Brendan and Noah drag the Iraq War out of America’s memory hole to see how it shaped our hellworld today. Meet the rogues’ gallery of George W. Bush’s administration and Saddam Hussein’s family. Featuring special guests James Adomian and H. Jon Benjamin.
We trace the origins of America’s perverse relationship with Iraq, from the Cold War to the Iran-Iraq War in the 80s. Assassinations, coups, counter-coups, and the rise of Saddam.
Before George W. Bush, there was Daddy Bush and Bill Clinton, who killed thousands of Iraqis and pushed the country to the brink of famine. The Gulf War, brutal sanctions, and the End of History.
September 11th gives America the perfect excuse to finish our hit job on Iraq. We put together the Bush administration's case for war — WMD and al-Qaeda — and take it apart piece by piece.
America sends Colin Powell, Good Cop, to the UN for one last PR stunt before we invade Iraq. The portal to Gozer the Destructor is opened and the war begins.
The media episode, breaking down some of the journalistic fuck-ups and pundit idiocy that steered us toward war in Iraq. Featuring special guest Will Menaker.
Welcome to the Green Zone, where America rules from Saddam’s old palace. The US occupation begins the destruction of Iraq, Rudy Giuliani almost becomes Viceroy, and Halliburton hunts and kills baby kittens.
Somehow not expecting it, the Americans now face an insurgency problem, as both Sunni and Shi'a militants emerge to kick us out. War crimes and atrocities in Fallujah, Sadr City and Abu Ghraib fuel the flames of anti-American resistance.
The American public votes to give Bush another term, right before a big dose of buyers’ remorse. In Iraq, the new "democracy" struggles to get elections off the ground as the situation careens toward civil war.
The empire strikes back. As Iraq deteriorates into civil war, the Bush administration taps a new man to lead a new American strategy. Which means saying goodbye to an old friend.
Invading Iraq means never having to say you’re sorry. The end of Bush, the broken promise of Obama, and the rise of ISIS and Donald Trump.
In this first bonus episode, Noah talks to author and journalist Dahr Jamail, one of the few journalists who covered the occupation of Iraq, on the ground, without being embedded with the US military or its allies. Dahr is the author of “Beyond the Green Zone,” “The Will To Resist,” and “The Mass Destruction of Iraq.”
Brendan and Noah survey the underwhelming landscape of Iraq War cinema with special guest Matt Christman. They dissect both Hollywood's hits and flops — neither of which were very good — and recommend very few flicks worth watching.
Author Naomi Klein joins us to discuss the American exploitation-fest in Iraq, her own experience coming up during the Bush years, the rehabilitation of the Bush administration, and its continuities with the Trump gang.
Welcome back. Brendan and Noah reveal this season’s subject, explore the USA’s unrelenting Cuba mania, and introduce the cast of characters.
A long short history of Cuba’s relationship with the United States, climaxing with the Cuban revolutionaries’ war to liberate the island from the dictator Batista and his backers in the United States.
The Cuban Revolution takes power and the counter-revolution begins. The U.S. government, organized crime, and Cuban exiles carry out a campaign of terrorism, assassination, sabotage and psy-ops to turn back the clock.
JFK outmuscles Richard Nixon on Cuba and into the White House. The CIA begins training Cuban exiles in Central America for an invasion. And Fidel pays a visit to Harlem.
The CIA and the Cuban exiles get their long-awaited shot at taking out Castro and the Revolution. The subsequent battle in Cuba sends shockwaves around the world.
Smarting from failure at the Bay of Pigs, the White House sets in motion a new plan to thwart the Cuban Revolution: Operation Mongoose.
Fearing another American invasion — "the big one" — Soviet and Cuban leaders plot a secret response. Camelot never sees it coming.
The USA announces to the world there are missiles in Cuba. Fidel prepares for war. Khrushchev secretly haggles with Kennedy. Americans enjoy Betty Crocker Super Moist Cake Mix.
Castro, Khrushchev, and Kennedy take tentative steps toward the path of peace post-Crisis. Cuban exile groups, and their CIA sponsors, are not pleased
After the Kennedy assassination, US-Cuba diplomacy wanes and the embargo continues. To this day. Our story ends.
Interviews with history professor Michelle Chase and Cuban scholar Marta Nuñez Sarmiento.
We talk to activists and historians about Cuba, black radicalism, and how the Revolution attacked the problem of racism.
Guest Luna Olavarria-Gallegos explains how the US government infiltrated and co-opted the hip-hop scene in Cuba.
A brief overview of how American nuclear weapons strategy ran parallel to the story in our main narrative.
A discussion of Operation Peter Pan with Prof. Nelson Valdes, with a detour into Hungary, 1956.
Guest Bill Corbett (Mystery Science Theater 3000, Rifftrax) and Brendan hang out and talk about some bad Cuba movies.
Noah talks with José Pertierra, a Cuban-American immigration attorney who has long tangled with right-wing Miami Cubans in the media and in court.
A rundown of the Cuban revolution's foreign policy in Africa with guest, Cuban diplomat Oscar Oramas-Oliva.
Guests Helen Yaffe, José Pertierra and Marta Núñez Sarmiento discuss the protests in Cuba during July 2021.
Guatemala: an origin story, inspiration, and cautionary tale just a few hundred miles from our main story.
A new season, a new story: The Korean War.
A pocket-sized history of the Korean peninsula, the upstart US and Japanese empires, and World War II.
After a flash of hope post-WWII Korea is divided into North and South.
The war before the war on a self-reliant island off South Korea.
With a rightwing, US-backed klepto-case to his South, Kim Il-Sung bets the house.
The US Army is almost pushed off the peninsula. Gen. MacArthur executes his revenge.
The US threatens to cross the Yalu. The Chinese leadership debates its options in Korea.
President Truman and his “Big General in the Far East” enter their final standoff over the war.
Stalemate on the battlefield does not stop the United States from obliterating North Korea.
The armistice in Korea is supposed to be temporary. But a peace treaty never comes. As decades roll on, the war becomes permanent.