Scott and Matthew Hoh have a wide-ranging conversation about America’s war on terrorism. The latest news is that the U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan is essentially complete, with the exception of a small number of soldiers, contractors and CIA operatives ostensibly remaining behind for diplomatic purposes. Hoh is optimistic about the possibility of the American military really being finished with Afghanistan now, though he and Scott both fear that the resulting instability could be used as an excuse to lobby for continued intervention. Hoh also discusses veteran suicide rates from the post-9/11 wars, which have surged way beyond those of the general population in recent years.

Discussed on the show:

• “High Suicide Rates among United States Service Members and Veterans of the Post-9/11 Wars” (Cost of War Project)
• “The Redirection” (The New Yorker)
• No Good Men Among the Living: America, the Taliban, and the War through Afghan Eyes
  
• “Mike Gravel and An Ongoing Road to Courage” (CounterPunch.org)
• The Pentagon Papers

Matthew Hoh is a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy and formerly worked for the U.S. State Department. Hoh received the Ridenhour Prize Recipient for Truth Telling in 2010. Hoh is a member of the Board of Directors for Council for a Livable World and is an Advisory Board Member for Expose Facts. He writes on issues of war, peace and post-traumatic stress disorder recovery at matthewhoh.com.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: The War State, by Mike Swanson; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; Photo IQ; Green Mill Supercritical; Zippix Toothpicks; and Listen and Think Audio.

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