Antiwar Radio with Scott Horton » Chalabi

Gareth Porter

Scott Horton — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 05:01:08 +0000

Gareth Porter, independent historian and journalist for IPS News, discusses the 20 year US campaign of death and destruction in Iraq, seemingly coming to an end after the Iraqi government rejected a troop extension beyond 2011; how Ahmed Chalabi convinced the neoconservatives a post-Saddam Iraq would be emphatically pro-Israel; why it shouldn’t surprise anyone that the current Iraqi government – composed largely of former exiles living in Iran – would be closely allied with Iran; how Nouri al-Maliki tricked the Bush administration into negotiating a troop withdrawal deadline (that became the definitive SOFA); and why the gigantic US embassy is destined to become a museum of US atrocities.

MP3 here. (19:44)

Gareth Porter is an independent historian and journalist. He is the author of Perils of Dominance: Imbalance of Power and the Road to War in Vietnam. His articles appear on Counterpunch, Huffington Post, Inter Press Service News Agency and Antiwar.com.

Michael O’Brien

Scott Horton — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 04:34:09 +0000

Michael O’Brien, author of America’s Failure in Iraq, discusses the media’s focus on troop escalations while ignoring the larger private contractor surges, the ease of starting wars and keeping them going since Congress abdicated its Constitutional responsibility, the inexcusable failures of the Coalition Provisional Authority and Paul Bremer, the primary purposes of contractors in Iraq: generate billable hours and stay alive, the critical questions not asked in the Fox News poll about U.S. opinion on the Iraq War, how Gen. Petraeus got promoted twice after losing 190,000 weapons meant for Iraqi security forces and why the surge’s success (even supposing it worked) in 2007 doesn’t retroactively justify the 2003 invasion.

MP3 here. (44:03)

Michael O’Brien spent 14 months as a DoD (Department of Defense) contractor in Iraq. He was the Real Estate Adviser to the Iraqi Ministry of Defense. Mike had previously spent over 20 years in commercial real estate, most of that time working in various areas of US Government real estate and facilities, to include nearly a decade with the US General Services Administration (GSA). Mike was assigned to the Ministry of Defense Transition Team (MODTT), part of the Multi-National Security Transition Command-Iraq, or MNSTC-I. This was the Coalition command element responsible for ‘standing up’ the Iraqi Ministries of Defense and Interior after they had been disbanded by Paul Bremer, the former head of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA).

Mike O’Brien was on the Bush-Cheney 2000 Campaign in its national headquarters in Austin, Texas, and participated in the vote recounts in Florida. He was a political appointee in the administration of President George W. Bush, serving in the US State Department’s Overseas Buildings Operations Bureau, where he was responsible for the planning and development of US embassies and consulates around the world. He was in Dacca, Bangladesh, on September 11, 2001. After 9/11, Mike went to the White House as the Senior Director for Administration in the Office of Homeland Security, the predecessor to the Department of Homeland Security we have today. Mr. O’Brien was one of the first 50 staff to arrive there.

Michael O’Brien is a graduate of West Point and served in the Infantry in Fort Benning, Georgia; the Canal Zone, Republic of Panama; the Demilitarized Zone, Republic of South Korea and Fort Sam Houston, San Antonio, Texas. He is a graduate of the US Army Ranger and Airborne schools at Fort Benning, Georgia, and is a former commercial helicopter pilot. He lives in Arlington, Virginia.

Larisa Alexandrovna

Scott Horton — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 07:30:25 +0000

Larisa Alexandrovna, Managing Editor of investigative news for RawStory, discusses the lies told about the US push for war with Iraq in Karl Rove’s new book, how the Bush administration “fixed the facts” around their Iraq policy, US bellicosity on Iran that is meant to assuage Israel’s fears of a competing regional power, Russian geopolitical successes against lightweight US strategists, why purple fingers are not necessarily indicative of democracy, the media’s obsession with “balance” at the expense of presenting facts or telling the truth and the difficult task of assigning appropriate blame to the public and media for complicity in Iraq War lies.

MP3 here. (49:55)

Larisa Alexandrovna is an investigative journalist, covering mostly national security and intelligence. She is currently the Managing Editor of investigative news for the Raw Story. She is a contributor to Alternet, The Huffington Post, and other publications.

Chris Floyd

Scott Horton — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 07:36:52 +0000

Chris Floyd, author of Empire Burlesque – High Crimes and Low Comedy in the Bush Imperium, discusses the media-designated “post-war” status of Iraq, the real “Mission Accomplished” goal of establishing a permanent US military footprint in Iraq, Ahmed “hero in error” Chalabi’s talent for remaining politically relevant despite a total lack of public support, why only war criminals on the losing side need worry about prosecution and how ending the US empire would improve nearly all aspects of society.

MP3 here. (37:47)

Chris Floyd operates a website and blog at chris-floyd.com. He is the author of Empire Burlesque – High Crimes and Low Comedy in the Bush Imperium.

