Journalist Dahr Jamail returns to comment on President Obama’s Oval Office speech of August 31, announcing that Operation Iraqi Freedom has ended. Jamail is author of Beyond the Green Zone: Dispatches from an Unembedded Journalist in Iraq and more recently, The Will to Resist: Soldiers Who Refuse to Fight in Iraq and Afghanistan. Since 2004, Jamail has made several trips to Iraq, and has provided “reality checks” to PBC listeners on a regular basis. We begin the show with the President’s opening remarks from his speech, and offer informed criticism of what he said and what he left out. We talk about how Obama has compromised his own position by embracing the myth that Bush’s “surge” in 2007 turned the tide in Iraq, and how that is falsely linked to Obama’s escalation in Afghanistan, while acknowledging that he is entitled to claim that he has kept his campaign promise to get “combat troops” out of Iraq. He barely mentioned that there is no government in Baghdad right now, and failed to properly acknowledge that the war was a mistake that spawned torture, rendition, and other atrocities that in turn produce a new generation of people who have reasons to hate America–some of whom are Muslim extremists. Jamail recounts the series of blunders and crimes that punctuated Bush’s occupation of Iraq, updates us on Muqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi army, the head count of military contractors who remain, and expresses doubt that all US troops will be out of Iraq at the end of next year. And we respond to revisionist history on Iraq from Bush’s National Security Secretary, Stephen Hadley and Sen. John McCain, whose twin op-eds appeared in the Wall Street Journal on 8/31/10.

Ray McGovern, former CIA analyst and longtime contributor to the PBC show, sits for his first Boiling Frogs interview, co-hosted with Sibel Edmonds. Topics include Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, WikiLeaks and Jeffrey Goldberg’s call for war with Iran. McGovern is a member of National Security Whistleblower’s Coalition, Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity and works with Tell the Word in Washington, D.C. In this wide-ranging conversation, McGovern talks about Obama’s crackdown on leakers, the Pat Tillman story and sacking of Gen. McChrystal, the misguided “surges” or US troops in Afghanistan based on the myth of the success of Bush’s “surge” in Iraq. At one point, he takes us back to the Bronx where he grew up to define the term “wuss” and why it fits Obama. He talks about WikiLeaks, and his doubts about Gordon Duff”s assertion that Mossad is involved (listen to podcast 167). And in the final part of the conversation, McGovern shares with us his analysis of the recent article published in the Atlantic written by the infamous American-Israeli writer Jeffrey Goldberg on Israel’s case for bombing Iran and the reasons why the United States should join in.
McGovern’s 27-year career as a CIA analyst spanned administrations from John F. Kennedy to George H. W. Bush. His duties at CIA included chairing National Intelligence Estimates and preparing the President’s Daily Brief (PDB). During the mid-eighties, he was one of the senior analysts conducting early morning briefings of the PDB one-on-one with the Vice President, the Secretaries of State and Defense, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs. Ray received his B.A., summa cum laude, from Fordham College, designated a Distinguished Military Graduate, he was commissioned upon graduation and served as an infantry/intelligence officer in the US Army from 1962-64. He holds an M.A. in Russian Studies from Fordham University and a certificate in Theological Studies from Georgetown University. He is also a graduate of the Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program.

Michael Been, lead singer and songwriter of The Call, died unexpectedly on August 19. In this special podcast, PBC remembers his power and passion, along with snippets from Been’s impressive repertoire. At summer’s end, we take a break from news and politics to honor Michael Been. If you haven’t heard of Been or The Call, don’t feel bad. They never got the exposure and recognition they deserved. As a DJ at KRQR in San Francisco, I was one of the first to play “When the Walls Came Down” and saw the band live in 1984. Been was intense and a little shy when I interviewed him, conveying his love of music and performing for a crowd. Some remember Been as the Apostle John in Scorcese’s Last Temptation of Christ, and as a sideman in Harry Dean Stanton’s band. He died of a heart attack while working as the audio tech for Black Rebel Motorcycle Band, which features his son, Robert Levon Been. If this is your first exposure to Michael Been and The Call, let me know what you think. For better fidelity, this audio file is larger than average.

Gordon Duff, senior editor at Veterans Today, offers a sweeping view of America’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the WikiLeaks saga, and the events of 9/11. Duff, a Marine veteran of Viet Nam, claims intelligence sources worldwide, especially in Pakistan. He asserts that most events called “terrorism” are false flag events, that Israel’s Mossad is in control of much of the disinformation in circulation today, that bin Laden has been dead for years, that all top officials of the Federal Reserve are dual citizens with “Israeli passports in their dresser drawers next to the marijuana”, that North Korea’s submarines and the nuke they tested came from Israel, and that the WikiLeaks leaks were orchestrated in Tel Aviv. He also has a very different view of Pakistan’s ISI and the insurgents lumped together as the “Taliban”. Duff is an amiable man whose rambling narrative is loaded with information that can’t be proved or disproved by those of us without security clearances, yet his worldview is fascinating and very different from corporate media reports and “conventional wisdom”. Your humble host encourages you to listen with an open mind and adequate skepticism, and decide for yourself.

