Glenn Greenwald, former constitutional lawyer and current Salon.com blogger, discusses the firing of Washington Post journalist Dan Froomkin, the dominance of mainstream Democrat vs. Republican talking points in the media, maverick illegal actions of the Bush administration codified into law under Obama and how governmental secrecy enables all other abuses of power.

MP3 here. (21:42)

Glenn Greenwald was a constitutional lawyer in New York City, first at the Manhattan firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, and then at the litigation firm he founded, Greenwald, Christoph. Greenwald litigated numerous high-profile and significant constitutional cases in federal and state courts around the country, including multiple First Amendment challenges. He has a J.D. from New York University School of Law (1994) and a B.A. from George Washington University (1990). In October of 2005, Greenwald started a political and legal blog, Unclaimed Territory, which quickly became one of the most popular and highest-trafficked in the blogosphere.

Upon disclosure by the New York Times in December 2005 of President Bush’s warrantless eavesdropping program, Greenwald became one of the leading and most cited experts on that controversy. In early 2006, he broke a story on his blog regarding the NSA scandal that served as the basis for front-page articles in the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and other newspapers, all of which credited his blog for the story. Several months later, Sen. Russ Feingold read from one of Greenwald’s posts during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Feingold’s resolution to censure the president for violating FISA. In 2008, Sen. Chris Dodd read from Greenwald’s Salon blog during floor debate over FISA. Greenwald’s blog was also cited as one of the sources for the comprehensive report issued by Rep. John Conyers titled “The Constitution in Crisis.” In 2006, he won the Koufax Award for best new blog.

Greenwald is the author of A Tragic Legacy: How a Good vs. Evil Mentality Destroyed the Bush Presidency, How Would a Patriot Act? Defending American Values from a President Run Amok and Great American Hypocrites: Toppling the Big Myths of Republican Politics.

The Other Scott Horton, international human rights lawyer, professor and contributing editor at Harper’s magazine, discusses the ACLU’s ongoing legal action to get torture photos released, another bogus 16 words in Bush’s 2002 State of the Union address, the propaganda value of executing Khalid Sheikh Mohammed vs. giving him a full and fair trial and how Dick Cheney browbeat DOJ lawyers into giving permissive torture legal opinions before hiding behind them.

MP3 here. (24:24)

The other Scott Horton both writes the No Comment blog and is a Contributing Editor for Harper’s Magazine. 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.

The Other Scott Horton, international human rights lawyer and contributing editor at Harper’s magazine, discusses the Justice Department’s release of post-9/11 Bush administration legal opinion memos, the assertion of executive supremacy over the first and fourth amendments to the U.S. Constitution, the possible scope of unknown Bush legal shenanigans and why blue-ribbon investigative committees aren’t always bipartisan cover-ups.

MP3 here. (31:13)

The Other Scott Horton (no relation) is a New York attorney known for his work in emerging markets and international law, especially human rights law and the law of armed conflict. He lectures at Columbia Law School.

Amna Akbar, Clinical Fellow at the International Human Rights Clinic, discusses her legal team’s representation of Mohamed Farag Bashmilah in the “extraordinary rendition” lawsuit against Boeing subsidiary Jeppesen Dataplan, Inc. and the ongoing collaborative FOIA lawsuit against U.S. government secrecy on torture issues.

MP3 here. (18:33)

Amna Akbar is a Clinical Fellow at the International Human Rights Clinic at the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at the New York University School of Law.

Glenn Greenwald, renowned Salon.com blogger, discusses the Obama administration’s impact on civil liberties, the failure of Obama’s government to reverse a single Bush-era legal position, how the Bagram prison in Afghanistan is replacing Guantanamo as the new extralegal detention facility, the spectacular claim that a global war on terror makes the whole world a battlefield and all its inhabitants potential enemy combatants, the history of the state secrets privilege from its original limited exemptions to the current claims of total immunity and why non-prosecuting truth and reconciliation committees should be reserved for third-world countries.

MP3 here. (45:28)

Glenn Greenwald is a former constitutional lawyer and author of Great American Hypocrites: Toppling the Big Myths of Republican Politics, A Tragic Legacy: How a Good vs. Evil Mentality Destroyed the Bush Presidency, and How Would a Patriot Act? Defending American Values From a President Run Amok. His blog and radio show can be found at Salon.com.

Eric Margolis, author of American Raj: Liberation or Domination?: Resolving the Conflict Between the West and the Muslim World, discusses the Mumbai terrorist attacks, India’s numerous enemies both foreign and domestic, the 2002 Gujarat province massacre of Indian Muslims, the sixty year long battle over Kashmir and the risk of an India-Pakistan nuclear war.

MP3 here. (48:24)

Eric Margolis is a foreign correspondent and columnist with the Quebecor Media Company and author of War at the Top of the World and American Raj.

