Government & Politics

Former FBI Agent Eric O'Neill and Director/Screenwriter Billy Ray have collaborated on the new film Breach. It is based on the true story about FBI operative Robert Hanssen who was found guilty of treason and the FBI agent (O'Neill) who was assigned to Hanssen to draw him out of deep cover.

Stuart Bowen, Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, has just issued his quarterly report investigating waste, fraud and security problems in the reconstruction efforts. Next week Bowen will appear before a House Committee beginning hearings into waste and fraud in reconstruction. Formerly, Bowen served in the White House under George W. Bush, and was a partner at the Washington, D.C., law firm of Patton Boggs LLP. Bowen's ties to Bush go back to the early 1990s, when he worked in the Texas Governor's office. Bowen was also an intelligence officer in the U.S.

Polish writer Ryszard Kapuscinski died on January 23, 2007, at the age of 74. As a foreign correspondent, Kapuscinski covered coups and revolutions in the developing world for forty years. Many of his articles appeared in a series of books that made him famous: The Soccer War, Another Day of Life, and Shah of Shahs. This interview originally aired in 1/21/1988.

Attorney Eugene Fidell is the president of the National Institute of Military Justice. He is also a partner and head of the Military Practice Group at the Washington, D.C., firm of Feldesman Tucker Leifer Fidell, LLP.

Army Lieutenant Ehren Watada is the first American officer to refuse to deploy to Iraq on the grounds that he thinks the war is illegal. He is joined by one of his lawyers, Eric Seitz, a civilian. Watada is now being court-martialed for his refusal, and for statements he made opposing the war and the Bush administration's leadership.

Legal correspondent for ABC News, Jan Crawford Greenberg writes about the Rehnquist Court in her new book Supreme Conflict: The Inside Story of the Struggle for Control of the United States Supreme Court.

Historian Thant Myint-U is a former U.N. official and a native of Burma. His new book, The River of Lost Footsteps: Histories of Burma — part memoir, part history — explores the problems plaguing the country.

Republican pollster Frank Luntz advises politicians on the language they should use to win elections and promote their policies. Although he works on one side of the aisle, he says that what he does is essentially nonpartisan, seeking clarity and simplicity in language. His critics disagree, and have accused him of using language that misrepresents policies to "sell" them to the public. Frank Luntz is the author of Words That Work.

Journalist Zev Chafets is a former New York Daily News columnist and founding editor of the Jerusalem Report. In his new book, A Match Made in Heaven, Chafets explores American evangelical support for Israel.

Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R-RI) is serving out his term after being ousted by Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse in the midterm elections. Considered to be the most liberal Republican in the Senate, Chafee is the only one to have voted against the war in Iraq. He made another notable split with the GOP when he opposed the nomination of John Bolton as Ambassador to the United Nations.

Journalist Jim Newton's new book, Justice For All: Earl Warren and the Nation He Made, looks at the life of the Supreme Court Justice who presided over such landmark decisions as Brown v. Board of Education. Newton is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, sharing in the awards given to the Los Angeles Times for coverage of the Los Angeles riots in 1992 and the 1994 earthquake.

Since 2004, journalist Huda Ahmed has been covering the war in Iraq for the McClatchy (formerly Knight Ridder) News Service. This spring, she was awarded the Elizabeth Neuffer Fellowship by the International Women's Media Foundation. The fellowship is named for Boston Globe reporter Elizabeth Neuffer, who was killed while on assignment in Iraq. Ahmed has written about the issues of women and children in a war zone, human rights abuses and the struggle of women in a Muslim society, and will discuss the particular dangers of covering the war in Iraq.

Nicholas Blanford is the Beirut correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor. His new book, Killing Mr. Lebanon, is about the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

Former President Jimmy Carter addresses the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians in his new book, Palestine Peace Not Apartheid. Carter has founded a conflict resolution organization and won a Nobel Peace Prize for his mediation work.

The news parody publication The Onion has released a new compilation of articles, Homeland Insecurity: Complete News Archives Volume 17. Editors Joe Garden and Joe Randazzo talk about the project and poking fun at current events.

The election results didn't just reshuffle the Congress -- they also got people debating the meanings of the labels people use to map out the political spectrum. Our linguist Geoff Nunberg has been thinking about what's in a label.

Former vice presidential candidate John Edwards has edited a book, Home, in which both public figures and lesser-known professionals reflect on the places where they grew up. The former senator currently lives in Chapel Hill, N.C., and campaigned for Democrats in advance of last week's midterm elections. He talks about the Kerry-Edwards campaign and his thoughts on his own possible presidential bid in 2008.

Michael Gordon, chief military correspondent for The New York Times, was recently in Iraq. He discusses efforts to stem the violence in Baghdad, and the prospects for change in American policy. His recent book is Cobra II: The Inside Story of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq.

Helen Mirren introduced the character of British police inspector Jane Tennison in the first Prime Suspect miniseries, imported by PBS 14 years ago. This weekend and next, the PBS anthology series Masterpiece Theatre presents the last entry: Prime Suspect: The Final Act.

Journalist Marc Sandalow talks about Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) who stands to become the first female Speaker of the House. Pelosi represents California's 8th District, which covers most of the city of San Francisco. She has held the post since 1987. Sandalow serves as the Washington Bureau chief for the San Francisco Chronicle.