Antiwar.com Blog

Former British MP Tony Benn discusses the departure of Tony Blair, what a liar he is, the antiwar movement and whether it’s a good idea to prosecute leaders or follow the peace and reconciliation commissions model of getting justice for war criminals and Blair’s likely successor.

MP3 here.

He was a Cabinet minister in the Wilson and Callaghan governments from 1964 – 79, as Minister of Technology, Secretary of State for both Industry and Energy and President of the Council of European Energy ministers in 1977.

An elected member of the National Executive Committee of the Labour party from 1959 – 1994, he was Chairman of the Party in 1971/2.

He is a member of the Transport and General Workers Union and the National Union of Journalists, and an honorary member of the National Union of Mineworkers.

Will Grigg, editor of The Right Source and author of the blog Pro-Libertate, discusses the claims of the president’s pet Straussians that it is perfectly constitutional for the President to do anything he likes including take over the world and turn America into a nightmarish police state.

MP3 here.

William Norman Grigg writes the Pro Libertate blog and is the founder and editor of The Right Source.

[audio:http://dissentradio.com/charles/awphillipgiraldi050807.mp3]

Former CIA officer Philip Giraldi explains why he signed the joint letter with other former CIA officers demanding that former DCI Tenet give his book money to wounded soldiers and give up him medal of freedom, that lying a country into war is a war crime, Condoleeza Rice’s trip to Australia in the summer of 2006 and what it reveals about her abject ignorance of the world, whether Iraq’s WMDs were secreted away to Syria before the invasion, Dick Cheney’s trip to the Middle East to disrupt any chance of negotiation between Saudi Arabia and Iran and Israel and Syria, and whether there’s any chance the War Party will ever be held accountable.

MP3 here. (17:22)

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

[audio:http://dissentradio.com/charles/awphillipgiraldi050807.mp3]

Robert Parry of ConsortiumNews.com discusses the need he found to create a new home for investigative reporting back in the 1990s, explains the role of the old Iran-Contra criminals in running the war party today, evidence of George Bush Sr.’s role, the narrative of the “crazy” Iranian regime which was apparently plenty sane enough when this same crew sold them weapons to use against Iraq who the U.S. was also backing in the 1980s, the October Surprise, how Bush claims to follow the advice of his generals as he replaces them with ones sure to “agree” with him that the answer in Iraq is to escalate, why al Qaeda wants the U.S. to stay in Iraq, why they did 9/11 in the first place, the crazy theory that the President has unlimited power over an unlimited area forever, and the media narrative that Bush is some great decisive leader even though he is an idiot and a coward and their suppression of the story of the Florida recount in the election of the year 2000.

MP3 here. (43:00)

Robert Parry, who broke many of the Iran-Contra stories in the 1980s for the Associated Press and Newsweek, has written a new book, Secrecy & Privilege: Rise of the Bush Dynasty from Watergate to Iraq.

This is from the “Celebrate Public Service Recognition” exhibition on the Smithsonian Mall in Washington this weekend.

If they put a sign saying “Rule of Law” on front of the howitzer, people would figure it was just one more post-9/11 decorative change.

Some people look at the howitzer and think how easily it could be turned at Congress.

Folks don’t recognize that the barrel is already pointing in their direction.

Other photos I took yesterday of the military on the Mall are at my blog here.

“And I think that withdrawal would be totally unrealistic and would a catastrophe.”

Sound familiar? It is Hubert Humphrey at the 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago speaking in defense of the Vietnam War.