Journalist Hank Albarelli returns, with “Marion” who tells how she was forced to take LSD 10 times; comedian/satirist Will Durst comments on the proposed mosque/community center in lower Manhattan. H. P. Albarelli, Jr. has become a frequent guest on the PBC show since his powerful book was published last year; A Terrible Mistake reveals the dark history of CIA and military experiments on humans with LSD and other drugs. Along with psychologist Dr. Jeffrey Kaye, he wrote this article detailing grisly experiments on children using drugs and electro shock therapy. We have a lengthy conversation with a woman we call “Marion” who was subjected to 10 doses of LSD, along with her sister; Marion is now a professor of bioethics, and clearly believes her rights were violated. Albarelli also talks about experiments with Metrazol, a drug that causes convulsions, and reports it has been used in the recent past in interrogations; and he reveals the barbaric experiments of Dr. Lauretta Bender at Bellvue Hospital in New York. Near the end of the podcast, comedian/satirist WIll Durst returns to comment on the right-driven controversy over a proposed Islamic community center in lower Manhattan.

Miami police stifle First Amendment: Boiling Frogs interview with photojournalist Carlos Miller. Co-hosted with Sibel Edmonds. Carlos Miller provides us with an overview of the history, purpose and mission of his award-winning website Photography is Not a Crime. He talks about First Amendment violations against photographers throughout the country, which occur on a shockingly regular basis, and illustrates this alarming trend with documented incidents and examples. Miller tells us about abuses and misinterpretation of state wiretapping laws, the recent attention given to these abuses by the mainstream media and the previous lack of coverage, the increased power of ordinary citizens due to the internet, and more.

Miller is a multimedia journalist based in Miami. In 2007, after he was arrested for photographing a group of Miami police officers against their wishes, Miller launched Photography is Not a Crime. He was charged with nine misdemeanors and spent 16 hours in the county jail. Miller, a 10-year veteran reporter, originally intended to document his trial with his blog, but soon began documenting abuses against other photographers throughout the country. Some of these incidents ended in arrest. Most of them were intimidation against the photographer. But each and every one of these incidents was a complete First Amendment violation against the photographer. Over a year’s time, Photography is Not a Crime has become a trusted destination for First Amendment news as it relates to photography, videography and writing, and the site has been mentioned in publications such as the New York Times, Fox News, The Chicago-Sun Times, The Miami Herald, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, and the Miami New Times, which called his blog one of “Miami’s best blogs”. When Miller went to trial last year, he was acquitted of all charges except resisting arrest without violence. Acting as his own lawyer, Miller appealed the decision and that case is currently pending.

Dr. Rick Staggenborg, progressive candidate for Oregon’s US Senate seat, takes on incumbent Ron Wyden, corporate personhood, much more; Will Durst talks about the ethics dramas of Rep. Charlie Rangel and Rep. Maxine Waters. Staggenborg is a veteran, a psychiatrist, and a strong progressive challenging 3-term Sen. Ron Wyden. Staggenborg’s website details his views that the ill-effects of corporate personhood showed up in the healthcare reform efforts, and also drive our war policies. He’s smart and well-informed, and is trying to build ties to conservative voters on some core issues. Will Durst’s commentary starts right after Veronique’s invitation to join the PBC ORganic Wine Club at 50:50.

Prof. Andrew Bacevich of Boston U. on his new book, Washington Rules: America’s Path to Permanent War and John Gorenfeld reveals conflict of interest of TIME’s Kabul bureau chief. As PBC concedes the Robert Gibbs charge of being from the “professional Left”, Prof. Bacevich describes himself as from “the anti-interventionist right”. His new book is a fascinating look at the mindset of the US military’s officer corps, as it shifted from WWII to Viet Nam to Desert Storm to the Bush wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Responding to excerpt’s from Obama’s 12/1/09 speech escalating US presence in Afghanistan, Bacevich is sharply critical of the rationales offered and the embraced of the failed COIN (counterinsurgency) strategy of Gen. Petraeus, and the myth of the success of the “surge” in Iraq. John Gorenfeld is a freelance journalist, and we disclose that he also does website consulting and did the recent upgrades to this website. He reveals that Aryn Baker, TIME’s Kabul bureau chief, is married to Tamim Samee, an Afghan-American businessman with ties to the Karzai government. We discuss the recent cover photo of a disfigured Afghan woman and the WikiLeaks item about using the plight of women to shore up support for Obama’s war. Read Gorenfeld’s article here. The second segment starts at 1:05:30

Rev. Janie Spahr is a lesbian minister who is facing charges in a church court for performing marriages of same sex couples. She joins us with her church lawyers, Beverly Brewster and Scott Clark. Rev. Spahr is an inspiring woman who broke through the glass ceiling to become one of the first women pastors in the Presbyterian church. She was formerly at the Metropolitan Community Church in San Francisco, and a roving evangelist based in Rochester, NY at the Downtown United Presbyterian Church. On August 24, the Presbytery for the Redwoods will hold a trial in Napa, CA (1226 Salvador Street) on charges related to same sex marriages performed by Rev. Spahr at the time they were legal in California. This is not her first trial–she prevailed on appeal in a previous case. Rev. Spahr talks about the recent federal court decision overturning the Prop 8 ban on same sex marriage, and the heterosexism and homophobia that feed anti-gay thoughts and actions.

Peter Laufer joins us to talk about his new book, Forbidden Creatures: Inside the World of Animal Smuggling and Exotic Pets. Comedian/satirist Will Durst waxes on the court decision overturning California’s ban on same sex marriage.
Laufer, a longtime friend and colleague of PBC, returns to talk about his second foray into the underground world of exotic critters. His prior book, The Dangerous World of Butterflies introduced him to the people who breed, sell, collect and smuggle exotic animals from chimps to snakes and big cats. In both cases, Laufer weaves the fascinating anecdotes together with his own musings on the proper roles of humans and animals. He meets some pretty exotic humans along the way, too, and takes us to animal auctions, private zoos, sanctuaries and the python-infested Everglades. The wiseass wisdom of Durst hits at about 59:05