That Bogus Detroit ‘Sleeper Cell’ Case
Ron Hansen of the Detroit News discusses the government’s criminal conspiracy [.pdf] to suborn perjury by the FBI and State Department and withhold evidence from the defense in the bogus Detroit “sleeper cell” case.
MP3 here. (39:26)
Ronald J. Hansen is a reporter for the Detroit News.
Libertarianism and War
Anthony Gregory discusses how war destroys liberty rather than protects it and American foreign interventions since World War I have only set up for the next one.
MP3 here. (34:30)
Anthony Gregory is a research analyst at the Independent Institute, a public policy research organization that analyzes government policy and suggests nonpartisan, peaceful, free-market solutions to today’s social and political ills. He is also a policy advisor to The Future of Freedom Foundation, a guest editor for Strike the Root, and a columnist for LewRockwell.com.
US Still Backs Iran in Iraq, Sunni Insurgents Too
Historian and journalist Gareth Porter discusses the reasoning behind the government’s lies that Iran has been supplying the bombs that are killing G.I.s in Iraq, the likely consequences of backing the Iran factions, SCIRI and Dawa even as the U.S. gives up fighting the Sunni insurgents and have begun to arm them.
MP3 here. (32:54)
Gareth Porter was co-director of the Indochina Resource Center, an antiwar lobbying organization in Washington, DC, from 1974 to 1976. He has written about negotiated settlements of wars in Vietnam, Cambodia, and the Philippines and is the author of Perils of Dominance: Imbalance of Power and the Road to War in Vietnam. He is a reporter for IPS News and writes regularly for the American Prospect.
Here is a senator speaking against the war:
Never was so momenteous a measure adopted, with so much precipitancy; so little thought; or forced through by such objectionable means.
On the passage of the act recognizing the war, I said to many of my friends, that a deed had been done from which the country would not be able to recover for a long time, if ever.
These deep impressions were made upon my mind, because I saw from the circumstance under which the war was made, a total departure from that course of policy which had governed the country from the commencement of our Government until that time; and this, too, under circumstances calculated to lead to most disastrous consequences.
We begin now to find the misfortune of entering into war without a declaration of war—without a declaration setting forth to the people the causes of the war, and one upon which they may hold the Government responsible.
I should have said that here was a senator speaking against the Mexican war. That was Senator John C. Calhoun in 1846 and 1847.
The Republican Presidential Debate on Sunday as moderated by George Stephanopoulos was yet another attempt by the media to manipulate further the already-manipulated American public. It started off with outrageous introductions that revealed the implied framework of the debate. Each candidate was introduced with his Iowa poll numbers and in order of those numbers. What was the point of this? A debate should be an exchange of ideas weighted by the quality of those ideas. But no, Stephanopoulos knows better. He knows that people should not pay much attention to ideas that come from candidates who “cannot win.” But perhaps the reason some candidates cannot win is because the media doesn’t treat their ideas with respect. But no matter. Good ideas can affect the positions of candidates who “can win.” They can affect the nature of the debate. My sympathies are with Ron Paul, of course. Isn’t it intrinsically interesting that there are conservatives in this country who think that Bush’s Iraq War policy, War on Terror, and related civil liberties record are a disaster? People such as Paul Craig Roberts, Bruce Fein, Bob Barr and others who have made appearances on Antiwar.com. Ron Paul has a lot to say about this kind of “conservatism.” Shouldn’t debates be about learning something you don’t already know? Why was Paul given so little time and then rushed when he received a few seconds to talk? Stephanopoulos had an opportunity to do something useful on Sunday. Instead he just created a political circus.
I spent the morning over at Taki’s Top Drawer, live-blogging the Iowa Republican presidential debate, hosted by George Stephanopoulos. Check it out.
