Middle East In Focus - Sunday, May 31, 2026

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1. fiscal year 2027 budget proposal. The numbers are stark. It calls for cutting $73 billion from non-defense discretionary spending, the portion of the federal budget that funds most domestic programs like education, housing, and healthcare, while simultaneously boosting total military and defense funding to a record $1.5 trillion.
2. That's a 44% increase over the prior year.
3. Now, put simply, the programs that help the most vulnerable people in this country are being cut to pay for the largest military expansion in American history.
4. That tradeoff has a human cost and we cannot let it go unnamed.
5. And with the United States now engaged in a war with Iran, this budget has to be seen for what it is.
6. money taken from education, housing, and health care and poured into yet another war.
7. But that war is part of a much longer, much bloodier story.
8. In 250 years, the United States has known only around 20 years of peace, if even that.
9. In that same span, an estimated 1.4 million American soldiers have been killed and at
10. least 1.5 million more wounded, roughly 10,000 casualties every single year on average for two
11. and a half centuries. But the American soldier is only part of the accounting. Across those same
12. wars, millions upon millions of civilians around the world have been killed. Men, women, and
13. children who never wore a uniform, never chose a side, and whose deaths rarely make it into the
14. history books, let alone the monuments. And beyond those killed directly by U.S. violence, there are
15. the countless millions more who died indirectly from the collapse of economies, the destruction
16. of health care systems, the poisoning of land and water, and the unraveling of everything that keeps
17. a society alive. Some estimates of total civilian death and suffering from U.S. wars and military
18. interventions since World War II alone run into the tens of millions. The Korean War, Vietnam,
19. Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Yemen, in every one of these conflicts, it was civilians who bore
20. the heaviest burden of all. And that's before you account for the covert operations,
21. the drone strikes that never make the news and the military actions that receive no official
22. acknowledgement from the U.S. government, the ones where there's no press conference,
23. no casualty count, and no reckoning at all. Now Memorial Day just passed and our guest today
24. argues that if that day means anything at all, it has to mean reckoning honestly with the full truth
25. of what these U.S. wars have been, including who has really paid the price. And that reckoning
26. must include the most recent invasion of Iran. Rory Fanning served two tours in Afghanistan as
27. an army ranger. He came home and he made a choice. He walked across the entire United States and he
28. dedicated his life to war resistance and speaking out about the true cost of war. Rory Fanning is a
29. war resistor military counter and writer living in Chicago Illinois He was awarded a grant from the Chicago Teachers Union to speak to Chicago public school students about the military He is the author of Worth
30. Fighting For, an Army Ranger's Journey Out of the Military and Across America, and co-author
31. alongside Chris Hedges of Longshot, The Triumphs and Struggles of an NBA Freedom Fighter. Rory
32. Fanning, welcome to Middle East in Focus. Hello. Hi, can you hear me? Yes. Okay, great. Thank you
33. so much for joining us today on the show. Yes, I'm happy to be here. You know, let's just start
34. with your own story. And as I mentioned, you served two deployments in Afghanistan,
35. and you've since become a war resistor.
36. Take us back. What happened?
37. What did you experience, and what was the turning point
38. that led you from soldier to resistor?
39. Yeah, I signed up after 9-11,
40. thinking I was going to make the world a safer place.
41. I thought signing up for the Army Rangers was the best route.
42. Once you become a soldier, you're less of a person
43. and more of a piece of equipment,
44. so I wanted to become the most expensive piece of equipment possible.
45. You know, I would say early 2003, January, I found myself in Afghanistan,
46. one of the poorest countries I've ever been to.
47. The country had been embroiled in civil war under the Taliban and occupied by the Russians.
48. You saw bombed out villages and towns and airplanes all over the place.
49. And we were just walking around.
50. I didn't realize at the time that the Taliban had surrendered by the time I had gotten to the country,
51. and that was about eight months after 9-11, and our job was to draw them back into the fight.
52. And I was nothing more than a bully in this country.
53. I mean, the vast majority of the people who have died around the world at the hands of the U.S. military have been civilians,
54. and we were making people hate the United States and hence making the world a more dangerous place for Americans and everyone.
55. and I decided I didn't want to be a bully anymore.
56. And we also invaded Iraq while I was there, which felt like a bait and switch.
57. And so there was a real sense of disillusionment that I had in the military
58. and I wanted to fight for freedom and democracy
59. and all those things that they tell you the U.S. is doing around the world
60. and I realized I was doing the opposite.
61. And how soon after you got to Afghanistan
62. did you realize what you just said, that really you felt like nothing more than a bully there?
63. Yeah, just based on the amount of intelligence, I mean, we would land in someone's front yard in Afghanistan,
64. raid it, put a bag over the person's head, and we would find out that that person had nothing to do with Osama bin Laden or the Taliban.
65. um they were we were that person just hadn't paid his landlord um and the u.s comes in with these
66. briefcases full of cash and says you identify members of the taliban or people who supported
67. osama bin laden and we'll give you this money and in a desperately poor country when you when you do
68. something like that people come out of the woodwork with all kinds of excuses on why this person who
69. they may may not like or be owed money to is an enemy of the US. And so it was quick.
