Milton Leitenberg on the use of poison against Ukrainian candidate Viktor Yushenko. Leitenberg is an acknowledged expert on the use of poison for political purposes. Mr. Leitenberg was trained as a scientist and moved into the field of arms control in 1966. In 1968, Leitenberg was the first American to work at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). He also worked with the Swedish Institute of International Affairs and the Center for International Studies' Peace Studies Program at Cornell University. His research is widely published. He has authored two major studies at CISSM, Biological Weapons Arms Control (1996) and Participation of Japanese Military Forces in UN Peacekeeping Operations (1996). He is currently writing a book on armed humanitarian intervention in wars and conflicts and is also involved in a study of the Soviet and Russian biological weapons program.

Philip Coyle on the recent failed missile test of Bush's costly missile defense system (possibly costing a trillion dollars), on how it is defeatable and how it does not address the real threats we face. Formerly the assistant secretary of defense and director of Operational Test and Evaluation, (1994-2001), Mr. Coyle now serves as senior advisor to CDI President Bruce Blair on a variety of projects, initially focusing on defense acquisition and testing issues. Prior to his stint at the Pentagon, Mr. Coyle was associate director of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, Calif. - where he served in several capacities from 1959 to 1979, and again from 1981 to 1993. With more than 40 years experience in testing and test-related matters, he was selected by Aviation Week magazine as one of its "Laurels" honorees for 2000, a select group of people recognized for outstanding contributions in the aerospace field. Mr. Coyle also is leading CDI's California branch office, CDI West.

Ambassador Adbar Ahmed on the recent visit by Pakistani leader Pervez Musharraf to the US for a meeting with President Bush.  Ambassador Ahmed is, according to the BBC, "probably the world’s best-known scholar on contemporary Islam.” He is the former  Pakistani Ambassador to Great Britain, and has advised Prince Charles and met with President George W. Bush on Islam. He is now Chair of Islamic Studies and professor of International Relations at American University in Washington, DC. Dr. Ahmed is a distinguished anthropologist, writer, and filmmaker. He has been actively involved in interfaith dialogue and the study of global Islam and its impact on contemporary society for many years.  His most recent book is "Islam Under Siege."  

Susan Truitt is co-founder of the Citizens Alliance for Secure Elections ( www.caseohio.info/ )  and one of a trio of activist lawyers armed with mysteriously wrong exit polls and hundreds of voter horror stories.  These lawyers announced plans last Friday to contest Ohio's presidential election. Their challenge could lead to widespread reconsideration of dozens of alleged election irregularities around the state - from reported computerized voting glitches to provisional-ballot mishaps to unusual incidents involving voter rolls, poll workers and machine technicians.  To qualify to reopen consideration of the election the group needs to find only 25 aggrieved electors and evidence of irregularities, both of which he and his associates have collected in abundance at hearings around the state, he said.  Susan Truitt said Ohioans need to know their vote was properly counted.  "Our intent is to examine this election, and to prevail, so that we will have a democracy in this country," she said. "So that we will not have our voices shut down."  

Steven Hertzberg is the founder of www.Votewatch.us , an organization devoted to examining problems associated with voting and developing solutions to enhance and secure the core of American democracy--our elections.  In this discussion with Ian Masters, Mr. Hertzberg talks about the November elections, what kind of problems occurred, what actions must be taken and ideas to make the voting process better, more accessible and more secure.  More about Steven Hertzberg: Mr. Hertzberg’s 16 years of experience includes engineering design, technical program management, information systems development, international new business development, strategic marketing, new venture engineering and private capital acquisition.  Mr. Hertzberg now resides in San Francisco where he devotes his energy toward developing innovative social ventures.  Previously, Mr. Hertzberg was Managing Director (California) for an information technology and enterprise integration consultancy based in Toronto, Canada. Mr. Hertzberg’s clients included Handspring and Roxio (an Adaptec company).  During the previous 12 year period, while dividing residences between California and Australia, Mr. Hertzberg participated in the management teams of numerous new ventures (contributing to an IPO). In addition, he also founded and successfully developed his own ventures in the automotive accessories, industrial food equipment, information technology, television and direct marketing industries.  Mr. Hertzberg spent the first several years of his career as a civilian within the US Department of Defense.  While serving as a Project Manager and Test Director for highly visible military development programs, Mr. Hertzberg received the U.S. Army’s Civilian Special Act Award.  Mr. Hertzberg was born in Los Angeles, California and has one daughter. Steven holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering from Purdue University.

interviewed with  

Dr. Jim Walsh who is the Executive Director of the Managing the Atom Project at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. His research and writings focus on weapons of mass destruction, terrorism, and the Middle East. Before coming to Harvard, he was a visiting scholar at the Center for Global Security Research at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, one of the country's three nuclear weapons labs. Previously, he was named a Jennings Randolph Peace Scholar by the United States Institute for Peace and won the Hubert Humphrey Fellowship from the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency.  Dr. Walsh's writings have appeared in the Boston Globe, the Washington Post, the LA Times and numerous other domestic and foreign papers.

Robert Young Pelton, in a live report from Baghdad, describes the dangerous conditions in Iraq as far worse than have been reported in the US media and than have been indicated by the Bush administration.  Embedded with security contractors, Pelton describes the harrowing run from Baghdad International Airport to the protected "Green Zone."  Pelton is the author of Three Worlds Gone Mad, The World's Most Dangerous Places, Come Back Alive, his auto-biography, The Adventurist, and is a regular columnist for National Geographic Adventure. He produces and hosts a television series for Discovery and the Travel Channel, and appears frequently as an expert on current affairs and travel safety on CNN, FOX News, and other news networks.

