Antiwar.com Blog

Matt, here’s what strikes me as the irony. Not only has the Iraq war become increasingly unpopular, but Ron Paul has repeatedly been credited by the MSM for having opposed the war back when we peaceniks were in the minority. If there were ever a time to worry that Ron Paul’s advocacy of peace would hinder “a wider acceptance of the libertarian principles that would promote the general welfare of the American people,” it was maybe four years ago, when most Americans were still favoring the war and we libertarians and other doves were outnumbered. And then it would have only been a short-term concern.
Indeed, the Paul campaign has succeeded like nothing else in recent times that comes to mind in showing people that peace and liberty go together as do statism and war. Ron Paul is getting the credit he deserves and making people wonder, “Why did this man know, back when most Americans didn’t, that this war would be such a disaster — could it have had something to do with his libertarianism?” And there’s Barnett saying, “No, no, no. Libertarianism doesn’t inform us on whether to support or oppose the war. We wouldn’t want to give people the impression that there’s some connection, in principle, between peace and liberty.” If anything is truly hurting the ability of libertarians to increase our ranks it is this muddy picture people have of us. After all, what use is a philosophy against big government if it offers no principled critique of the biggest government failure in the last decade, one that nearly everyone is now sour on?  Thank goodness Ron Paul has been so quick to connect our troubles in terms of civil liberty and economic prosperity back to the issue of war. He has done a lot to reverse the damage of the liberventionists, such that now they see it as necessary to respond to him.
Wars are generally popular at first, only to wane in their popularity as the tragedy continues and its advertised goals go unachieved. Not only is opposing war the only sensible thing for anti-statists to do, it is in the long-term the best strategy in showing people the value of our critique.

Rod Dreher, a former National Review champion of the war, explains that the colossal failure of the Iraq War has “shattered his illusions” about government.

Among his reflections:

I no longer implicitly trust governmental institutions, including the military — neither in their honesty nor their competence.

I no longer have confidence in the ability of our military, or any military, to solve deep cultural and civilizational problems through force alone.

Keep reading…

Thanks to Lew Rockwell.

[audio:http://dissentradio.com/radio/07_24_07_scott_goyette_show_1prather.mp3]

Nuclear physicist Dr. Gordon Prather debunks the War Party’s claims about Iran’s nuclear program.

MP3 here.

Physicist James Gordon Prather has served as a policy implementing official for national security-related technical matters in the Federal Energy Agency, the Energy Research and Development Administration, the Department of Energy, the Office of the Secretary of Defense and the Department of the Army. Dr. Prather also served as legislative assistant for national security affairs to U.S. Sen. Henry Bellmon, R-Okla. — ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee and member of the Senate Energy Committee and Appropriations Committee. Dr. Prather had earlier worked as a nuclear weapons physicist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California and Sandia National Laboratory in New Mexico.

[audio:http://dissentradio.com/radio/07_24_07_scott_goyette_show_2cole.mp3]

Juan Cole, professor of history at the University of Michigan, debunks the War Party’s claim that the president of Iran has threatened to “wipe Israel off the map.”

MP3 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.

[audio:http://dissentradio.com/radio/07_24_07_scott_goyette_show_3giraldi.mp3]

Former CIA counter-terrorism officer and Antiwar.com columnist Philip Giraldi debunks the War Party’s claims that Iran backs al Qaeda, explains U.S. support for the terrorist groups Mujahadeen-e-Khalq and Jundullah against Iran, and the two most likely circumstances in which Cheney will use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against them.

MP3 here.

Philip Giraldi, a former CIA officer, is a partner in Cannistraro Associates, contributing editor at the American Conservative magazine and is a regular columnist for Antiwar.com.

[audio:http://dissentradio.com/radio/07_24_07_scott_goyette_show_4dreyfuss.mp3]

Investigative reporter Robert Dreyfuss explains why America supports the Iran factions in Iraq against the Shia and Sunni nationalists who are attempting to create a multi-ethnic coalition government.

MP3 here.

For nearly fifteen years Robert Dreyfuss has worked as an independent journalist who specializes in magazine features, profiles, and investigative stories in the areas of politics and national security. In 2001, he was profiled as a leading investigative journalist by the Columbia Journalism Review, and two of his articles have won awards from The Washington Monthly. In 2003, Dreyfuss was awarded Project Censored’s first prize for a story on the role of oil in U.S. policy toward Iraq.He has appeared on scores of radio and television talk shows, including Hannity and Colmes on Fox News, C-Span, CNBC, MSNBC, Court TV, and, on National Public Radio, The Diane Rehm Show and Public Interest with Kojo Nnamdi, and Pacifica’s Democracy Now! with Amy Goodman.

Based in Alexandria, Va., Dreyfuss been writing for Rolling Stone for at least a decade, and currently covers national security for Rolling Stone’s National Affairs section. He’s a contributing editor at The Nation, a contributing writer at Mother Jones, and a senior correspondent for The American Prospect. His articles have also appeared in The Washington Monthly, The New Republic, Newsday, Worth, California Lawyer, The Texas Observer, E, In These Times, The Detroit Metro Times, Public Citizen, Extra!, and, in Japan, in Esquire, Foresight and Nikkei Business. On line, he writes frequently for TomPaine.com, and produced a popular blog for Tom Paine called The Dreyfuss Report.

Dreyfuss is best known for ground-breaking stories about the war in Iraq, the war on terrorism, and post-9/11 U.S. foreign policy. In 2002, he wrote the first significant profile of Ahmed Chalabi by a journalist, for The American Prospect. Also in 2002, he wrote the first analysis of the war between the Pentagon and the CIA over policy toward Iraq, which included the first important account of the Pentagon’s Office of Special Plans. Other stories in The American Prospect included detailed accounts of neoconservative war plans for the broader Middle East. In 2004, he co-authored what is still the most complete account of the work of the Office of Special Plans in manufacturing misleading or false intelligence about Iraq, for Mother Jones, entitled “The Lie Factory.”

Before 9/11, Dreyfuss wrote extensively about intelligence issues, including pieces about post-Cold War excursions by the CIA into economic espionage, about the CIA’s nonofficial cover (NOC) program, and about lobbying by U.S. defense and intelligence contractors over the annual secret intelligence budget.

Among his many other pieces, Dreyfuss has profiled organizations, including the Democratic Leadership Council, the Center for American Progress, the National Rifle Association, the NAACP, the Human Rights Campaign, and Handgun Control. He has also profiled Vermont Governor Howard Dean, Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, House Majority Whip Tom DeLay, conservative activist Grover Norquist, House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas, Senator John McCain, and, in 1999, Texas Governor George W. Bush. One of his most important pieces was the result of a weeks-long visit to Vietnam in 1999, where he wrote about the effects of Agent Orange dioxin in Vietnam since the 1970s. His stories on the privatization of Social Security and the politics of Medicare and Medical Savings Accounts have been widely cited.

Dreyfuss is a member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA) and Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE). He graduated from Columbia University.