John Feffer on President Obama, Foreign Policy, and the Cost of Empire

Talk Nation Radio for July 22, 2009
John Feffer on President Obama, Foreign Policy, and the Cost of Empire

A discussion with John Feffer about his July 14, 2009 'World Beat' column in Foreign Policy in Focus, The Cost of Empire

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



John Feffer's July 14th piece is titled, 'The Cost of Empire'. In it he refers to President Barack Obama as the 'consummate pitch man'. We spend the half hour with John Feffer, co-Director of Foreign Policy in Focus, FPIF.org to talk about where we are in foreign policy terms under President Obama.

A former Pan Tech Fellow in Korean Studies at Stanford University, John Feffer is a specialist in East Asia as well as the Balkans. He runs programs on military spending in East Asia and post conflict identity issues in the Balkans and has written or edited eight books, the latest on North Korea and South Korea. He comes from a background of having worked for AFSC, The American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker organization, based in Tokyo and Eastern Europe.

Contributors to Foreign Policy in Focus covered the Obama campaign, now they study President Obama's foreign policy challenges and opportunities. Writers at FPIF.org provide original articles and reports on topics related to foreign policy. They do it through eyes that search for peace and justice, equal rights, economic rights, and better US policy in general.

In recent issues, Conn Hallinan maps conflict in Africa, flagging sites where future energy supplies are having an impact on policy, Eric Leaver and Daniel Atzmon take a sober look at US policy in the MidEast, Phillis Bennis analyzes what the Obama White House has said after Iran's elections. Emira Woods looks at Obama's visit to Africa's 'Oil Gulf' and Stephen Zunes points out that Iranians need no lessons in democracy from the US. And Rostam Pourzal asks, 'Would MLK Back Iran's Protesters'?

We take a look at the way Obama's policies come across versus the heart of the matter. Has Obama's foreign policy led to a split within the U.S. peace movement? John Feffer explores some of the existing divisions and offers his best advice on how to hold Obama accountable. Remind him of his own words!

Brookings Institute figures US needs more troops for Afghanistan.

CNN wire, US needs still more troops for Afghanistan, July 17, 2009

Related News Headlines
July 22, 2009

Even as peace groups celebrate a Congressional vote to end production on the F-22, an outdated and costly aircraft, Georgia Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss is making plans to sell the planes to Japan. And before they voted to kill the F-22, members of Congress voted to build 12 more beyond the 187 already authorized. Hi military budgets, troop build ups in the Middle East, this time in Afghanistan, harsh rhetoric by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Iran--Do things only sound good under Obama, but turn out much the same as they were under George W. Bush?

F-22 production not quite dead yet, despite senate vote
By Thomas L. Day

Save the News, an interview with Josh Stearns of Free Press

Talk Nation Radio for July 16, 2009
Save the News, an interview with Josh Stearns of Free Press


Produced by Dori Smith
TRT:29:34
Download at Pacifica's Audioport or at Radio4all.net and Archive.org

Free Press has critiqued the recent meeting at the Aspen Institute where leaders in the corporate press discussed ways to improve their industry. It's a non starter in terms of any real improvements to news, but was essentially a discussion about how they could increase profits. The Free Press effort outlined at www.savethenews.org involves a broad program of education and the creation of a broader, more healthy public media system with more non profit and low profit businesses.

Founded in 2002 Free Press has set the bar for activism about media ownership and media reform. They have challenged corporate lobbyists who would bend the FCC, Federal Communications Commission, to their will. And they have worked against limitations on internet access. Free Press staff like Josh Stearns have worked for media justice and they hope to broaden media ownership and limit the giant monopolies that have failed to provide a news resource to serve the needs of a democracy.

Also, could a new plan announced by the White House July 14th, be used by independent minded people interested in training as journalists? During his speech at Macomb Community College in Warren Michigan July 14th, President Barack Obama outlined a plan to commit $12 billion for community college growth.

Obama said his plan could be used by students seeking jobs in the growing alternative energy industry, health care, or technology. He mentioned companies like Cisco which have existing relationships with community colleges, and he encouraged administrators to expand existing online programs to build what he called an Open Source clearinghouse.

Josh Stearns explains how this new funding could be an opportunity for training for people hoping to help Save the News.

The initiative comes in response to a virtual death of news media in America. Newspapers have gone out of business or downsized, the Associated Press reports that 100 publications in over 32 states have dropped one or more days of print coverage to save money. TV stations are popularizing their content, reducing the amount of actual news reporting down to the point where the weather has become the main attraction for network affiliates. And NPR, National Public Radio, brought in a new CEO, Vivian Schiller, former head of on-line operations at the New York Times, and they have been popularizing their sound by using long features and rock music to attract what they hope will be a wider audience. Finally, a loss of advertising dollars has driven major newspapers to contract with net consortium world of Yahoo! for sharing ad revenues.

http://www.savethenews.org

Please contact Dori Smith at talknationradio@gmail.com for information about this free weekly broadcast.

Greenpeace climbers scale Mount Rushmore to Send Message to Obama

In this picture provided by the environmental group Greenpeace, Greenpeace climbers rappel down the face of Mount Rushmore National Memorial in Keystone, S.D. on Wednesday to unfurl a banner that challenges President Obama to show leadership on global warming. A federal prosecutor says a dozen people were taken into custody after the incident.
AP Photo

Global warming, world economies, and nuclear weapons have been the topics as the Obama administration moved on from the 2009 Moscow Start Talks to the G8 Economic Summit. The White House issued a fact sheet: Meeting the International Clean Energy and Climate Change Challenges, and held a press briefing.

"Every nation on this planet is at risk. And just as no one nation is responsible for climate change, no one nation can address it alone. That is why, back in April, I convened this forum of the world’s major economies – responsible for more than three-quarters of the world’s carbon pollution. And it is why we have gathered again here today." President Barack Obama, L'Aquila, Italy. July 9, 2009


The Status Quo is Not Sustainable, says U.S. Special Envoy Todd Stern
Overview of W.H. press release 7-9-09

Concerns about the US economic crisis aside, "You can't wait" on addressing climate change, the U.S. Special Envoy for International Economics, Todd Stern, told reporters gathered at an international press conference in L'Aquila, Italy, "I mean, the status quo is not a sustainable thing".

At the U.S. Press Filing Center in L'Aquila, Italy, U.S. Special Envoy for International Economics Todd Stern, held a press conference. The Group of Eight discussed how a process of global governance might be established, and Stern made a brief statement:

MR. STERN: Thanks very much. I'm just going to run very briefly through a few highlights from the declaration, and then we can go right to questions.

There were a number of key points, I think, that came out in the declaration agreed to by the 17 leaders. These include the agreement that global and national emissions should peak as soon as possible, that the MEF developed countries will undertake prompt action to produce robust reductions in their emissions in the midterm, consistent with their long-term ambitious goals -- in their case, 80 percent below by 2050.

The MEF developing countries agreed to take prompt action to reduce their emissions as compared to their "business as usual" trajectory in the midterm. The parties also agreed to prepare long-term low-carbon growth plans to guide their long-term development. They agreed to work between now and Copenhagen to arrive at a 2050 goal -- we talked about that a little bit yesterday. And also there was an agreement on reductions from deforestation.

There was an addition, an agreement to establish a global partnership to drive transformational technology development and a set of countries agreeing to take the lead in a number of different technologies. Also, a broad set of agreements with respect to the structure of a financing package -- not a number, but a structure, including a number of elements such as the sources of the financing, including the carbon markets and public sources as well, that the establishment of -- the set up of the fund should take advantage of existing institutions, should have balanced governance and the like. And there are also some important sentences with respect to adaptation.

So it was an overall declaration, it includes a number of important points, a number of the mitigation points that I just mentioned have never been agreed to before and I think that's -- and we can take questions.

Several reporters tried to offer what might be called a way out for leaders concerned about the burden of addressing global warming.

Question: (no name given) The ordinary American taxpayer may say, wait a minute, is this really the right time to impose a cap and trade system, to place a new tax on carbon when the U.S. economy is struggling to get out of the deepest recession since the Great Depression? I mean, can you address that, why there shouldn't even be some anxiety about that and that shouldn't at least in some way influence the debate about this issue?

MR. STERN: Sure. Sure. It's understandable that there's some anxiety about it, but there's a couple of points to be made and the President has made these points I think on many occasions.

First of all, the nature of the problem is such that you can't wait. I mean, the status quo is not a sustainable thing.

But secondly, there is -- you could put it aside, pretend that you can wait for some number of years, continue to lock in investment in high-carbon technology -- or you can take steps to build the kind of economy that is going to be sustainable, that is going to build a plant and equipment that's going to be able to last. It's the right economic move to make. If you don't make this you're going to end up spending more money a few years down the road.

So there's no point in having a huge, big stimulus effort which simply locks in old technology, locks in a high-carbon path -- which is completely unsustainable; science, unfortunately, is undoubtedly just going to get worse on this issue, not better -- and the plain reality, this is absolutely compellingly true for countries like China and India and everywhere else, as well as that the high carbon cap is simply untenable. And you're going to suffer economically -- not just in the environment -- you're going to suffer economically if you choose that path, because in not very many years, if it looks bad now it's going to look worse and it's going to be completely untenable.

So the President is making the right choice, and it is the right choice to move forward on this now, even though the anxiety people feel is quite understandable.

Q Mike, did the anxiety come up in the conversations? Did any of the member nations wonder aloud if this is really the right time, if another time, a better economic scenario might be wiser?

MR. FROMAN: I think the only instance in which it came up was a recognition that the challenge that the global community faces would be difficult under any circumstance. In the current economic circumstance, it is challenging, but that it's equally urgent. And as Todd said, it's not something that can be wait -- that can wait and just be put off for several years.

And I would just -- I just want to underscore one thing that Todd said earlier -- and, again, I hope you all have the fact sheet. The half-dozen specifics in the mitigation paragraph that were agreed to by developed and developing countries are really quite significant steps forward and quite significant contributions to the U.N. negotiations. It's not the end of the line. As Todd said, there's still negotiations to be had, there's still numbers to fill in. But those are things that have been agreed to for the first time by developing and developed countries alike, and really make a meaningful contribution towards the resolution of this issue.

Francis A. Boyle on 2009 US -- Russia Start Talks

Talk Nation Radio for July 9, 2009

Francis A. Boyle on US and Russia Start Talks
History, perspective, and what's going on behind the scenes?

Many news reports have offered the conclusion that former President Vladimir Putin remains the real power in Russia today. They claim President Dmitri Medvedev is a figurehead. What about the power and authority of US President Barack Obama in Washington? Does he possess top control over foreign and military policy or diplomatic endeavors? Or might other forces within the Obama administration, the US Military, Pentagon, neoconservative advisory team, or military industry, retain the level of control they held under Bush/Cheney?

Professor Francis A. Boyle expresses hope that President Obama will make good on campaign promises about the use of diplomacy over the use of force, and that he will in fact negotiate new, binding weapons treaties for our century that can ensure peace.

Professor Boyle's book, "The Criminality of Nuclear Deterrence," defines the stakes posed by weapons of mass destruction in a post 9/11 world. He clarifies the history of the Start Talks and talks about what is at stake in 2009. (Amazon Books and see more below)

Francis A. Boyle also critiques the Obama team's negotiations noting that special adviser to the President, Michael A. McFaul, announced America's decision against putting the ABMs on the table prior to the Start talks.


Produced by Dori Smith, Talk Nation Radio studios in Storrs, Connecticut
TRT: 29:43, music fades 7.sec
Download at Pacifica's Audioport here or at Radio4all.net and Archive.org in various formats suitable for broadcast and or podcast.
Music by Fritz Heede, composer and musician who wrote and performed the soundtrack for the film, The Oil Factor.

International Law Professor Francis A Boyle joins us to talk about the Start Talks between US President Obama and Russian President Medvedev. [See related, G8 Summit, Addressing the Nuclear Threat, here, with Under Secretary of State Bill Burns, with the President at the G8 for portion on Iran, "because he's been so heavily involved in this, that he can walk you guys through what they're working on".]

What were the successes or failures of the preliminary Start Talks? What has been going on behind the scenes? What is the impact of having so many Neoconservatives on the White House team?

Francis A. Boyle has advised nations and societies at risk including Palestinians and the People of Bosnia and Herzegovina, at the ICC, International Criminal Court, and the People of Chechnya in a claim of genocide against Putin's Russia.

Francis A. Boyle is a leading expert on the crisis weapons of mass destruction create. He drafted the Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act of 1989 and the American Implementing Legislation for The 1972 Biological Weapons Convention.

Bio: A scholar in the areas of international law and human rights, Professor Boyle received a J.D. degree magna cum laude and A.M. and Ph.D. degrees in political science from Harvard University. Prior to joining the faculty at the College of Law, he was a teaching fellow at Harvard and an associate at its Center for International Affairs. He also practiced tax and international tax with Bingham, Dana & Gould in Boston.

As an internationally recognized expert, Professor Boyle serves as counsel to Bosnia and Herzegovina and to the Provisional Government of the State of Palestine. He also represents two associations of citizens within Bosnia and has been instrumental in developing the indictment against Slobodan Milosevic for committing genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Professor Boyle is Attorney of Record for the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, conducting its legal affairs on a worldwide basis. Over his career, he has represented national and international bodies including the Blackfoot Nation (Canada), the Nation of Hawaii, and the Lakota Nation, as well as numerous individual death penalty and human rights cases. He has advised numerous international bodies in the areas of human rights, war crimes and genocide, nuclear policy, and bio-warfare. (More on Professor Francis A. Boyle here.

Where to purchase books by Francis A. Boyle
Bookmasters, According to Bookmasters, "The 2002 book, The Criminality of Nuclear Deterrence provides a succinct and detailed guide to understanding the arms race from Hiroshima/ Nagasaki through the SALT I, SALT II, ABM and START efforts at arms control, to Star Wars/National Missile Defense, U.S. unilateral abrogation of the ABM Treaty, and events in Afghanistan and beyond".

"It clarifies the relevant international law, from the Hague Conventions through the Nuremberg Principles to the recent World Court Advisory Opinion, as well as tracing contradictions in and contraventions of domestic guidelines established in the U.S. Army Field Manual of 1956 on The Law of Land Warfare, which remains the official primer for U.S. military personnel concerning the laws of war to which they must regard themselves as subject".

Accompanying story in Counterpunch by Francis A. Boyle here Bush Jr.'s Nuclear Sabre-Rattling: The Rogue Elephant, "In quick succession the world saw these Bush Jr Leaguers repudiate the Kyoto Protocol on global warming, the International Criminal Court, the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), an international convention to regulate the trade in small arms, a verification Protocol for the Biological Weapons Convention, an international convention to regulate and reduce smoking, the World Conference Against Racism, and the Anti-Ballistic Missile Systems Treaty, inter alia. To date the Bush Jr Leaguers have not found an international convention that they like. The only exception to this rule was their shameless exploitation of the 11 September 2001 tragedy in order to get the US House of Representatives to give Bush Jr so-called "fast-track" trade negotiation authority so as to present the American People and Congress with yet another non-amendable fait accompli on behalf of American multinationals, corporations, banks, insurance companies, the high-tech and biotech industries, Wall Street, etc. The epitome of "globalization," American-style".

Bookmasters, Using International Law to Clarify and Resolve the Israeli/ Palestinian Conflict, "No regional crisis has greater potential to affect world peace than the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. None has proved more intractable, and seemingly impossible to resolve. Yet, at the end of the day, most commentators agree that the only solution to the conflict lies in the creation of a viable Palestinian state under the guidance and norms of international law: only international law can provide an autonomous legal system capable of rendering objective judgment on the claims of the competing parties".

Special thanks to Professor Francis A. Boyle for spending time with us working to educate us on Obama policy and global events during early 2009. We are in your debt.

Press Notes:
Headline July 9, 2009 CNN BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- "The U.S. military has released five Iranian diplomats detained in Iraq since early 2007, the Iraqi government and Iran's embassy in Baghdad said Thursday.
-- The five have been transferred to Iraqi custody and were expected to be taken to the embassy. The U.S. military would only say it was looking into the report".

Robert Gibbs, July 9, 2009 From: THE WHITE HOUSE, Office of the Press Secretary U.S. Press Filing Center, L'Aquila, Italy

Robert, you all pretty much laid out yesterday what's -- especially on climate change -- what's going to be in the G8 language and the MEF language. What's in play today? Do you expect any movement on that front at all, or what's --
MR. GIBBS: Well, no, I mean, I think they'll just continue to work through that. I think they will -- I mean, obviously there are some meetings throughout the day on trade. Again, that was a topic that the President talked to President Lula about.
"I think obviously a lot of business was done on some of the major topics -- climate and Iran -- yesterday.

Sprouts: Voices of Concern about Obama's MidEast Policies

This week's Sprouts: Voices of Concern about Obama's MidEast Policies
Produced by: Dori Smith and David Haseltine, WHUS Storrs, FM 91.7 at the University of Connecticut

Left KU Channel
Thursday, July 9, 2009 3PM EST
TRT: 29:23
Download as broadcast quality .mp3: here Or go to http://audioport.org
and search the word "Sprouts" - or go to Sprouts:
"Voices of Concern about Obama's MidEast Policies"



This week's stories: There are important conversations taking place in the US and around the world as the foreign policy strategies of President Obama andVice President Biden become more clear.

Peace activists, progressive Democrats, international scholars, and independent journalists who were critical of Bush and Cheney policies are growing more critical of Obama policies.

For instance, the U.S. is said to be withdrawing from Iraq, but is it a true withdrawal or will US forces remain in Iraq to operate US Military bases from which US forces can now prosecute a more regional war? Should the US continue the Afghan war and escalate it? What are the Obama administration's arguments? Should the US continue to militarize Pakistan, where US Military forces have been aiming drones at villages along the border to take out militants. A UK judge is criticizing the Obama administration for use of amoral weapons which are killing civilians in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Finally, Iranian Americans have been using the word "pride" in discussing their sentiments about the protest movement in Iran after the election there. Is there a budding of new nationalism growing?

What will the impact of such a change be on Iranian and US policies? We spoke with Trita Parsi to get his thoughts on the potential down side for an Obama policy that seems to cultivate the demonstrations and opposition activities in Iran. The U.S. denies a role, however, Jeremy Hammond, editor of Foreign Policy Journal has raised questions of a continued role for the US State Dept. and other branches activated during the Bush years.

WHUS public affairs director David Haseltine looks at the post election demonstration movement with Professor Cyrus E. Zirakzadeh, an expert on Comparative Social Movements in the Political Science Department at the University of Connecticut. He talks about the people involved in the protest, the political figures, and offers his analysis on where Iranians go from here.

We also hear from:

Veteran for Peace Camillo Mac Bica, on US War operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Journalist Sherwood Ross of Anti War News Service.
Famed international lawyer Francis A. Boyle
Iranian American scholar Trita Parsi, President of the National Iranian American Council.
Jeremy Hammond, Editor of Foreign Policy Journal.

Vietnam Veteran and Vet for Peace Camillo Mac Bica has worked tirelessly to end US Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He finds himself frustrated by President Obama's arguments for escalating the Afghan War and using drones in Pakistan. And peace activists like Mac Bica are not alone in their sharp criticism of Obama policy. On July 6th one of Britains most senior judges, Lord Bingham, said the US drones used in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Gaza, as well as US cluster bombs and landmines, "are beyond the pale" and should probably be banned by the international community. His statement appears in British paper, The Independent. Sherwood Ross wrote a scathing indictment of the Afghan operation on July 3rd, condemning US Congress and the Obama administration, and calling the war illegal. He also looked at headlines about ongoing Salt Talks between President Obama and Russian President Medvedev, and he saw a down side to America's agreement for ongoing use of Russian territory to supply US forces in Afghanistan.

Sprouts is a weekly program that features local radio production and stories from many radio stations and local media groups around the world. It is produced in collaboration with community radio stations and independent producers across the country. The program is coordinated and distributed by Pacifica Radio and offered free of charge to all radio stations. For information, or if you would like to feature your work on Sprouts, contact Ursula Ruedenberg at ursula@pacifica.org.

Please also see: http://www.talknationradio.org

Has the US been fomenting unrest in Iran? An interview with editor Jeremy R. Hammond of Foreign Policy Journal

Talk Nation Radio for July 1, 2009
Has the US been fomenting unrest in Iran?


An interview with editor Jeremy R. Hammond of Foreign Policy Journal about his June 23rd story: "Has the U.S. Played a Role in Fomenting Unrest During Iran’s Election?" It offers a kind of history of US propaganda and covert operations aimed at regime change in Iran.

Two versions uploaded for your convenience. 1. Non compressed, may be better for some podcasters. 2. Compressed for louder audio.




Produced by Dori Smith
TRT: 29:44
Download at Pacifica's Audioport and at Radio4all.net and Archive.org

Other topics include US support for Iranian opposition groups through NED, the National Endowment for Democracy and US AID, the twitter phenomenon, use of anonymous sources, the CIA in Iran, US support for militant organizations operating in Iran, Bush policy on Iran seems to be continuing under President Obama.

During the run up to the Iraq War, Hammond criticized Bush administration arguments about WMD. He then founded Foreign Policy Journal to cover US policy. See this link to Foreign Policy Journal featuring critical analysis of U.S. foreign policy from at home and abroad. It features writing by Jeremy Hammond and Iranian writer Kourosh Ziabari, Pakistani, Shalid R. Siddaqi, investigative reporter Greg Palast, Nima Shirazi of Wideasleepinamerica.com, and others.


