Guest host is David Green, host of TPN’s All American Show, who works for the US Dept of Defense and was stationed in Iraq from Jan 2005 – Jan 2006, so this is a show about IRAQ. I apologize for my audio quality on this show… 100 shows and I still forgot to switch on the right mic…. idiot.
Show notes:
- Christopher Allbritton’s Back To Iraq blog
- Asterisms blog
- PNAC – Project for the New American Century
- Read the PNAC report
As always, our Intro / Outro music courtesy of Melbourne band Spruiker.
Congrats on the 100th or 130th or whatever
Cameroon. Regarding the Flash player, would it not be a better idea to only offer a sample of the episode? It’d be enough to get people to download the show, without having to worry about the impossibility of trying to measure listener stats that include those who only listen to it via the Flash player.
Oh and, congratulations mofo 🙂
Hi Cam,
You were too nice by far to David Green. He needs an education.
Check out “Good versus evil isn’t a strategy” By Madeleine Albright in today’s LA Times
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-albright24mar24,0,5251258.story?coll=la-home-commentary
Bob, a comment from someone who actually listened to the show! Thanks!
David’s a good guy and he’s entitled to his opinion. After all, he works for the DoD in PR, he’s going to have a particular persepctive. I’m glad he was willing to come on and explain it. I obviously have a different perspective on the matter but that’s what I try to do with podcasts – get the conversation happening.
Thanks for the link to Albright’s article, but I think she’s just as culpable as Bush and Condi. She says the US wants to “end tyranny in this world”. I don’t believe that is true. I think they are just fine with tyranny, as long as it is done for their benefit. Remember Kosovo? During Albright’s term as US Secretary of State:
John Fox, a US State Department specialist told Peter Jennings of ABC News that he was told not to tell the truth: “We could not continue to confirm the existence of concentration camps.” He said the order came from a very senior official “on the seventh floor of the State Department”. ABC News executive producer David Gelber told Jennings: “Imagine that the US government knew there were concentration camps in Bosnia and wouldn’t confirm it because they didn’t want political pressure put on them to do something about it.” (wikipedia)
100 shows arent you dead yet?
I mean the two of us at the gaming show predict we will be dead by Episode 45 but thats more to do with the Avian flu otherwise we might make it to 65! Maybe. Then again i never was one for retiring with everyone else.
You do know what happens at 150 though dont you? No? I wont spoil it for you then.
Long time listener and usually love the show. The show dropped off my itunes for awhile and I came back for this show. To be frank, I thought it was piss poor and far below the standard I had previously enjoyed. I’m opposed to the war, but I cant understand your attitude towards David, who sounds like a decent, intelligent guy. America-bashing is the new black and fuck me didnt you want to make the fashion pages! Dial it back a bit dude – maintain your objectivity and contribute to an intelligent debate about the war: otherwise you only come off like a left wing, tree hugging, mung-bean munching, tie-dye wearing, ganja-toking, combi-driving, gay-whale-saving, FUCKSTICK!
hehe thanks Doug, your comment made my day. For the record, I’m neither left wing, nor tree hugging, nor mung-bean munching, nor tie-dye wearing, nor ganja-toking, nor combi-driving, nor gay-whale-saving but I guess many people do consider me a fuckstick, so no complaints there.
That said, I thought I was fairly balanced with David. Was their any comment in particular that you thought was “America-bashing”? I’ve got nothing against America or Americans. My complaints are equally targeted at Australia and the UK.
Good on yer Cam, I’m glad you took my gee-up in the manner it was intended – kudos. Seriously, though, the Keystone Cops comment gave it away for me. Also, equating Gulf-war soldiers to the third reich (in the context of “just following orders”) was a tad offensive to anyone who has ever served their country.
Yes, I think it is abhorrent that the country I served actually started a war, rather than defended against an aggressive enemy. Yet, if I had still be serving, I would have been able to rationalise that I was serving some greater good – as David said, fighting for people who cant fight themselves. To invoke the Neumberg defence in this context blows.
Anyway, that is far too serious for me, so I’m going to open a red and listen to #101. Keep up the good work and get a big black one up ya.
Doug I’ve had a few people get stuck into me via email and IM about the third reich comment but I’m going to defend it. The invasion of Iraq is, at best, illegal. If the US soldiers didn’t know that in 2003, they know it now. So, let me ask you – in any civilized court of law on the planet, if you have committed a crime, and your defense is “I was just following orders”… how far are you going to get? You’re better off pleading insanity.
As you know, the US-lead troops are over there AGAINST the wishes of the UN. After financially and militarily propping up Saddam for 20 years, and therefore being equally responsible for his crimes, they finally invaded his country without the backing of the UN. Any way you cut it, it’s an illegal invasion. This whole “trying to help people” line is public relations 101. Hitler said the same thing when he invaded Poland. “Hey the Germans in Poland are being mis-treated, I’m going in to help them.” And the mainstream media is too squeamish to throw up the analogy so I strongly believe it’s the job of us new guys to do it. Some of the worst crimes in history have been and are being committed with “I was just following orders” as the excuse. According to some sources, US troops are allegedly responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians in Iraq during the last 15 years. Read Pilger, read Chomsky, read George Wilson’s War, read Jarhead… incredible atrocities have been committed / are being committed over there. The media don’t talk about it so people don’t know about it.
So, mate, I don’t think the analogy is that far off. The current US administration scares the HELL out of me at the moment.