Dahr Jamail, reporter for IPS News and author of Beyond the Green Zone, discusses the new effort by the Maliki government to allow the former Sunni insurgency - now known at the “Sons of Iraq” or “Concerned Local Citizens” - into the police forces in Baquba in order to fight “al Qaeda in Iraq,” the various militias’ within the government and their primary loyalties, precarious politics in Kirkuk, Maliki’s statements in favor of American withdrawal, the irony of the U.S. backing the also-Iranian-backed Dawa Party and Supreme Islamic Council since the elections of ‘05 and danger to U.S. troops in the event of war with Iran.

MP3 here. (37:48)

In late 2003, Weary of the overall failure of the US media to accurately report on the realities of the war in Iraq for the Iraqi people and US soldiers, Dahr Jamail went to Iraq to report on the war himself.

His dispatches were quickly recognized as an important media resource. He is now writing for the Inter Press Service, The Asia Times and many other outlets. His reports have also been published with The Nation, The Sunday Herald, Islam Online, the Guardian, Foreign Policy in Focus, and the Independent to name just a few. Dahr’s dispatches and hard news stories have been translated into French, Polish, German, Dutch, Spanish, Japanese, Portuguese, Chinese, Arabic and Turkish. On radio as well as television, Dahr reports for Democracy Now!, the BBC, and numerous other stations around the globe. Dahr is also special correspondent for Flashpoints.

Dahr has spent a total of 8 months in occupied Iraq as one of only a few independent US journalists in the country. In the MidEast, Dahr has also has reported from Syria, Lebanon and Jordan. Dahr uses the DahrJamailIraq.com website and his popular mailing list to disseminate his dispatches.

Philip Giraldi, former CIA counter-terrorism officer and columnist for Antiwar.com, discusses the possibility of and precedents for an Israeli “False Flag” operation in Iraq to frame Iran and draw the U.S. into attacking, the conflicts within the administration over Iran policy, the likely catastrophic consequences of any attack, U.S. covert operations within Iran, America’s support of the Iranian Islamic Revolution back in 1979, how real conservative principles apply to foreign policy, the extensive databases of “dangerous” Americans kept by the government, total lack of accountability in Washington, provocative stance toward Russia and demented neocon view of the world.

MP3 here. (39:41)

Philip Giraldi is a former DIA and CIA officer, partner at Cannistraro Associates, Francis Walsingham Fellow for the American Conservative Defense Alliance, contributing editor at the American Conservative magazine and columnist at Antiwar.com.