Recent articles by Jeremy R. Hammond June 23, 2009 Has the U.S. Played a Role in Fomenting Unrest During Iran's Election?

July 1, 2009 US ‘has intelligence agents working in Iran’. A former US national security adviser has told Al Jazeera that US intelligence agents are working in Iran. May 21, 2009

April 23, 2009 Clinton Says Iran Policy Goal to Gain Support for “Crippling Sanctions”

See also: June 25, 2009. In Fraud We Trust? by Nima Shirazi.

Francis A. Boyle on US Strategy for Color Revolution in Iran

Talk Nation Radio for June 25, 2009
Francis A. Boyle on US Strategy for Color Revolution in Iran
: A continuity of American policy under Bush and Cheney



Produced by Dori Smith, Storrs, CT
TRT:29:49
Download at Pacifica's Audioport here or at Radio4all.net and Archive.org.

Is the US running a covert operation in Iran designed to promote a color revolution as a way to bring about regime change? We asked international law expert Francis A. Boyle. According to Professor Boyle, the Obama administration is likely trying this policy out prior to implementing other strategies, and notes that the people working on the region now are maintaining continuity with previous administration. The U.S. may well delay diplomatic talks at least for now.

We hear about Obama's MidEast advisory team and discuss what the events in Iran mean in context with US policy.

Francis A. Boyle is a scholar in the areas of international law and human rights, Professor Boyle received a J.D. degree magna cum laude and A.M. and Ph.D. degrees in political science from Harvard University. Prior to joining the faculty at the College of Law, he was a teaching fellow at Harvard and an associate at its Center for International Affairs. His latest book for 2009 is, Tackling America's Toughest Questions, Znet.com interview. (More below.)

Under former President Bush and Vice President Cheney the US was supporting opposition candidates, and in 2007 Bush authorized a covert "black" operation to destabilize the Iranian government, according to ABCNews.com. You can read a May 22, 2007 report about the operation in www.Global Research.ca.

Questions about Iran's election results persist and they are more specific now that the Guardian Council there has released more of the numbers. Professor Ali Ansari, Daniel Berman and Thomas Rintoul, have written a report for the London think tank, Chatham House questioning the result of 13 million more votes for Ahmandinejad. The report notes that two districts produced more votes than eligible voters. A joint BBC and ABC News poll taken before the election did predict an 89 percent turnout with Ahmandinejad the winner by two to one over leading contender Mir Hossein Mousavi. The poll was taken by the Center for Public Opinion of the New America Foundation.

Former State Department, NSC, and CIA official Flynt Leverett is now with the New America Foundation and he has said he finds the Ahmandinijad win credible, even if the election was imperfect.

The US press has largely covered political controversy surrounding President Barack Obama's reaction to violence against election protesters in Iran. And some of the details of the election itself have not been well analyzed. For example, opposition candidates declined a proposed ten percent recount early on. (Note, the ten percent election review standard is also used in various US states including Connecticut, which uses it for audits.)

A spokesperson for opposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, told al-Jazeera only a fresh election would do. And on Tuesday June 23rd the opposition was offered a five day extension to a deadline for looking into election complaints. It is not clear if the extension was accepted, but there was something of an answer in large street protests called by two remaining opposition candidates, Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi.

Dozens of people have been killed during street protests though reports on the numbers vary widely. [See this report in Al Jazeera, English.]

At a press conference Tuesday June 23rd President Obama responded to questions about a video depicting the death of Neda Agha Soltan. She appears to have been shot by government troops during a protest in Tehran June 20th.

BACKGROUND: By 2006, US journalists and scholars like Dahr Jamail, Seymour Hersh and Francis A. Boyle, were expressing concern that the Bush administration's policy of regime change for Iran would include a military attack, likely conducted with Israel.

The University of Southern California's Muhammad Sahimi provides a detailed overview of the political climate in Iran in 2006 in a report titled: The Neoconservatives' Strategy for Regime Change in Iran. He argues that US efforts to use the Persian Press to build up opposition candidates in Tehran would likely be seen as propaganda. But there were other operations that seemed far more ominous.

Guy Dinmore reported in the Financial Times of London that the US Marine intelligence wing had launched a probe into Iran's ethnic minorities, and were searching for any grievances against the Islamic Government that could be exploited. The Pentagon was studying whether like Iraq, Iran might be prone to violent fragmentation along ethnic lines.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth Cheney, daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, carried out a well funded operation on behalf of the International Republican Institute. The institute had historically been used to funnel money from the National Endowment for Democracy into foreign aid projects.

In August of 2003, former CIA agent Philip Agee, tied the International Republican Institute to both the National Endownment for Democracy and the CIA.

Elizabeth Cheney had gone to Iran on an overt operation on behalf of the US State Department and MEPI, the Iran Middle East Partnership Initiative, as well as ISOG, the Iran Syria Policy and Operations Group. In that capacity she had millions of US dollars at her disposal for propaganda using radio outlets like the US owned Radio Farda and Voice of America.

The US continued its covert operations at the Iraq/Iran border, even using the Mujahideen-e-Khalq (MEK) [also spelled: 'Mojahedin Khalgh Organization' or 'MKO'] which had been listed as a terrorist organization by the US State Dept. [See also, Jeremy R. Hammond, Foreign Policy Journal, 'Has the U.S. Played a Role in Fomenting Unrest During Iran’s Election?' and also, Biden Vows to Continue Bush Policy Towards Iran, by Jeremy R. Hammond.]

The US and Europe also declassified the MEK as a terrorist organization, leading some to wonder about possible ongoing intelligence roles involving the group.

Members of Congress have been arguing for military attacks on Iran, and have set forth numerous bills that would effectively place America on a war footing with Iran.

See this piece too on the vote count in Iran.
'A Hard Look at the Numbers', By Esam AL-Amin, Counterpunch.

Francis A. Boyle practiced tax and international tax with Bingham, Dana & Gould in Boston. He has written and lectured extensively in the United States and abroad on the relationship between international law and politics. His eleventh book, Breaking All the Rules: Palestine, Iraq, Iran and the Case for Impeachment was recently published by Clarity Press.

Other Books by Francis. A. Boyle here.

See: Protesting Power: War, Resistance and Law (Rowman & Littlefield Inc. 2007) has been used successfully in anti-war protest trials.

Camillo 'Mac' Bica of Veterans for Peace on US Forces in Afghanistan and Iraq

Talk Nation Radio for June 18, 2009

Camillo 'Mac' Bica of Veterans for Peace on US Forces in Afghanistan and Iraq

Vets4vets
Read books published by Veterans for Peace



TRT: 29:38
Produced by Dori Smith, Storrs, CT
Talk Nation Radio studios
Download at Pacifica's Audioport or at Archive.org and Radio4all.net



Books featuring work of Camillo Mac Bica
Veterans for Peace: Dayl Wise - Post Traumatic Press 2007
Poems by veterans

We discuss the March 22, 2007 open letter to fellow veterans by Camillo "Mac" Bica published by Foreign Policy in Focus, www.fpif.org. We must support U.S. soldiers by bringing them home now, says our guest. We can also help Veterans of the Afghan and Iraq Wars by supporting Vets 4 Vets and other organizations that help to bring veterans together to share their common experiences.

