Former CIA and DIA officer Philip Giraldi discusses the usual suspects who are calling for war with Iran, the practical limitations on the U.S. military’s ability to fight a third concurrent war, the ploy of letting Israel start a war with Iran so the U.S. will be obligated to finish it, likely U.S. sponsorship of the terrorist organization (and former al Qaeda satellite group) Jundallah, birth defects in Iraq linked to depleted uranium and the terrible U.S. network news shows exemplified by NBC’s Andrea Mitchell’s conflicted reporting.

MP3 here. (30:48)

Philip Giraldi, a former CIA officer, is a contributing editor to The American Conservative and a fellow at the American Conservative Defense Alliance. His Smoke and Mirrors column is a regular feature on Antiwar.com.

Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) discusses the budgetary limitations that expansive U.S. foreign policy imposes on domestic programs, the Dennis Kucunich resolution (co-sponsored by Rep. Paul) that will require a House of Representatives debate on the war in Afghanistan, wrongheaded government action on the coming dollar crisis and why the peace and liberty movement is best served by setting a good example and avoiding the politics of personality.

MP3 here. (13:34)

Congressman Ron Paul represents Texas’s 14th district. He is the author of The Revolution: A Manifesto, A Foreign Policy of Freedom: Peace, Commerce, and Honest Friendship and Freedom Under Siege. His archived columns for Antiwar.com appear at http://original.antiwar.com/paul

Nat Hentoff, senior fellow at the CATO Institute, discusses the Elizabeth Cheney and William Kristol-backed Keep America Safe ad that implies Attorney General Eric Holder is a jihadist, widespread contempt and ignorance of protections guaranteed by the Bill of Rights, Obama’s “looking forward not backward” anti-prosecution policy that validates Richard Nixon’s thoughts on presidential impunity and why the Constitution can’t be preserved without an active and informed citizenry.

MP3 here. (24:42)

Nat Hentoff is a senior fellow at the CATO Institute and one of the foremost authorities on the First Amendment. His column, Sweet Land of Liberty, has been distributed by the United Feature Syndicate since 1992.

Hentoff has earned numerous awards and is a widely acknowledged defender of civil liberties. In 1980, he was awarded an American Bar Association Silver Gavel Award for his coverage of the law and criminal justice in his columns. In 1983, the American Library Association awarded him the Imroth Award for Intellectual Freedom. In 1995, he received the National Press Foundation Award for Distinguished Contributions to Journalism, and in 1999, he was a Pulitzer finalist for commentary.

Hentoff was a columnist and staff writer with The Village Voice for 51 years, from 1957 until 2008. A jazz expert, Hentoff writes on music for The Wall Street Journal and Jazz Times. He has lectured at many colleges, universities, law schools, elementary, middle and high schools, and has taught courses in journalism and the Constitution at Princeton University and New York University. Hentoff serves on the Board of Advisors of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (F.I.R.E.) and is on the steering committee of the Reporters’ Committee for the Freedom of the Press.

Jim Lobe, Washington Bureau Chief for Inter Press Service, discusses Obama’s current timidity in addressing the Palestinian problem despite his initial assertiveness, how Hillary Clinton’s lack of diplomatic skill has weakened Obama’s leverage with Israel, increased Palestinian and US interest in a “one state” solution and why ordinary Israelis won’t support a peace process unless the US is firmly committed to it.

MP3 here. (13:14)

Jim Lobe has served as correspondent and chief of the Washington bureau of Inter Press Service (IPS), an international news agency specializing in coverage of issues and events of interest to developing countries, from 1980 to 1985, and again from 1989 to the present. He blogs about foreign policy at Lobelog.com.

Since 9/11, Jim has focused much of his coverage on U.S. policy in the Middle East and the influence of neo-conservatives in the Bush administration. In addition to IPS, Jim has written for a number of internet publications, including Alternet, TomPaine.com, Foreign Policy in Focus, RightWeb, The American Prospect, the Asia Times, and the Daily Star of Beirut, among others. His articles appear regularly on Antiwar.com.