70. It was really evident early on the intelligence was horrible. We knew nothing about the culture,
71. couldn speak the language and we were just grasping at straws You know so yeah this is not too long after I got there And did you find that there were others who were in your unit feeling the same
72. What was the sentiment amongst others you were there with?
73. Yeah, I mean, soldiers are not encouraged to think about the larger politic of the entire mission,
74. or whether it's right or wrong.
75. They're encouraged to look out for the guy to the right and left of them.
76. So there's a lot of vacuum thinking, you know, and it didn't really matter why we were there.
77. We were there and we had to look out for each other.
78. So people really weren't deep, critical thinkers in the military in terms of what the mission was.
79. So, yeah, I kind of was putting two and two together and realized that the U.S. was doing nothing but making the world a more dangerous place when I was there.
80. And you recently published an op-ed titled A Minute of Silence Isn't Enough to Reflect on the U.S.'s Death and Destruction.
81. And that was really with respect to the Memorial Day that just passed.
82. Can you talk a little bit about what compelled you to write this op-ed, and what did you most want people to sit with when they read it or when they read it?
83. Yeah, I think Memorial Day has been around for, I think it's an official holiday since Lyndon Johnson.
84. In 1996, a bunch of school kids were visiting Lafayette Park, which is right in front of the White House, and they were asked what Memorial Day meant to them.
85. and they responded as if in a chorus, it's the day the pool opened.
86. And it created a bit of a moral panic amongst the patriotic and civil-minded.
87. And the following year, there was kind of a near-mandatory moment of silence at 3 p.m. on Memorial Day
88. where people could reflect on all the soldiers' sacrifices for our country.
89. And I started thinking about what that meant.
90. And 1.4 million U.S. soldiers have died in our 250-year history.
91. Some for maybe good reasons, but many died for bad reasons.
92. And I just thought, like, if you're going to ask somebody to reflect on so much loss and destruction,
93. you need to be intentional about it.
94. And I certainly don't think a moment in silence can capture the gravity of such a thing or even a day.
95. And if we are going to reflect on it, we should be really honest about what these soldiers have died for and why they died and look closer at it.
96. And so I just kind of went through every single war that the U.S. has ever engaged in.
97. You know, there was I mean, how many people think about the fact that three million the U.S. killed three million Koreans between 1950 and 1953?
98. I mean, that's a genocide. There were 3 million Vietnamese during the Vietnam War.
99. And we're being asked to kind of memorialize all these soldiers that died in those conflicts.
100. And, you know, not to say that these soldiers didn't go in there with good intentions or thinking they were fighting for freedom and democracy and all this other stuff,
101. but ultimately they're committing genocides on one scale or another.
102. And I think we need to be really honest about that because if we're not I think we
103. dishonor the memory of these soldiers in many ways and
104. What about all these people we slaughtered around the world for the last 250 years I think you become Morally bankrupt if you can Come to terms with what the US military has been doing around the world And I don think enough people in the United States have come to terms with what the U military has done around the world
105. And I think we owe it to ourselves at this point to start looking closer at what we're asked to memorialize.
106. Why do you think that there's many in the U.S. that haven't really come to terms with what the U.S. military is doing around the world and the amount of death and destruction that it's causing?
107. Well, obviously, you can't discount propaganda. I mean, the U.S. spends a billion dollars a year on advertising, not to include movies and video games, making everybody think that the U.S. is this force for good in the world, when it's not.
108. It's a force that allows billionaires to become richer, the U.S. to control other countries' resources, and have spheres of influences in places that the U.S. actually has no business being in.
109. I've been talking to high schools and colleges for 15 years about my experience in the military, and it is like pulling teeth to get in front of young people to talk about the realities of war.
110. and I think people, you know, we don't have a right of passage in this world.
111. We're all alienated and I think the military becomes a default right of passage.
112. It becomes a way of paying for school, get health care to escape poverty,
113. to learn, you know, character development.
114. You know, people think that's what it is.
115. So administrators and teachers don't really want that interrupted.
116. And so there's a whole complex, industrial complex, that supports people just kind of turning a blind eye to the actual mission of U.S. Empire.
117. You said something really interesting right now that it's like pulling teeth to get into high school and colleges to talk about the realities of war and the real costs of U.S. wars.
118. Can you talk a little bit more about why it has been like pulling teeth to make that happen?
119. And then once you do finally get into talking to young people, what generally has been the response you've received?
120. Yeah, well, I mean, it's the school-to-military pipeline.
121. You know, I live in Chicago.
122. We have the largest number of JROTC students, Junior Reserve Officer Corps students, and they're mostly in the south and west side of Chicago.
123. You know, the kids with the least amount of economic security and options after graduation.
124. And so, we see the military as a way out for these kids.
125. We have almost 700 military bases around the world.
126. They have to be filled.
127. The seats and chairs need to be filled.
128. And you know, so I do think at least in those communities, it's a way out.
129. that's why I think it's difficult. I think the US military has 10,000 recruiters going through
130. hallways across this country, propping up the idea of what a soldier is, and they really don't
131. discuss the full scope of the mission. So, and there's not a lot of people who are willing to
132. go in and kind of push back. And, you know, there's a, like I said, billion dollar a year
133. your advertising budget that you're kind of working against.
