the body politek

Matthew Alexander, former U.S. military interrogator and author of the opinion piece “I’m Still Tortured by What I Saw in Iraq” published in the Washington Post, discusses how information gleaned from ethical interrogations enabled the killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the relatively moderate views of most Iraqi Al-Qaeda members who joined for practical rather than ideological reasons, the moral and operational failure of torture and the enduring legacy of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo as a recruiting aid for violent extremists.

MP3 here. (29:09)

Matthew Alexander led an interrogations team assigned to a Special Operations task force in Iraq in 2006. He is the author of How to Break a Terrorist: The U.S. Interrogators Who Used Brains, Not Brutality, to Take Down the Deadliest Man in Iraq. He is writing under a pseudonym for security reasons.

Thomas E. Woods, Jr., co-editor of We Who Dared to Say No to War: American Antiwar Writing from 1812 to Now, discusses the persistence of pro-war propaganda over time, the remarkably similar arguments made to justify the War of 1812 and the current Iraq war, the curious case of pro-secessionist and abolitionist Lysander Spooner, the Wilsonian provocations that ensured U.S. entry into W.W.I, the importance of forming a left-right antiwar alliance to counter the bipartisan war party and the legacy of the Bush presidency being reflected in Obama’s cabinet appointments.

MP3 here. (50:57)

Thomas E. Woods, Jr. is a senior fellow at the Ludwig von Mises Institute, co-editor with Murray Polner of We Who Dared to Say No to War: American Antiwar Writing from 1812 to Now, and author of The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History.

Chris Hedges, author of War is a Force that Gives Us Meaning, discusses the anti-occupation motives of terrorists, the similarities of extremists that transcend religion and culture, how a U.S. economic collapse could usher in a popular uprising of the Christian Right, the desperate and mostly ignored situation in the Gaza Strip and the terrible consequences of a war with Iran.

MP3 here. (36:03)

Chris Hedges is a Pulitzer Prize winning reporter, senior fellow at The Nation Institute, lecturer at Princeton University and the author of War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning and American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War On America.

Frida Berrigan, co-author of the article “Who Rules the Pentagon?”, discusses Obama’s distinctly non-reformist national security team, the need to reevaluate the meaning of “national defense” amidst a U.S. empire of bases, the struggle between realists and neocons over weapons procurement dollars and the public relations campaign of defense contractors to base Pentagon funding on a percentage of GDP.

MP3 here. (35:17)

Frida Berrigan is Senior Program Associate of the Arms and Security Initiative at the New America Foundation. Previously, she served for eight years as Deputy Director and Senior Research Associate at the Arms Trade Resource Center at the World Policy Institute at the New School in New York City. She has also worked as a researcher at The Nation magazine.

Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor and publisher for The Nation magazine, discusses the incoming Obama Administration, the popular backlash against corporate power, the ethical and practical necessity of ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, how an escalation in Afghanistan would ruin the promise of change and hope from the Obama campaign, the impotence of conventional military power against the contemporary threats of asymmetrical warfare and piracy and why NATO should be disbanded and a new cold war with Russia prevented.

MP3 here. (35:14)

Katrina vanden Heuvel has been The Nation’s editor since 1995 and publisher since 2005. She is the co-editor of Taking Back America–And Taking Down The Radical Right and, most recently, editor of The Dictionary of Republicanisms.

Bill Barnwell, minister from Michigan and writer for LewRockwell.com, discusses the merit of the “Obama is the Antichrist” rumors, how American dispensationalists influence Mideast policy, the havoc created if a Third Temple were rebuilt in Israel, the wisdom of a historical-contextual reading of the Bible and the conflict between militarist theology and Biblical scripture.

MP3 here. (37:06)

Bill Barnwell is a pastor and writer from Michigan. He holds both a Master of Ministry degree and a Master of Arts in Theological Studies degree from Bethel College in Mishawaka, Indiana.

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.