Amjad Atallah on the future of the Palestinians in the aftermath of the Arafat era.  Mr. Atallah is a legal advisor to the Negotiations Support Unit (NSU) of the PLO with responsibility for international borders and security. He coordinated Palestinian cooperation with the Sharm El-Sheikh Fact Finding Committee (the Mitchell Commission) and the missions of General Zinni and Secretary of State Powell. Previously, Mr. Atallah assisted the prosecutor’s office of the International War Crimes Tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda and promoted Rule of Law initiatives in the Occupied Palestinian Territories with USIP. He received a BA and MA from the University of Virginia and a JD from American University’s Washington College of Law. He is a member of the New York State Bar.

Larry Johnson  on the turmoil in the CIA as Porter Goss remakes the agency per the orders of George W. Bush.  Johnson is CEO and co-founder of BERG Associates, LLC, and  worked previously with the Central Intelligence Agency and U.S. State Department’s Office of Counter Terrorism,  He is a recognized expert in the fields of terrorism, aviation security, crisis and risk management. Mr. Johnson has analyzed terrorist incidents for a variety of media including the Jim Lehrer News Hour, National Public Radio, ABC's Nightline, NBC's Today Show, the New York Times, CNN, Fox News and the BBC. 

From 1989 until October 1993, Larry Johnson served as a Deputy Director in the U.S. State Department’s Office of Counter Terrorism.  He managed crisis response operations for terrorist incidents throughout the world and he helped organize and direct the US Government’s debriefing of US citizens held in Kuwait and Iraq, which provided vital intelligence on Iraqi operations following the 1990 invasion of Kuwait.  Mr. Johnson also participated in the investigation of the terrorist bombing of Pan Am 103.  Under Mr. Johnson’s leadership the U.S. airlines and pilots agreed to match the US Government’s two million-dollar reward.  From 1985 through September 1989 Mr. Johnson worked for the Central Intelligence Agency.  During his distinguished career, he received training in paramilitary operations, worked in the Directorate of Operations, served in the CIA’s Operation’s Center, and established himself as a prolific analyst in the Directorate of Intelligence.  In his final year with the CIA he received two Exceptional Performance Awards. Mr. Johnson is a member of the American Society for Industrial Security.  He taught at The American University’s School of International Service (1979-1983) while working on a Ph.D. in political science.  He has a M.S. degree in Community Development from the University of Missouri (1978), where he also received his B.S. degree in Sociology, graduating Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa in 1976.

November 7th , 2004

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October 24th, 2004

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October 17th, 2004

Hour 1:
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Hour 2:
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Anatol Lieven on his controversial critique of America's role in the world, as per his new book--the just published "America Right or Wrong: An Anatomy of American Nationalism."  Lieven contends that U.S. foreign policy since 9/11 has been shaped by the special character of our national identity, which embraces two contradictory features. One, "The American Creed," is a civic nationalism which espouses liberty, democracy, and the rule of law. It is our greatest legacy to the world. But our almost religious belief in the "Creed" creates a tendency toward a dangerously "messianic" element in American nationalism, the desire to extend American values and American democracy to the whole world, irrespective of the needs and desires of others. The other feature, Jacksonian nationalism, has its roots in the aggrieved, embittered, and defensive White America, centered in the American South. Where the "Creed" is optimistic and triumphalist, Jacksonian nationalism is fed by a profound pessimism and a sense of personal, social, religious, and sectional defeat. Lieven examines how these two antithetical impulses have played out in recent US policy, especially in the Middle East and in the nature of U.S. support for Israel. He suggests that in this region, the uneasy combination of policies based on two contradictory traditions have gravely undermined U.S. credibility and complicated the war against terrorism.  Lieven is a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for international Peace.  He writes on a range of security and international affairs issues. He previously was editor of Strategic Comments, published by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) in London. There he also specialized in the former Soviet Union and in aspects of contemporary warfare.  

Dr. Graham Allison on U.S. vulnerability to a terrorist nuclear attack. While he begins by asserting such an attack is preventable, what Dr. Allison, the author of the new book "Nuclear Terrorism: the Ultimate Preventable Catastrophe," has to say beyond that  is anything but reassuring. Allison describes the broad spectrum of groups who could intend a nuclear strike against the U.S. They range from an al-Qaeda with its own Manhattan Project to small and determined doomsday cults. Their tools can include a broad spectrum of weapons, either stolen or homemade from raw materials increasingly available worldwide. Once terrorists acquire a nuclear bomb, Allison argues, its delivery to an American target may be almost impossible to stop under current security measures. The Bush administration, correct in waging war against nuclear terrorism, has not, he says, yet developed a comprehensive counter strategy. Arguing that the only way to eliminate nuclear terrorism's threat is to lock down the weapons at the source, Allison recommends nothing less than a new international order based on no insecure nuclear material, no new facilities for processing uranium or enriching plutonium and no new nuclear states. Those policies, Allison believes, do not stretch beyond the achievable, if pursued by a combination of quid pro quos and intimidation in an international context of negotiation and a U.S. foreign policy he describes as "humble." A humble policy in turn will facilitate building a world alliance against nuclear terrorism and acquiring the intelligence necessary for success against prospective nuclear terrorists. It will also require time, money and effort. Like the Cold War, the war on nuclear terrorism will probably be a long struggle in the twilight. But no student of the fact, Allison asserts, doubts that another major terrorist attack is in the offing. "We do not have the luxury," he declares, "of hoping the beast will simply go away." Allison is the founding dean of Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government and is the director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and the Douglas Dillon Professor of Government. He served as assistant secretary of defense for policy and plans and is also the author of Essence of Decision: Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis.  