James Bamford, author of The Puzzle Palace, Body of Secrets, A Pretext for War and now, The Shadow Factory: The Ultra-Secret NSA from 9/11 to the Eavesdropping on America, discusses what the NSA knew about the 9/11 hijackers before the attack, the infighting between the CIA, NSA and FBI, the 9/11 hijackers proximity to NSA headquarters in Maryland prior to the attacks, the abandonment of law and limits on their domestic spying after 9/11, the complicity of major telecoms in helping the state tap the entire internet, the enormous new date storage and mining facility in San Antonio, Texas and the Israeli companies who make the software that runs the Big Brother database.

MP3 here. (49:51)

Update: The MP3 became broken somehow, but should now work fine.

James Bamford is the author of The Puzzle Palace: A Report on NSA, America’s Most Secret Agency. Published in 1982, it was the first book ever written about the National Security Agency and it became an immediate bestseller. He spent nearly a decade as the Washington Investigative Producer for ABC’s World News Tonight with Peter Jennings where he won a number of journalism awards for his coverage national security issues. In 1997, as the media profession began turning away from international news coverage and focusing almost exclusively on Monica Lewinsky and other domestic political scandals, Bamford left ABC to work on Body of Secrets: Anatomy of the Ultra-Secret National Security Agency. Initially published in April 2001 to rave reviews, it also became a national bestseller. His book A Pretext for War: 9/11, Iraq and the Abuse of America’s Intelligence Agencies remains one of the best resources on how the Cheney/Neocon cabal lied this country to war in Iraq. Bamford’s articles have appeared in dozens of publications, including cover stories for the New York Times Magazine, the Washington Post Magazine, and the Los Angeles Times Magazine. His newest book is The Shadow Factory: The Ultra-Secret NSA from 9/11 to the Eavesdropping on America.

Luke Ryland discusses the A.Q. Kahn nuclear secrets peddling network, its correlation to the Sibel Edmonds case, the CIA’s knowledge of the network since the mid ‘70’s, the six years of deafening silence by Congress and the media about Sibel’s case and how the nuclear black market, neocons, and the Israeli and Turkish lobbies are connected.

MP3 here. (47:02)

Luke Ryland blogs at Against All Enemies, Let Sibel Edmonds Speak, Kill the Messenger, Disclose Denny, and WotIsItGood4. He lives in Tasmania.

Investigative reporter Joe Lauria discusses the series he co-wrote for the London Times about the Sibel Edmonds case, including the 30 year Washington connection to the A.Q. Kahn nuclear black-market operation, the difficulty in corroborating stories about such a secretive subject, the inability of American mainstream media to diverge from the status quo, how the Tinner family fits into the story and the history of the military-industrial-congressional complex as told in the new book he’s co-authored with former senator Mike Gravel, A Political Odyssey.

MP3 here. (50:50)

Joe Lauria is a New York-based investigative journalist. A freelance member of the Sunday Times of London Insight team, he has also worked on investigations for the Boston Globe and Bloomberg News. Joe’s articles have additionally appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Daily Telegraph, The Daily Mail, The Guardian, The Montreal Gazette, The Johannesburg Star, The Washington Times, New York Magazine, ARTnews and other publications.He is the author with former U.S. Senator and presidential candidate Mike Gravel of A Political Odyssey: The Rise of American Militarism and One Man’s Fight to Stop It, published by Seven Stories Press, with a foreword by Daniel Ellsberg.

Larry Velvel, dean of the Massachusetts School of Law and sponsor of the upcoming Justice Robert Jackson Conference On The Planning For Prosecution Of High Level American War Criminals, featuring Francis Boyle, Vincent Bugliosi, Philippe Sands and others, discusses the many crimes of the Bush administration, the history of unaccountability of our leaders, the legal gymnastics perpetrated by the Bush regime lawyers, the immunity clauses of the Military Commission Act and how they might effect potential foreign prosecutions of American war criminals.

MP3 here. (34:20)

Lawrence R. Velvel is the Dean of Massachusetts School of Law and a professor of law. Mr. Velvel is a 1960 graduate of the University of Michigan and a 1963 graduate of the University of Michigan Law School, where he served on the law review and was elected to the Order of the Coif. He was a law professor from 1966-1978, first at the University of Kansas and then at Catholic University . He has been a partner in major law firms in Washington , D.C. , and was the first chief counsel of an organization established to write United States Supreme Court briefs in support of state and local governments. He has been active in Supreme Court litigation, constitutional law, antitrust law and complex litigation. He is the author of a book dealing with constitutional aspects of the Vietnam war, of seventeen law review articles and of twenty-three articles for legal and daily newspapers. He has written thirty-three United States Supreme Court briefs and is editor of the MSLAW journal called The Long Term View.