Dahr Jamail, Uprisings and Oil in the Middle East

Talk Nation Radio for the week of March 2, 2011
Dahr Jamail, Uprisings and Oil in the Middle East

Plus his reporting on climate change, (the Number One Issue,) BP's disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, and coverage from El Salvador for Al Jazeera English. See video interview here

Produced by Dori Smith, Storrs, CT
Download at Pacifica's Audioport here or at Radio4all.net and Archive.org

3-09-2011 HEADLINE UPDATE: Reading from Al Jazeera's live blog we update headlines from their correspondents. Moammar Gadhafi continues to try to recapture Ras Lanuf which has been in the hands of rebels trying to oust Gadhafi. Gadhafi's warplanes have bombed the As Sidr oil facility in Ras Lanuf, setting it on fire. No word yet on any casualties. Gadhafi is now claiming that a no-fly zone might unite Libyans behind him. Gadhafi telling Turkish TV that the real goal of a no fly zone would be seizing oil fields.

Updated version here:




International journalist Dahr Jamail joins us to talk about the uprisings throughout the Middle East and North Africa. We talk about Libya, as neocons like former Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and Senator John McCain urge the White House to take military action there. Two US Naval vessels with 1,300 Marines on board has docked at a US base on Crete as Greek Communist Party members rally against the arrival of US forces according to AP.

U.S. President Barack Obama has said Moammar Gadhafi should step down. The US has considered a role in enforcing a no-fly zone over Libya. The U.S. has also sent warships through Egypt's Suez Canal into the Mediterranean Sea headed toward Libya. US Military leaders have said a no fly zone would require bombing of LIbya's anti aircraft installations.

In the meantime world financial markets are still reeling over protests in Libya that have resulted in a sharp increase in oil prices. Also, revelations continue about now embarrassing ties formed between Gadhafi and representatives of BP, Exxon, Carlyle Group, and other companies plus the London School of Economics. In June of 2010, the Libyan government backed a London hedge fund, according to The Independent, (Stephen Foley, Associate Business Editor).

Dahr Jamail writes for Al Jazeera English and Inter Press Service News. He has been reporting on the adverse health affects for those living near the BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico and organizing that has been going on in El Salvador where women are leading the way. His web page is http://www.dahrjamailiraq.com

Dahr Jamail is author of Beyond the Green Zone, Dispatches from an Unembedded Journalist in Occupied Iraq and The Will to Resist, Soldiers who Refuse to Fight in Iraq and Afghanistan. During 2003 and 2004 as he covered the Iraq war as an unembedded journalist, Dahr Jamail heard many Iraqis complain about the lack of jobs, electricity, and clean drinking water in post occupation Iraq. Protesters in Iraq today have the same complaints.