afghanistan war

The Nation article reveals that Blackwater linked companies provided intelligence and security to multinational companies like Monsanto and Chevron; Right Livelihood laureates from Croatia, Thailand, and Burundi discuss their battles for social justice; Johan Galtung talks about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, mideast peace talks, and why Obama is losing his base. Democracy Now! is a daily independent newshour.

Among this week's news: The Obama Administration is accused of putting too positive a spin on BP's Gulf oil clean-up efforts; meanwhile, the federal government is paying BP hundreds of millions in stimulus funds for a new power plant in California; civilian deaths are up 31 percent in Afghanistan; and dietary supplements may in fact cause serious health problems such as cancer. These stories and more.

Retired US Army colonel and historian Andrew Bacevich joins us for his first interview about his new book, Washington Rules: America’s Path to Permanent War. "The question demands to be asked: Who is more deserving of contempt?" Bacevich asks. "The commander-in-chief who sends young Americans to die for a cause, however misguided, in which he sincerely believes? Or the commander-in-chief who sends young Americans to die for a cause in which he manifestly does not believe and yet refuses to forsake?"

A new documentary by the Oscar-nominated directors of Jesus Camp offers a rare inside look at the pitched battle over abortion rights that’s being waged not just in Congress and the courts, but on the street corners of small-town America—in particular, one street corner where an abortion clinic and an anti-abortion pregnancy care center sit across the street from each other. "Democracy Now!" is a daily independent newshour.

It’s one of the biggest leaks in US military history. More than 90,000 internal records of US military actions in Afghanistan over the past six years have been published by the whistleblower website WikiLeaks. The documents provide a devastating portrait of the war in Afghanistan, revealing how coalition forces have killed hundreds of civilians in unreported incidents, how a secret black ops special forces unit hunts down targets for assassination or detention without trial, how Taliban attacks have soared and how Pakistan is fueling the insurgency. We host a roundtable discussion with independent British journalist Stephen Grey, Pentagon Papers whistleblower, Daniel Ellsberg, former State Department official in Afghanistan, Matthew Hoh, independent journalist Rick Rowley and investigative historian Gareth Porter. "Democracy Now!" is a daily independent newshour.