The Fault Line: Bush, Blair and Iraq

For almost two decades, DEA Special Agent Chad Scott ruled the streets just North of New Orleans. He controlled a network of snitches by convincing people he arrested to work for him as informants. Chad would stop at nothing to put drug dealers behind bars. His successes won awards at the DEA, but his willingness to bend the rules earned him a terrifying reputation on the streets. Some called him the Golden Boy. Others called him the White Devil. But when one of guys on Chad's team is caught dealing drugs, Chad's life is overturned. His right-hand men betray him and confess everything to the FBI. Investigators go over his career with a fine-toothed comb, asking the question: is Chad Scott the greatest DEA Agent in the South, or is he a criminal? Subscribers to The Binge can listen to all episodes of Smoke Screen: Betrayal On The Bayou right now, completely ad-free. Catch new episodes of Smoke Screen: Betrayal On The Bayou every week wherever you get your podcasts or subscribe to The Binge and unlock all episodes ad-free today. Just click ‘Subscribe' on the top of the Smoke Screen show page on Apple Podcasts or visit GetTheBinge.com to get access wherever you listen. A Neon Hum & Sony Music Entertainment production. Find out more about The Binge and other podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Secret History of the Estonia from Crowd Network investigates Europe's worst peacetime shipping disaster since the Titanic. How did a passenger ferry sink in the Baltic Sea back in 1994, killing 852 people? Was there a cover-up? Journalist Stephen Davis investigates a mysterious trail that leads back to the Cold War. The Secret History of the Estonia is out now across all podcast platforms with new episodes every Monday. The entire series is available ad-free on the Crowd Stories channel on Apple Podcasts. This is episode one. For episode two, hit this link: https://podfollow.com/the-secret-history-of-the-estonia Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nearly three years after Sean's death an arrest has been made. Senior producer Ryan Haas  is joined by reporter Jonathan Levinson to discuss why the Portland police finally charged someone with murder.  This is a Somethin' Else and Oregon Public Broadcasting production.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When a car bomb kills Daphne Caruana Galizia on the beautiful Mediterranean island of Malta, the hunt for her killers exposes secrets with consequences that go far beyond its shores. In the aftermath of her death an international team of journalists comes together to continue her work. Along the way they start to uncover clues that might lead to her killers. From Wondery, comes a new story about power, corruption and one woman's fight for the truth. Hosted by investigative reporter Stephen Grey.  Search ‘Who Killed Daphne?' wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We wanted to share a show which we think you'll want to listen to. Power: Don King. In a sport famed for money and excess, what does it take to get to the top...and stay there? Rising from a life of hardship and crime, Don King became the most successful boxing promoter the sport has ever seen—and the first Black man to do so. He is his own American Dream. His flamboyant appearance and commanding personality made him a star in and out of the ring, as did his promotion of greats like Muhammad Ali, Mike Tyson, and even America's musical dynasty, the Jacksons. But his less than honest exploits? They made him legendary. Listen and follow now wherever you get your podcasts. Power is a Somethin' Else production with Sony Music Entertainment Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hi The Fault Line Listeners, here's a podcast we think you'll love. It's called The Secret History of Flight 149, from Crowd Network. When Flight 149 departed London Heathrow on 1 August 1990, the passengers and crew had no idea of the trauma that lay ahead. A routine stopover in Kuwait turned into a hostage crisis. Hear from the hostages themselves as they recall the horrifying realisation that their holiday had taken a very dark turn. Journalist Stephen Davis delves into what's been dubbed one of the biggest cover ups in modern history. This is episode one of nine. Episode two is out now. Search for ‘The Secret History of Flight 149' in your podcast app. Please note this episode contains references to violent sexual assault. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We sat down with Rose City Antifa, a different kind of anti-facist group in Portland than we've previously discussed.  We get a window into what it's like to be a member of the only antifa group with a website in Portland.  This is a Somethin' Else and Oregon Public Broadcasting production.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After the largest year of protests in recent memory, an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, and sometimes deadly fights between political factions at the fringes of society: What has changed? And what are the consequences of government inaction?  This is a Somethin' Else and Oregon Public Broadcasting production.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Who was Hugh Hefner? Centerfold models, Playboy Bunnies, and other women from the Playboy founder's inner circle, like TV personality and author Holly Madison, tell journalist Amy Rose Spiegel their side of his story. We hear how Playboy changed their lives, for better and for worse. Beyond the bunny tails are darker questions: What actually went on at the notorious Playboy Mansion? How can we square Hefner's progressive legacy with his abuse of vulnerable people? What can the Playboy saga tell us about sex and power—then and now? A Somethin' Else production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Laura Kealiher doesn't believe the state has made a good faith effort to solve Sean's case.  We attempt to get answers from Portland's progressive district attorney. And, we uncover a new witness who raises questions about why this case is still unsolved.  This is a Somethin' Else and Oregon Public Broadcasting production.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In some ways, Sean Kealiher's homicide has remained a mystery because people closest to him have long declined to talk publicly about what happened the night he was killed.  