Government & Politics

U.S. Senator James Jeffords of Vermont. Last May he shocked his fellow Republicans when he defected from the party and became an Independent. Stating that he could no longer reconcile his beliefs with the party, he switched allegiences. In doing so he deprived the Republicans of their trifecta: control of the White House, the Senate and the House of Representatives. He explains how he came to make the decision in the new book, My Declaration of Independence

Program Director for the International Center for Transitional Justice, Paul van Zyl. As such he helps emerging democracies to reckon with the human rights abuses in their past. Van Zyl is from South Africa and was the executive secretary of South Africa Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The center is now working with the U.N. to design a justice policy for post-Taliban Afghanistan. The International Center for Transitional Justice is located in New York City.

Larry Goodson is associate professor of international Studies at Bentley College, Waltham, Massachusetts. He the author of the book, Afghanistan Endless War: State Failure, Regional Politics, and the Rise of the Taliban (University of Washington press). Goodson writes that Afghanistan has become the archetype of a failed state and a perfect example of how nonstate actors move into the vacuum created when a state fails. He also writes about the divisions in the Afghan population: ethnic, linguistic, regional, sectarian, racial, and tribal.

Critic John Powers reviews the film "Spy Game."

New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik. Mayor Rudolph Giuliani appointed him the 40th police commissioner of the City of New York in August of 2000. Prior to that, he was the commissioner of the Department of Correction. Kerik began as a prison warden in New Jersey. He joined the NYPD as a beat cop on Times Square. He just written a book, called The Lost Son: A Life in Pursuit of Justice.

Peter Bergen is a former correspondent/producer and current terrorism consultant for CNN, and the author of the book Holy War Inc.: Inside the Secret World of Osama bin Laden. (The Free Press) It both a biography of Bin Laden and an explanation of bin Laden global network. While at CNN, Bergen produced bin Laden first TV interview, filmed at his mountain hideout in Afghanistan. Bergen has written about Islamist militant groups for The New Republic, London Daily Telegraph and The Washington Times.

Journalist Christopher Dickey is Newsweek magazine Paris bureau chief and Middle East regional editor. His article in the November 19th issue is called "The Saudi Game" and details America complex relationship with Saudi Arabia. Dickey has written a number of critically acclaimed books, including the novel Innocent Blood and the non-fiction works Expats and With the Contras.

Israeli journalist David Horovitz is the editor of the Jerusalem Report. He will discuss how Israelis are responding to the Sept. 11th attacks, the war on terrorism, and the continued violence in the Middle east. Horovitz is the author of, A Little Too Close to God. He was the recipient of the Bai Bai International Award for journalism in 1994.

Ghassan Khatib is the Director of the Jerusalem Media and Communications Center and publisher of Palestine Report Online. He offers the Palestinian perspective on the peace process and post-September 11th events.

Presidential historian Michael Beschloss' second volume on the LBJ tapes is called Reaching for Glory: The Secret Lyndon Johnson Tapes, 1964-1965. Beschloss talks about the tapes and we hear excerpts — including recordings of conversations about Vietnam and the Civil Rights movement. We also hear Johnson speaking with Jackie Kennedy. Beschloss has written five previous books on American presidents and is a regular contributor to The News Hour with Jim Lehrer.

Jeffrey Toobin, staff writer at the New Yorker. His new book is an investigation into the bush gore presidential recount. Its called, Too Close to Call : The Thirty-Six-Day Battle to Decide the 2000 Election (Random House). He also has a piece in the latest New Yorker, about the new anti-terrorism legislation. His last book, A Vast Conspiracy, was about the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal. His book The Run of His Life was about the OJ Simpson Trial. Toobin is also a legal analyst for ABC news.

TV critic David Bianculli reviews the new Fox series 24.

William Wechsler was Special Adviser to the Secretary of the Treasury from 1999 to 2001. He also served as Director for Transnational Threats on the U.S. National Security Council and as Special Assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under President Clinton. Hel discuss what needs to be done to track the terrorist money trail.

Former New York Times Balkans Bureau Chief and Middle East Bureau Chief, Hedges is currently a correspondent for that paper. In the past few weeks, hes been covering terrorist cells in France and Belgium. He recently published a piece in Harpers Magazine called "A Gaza Diary." He lives in New York.

Author Hanif Kureishi's new novel is Gabriel Gift, (Scribner) about a 15-year-old boy and his struggles with his artistic soul and restless parents. Simultaneously two of Kureishi works are coming out in a combined paperback edition: Intimacy: A Novel and Midnight All Day: Stories. (Scribner). Intimacy has been adapted to film. Several of Kureishi earlier novels, My Beautiful Laundrette, and Sammy and Rosie Get Laid, were also made into films.

Journalist Charles Sennott of the Boston Globe. He just returned from Afghanistan. He is also the author of the new book, The Body and The Blood: The Holy Land Christians At the Turn of a New Millennium (PublicAffairs). Sennott was the Globe Middle East bureau chief, and is currently the Globe Europe bureau chief and lives in London.

Journalist Robert Kaplan is a correspondent for The Atlantic Monthly. He is the best known for his book Balkan Ghosts which became the book that former President Clinton turned to before the U.S. involvement in the Bosnian crisis. His 1990 book, Soldiers of God: with Islamic Warriors in Afghanistan and Pakistan has just been republished, updating the story. The book now includes a new introduction and a final chapter on how the Taliban came to power.

Journalist Jeffrey Goldberg is a staff writer for the New Yorker, specializing in foreign reporting with an emphasis on Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. His article, "Letter from Cairo: Behind Mubarak: Egyptian Clerics and Intellectuals Respond to Terrorism" appears in the Oct. 8 issue of the New Yorker. He is currently writing a non-fiction book about the Middle East, due out next year. Previously, Goldberg was a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine.

Pakistani journalist Ahmed Rashid. He's the author of the book, Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil, and Fundamentalism in Central Asia (Yale University Press-2000). Rashid's book has been called the most in-depth study of the Taliban. Rashid is a correspondent for the Far Eastern Economic Review and the Daily Telegraph, reporting on Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia.

After Maine Senator George Mitchell left office, he chaired the Northern Ireland peace talks. His book, Making Peace, is about his work on that negotiation. He recently headed an international panel examining the conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians.