Antiwar Radio with Scott Horton » CIA

Marcy Wheeler

Scott Horton — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 05:05:40 +0000

Blogger Marcy Wheeler discusses the DC Circuit court’s rejection of Guantanamo prisoner Adnan Farhan Abd Al Latif‘s successful habeas corpus petition; the DOD’s 2006 determination that Latif should be released; the DC court’s assertion that government intelligence must be presumed valid, essentially gutting habeas rights and openly defying the SCOTUS Boumediene decision; the DOJ’s prosecution of former CIA officer John Kiriakou, building on Obama’s record setting witch-hunt of government whistleblowers; and the novel tactic of charging whistleblowers under the Espionage Act (it wasn’t done before because “it’s stupid”).

MP3 here. (19:55)

Blogger Marcy Wheeler, a.k.a. emptywheel, grew up bi-coastally, starting with every town in New York with an IBM. Then she moved to Poway, California, home of several participants in the Duke Cunningham scandal. Since then, she has lived in Western Massachusetts, San Francisco, Salt Lake City, Ann Arbor, and — just recently — Western Michigan.

She got a BA from Amherst College, where she spent much of her time on the rugby pitch. A PhD program in Comparative Literature brought her to Michigan; she got the PhD but decided academics was not her thing. Her research, though, was on a cool journalistic form called the “feuilleton” — a kind of conversational essay that was important to the expansion of modern newspapers in much of the rest of the world. It was pretty good preparation to become a blogger, if a PhD can ever be considered training for blogging.

After leaving academics, Marcy consulted for the auto industry, much of it in Asia. But her contract moved to Asia, along with most of Michigan’s jobs, so she did what anyone else would do. Write a book, and keep blogging. (Oh, and I hear Amazon still has the book for sale.)

Marcy has been blogging full time since 2007. She’s known for her live-blogging of the Scooter Libby trial, her discovery of the number of times Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was waterboarded, and generally for her weedy analysis of document dumps.

Marcy met her husband Mr. emptywheel playing Ultimate Frisbee, though she retired from the sport several years ago. Marcy, Mr. EW and their dog — McCaffrey the MilleniaLab — live in a loft in a lovely urban hellhole.

Philip Giraldi

Scott Horton — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 05:35:32 +0000

Former CIA officer Philip Giraldi discusses his article ”What War With Iran Might Look Like;” the many layers of obfuscation (like peeling an onion) in the Jundallah/CIA/Mossad frame-up; President Bush’s “absolutely ballistic” response to Israeli operatives, posing as CIA officers, recruiting Jundullah agents to commit terrorist acts in Iran; and why the Obama administration is powerless to stop Israel from starting a war with Iran (and dragging the US along with it).

MP3 here. (19:40)

Philip Giraldi, a former CIA officer, is a contributing editor to The American Conservative and executive director of the Council for the National Interest. He writes regularly for Antiwar.com.

Gareth Porter

Scott Horton — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 16:52:05 +0000

Gareth Porter, independent historian and journalist for IPS News, discusses the Israeli Mossad’s false flag operation that made the CIA appear responsible for terrorist attacks inside Iran; using Jundullah to assassinate Iranian nuclear scientists to provoke a military response – not set back their nuclear program; how terrorist attacks marginalize Iranian political moderates and make diplomatic negotiations with the US impossible; and the predictable nationalistic “blowback” response of Iranian students, who are defiantly switching majors to nuclear science.

MP3 here. (19:58)

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.

Philip Giraldi

Scott Horton — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 05:21:10 +0000

Former CIA officer Philip Giraldi discusses the CIA agents “rolled up” in Iran and Lebanon because of sloppy tradecraft (like regularly meeting at a Beirut Pizza Hut); clarifying the CIA terms “officer,” “agent,” and “asset;” the Iranian agents killed from ill-conceived CIA mailing practices during Giraldi’s tenure (though he learned about it in the newspaper); how the purging of US intelligence assets could help the Iran war propaganda campaign; and why a Libyan-style regime change could soon come to Syria.

MP3 here. (21:17)

Philip Giraldi, a former CIA officer, is a contributing editor to The American Conservative and executive director of the Council for the National Interest. He writes regularly for Antiwar.com.

Philip Giraldi

Scott Horton — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 04:44:37 +0000

Former CIA officer Philip Giraldi discusses a couple alternative explanations of the Iranian assassination plot, both more sensible than the official government story; why Iran would essentially commit national suicide by conducting a terrorist attack in Washington DC; the system of incentives for law enforcement agents and informants to play up any terrorism angle; prosecuting the CIA officials who lied to National Security Advisor Richard Clarke, in order to get the big fish in the Bush administration; and how the mainstream media is failing (on purpose) to expose government lies and give Americans credible information.

