
their mark. It crept into daily life, until it became a
constant reminder that these really were bleak times. Until
one day you no longer knew who was in control - the empire that was
everywhere - or this invisible revolution."
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July 6th,
2003
24k stream or download
80k stream or download
Congressman Bob Filner
(representing California's border district 51) on how the
Democratic party must respond to the totalist tactics and
strategies of Tom DeLay, Grover Norquist, Karl Rove, et al.
Filner is at the core of a new Dem party group, the Mad Dog
Democrats (Mad=moving all Democrats). http://www.house.gov/filner/
Bill Fletcher, Jr. (President Trans Africa Forum, advocating
for the peoples of Africa) on President Bush's trip to Africa, what
issues are present, and what outcome is expected.
Roger Morris (former National Security Advisor, Presidents
Johnson and Nixon, US Presidential biographer and historian)
on how President Bush's "bring 'em on" statement which dares
insurgents to attack US troops in Iraq is unprecedented in its
juvenile bluster and poor judgment.
Wayne Madsen (journalist specializing in political, military
and national security matters) on the military's poor morale, and
on the deep resentment on the part of top military for Rumsfeld and
Bush.
Tim Jemal (representing Californians United for Nursing Home
Care, (213)503-2967) on how the crisis in the California state
budget impacts multiple sectors of the state, how the
"super-majority" necessity for budget passage empowers a "tyranny
of the minority," and how the recall campaign is a Republican is an
anti-democratic effort to capitalize on a budgetary train-wreck of
their own making and responsibility.
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June 29th,
2003
24k stream or download
80k stream or download
Nicholas Confessore (Editor
Washington Monthly www.washingtonmonthly.com) on how the GOP is
turning Washington's K-street lobbying industry into an arm of the
Republican Party and how this strategy plays into the larger goal
of establishing a de facto one-party rule in the USA. This
comprehensive political strategy, masterminded by movement
conservatives in positions of power and influence such as Tom
DeLay, Grover Norquist, Karl Rove and others, seeks to make the
Republican Party indistinguishable from corporate cartels and
utterly dominant in American life, with a consequent transformation
of public service to private profit, the end of social programs,
the shrinkage of the middle-class and the gulf between rich and
poor expanding to third-world dimensions. This important
discussion, and the article which inspired it, are not to be
missed.
Dr. Rahul Mahajan (Author of "The New Crusade: America's War
on Terrorism" and "Full Spectrum Dominance: US Power in Iraq and
Beyond." Dr. Mahajan is a member of the Nowar
Collective, the National Board of Peace Action, and the National
Committee of the National Network to End the War against
Iraq. He holds a PhD. in physics from the
University of Texas at Austin. www.rahulmahajan.com ) on
what's really happening in Iraq, how the United States will impose
"full spectrum" dominance in the Middle-East and elsewhere and how
US foreign and economic policies support repressive and
kleptocratic regimes worldwide. Dr. Mahajan addresses US
manipulation of the UN, the NeoCon agenda for the world and the
price to the citizens of the US and the world of the NeoCon
empire.
Dr. Cheryl Rubenberg (former Professor of International
Studies, Florida International University. Author of "The
Palestinians in Search of a Just Peace," "Israel and American
National Interest: a Critical Examination," and "Palestinian Women:
Patriarchy and Resistance in the West Bank") on the under-reported
back-story of the "Roadmap to Peace." Dr. Rubenberg addresses
the unlikelihood of success, after 35 years of military
occupation, for the peace effort, the questionable sincerity
of the participants, the dubious authenticity of the hand-picked by
the US and Israel Palestinian representative. She questions
the Israeli commitment to a just long-term settlement, given the
powerful political and religious forces in Israel that insist of
the sovereignty of Israel over the occupied territories. She
notes open discussion in Israel of "Palestinian transfer" (see
www.gamla.org.il/english ). Dr. Rubenberg offers a simple
prescription for a genuine peace: honesty, fairness, abandonment of
the settlements, a real state with real democracy, and respect for
the humanity of both sides. Can this become a
reality?
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June 22nd,
2003
24k stream or download
80k stream or download
Panel on democracy in
Iran: three human rights and democracy activists discuss
the changing dynamics within in Iran and how Bush's "axis of evil"
rhetoric and foreign policy may impact outcomes in this country of
70 million.
Panelists:
Dr. Sasan Fayazmanesh--Associate professor of
economics at California State University, Fresno.
