Pushback with Aaron Mate

On the campaign trail, Joe Biden is falsely claiming that he opposed the Iraq war when it began. Biden says that his 2002 war authorization vote was not intended to approve the 2003 invasion, but instead to ensure UN inspections. "It's a completely disingenuous statement," says Scott Ritter, a former UN weapons inspector in Iraq who testified before Biden in the U.S. Senate. "Joe Biden, from the very beginning, was a proponent of regime change in Iraq." Guest: Scott Ritter. Former UN Weapons Inspector, former Marine Corps Intelligence Officer, and author of "Dealbreaker: Donald Trump and the Unmaking of the Iran Nuclear Deal." Support Pushback at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/aaronmate Pushback on Twitter: https://twitter.com/pushbackshow Aaron Maté on Twitter: https://twitter.com/aaronjmate

OPCW whistleblowers have exposed a cover-up, under US pressure, of evidence that undermined allegations that the Syrian government committed a chemical weapons attack in Douma in April 2018. The allegation prompted US-led airstrikes on Syria that same month. Former Bush administration official Col. Lawrence Wilkerson says that reports of US pressure on the Douma investigation recall the Bush administration's coercion of the IAEA and OPCW before the Iraq war. Guest: Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, former chief of staff to Colin Powell. Currently a distinguished professor at the College of William and Mary.

The Trump administration is imposing new sanctions on Iran and defying Iraq's call for a US troop withdrawal. This comes as the stated rationale for the US assassination of Qasem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis is being undermined by its top officials' own statements. Scott Ritter, a former Marine Corps intelligence officer, analyzes the increased White House coercion efforts and collapsing intelligence claims. Guest: Scott Ritter -- former UN Weapons Inspector, former Marine Corps Intelligence Officer, and author of "Dealbreaker: Donald Trump and the Unmaking of the Iran Nuclear Deal." Support Pushback at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/aaronmate Pushback on Twitter: https://twitter.com/pushbackshow Aaron Maté on Twitter: https://twitter.com/aaronjmate

The threat of an immediate US-Iran military conflict has been averted, but President Donald Trump has vowed to continue his "maximum pressure" campaign with new sanctions on Tehran. Meanwhile, the Iraqi Prime Minister's claim that Qassem Soleimani was on a diplomatic mission in Iraq when the U.S. assassinated him is raising new questions about Trump's motives. Guest: Sina Toossi, Senior Research Analyst at the National Iranian American Council. Support Pushback at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/aaronmate Pushback on Twitter: https://twitter.com/pushbackshow Aaron Maté on Twitter: https://twitter.com/aaronjmate ||| The Grayzone ||| Find more reporting at https://thegrayzone.com Support our original journalism at Patreon: https://patreon.com/grayzone

As millions of Iranians mourn the US murder of Qassem Soleimani, ex-Bush administration official Col. Lawrence Wilkerson discuses the parallels between Bush's war on Iraq and Trump's campaign against Iran; the history of US shunning diplomacy with Tehran; and how an addiction to war drives US foreign policy. Guest: Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, former chief of staff to Colin Powell. Currently a distinguished professor at the College of William and Mary. Support Pushback at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/aaronmate Pushback on Twitter: https://twitter.com/pushbackshow Aaron Maté on Twitter: https://twitter.com/aaronjmate ||| The Grayzone ||| Find more reporting at https://thegrayzone.com Support our original journalism at Patreon: https://patreon.com/grayzone Twitter: https://twitter.com/thegrayzonenews Facebook: https://facebook.com/thegrayzone Minds: https://minds.com/thegrayzone Mastodon: https://mastodon.social/@thegrayzone

The US assassination of Qasem Soleimani, a top Iranian military commander, is the culmination of three years of Trump administration war-mongering against Iran. Jamal Abdi, president of the National Iranian American Council, discusses Trump's radical neocon agenda in Iran and how Democratic votes for new sanctions against Tehran helped lay the groundwork for the current crisis. Guest: Jamal Abdi, president of the National Iranian American Council. Support Pushback at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/aaronmate Aaron Maté on Twitter: https://twitter.com/aaronjmate Find transcripts and more at https://thegrayzone.com/pushback

The US media continues to ignore one of 2019's top scandals: a cover-up inside the OPCW, the world's top chemical weapons watchdog, that was used to justify US-led military strikes on Syria. Theodore Postol, award-winning professor of Science, Technology and National Security policy at MIT, joins Pushback to discuss the latest leaked revelations and what he calls the "criminal" US media silence on the story. The leaked documents and testimony from inside the OPCW show there were major doubts about the allegations the Syrian government committed a chemical weapons attack in the city of Douma in April 2018. Inspectors who were on the ground in Douma complained that their findings were distorted and excluded. According to one OPCW whistleblower, this censorship was conducted under direct US pressure. "I hold the press accountable for not doing what they should to help protect these [whistleblowers]," Postol says. "I think it's criminal, as far as I'm concerned." Guest: Theodore Postol, award-winning professor of Science, Technology and National Security policy at MIT. Support Pushback at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/aaronmate ||| The Grayzone ||| Find more reporting at https://thegrayzone.com

Journalist Tareq Haddad explains his decision to resign from Newsweek over its refusal to cover the OPCW's unfolding Syria scandal. According to whistleblower testimony and leaked documents, OPCW officials raised alarm about the suppression of critical findings that undermine the allegation that the Syrian government committed a chemical weapons attack in the city of Douma in April 2018. Haddad's editors at Newsweek rejected his attempts to cover the story. "If I don’t find another position in journalism because of this, I’m perfectly happy to accept that consequence," Haddad says. "It’s not desirable. But there is no way I could have continued in that job knowing that I couldn’t report something like this." Guest: Tareq Haddad, journalist who recently resigned from Newsweek over its refusal to cover the OPCW's Syria scandal. Support Pushback at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/aaronmate Find more reporting at https://thegrayzone.com Support our original journalism at Patreon: https://patreon.com/grayzone

A new report from DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz confirms that the FBI relied on the Steele dossier – a DNC-funded work of fiction – during the Trump-Russia probe. The FBI used Steele's work to obtain surveillance warrants but concealed his errors and other critical information from the FISA court. Matt Taibbi joins Aaron Maté to discuss how Horowitz's investigation exposes not just the FBI's deceit, but also that of the prominent media and political figures who enabled it. Guest: Matt Taibbi. Author, Contributing Editor at Rolling Stone, and co-host of the podcast Useful Idiots. Support Pushback at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/aaronmate

Jeremy Corbyn, a real progressive, could win UK's elections. Max Blumenthal joins Pushback to discuss how powerful forces are trying to stop Corbyn with a Russiagate-fueled smear campaign -- and why Bernie Sanders could be their next target. NATO-funded "researchers" are claiming that leaked documents publicized by Corbyn that exposed secret US-UK talks over the British health service are in fact the result of a Russian disinformation campaign. The Russia-baiting against Corbyn comes as the Labour leader also faces an ongoing campaign to smear him with fake charges of anti-Semitism. Guest: Max Blumenthal, Editor of The Grayzone and author of The Management of Savagery.