The Brian Lehrer Show

President George W. Bush discusses the future of Iraq at the Ford Community and Performing Arts Center

The Reason Why

Wednesday, June 09, 2004

Why did President Bush decide to invade Iraq? Investigative journalist James Bamford believes oedipal issues made Bush receptive to a secret, never-implemented 1996 war plan drawn up for then-Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Also, debating Reagan’s legacy in New York, Bloomberg’s new noise initiative, and Ashcroft’s appearance before the Senate yesterday.

Listen to the whole show

"Shining City on a Hill" or the Dumps?

Robin D.G. Kelley professor of anthropology and African-American studies at Columbia University and author, Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination (Beacon Press, 2002) and Yo Mama's Disfunktional(Beacon Press, 1998)on the legacy of Ronald Reagan's urban policies
and E.J. McMahon senior fellow for tax and budgetary studies at the Center for Civic Innovation at the Manhattan Institute on the legacy of Reagan's urban policies

The Mayor's Noise Job

Charlie Komanoff freelance environmental policy analyst, author of a booklet called "Drowning in Noise" on the Mayor's new proposals against noise pollution

Ash covering the Senate

Mike Isikoff Investigative Reporter, Newsweek discusses John Ashcroft's testimony in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee

The Reason Why

James Bamford former Washington investigative producer for ABC's "World News Tonight with Peter Jennings" and author, A Pretext for War : 9/11, Iraq, and the Abuse of America's Intelligence Agencies (Doubleday, 2004)and Body of Secrets : Anatomy of the Ultra-Secret National Security Agency (Doubleday, 2001)thinks he can explain the Iraq war