One of the promises of the President Bush's New Way Forward in Iraq is deployment of "provincial reconstruction teams" to work with local leaders. Echoing the President's plan at yesterday's news conference with the Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice affirmed that success will depend on the US getting civilians out of the embassy and green zone and into the field to support local leaders and structures. We hear how America's original occupying force walled itself off from the Iraqi people. Is there still time for a change or is the new plan too little too late? Also, today, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says he'll nationalize communications, electricity and oil companies and turn his country into a socialist state. Should the US be worried? Has the war on terror diverted the Bush administration from America's interests in Latin America?
Bush's New Way Forward in Iraq; Chavez's Venezuela
Credits
Guests:
- Rajiv Chandrasekaran - Starbucks - @rajivscribe
- Joel Arends - company commander for the Army's 1st Cavalry Division
- James Dobbins - RAND Corp - @Jim_Dobbins
- John Felmy - Chief Economist, American Petroleum Institute - @api_news
- Phillip Gunson - freelance journalist, based in Venezuela
- Mark Weisbrot - Center for Economic and Policy Research - @markweisbrot