Antiwar.com Blog

On May 15th, Dr. Ron Paul, the antiwar Republican presidential candidate and congressman from Texas, was denounced by “America’s Mayor” in the second Republican presidential debate when he sited the role of American foreign policy in motivating the murderers of 9/11. Giuliani demanded a retraction and an apology for the statement, which Paul refused to do. (For a full account of Paul and Giuliani’s clash, click here.)

On May 24th, Dr. Paul assigned a list of books to help get Giuliani familiar with the realities of American foreign Policy:

The 9/11 Commission Report

Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire by Chalmers Johnson

Imperial Hubris: Why the West is Losing the War on Terror by Michael Scheuer (the former Chief of the CIA’s bin Laden Unit, Alec Station)

Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism by Professor Robert A. Pape of the University of Chicago

But by the look of Rudy Giuliani’s beady little eyes, and knowing how busy he is collecting investments – er, donations – from those who plan to make their living off of the taxpayer in a Giuliani administration, it is easy to imagine that the self-described hero of 9/11 and terrorism expert has not been able to sit down and read these books.

(Much less, Perfect Soldiers by Terry McDermott, The Looming Tower by Lawrence Wright, A Pretext for War by James Bamford, Terror Incorporated or Insurgent Iraq by Loretta Napoleoni, 1000 Years for Revenge by Peter Lance, The Far Enemy by Fawaz A. Gerges, Holy War, Inc. by Peter Bergen, Ghost Wars by Steve Coll, or anything else about the people who took part in the attacks.)

Now Rudy Giuliani and anyone else out there who can’t see too well, were never taught how to read by their government school teachers or just can’t find the time in their hectic schedule can relax. Antiwar.com has done your homework for you.

You can listen to MP3 audio of in-depth radio interviews with the authors of the books on Ron Paul’s list (less Philip Zelikow), recorded just in the last two weeks for Antiwar Radio and the world at large.

Former CIA analyst Michael Scheuer May 18th

[audio:http://dissentradio.com/radio/07_05_18_scheuer.mp3]

Professor Robert A. Pape June 1st

[audio:http://dissentradio.com/radio/07_06_01_pape.mp3]

Former CIA advisor Chalmers Johnson May 17th

[audio:http://dissentradio.com/radio/07_05_17_chjohnson.mp3]

Two other former CIA officials have also told Antiwar Radio that Dr. Paul is right about al Qaeda terrorism against the U.S. being a consequence of our interventionist foreign policy:

Former CIA counter-terrorism agent Philip Giraldi May 23rd

[audio:http://dissentradio.com/radio/07_05_23_giraldi.mp3]

Former CIA analyst Ray McGovern May 25th

[audio:http://dissentradio.com/radio/07_05_25_mcgovern.mp3]

Bottom line: The only reason that Osama and his gang are able to recruit suicide terrorists is by pointing to real, earthly grievances: specifically the presence of foreign occupying armies in their countries – not 72 virgins in heaven, not freedom, nor a plan to create an Islamic Caliphate.

Occupation.

Yeah, yeah, big scary terrorist plot.

Every time this happens, it turns out that the whole damn thing was either made up by the state out of thin air, the idea to do something violent came from the undercover FBI informant or the “truth” was tortured out of the guy.

There’s no al Qaeda in America. As always, the biggest threat to our lives and liberties is the national government of the United States. Now you know how the rest of the world feels.

Partial list of bogus domestic terrorism plots “busted” by the Federal Cops since 9/11 (all the false warnings are too numerous to mention.):

• Lackawanna Six
• Detroit
• Virginia Paintball guys
• The tortured Abu Ali
• Jose Padilla
• Lodi, California
• Miami plot against the Sears Tower
• New York subway tunnels
• New York subway station
• “Liquid explosives” plot on UK to US flights
• Ft. Dix Six

But, I’m so sure we can believe them when they tell us to be frightened about a plot at JFK!

What, just because there has not been a single case where they have actually busted domestic terrorists since 9/11?! Surely they’re not lying this time!

Someday there will be real terrorists and Americans will die because the FBI is screwing around with a bunch of nonsense. Again.

[audio:http://dissentradio.com/radio/07_06_01_pape.mp3]

Professor Robert A. Pape explains the research behind his book Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism, why Rep. Ron Paul is correct that groups who engage in suicide terrorism can only recruit in the name of fighting against foreign occupation – rather than devotion to any religion, promises of virgins in Heaven or a plot to take over the world – and why our government’s denial of this fact and its policy of regime change puts Americans in greater danger.

MP3 here.

(My first interview with Professor Pape from July, 2005, and an accompanying article I wrote can be found here.)

Robert A. Pape is Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago specializing in international security affairs. His publications include Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism (Random House 2005); Bombing to Win: Air Power and Coercion in War (Cornell 1996), “Why Economic Sanctions Do Not Work,” International Security (1997), “The Determinants of International Moral Action,” International Organization (1999); “The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism,” American Political Science Review (2003); and “Soft Balancing against the United States,” International Security (2005). His commentary on international security policy has appeared in The New York Times, Washington Post, New Republic, Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, and Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, as well as on Nightline, ABC News, CBS News, CNN, Fox News, and National Public Radio. Before coming to Chicago in 1999, he taught international relations at Dartmouth College for five years and air power strategy for the USAF’s School of Advanced Airpower Studies for three years. He received his Ph. D. from the University of Chicago in 1988 and graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Pittsburgh in 1982. His current work focuses on the causes of suicide terrorism and the politics of unipolarity.