For the first time ever, two antifascists who were with Sean the night of his homicide tell their side of the story.  This is a Somethin' Else and Oregon Public Broadcasting production.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The uprising of Black Lives Matter protests in 2020 swept the country.  As many as 1 in 10 adult Americans attended a protest. They got a taste of the world Sean Kealiher had been inhabiting for years before he was killed.  And in Portland, the culture war over race and politics would turn deadly.  This is a Somethin' Else and Oregon Public Broadcasting production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Steve Kough lived many lives. He was an NFL journeyman, a male model, and one of the most well-connected smugglers in 1980's Miami, the “Drug Capital of the World." Kough collected many souvenirs from his adventures, but his most treasured bounty – a beautiful ceramic, crafted by Pablo Picasso and gifted to Ernest Hemingway at the author's Cuban home, the Finca Vigia... or so the story goes.  Lost during the Cuban Revolution, the artwork resurfaced when Kough took it as a payment for drug run financed by the notorious Pablo Escobar.  Kough passed away in 2018, passing the piece down to his son, Stevie, a skateboarding hippie growing weed in California.  Stevie feels he needs to complete his father's mission – of selling this piece and telling Steve's cinematic life story.  So, is the Picasso authentic—or a fraud? Was Steve Kough a big talker or a real deal smuggler? Does any of that matter or is this a story of aspiration, legacy, and difficult love?  Tune in on Monday's starting on October 18th to find out!  This is a Somethin' Else production.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ani Raven is a longtime activist and community radio host in Portland.  She was also one of Sean Kealiher's mentors when he joined the Occupy movement at 15 years old.  In 2011, Raven met Sean at the camps that Occupy protesters had set up in Portland city parks.  In this episode, released on the two-year anniversary of Sean's killing, Raven discusses how she watched Sean grow as a young activist, and start to lead people in the street.  This is a Somethin' Else and Oregon Public Broadcasting production.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After Sean Kealiher was killed, his mother Laura was subjected to brutal harassment from conservative trolls at her home and online—and it was Sean's antifascist friends who provided her security, not the Portland police.  Meanwhile, we ask the former head of police detectives in Portland why there has been no progress in solving Sean's homicide.  This is a Somethin' Else and Oregon Public Broadcasting production.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When Sean Kealiher and his friend Micah Fletcher began confronting racists in their community, neither one could have predicted the consequences.  In 2017, Micah would nearly lose his life when he was attacked on a Portland train as he defended two teenage girls from a racist tirade.  Now, he reflects on how he was lauded as a hero while his friend Sean was treated as a thug for doing the same things.  This is a Somethin' Else and Oregon Public Broadcasting production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oregon's long history of racism was what brought Sean Kealiher and so many protesters like him to the streets.  The fights between anti-racist skinheads and neo-Nazis in the 80s and 90s set the stage for Portland to found America's first official Antifa chapter.   And Laura Kealiher says the way police are intertwined with those past fights makes her skeptical they will ever solve Sean's homicide.  This is a Somethin' Else and Oregon Public Broadcast production.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Portland, Oregon, had been a hotbed for political clashes between the far left and the far right for years before 2020.  Sean Kealiher was among the people who regularly took to the streets to fight — sometimes physically — with people who opposed Black Lives Matter and other social justice movements.  We look at who was in the streets leading up to one of the most significant years in American protests.  This is a Somethin' Else and Oregon Public Broadcast production.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sean Kealiher was killed on Oct 12, 2019, near a popular bar for Portland's antifascist scene.  An SUV ran him over and crashed outside the Democratic Party of Oregon office. Gunshots rang out through the night, and whoever was driving fled the scene, leaving the vehicle behind.  Now, almost two years later, his mother Laura Kealiher is demanding police answer why his killing remains unsolved.  This is a Somethin' Else and Oregon Public Broadcast production.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Portland-based anti-fascist Sean Kealiher was killed in 2019, months before the uprising that would bring Portland international attention.  Nearly two years later, his homicide remains unsolved. His mother, Laura, believes she hasn't received justice because of police hatred for her son and his politics.  Dying For A Fight, the second installment in Somethin' Else's Fault Line series, goes in search of answers: What happened the night Sean was killed? Why have no arrests been made? Who are the Americans living at the political extremes? And how did things escalate from Portland to the Capitol?  A Somethin' Else production. This show is a co-production with Oregon Public Broadcasting. Listen now to new episodes of The Fault Line: Dying for a Fight every Monday wherever you get your podcasts!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Everyone’s heard of Ghislaine Maxwell (Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged partner in crime). But there’s a shadowy figure who hangs above her who you likely don’t know: her father, media tycoon Robert Maxwell. His rise from nothing to fall… from the deck of his super yacht under mysterious circumstances is straight out of a crime novel. His favorite daughter Ghislaine’s theory: her father was murdered. From Somethin’ Else, makers of ‘The Immaculate Deception’ and ‘The Faultline: Bush, Blair & Iraq’, hosted by Investigative journalist Tara Palmeri, ‘Power: The Maxwells’ is a seven part series on the incredible true story of a media mogul whose legacy is still being felt today.