At Cairo University June 4th, President Obama told reporters that there is a schizophrenic view in the MidEast about America. He said, 'On the one hand, everybody wants America to stop meddling, don't interfere, don't be imperialist. And then, on the other hand, when is America going to solve the Palestinian crisis? Why haven't they done this? Why haven't they created democracy and human rights in -- throughout the Muslim world? Well, you can't have it both ways, right?'

According to Camillo 'Mac' Bica, this assumption is false. He says America is viewed in more realistic terms abroad. Ha also says we should prosecute the war and seek justice for wrong doing, but we can still support the troops while doing so.

While it is painful to look at the truth about what war is, soldiers should be encouraged to face the truths they know in their hearts. Flag waving and 'celebrating the warrior' is not going to help US soldiers, but we must 'celebrate the human being' who comes home.

In fact, when Camillo “Mac” Bica greets a fellow veteran of the Vietnam War he fought in as a US Marine Corps officer he still says the words 'welcome home'. That greeting reflects the understanding veterans have that what went on in terrible war zones may still be as fresh to them years later as if it were yesterday. That doesn't mean soldiers can't get over their suffering about the wars they served in though. US veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan can heal from the impact of war by talking with one another and developing strong bonds.

Camillo Mac Bica is a professor of philosophy at the School of Visual Arts in New York City and a contributor to Foreign Policy in Focus as well as numerous other magazines about news and politics as well as philosophy. He is a founding member of the Long Island Chapter of Veterans for Peace.

Part one of a two part program. Each stands alone.
Special thanks to Veterans for Peace, the Long Island Chapter

Articles by Camillo 'Mac' Bica
OPed News: 4/2/09: Deconstructing President Obama's New Strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan
ZNet - Euphemism for Murder
Cyrano's Journal Online - Beyond PTSD: The Moral Casualties of War

Chip Berlet and Max Blumenthal on America’s Militant Right Wing

Talk Nation Radio for June 11, 2009
Chip Berlet and Max Blumenthal on America’s Militant Right Wing
New! Transcript

Produced by Dori Smith
TRT: 29:33 music fades long

Download here at Pacifica's Audioport, or at Radio4all.net and Archive.org

Music by Fritz Heede www.fritzheede.com

Chip Berlet is a leading expert on the right and co–author of Right-Wing Populism in America: Too Close for Comfort. He is also editor of the book, Eyes Right! Challenging the Right Wing Backlash.You can read an archive of his articles from the Progressive Magazine and other publications online at www.publiceye.org. He says the Republican Party has been cultivating the extreme right in order to rebuild a coalition that was fractured during George W. Bush’s second term. But what is the FBI doing in response to this surge in new threats from within? And will it work to inflame or reduce tensions? What about the work to try to heal wounds between opponents and supporters of the right to an abortion?

Max Blumenthal is author of the forthcoming book, 'Republican Gomorrah, inside the movement that Shattered the Party.' His articles are at www.maxblumenthal.com and he writes for The Huffington Post, The Nation, where he is a Puffin Foundation writing fellow at the Nation Institute based in New York City, and at many other publications. He was a Media Matters research fellow.

In our interview, Max Blumenthal speaks eloquently about the climate of right wing hatreds in America as he goes into the history of Harold Hal Turner, a right wing blogger. Blumenthal wrote about Turner back in 2005 for The Nation. Turner did radio and was once a frequent voice on Sean Hannity's program.

Blumenthal raises serious questions about the impact of Hal Turner's likely role as an F.B.I. informant, which was brought to light at the web site of the Southern Poverty Law Center. We produce Talk Nation in Connecticut where Hal Turner is facing charges for threatening members of the State Legislature.

Hal Turner’s lawyer has said his case is about free speech. Connecticut’s Capital police chief Michael J. Fallon said quote: “Mr. Turner’s comments are above and beyond the threshold of free speech,” Capitol Police Chief Michael J. Fallon said in an e-mail announcing the warrant. “He is inciting others through his website to commit acts of violence and has created fear and alarm. He should be held accountable for his conduct.”

Talk Nation Radio for June 11, 2009
Chip Berlet and Max Blumenthal on America's Militant Right Wing

(6-12-09 4:47 PM) Updated, see transcript below



TRT: 29:33 music fades long
Download at Pacifica's Audioport here or at Archive.org and Radio4all.net for various formats.

Music by Fritz Heede www.fritzheede.com Fritz Heed wrote and performed the sound track for the film, The Oil Factor.
See part one of our interview with Chip Berlet.

Chip Berlet is a leading expert on the right and co–author of Right-Wing Populism in America: Too Close for Comfort. He is also editor of the book, Eyes Right! Challenging the Right Wing Backlash.You can read an archive of his articles from the Progressive Magazine and other publications online at publiceye.org.

Welcome to Talk Nation Radio, a half hour discussion on politics, human rights, and the environment. I'm Dori Smith

Intro: We produce Talk Nation in Connecticut, where over the past few weeks there have been several arrests made over threats to members of the State Legislature and court authorities. At issue have been hot button issues like abortion, immigration, gay rights, church finances, and the Middle East, and while the internet has revolutionized political organizing, some of the tactics and messages are actually part of a longer history of right wing organizing. It includes bullying, fear mongering, and the use of fear tactics to try to intimidate more moderate voices. Messages often seem to be about political issues, but in the background lurk special interests, corporations and ambitious politicians who are providing support. -- Over the next half hour we continue our discussion with Chip Berlet of Political Research Associates in the Boston area. Last time Chip Berlet explained that right wing radio show host Michael Savage may have referenced German society under the Third Reich and Wiemar Republic, but he was actually revisiting old rationalizations about the scapegoating of gays, immigrants, and other vulnerable groups that date back to early John Birch Society organizing tactics:

Chip Berlet: This is something that goes way back to the early John Birch Society in the the late 1950's, 1959-1960, where they developed the theory that 'liberalism' because of its 'decadence' and its moral relativism, was going to destroy America 'just like' you saw with a previous historic civilization.

Then Max Blumenthal joins us to discuss another story out of Connecticut, the arrest of Harold “Hal” Turner, for inciting injury to persons or property. Turner was charged in the State of Connecticut for threats he made as he urged readers of his blog to take up arms against Representative Mike Lawlor and Senator Andrew McDonald:

Max Blumenthal: Which indicates that Hal Turner is an agent provocateur. Even if he is he is still inciting violent neo-Nazi elements which have killed before. -- Hal Turner has called for my assassination so I'm sure that, I wouldn't doubt that the charges are true.

President Obama asked both sides in the abortion debate to come together over efforts to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies. We asked Chip Berlet to comment on what he had said:

Chip Berlet: I think the Obama administration has followed up what it did during the election campaign by crafting a very specific model of seeking the reduction of unwanted pregnancies. And I think that that's a very good way to put it because it puts it in a frame work that is a human rights frame work in which you talk about abortion as one element of a larger strategy of reducing unwanted pregnancy, so the issue is not reducing abortion, the issue is reducing unwanted pregnancies. Which results in a reduction of abortion.

If you start out by saying the target is reducing abortion the very first thing that happens by that frame is you stigmatize abortion when in fact its a basic right for women. So I don't want to be part of any compromise or common ground that starts out by liquidating the basic human rights of a constituency of our country. You see the same thing with people who talk about homosexuality. You know it's not OK to talk about gay marriage. Let's talk about other things. Well, if there are basic human rights in society they should apply to everyone, that includes women and gay people.