[audio:http://dissentradio.com/radio/07_06_01_clemons.mp3]

Steve Clemons, senior fellow at the New America Foundation and keeper of the influential blog The Washington Note, explains Dick Cheney and his neocon cabal’s attempt to make an end run around President Bush and get us into a war with Iran whether he wants to or not, where the “realists” stand, the layers of lower level neocons we’ve never heard of, the “news” of CIA covert action in Iran, Bush’s meeting with the Joint Chiefs and some of the possible consequences if we do go to war.

MP3 here.

Steven Clemons directs the American Strategy Program at the New America Foundation, which aims to promote a new American internationalism that combines a tough-minded realism about America’s interests in the world with a pragmatic idealism about the kind of world order best suited to America’s democratic way of life. He is also a Senior Fellow at New America, and previously served as Executive Vice President.

Publisher of the popular political blog The Washington Note, Mr. Clemons is a long-term policy practitioner and entrepreneur in Washington, D.C. He has served as Executive Vice President of the Economic Strategy Institute, Senior Policy Advisor on Economic and International Affairs to Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) and was the first Executive Director of the Nixon Center.

Prior to moving to Washington, Mr. Clemons served for seven years as Executive Director of the Japan America Society of Southern California, and co-founded with Chalmers Johnson the Japan Policy Research Institute, of which he is still Director. He is a Member of the Board of the Clarke Center at Dickinson College, a liberal arts college in Carlisle, Pa., as well as an Advisory Board Member of the C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience at Washington College in Chestertown, Md. He is also a Board Member of the Global Policy Innovations Program at the Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs and a member of the board of the Citizens for Global Solutions Education Fund.

Mr. Clemons writes frequently on matters of foreign policy, defense, and international economic policy. His work has appeared in many of the major leading op-ed pages, journal, and magazines around the world.

[audio:http://dissentradio.com/radio/07_06_01_lobe.mp3]

Jim Lobe, Washington correspondent for InterPress Service, discusses the situations in DC and in Iraq and how things seem to be playing out: The “surge,” Baker-Hamilton, al Qaeda, Sunni Arabs, Sadr, the Iran factions, the Kurds and the Turks, and the neocons big meeting in the Bahamas and their hopes for sabotaging Rice’s diplomatic efforts.

MP3 here.

Jim Lobe, works as Inter Press Service‘s correspondent in the Washington, D.C., bureau. He has followed the ups and downs of neo-conservatives since well before their rise in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks.

On Wednesday, an essayist exposed an American architectural firm’s designs for the new United States Embassy currently being constructed in Baghdad, Iraq.

Tom Engelhardt, in his article “The Colossus of Baghdad,” for Antiwar.com May 30th, pointed readers to the plans which had been posted at the Website of the embassy’s designers, Berger Devine Yaeger of Kansas City, Missouri, who took down their entire site after being contacted by State Department employees according to the AFP yesterday.

“Our desire would be that this not be in the public domain,” State Department spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos said after officials called the firm of Berger Devine Yaeger within minutes of learning from a reporter that the embassy plans had been posted on its website.

“We work very hard to ensure the safety and security of our employees overseas and this kind of information out in the public domain detracts from that effort,” Gallegos told AFP.

“When it was brought to our attention that these drawings were on their website, they were contacted by department officials and subsequently agreed to take it down,” he said.

The new embassy, which has been compared in size to the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, and, most recently, with Vatican City by Representative Ron Paul in the second Republican presidential debate, has been the subject of much controversy since its construction began.

On Wednesday, Engelhardt wrote:

Imagine this: At $592 million, its proudest boast is that, unlike almost any other American construction project in that country, it is coming in on budget and on time. Of course, with a 30 percent increase in staffing size since Congress approved the project two years ago, it is now estimated that being “represented” in Baghdad will cost a staggering $1.2 billion per year. No wonder, with a crew of perhaps 1,000 officials assigned to it and a supporting staff (from food service workers to Marine guards and private security contractors) of several thousand more. …

Admittedly, it may be hard to take that refreshing dip or catch a few sets of tennis in Baghdad’s heat if the present order for all U.S. personnel in the Green Zone to wear flak jackets and helmets at all times remains in effect – or if, as in the present palace/embassy, the pool (and Ping-Pong tables) are declared, thanks to increasing mortar and missile attacks, temporarily “off limits.” In that case, more time will probably be spent in the massive, largely windowless-looking recreation center, one of over 20 blast-resistant buildings BDY has planned. Perhaps this will house the promised embassy cinema. (Pirates of the Middle East, anyone?)

Though the pictures have been removed from the internet by their publishers, Antiwar.com has obtained a full set.

Click here.