Michael Klare, the author of the new book "Blood and Oil: the Dangers and Consequences of America's Growing Petroleum Dependency" on the world's rapidly growing economy which is dependent on oil as the world's supply is running out.  As this happens, the U.S. and other great powers are engaged in an escalating game of brinkmanship to secure oil's continued free flow. Such is the premise of Klare's powerful and brilliant new book (following Resource Wars). The U.S.ówith less than 5% of the world's total populationóconsumes about 25% of the world's total supply of oil, he argues. With no meaningful conservation being attempted, Klare sees the nation's energy behavior dominated by four key trends: "an increasing need for imported oil; a pronounced shift toward unstable and unfriendly suppliers in dangerous parts of the world; a greater risk of anti-American or civil violence; and increased competition for what will likely be a diminishing supply pool." In clear, lucid prose, Klare lays out a disheartening and damning indictment of U.S. foreign policy. From the waning days of WWII, when Franklin Roosevelt gave legitimacy to the autocratic Saudi royalty, to the current conflict in Iraq, Klare painstakingly describes a nation controlled by its unquenchable thirst for oil. Rather than setting out a strategy for energy independence, he finds a roadmap for further U.S. dependence on imported oil, more exposure for the U.S. military overseas and, as a result, less safety for Americans at home and abroad. While Klare offers some positive suggestions for solving the problem, in tone and detail this work sounds a dire warning about the future of the world.  Michael Klare is the director of the Five College Program in Peace and World Security Studies at Hampshire College in Amherst. Defense analyst for The Nation and National Public Radio, he is the author of Resource Wars, Rogue States and Nuclear Outlaws, and Low Intensity Warfare.     

Background Briefing, Part two:   

John Judis, the author of the newly published "The Folly of Empire: What George W. Bush Could Learn from Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson" on how the neocon urge to dominate the world is ultimately wasteful and self-destructive.  Surveying American foreign policy since the 1890s, New Republic senior editor Judis argues that when conservatives compare George W. Bush's post-9/11 speech to Congress with Roosevelt's "The Strenuous Life" (a speech that endorsed U.S. expansionism), they leave out Roosevelt's later doubts about expansionism and his support for international law and organization. While adopting Woodrow Wilson's goal of global democracy, conservatives, Judis says, have disregarded Wilson's recognition, through the example of Mexico, that the U.S. will stumble when trying to impose a government in the manner of McKinley and early Teddy Roosevelt: unilaterally. Where Judis identifies imperialist activity over the decades, he finds it grounded in America's sense of mission. But he also finds American torture in Iraq echoing American conduct toward Native Americans and in the Philippines and Vietnam: treatment meted out to "savages," not equals. He praises Bill Clinton for using NATO as not merely a military alliance but an "association of interest." Judis makes a strong case that Bush's repudiation of Clinton's support for numerous treaties and pacts has been shortsighted.  He is a senior editor for The New Republic and has been a contributor to the magazine since 1982.  His articles have also appeared in The American Prospect, The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post, Foreign Affairs and many others. His books include The Paradox of American Democracy: Elites, Special Interests, and the Betrayal of Public Trust; William F. Buckley: Patron Saint of the Conservatives, and Grand Illusion: Critics and Champions of the American Century.    

Gene Lyons is the co-author of the definitive "The Hunting of the President," which documented the orchestrated Republican effort to destroy the presidency of Bill Clinton.  Lyons described in detail a Republican machine, funded by billionaires, which will corrupt any institution, govermental, media or religious, in the persuit of power--and that machine is operating now as we head into perhaps the most important election in our lifetimes.  Lyons' book was made into an acclaimed documentary, just released on DVD.  The Hunting DVD unfolds like a paranoid thriller--made all the more astonishing by scrupulous documentation and an impressive breadth of interviews with journalists, lawyers, political analysts, judges, newspaper editors, and many of the people caught up in the Whitewater scandal--which, after an expense of nearly a hundred million dollars and several years of investigation, failed to find any criminal act. The relentless efforts of Clinton's enemies grow into an appalling abuse of power, ultimately resulting in his impeachment (but not his removal from office). This documentary, like those of Michael Moore, uses brief clips from Hollywood movies and television to give a boost to the narrative.  The Hunting of the President presents such an impressive barrage of facts and perspectives that the argument it presents is overwhelming. Lyons is a nationally syndicated columnist and recipient of the National Magazine Award. He has written extensively for Newsweek, Harper's, The Nation and many other magazines. His books include The Higher Illiteracy, Widow's Web and Fools for Scandal.   

