Background Briefing with Ian Masters July 27th, 2003

Abbas Khadim (former Iraqi dissident who opposed Saddam Hussein in the US-encouraged uprising after the first Gulf War, now a graduate student studying in the United States.  After joining in the uprising, Khadim saw thousands of his compatriots slaughtered by Hussein's military and barely escaped with his life.) on who is attacking US troops in Iraq, what needs to be done to bring stability, why rebuilding the infrastructure is crucial and the steps that the US must take now to prevent the situation from becoming a disastrous quagmire.  The solution is complicated by the fact that, because Iraqi freedom fighters were terribly betrayed by Bush the first after the Gulf War, and after a decade of debilitating sanctions and because of the now evident lack of post-war planning by GW Bush, Rumsfeld, et al, Khadim sees the US as currently having limited credibility in Iraq.  Many observers believe that this pre-emptive attack on Iraq may be one of the worst mistakes in the history of US foreign policy.  Clearly, what the US does now in Iraq will have enormous consequences for America and the Middle East for some time to come.

Saud Ashgar (interviewed from Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, retired engineer Aramco) and Dr. Ali Alyami ( www.saudiinstitute.org , Saudi native, college professor, human rights activist) on the criticisms of the Saudis which have swirled through the US media in the wake of last week's 9/11 report.  Mr. Ashgar asserts that the Saudis are actively fighting al Qaeda, that they are making advances with respect to human rights issues and positive reforms.  He suggests that anti-Saudi propaganda is being pushed by the Israeli lobby.  Dr. Alyami is a strong critic of the House of Saud and the oppressive religious police which make Saudi Arabia one of the most repressive societies in the world.  Dr. Alyami says that the issues of corruption and repression in Saudi Arabia are matters of fact, not merely propaganda.  This discussion outlines the central conflict, as tradition confronts modernity, as the religious police confront rationalism and human rights, in this country, which is perhaps both blessed and cursed by its enormous and coveted energy resources.

Dr. Raphe Sonenshein (Professor of Political Science, Cal State Fullerton www.fullerton.edu ) and Dr. Shaun Bowler (Professor of Political Science, University of California at Riverside www.ucr.edu ) on the unprecedented history-making recall election to be held on October 7, 2003.  Dr. Sonenshein points out that the two-part ballot may produce an odd un-democratic outcome: if 49.999% of voters vote NOT to recall Davis (potentially millions), Davis will be removed and replaced by one of possibly dozens of candidates who will likely have received only a tiny fraction of the votes to keep Davis in office.  Dr. Bowler believes that, despite those who predict certain doom for the Democrats,  Davis actually can win.  Both foresee a potentially fearsome no-holds-barred political fight as Davis struggles to survive and the Republicans work to destroy him and ascend to power.  For the Democrats, Sonenshein holds, the risky tactic of putting everything behind Davis is the best, and perhaps only, viable strategy.  But, according to Shaun Bowler, there is risk for the Republicans too: if they lose after ginning up the recall, they could marginalize themselves indefinitely in California, the nation's most populous state and most powerful economy.  This is the first in what will be on-going coverage and analysis of the California Recall.

Senator Mike Gravel (former US Senator Alaska 1969-81, served on the Finance, Interior and Environment and Public Works committees, chaired the Energy, Water Resources and Environmental Pollutions subcommittees, noted for entering the entirely of the Pentagon Papers into the Congressional Record, founded the National Initiative for Democracy www.ni4d.us , www.philadelphiatwo.org intended to invigorate the American electoral process via "direct democracy") on the challenges posed by North Korea as it continues to threaten nuclear militarization, while it's population barely subsists in a dismal abyss of poverty and famine.  South Korea is, in contrast, booming, with its industrious population fueling the 11th largest economy in the world.  How can the North Korean threat be defused peacefully?  Is reunification of North and South a possibility?  Ian and Senator Gravel discuss the issues.