Michael Schwartz, journalist and Professor of Sociology at SUNY-Stony Brook, discusses the history of the U.S. military’s various policies for and against various religious and political factions in Iraq over the past 5 years, Dick Cheney’s oil “control” motive for the war and the necessity of American withdrawal.

MP3 here. (38:05)

Michael Schwartz is a Professor of Sociology at SUNY-Stony Brook. Schwartz has written extensively on popular protest and insurgency, and on US business and government dynamics. His work has appeared at Asia Times, MotherJones.com, TomDispatch, and ZNet, and in Against the Current, Contexts, International Socialist Review, Socialist WorkerZ magazine. His books include Radical Politics and Social Structure, and The Power Structure of American Business.

Raed Jarrar, proprietor of the blog RaedInTheMiddle, discusses, explains the recent inter-Shia warfare in Iraq as an attempt by Bush/Maliki to check the power of the Sadrists before the upcoming elections, the details of the Sadr/ISCI split and relationships with the Iranians and the Iraqis’ demand and the necessity of withdrawal.

MP3 here. (17:21)

Raed Jarrar is an Iraq Consultant with the American Friends Service Committee.