What you see now with some centrist Democrats, OK? Who are back sliders on these issues. They are willing to negotiate away basic human rights for women and gay people. And they have started by negotiating away basic human rights for women. And they have started out a dialogue with anti abortion activists who want to end abortion rights entirely, and they have agreed on a common ground of reducing the number of abortions. This is folly. This is adopting a right wing frame again. I understand that when you are in Washington you might be tempted to negotiate with people but a basic rule of organizing among progressives is that you don't enter into coalitions and compromises by stabbing your existing allies in the back. I think there have been some serious mistakes among some very well meaning people inside the beltway. But I think its very important to say, common ground and dialogue is good, negotiating away basic human rights is bad. So I have no problem talking to people who are anti abortion. I get invited to some fundamentalist Christian settings where I'm talking to people who are anti abortion but I'm talking about other issues like apocalypticism or hate groups, or bigotry. And I say up front, we're going to have to agree to disagree on the issue of abortion.

You know people who are anti abortion, that's a view protected by the First Amendment. But basic human rights are not something that we then throw into the pile for negotiating. There is a big difference. And so I think what you are seeing now is centrist Democrats and skillful organizers on the political right around the issue of abortion trying to sucker punch well meaning people in the Democratic Party and in progressive religious activism to basically sell out a whole sector of society and I think people realize that that's what's happening. So this is an ongoing discussion. I've been struggling with some very decent people in a number of progressive religious organizations to try and say this is not the right way to do things.

I've made some missteps and I have apologized for them because you know I do tend to get a little hysterical sometimes. So if my hyperbolic criticism of this compromise plan has wounded people I've tried to step back from that. But I think the issue here is clear. Right wingers who are out of power right now are trying to find ways to lure the people who are closer to power to move them into a common language and common ground in a way that is not acceptable. So yes, dialogue? Absolutely. Finding commonality? I've worked with anti abortion people around sex education programs in schools by talking about, let's set aside some of the hot button issues but what are things that both and anti abortion parents can agree on in terms of the context of teaching about sexuality and pregnancy in school. And when you say let's set aside what makes everyone angry, condoms, there's a lot of hot button issues. Let's put those off he table and say, what can we say? Can we teach about how HIV is spread? Let's do that. Can we teach about how women get pregnant? Don't laugh. Some young women don't know. Do we teach about the basic facts of life from a scientific perspective? Most people say yes. Can we throw out of the curriculum those things that are not scientifically valid. Sure, why not? So, it's easy to find common ground in settings where you are trying to reach to areas where there is common agreement. But that's different from immediately starting out a conversation by giving the other side everything they want. And what kind of negotiator does that? It's just not smart.

Dori Smith: In April and in early May we were hearing that Homeland Security was warning of potential violence from the right wing. Then there was violence at Jewish temples in NY and in Connecticut. What should people of faith, people who go to temple or to the Christian churches, think about all of this and how it affects them? How can we understand what's going on here and what should be done about it?

Chip Berlet: The government report about potential right wing violence was a report that made a good point in terms of it being a period when right wing violence is possible. But the report itself lumped together all sorts of conservative and right wing activists who have never broken any law and have never suggested any law be broken. So I immediately spoke out against that report even though I had just written for the Progressive a warning that this is a period where people had to have heightened security concerns because of the potential for right wing attacks. But the government should not be in the business of looking at conservative and right wing people whose rhetoric and whose actions do not fall outside the law. And I think that's a very important issue and its not OK to tell the government to go after everyone in the Sovereign Citizen Movement now, it's not OK to tell the government, it's OK to round up all the militant anti abortionists. It's not the job of government to enforce our political struggles. It's the job of government to enforce the law and the murder of Dr. Tiller is a violation of the law so let's prosecute that. But let's be very careful that we don't give the government power against the right that it will turn around immediately and use against us.

The other thing is this question of the rise and fall of both anti antisemitism and Islamophobia. And at Political Research Associates we have a project now studying how Islamophobia and anti antisemitism interact in our society and sort of feed on each other in a kind of heightened form of rhetoric and demonization. And so yes, it's true, for both Muslims and Jews in the United States right now, that they are more at risk than they have been in certain periods of U.S. history for being lumped separately in kind of model of conspiracy allegation and for Jews it's, they 'run the U.S. foreign policy', the 'Mossad is basically behind everything that's bad in the United States.' And all of these conflations where its very difficult to have a very serious critique of the wrong doing of the government of Israel without having someone then trying to expand that into an antisemitic stereo type. So people who are critics of Israel need to be very very careful that they don't allow that criticism to leap over into historic anti Jewish conspiracy theories. And at the same time the government of the United States, and let's talk about Mr. Lieberman in Congress with his hearings that is a parade of Islamophobic so-called 'experts' and government studies that stereotype Muslims and the kinds of attitudes towards not just Muslims but Arabs as well who are conflated with Muslims in another form of stereotyping that we see our own foreign policy expert arena split between people who talk about late Huntington's Clash of Civilizations versus people who say, let's have a foreign policy that looks at Israel, that looks at the Muslim countries in the Middle East and the Arab countries in the Middle East from a sane and calm perspective and reach out to them in a way that builds common ground again, a common ground built around common purpose that could build stability in that region.

So you can look at these government collections of data where you will see antisemitism and Islamophobia going up and down over time. I think right now, even though some statistical work shows some variation in this, that we are in a period when antisemitic stereo typing and anti Muslim and Islamophobia stereotyping, and even anti Arab prejudice thrown in, is a problem that we all need to be sensitive about.

Dori Smith: Chip Berlet is a leading expert on the right and co–author of, 'Right-Wing Populism in America: Too Close for Comfort'. He is also editor of the book, 'Eyes Right! Challenging the Right Wing Backlash'. Both received a Gustavus Meyers Center Award for outstanding scholarship on the subject of human rights and bigotry in North America. You can read an archive of his articles from the Progressive Magazine and other publications online at www.publiceye.org.

Ongoing Story: There have been a total of three arrests in Connecticut on charges related to threatening politicians. Dominic Vita, the former vice president of Connecticut's chapter of NORML, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, was arrested on charges relating to an email he sent in which he threatened State Senator Toni Boucher, a Republican from the 26th District. Vita has since apologized for the letter, but the group has lost it's national affiliation with NORML over this incident. Vita said he made an error as he sent an email, that the letter about Boucher was actually written in jest. Connecticut teacher, Timothy Kane, was arrested and he has now apologized for threatening lawmakers, he completed an anger management course. Kane's threats were erily similar to those of the third man arrested on Connecticut charges, Harold “Hal” Turner of North Bergen, New Jersey, apparently urged listeners and readers of his blog to take up arms against Representative Mike Lawlor and Senator Andrew McDonald. (Hal Turner's lawyer, has said his case is about free speech. Connecticut's Capital police chief Michael J. Fallon said quote: "Mr. Turner's comments are above and beyond the threshold of free speech," Capitol Police Chief Michael J. Fallon said in an e-mail announcing the warrant. "He is inciting others through his website to commit acts of violence and has created fear and alarm. He should be held accountable for his conduct.")