George Butler on Senator John Kerry and on the controversy surrounding the Rovian "Swift Boat" campaign to attack Kerry's stellar Vietnam record.  Butler is the director of the about-to-be-released documentary "Going Upriver," which explores the roots of Presidential Candidate John Kerry.  Butler has known Senator Kerry since 1964 and in 1969 began photographing him, in an effort to document his life and career. Using his unique collection of images, the film weaves together Butler's photography with archival materia, interviews with Kerry's closest associates as well as contemporary footage of him at home and abroad. As with Butler's films Pumping Iron and The Endurance: Shackleton's Legenday Antartic Expedition and the IMAX feature "Shackleton's Legenday Antarctic Expedition, the filmmaker prove himself worthy of the acclaim he has received for being a master at portraying American men affected by and effecting history.  Going Upriver: The Long War of John Kerry begins by juxtaposing beautiful images of Vietnam with horrific images of the Vietnam War. But though its depiction of the war is vivid--and the accounts of 2004 presidential candidate John Kerry's heroism, told by the men who served with him, are plain and free of hyperbole--it's his actions after he came back to the U.S. that stand out in this documentary. Kerry's involvement with Vietnam Veterans Against the War, for whom he became an inadvertent but eloquent spokesperson, required as much courage as facing the Viet Cong. Going Upriver gives a clear sense of the emotional and social pressures of the anti-war protests, where speaking one's mind became as powerful as firing a gun.

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Robert Reich on the Presidential and Vice Presidential debates and the political landscape as it exists today.  Dr. Reich was the Secretary of Labor under President Clinton.  He is currently a Professor of Social and Economic Policy at Brandeis University, and is the author of nine books, including The Work of Nations, which is one of the most influential books on the economy and workforce ever published and which has been translated into 22 languages, and his most recent "Reason: why liberals will win the battle for America."  

In 1992, Reich headed President Clinton's economic transition team. Before that, he served as a faculty member at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government. Reich worked in the Carter Administration, as Director of the Policy Planning Staff of the Federal Trade Commission. He also served as an assistant to the Solicitor General at the U.S. Department of Justice, representing the United States before the Supreme Court, during the Ford Administration.  Reich is a co-founder and former chairman of the political magazine The American Prospect, and serves on the Board of Directors of the Cambridge Community Foundation.As U.S. Secretary of Labor during President Clinton's first term, Reich was part of an Administration that presided over the longest economic expansion in history and created more than 22 million jobs nationwide. His leadership earned the Department of Labor more than 30 awards for innovation and government reinvention. A 1996 poll of Cabinet experts conducted by Hearst Newspapers rated Reich the most effective Cabinet secretary during the Clinton Administration. Reich transformed the Labor Department into a powerhouse of ideas, action and innovation, leading the way on important initiatives such as:  Implementing the Family and Medical Leave Act;  Fighting against sweatshops in the United States and illegal child labor around the world; Increasing the minimum wage for the first time since 1989;  Protecting workers' pensions by ensuring that companies fully funded their pension plans;  Launching job training programs, one-stop career centers, and school-to-work initiatives, all of which helped Americans earn higher incomes  

Lou DuBose  on the appearance and reality of corruption in Tom Delay's role as the majority leader of the House of Representatives.  DeLay has twice recently been censured for ethics violations and the suggestion is that these censures, delivered as they were by a Republican-controlled Congress, represent only the tips of icebergs.  Lou DuBose is the author of the just-published "The Hammer: Tom DeLay: God, Money and the Rise of the Republican Congress."  We'll talk to him about DeLay, his Texan background as a pest exterminator, how he has risen to power, his dreams for a theocratic Republican nation, and his recent troubles. Lou DuBose is the co-author, with Molly Ivins, of Bushwhacked: Life in George W. Bush's America and Shrub: The Short But Happy Political Life of George W. Bush and Boy Genius: Karl Rove, the Brains Behind the Remarkable Political Triumph of George W. Bush. He was the editor of the Texas Observer for eleven years. 

Michelle Kraus  on techology and voting.  Dr. Kraus is the CEO of Digital Campaigns, a company that is exploring and devloping new technologies to be employed in vote counting and exit polling, so that we have accuate, fool-proof and transparent voting.  Voting and technology, Kraus asserts, can be made compatible and Kraus seeks to be on the forefront of making that happen.  Dr. Kraus is a 20-year veteran of the technology industry, she has built large companies and founded start-up ventures.  Her political activism, begun when she was 12 years old, includes volunteer work in candidate campaigns as well as environmental and public interest campaigns.  Her work in the public policy arena spans the last two decades, providing her with a rare understanding of both politics and technology. Michelle holds a Ph.D. from Carnegie-Mellon University.

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Sidney Blumenthal on the presidential debates, what impact they may have and what he sees on the political event horizon.  Sidney Blumenthal was a former Senior Advisor to the President Bill Clinton.  Considered to be one of our finest political writers and commentators, Blumenthal is the author of the best-selling "The Clinton Wars," now available in paperback. Mr. Blumenthal is also a regular columnist for The Guardian of London and Salon.com in the US on the web. His recent column, published in both Salon.com and the London Guardian, entitled "Faith vs. Reason" examines the Kerry - Bush presidential debate as a contest of paradigms: Kerry's reasoned and rigorous strategic analysis; and Bush's non-rational impulses of "faith" and "gut feeling," by which he and his neocon handlers have pushed America forward into what many believe to be the worst foreign-policy disaster in our history--a quagmire which is purely destructive to all sides.  link

Ambassador Joseph Wilson on conditions in Iraq, the Bush presidency and how the Bush administration attacked Wilson and his wife after he revealed the false nature of assertions Bush made in the 2002 State of the Union address about Iraq attempting to acquire uranium from Niger.  Ambassador Wilson holds a record of diplomatic service to the United States which is almost without peer, having served in the diplomatic corps from 1976 to 1998.  He was Ambassador to Iraq under the first George Bush and was the last American official to meet with Saddam Hussein prior to Desert Storm.  Ambassador Wilson is the author of the best-selling "The Politics of Truth: inside the lies that Led to War and Betrayed My Wife's CIA Identity: A Diplomats Memoir," a riveting account of  his revelation that Bush's 2002 State of the Union speech contained falsehoods which were used to push this nation to an unnecessary war--and tells the story of how the Bush administration punished him and his wife for truth-telling.  Her career as a CIA operative looking to contain nuclear proliferation was destroyed by operatives in the Bush administration, who would damage the interests of the United States in order to personally retailiate against Ambassador Wilson. 

Leon Smith on his recent editorial endorsing John Kerry for President of the United States.  This is remarkable because Leon Smith is the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of the Lone Star Iconoclast, a weekly newspaper based in George Bush's hometown of Crawford, Texas.  His recent editorial endorsing John Kerry, entitled "John Kerry will Restore American Dignity," is not just notable because the paper is based in Crawford, it's also keenly insightful by any standards.  Ian talks to Smith about living in the heart of Bush country and why he felt he had to endorse Senator John Kerry for President of the United States.  www.iconoclast-texas.com

September 19th, 2004

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Panel on the the growing Israeli/Pentagon/neocon spy scandal: Dr. Avner Cohen, now a visiting professor at Hebrew University in Jerusalem and author of the book Israel and the Bomb and a new book Israel's Last Taboo, with Dr. Michael Saba, author of The Armageddon Network and an international  business consultant. Do the Israeli's operate a deep espionage network in the United States, in concert with AIPAC, as has been suggested by some and reported in the media recently?  To what extent has Israel influenced American policy via the neocons placed in high positions of great influence in US policy making, particularly with respect to the invasion of Iraq, and the building pressure to strike Iran?  Has the United States military become a captive "Gurkha regiment" for the Israelis, as Professor Juan Cole has alleged?  Cohen and Saba take very differing positions as Ian moderates the discussion.

David MacMichael is a former analyst for the CIA and a member of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity.  Quote: "Porter Goss is a long-time member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and has been a strong defender of the agency after Iran-Contra and the post-Gulf War anger over the poor performance of the intelligence community; none of which came to very much, partly because when the Clinton administration came in, they brought in James Woolsey.... There had been very strong calls for change. Goss was a very strong supporter of the agency and not one who was ever associated with any proposal for change or, for lack of a better word, reform. To find him being the nominee can be interpreted as saying this is business as usual. Generally to have someone who was in an oversight role become director is not helpful."

Ian Williams is a veteran journalist and The Nation's UN correspondent. He is the author of The UN for Beginners, The Alms Trade and the just published "Deserter: George W. Bush's War on Military Families, Veterans and His Past." Since taking office, George W. Bush has relished the role of "Commander in Chief." His military posturing is intended to convince Americans that he alone can lead them to victory in the war on terror and is designed to appeal to the votes of the armed forces and veterans. But his military record is disastrous. While George W. Bush supported the Vietnam War, his family influence got him into the Texas Air National Guard, which, short of World War III breaking out, guaranteed that he would never see military action. Even in this safest of positions, Lieutenant Bush broke under the strain and went AWOL in Alabama for the better part of a year--canvassing for the Republican Party. In contrast, George W. Bush's Administration calls up contemporary national Guardsmen for front-line action in Iraq, and extends their terms in a form of backdoor conscription. As the military budget soars, the war is being fought with a dangerously inadequate number of troops. The Administration ships home the dead and disabled under cover of darkness; those who do eventually return in one piece find their veterans' medical benefits and facilities axed. Drawing on the extensive research on the President's still mysterious military career, Williams convincingly argues that our Commander in Chief is guilty of breathtaking hypocrisy, cynical doublethink and egregious neglect of the actual defense of the United States.

Central to this strategy is the power of American ideals, what Hart calls "the fourth power." Constitutional liberties, representative government,press freedom - these and other democratic principles, attractive to peoples worldwide, constitute a resource that may prove as important to national security and the national interest in this dangerous new century as traditional military, economic and political might.

Writes Hart:  "The idea that government exists to protect, not oppress, the individual has an enormous power not fully understood by most Americans who take this principle for granted from birth. Far more nations will follow us because of the power of this ideal than the might of all our weapons."

Against those who view America's noblest values as an inconvenience or even hindrance to the exertion of influence abroad, Hart warns that we ignore principle only at our peril. Such an approach may serve short-term goals, but there are costs; among them is the compromising of a crucial strategic asset, America's fourth power.

Certain objectives require a military response--few serious people would disagree. The question is "whether America's purposes are best achieved through empire and force or through principle and persuasion." To suggest the former, Hart argues, is to misread both history and our current revolutionary age, one where terrorism, the internationalization of markets, information technology, eroding nation-state authority and other realities demand not doctrines of superstate unilateralism and preemption but rather appreciation for new collective security structures, international regulatory bodies, even forms of collaborative sovereignty.

Applying the best insights of strategy to statecraft, Hart finds fuzziness, overreaching, and "theological" simplicity in America's current foreign policy. Nor does he believe the war on terror, necessary in the near term, will itself serve to chart America's larger strategic course. A bracing vision of an America responsive to a full spectrum of global challenges, The Fourth Power calls for a deeper understanding both of the threats we face and the profound strengths at our disposal to fight them. Senator Hart discusses his important vision with Ian Masters in a vital dialog.  

Youssef Ibrahim  was for 24 years a Senior Middle-East foreign correspondent and reporter with the New York Times and Wall Street Journal. He is a Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations based in New York and is Managing Director of Strategic Investment Group, Consultant specializing in "risk analysis."  In this interview Ian and Youssef discuss Bush's strategic blundering harming US interests, the future of oil, the situation in Iraq and the Middle East. 

August 1st, 2004

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Nina J. Easton is the deputy chief of the Boston Globe's Washington bureau and author of the critically acclaimed Gang of Five: Leaders at the Center of the Conservative Ascendancy, which chronicles the rise to power of today's conservative movement. The Washington Post praised the book for telling the story of post-Reagan conservatism "more inventively, exhaustively, and entertainingly than anyone else." Easton's career also includes a decade at the Los Angeles Times, where her Sunday Magazine stories on issues ranging from poverty to politics earned a number of national awards. In addition, she is co-author of the 1982 best-selling book Reagan's Ruling Class: Portraits of the President's Top 100 Officials. She is co-author of the recent "John F. Kerry: The Complete Biography by the Boston Globe Reporters Who Know Him Best."

Michael Scott Duran  is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University, and an Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. He teaches courses on political Islam, Middle Eastern nationalisms, U.S.-Middle East relations, and the Arab-Israeli conflict. From 1997 to 2000, Dr. Doran was an Assistant Professor of History at the University of Central Florida. He is the author of a study of the first Arab-Israeli war, entitled Pan-Arabism Before Nasser: Egyptian Power Politics and the Palestine Question (Oxford University Press, 1999), and is currently working on a book entitled The Trump Card: Israel in the Arab Civil War. After he published an influential article on Osama bin Laden in the January/February 2002 issue of Foreign Affairs, both government and business have frequently invited him to speak on Middle Eastern affairs.   

Dr. Duran comments on excerpts from a 7.30.04 Ian Masters interview with:  

Carmen bin Laden is the author of "Inside the Kingdom: My Life in Saudi Arabia" and Osama bin Laden's former sister-in-law.  She provides a penetrating, unusually intimate look into Saudi society and the bin Laden family's role within it, as well as the treatment of Saudi women. On September 11th, 2001, Carmen bin Ladin heard the news that the Twin Towers had been struck. She instinctively knew that her ex-brother-in-law was involved in these hor-rifying acts of terrorism, and her heart went out to America. She also knew that her life and the lives of her family would never be the same again. Carmen bin Ladin, half Swiss and half Persian, married into-and later divorced from-the bin Laden family and found herself inside a complex and vast clan, part of a society that she neither knew nor understood. Her story takes us inside the bin Laden family and one of the most powerful, secretive, and repressed kingdoms in the world.  

Fadel Gheit graduated from Cairo University and New York University.  He is currently Senior Vice President for Oil and Gas Research with Oppenheimer Inc. in NYC.  Mr. Gheit has more than 30 years of experience in oil and gas research.  He has previously been with Mobil Oil and JP Morgan Company in New York. Questions discussed include: Oil prices have recently been at record highs?  How does they compare to prices, adjusted for inflation, over the last 40 years? Why is there no political, public or consumer outcry at these prices? To what do you attribute the high prices? (Says oil prices are exaggerated at least $15/barrel x 80 milliion barrels--global economy paying billion dollar ransom.)  Who benefits from high fuel prices? (hedge funds)  One assumes that President Bush, with an oil background, would be well regarded in the industry.  Is that the case?  (The oil industry made more money in the 4 years that Bush has been in the White House than in the past 20 years combined.  Exxon-Mobil made, in the first half of this year, a 12 Billion dollar profit.  They have $19 Billion in cash.  The oil industry is generating cash faster than it can be spent.  They have more cash than any time in their history.) But, doesn't the oil industry want stability?  (Yes.  They want stability more than profit.  They fear the feast and famine cycle.) If there were no oil in Iraq, would the US be there? Would the invasion and occupation have happened?  (Absolutely not.) What about the misuse of the Iraqi oil revenues?  Billions are simply missing.  What do you think about Halliburton?  What has the been the effect of Bush's policies on oil and gas prices? (Bush has not opened his mouth once on oil prices; he acts as if this is a non-issue.  Oil prices have doubled on his watch.  If there were anyone else as president, the prices wouldn't be this high.) From your perspective, what is your assessment of the Bush presidency? Is the Bush administration "conditioning" the public to accept high oil prices? What would your advice be to a President Kerry in developing an energy policy for the United States? You specialize in the "psychology of oil markets."  If the world is on your analytical couch, what is its mood, the state of its mental health? (I have not seen anything like this in 30 years.  The psychological issue is enormous; it is pulverizing everything in its path.)  What does the future hold for the world's oil and energy supply?  What are the true reserves left to the world? What about gas reserves in Alaska?  (There are huge quantities of natural gas in Alaska for which a "piggy-back" pipeline should be constructed.)

July 25th, 2004

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John Nichols is The Nation's Washington correspondent and has covered progressive politics and activism in the United States and abroad for more than a decade. Formerly a writer and editor for The Toledo Blade and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette newspapers, he is now editorial page editor for The Capital Times in Madison, Wisconsin. He has, as well, covered electoral politics for The Progressive for a number of years. His articles have appeared in The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune and dozens of other newspapers. Nichols has covered four presidential elections in the United States, along with elections and political activism in Britain, Ireland, Israel, India, Palestine, El Salvador, Jamaica and South Africa. His editorials on corporate responsibility have been honored by the Inland Press Association as the best in the country and his columns on presidential politics have been acclaimed by Women in Communications International as the best appearing in a daily newspaper. He is the author, with Bob McChesney, of It's the Media, Stupid (Seven Stories) and Jews for Buchanan, on the 2000 presidential election.  His new book is "Dick: the Man Who is President," which is about Vice President Dick Cheney and will be published in August. This interview is a live report from the Democratic National Convention in Boston.  In it, Nichols discusses the political dynamic as the Democrats posture themselves to retake the White House.  He discusses the "Nader factor," Kerry's "charisma deficit" and his new book about Dick Cheney.

Kevin Phillips first became known for his 1969 book, The Emerging Republican Majority,written in 1967 and 1968, and used by Richard Nixon in his successful 1968 presidential campaign. The Emerging Republican Majority predicted a new era of GOP control of the presidency based on the realignment of the South. Newsweek described it as “the political bible of the Nixon Administration.” Educated at Colgate, the University of Edinburgh and Harvard Law School, Phillips, at age 27, had served as the chief elections and voting patterns analyst for the 1968 Nixon campaign. In 1969, he began twelve months tenure as Special Assistant to the U.S. Attorney General, but left in 1970 to become a syndicated newspaper columnist. In 1971, he became president of the American Political Research Corporation and editor-publisher of the American Political Report (through 1998). Discussions of the 1972 presidential election widely acknowledged how it had followed Phillips’s outlines, but then in1973-74, the Watergate scandals confused the future. After Ronald Reagan’s election in 1980 restored the 1968-72 dynamics, Phillips was generally acknowledged as the Republican party’s principal electoral theoretician. In 1982, the Wall Street Journal described him as “the leading conservative electoral analyst -- the man who invented the Sun Belt, named the New Right, and prophesied ‘The Emerging Republican Majority’ in 1969.” In 1978, Phillips became a radio commentator for CBS News, and in 1984, for National Public Radio as well. He served as a commentator for CBS Television News during the 1984, 1988, 1992 and 1996 election seasons and conventions. Beginning with The Emerging Republican Majority in 1969, he has published a total of eleven books: Mediacracy: American Parties and Politics in the Communications Age (1974), Post-Conservative America (1982), Staying on Top: The Business Case for a National Industrial Strategy (1984), The Politics of Rich and Poor: Wealth and Electorate in the Reagan Aftermath (1990), Boiling Point: Democrats, Republicans and the Decline of Middle Class Prosperity (1993), Arrogant Capital: Washington, Wall Street and the Frustration of American Politics (1994), The Cousins’ Wars: Religion, Politics and the Triumph of Anglo-America (1999), Wealth and Democracy: A Political History of the American Rich (2002), William McKinley (2003) and American Dynasty: Aristocracy, Fortune and the Politics of Deceit in the House of Bush (January 2004). In 1990, The Politics of Rich and Poor, a critique of Reagan-Bush economics, rose to number two on the New York Times bestseller list, aided by the fact of its endorsement (in book jacket blurbs) by former Republican president Nixon and New York Governor Mario Cuomo, at that time expected to be the 1992 Democratic presidential candidate. The book would later be described as a “founding document” of the 1992 presidential election campaigns of Clinton and other Democrats and independent Perot. In reviewing his 1993 book, Boiling Point, the New York Times Book Review noted that “through more than 25 years of analysis and predictions, nobody has been as transcendentally right about the outlines of American political change as Kevin Phillips.” In 1990, Time observed that “in the shoot-from-the-hip world of Washington prognostication, Kevin Phillips stands out like Nostradamus.” But in 1997, disgusted with how Washington politics had sunk to herald Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Newt Gingrich and George W. Bush, Phillips left the capital for his country house in Connecticut, and returned to his youthful focus on history. In 1999, The Cousins’ Wars, which analyzed the Anglo-American linkage and shared divisions through three civil wars -- the English Civil War, the American Revolution and the American Civil War -- was runner-up for the Pulitzer Prize in History. In 2002, Wealth and Democracy, which warned about the historical perils posed by the increasingly warped inter-relationship of the two forces in the U.S., climbed to number 11 on the national (NYT) bestseller list. In 2003, William McKinley, Phillips’s study of the (Republican) 25th U.S. president, done for Arthur Schlesinger’s American Presidents series, prompted the publication Foreign Affairs to say that “an unmatched ability to link retail politics with great public issues and broad economic trends gives Phillips extraordinary insight into the making of the American past. {He} is one of a handful of scholars who can treat both the American past and the American present with authority; this book will strengthen his already formidable reputation even more than it will help McKinley’s.” Phillips, 63, now lives in Litchfield County, Connecticut, with his wife Martha. He is a commentator for NPR and the Los Angeles Times, and occasionally writes for Time and Harper’s. He did not support either George H.W. Bush in the 1988 and 1992 presidential elections or George W. Bush in 2000. In 2002, he re-registered in Connecticut as a political independent.  Mr. Phillips' recent article in The Nation "How Kerry Can Win" describes a winning strategy for Kerry's electoral success by appealling to the "Unbase Republicans."  He discusses the article and more in this fascinating interview.

Dr. David Newman is professor of Political Geography and Geopolitics at Ben Gurion University in Israel. He was the founder and first chairperson of the Department of Politics and Government at this University. Previously he was a faculty member in the Department of Geography and has also served as Director of the Humphrey Institute for Social research at the University. Currently, Professor Newman is  Editor of the International Journal of Geopolitics (co-editor is professor John Agnew from UCLA). Newman has researched and published widely on territorial dimensions of the Arab-Israel conflict, with a particular focus on issues relating to territory, borders and settlements. In addition to his academic writings, newman publishes op-ed and commentary columns dealing with the conflict and other issues relating to Israeli politics and society and has appeared frequently in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, the Guardian, Jerusalem Post and Tikkun Magazine. Newman is a regular participant in the Track II discussions between Israel and the palestinians. Ian and Dr. Newman discuss: The Peace Process and the Road Map. What is the Destination? The geopolitics of the Israel-Palestine Conflict and Peace process. the Separation fence, and the crisis in leadership among the Palestinians.    

Max Blumenthal is an investigative reporter who writes for Salon.com, the American Prospect and a number of other publications.  His new piece currently at Salon.com is entitled: "The Other Regime Change: Did the Bush administration allow a network of right-wing Republicans to foment a violent coup in Haiti?  We've heard what the American media and the Bush administration have said about Haiti.  What really happened there?  Blumenthal reveals the involvement of American right-wing operatives in the Hatitian coup.  Also, Mr. Blumenthal reveals Republican support of the Nader campaign and asks the question: why won't Mr. Nader repudiate support coming from anti-gay, Republican and anti-immigration groups?

June 13th , 2004

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Dr. Charles 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 G8 summit, NATO participation in Iraq and US domestic politics.  

Oliver Miles joined the British Foreign Office in 1960 and served in a number of Middle Eastern posts, and in London where he had a period of specialization in oil and commodity trade. In 1984 he was Ambassador in Libya, until the breach in diplomatic relations. From 1985 to 1987 he was Ambassador in Luxembourg.   From 1991-93 he was non-executive director of Vickers Defense Systems. From 1993 until his retirement from the Diplomatic Service in 1996 he was British Ambassador to Greece. He speaks Arabic, Greek, French and Russian. He was one of 52 retired diplomats who in 2003 sent a letter to Prime Minister Tony Blair regarding their concern over the matters of the Iraq war and the on-going Israeli/Palestinian conflict.   

Wayne Madsen is a Washington, DC-based investigative journalist and columnist. He served in the National Security Agency (NSA) during the Reagan administration and wrote the introduction to Forbidden Truth. He is the co-author, with John Stanton, of "America's Nightmare: The Presidency of George Bush II." His forthcoming book is titled: "Jaded Tasks: Big Oil, Black Ops, and Brass Plates.") Mr. Madsen talks about the pending investigation into the White House "outing" of CIA operative Valerie Plame (wife of former Ambassador Joseph Wilson) whose role was to search for and intercept the real and present threat of weapons of mass destruction and loose fissile material.  Madsen reveals that the extent of the damage resulting from the outing of Plame is far worse than previously reported and that indictments resulting from that treasonous act may reach very high in the White House.  

James Bamford is the author of the bestsellers Body of Secrets and The Puzzle Palace and has written extensively on national security issues, including investigative cover stories for The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post Magazine, and the Los Angeles Times Magazine. Formerly an investigative producer for ABCís World News Tonight with Peter Jennings, he lives in Washington, D.C.  The bestselling author of Body of Secrets and The Puzzle Palace presents his most hard-hitting book to date, a sweeping, authoritative, and fearless account of the failures of America's intelligence agencies and the Bush administration's calculated efforts to sell a war to the American people. In The Puzzle Palace, James Bamford revealed the inner workings of the NSA, the largest, most secretive, and best-financed intelligence organization in the world. In Body of Secrets, he took readers inside the ultrasecret agency, charting its deeds and misdeeds from its founding in 1952 to the end of the twentieth century. Now Bamford applies his relentless investigative drive and unparalleled access to intelligence sources to produce another history-making volume. A bold, incisive response to the Bush administrationís version of recent events, A PRETEXT FOR WAR explains why American intelligence agencies failed to predict and prevent the disaster of 9/11 and lays bare the Bush administration's role in formulating specious justifications for the pre-emptive war on Iraq. Bamford homes in on the systematic weaknesses that led the intelligence community to ignore or misinterpret evidence of the impending terrorist attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center. Using impeccable sources in the intelligence communities, he shows that the Bush administration was, from its inception, more interested in pursuing a dubious agenda in Iraq than hunting terrorists like Osama bin Laden. From the mishandling of 9/11 to the still-unproven claims about Iraqís weapons of mass destruction, to recent allegations about the threat Iran poses to the world, Bamford argues that the Bush administration has co-opted the intelligence community for its own political ends.  A PRETEXT FOR WAR is the full, unvarnished story of a national scandal packed with detailed proof of incompetence, deception, and misinformation on the part of the government officials charged with safeguarding our security. An unprecedented, utterly convincing exposé of the most secretive administration in history, it is bound to make headlines throughout the world.  Mr. Bamford discusses his new book, "A PRETEXT FOR WAR," the apparent conflicts between the White House and the intelligence services and the disaster that the Iraq war has become.