Michael Hastings

Scott Horton — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 04:00:11 +0000

Michael Hastings, author of the article “The Day Democracy Died in Iraq,” discusses US withdrawal plans that are hinged on an orderly Iraqi election in March, the surge’s failure to effect Sunni/Shia political reconciliation, Ahmed Chalabi’s involvement in banning Sunni and secular candidates and why the promise of military aid will likely guarantee Iraqi acceptance of US forces remaining beyond 2011.

MP3 here. (39:41)

Michael Hastings is the author of I Lost My Love in Baghdad: A Modern War Story. In 2008, he covered the U.S. presidential elections for Newsweek, and before that he was the magazine’s Baghdad correspondent. His articles have appeared in GQ, Slate, Salon, Foreign Policy, the LA Times, and other publications. His blog The Hastings Report focuses on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and other foreign policy topics.

Pratap Chatterjee

Scott Horton — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 07:12:54 +0000

On the sixth anniversary of the war in Iraq, Pratap Chatterjee, managing editor of Corpwatch.org, discusses the ideology of the Bush administration’s Iraq War brain trust, the pervasive culture of corruption engendered by throwing money into Iraq’s reconstruction without oversight and Ahmed Chalabi’s role in lying the American people into war.

MP3 here. (23:50)

Pratap Chatterjee’s is an investigative journalist and reporter. He is the author of Halliburton’s Army: How a Well-Connected Texas Oil Company Revolutionized the Way America Makes War.

Eric Margolis

Scott Horton — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 06:20:49 +0000

Eric Margolis, foreign correspondent for Canada’s Sun National Media and author of War at the Top of the World, discusses the complicated politics of the Caucasus region, U.S. and Israeli arming and training of Georgian troops, the Ossetia fiasco, McCain’s foreign policy handler Randy Scheunemann and his relationship with the Saakashvili regime, the fight within the military industrial pentagon complex over whether to focus on imperial occupations or preparing for war with great powers, the dangerous foolishness of NATO expansion, the self-serving hypocrisy of America and Russia’s leaders, the ignored U.S. sponsored regime change in Somalia, McCain’s 3AM moment and emulation of the Kaiser, the rift between Pakistan and India over religion, Kashmir and Afghanistan, Dick Armitage’s threat to totally destroy Pakistan after 9/11 and the new great game in Central Asia.

MP3 here. (38:08)

Award winning author, columnist, and broadcaster Eric S. Margolis has covered 14 wars and is a leading authority on military affairs, the Middle East, South Asia, and Islamic movements.

John Judis

Scott Horton — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 07:02:19 +0000

John B. Judis, senior editor of the New Republic and author of The Folly of Empire: What George W. Bush Could Learn from Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson, discusses the importance of Trotskyism to neoconservative thought, John McCain’s change from skeptic to cheerleader for intervention, relationship with the neocons and the dangerous mix between his volatile temperament and his views on foreign policy.

MP3 here. (23:12)

John B. Judis is a senior editor of New Republic, where he has worked since 1984 and a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Judis is the author of The Folly of Empire: What George W. Bush Could Learn from Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson.

Judis’ articles have appeared in American Prospect, New York Times Magazine, Washington Post, Foreign Affairs, Washington Monthly, American Enterprise, Mother Jones, and Dissent. He has written five books, including The Emerging Democratic Majority (with Ruy Teixeira), The Parodox of American Democracy, and William F. Buckley: Patron Saint of the Conservatives.

Alan Bock

Scott Horton — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 07:53:59 +0000

Alan Bock, senior editorial writer at the Orange County Register and author of the regular column “Eye on the Empire” for Antiwar.com, discusses the media sycophants who got it wrong, why we got it right, the military’s resistance to Cheney’s war with Iran, how Somalia was before the American-Ethiopia invasion, the case against the central state, the counterproductive and unwinnable “war on terror,” John McCain’s militarist mindset, and the bogus excuses for staying in Iraq and the personal cowardice of the AEI crowd.

MP3 here. (40:38)

Alan Bock is Senior Essayist at the Orange County Register. He is the author of Ambush at Ruby Ridge (Putnam-Berkley, 1995). He is also author of the new book Waiting to Inhale: The Politics of Medical Marijuana (Seven Locks Press). His exclusive column appears every Tuesday on Antiwar.com.

Aram Roston

Charles Goyette — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 07:21:32 +0000

Aram Roston, The Man Who Pushed America to War: The Extraordinary Life, Adventures and Obsessions of Ahmad Chalabi, discusses the scams of Ahmad “Hero in Error” Chalabi, his financial crimes in Jordan, the tens of millions of U.S. taxpayer dollars he received from the neoconservatives and John McCain, Chalabi’s other job as an Iranian spy.

MP3 here. (19:38)

Aram Roston is an Emmy award-winning investigative journalist who has covered Iraq, Chalabi, and the reconstruction of Iraq for NBC’s Nightly News.