Antiwar Radio with Scott Horton » Sadr

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.

Jason Ditz

Scott Horton — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 05:02:07 +0000

Jason Ditz, managing news editor at Antiwar.com, discusses Muqtada al-Sadr’s proclamation that US troops (even if called “trainers”) remaining in Iraq beyond the 2011 deadline will be resisted; the possibility of another multi-year Iraq war starting back up; misleading news accounts from last year on the end of combat operations; yet another claim of military progress from Libya’s unreliable rebels; the antics of Colonel Gaddafi’s son, Saif al-Islam, who now claims he will help Libya become an Islamic state, after previous dire warnings about the same outcome; and the Obama administration’s apparent preference for a stronger strongman in Yemen to rule with an iron fist and crush the opposition.

MP3 here. (18:48)

Jason Ditz is the managing news editor at Antiwar.com. His op-ed pieces have been published in newspapers and other media around the world.

Gareth Porter

Scott Horton — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 04:00:55 +0000

This interview is also available (here) in a version packaged for broadcast on KPFK 90.7 FM in Los Angeles, with an introductory summary of foreign policy news and Antiwar Radio interviews from the week of July 11-15.

Gareth Porter, independent historian and journalist for IPS News, discusses his article “What Is Sadr’s Game on Future US Troop Presence?” at antiwar.com, about Moqtada al-Sadr trying to have it both ways, by privately agreeing to an extended US troop presence (and getting free border security) while planning limited attacks against Americans (to keep his nationalist credibility intact).

MP3 here. (19:43)

Patrick Cockburn

Scott Horton — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 05:04:49 +0000

This interview is from the KPFK 90.7 FM Los Angeles broadcast on January 14th. The original program is here.

Patrick Cockburn, Middle East correspondent for The Independent, discusses how Muqtada al-Sadr’s return to Iraq has changed the political landscape and made a full US withdrawal by year’s end more likely; how otherwise-nationalist Iraqis use foreign allies as leverage against domestic sectarian/religious rivals; why the Pentagon seems to have drunk its own surge narrative Kool-Aid (in expecting the Iraq occupation to continue indefinitely); why the April Glaspie memo can’t be construed as a green light for invasion, because nobody expected Saddam Hussein to do it; how George H.W. Bush’s failure to support the 1991 Shiite uprising showed a US preference for an enduring, but weakened, Hussein led government, and an understanding that a Shia win would benefit Iran; how plain “stupidity” explains George W. Bush’s policy shift to depose Hussein and occupy the country; and how Iraq’s crippling problems are reflected by the millions of refugees who still refuse to return home.

MP3 here. (28:51)

Patrick Cockburn was awarded the 2009 Orwell Prize for political writing in British journalism. He is the Middle East correspondent for The Independent and a frequent contributor to CounterPunch.org. Cockburn is the author of The Occupation: War, Resistance and Daily Life in Iraq and Muqtada Al-Sadr and the Battle for the Future of Iraq.

Juan Cole

Scott Horton — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 09:30:06 +0000

Juan Cole, Professor of History and author of Engaging the Muslim World, discusses the seeming triumph of Iranian-preferred candidate Nouri al-Maliki as Iraq’s Prime Minister, looming conflicts from planned Kurdish expansionism into Arab-majority regions, the short-term marginalization of Moqtada al-Sadr and how the Ayad Allawi walkout shows the disenfranchisement of Iraq’s Sunni minority.

MP3 here. (19:32)

Juan Cole is the author of Engaging the Muslim World. He is a Professor of History at the University of Michigan and writes the “Informed Comment” blog at Juancole.com.

Gareth Porter

Scott Horton — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 07:04:07 +0000

Gareth Porter, independent historian and journalist for IPS News, discusses the 3-way Shi’ite alliance of Moqtada al-Sadr, Nouri al-Maliki and Iran that formed in general opposition to U.S. occupation and attacks on Sadr’s Mahdi Army in particular, indications that Maliki had foreknowledge of the successful 2007 plot to kidnap U.S. soldiers in Karbala, the give-and-take exchange of political favors between Sadr and Maliki, the Bush administration’s attempt to exterminate the Mahdi Army – which they saw as an Iranian proxy, doubts about the SOFA 2011 withdrawal deadline and the possible future change in Iraq’s primary sectarian conflict from Shi’ite v. Sunni to Kurd v. Arab.

MP3 here. (42:29)

Pepe Escobar

Scott Horton — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 04:49:28 +0000

Asia Times columnist Pepe Escobar discusses his article “And the winner is … Muqtada,” whether an Iraqi civil war will commence if and when a coalition government excluding Sunnis is formed, hopes that national identity can trump factional and religious schisms and the pie-in-the-sky neoconservative dreams of winning hearts and minds throughout the Middle East.

MP3 here. (20:02)

Pepe Escobar is the author of Globalistan: How the Globalized World is Dissolving Into Liquid War and Obama Does Globalistan.

Patrick Cockburn

Scott Horton — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 04:24:09 +0000

Patrick Cockburn, Middle East correspondent for The Independent, discusses the revival of al-Qaeda in Iraq (and its minimal relation to bin Laden’s group), how the Sadrists are the only grass roots political movement in Iraq, how Prime Minister Maliki’s grip on power is an impediment to a coalition government and why the decisive outcome of Iraq’s civil war greatly decreases the chance of another major conflict.

MP3 here. (16:56)

Jason Ditz

Scott Horton — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 04:15:01 +0000

Jason Ditz, managing news editor at Antiwar.com, discusses the brief and unproductive first session of Iraq’s new parliament, Muqtada al-Sadr’s feud with Nouri al-Maliki, Iran’s considerable influence in Iraqi politics and why US efforts to export democracy often end in disaster.

MP3 here. (16:30)

Jason Ditz is the managing news editor at Antiwar.com.

Juan Cole

Scott Horton — Sun, 30 May 2010 06:47:44 +0000

Juan Cole, author of Engaging the Muslim World, discusses the attack in Lahore, Pakistan against the Ahmadiyya religious minority, the propagation of conspiracy theories by the Pakistani government, Muqtada al-Sadr’s extensive community organization apparatus in Iraq and the blurred legal authority governing overlapping US civilian, CIA and military operations.

MP3 here. (27:35)

Juan Cole is the author of Engaging the Muslim World. He is a Professor of History at the University of Michigan and writes the “Informed Comment” blog at Juancole.com.