Ali Shakeri--Chairman of the Society for Democracy
in Iran and Vice Chair of the Iranian-American Democratic National
Council.
Dr. Simin Royanian--Co-founder Women for Peace and
Justice in Iran. ( www.women4peace.org )
also on the program:
Gene Lyons (author "Hunting of the President," "Fools for
Scandal," "Widow's Web." Columnist for the Arkansas
Democrat-Gazette) on the culture of lies in American media and
politics. Lyons and Masters discuss the disconnect between
Clinton's lies about sex which produce a media frenzy and Bush's
lies about war, the economy and general statecraft, which result in
media adoration and high public approval rating. Lyons also
discusses the potential Presidential aspirations of 4-star general,
Rhodes scholar and Arkansas native, Wesley Clark.
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June 15th,
2003
24k stream or download
80k stream or download
Jonathan Taplin (internet
entrepreneur, creator of Intertainer.com, award-winning film and
television producer and political activist) discusses the impact of
the June 3 FCC decision on the American cultural and politcal
landscape. Ian forsees, unless the decision is reversed by
congress, increasing cultural and political vacuity in what is, now
by regulatory design, a de-facto media right-wing echo chamber.
Ray McGovern (27 year veteran of the CIA, and former chief
background briefer for President George H.W. Bush) on G.W. Bush's
increasing lack of credibility in his justifications for war
against Iraq. Despite the fact that Saddam was a despot and
swindler, Bush's outcome-driven use of apparently "cooked"
intelligence has devastated U.S. credibility world-wide. Further,
recent reports show that 160+ American soldiers and up to 10,000
Iraqi civilians may have been killed in the war effort, a war
conducted at enormous expense to the U.S. tax payer. What
have we really done with this war and what is the actual price to
be paid?
Also, Masters and Taplin field phone calls from
listeners on the FCC, Iraq and political issues.
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June 1st, 2003
TWO PART SPECIAL
Part 1--The Bush
Presidency.
James Moore (Emmy and multiple jounalistic award-winning
co-author Bush's Brain: How Karl Rove made George W. Bush
presidential) on the tactics of Presidential Advisor Rove in
guiding GWB's presidency. Moore describes the "what you see
is what you DON'T get" strategies of mis and dis-information,
bait-and-switch campaigns, and the unprecedented radical agenda of
the Bush administration. 48 minutes.
part 1 stream or download
part 1 80k stream or
download
Part 2--The FCC and Media Monopolies.
Nicholas Johnson (former FCC Commissioner,
professor, author)
John Nichols (media jounalism, investigative
reporter and author "Our Media, Not Theirs") and
Bob Williams (Center for Public Integrity) on who is
behind the FCC push to allow media monopolies, what consequences
this will have to American democracy and the undue corporate
influence on the decision-making process. 52 minutes.
part 2 stream or download
part 2 80k stream or download
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May 25th,
2003
stream or download
80k stream or download
Roger Morris (former
National Security Council under Presidents Johnson and Nixon,
author) on rising fascism in the US body politic.
Panel on Israeli/Palestinian peace and the emergence of a
political alternative to AIPAC (Tikkun Community), asking the
question, who really speaks for Judaism in America?
Rabbi Michael Lerner (founder of Tikkun.org,
author of "Spirit Matters")
Dr. Stephen Zunes (Assoc. Professor of Politics
& Chair of the Peace and Justice Program San Francisco State
University, author "Tinderbox: US Middle East foreign policy and
the roots of terrorism")
Dr. Michael Nagler (Professor emeritus UC
Berkeley, Chair UC Peace and Conflict Program, author "Is There no
Other Way: the search for a non-violent future")
Milton Beardon (former Intelligence Officer, oversaw
anti-Soviet CIA effort in Afghanistan) on the conflict between the
Pentagon and the CIA, the role of intelligence in a democracy,
"cooking" intel for political purposes, "blowback" and Middle-East
assessment.
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May 18th,
2003
stream or download
80k stream or download
Youssef Ibrahim (veteran Middle
East reporter NYTimes, WSJ) on the Saudi bombings and neocon
mismanagement in Iraq.
Dr. Ali Alyami ( www.SaudiInstitute.org , human rights
activist) on the "beginning of the end of the House of Saud,"
their appalling civil rights record and the likelihood of
major instability.
