Antiwar Radio with Scott Horton » Somalia

Jason Ditz

Scott Horton — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 05:05:35 +0000

Jason Ditz, managing news editor at Antiwar.com, discusses the African Union troops surging into Somalia; Burundi’s reliance on taxes from mercenary work to fund the government; the US Navy SEALs hostage rescue operation in Somalia, coincidentally conducted just before Obama’s SOTU address; why humanitarian interventionists aren’t bragging about the triumph of democracy and human rights in Libya anymore; and how the US has convinced European countries to shoot themselves in the foot by refusing Iranian oil exports (that will go to South and East Asia instead).

MP3 here. (28:57)

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.

Francis Nesbitt

Scott Horton — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 05:06:22 +0000

Dr. Francis Njubi Nesbitt, Associate Professor of Africana Studies at San Diego State University, discusses his article “History Repeats Itself With Somalia Invasion;” the many failed interventions and proxy wars involving the US, Ethiopia and Kenya; how al-Shabab rose to prominence after the US-backed Ethiopian invasion of Somalia in 2006; Kenya’s current plan to seize the Somali port city of Kismayo and cut off a significant source of income for al-Shabab; why clan-based cultures are not conducive to central governance; how oil pipeline routes figure into African conflicts; and Somalia’s severe famine that has hundreds of thousands at risk of starvation.

MP3 here. (28:13)

Francis Njubi Nesbitt is a Foreign Policy in Focus contributor and teaches African politics and conflict resolution at San Diego State University. He is the author of Race for Sanctions (Indiana University Press, 2004) and is completing a book on peacemaking in the Horn of Africa.

Jason Ditz

Scott Horton — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 05:01:03 +0000

Jason Ditz, managing news editor at Antiwar.com, discusses the election results in Tunisia (birthplace of the Arab spring) that produced a victory for a conservative Islamist party; why any new Middle East/North Africa government with “Muslim” or “Islamic” in its name should worry about a US regime change scheme; Senator Lindsey Graham’s overt plan to bribe Libya’s rebel government with foreign aid and grab their oil; and how Somalia’s mass-starvation problem is related to the multiple invasions of US-proxy forces from neighboring African countries.

MP3 here. (19:42)

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.

Chris Floyd

Scott Horton — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 04:59:43 +0000

Chris Floyd, author of Empire Burlesque – High Crimes and Low Comedy in the Bush Imperium, discusses his article “What Lies Beneath: The Essence of Modern America in Somalia’s Blood-drenched Soil;” the US “dual track policy” of simultaneously funding the weak central government and the warlords – guaranteeing some influence no matter who carries the day; how imperial hubris has convinced American politicians they have the right to decide who is and isn’t suitable to rule Somalia; and a reminder that American lives are no more important than Somali lives (which should give us pause, as over 100,000 have been needlessly killed).

MP3 here. (20:06)

Chris Floyd operates a website and blog at chris-floyd.com. He is the author of Empire Burlesque – High Crimes and Low Comedy in the Bush Imperium.

John Glaser

Scott Horton — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 04:51:09 +0000

John Glaser, Assistant Editor at Antiwar.com, discusses his discovery of a WikiLeaks State Department cable about US soldiers who ordered an airstrike to coverup their massacre of an Iraqi family in 2006; how this revelation may complicate a deal to extend US occupation beyond the 2011 SOFA deadline; the nearly 30,000 trainers, advisers and mercenaries slated to remain in Iraq – too small for fighting wars, but plenty big to administer yet another client state; the ongoing protests in Bahrain, and the mainstream media’s hesitancy to cover the embarrassingly anti-democratic tactics of an allied country; going from bad to worse in Somalia; and the UN report on Afghan-run torture prisons.

MP3 here. (25:20)

John Glaser is Assistant Editor at Antiwar.com. He is a former intern at The American Conservative magazine and CATO Institute.

Jeremy Sapienza

Scott Horton — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 04:02:25 +0000

Jeremy Sapienza, Senior Editor at Antiwar.com, discusses the twisted MSM reporting on Somalia, such that most Americans have no idea the US is at war over there; how al-Shabaab grew out of the Islamic Courts Union’s youth movement to control most of the country; why Somalia’s famine is so severe (not from heat and drought) and who’s to blame; and the inevitability that someone in the “history began yesterday” media will advocate US intervention in Somalia to save the children from starvation.

MP3 here. (19:09)

Jeremy Sapienza is Assistant Webmaster and Senior Editor at Antiwar.com.

Philip Giraldi

Scott Horton — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 04:29:09 +0000

This interview is from the KPFK 90.7 FM Los Angeles broadcast of July 22nd.

Former CIA officer Philip Giraldi discusses the early (incorrect) rumors that an Islamic group was responsible for the Oslo shooting/bombing; Giraldi’s insightful guess that the attack could very well be the work of a domestic terrorist with a personal agenda; the threat posed by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula; the CIA stirring up trouble in Mogadishu; the patently ridiculous “official” reasons for US interventions; and how the US settles refugees from countries currently at war with America – and then is surprised by retaliatory domestic terrorist attacks.

MP3 here. (27:33)

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.

Jeremy Scahill

Scott Horton — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 04:01:12 +0000

Jeremy Scahill, author of Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army, discusses his article “The CIA’s Secret Sites in Somalia” at The Nation; why Somalia’s very weak central government would quickly fall to Al Shabab without support from the US and African Union; the latest discovered secret CIA prison/training facility “black site” in Mogadishu; a reminder that US intervention didn’t start yesterday, and that previous efforts have led to the disaster unfolding today; why drone strikes should be considered “terrorist attacks” just like suicide bombs are; and the fickle nature of supposedly pro-government Somali forces (who could well be enemies of the US at a later time).

MP3 here. (21:58)

Jeremy Scahill, a Puffin Foundation Writing Fellow at The Nation Institute, is the author of the bestselling Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army, published by Nation Books. He is an award-winning investigative journalist and correspondent for the national radio and TV program Democracy Now!. You can read his blog on TheNation.com here.

Jason Ditz

Scott Horton — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 14:30:28 +0000

This interview is from the KPFK 90.7 FM Los Angeles broadcast of July 8th.

Jason Ditz, managing news editor at Antiwar.com, discusses developments in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Somalia and Libya; the latest attempt to pin US problems in occupied Iraq on the importation of Iranian weapons; and drone strikes in Somalia and the semi-secret war against al-Shabaab.

MP3 here. (27:47)

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.

Jesse Walker

Scott Horton — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 04:47:20 +0000

Jesse Walker, managing editor of Reason magazine, discusses the history of US interference in Somalia since the Cold War (with his 2009 article as background); why US interest has less to do with oil than with keeping the military busy; how the successes and failures of minimally-governed Somalia fueled debate on the viability of libertarianism; and the post-9/11 US backing of proxy Ethiopian forces to upend the relatively stable Islamic Courts Union government (with predictably disastrous results).

MP3 here. (19:58)

Jesse Walker is the author of Rebels on the Air: An Alternative History of Radio in America and the managing editor of Reason magazine and Reason.com.