Longtime White House Press Corps reporter Helen Thomas discusses the culture of “softball” political journalism, Obama’s continuance of the US “nuclear ambiguity” policy regarding Israel and John Brennan’s ridiculous response to the question, “Why do the terrorists attack us?”

MP3 here. (13:29)

Helen Thomas is a columnist for Hearst Newspapers, member of the White House Press Corps and author of Listen Up, Mr. President: Everything You Always Wanted Your President to Know and Do and Watchdogs of Democracy?: The Waning Washington Press Corps and How It Has Failed the Public.

Gareth Porter and Eric Margolis discuss Gen. McChrystal’s “government in a box” plan for Afghanistan, military actions that are motivated more by a desire to influence US public opinion than to achieve strategic gains, Obama’s secondary role in formulating foreign policy, the Pentagon’s exaggeration of “rogue state” threats in order to justify an enormous “defense” budget, the influence of oil pipeline politics on US policy in Central Asia and how the Pakistani government’s partial acquiescence to US pressure may inspire a military coup.

MP3 here. (52:44)

Gareth Porter is an independent historian and journalist. His articles appear on Counterpunch, Huffington Post, Inter Press Service News Agency and Antiwar.com.

Eric S. Margolis is an award-winning, internationally syndicated columnist. His articles appear in the New York Times, the International Herald Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, Times of London and other newspapers. He is a regular columnist with the Quebecor Media Company and a contributor to The Huffington Post. He is the author of War at the Top of the World: The Struggle for Afghanistan, Kashmir and Tibet and American Raj: Liberation or Domination?: Resolving the Conflict Between the West and the Muslim World.

Kirkpatrick Sale, director of the Middlebury Institute, discusses Vermont’s secessionist movement that derives from the state’s unique historical independence, the need to scrap the US Constitution due to its failure to preserve freedom and liberty, the inverse relationship between population size and the ability of government to function properly, the strong secessionist language enshrined in the Declaration of Independence and the Liberal tradition of supporting a strong national government to enforce civil rights despite the (at best) mixed results.

MP3 here. (33:33)

Kirkpatrick Sale is the author of many books, including Secession: How Vermont and All the Other States Can Save Themselves from the Empire. He is the director of the Middlebury Institute and has written for The Nation, Counterpunch and Mother Jones.

Allison Kilkenny, regular contributor to the Huffington Post, discusses the CNN poll that found a large majority of Americans believe Iran has nuclear weapons, not-so-covert US actions in Iran that make diplomacy impossible, Republicans who are unwilling to admit the cause and effect between US empire and terrorism and the Democrats who hypocritically defend Obama over the same policies they excoriated Bush for.

MP3 here. (21:51)

Allison Kilkenny is the co-host of Citizen Radio and regular contributor to the Huffington Post, the Beast, 236.com, Alternet.org, and Wiretap Magazine. Her work has also appeared on The Nation and she is a regular guest on SIRIUS radio.

Ryan Dawson, keeper of the Website Anti-Neocons, discusses his website’s designation of February 26 as “Hate Richard Perle Day,” Perle’s leading role in inventing a Saddam Hussein/al Qaeda link and lying the American people into the Iraq War and how professional war agitators like Perle profit from the revolving door between government and defense contractor employment.

MP3 here. (21:38)

Ryan Dawson is the author of Welcome to the USSA: Corruption in the government and media and the creator of the Ry’s 2 Sense website.

Kevin Zeese and David T. Beito discuss the formation of a full-spectrum political alliance against militarism and empire, the unwavering commitment of Democrat and Republican leadership to the military-industrial complex, the media’s unwillingness to discuss (much less debate) US empire and how you can help the fundraising effort for a broad-based peace movement.

