In my preceding post, I was complaining that we had not heard any news of troops coming home from Iraq. On February 16, the Pentagon announced that troop levels have declined to 98,000 and that about 50,000 more will withdraw by August of this year. The remainder are supposed to be out of Iraq by the end of next year. While I’m pleased at this progress, and more than willing to eat my words, I strongly doubt that all of our troops will leave
Iraq in the next 5 years. We’ve built a number of major bases there, and I expect there will be a residual force of at least 10,000 for a long time. I still feel that we are too passive in the face of Obama’s militarism.
Info on Podcast #98
Coleen Rowley, 24-yr-FBI agent, on recent terror plots and the 9/11 Commission. This is another edition of the Boiling Frogs interview series, co-hosted with Sibel Edmonds. Rowley shares with us her views on the latest spectacle surrounding the Christmas Day foiled terrorist attempt, and how it reflects on policies that were implemented after 9/11. She provides us with insight into the pretend investigations carried out by the 9/11 Commission, and how they conducted many of their interviews of FBI witnesses and experts inside the FBI HQ and offices. Ms. Rowley talks about the absence of real investigations and accountability in almost any government related wrongdoing, our shameful treatment of inmates at Guantanamo, the alarming desensitization of our people bolstered by the culprit mainstream media, and much more. Rowley, an FBI special agent for almost 24 years, was legal counsel to the FBI Field Office in Minneapolis from 1990 to 2003. She came to national attention in June 2002, when she testified before Congress about serious lapses before 9/11 that helped account for the failure to prevent the attacks. She now writes and speaks on ethical decision-making and on balancing civil liberties with the need for effective investigation.
Info on Podcast #97
Alabama sleaze, hardball in hydroponics. Alabama blogger Roger Shuler returns with a report from the Deep South. He comments on Sen. Shelby’s abusive hold on Obama appointments and Sen. Session’s homophobic opposition to lifting Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. While Shelby has blocked appointments, Obama has left partisan Republicans in critical US Attorney jobs, including Leura Canary in Alabama. One of her deputies, who coached the key witness in the Siegelman case, is on his way to Gitmo as a defense attorney in kangaroo court er, military commissions for some prisoners. Shuler also updates the Siegelman appeals and reports that debt collectors played a key role in Sen. Brown’s recent Massachusetts election. Big Mike Straumietis, CEO of Advanced Nutrients, charges that hydroponic equipment producers are colluding against him and threatening retailers because he openly supports medical marijuana cultivation. His new magazine is Rosebud.
Info on Podcast #96
Kevin Zeese, activist and attorney, on Obama’s ongoing efforts to woo the political right while ignoring his evaporating progressive base. On the stalled health care debate, Obama says he will look at the GOP agenda, but refuses to listen to Dr. Margaret Flowers and other single payer advocates. We talk about the Dems’ capitulation on ACORN despite the exposure of dirty tricks by James O’Keefe, the growing influence of the Chamber of Commerce following the Supreme Court decision, Obama’s refusal to permit accountability for torture and other crimes, and the left’s failure to press Obama to actually bring troops home from Iraq. Follow the links above to get active on these issues! PBC comments on the race for California governor, and deconstructs the first TV spot from billionaire Meg Whitman.
U.S. Troops leaving Iraq, yet??
Am I the only one who’s noticed that we don’t see evidence of any troops returning from Iraq? Democrats and the left have been silent on the issue, and Obama has issued a few reaffirmations that “combat troops” will be coming home this year. The only troops I know of who left Iraq in 2009 were the tail end of Bush’s mythical “surge”. Most people seem indifferent and Democrats in Congress don’t raise the issue.
In the past few days, I’ve seen TV coverage of funerals for soldiers who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan. And with the death of Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania, TV has replayed his courageous speeches from 2005 calling on Bush to bring troops home. Murtha was a Vietnam vet, a hawk and pork-barrel abuser of earmarks.
We should be seeing joyful reunions of troops and families, especially those who served as many as 4 tours in Bush’s quagmire. Let’s renew the pressure on Obama to keep his promise, as squishy as it is. BRING THE TROOPS HOME NOW!
