Antiwar Radio with Scott Horton

Glenn Greenwald

scott@antiwar.com (Antiwar.com) — Tue, 22 May 2012 15:01:14 +0000

Salon.com blogger Glenn Greenwald discusses federal judge Katherine Forrest’s amazing ruling against the 2011 National Defense Authorization Act; why the US is moving rapidly toward an authoritarian police state 10+ years after 9/11; how the PATRIOT Act and military commissions, both highly controversial in 2001, have become the new normal; the Justice Department’s refusal to say that journalists and activists aren’t subject to indefinite detention – even though the DOJ would have won in court by doing so; how the NDAA violates the 1st and 5th Amendments; the Congress’s assault on due-process; and how the mainstream media avoids debate on inconvenient subjects by simply ignoring them.

MP3 here. (22:11)

Glenn Greenwald is a former Constitutional and civil rights litigator and is the author of two New York Times Bestselling books on the Bush administration’s executive power and foreign policy abuses. His just-released book, With Liberty and Justice for Some, is an indictment of America’s two-tiered system of justice, which vests political and financial elites with immunity even for egregious crimes while subjecting ordinary Americans to the world’s largest and most merciless penal state. Greenwald was named by The Atlantic as one of the 25 most influential political commentators in the nation. He is the recipient of the first annual I.F. Stone Award for Independent Journalism, and is the winner of the 2010 Online Journalism Association Award for his investigative work on the arrest and oppressive detention of Bradley Manning.

Dina Rasor

scott@antiwar.com (Antiwar.com) — Tue, 22 May 2012 15:01:07 +0000

Dina Rasor, founder of the Project on Military Procurement (now called the Project on Government Oversight, or POGO), discusses her article “Pilots as Lab Rats: The Reprehensible Risk-Taking on the F-22 Raptor;” the pilots who refused to fly anymore and went to 60 Minutes about the Raptor’s unexplained toxicity; how so-called stealth aircraft can be detected with outdated radar technology; the nearly half billion-dollar Raptor’s onerous maintenance requirements whenever it’s flown in the rain; and why pilot training is the key to an effective air force, not a fleet of expensive new planes.

MP3 here. (19:43)

Dina Rasor is an investigator, journalist and author. She has been fighting waste while working for transparency and accountability in government for three decades. In 1981 she founded the Project on Military Procurement (now called the Project on Government Oversight, or POGO) to serve as a non-profit, non-partisan watchdog over military and related government spending.

Rasor’s most recent book, Betraying Our Troops: The Destructive Results of Privatizing War, chronicles first-hand accounts of the devastating consequences of privatized war support for troops and the overall war effort in Iraq. She also founded the Bauman & Rasor Group that helps whistleblowers file lawsuits under the Federal qui tam False Claims act and has been involved in cases which have returned over $100 million back to the U.S. Treasury.

Steve Horn

scott@antiwar.com (Antiwar.com) — Tue, 22 May 2012 15:01:01 +0000

Steve Horn, researcher and writer at DeSmogBlog, discusses the Chicago NATO Summit activists arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit terrorism and providing material support for terrorism; the two informants who infiltrated the group and possibly planted or invented evidence; the home-brew kit Chicago police apparently “mistook” for a Molotov cocktail-maker; the activists held in solitary confinement and held without charge for days; why the cops and feds are so afraid of the Occupy Movement; and why Wall Street banks are hiring private security.

MP3 here. (25:13)

Steve Horn is a Research Fellow for DeSmogBlog. He joined the DeSmogBlog team in September 2011. Steve previously was a reporter and researcher at the Center for Media and Democracy, interned in Washington, DC with former U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI), and interned at the Rotary International world headquarters in Evanston, Illinois. In his free time, Steve is a competitive runner, with a personal best time of 2:43:04 in the 2009 Boston Marathon.

A graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, majoring in political science and legal studies, his writing has appeared on AlterNet, PR Watch, The Nation, Truth-Out, FireDogLake, Common Dreams, Mondoweiss, Uganda’s Daily Monitor, Modern Ghana, the London Evening Post, and CleanTechnica.

Christopher Anders

scott@antiwar.com (Antiwar.com) — Mon, 21 May 2012 15:00:45 +0000

Christopher Anders, senior legislative counsel in the ACLU’s Washington Legislative Office, discusses the temporary legal injunction prohibiting enforcement of some provisions in the NDAA, specifically the indefinite military detentions that could apply to American dissidents like Noam Chomsky and Daniel Ellsberg; the vague definitions of “support for terrorism” and “associated forces,” which basically mean whatever the government wants them to; why most members of Congress are willing to destroy civil liberties to look tough on terrorism and win reelection; imagining the consequences if other countries dared to assassinate Americans based on secret evidence and an undisclosed legal standard; and the US’s hypocritical message to the developing world about the superiority of civilian trials to military ones.

MP3 here. (16:45)

Christopher E. Anders is the senior legislative counsel in the American Civil Liberties Union’s Washington Legislative Office. He represents the ACLU in lobbying Congress and the executive branch on lesbian and gay rights, the faith-based initiative, conflicts between religious claims and civil rights, fair housing, oversight of federal civil rights enforcement, restoration of civil rights protections eroded by the courts, hate crimes and HIV/AIDS issues.

Neve Gordon

scott@antiwar.com (Antiwar.com) — Mon, 21 May 2012 15:00:39 +0000

Neve Gordon, Israeli activist and author of Israel’s Occupation, discusses his article “Erasing the Nakba: Israel’s Tireless Efforts to Conceal the Historical Events Leading to Its Creation;” how the state propagates its own version of history through public education, popular culture and compliant media; why the “land without a people” myth of Israel’s founding is less convincing than ever; how 500,000 Israeli settlers have – by design – made a two-state solution all but impossible; and why a single, power-sharing, bi-national state is the last avenue to Israeli-Palestinian peace.

MP3 here. (22:36)

Neve Gordon is an Israeli activist and the author of Israel’s Occupation. His website is IsraelsOccupation.info.

Kevjn Lim

scott@antiwar.com (Antiwar.com) — Mon, 21 May 2012 15:00:35 +0000

Kevjn Lim, independent writer and humanitarian professional, discusses his article “Israel’s Reluctant Friend;” the alleged high-level leak within the US government that supposedly exposed Azerbaijan’s offer of airstrips for an Israeli attack on Iran; Azerbaijan’s uncertain motivation for doing such a thing – if it’s true – since it has no real enmity with neighboring Iran and would face serious military consequences; and how Azerbaijan shares Turkey’s role as a bridge between the Muslim world and the West.

MP3 here. (16:34)

Kevjn Lim is an independent writer and humanitarian professional. He is also a contributing analyst at Open Briefing: The Civil Society Intelligence Agency. From 2007-2011, he served as delegate with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in the Palestinian Territories, Darfur, Iraq, Ghaddhafi’s Libya and Afghanistan, specializing in protection and analysis. Prior to that, he taught modern languages at both Trinity and Queens’ Colleges, University of Melbourne (2004-2006), and served as intelligence officer with the Singapore Armed Forces (2001-2004).

Kevjn holds a BA Honours (First Class) in political science and Jewish-Islamic studies from the University of Melbourne, and submitted his thesis on Israeli politics (co-supervised by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem). His work has appeared in a number of publications including Israel Affairs, Jerusalem Post, The Diplomat, openDemocracy and Asia Times Online. Besides English, he is fluent in Arabic, French, Hebrew, Italian, Mandarin Chinese, Persian, Romanian and Spanish.

Born and raised in Singapore, he is currently based in the Middle East.

Ramzy Baroud

scott@antiwar.com (Antiwar.com) — Sun, 20 May 2012 12:29:24 +0000

Ramzy Baroud, author of My Father Was a Freedom Fighter: Gaza’s Untold Story, discusses his article “East Africa at the Brink;” the multidimensional conflict in Sudan/South Sudan and neighboring countries; newly independent South Sudan’s devastating loss of oil income – which is the war and famine-wracked country’s entire economy; how US foreign policy disasters (like the Libyan War) create regional instability that justifies further interventions; why US interests are more geared toward disrupting China’s robust trade in Africa than controlling natural resources; and why a real Palestinian peace process will come from US pressure and Arab Spring momentum, not from the goodwill of Israel’s government.