MP3 here. (19:48)

Philip Giraldi, a former CIA officer, is a contributing editor to The American Conservative and executive director of the Council for the National Interest. He writes regularly for Antiwar.com.

Ray McGovern

Scott Horton — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 04:16:00 +0000

Ray McGovern, member of Veterans For Peace and former senior analyst at the CIA, discusses his article “Petraeus’s CIA Fuels Iran Murder Plot;” fixing the facts around the policy yet again, this time to start a war with Iran; why you can bet Petraeus’s first objective as CIA director was to make analysts stop honest assessments of the failing Afghanistan War, and start saying “the surge worked;” how Obama’s advisors are limiting his options and trapping him into a war with Iran; and why you should get out and protest government wrongdoing (there’s plenty to choose from).

MP3 here. (33:39)

Ray McGovern was a CIA analyst for 27 years, from the John F. Kennedy administration to that of George H. W. Bush. His articles appear on Consortium News and Antiwar.com.

The Other Scott Horton

Scott Horton — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 04:02:48 +0000

The Other Scott Horton (no relation), international human rights lawyer, professor and contributing editor at Harper’s magazine, discusses his recent articles “Injudicious Judge Dismisses Civil Libertarians” and “Brennan Does Yemen;” why rising tensions in Pakistan may result in US forces being kicked out – if they will leave; how the AUMF is used to justify warfare anywhere, with nearly anyone; how the CIA transformed from a civilian intelligence gathering/analyzing agency into yet another clandestine military outfit; and the competing military doctrines of politicians and generals, respectively: waging a multi-front, constantly expanding, never-ending global war and fighting more limited engagements that can be defined, won, and used for self-promotion.

MP3 here. (20:07)

The other Scott Horton is a Contributing Editor for Harper’s magazine where he writes the No Comment blog. A New York attorney known for his work in emerging markets and international law, especially human rights law and the law of armed conflict, Horton lectures at Columbia Law School. A life-long human rights advocate, Scott served as counsel to Andrei Sakharov and Elena Bonner, among other activists in the former Soviet Union.

He is a co-founder of the American University in Central Asia, and has been involved in some of the most significant foreign investment projects in the Central Eurasian region. Scott recently led a number of studies of abuse issues associated with the conduct of the war on terror for the New York City Bar Association, where he has chaired several committees, including, most recently, the Committee on International Law. He is also a member of the board of the National Institute of Military Justice, the Andrei Sakharov Foundation, the EurasiaGroup and the American Branch of the International Law Association.

Philip Giraldi

Scott Horton — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 04:59:37 +0000

Former CIA officer Philip Giraldi discusses the CIA’s failure to disclose information on the 9/11 hijackers living in San Diego (before the deed) to the FBI; why government incompetence and inefficiency can explain events (like 9/11) that seem to be deliberately planned or allowed to happen; the major implications for US alliances over a possible veto on the Palestinian state UN resolution; why Israel is worried about (potential) Palestine’s creation along 1967 borders, as well as access to the ICC and UNESCO; and declining relations between Israel and Turkey.

MP3 here. (18:12)

Philip Giraldi, a former CIA officer, is a contributing editor to The American Conservative and executive director of the Council for the National Interest. He writes regularly for Antiwar.com.

Gareth Porter

Scott Horton — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 05:01:10 +0000

Gareth Porter, independent historian and journalist for IPS News, discusses the two recent Washington Post articles on the growth and evolution of CIA and JSOC; how the creation of “career track” government jobs gave new life to the unsuccessful drone war in Pakistan; CIA analysts who doubt the wisdom of policy decisions but lack the opportunity to officially object; the logic of the “permanent war state;” and why we can expect future blowback from US efforts to befriend Libya’s jihadists.

MP3 here. (20:09)

Will Grigg

Scott Horton — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 04:02:08 +0000

Will Grigg, blogger and author of Liberty in Eclipse, discusses the AP news story about the CIA/NYPD joint venture into “mapping” minority neighborhoods – essentially domestic spying; rendering moot the prohibitions on domestic CIA intelligence gathering and military law enforcement; why recruiting government informants through blackmail is a sign of creeping totalitarianism; why Americans are not protected by the rule of law, so long as the government can ignore it at will; and why the real threat to liberty is not from terrorists abroad, but from government at home.

MP3 here. (24:55)

Will Grigg writes the blog Pro Libertate and is the author of Liberty in Eclipse.