Dr. Gareth Porter discusses his recent article about how the War Party’s excuses to attack Iran are actually great reasons not to, how the U.S. and Israel share the common roles of being both dominate forces and fearful victims, U.S. manipulation of the IAEA against Iran, the many political ploys the war party is using to provoke Iran into retaliating, the two war resolutions in Congress that are about to be passed, the attacks on the U.S. military in Iraq that will take place if we assault Iran, Gen. Petraeus’s direct line to the vice president, the Israel Lobby’s vast influence over U.S. foreign policy, the impotence of Bush’s character and Khalilzad’s plan to switch back to the Sunnis.

MP3 here. (44:36)

Dr. Gareth Porter is an investigative historian and journalist on U.S. national security policy who has been independent since a brief period of university teaching in the 1980s. Dr. Porter is the author of four books, the latest of which is Perils of Dominance: Imbalance of Power and the Road to War in Vietnam (University of California Press, 2005). He has written regularly for Inter Press Service on U.S. policy toward Iraq and Iran since 2005.

Juan Cole, professor of history at the University of Michigan, discusses the American media’s abandonment of the Iraq war as a topic worth covering, the humanitarian catastrophe that continues to deteriorate, the “excess deaths” in Iraq since the invasion, the total number of Iraqis killed with American complicity over the years, America’s government’s on-off relationship with Saddam Hussein, the failure of the “surge” to allow for 5 million refugees to return to their homes.

MP3 here. (11:06)

YouTube here.

Juan R. I. Cole is Professor of Modern Middle East and South Asian History at the University of Michigan. He has written extensively about modern Islamic movements in Egypt, the Persian Gulf, and South Asia. His most recent book is Sacred Space and Holy War. His blog, Informed Comment, is a widely read source for Middle East news and commentary.