MP3 here. (30:48)

Kevin Zeese  is the Executive Director and co-founder of VotersForPeace. Zeese also served as the Executive Director of Democracy Rising, is an attorney, and a long term peace advocate. Zeese took a leave from VotersForPeace for most of 2006 while he was running for the U.S. Senate in Maryland. Zeese was a founding member of the Montgmery County Coalition Against the War in Maryland and has worked with various non-profit organizations on peace, justice, and democracy issues since 1978.

David T. Beito is Professor of History at the University of Alabama. He received his Ph.D. in history at the University of Wisconsin, and he is the recipient of the Ellis Hawley Prize. Professor Beito is the author of Taxpayers in Revolt: Tax Resistance during the Great Depression, From Mutual Aid to the Welfare state: Fraternal Societies and Social Services, 1890-1967, and Black Maverick: T.R.M. Howard’s Fight for Civil Rights and Economic Power.

Frida Berrigan, columnist for Foreign Policy in Focus, discusses US dominance of the global weapons market, the costly domestic upgrade cycle that is perpetuated by defense contractors selling current generation high-tech weapons abroad, the relatively low number of jobs created with money spent on the military compared to other sectors of the economy and how weapons manufacturers create demand for their products by promoting belligerent US foreign policy.

MP3 here. (25:44)

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.

Ms. Berrigan is a columnist for Foreign Policy in Focus and a contributing editor of In These Times magazine. She is the author of reports on arms trade and human rights, U.S. nuclear weapons policy, and the domestic politics of U.S. missile defense and space weapons policies. She has been a featured expert on national and regional radio outlets, and regularly speaks on national security issues to citizen’s organizations and at major conferences throughout the United States.

James L. Payne, Research Fellow at the Independent Institute, discusses the often-exaggerated US role in democracy-building during the post-WWII occupation of Germany, FDR’s intent to keep Germany impoverished for a generation, how the issuance of a currency and the end of price controls allowed the German economy to rebuild, government “good intentions” that invariably produce bad results and why “democracy” is really nothing more than the absence of violence in the political process.

MP3 here. (28:15)

James L. Payne is Research Fellow at the Independent Institute and Director of Lytton Research and Analysis and author of the books, A History of Force: Exploring the Worldwide Movement Against Habits of Coercion, Bloodshed, and Mayhem, Why Nations Arm, The Culture of Spending, Costly Returns, Overcoming Welfare: Expecting More from the Poor—and From Ourselves, Budgeting in Neverland: Irrational Policymaking in the U.S. Congress, Patterns of Conflict in Colombia, and Labor and Politics in Peru. Dr. Payne received his Ph.D. in political science from the University of California at Berkeley, and he has taught political science at Yale University, Wesleyan University, Johns Hopkins University, and Texas A & M University. His articles have appeared in The Independent Review, American Conservative, American Spectator, The Freeman, Policy Review, Reason, and other magazines and journals.

Daphne Eviatar, Senior Associate in Law and Security for Human Rights First, discusses the preemptive legal defenses trotted out by John Yoo and Dick Cheney, information missing or withheld from the DOJ’s Office of Professional Responsibility’s torture memo investigation, the incompatibility of Yoo’s extralegal commander-in-chief theory with any semblance of Constitutional rule of law and why a post-apartheid South Africa-style truth commission may be the best resolution of Bush administration crimes we can hope for.

MP3 here. (26:56)

Daphne Eviatar is a lawyer and freelance journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times, The Nation, Legal Affairs, Mother Jones, the Washington Independent and many others. She is a Senior Reporter at The American Lawyer and was an Alicia Patterson Foundation fellow in 2005 and a Pew International Journalism fellow in 2002.

George Maschke, co-founder of Antipolygraph.org, discusses the polygraph examination that Bruce Ivins passed before he was the FBI’s prime suspect in the 2001 anthrax mailings, historical failures in detecting national security threats through “lie-detector” tests and the retrospective claims by the FBI and DOJ that Ivins used countermeasures (that are now supposedly detectable) to mislead his polygraph examiner.