Will Grigg, blogger and author of Liberty in Eclipse, discusses the origins and authoritarian tendencies of the Democratic and Republican parties, Alexander Hamilton’s role in quelling the Whiskey Rebellion and his legacy of centralized economic and military power, the carefully orchestrated packaging and branding of Barack Obama as an agent of peace and change, the U.S. Treasury Department’s usurpation of Congressional legislative authority and local law enforcement’s increasing role as tax collectors.

MP3 here. (1:09:37)

William Norman Grigg writes the blog Pro Libertate and is the author of the book Liberty in Eclipse: The War on Terror and the Rise of the Homeland Security State.

David R. Henderson, research fellow with the Hoover Institution and author of “The Wartime Economist” for Antiwar.com, discusses his article “The Libertarian Case against the War in Afghanistan,” the efficacy of using ethical reasoning in foreign policy arguments, the inconsistent U.S. extradition policies regarding Luis Posada Carriles and Osama bin Laden, the exaggerations of systemic risk used to justify bailouts, the limited short-term risk of inflation and why a fractional reserve banking system could continue to exist without a central bank.

MP3 here. (41:40)

David R. Henderson is a research fellow with the Hoover Institution and an associate professor of economics in the Graduate School of Business and Public Policy at the Naval Postgraduate School. He is the author of The Joy of Freedom: An Economist’s Odyssey. His latest book is The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics.

Representative Ron Paul (R-TX) discusses the expansion of the American empire after the collapse of the Soviet Union, how empires lead to the loss of liberty, security and wealth, and long term prospects of the current financial downturn.

MP3 here. (23:43)

Representative Ron Paul (R-TX) is a former Republican presidential candidate. He is the author of The Revolution: A Manifesto, Pillars of Prosperity and Freedom Under Siege.

Joseph P. Sottile, the producer of the new documentary, The Warning, discusses the importance of Plato’s “noble lie” in Straussian/ neo-conservative ideology, why Obama must be pressured to dismantle the imperial presidency, how the complicity of top Democrats in torture and wiretapping schemes prevents prosecution of Bush officials, and the remarkable North Korean origin of the U.S. torture manual.

MP3 here. (49:06)

Joseph P. Sottile has produced programs featured on PBS, National Geographic Channel and Fox. He served as producer and executive producer of Metropolitan Edition, a newsmagazine show that aired on WJLA/ABC 7.

Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich, an independent researcher on U.S. foreign policy in Iran, discusses the worldwide goodwill Obama has already squandered with his hawkish appointments, the U.S.’s double standard when it comes to nuclear non-proliferation, ordinary Iranians’ desire to be left alone to form their own government, and how neocons like Max Boot support fomenting factional conflicts to provoke an Iranian overreaction.

MP3 here. (37:50)

Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich is an independent researcher on U.S. foreign policy in Iran associated with CASMII (Campaign Against Sanctions and Military Intervention in Iran).

Robert R. Prechter, Jr., Executive Director of the Socionomics Institute, discusses how Elliott Wave market trend analysis is predictive not only of stock markets but also human social behavior, the societal mood as a leading indicator of economic trends and warfare, the correlation between bull markets and bright mini skirts and how the bailouts encourage recklessness on Wall St. by encouraging moral hazard.

MP3 here. (34:08)

Robert R. Prechter, Jr. is president of Elliott Wave International, which publishes analysis of global stock, bond, currency, metals and energy markets. He is also Executive Director of the Socionomics Institute. Mr. Prechter is author, co-author and/or editor of 13 books, including Elliott Wave Principle – Key to Market Behavior , Socionomics: The Science of History and Social Prediction, and Conquer the Crash.

Tim Cavanaugh, columnist for Reason magazine, discusses the efforts of activist Lira Tskhovrebova to tell the South Ossetian side of the Georgian invasion, the numerous accounts of Georgian soldiers deliberately killing civilians, the U.S. media failure to accurately portray the conflict and the mixed signals Saakashvili received from U.S. neocon agitators and the State Department.

