Government & Politics

Lawyer and humanitarian aid worker John Sifton. He was working in Pakistan and Afghanistan earlier this year. He returns to Pakistan soon. His story about what he observed as a humanitarian worker in Afghanistan is featured in this Sundays (Sept 30th) issue of the New York Times Sunday Magazine.

Anthony Vidler discusses urban planning and architecture in the wake of the terrorist attacks. Vidler is Dean of the Cooper Union School of Architecture and professor of art and architecture at UCLA.

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reflects on what music he has and hasn't been listening to.

Journalist Sebastian Junger. Last year he traveled to Afghanistan to profile Ahmad Shah Massoud, (known as the "Lion of Panjshir"), the legendary leader of the guerrilla war against the Soviets, who had been fighting the Taliban. Massoud was assassinated by Osama bin Ladens associates about two weeks ago.

Pakistani novelist and New Yorker Mohsin Hamid. His debut novel is Moth Smoke

Syndicated columnist and biographer Richard Reeves. His most recent book is President Nixon: Alone in the White House (Simon & Schuster). Hes also written books about Presidents Reagan, Kennedy, Clinton, and Ford. Reeves is former chief political correspondent of The New York Times. He is currently Visiting Professor of Journalism at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California.

Journalist Ralph Blumenthal writes for The New York Times. He covered the trial following the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. He’ll discuss the information about the workings of Osama Bin Laden’s organization that came to light during the trial.

Director of the Center for Afghanistan Studies at the University of Omaha, Thomas E. Gouttierre. He also served on the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission to Afghanistan, and is the American specialist on Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and South Asia at the meetings of the US-Russian Task Force on Regional Conflicts.

Nigerian-born journalist Ken Wiwa writes for the Toronto Globe and Mail. He is the son of the late Ken Saro-Wiwa, one of Nigerias best-loved writers and vocal critics of the military rule. Saro-Wiwa was executed by the Nigerian military regime in 1995. Ken Wiwa has written the new memoir, In the Shadow of a Saint: A Sons Journey to Understand His Fathers Legacy.

Retired Lt. Col. Bradley Biggs was part of America first all-black paratroop unit called the Triple Nickles. The 555th Battalion of the 82d Airborne. The troop was trained to go to war, but instead was sent to the West Coast to fight forest fires started by Japanese balloon bombs. They were the first parachuters to fight fires, and developed many of the techniques used today. Later they became the first army unit to be integrated into the –regular— army during World War II. Biggs has written a new memoir, The Triple Nickles

A native of Mississippi, Barry Hannah has been writing for over thirty years - short stories, and novels set in the South. His writing is described as intensely personal, frenetic and comic. Truman Capote once called him the maddest writer in the USA His first book, the autobiographical novel Geronimo Rex (published in 1972) won the William Faulkner Prize for writing. He followed that with Airships, a collection of short stories now considered a classic.

Psychiatrist, peace activist and feminist Dr Ruchama Marton. She teaches at the Tel Aviv University Medical School Institute for Psychotherapy. She is also President of Physicians for Human Rights, Isreal.

Psychiatrist and Director of the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme, Dr. Eyad El-Sarraj. The Programme is a non-profit Palestinian, non-governmental organization, formed to help families cope with the aftermath of torture and violence. El-Sarraj is well known in the occupied territories and Israel as Gazas first practicing psychiatrist and for his efforts to foster co-existence between Arabs and Jews. El-Sarraj is also former Commissioner General of the Palestinian Independent Commission for Citizens rights.

Biomedical ethicist Arthur Caplan, Ph.D. We talk about the news that human embryos are being grown by researchers doing stem cell research. Previously, the cells were harvested from aborted fetuses. The idea of fetal farming is quite controversial. Proponents cite the enormous potential for finding cures to cancer, Alzheimer and diabetes. Opponents are aghast at the notion of using and destroying human life for the sole purpose of research. Caplan is the Director of the Center for Bioethics and Trustee Professor of Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania.

New York Times reporter Steve Erlanger returns to the show to talk about the upcoming trial before the International War Crimes Tribunal of Slobodon Milosevic.

Jay Winik's new book, a bestseller, is April 1865: The Month That Saved America (HarperCollins). He writes that April 1865 is a month that could have unraveled the American nation. Instead it saved it. During that month the war ended with Lee surrender, Lincoln was assassinated, and the rebuilding of the nation began. Winik is a senior scholar at the University of Maryland School of Public Affairs and a regular contributor to the Wall Street Journal.

New York Times reporters David Barstow and Don Van Natta, Jr. went to Florida following the closest presidential election in history. During a six month investigation, the two journalists found –under intense pressure from the Republicans, Florida officials accepted hundreds of overseas absentee ballots that failed to comply with state election laws.— (NYT 7/15/01) However, the outcome of the investigation is inconclusive. If all invalid overseas ballots had been thrown out, Bush would have still maintained a narrow margin over Gore.

Han Ong, a Filipino writer whose debut novel is Fixer Chao.Its about a Feng Shui con artist operating on New York's elite. Ong is the winner of a 1997 MacArthur award. He is also a playwright.

Film critic Henry Sheehan reviews Swordfish, starring John Travolta.

He commanded the NATO troops during the Kosovo conflict, the first and only NATO war. His new memoir is Waging Modern War