134. And so, yeah, it's seen as a,
135. positive for kids. But, you know, I know people who can't leave their basement based on what they
136. did in the military. So, I mean, no amount of education is worth killing for someone for a
137. cause you don't understand. You know, because you also speak from direct lived experience,
138. having seen for yourself the destruction that U.S. wars cause and what it does not only for
139. those from the U.S. fighting in them, but the civilian populations around the world.
140. And because you come from that lived experience, there's something really powerful about you
141. speaking out about being a war resistor. That said, I'm wondering, has there ever been
142. deliberate attempts to specifically try to silence you because of what you spoke about,
143. how you're speaking out against this type of military industrial complex?
144. I mean, other than some online attempts, you know, to attack my character and all that,
145. which don't really hold much water. You know, I mean, I also don't think that, you know, the,
146. you know, military industrial complex considered one person going to schools as a threat.
147. So, you know, if I had a bigger platform, maybe, maybe that would be the case. But right now,
148. it's just me trying to get into schools to talk to kids. So there hasn't been really direct,
149. but anytime there is kind of a confrontation, I mean, I welcome that because, you know,
150. in the 15 years I've been doing it, I don't think, at least from a moral point of view,
151. I've lost an argument about why kids should rethink their decision to join the military and
152. why it may not be good for them or the world. Coming to you from the studios of Listener
153. supported KPFK in Los Angeles. This is Middle East in Focus. I'm Negwa Ibrahim, and today we're
154. speaking with Rory Fanning, Army Ranger, war resistor, and author about the United States'
155. long history of war and violence across the globe and the devastating human costs those wars have
156. left in their wake. Rory served two tours in Afghanistan, walked across the entire United
157. States in an act of conscience, and has spent his life since speaking truth about what war really
158. He's the author of Worth Fighting For, an Army Ranger's Journey Out of the Military and Across America, and co-author alongside Chris Hedges of Longshot, The Triumphs and Struggles of an NBA Freedom Fighter.
159. You know, one of the things you spoke about in today's show, as well as in your recent op-ed, is the point that out of the 250 years of American history, only about 20 years have been genuinely peaceful.
160. And then you importantly point out that even that number is generous, given the covert operations and drone strikes that happened with no media coverage and no official acknowledgement.
161. Can you unpack that a little bit for the listeners? And how did that reality show up on the ground in Afghanistan while you were there? And what do you want people to understand about the full scope of U.S. militarization abroad that you haven't yet brought up, both what we see and then what we never hear about?
162. Yeah. You know, the U.S. is averaging about 10,000 deaths a year via the military, 10,000
163. soldier deaths a year, and it's a 250-year history. We've been at war pretty much nonstop
164. since our founding but it really been ramped up since the early 1900s And millions upon millions of people have lost their lives
165. and we've created incredible amounts of suffering.
166. And I think if you act like that is not happening,
167. you bury these kind of acts, it comes up in other ways.
168. And I think that's in part why this society is so dysfunctional.
169. This is a country formed on genocide.
170. 5,000 U.S. soldiers between 1798 and 18, sorry, 1789 and 18, I forget, I'm forgetting the numbers.
171. About 5,000 U.S. soldiers were killed in the genocide of the indigenous population.
172. I don't think we've come to terms with that.
173. I don't think we've come to terms with dropping an atomic bomb on people when it was absolutely – there is zero moral or – there's no good justification for dropping a nuclear bomb on people.
174. You know, the five, three million people that lost their lives in Vietnam, the tens of thousands that, you know, the hundreds of thousands we killed in Iraq.
175. If you don't come to terms, I know it's scary history.
176. It's stuff you don't want to think about.
177. But if we don't, we're just going to continue to prioritize the wrong things in this country.
178. And I think we risk our own psychic, psychological health by ignoring it.
179. So, yeah, it's a weird place.
180. I mean, we're in the belly of the beast.
181. And we live amidst an evil empire in many ways.
182. And I think more people need to come to terms with that.
183. I'm curious, what was the turning point for you?
184. I mean, what made you decide, I need to commit my life to speaking out?
185. And day in, day out, making sure to do that, you know, in every way that you can.
186. Yeah, I just don't like dishonesty.
187. I don't like hypocrisy.
188. and there's the land of the free, the home of the brave,
189. you know, while we have the highest per capita prison population in the world,
190. we're slaughtering civilians by the millions around the world.
191. It just feels like there's a major cognitive dissonance, you know, in this country.
192. And I think if we want to fight the climate crisis,
193. because I think the U.S. military is the greatest polluter on the planet,
194. If you want to fight for universal human rights, if you want to fight for free education,
195. the U.S. military depends on exorbitant, you know, costs for education because that draws and lures kids in
196. because how else are they going to pay for it?
197. If there's free health care, if there's free education, it really undercuts the empire.
198. And, you know, so I think there's a million reasons to kind of push back against it.
199. But I think at my core, that sense of betrayal and feeling lied to about what the country actually represents is what drives me.