MP3 here. (34:08)

Tim Cavanaugh represents Lira Tskhoverbova, chairwoman of the Association of South Ossetian Women for Democracy and Human Rights. He is a columnist for Reason magazine and former web editor for the Los Angeles Times.

Ray McGovern, former CIA analyst and co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, discusses the prospect of a proper presidential intelligence briefing in an Obama administration, what questions Obama should ask his foreign policy gurus about Iran, how the NYT finally got the Georgia story right, how Russia’s recent show of force helped put the kibosh on an Iran attack, Cheney’s false flag operation fantasies and why Robert Gates is a greater threat to peace than Rumsfeld.

MP3 here. (45:14)

Ray McGovern was a CIA analyst for twenty seven years and a co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity.

Philip Giraldi, former CIA counter-terrorism officer and regular contributor to Antiwar.com, discusses his article “AIPAC’s Man in the Obama Camp,” Rahm Emanuel’s family ties to Israel and military service there, his ascension in the Democratic Party from Clinton fund raiser to Democratic Leadership Council powerhouse, the domestic spy service floated by Democratic leaders, the overreaching ambition of Rep. Jane Harmon and the new headquarters of the Democratic War Party, the “Project for a New American Security.”

MP3 here. (36:17)

Philip Giraldi is a former CIA officer and an authority on international security and counterterrorism issues. He is a regular columnist for Antiwar.com and a contributing editor for The American Conservative.

Eric Margolis, author of American Raj: Liberation or Domination?: Resolving the Conflict Between the West and the Muslim World, discusses the repeating of history in Afghanistan, India’s under-the-radar regional influence and sweetheart nuclear deal, ramifications of a future “Pashtunistan”, the precarious economic and political conditions in Pakistan, the possibility of Obama using Bill Clinton as Kashmir peacemaker, the need for a waxing Department of State and waning Pentagon in the foreign policy realm, the Caspian oil pipeline as “Great Game” prize, new accusations about Syria’s nuclear program and the supreme importance of U.S./Russia relations.

MP3 here. (53:49)

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.

Patrick Cockburn, Middle East correspondant for The Independent, discusses the Iraqi National Intelligence Service threat to sue Ahmed Chalabi, the myth that the “surge” pacified Iraq, the continued scarcity of clean water and electricity in Baghdad, a likely new UN resolution by the new year and how a Shia-dominated government may be strong enough to take over from the U.S.

MP3 here. (52:45)

Patrick Cockburn, Middle East correspondent of The Independent, has been visiting Iraq since 1978. He was awarded the 2005 Martha Gellhorn prize for war reporting in recognition of his writing on Iraq. He is the author of, his memoir, The Broken Boy, and with Andrew Cockburn, Saddam Hussein: An American Obsession, The Occupation: War, Resistance and Daily Life in Iraq and Muqtada: Muqtada al-Sadr, the Shia revival and the Struggle for Iraq.

Doug Bandow, author of Foreign Follies on Antiwar.com, discusses the need for a neocon purge from the Republican Party, the unsustainable U.S. empire of military bases, the failure of Bush diplomacy with North Korea, creating a political climate receptive to peace with Iran, Obama’s post-election hawkishness and the lessons lost from WWI on entangling alliances.

MP3 here. (42:58)

Doug Bandow is a Robert A. Taft Fellow at the American Conservative Defense Alliance and author of Foreign Follies on Antiwar.com.

Philip Hammond, author of “Darfur: the Dangers of Celebrity Imperialism” in the Spiked Review of Books, discusses the folly of liberal “humanitarian” interventionism, why complicated conflicts like that in the Darfur region of Sudan are often described as “genocide” and why waging empire in the name of helping people never does any such thing.

MP3 here. (36:16)

Philip Hammond, a senior lecturer in media and communications at London South Bank University, is the author of Media, War and Postmodernity.