Dr. Robert Pollin (Economics Prof U of Mass, Amherst, author of
the forthcoming "Contours of Descent: US economic fractures and the
landscape of global austerity") on US economic deflation and what
can be done about it.
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May 11th, 2003
stream or download
80k stream or download
James C. Moore (co-author of
"Bush's Brain: How Karl Rove made George Bush presidential") on
Karl Rove's--referred by Moore as "co-President"--conflation
of policy and politics.
Lina Krushcheva (senior fellow World Policy Institute, New
School for Social Research) on the emerging disturbing similarities
between the Bush administration and American media to the old
Soviet system.
Paul Berman (author "Terror and Liberalism") postulates
a threat posed by Islamic fundamentalism and its
terrorist manifestation to the western liberal
tradition.
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May 4th, 2003
stream or download
Dr. Rashid Khalidi (U of Chicago)
Roadmap to peace? Palestinian perspective.
Marsha Friedman (Former member Israeli Knesset) Roadmap to
peace? Israeli perspective.
Dr. Anthony Pratkanis (UC Santa Cruz) Landing on Lincoln: Bush
manipulation of press and public; methods of propaganda.
Jonathan Taplan (Internet entrepreneur) Media: from diversity
to monolith; fighting Michael Powell's FCC
de-regulation.
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April 27, 2003
stream or download
80k stream or download
Panel on future strategies for the
peace movement:
Dr. Barbara Epstein (UC Santa Cruz, History of
Consciousness)
Dr. Robert Edgar (Win Without War, Natnl Council
of Churches)
Dr. Leone Hankey (Coalition for World Peace).
Panel on practicality of hydrogen-powered automobiles:
Sheldon Plotkin (SoCal Federation of Scientists,
"The Wizards")
Dan Sperling (Inst. for Transportion Studies, UC
Davis)
James Heffel (Center for Environmental Research,
UC Riverside)
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April 20th, 2003 stream
or download
64k
stream or download
Senator James Abourezk (fmr US
Senator on future of US in Iraq and Syria)
Abbas Kadhim (former Iraqi freedom fighter on rebuilding
Iraq)
Dr. Elizabeth Carter (UCLA Archeologist on the destruction of
antiquities in Iraq)
Dr. Lynn Swartz Dodd (Curator/Asst Prof USC Archeology on
archeology in Iraq)
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April 13th, 2003
stream or download
hifi 64k stream or
download
Dennis Halliday (former Asst UN Sec General on Iraqi
relief)
Dana Priest (Washington Post reporter on US military as
"nation-builders")
Dr. Mark LeVine (UCI prof on Bush, Iraq and war protests)
Dr. Peter Katona (UCLA, former CDC, on SARS
epidemic)
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April 6th
2003
stream or
download
Dr. Fawaz Gerges
(war and its regional consequences)
Dr. George Irani (war and US foreign policy)
Remi Khoury (editor, Beirut Evening Star)
Dr. Celcilia Lynch (politcs and
religion)
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March 10th 2003
stream
or download
Ray Zilinskas (chemical and bio-warfare)
Dr. Bruce Lincoln (faith-based foreign policy)
John Sacret-Young & Conrad Kellen (The
Pentagon Papers)
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March 3rd
2003
stream or download
Youssef Ibrahim (Mideast, oil and the
Neo-cons)
Mike Miller (oil
well fires)
Michael Cherkasky (threats to U.S.
security)
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February 24th
2003
stream or download
Mike Farrell (Win without war)
Dr. David Dill (Stanford professor: serious
problems with electronic voting machines)
Jean Heller (reporter: US uses faked satellite
photos to influence Saudis)
Dr. Paul Boyer (US foreign policy meets biblical
prophecy)
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February
17th 2003
stream or download
Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl (MidEast destabilization), Dr.
Stephen Zunes (Iraq war unjustified), Gloria Steinem (protests
in America), Charles Kupchan (U.S.-Europe split)
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February 9th 2003
+ 24k
stream or download (for
dial-up)
+ 80k
stream or download (for
high bandwidth) |
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January
13th 2003
stream or download
Dr. Benjamin Barber (Democrats in disarray)
Mark Weisbrot (Venezuela)
James Fallows (military-industrial complex)
David Cole (S.U.V. wars)
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BACKGROUND BRIEFING is a co-production of KPFK 90.7fm and KUCR 88.3fm.
Contact Ian
at: ianmasters@mail.com
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