200. And also, the listeners may know who Pat Tillman is, but he was someone who was there for me when no one else was,
201. when I was becoming a war resistor in the Ranger Battalion.
202. And the U.S. government covered up his death all the way to the highest levels of the Bush administration.
203. And I feel like carrying on his leg Pat's legacy and honor and character is kind of
204. what also drives me So for those who don know can you tell us a little bit about Pat Tillman Yeah Pat Tillman was an Arizona Cardinal football player He gave up a million NFL contract to join the military after 9
205. He was killed in an act of friendly fire,
206. and his death was covered up all the way up to the highest levels of the Bush administration.
207. administration. They burned his diary, his clothes, and kind of set a false narrative for how he died.
208. And, you know, Pat Tillman was one of the greatest people I've ever met in my life. You know, he was
209. getting his master's in history while he was in the military, getting straight A's. You know,
210. when I was talking, he was listening, and he was very empathetic to my sense of betrayal in the
211. military and you know when everybody else was was casting me aside in the in the rangers he sat with
212. me for lunch along with his brother kevin um and uh you know i think the the military the nfl has
213. have used uh pat tillman's memory um to advance their own agenda and i think um you know i i don't
214. I think they were ever really honest about what Pat stood for.
215. And so, you know, being able to kind of communicate that is important.
216. You know, and I know we've already sort of been talking about this,
217. but I want to see if you can elaborate a little bit more about what it is that is not making mainstream coverage
218. or is a part of the public conversation when we think about the realities of U.S. wars past and present.
219. And with the U.S.-Israeli invasion of Iran now as part of that picture, what do you think the American public fundamentally misunderstands or simply doesn't know about with respect to U.S. militarization and wars abroad and what is being done in their name with U.S. tax dollars?
220. And again, just, you know, if you could add to some of the things you've already been talking about.
221. Yeah, I mean, I feel like at some level everybody understands what the U.S. military is doing,
222. but I do think there is a willful ignorance that goes on,
223. and that willful ignorance is kind of maintained by celebrating the troops,
224. you know, saying this is about sacrifice and people standing up for a cause bigger than themselves.
225. and, you know, they kind of cherry pick, you know,
226. some of the good things that the U.S. military has done in the world,
227. you know, liberating Nazi death camps, you know.
228. But if you look at the complete scope, I mean,
229. the U.S. military has mostly just been there to steal other countries' natural resources
230. and then, you know, manage spheres of influence around the world,
231. like every other empire before it.
232. And I think more and more people are waking up to that fact. And, you know, in Japan, where I go pretty regularly because they have the greatest anti-war movement on the planet, you know, they have 10,000 people showing up at their parliament every single weekend protesting the reversal of their Article 9 of their constitution, which is they can't have a standing army because they see all the benefits of not directing hundreds of millions of dollars towards the military every year.
233. They have an incredible infrastructure, great education, great longevity.
234. And so they're fighting not to the fighting militarism more really well in Japan.
235. And I think not enough people understand what we could have if we weren't, you know, fighting
236. wars so billionaires can become even richer I want to get into to that specifically about the amount of money that being used by the United States government to fund wars and violence that is destroying
237. people here in the U.S. and around the world. And it's something that I opened with in my intro.
238. The Trump administration is currently requesting a record $1.5 trillion in military and defense spending, which is a 44 percent increase over the prior year, while simultaneously proposing a $73 billion in cuts to domestic programs that cover housing, food assistance, health care, and education.
239. for veterans, for the communities bearing the cost of these wars, what is your message to the
240. public right now when we think about these numbers? And what do you say to people who will
241. say, you know, but what can I do? You know, like, you know, you see for a lot of people who
242. resisted and protested U.S. invasion of Iraq, the U.S. still went to Iraq and invaded Iraq and,
243. you know, and caused massive amounts of destruction and violence and killed so many
244. civilians and innocent people. So what do you, what can people do? What do you tell people on
245. what they can do to effectively resist this and fight militarism as they might be in Japan,
246. for example? Yeah, it's no easy task and it does feel overwhelming. And I get why people
247. are checked out. They don't want to deal with it. They don't want to look at it. It just feels like
248. it's not anything that they can do anything about. And I feel that way regularly.
249. But I do try to kind of narrow it down to just how I'm making my life meaningful. And I'm making
250. it meaningful by sharing my truth, talking to high school students, talking to college students.
251. You can't fight these wars if kids aren't signing up for it. So fighting for free health care,
252. for fighting for free education, fighting the climate crisis.
253. You can't fight the climate crisis if you're not fighting U.S. imperialism.
254. But I do think it starts with communicating to young people on a larger level.
255. But one person at a time actually, you know,
256. if there's millions of people out there communicating why the U.S. military
257. shouldn't be something kids fight in, I think maybe it could start making a difference.
258. And, you know, to me, it's like, I don't know what the future holds.
259. And I probably can't stop anything.
260. But I know what is right.
261. And so I'm just going to follow my truth.
262. And at least at the end of my life, I'll know I stood up for something, as opposed to just kind of turning a blind eye and just, you know, enjoying kind of the meager pleasures of life.
