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September 18, 2014
What's to do about the Islamic State?
Inside the Islamic State
We’re looking inside the Islamic State: as a phenomenon and as America’s latest enemy in the endless war on terror. Do we know who they are, or how we plan to defeat them? President Obama says they aren’t Islamic and aren’t a state. It’s clear they’re a dangerous mad storm of Arab anger armed, in part, with hand-me-down American weapons. Could this be the coming Caliphate that Dick Cheney warned us against? What if it’s blowback that his Iraq War fired up? For a little perspective, let’s look back at the beginning of the Islamic State, known in 2004 as Al-Qaeda in Iraq:
Guest List
John Mearsheimer
historian and father of the realists at the University of Chicago, and author, most recently, of "How the West Caused the Ukraine Crisis" in Foreign Affairs.
historian and father of the realists at the University of Chicago, and author, most recently, of "How the West Caused the Ukraine Crisis" in Foreign Affairs.
As'ad AbuKhalil
Lebanese-American scholar, blogger at The Angry Arab News Service, and author of The Battle for Saudi Arabia.
Lebanese-American scholar, blogger at The Angry Arab News Service, and author of The Battle for Saudi Arabia.
Hugh Roberts
historian of Algeria and the great explicator of Middle Eastern politics at Tufts University.
historian of Algeria and the great explicator of Middle Eastern politics at Tufts University.
Reading List
Our guest Patrick Cockburn has posted a typical excerpt of his new book, The Jihadis Return, on Vice (where you can also see the definitive news documentary on ISIS).
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