See, Max at The Daily Beast
You can find Max Blumenthal's articles here, here and here and you can also find his work on politics, the media, and the evangelical right wing at Huffington Post, The Nation, where he is a Puffin Foundation writing fellow at the Nation Institute based in New York City. He was also a Media Matters research fellow.

Max Blumenthal joins us next to talk about Hal Turner. He is an award winning journalist and author of a forthcoming book on the Republicans titled: “Republican Gomorrah,” His articles and video documentaries appear in The Daily Beast, The Nation, The Huffington Post, Salon.com, Al Jazeera English and many other publications.

In his June 3, 2003 story in The Nation Magazine, Blumenthal described Turner as Sean Hannity's "Soul-Mate of Hate". Hannity is a right wing pundit for Fox Network. He begins this story: 'This year a man named Hal Turner sat before his computer at his suburban home in North Bergen, New Jersey, posting bomb-making tips on his website, hailing the firebombing of an apartment containing "Savage Negroes" and calling for the murder of immigrants. "When enough illegal aliens get killed they will stop coming to the country!" Turner wrote'. --Max Blumenthal, just give us an overview of this 2005 story:

Max Blumenthal: Well the reason that I did the piece was that I thought it was important to recognize that one of the major voices of the Republican Party's propaganda machine, Sean Hannity, who is a top rated broadcaster for FOX News, FOX radio, used Hal Turner who would call in as 'Hal from North Bergen'. And he would use Hal Turner as a cudgel against Black people, use him to attack minorities and mock them, and not only that, they had a close friendship off air. To the extent that Sean Hannity allegedly counseled Hal Turner on overcoming his cocaine addiction and homosexual tendencies during a private phone call.

He brought Hal Turner and his family back stage to Hannity and Coles when the show first started. Then, when Hal Turner became a liability and became openly Neo-Nazi and began affiliating with the violent thug element of the Neo-Nazi fringe, only then would Sean Hannity cut him off. Before then Hal Turner was a pal of Sean Hannity's. It was only a short distance between the language that Sean Hannity has used and the language that Hal Turner uses. Sean Hannity;s hostility to minorities is couched behind Republican code words. The language Hal Turner uses is naked racism. That's the principle difference between these two former friends.

Dori Smith: But you write in your story that there was another reason Sean Hannity dumped Hal Turner. That had to do with a political race that Hal Turner was entered in in Hudson County right?

Max Blumenthal: That was the point when Hal Turner said he became radicalized, when the Republican Party, he was running for a house seat in the district around Bergen County. And the Republicans said it's a diverse district, you can't really win a race against a Democrat there if you were running a hard right Republican position, so the Republican Party threw its support behind a dark skinned Latina woman. Hal Turner blamed this, what he considered 'racism' for the destruction of his political ambition and then he shifted to the Neo-Nazi right, when he was once a low level Republican official in Bergen County and an active member of Sean Hannity's radio community.

Dori Smith: This man Hal Turner has been as you know arrested on charges of inciting violence, threatening representatives in Connecticut's legislature and members of the court here. What do you make of those charges. I know there have been comments on various web sites, the Southern Poverty Law Center, about Hal Turner working as an informant for the F.B.I, as well. Can you just sort of explain the inconsistencies in this man's credentials and history?

Max Blumenthal: Well Hal Turner has called for my assassination so I'm sure that the, I wouldn't doubt that the charges are true. He probably called for my death I think several times. That's the way he talks. And he may well be an agent provocateur of the F.B.I. and there is evidence that Southern Poverty Law Center produced, I think it actually came from some blogger who, no it actually, these allegations were brought to light by several Neo-Nazis who discovered that Hal Turner was forwarding messages to F.B.I. agents and they actually produced the messages; and that he turned in someone who seemed to have a serious plot to murder the Senator from Wisconsin, the Democratic Senator Russ Feingold, which indicates that Hal Turner is an agent provocateur. Even if he is he is still inciting violence against people and he is still making life difficult for people, inciting violent Neo-Nazi elements which have killed before to murder people, and he is releasing home addresses of lawmakers and judges and he is releasing phone numbers.

So let's say someone does get killed and Hal Turner is an agent provocateur of the F.B.I.? What is the difference? The only difference is that the F.B.I. has to take responsibility for its role in inciting this violence and working with someone as dangerous as Hal Turner. And they have constantly worked with people like that in the past. They did it through COINTELPRO against the left during the 1960's and early 1970's. So I don't doubt that this is happening but it's still a huge problem.

Beyond that the F.B.I., there should be freedom of information requests so that the F.B.I. releases all of its files on Hal Turner if he is going to be put on trial. That all needs to come to light, and if they have a greater role than we know its a major scandal and people should be, there should be Congressional Hearings on what the F.B.I. has been doing because if they were involved with Hal Turner they were a catalyst for the threats against all of these lawmakers.

Dori Smith: Hal Turner also apparently endorsing the recent murder of Dr. George Tiller.

Max Blumenthal. Oh. You expect Hal Turner to endorse this. You know what's interesting is the lack of denunciation from the official big fish of the Christian right. Or from the rhetoric of Operation Rescue Founder Randall Terry who I interviewed the other day who said, we shouldn't blame Scott Roeder, (the man accused of killing Dr. Tiller in Kansas over his work doing late term abortions who was found to have relied on Operation Rescue to keep track of Dr. Tiller) or we shouldn't blame Operation Rescue for this killing, we should blame Moses because Moses said, 'Thou shalt not kill' and George Tiller was a mass murder therefore he deserved what he got. --That's what Randall Terry said.

At the same time he refuses to take any responsibility for the death. But if he is saying one abortion doctor deserves what he gets then you know this next abortion doctor who his Operation Rescue cadres are targeting will also deserve what he gets. Therefore, Randall Terry, who is doing press conferences at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., who is on the phone with reporters like me all the time, is inciting the assassination of health care professionals. And he has been responsible at least indirectly in the past for assassination.

James Kopp who worked out of Randall Terry's Binghamton New York office was the assassin of Barnett Slepian. You know who were the guys who were in Barnett Slepian's front yard? Barnett Slepian was a Buffalo based abortion provider. They were Rob and Paul Schenck, they were heads of Operation Rescue, and they went around with Randall Terry. They were detained at one point with Randall Terry for dangling aborted fetuses in Bill Clinton's face at the Democratic National Convention. I mean these are sick characters.

Right now Rob Schenck and Paul Schenck are ministering to Republican congressmen in the Capital. They have an office set up across from the Supreme Court and Republican staffers go and pray in the offices every day, I've visited there and I know Rob Schenck. And they gave a special security clearance, a week before Barack Obama's inauguration through a Congressman named Paul Brown, to anoint the door to the inaugural walkway that Barack Obama would walk through.

So these people, you know the Christian right isn't dead. These people who have been intimately connected to the assassination of health care providers are getting special security clearance in the Capital and maintain intimate connections to Republican members of Congress. And it reflects a greater trend which is that the Republican party is more dominated by these elements than it ever has before, all of the moderate forces that served as a check on these elements are gone.
They have all been voted out or moved to the Democratic Party.

What you are seeing now is not just, you know Hal Turner or Randall Terry, are not just some fringe extremists, you are seeing the forces that have driven the Republican Party to the far right, marginalized it, but maintain a degree of influence that is genuinely dangerous.