263. You know, so I don't know.
264. I just think thinking about things on a micro level is really helpful.
265. So you might not have an answer to this question, but I figured I'd throw it out because honestly, I struggle.
266. I know many people within, you know, my family, friends, larger communities really struggle with this is, you know, are the tax dollars that we pay.
267. So every year that we're paying our taxes, that money – and it's – we pay a lot in taxes.
268. That money is going to then pay for these wars, pay for genocide, pay for destruction of the world.
269. the planet for the violence that we've been talking about against innocent people across
270. the globe, including here in the U.S.
271. What I mean, what is there anything that can be done?
272. I mean, you know, that is something I really struggle with is is is what to do about our
273. tax dollars funding this.
274. Yeah, no.
275. So, you know, Rachel Cohen, who is kind of an Instagram influencer, was doing really great stuff, particularly around the ICE stuff.
276. She's not paying her taxes this year because of funding genocide and the war in Iran.
277. I mean, tax strikes are something to talk about.
278. But I do think any time we've advanced a cause in this country, it's by people recognizing the value of withholding their labor.
279. I think organizing unions, organizing strikes, particularly at some of these tech companies or these larger defense contractors, I think that's something you could potentially do.
280. you know, we have made change in this world if you look at history.
281. And Howard Zinn was really good at kind of pointing out the victories.
282. And if you're only thinking about the defeats, then you don't really,
283. you lose your kind of will to move forward.
284. And so I think, you know, constantly drawing on history, identifying those wins,
285. how did they win, and then seeing if we can kind of build off that on one level or another.
286. And it's not easy, particularly given how alienated we are as a society.
287. But I don't know if we're going to win, but at least we can try, I guess, if people are up for it.
288. Coming to you from the studios of listener-supported KPFK in Los Angeles, this is Middle East in Focus.
289. I'm Negwa Ibrahim, and today we are speaking with Rory Fanning, Army Ranger, war resistor, and author about the United States' long history of war and violence across the globe and the devastating human costs those wars have left in their wake.
290. Rory served two tours in Afghanistan, walked across the entire United States in an act of conscience, and has spent his life since speaking truth about what war really means and speaking out against war.
291. He is the author of Worth Fighting For, An Army Ranger's Journey Out of the Military and Across America, and co-author alongside Chris Hedges of Longshot, The Triumphs and Struggles of an NBA Freedom Fighter.
292. Thank you so much, Rory, for joining us today and for your important work.
293. Thanks for having me, and thank you for your important work, and hopefully we figure it out.
294. Yes, definitely. And it's one person at a time, one voice at a time. We just got to keep fighting that fight. So thank you so much.
295. All right. Thank you. Take care.
296. You too. Bye.
297. So we've been talking, for those who've been tuning in in this last half hour and those who might just be tuning in now, we've been talking about the United States' long history of war and the staggering human cost it leaves in its wake.
298. Now I want to turn to the war that is unfolding right now, the U.S.-Israeli invasion of Iran,
299. and the question it is raising that demands honest answers. According to U.S. officials
300. who had spoken to The Washington Post, the United States is now committing more of its own military
301. resources to defend Israel than Israel is spending to defend itself That fact alone raises many questions about the U relationship with Israel as well as the U use of weapons throughout the war in Iran Additionally
302. throughout the course of this war, the Trump administration has repeatedly told the public
303. one story, while the reality on the ground has told another. And nowhere is that more stark than
304. in Lebanon, where even as the administration announced a supposed 45-day ceasefire extension
305. in May, Israel continued to escalate its strikes and its ground invasion in Lebanon with U.S.
306. support.
307. So here to help us cut through the fog and examine what is really happening, the deepening
308. military entanglement between the U.S. and Israel, the unanswered questions about the
309. U.S.-Israel relationship and the falsehoods that are being used to justify it all is our next guest,
310. Shireen Akram-Boshar. Shireen is a socialist activist, writer, and editor. Her writing has
311. been published in Truthout, Tempest Magazine, Specter Journal, and Jacobin Magazine, and is
312. largely focused on revolutions, counter-revolutions, and war in the Middle East, as well as the
313. Palestine Solidarity Movement in the United States. She is a contributor to the book Palestine,
314. A Socialist Introduction, with the chapter on the U.S.-Israel relationship. Shireen Akram-Boshar,
315. welcome to Middle East in Focus. Thank you, Naigwa, for having me on again.
316. Yeah, I'm so happy you could come back to be in conversation with us. Something you've spoken a
317. lot about in your work is just about how expansive U.S. militarization is around the world and just
318. the type of destruction that it has been causing. And we're now going to focus in specifically on
319. the U.S.-Israeli invasion of Iran for this next half hour. And one of the things that you wrote
320. about in your recent piece was how the U.S. actually depleted more of its own missile defense
321. inventory defending Israel during this war with Iran than Israel has used itself.
322. First, before we get into some of the questions this raises, can you walk the listeners through
323. what that means and what exactly the U.S. has been doing to defend Israel?
