They called it “rebuilding Iraq,” and Peter van Buren knows a lot about what went wrong — he’s a career State Department foreign service officer who spent a year there on a Provincial Reconstruction Team. I spoke with him recently on KPFK-FM in Los Angeles.
It says here you speak Japanese, Mandarin, and some Korean – why did the State Department send you to Iraq?
Along with the WMD’s, there was another misunderstanding . . .
. . . continued at TheNation.com HERE
LISTEN ONLINE TO THIS SHOW – SUBSCRIBE TO PODCAST
Ralph Nader, Cornel West, Jonathan Kozol and several others are looking for candidates to challenge Obama in the Democratic primaries next spring – JOHN NICHOLS of The Nation examines and evaluates their proposal.
Also: The US effort to “Rebuild Iraq”: how about a plant producing frozen chicken — in a country with no electricity for refrigeration? PETER VAN BUREN worked for the State Department during the “surge,” and recounts the way billions of dollars were lost to waste and fraud. His hew book is “We Meant Well: How I Helped Lose the Battle for the Hearts and Minds of the Iraqi People.” (Watch chicken plant PR video HERE.)
And now Peter seems to be the only State Dept. official facing firing over Wikileaks—for posting a link to Wikileaks at his book website.
Plus: L.A.’s jails are the worst in the nation – that’s what the ACLU says in a report issued today that details “severe and pervasive abuse” of inmates by deputies. PETER ELIASBERG, Legal Director of the ACLU/SC, says Sheriff Lee Baca “must step down.” See coverage in the LA Times (page one) and the NY Times today. SIGN THE PETITION HERE.
In a trial that never should have taken place, ten Muslim students at UC Irvine were convicted Friday of disrupting a speech by the Israeli ambassador on campus last spring.. . . .
. . . . Continued at TheNation.com HERE
Georgia plans to execute Troy Davis Wed. at 4:00pm Pacific — despite impressive evidence that he is not guilty, and support for him from Jimmy Carter, the former head of the FBI under Reagan, and Pope Benedict XVI. KPFK is preempting regular programming, including our show, for a Democracy Now! live broadcast from outside the state prison in Jackson, Ga.
Cops lie. Under oath, on the witness stand. “I saw him reach for a gun.” “I found the drugs in his pocket.” But what happens when juries refuse to believe their testimony? Do cops ever get in trouble for fabricating evidence or lying under oath? Do they ever get charged with perjury?
. . . continued at TheNation.com HERE
First came the news that advisers to Israel’s foreign minister had recommended that Israel provide arms for the Kurdish terrorist group PKK, the Kurdistan Workers Party which has been fighting an armed struggle against Turkey for an autonomous Kurdistan. The idea was for Israel to punish Turkey for expelling the Israeli ambassador, after Israel refused to apologize for its raid on the Gaza flotilla, in which nine Turkish citizens were killed. . . .
. . . continued at TheNation.com HERE.
LISTEN ONLINE TO THIS SHOW – SUBSCRIBE TO PODCAST
Today is the tenth anniversary of the War on Terror – of Congress authorizing the use of military force against terrorists. The result has been disastrous – but now several members of the House have introduced legislation that would repeal the 2001 Authorization. JOHN NICHOLS will comment: he’s Washington Correspondent for The Nation and he blogs at TheNation.com.
Plus: Whatever happened to poor people? KATHA POLLITT says all the liberal talk about “rebuilding the middle class” fails to mention the massive spread of real poverty in America today. Katha wrote about poverty for her column in The Nation this week.
Also: How movie stars shaped American politics: STEVEN J. ROSS will explain. Steve teaches history at USC, he’s head of the Los Angeles Institute for the Humanities, and the author of the book Working Class Hollywood: Silent Film and the Shaping of Class in America. His new book is Hollywood Left and Right — it focuses on ten people including Charlie Chaplin, Ronald Reagan, Jane Fonda and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
If you Google “Pearl Harbor and 9/11,” you get more than 4 million hits. In George W. Bush‘s 9/11 interview on the National Geographic Channel last week, he said Sept. 11, 2001, eventually will be marked on calendars like Pearl Harbor Day: a day never to be forgotten by the people who lived through it. But on the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, it’s instructive to consider the way Pearl Harbor Day was remembered on its 10th anniversary.
In fact, on Dec. 7, 1951, Pearl Harbor wasn’t remembered.
continued at the L.A. Times HERE
LISTEN ONLINE TO THIS SHOW – SUBSCRIBE TO PODCAST
RY COODER live in-studio talks about his new CD, “Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down.” “There’s you, the citizen, running in circles like a headless chicken. And there they are, there they all are, herding you faster and faster through the circle maze of lies and distraction. Who will throw out the life line? You need simple tools, and that’s what these songs are all about.” The Guardian gave the album five stars. WATCH the video of “Quicksand” HERE.
Plus: The lost decade after 9/11: RICK PERLSTEIN comments. We’ll also talk about the Republican candidates’ debate at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley at 5pm. Rick wrote about 9/11 for The American Prospect; his latest book is Nixonland. READ Rick Perlstein “How Democrats Win” at Time.com HERE.
Also: FRA
NCES MOORE LAPPE wants to change the way we think to create the world we want – her new book is EcoMind. She is the author of 17 books and cofounder of Food First: The Institute for Food and Development Policy, the Small Planet Institute, and the Small Planet Fund. She will be speaking Wed. nite, Sept 7, 7pm at All Saints Episcopal Church, 132 N. Euclid Ave. Pasadena.
This Labor Day, for the first time in 45 years, there won’t be a Jerry Lewis telethon on TV. It will be a great day for people with disabilities.
The problem with the Jerry Lewis Telethon was not that he tried to help people with muscular dystrophy. The problem was the way Jerry Lewis did it. . . . Jerry’s message was simple: “crippled children deserve pity.” His critics offered an alternative: “people with disabilities deserve respect.”
. . . continued at TheNation.com HERE
Talking about politics, thinking about the Left.
The podcast “Living in the USA” is the online version of “Living in the USA” at KPFK radio, hosted by Jon Wiener and broadcast live Thursdays at 4pm at 90.7FM in LA, also streaming live at www.kpfk.org
New episodes posted every Thursday afternoon, at livingintheusapod.com