Dori Smith: We are speaking with award winning journalist Max Blumenthal, you can find his articles and videos at www.maxblumenthal.com and you can also find his work on politics, the media, and the evangelical right wing at Huffington Post, The Nation, as well as Media Matters where he was a research fellow. -- Max Blumenthal what about the defense Hal Turner's lawyer is making in Connecticut? Claiming Turner is merely exercising his right to free speech?

Max Blumenthal: Yeah I'm not a legal expert and I hope the United States remains the freest country in the world. I'm not in favor of regulating speech as they do in Europe. I don't think Hal Turner's speech threatens our Democracy but when you start publishing addresses of lawmakers and calling for their assassination you should at least be investigated and again there needs to be an investigation into what the role of the F.B.I. is in this as well.

We are going to see these sort of campaigns of incitement and murder as a result, we are going to see that intensify in the coming years, because the Republicans are out of power and the far right no longer has any means of exerting its influence on government. So the only way, one of the means of acting, and venting their frustrations, is through domestic terrorism. We saw it in the 1990s. And we are going to see it more and more. And friends of mine like Dave Neiwart, the blogger Orcinus who is an expert on domestic terrorism. He was mocked by Andrew Sullivan for making this prediction one day before George Tiller's murder. And so I think there is going to be a lot of back peddling from people who say this is just paranoia.

So there has to be some sort of legal means of preventing this. That's why during the 1990s the Justice Department did the RICO Act to prevent Randall Terry and other people from getting close to critics and abortion doctor's houses. They used the same method they used against the Mafia against domestic terrorist linked anti abortion groups, and it worked. There has to be some legal measure. But I don't think regulating speech is the answer and I don't think what happened with Hal Turner is just a speech issue.

Dori Smith: It was reported on Democracy Now that staff at a clinic alerted the authorities that Scott Roeder tried to super glue their clinic doors shut twice over two weeks prior to the killing of Dr. Tiller. He could have been in federal custody long before the shooting. (See interview with JEFFREY PEDERSON, DN, June 3, 2009.)

Max Blumenthal: Absolutely. I don't see why people who are implementing these tactics aren't being monitored more closely except that the Justice Department under Bush redirected its focus to environmental extremists like the Earth Liberation Front and the Animal Liberation Front, and the F.B.I. and Department of Homeland Security identified these groups, which only destroy property, and don't actually attack people, as their primary domestic terrorist threat and stopped monitoring anti abortion groups.

You know John Ashcroft was a close friend of the guy I named before, Rob Schenck, who camped out on the assassinated abortion doctor, Barnett Slepian's lawn, who actually prayed with Rob Schenck and sang gospel music at his home with Rob Schenck, was the Attorney General for something like four years. So there was a roll back in attempts to limit the threat of anti abortion extremists. I don't know what is going on at the Justice Department now but hopefully there will be more attention. (See Max Blumenthal's story 'God's' Country

The tactics that Scott Roeder was using before he killed George Tiller, are detailed and advised in a manual that's distributed by the Army of God. Every anti abortion terrorist has been affiliated with the Army of God which is, they organize according to the model of the leaderless resistance. Which means this manual just goes around but its not distributed officially by any organization. And this manual is the only link to the organization. (See story by Blumenthal.)

The manual advises all kinds of tactics from property destruction to harassment to assassination and means of assembling explosives. It's still going around, it's still out there and it's online at the Army of God's web site. That needs to be recognized too. That there is a, I hate to use the word conspiracy, but there are people who are conspiring to do violence against abortion doctors but they do so through very covert means. So they are hard to identify except by their tactics.

Dori Smith: Max Blumenthal I know right now you are very jet lagged from your trip to Israel. You have just returned. I hope you will join us to talk about that trip and also about your forthcoming book, Republican Gomorrah. What is it about? (Nation Books, Republican Gomorrah.)

Max Blumenthal: My book which is coming out late this summer chronicles how the Christian right took over the Republican Party and eventually drove it to the margins and shattered the party. It's called Republican Gomorrah, inside the movement that shattered the party. And I also tell my story of covering this movement for five years.

Dori Smith: Max Blumenthal thank you so much for joining us.

Max Blumenthal: Thank you so much for having me.

Max Blumenthal's web site is www.maxblumenthal.com and he has agreed to join us again to talk about his trip to Israel and Gaza.

We taped our interview with We taped our interview with Max Blumenthal at 1 PM. Even as we were talking on the phone, news was breaking about a 12:50 p.m. shooting at the nation's capital. We would later learn that a white supremacist named James W. von Brunn, age 88, shot and killed security guard Stephen Tyrone Johns, age 39, an African-American. Johns had been at the museum for six years, and according to AP he was from Temple Hills, Maryland. The Holocaust Museum's Director, Sara Bloomfield, said Johns "died heroically in the line of duty." --von Brunn was also shot and is listed in critical condition at an area hospital.

President Barack Obama has issued a statement saying quote: 'I am shocked and saddened by today’s shooting at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. This outrageous act reminds us that we must remain vigilant against anti-Semitism and prejudice in all its forms. No American institution is more important to this effort than the Holocaust Museum, and no act of violence will diminish our determination to honor those who were lost by building a more peaceful and tolerant world'.

We will be producing several radio specials this week about a call to impeach torture lawyers, our interview with philosophy professor and US Military Veteran for Peace Camilo Mac Bica, how the Afghan War will become Obama's Vietnam, Connecticut Governor Jodi Rell's veto of an act that would have abolished the death penalty, and more, and you can find links to these and other programs at our web site

For Talk Nation Radio I'm Dori Smith. The show is taped at Talk Nation Radio studios in Storrs, Connecticut. talknationradio@gmail.com with your comments.

Our music is by Fritz Heede. www.fritzheede.com

Notes to this interview:

Orcinus, David Niewart's blog and do see his book, 'The Eliminationists, how hate talk radicalized the American right'.

White separatist says von Brunn gave away computer
The Associated Press
BALTIMORE - A white separatist who talked with James W. von Brunn a few weeks ago says his e-mails became increasingly violent, but then the accused shooter suddenly gave away his computer.

John de Nugent, who lives near Pittsburgh, said Wednesday night that von Brunn was unhappy with his living arrangements and said his Social Security had been slashed, which he believed was in direct retaliation for his views.

Times Online re shooting here.
"James W von Brunn, who was convicted in 1983 for running towards the boardroom of Washington’s Federal Reserve building with a shotgun, entered the Holocaust Museum just before 1pm wearing a Confederate hat, and opened fire “indiscriminately” with a long rifle. Witnesses said that he had parked his red car directly outside, displaying a disabled badge.

A guard, named as Stephen Tyrone Johns, was hit and later died of his injuries. Two other security officers at the heavily guarded museum, less than a mile from the White House, hit von Brunn in the head with return fire. He was taken to George Washington University Hospital in a critical condition. Officials said he may not survive. "

See USA Today on shooting at the Holocaust Museum

Huffpo by Sam Stein on von Brunn as member of 'birther' movement, questioning Obama's birth.

AP, Yahoo, Shooter's seething anger, 'A frustrated artist and an angry man, the suspect in the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum shooting once tried to kidnap members of the Federal Reserve board, a "caper" thwarted when a guard captured him outside a board meeting carrying a bag stuffed with weapons.'

...'Von Brunn was sentenced in 1983 to more than four years in prison for attempted armed kidnapping and other charges in his Fed assault. He was released in 1989.'



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