militarism

President Obama was elected with fanfare and promises to restore the rule of law and accountability to the justice system, specifically around indefinite detentions at Guantanamo. But the upcoming trial of Omar Khadr, a Canadian citizen taken into custody when he was just 15, seems to belie those promises. Vince Warren, executive director of The Center for Constitutional Rights, joins us in studio to discuss the Khadr case, which he notes will make Obama the first to try a child soldier in a tribunal he calls "rigged from the start." He also discusses the story of Anwar Aulaqi, an American citizen hiding in Yemen who is on the U.S.'s targeted assassination list--hundreds of miles from any battlefield, making it conceivable that they could kill U.S. citizens anywhere in the world."It Ain't My Fault" is an old New Orleans tune, a familiar one to anyone who's been around the city. The chorus has taken on new resonance in recent years, and especially in the wake of BP's oil flooding the Gulf of Mexico. At a recent benefit for Gulf Aid, hip-hop artist Mos Def put some new lyrics to the song that personalize the newest tragedy to hit the city of New Orleans.U.S. militarism isn't limited to one president. "It is a pattern, it follows a trajectory, it derives from a set of habits and we need to understand them," Andrew Bacevich reminds us. This pattern has led us on a dramatically different course from the countries that experienced firsthand the wars of the 20th century--Bacevich notes that the U.S. and Israel seem to be convinced of the rightness of using force to accomplish goals.In part two of our interview with Bacevich, he discusses U.S. interventions around the world, our lack of learning from history, and why the WikiLeaks information is different from the Pentagon Papers. Finally, Laura weighs in on the decision by 40 billionaires to donate half their wealth to charity.