324. Yeah, so a week and a half ago, the Washington Post revealed that three U.S. officials had
325. explained to them that the U.S. has spent more missile defense weaponry defending Israel from
326. Iranian strikes than Israel has itself. And this is just the latest of things that are being
327. discovered about the falsehoods, which I'll talk more about later. So the U.S. has launched high
328. end defense interceptors, so over 200 THAAD missiles, which is around half of what the U.S.
329. has in total, and over 100 other interceptors known as Standard Missile 3 and Standard Missile 6.
330. And it's mostly fired them from vessels nearby in the Mediterranean. So at the same time,
331. Israel has fired fewer than 200 interceptors throughout the war, and they've been the lower
332. quality ones, so less than 100 Arrow interceptors and around 90 of what's called David Sling
333. interceptors. So while the US has expended half of its THAAD defense
334. missiles, Israel has been conserving its own higher-end missiles and it was
335. reported that these the lower quality ones that Israel has used were often to counter rockets fired from Hezbollah or the Houthis while the U was defending Israel from strikes or more significant strikes coming from Iran And of
336. course, this is all in addition to the Iron Dome, which is part of Israel's defense system in which
337. the U.S. has spent billions of dollars to help fund throughout the years. Can you actually,
338. for those who might not be familiar, can you explain what the Iron Dome is? And a little bit
339. more about the US's support to create this Iron Dome? So Israel has what it calls a multi-tiered
340. defense system. And the Iron Dome is just one layer where it picks up when missiles are coming
341. and sort of sends off a signal for other interceptors to go off.
342. And U.S. Congress people have voted to keep funding it
343. with billions of dollars year after year.
344. I would say that's my short explanation for it.
345. So in addition to, again, the billions of dollars
346. the U.S. has given to support the establishment
347. of this Iron Dome in Israel,
348. And you've been talking about how also the U.S. military has been using more missiles to defend Israel than Israel itself, something you just recapped for us exactly how the U.S. is doing that.
349. So now let's get into some of the serious questions this raises.
350. So what does it tell you about the nature of the relationship between the U.S. and Israel, as well as the U.S.'s use of weapons throughout the war in Iran?
351. And what questions should those living in the U.S. be asking with respect to this imbalance that aren't being asked loudly enough?
352. Yeah, I think it shows, first of all, the extent to which the U.S. feels it needs Israel in the region and sees Israel as one of its main priorities in the region.
353. So even though over the course of this war, we've seen the United Arab Emirates, unfortunately, has increasingly shown itself to be an ally to the U.S.
354. over the past few days we've seen reports that the UAE, the United Arab Emirates, has itself
355. secretly bombed Iran dozens of times throughout the course of the war. And Saudi Arabia too is
356. a U.S. ally. But, you know, there are some limitations to that. It's stopped short of
357. signing on to the Abraham Accords, which Trump has pushed for since his first term. And reportedly,
358. Saudi Arabia has disagreed with some of Trump's decisions throughout the war and forced Trump to
359. backtrack. For example, reportedly, it forced Trump to backtrack on forcing open the Strait
360. of Hormuz and on restarting bombing last week in spite of the ceasefire. But it's hard to verify
361. some of those details at the same time. But at any rate, even though Gulf states and other states in
362. the region are showing themselves increasingly to be US allies and Trump allies specifically,
363. Israel is still seen as the US's
364. principal ally in the region
365. and worthy of
366. defending basically
367. but I also want to say that it doesn't mean that
368. the US just does
369. Israel's bidding which I think is a misconception
370. that many people have
371. the US and Israel have had different goals
372. for the war since its start
373. Israel has wanted a total
374. collapse of Iran and
375. an overthrow of the Iranian government
376. while Trump wants a reshuffle of Iranian leaders that will you know do more of what his administration wants So Trump thought he could do in Iran what he did in Venezuela which is just
377. removing a figurehead and placing someone else within the same structure and power who will
378. adhere to his will, basically. And Netanyahu has always been pushing for more. So for example,
379. Netanyahu has pushed for a ground invasion and said that Trump is open to a ground invasion too.
380. But in reality, that's extremely unlikely that the Trump administration would agree to that step.
381. So even though it raises these red flags about this imbalance, we also have to remember that the U.S. has been totally reckless about its use of weapons throughout the war.
382. So earlier in May, reports showed that the military depleted many of its stocks of Tomahawks, Patriots and other munitions that it used against Iran.
383. And why does that matter? Why does it matter that the U.S., from your perspective, has been reckless about its use of its own weapons in this war?
384. Yeah, I think it's trying to, well, I think a few things have been going on for a few years.
385. I think the U.S. has realized that it is, in a certain sense, declining in its status as number one superpower.
386. And throughout this war, it's trying to and Trump as a whole, not just throughout this war with what he did in Venezuela, too.
387. He's been trying to reassert that he's that the U.S. is the main superpower again.
388. So I think the reckless use of weapons is part of that.
389. But he's I think this goes along with some of the falsehoods, which is, you know, claiming that the U.S. is so much stronger than it is and claiming that Iran is so much weaker than it is.