MP3 here. (23:23)

Ramzy Baroud is an author and editor of The Palestine Chronicle. His work has been published in many newspapers, journals and anthologies around the world. His books include The Second Palestinian Intifada: A Chronicle of a People’s Struggle and Searching Jenin: Eyewitness Accounts of the Israeli Invasion.

Doug Bandow

scott@antiwar.com (Antiwar.com) — Sun, 20 May 2012 12:29:19 +0000

Doug Bandow, senior fellow at the Cato Institute, discusses his article “Mitt Romney: The Foreign Policy of Know-Nothingism;” the easier time Republicans have with diplomatic overtures since they don’t have to defend against “weakness” like Democrats; why you can’t be an Obama fan and morally principled; Glenn Greenwald’s lonely voice of dissent on the progressive Left; Romney’s empty sloganeering, like achieving “victory” in Afghanistan; and why Benjamin Netanyahu would be a de facto cabinet member in a Romney administration.

MP3 here. (20:01)

Doug Bandow is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, specializing in foreign policy and civil liberties. He worked as special assistant to President Reagan and editor of the political magazine Inquiry. He writes regularly for leading publications such as Fortune magazine, National Interest, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Times. Bandow speaks frequently at academic conferences, on college campuses, and to business groups. Bandow has been a regular commentator on ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox News Channel, and MSNBC. He holds a J.D. from Stanford University.

John Feffer

scott@antiwar.com (Antiwar.com) — Sun, 20 May 2012 12:29:14 +0000

John Feffer, co-director of Foreign Policy In Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies, discusses the China-Phillipines fight over natural resources in the South China Sea; how China weakened its international legal position by signing the UN Law of the Sea treaty, ceding historical territorial claims to a new “exclusive economic zone” standard; US interest in protecting shipping lanes, especially for oil tankers; how collective security agreements seem like a good idea – until a world war breaks out over a minor squabble; and planning Pentagon and defense contractor make-work projects (before big budget cuts come due) in a new “Pacific Pivot” policy.

MP3 here. (18:55)

John Feffer is co-director of Foreign Policy In Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies and author of Crusade 2.0: The West’s Resurgent War on Islam. His webpage is JohnFeffer.com.

John has been a Writing Fellow at Provisions Library in Washington, DC and a PanTech fellow in Korean Studies at Stanford University. He is a former associate editor of World Policy Journal. He has worked as an international affairs representative in Eastern Europe and East Asia for the American Friends Service Committee. He has studied in England and Russia, lived in Poland and Japan, and traveled widely throughout Europe and Asia. He has taught a graduate level course on international conflict at Sungkonghoe University in Seoul in July 2001 and delivered lectures at a variety of academic institutions including New York University, Hofstra, Union College, Cornell University, and Sofia University (Tokyo).

John has been widely interviewed in print and on radio. He serves on the advisory committees of the Alliance of Scholars Concerned about Korea. He is a recipient of the Herbert W. Scoville fellowship and has been a writer in residence at Blue Mountain Center and the Wurlitzer Foundation. He currently lives with his partner Karin Lee in Hyattsville, Maryland.

Noam Sheizaf

scott@antiwar.com (Antiwar.com) — Sat, 19 May 2012 03:55:38 +0000

Noam Sheizaf, journalist at 972mag.com and keeper of the Promised Land blog, discusses Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s super-coalition government – the strongest since Israel’s founding; why Israel’s settler movement has nothing to fear from current political conditions in Israel and the US; how Israel’s citizens have lost interest in the West Bank occupation, much like Americans who couldn’t care less about Afghanistan; and why the occupation of Palestinian lands is best described as a joint Israel-US project.

MP3 here. (11:04)

Noam Sheizaf is an independent journalist and editor. He worked for Ha-ir local paper in Tel Aviv, for Ynet.co.il and for Maariv daily paper, where his last post was as a deputy editor of the weekend magazine. His articles have been published at Haaretz, Yedioth Ahronoth, The Nation and other papers and magazines.

Before working as a journalist, Noam served four and a half years in the IDF. He lives and works in Tel Aviv.