former State Department advisor
J. Kael Weston is the author of The Mirror Test: America at War in Iraq and Afghanistan. A former State Department adviser in Iraq and Afghanistan, he received the Secretary of State's Medal for Heroism.
Is the US fighting a permanent war in Afghanistan? Sixteen years after September 11th, the Trump Administration is divided over America's longest war. Since the peak of 100,000 American soldiers their number is now just 8500 soldiers — at a cost of $3.1 billion a month. Now the Pentagon wants to send 5000 more. But the Trump White House is divided . Advocates of continued US involvement say it's all about the Taliban gaining strength and even more extreme groups now involved in the country. Skeptics point to massive financial corruption and ask if there's any plan for ending a conflict that's killed and wounded so many American soldiers for so long.
State Department hero reflects on the 'Mirror Test' We spoke with a lot of authors this year, but our this guest stood out. For seven consecutive years, J. Kael Weston served in the combat zones of Iraq and Afghanistan -- not as a soldier, but as a civilian — a State Department advisor. He received the Secretary of State's Medal for Heroism. This year, he published The Mirror Test: America at War in Iraq and Afghanistan , a searing account about his experience.
State Department Hero Reflects on the 'Mirror Test' For seven consecutive years, J. Kael Weston served in the combat zones of Iraq and Afghanistan -- not as a soldier, but as a civilian — a State Department Advisor. He received the Secretary of State’s Medal for Heroism. Now he’s written a searing account about his experience called The Mirror Test: America at War in Iraq and Afghanistan .
Trump plays scolder-in-chief with NATO allies At the opening of NATO’s dramatic new headquarters in Brussels today, President Trump acknowledged that Article 5 — promising that “an attack on one nation is an attack on all” -- has only been invoked one time: in the aftermath of September 11. But the President failed to provide what 27 other Alliance members have been waiting for: a re-commitment by America’s new leader to Article 5. Instead, they got a scolding.
Who's to blame for the opioid crisis? Some of the lawyers who took on Big Tobacco are now going after Big Pharma. It’s all about the deadly epidemic of opioid use. Are the drug companies to blame? What about the users? Later, on today’s Talking Point: making sense of Britain’s upset election.
How was the trip? President Trump's travels got less fun as he went from the Middle East to Europe.
What happens when America retreats from the world? Is President Trump taking his "America First" agenda to extremes, withdrawing the country from the international stage on trade and climate change, distancing America from its traditional allies across the Atlantic and even threatening to physically isolate the country through the building of a wall along its southern border? León Krauze guest hosts.