390. at the same time. So let's get into actually the falsehoods. And it is something you talk about in
391. your work is that the Trump administration has consistently repeated falsehoods throughout the
392. course of the U.S.-Israeli invasion of Iran, both about its own performance and Iran's weakness,
393. as you just pointed out. What have been some of these falsehoods? And why is it critical for those
394. in the U.S. to understand and know the truth? Yeah, so there have been many, and I can outline
395. some of them. For one, Trump and Hegseth, the Secretary of Defense, or as they're calling it,
396. the Secretary of War, they've both claimed that Iran's military has been decimated. They've used
397. that word several times. It was found, again, recently that it's still largely intact. So
398. reports showed that Iran regained control over 30 of its 33 underground missile sites.
399. So the U.S. and Israeli strikes targeted the entrances and sealed off the access to these
400. entrances of these underground sites. But Iran, you know, over the course of a few weeks,
401. from what I understand, cleared and regained access to these sites. And Iran also still
402. has access to between 60 and 70 percent of its pre-war missile stockpile. In early April,
403. Hegseth, for example, said Iran begged for this ceasefire and we all know it.
404. And Trump also repeatedly claimed that Iran has been decimated. So again, that's just
405. trying to give, especially with Hegseth's comment there, you can see he's trying to give the
406. impression that Iran is weak. But in general, they're also trying to give the impression that
407. the war will be over quickly. The goals of the war are being achieved. The US has reasserted
408. its dominance over Iran and the region. And pretty much none of these are the case.
409. but a couple of weeks ago at a congressional hearing,
410. members of the Trump administration also claimed that the war has cost $29
411. billion.
412. And they said that was up from $25 billion at the end of April.
413. But analysts have claimed,
414. have estimated that the U S government actually has spent over $71 billion
415. or an average of $1.2 billion a day.
416. And that was just in the first 60 days.
417. So by the end of April and this what I mean, this downplays how much of our tax dollars are going to war when they're saying twenty nine or twenty five.
418. That's downplaying how much regular people in this country are paying for the war.
419. and I think it's also important to remember that since the start of the genocide in Gaza
420. protesters in the U.S. have been calling out the fact that so much money
421. is going to war rather than health care and education in the U.S. and people in the U.S.
422. are struggling but money is going to endless war abroad.
423. Can I ask you something about that Shireen because I asked our previous guest
424. And it's something that I think many of us are trying to figure out because we pay taxes and we see so much of our taxes going to literally committing genocide and violence around the world, even as well as including here in the U.S.
425. I mean, what can be done about that?
426. I mean, the only reason the U.S. government is even able to do what it's doing is because it has our tax dollars to do it with.
427. So what can people do to resist that?
428. And do you know of any movements that are being organized around tax resistance?
429. I do not.
430. And I think one of the unfortunate things is that, you know, we saw a much bigger, more substantial movement against the genocide in Gaza.
431. And that has sort of subsided since the supposed ceasefire in October, even though, again, that's the fact that it's a ceasefire.
432. It's not worthy of its name. You know, it's a sham.
433. But we haven't seen a movement against this expansion of wars over Iran, against the continued genocide in Gaza.
434. And I think that's what's needed, more organizing, more mass protest and demanding an alternative and demanding that politicians, no matter who's in power, listen to this demand, I guess.
435. Yeah. Coming to you from the studios of listener-supported KPFK in Los Angeles, this is Middle East in Focus. I'm Negwa Ibrahim, and we are talking about the U.S.-Israeli invasion of Iran, as well as Israel's ongoing escalation of strikes and ground invasion in Lebanon with U.S. support, despite a supposed ceasefire.
436. with our guest, Shireen Akram-Boshar, socialist activist, writer and editor,
437. whose work is published in Truthout, Tempest Magazine, Spectre Journal, and Jacobin Magazine.
438. I actually want to turn now to Lebanon.
439. You know, that gap between the official story and the reality on the ground that we've been talking about
440. and that you've highlighted does, you know, involve Lebanon as well.
441. And on April 8th shortly after a ceasefire was announced with respect to the U and Israel war in Iran Israel launched massive attacks on Lebanon Can you bring us up to date on that What happened and how has Israel continued to escalate its strikes and ground invasion in Lebanon
442. even as a supposed 45-day ceasefire extension was announced in May?
443. Would you mind if I just go back a little? I just remembered another form of organizing that
444. is taking place. Oh, please. Yes. So I have talked to folks who have done, you know, tech organizing.
445. And it seems like a current focus is against the use of AI by different by the US military and
446. by the Israeli military. So that's been a site of escalating, organizing and protest.
447. Someone I talked to a couple weeks ago is part of No Azure for Apartheid, which is organizing against Microsoft sharing this cloud software with Israel.
448. But yeah, there have been several different campaigns against, because now there's a race for AI across different governments trying to use AI for their military purposes, whether it's surveillance of populations or assisting their warfare, basically.
449. So that is one area where people are mobilizing.
450. And that is inspiring.
451. Thank you for that. Because I think, and if anything else comes up that you remember, please definitely share with all of us, because I think all of us are trying to figure out ways how to more effectively resist what's happening.