MP3 here. (16:28)

George Maschke works as a Persian linguist and legal translator for the Iran-US Claims Tribunal at the Hague. He is co-founder of the website Antipolygraph.org.

Matthew Harwood, author of the Guardian article “Torture is a crime, not a state secret,” discusses the obfuscation of facts through the invocation of state secrets privilege in the Binyam Mohamed torture case, the lack of accountability for torturers within the justice system and the large number of innocent people swept up in the “war on terror” dragnet.

MP3 here. (16:11)

Matthew Harwood is a writer in Washington DC. His work has appeared in The Washington Monthly, The Huffington Post, The Columbia Journalism Review and elsewhere. He is currently working on a book about evangelical Christian rhetoric and aggressive US foreign policy.

Ray McGovern, former senior analyst at the CIA, discusses the successor to IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei, the rift between US intelligence agencies and the Obama administration over the 2007 Iran NIE, why Adm. Mike Mullen’s resistance to Israel’s hawkishness on Iran appears to be weakening, how the terrorist attacks of US-supported Jundallah have disrupted diplomacy with Iran and the new poll that indicates Americans are ready to be lied into yet another war.

MP3 here. (25:47)

Ray McGovern was a CIA analyst for 27 years, from the John F. Kennedy administration to that of George H. W. Bush. His articles appear on Consortium News and Antiwar.com.

Chris Floyd, author of Empire Burlesque – High Crimes and Low Comedy in the Bush Imperium, discusses the media-designated “post-war” status of Iraq, the real “Mission Accomplished” goal of establishing a permanent US military footprint in Iraq, Ahmed “hero in error” Chalabi’s talent for remaining politically relevant despite a total lack of public support, why only war criminals on the losing side need worry about prosecution and how ending the US empire would improve nearly all aspects of society.

MP3 here. (37:47)

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.

Will Grigg, author of Liberty in Eclipse, discusses the Second Amendment’s waning influence in the state of Massachusetts, the submit-to-authority indoctrination of children in public schools, the militaristic rituals that intrude on nearly all American social events, how the manufactured partisan divide functions as a political distraction and the Republican Party’s hijacking of the Tea Party movement.

MP3 here. (29:34)

Will Grigg writes the blog Pro Libertate, hosts a show on the Liberty News Radio Network and is the author of Liberty in Eclipse.

The Other Scott Horton (no relation), international human rights lawyer, professor and contributing editor at Harper’s magazine, discusses renowned forensic pathologist Michael Baden’s skepticism about the Guantanamo “suicides” autopsies, the newest Seton Hall Law School report that rebuts the Pentagon response to their previous Gitmo expose, the known existence of sworn statements written by Camp Delta witnesses that have yet to be released, major news media reports on the “suicides” that should be forthcoming and Rahm Emanuel’s tight control over Attorney General Eric Holder and any possible Bush administration prosecutions.

MP3 here. (36:57)

The other Scott Horton is a Contributing Editor for Harper’s magazine where he writes the No Comment blog. 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.

Grant F. Smith, director of the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy in Washington, D.C., discusses the US Treasury’s Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence (TFI) that is closely allied with the Israel lobby and enforces sanctions on Iran, how sanctions and embargoes punish the law abiding and make billionaires out of black market operators, Israel’s importation of Iran-sourced pistachios that violates its own “Trading With the Enemy Act” and how the debate over Iran’s nuclear program diverts attention away from the intractable Palestinian problem.

MP3 here. (28:17)

Grant F. Smith is the author of Spy Trade: How Israel’s Lobby Undermines America’s Economy, America’s Defense Line: The Justice Department’s Battle to Register the Israel Lobby as Agents of a Foreign Government and Foreign Agents: The American Israel Public Affairs Committee from the 1963 Fulbright Hearings to the 2005 Espionage Scandal. He is a frequent contributor to Radio France Internationale and Voice of America’s Foro Interamericano. Smith has also appeared on BBC News, CNN, and C-SPAN. He is currently director of the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy in Washington, D.C.