cia

According to retired Colonel Andrew Bacevich, Barack Obama "is a problem solver, he's surrounded himself with problem solvers at a time when maybe we need some creative thinking." This week saw the announcement that General David Petraeus would be taking Leon Panetta's spot as head of the CIA, while Panetta would be moving to replace Robert Gates as Defense Secretary. Bacevich joins Laura in studio to discuss the changes in the administration and the ongoing situation in Libya and Syria, and notes that at a time when the Arab world is undergoing deep changes, it should be a time for modesty in the US and a reconsideration of military power and the use of violence to achieve goals. "Rock is, among other things, a potent means of expressing the active emotions--anger, aggression, lust, the joy of physical exertion--that feed all freedom movements, and it is no accident that women musicians have been denied access to this powerful musical language." So wrote Ellen Willis in June of 1974, when the acclaimed feminist thinker and cultural critic was working as the Rock, Etc. columnist at the New Yorker. A new book of Willis's rock criticism is out now, titled Out Of The Vinyl Deeps and edited by her daughter, Nona Willis Aronowitz, and this weekend a conference at New York University will celebrate her work as a pop culture thinker and writer. Nona joins Laura in studio with Drexel University professor Devon Powers to discuss Willis's influence and ideas. Baratunde Thurston is usually one of our favorite comedians, but even he couldn't bring himself to laugh at the ugly spectacle of a privileged white man like Donald Trump congratulating himself in front of news cameras for getting Barack Obama to produce a "long-form" birth certificate. Baratunde recorded his feelings about that statement, and what it says to millions of African-Americans. Distributed by Tubemogul.

Last week we spoke to Dave Lindorff about Raymond Davis, the CIA employee held in Pakistan, accused of shooting two Pakistani civilians. The story got murkier the deeper it went, Lindorff noted. This week, Davis has been released after a reported $2.3 million was paid to the families of the victims. Davis is free, his secrets protected. Distributed by Tubemogul.

"The mystery of American Raymond A. Davis, currently imprisoned in the custody of local police in Lahore, Pakistan and charged with the Jan. 27 murder of two young men, whom he allegedly shot eight times with pinpoint accuracy through his car windshield, is growing increasingly murky." So wrote Dave Lindorff, who has been following the story of Davis's arrest and the subsequent controversy for CounterPunch. Is Davis a CIA agent? A security contractor? A diplomat? What's the deal with the numbers in his cell phone for some shady characters? Dave joins us via Skype to fill us in on the latest. "The working class and poor people are coming out, the middle and upper classes don't like that, they want to stop the revolution of the poor people. They accept the revolution of the middle class," says Nawal El Saadawi, pioneering Egyptian feminist thinker, author and professor. Meanwhile, she notes that the same old factors are moving to make sure that the revolution in Egypt doesn't rock the boat too much. Dr. Saadawi appeared on This Week with Christiane Amanpour this weekend, but she joins Laura in the GRITtv studio to tell us what she said that ABC wouldn't air. Last week Michael Moore appeared on our show and talked about the economy as he sees it--and Fox News called in billionaire Donald Trump to comment. Fair and balanced -- a billionaire to comment on a critique of this Country's skewed accumulation of wealth? Well, Michael Moore had the last word on Saturday in front of the Wisconsin state capitol. Distributed by Tubemogul.

"We don't write about class struggle in the US so it's hard for us to see it elsewhere," says the Huffington Post's Ryan Grim on the failings of the US media around issues in Egypt. And Katrina vanden Heuvel notes that Islamophobia in the US leads many to focus on fear of the Muslim Brotherhood rather than understanding the ways that Islam and democracy coexist and complement one another.Here in the US, too, there were big media stories, as the Huffington Post merged with AOL, and Keith Olbermann signed up with Al Gore's Current TV. What's in those stories for independent media? Ryan, Katrina and Laura discuss.Karwan Abdul Kader left Iraq when he was 7, seeking refuge from Saddam's attacks on the Kurds. But he faces a different kind of attack in the U.S., as this next clip from our friends at Breakthrough shows. He shares his story of dealing with racial profiling after escaping a dictatorship.As the news comes that Mubarak may be gone from Egypt, attention has turned to his newly appointed Vice President (and possibly soon President) Omar Suleiman. Suleiman came up through the ranks of Egypt's intelligence service, and Jane Mayer and others have pointed out his role in American rendition programs. Meanwhile at home, several former CIA officers involved in some of the most egregious human rights offenses of the "war on terror" have not only not faced charges--they've been promoted.To discuss this and more, we have former US Air Force interrogator and author of the new book Kill or Capture , Matthew Alexander.Finally, speaking of the "war on terror," parts of the PATRIOT Act came up for renewal this week--and were shut down in the House by an oddly bipartisan coalition. A Tea Party revolt? Laura has some thoughts.