Info on Podcast #95
Journalist and author Chris Hedges on Obama, Afghanistan and the media. This is the next installment in the Boiling Frogs interview series, co-hosted with Sibel Edmonds. Chris Hedges gives us a quick sketch of his latest book Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle. He discusses the real role of the US media as one of the main culprits in promoting a sense of exceptionalism by disseminating fantasy, and poisoning civil and political discourse with entertainment and trivia. He talks about the spectacle surrounding Barrack Obama’s presidential campaign and his function as a brand just like any other commercial commodity brand advertised and promoted by corporations, the last decade’s coup d’etat in slow motion, and much more! Hedges is a senior fellow at the Nation Institute and the Anschutz Distinguished Fellow at Princeton University. He has written nine books, including Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle, and the best-selling American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America. He spent two decades as a foreign reporter covering wars in Latin America, Africa, Europe and the Middle East, and served for eight years as the Middle East bureau chief of The New York Times, where he shared the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Journalism, for coverage of terrorism. Hedges also received the 2002 Amnesty International Global Award for Human Rights Journalism. His weekly column is published on Truthdig
Info on Podcast #94
Journalist Anand Gopal on night raids and secret prisons in Afghanistan; Robert Parry on the partisanship of Supreme Court, Inc. Gopal has covered the war in Afghanistan for the Wall street Journal and the Christian Science Monitor. This interview is based on his latest report, published in The Nation. Gopal talked to 2 dozen Afghans who have been grabbed by US troops, many in deadly night raids on homes, and held at 9 or more secret prisons and the Bagram prison. He also details how these tactics are winning hearts and minds–for the Taliban and other insurgent groups. Bob Parry is a longtime contributor to the PBC show, and we discuss his thoughtful analysis of the recent Supreme Court decision allowing corporations to inject unlimited amounts into candidate campaigns. Parry reacts to the decision and Glenn Greenwald’s commentary, then details the recent history of pro-corporate judicial appointments and the highly partisan decisions they have produced.
Info on Podcast #93
Dr. Nafeez Ahmed provides us with an overview of the role played by US military and intelligence practices in the creation of terrorism, particularly Al-Qaeda. This is the next edition of the Boiling Frogs interview series, co-hosted with Sibel Edmonds. He tells us about the status of investigations into the Blair government’s complicity with the Bush administration in supporting the invasion of Iraq. He discusses possible factors behind Americans’ long-held denial and dismissal of dark US foreign policy practices as conspiracies. Mr. Nafeez talks about the Obama administration, the ongoing posture of US corporate interests and the desire to dominate world energy supplies, the so-called liquid bombing plot and how it was mythologized in the US, and more.
Dr. Nafeez Ahmed is a bestselling author and political analyst. He is the Executive Director of the Institute for Policy Research & Development, and has taught courses in contemporary history and international relations theory at the University of Sussex. His Doctoral thesis investigated the radicalization processes and dynamics of violent conflict in the context of hierarchical social systems in the modern world. Dr. Ahmed has also published extensively on international security issues, including The London Bombings; The War on Truth; Behind the War on Terror; and The War on Freedom. He has been an expert commentator for BBC News 24, BBC World Today, Al-Jazeera English, among others. He is currently advising the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst on engaging British Muslim communities.
Coming soon: Fiore Political Animations
Mark Fiore is a very talented guy, and creates weekly Flash animation political cartoons. Under the influence of a couple of bottles of Corona, I persuaded him to allow us to post his latest cartoons here at peterbcollins.com Until we get the website set up for them, check out his recent episodes at www.MarkFiore.com
Info on Podcast #92
Jason Leopold on whitewash for Bybee/Yoo; Brad Friedman on O’Keefe/Breitbart scam to tamper with Sen. Landrieu’s phones. Leopold is deputy managing editor at Truthout and has closely followed of the torture memos written by John Yoo and approved by Jay Bybee. The Obama Justice Dept. has watered down the findings of the Bush-era investigation that concluded that Yoo and Bybee had “violated professional standards” and referred them to Bar associations for possible discipline; the new report, according to Newsweek, says they merely “showed poor judgment”. We refer to the cases of homicide that Scott Horton reports in our podcast 91 and suggest the Obama Justice Dept. is obstructing justice. Friedman, whose Bradblog is celebrating its 6th anniversary, has done an excellent job unraveling the tactics of O’Keefe–first in the ACORN hatchet job, and now with his Jan 25 arrest for trying to tamper with phones at Sen. Landrieu’s office in New Orleans. You won’t get this kind of context and detail from corporate media outlets.