452. Right, yeah.
453. in response recently was requiring satellite imagery providers to indefinitely withhold
454. imagery from the region. So if you use these sites where you would be able to
455. zoom in on somewhere in Iran, somewhere in the Gulf, you can no longer do that. And so that's
456. preventing researchers and the public from looking in, which is kind of chilling when you look,
457. especially when you add it to what else the Trump administration is doing.
458. And can you now bring us into bring us to Lebanon and what, you know, Israel is expanded strikes and ground invasion of Lebanon and how the Trump administration has been supporting that and some of the perpetuated falsehoods that the Trump administration has been putting out there as well with respect to Lebanon and what Israel is doing there with the support of the U.S.
459. Yeah, well, I would say the ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon has been a complete sham, especially we've seen over the past week. And one of Israel's maneuvers throughout this war has been to use Lebanon to thwart possibilities for a deal with Iran, too. And that's where you can again see a bit of a divergence between the US and Israel.
460. And they first did that in a major way on April 8th which you mentioned They launched massive attacks on Lebanon that killed 357 people on that day alone And they started it out by bombing over 100 sites
461. in less than 10 minutes. So this was right after a ceasefire was announced between the US, Israel
462. and Iran that people in Lebanon thought they woke up thinking, oh, it includes Lebanon and Pakistan,
463. which was negotiating that ceasefire said it includes it included Lebanon but the U.S. and
464. Israel denied it um and again over the past week when Trump said a deal with Iran was very close
465. of course he's been saying that many times but Israel again possibly taking advantage of you know
466. the time before a deal sets in Israel again ramped up its attacks on Lebanon and broadened its
467. broadening its ground invasion across the south and attacking Beirut as well.
468. But there's also another dynamic with Lebanon where Israel is also using its attacks on Lebanon
469. to pressure the Lebanese government to try to disarm Hezbollah, which is a new dynamic in the
470. current war on Israel. And Hezbollah is part of the Lebanese government, but over the past year,
471. the other factions in the government have turned against it and sort of been pressured by the US
472. in a way too. And they've now been blaming it for Israel's war on Lebanon and calling for Hezbollah
473. to be disarmed, which is really a disaster. And that's not because I defend Hezbollah politically,
474. but because there's no other force that's defending the south of the country where
475. Israel is expanding its occupation in a way that resembles its occupation of south Lebanon that
476. began in 1982 and only ended in 2000. And that's what people in Lebanon are fearing, that this will
477. be a long-term war on the South in particular, even if the war in Iran ends, which also,
478. I mean, I feel like the main takeaway is that these are long-term wars that even with Iran,
479. even though Trump has been saying, you know, a deal is coming, a deal is coming,
480. there's unlikely to be a long-term resolution between the U.S. and Iran and people in the
481. region, people in Lebanon fear that there's going to be a long-term occupation of the South, that
482. there aren't the forces that are needed to protect or defend the South from Israel.
483. And maybe you just answered this question, but this is the last question I wanted to end our
484. segment on, given everything we've discussed, the reckless use of U.S. weaponry throughout this war,
485. the false narratives that have been coming out, has been coming from this administration,
486. what does the situation in Lebanon tell us about where this is all heading with respect to U.S.-
487. Israeli invasion of Iran, and then what we're now seeing as well in Lebanon?
488. Yeah, I think the main thing is the long term wars that we're unable that the Trump administration or the US as a whole is unable to extricate itself from.
489. I mean, Obama tried to pivot away from the Middle East, but the U.S. has found time and time again that it cannot, because of its, you know, wanting to be the number one superpower, it cannot extricate itself from the Middle East.
490. And the other dynamic when I thinking about Lebanon is the dangerous dynamic of the US and Israel pressuring the other factions of the Lebanese government to turn against Hezbollah which is really dangerous and could turn to I mean people have warned it could turn to civil strife
491. civil war, which has happened in Lebanon before. But it's also part of that dynamic where the US
492. is trying to get normalization with Israel from as many states in the region as it can,
493. against what the populations want and, you know, creating more and more instability in the region
494. that's going to be more difficult to see an end to. Coming to you from the studios of listener
495. supported KPFK in Los Angeles, this is Middle East in Focus. I'm Negwa Ibrahim, and we are
496. talking about the U.S.-Israeli invasion of Iran and how the U.S. has actually used more of its
497. own military resources to defend Israel than Israel is spending to defend itself, as well as
498. Israel's ongoing escalation of strikes and ground invasion in Lebanon with U.S. support despite a
499. supposed ceasefire. With our guest, Shireen Akram-Boshar, socialist, activist, writer,
500. and editor, whose work is published in Truthout, Tempest Magazine, Spectre Journal, and Jacobin
501. Magazine. Thank you so much, Shireen, for joining us on Middle East in Focus.
502. Thank you so much for having me.
503. I want to thank our fantastic engineer, Irene, for all your help today. I want to remind everyone
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505. Night's Dream by Marcel Khalife. For Middle East in Focus, I'm Negwa Ibrahim wishing you all light,
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