Full Program
 

Part 1
 

Part 2
 

Then we look into what is happening at the U.N. as a repeat of the Iraq experience appears to be underway with calls to allow U.N. weapons inspectors time to do their job before the bombing begins. Barbara Crossette, the U.N. correspondent for The Nation and the former New York Times bureau chief at the U.N. joins us to discuss efforts by the British to draft a resolution based on the R 2 P doctrine, the responsibility to protect, that would allow military action in Syria based on humanitarian grounds that civilians need to be protected from the regime’s use of WMDs.

Part 3
 

Then finally we speak with Colonel Andrew Bacevich, a retired U.S. Army Colonel who is currently a Professor of International Relations and History at Boston University. We  discuss his article at Bill Moyers.com “Questions for President Obama – Before He Pulls the Trigger” and the reality that only 9% of Americans support a war against Syria, as well as the fact that from a soldier’s perspective, war is a risky business

Full Program

Part 1

We begin with the drumbeat of war that is drowning out alternative approaches to the crisis in Syria and go to Ireland to speak with Patrick Cockburn, the Middle East correspondent for the UK Independent where he has an article “Only a Peace Conference, Not Airstrikes, Can Stop Further Bloodshed”. We discuss his contention that the slaughter of civilians by chemical weapons is both a crime and an opportunity and examine the possibility of pursuing peace before the trigger is pulled on war.

Part 2

Then we speak with Shibley Telhami, the Anwar Sadat Professor of Peace and Development at the University of Maryland and the author of “The World Through Arab Eyes”. We discuss Syria as the third and most recent Arab country to face civil war after enduring decades of dictatorship. With Iraq and Libya in chaos after being liberated by U.S. and NATO military force, we look at the prospects for avoiding the destruction and division of Syria which is caught in both a regional proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran and a wider contest between the U.S. and Russia, both of whom do not want Al Qaeda to take over Syria.

Part 3

Then finally we speak with David Cortwright, an American scholar and peace activist who is the Director of Policy Studies at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame. We discuss alternatives to the use of military force in Syria that are not on the table and the disconnect between an almost unanimous call for military action from political leaders while only 9% of the American people support the U.S. going to war in Syria.