After the arguments over intelligence, the debates between politicians and the meetings behind closed doors in this final episode we ask what happened next? What happened to Iraq and what happened to Iraqis after Bush and Blair sent their troops into the country in March 2003? Want the full story? Unlock all episodes of The Fault Line, ad-free, right now by subscribing to The Binge. Plus, get binge access to brand new stories dropping on the first of every month — that's all episodes, all at once, all ad-free. Just click ‘Subscribe' on the top of The Fault Line show page on Apple Podcasts or visit GetTheBinge.com to get access wherever you listen. A Somethin' Else & Sony Music Entertainment production. Find out more about The Binge and other podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After the arguments over intelligence, the debates between politicians and the meetings behind closed doors in this final episode we ask what happened next? What happened to Iraq and what happened to Iraqis after Bush and Blair sent their troops into the country in March 2003? A Somethin' Else production.

Tony Blair finally has to come face to face with his party and his country. To sell his war to parliament and to the public. Little does he know that in a few short months the weapons' inspectors, searching through the rubble in Iraq, will find something that will haunt him for the rest of his life and career. And it will leave us, the people, asking - can we ever trust our politicians again? A Somethin' Else production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tony Blair finally has to come face to face with his party and his country. To sell his war to parliament and to the public. Little does he know that in a few short months the weapons' inspectors, searching through the rubble in Iraq, will find something that will haunt him for the rest of his life and career. And it will leave us, the people, asking - can we ever trust our politicians again? A Somethin' Else production.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell is tasked with making a public case for war at the United Nations. As he tries to sort fact from fiction he alights upon evidence from the mysterious Iraqi defector known as Curveball. Meanwhile, weapons inspector Rocco Casagrande is searching the Iraqi desert. How will Powell's speech match with the reality on the ground? A Somethin' Else production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

US Secretary of State Colin Powell is tasked with making a public case for war at the United Nations. As he tries to sort fact from fiction he alights upon evidence from the mysterious Iraqi defector known as Curveball. Meanwhile, weapons inspector Rocco Casagrande is searching the Iraqi desert. How will Powell’s speech match with the reality on the ground? A Somethin' Else production.

Tony Blair writes to George Bush “I'm with you whatever”. But now he needs to do two things: persuade the UK that war against Saddam is necessary, and the Americans that they need to seek international support for military action. The result is a decision by Bush to try and win round the United Nations, and an intelligence dossier that will haunt Blair forever. A Somethin' Else production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tony Blair writes to George Bush “I’m with you whatever”. But now he needs to do two things: persuade the UK that war against Saddam is necessary, and the Americans that they need to seek international support for military action. The result is a decision by Bush to try and win round the United Nations, and an intelligence dossier that will haunt Blair forever. A Somethin' Else production.

An Iraqi defector's evidence becomes crucial to the case for regime change in Iraq. His codename is Curveball. Meanwhile journalists at the Knight Ridder news organisation investigate whether the White House is using bogus intelligence to make the case for war. A Somethin' Else Production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An Iraqi defector’s evidence becomes crucial to the case for regime change in Iraq. His codename is Curveball. Meanwhile journalists at the Knight Ridder news organisation investigate whether the White House is using bogus intelligence to make the case for war. A Somethin' Else Production.

How did WMD become central to the case for war in Iraq? We go back to 1991 - just after the first Gulf War - to find out why the argument for invading Iraq focussed on Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction. We look at how the Iraqis tried to hide these weapons and meet the two men who did the most to try and find them. A Somethin' Else Production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How did WMD become central to the case for war in Iraq? We go back to 1991 - just after the first Gulf War - to find out why the argument for invading Iraq focussed on Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction. We look at how the Iraqis tried to hide these weapons and meet the two men who did the most to try and find them. A Somethin' Else Production.

On September 11th 2001 the world changes in an instant. George Bush calls his greatest international ally, Tony Blair, and the two leaders stand shoulder to shoulder. But where and how should they strike back? A team of intrepid reporters in Washington investigates why the Bush administration is turning its attention towards Saddam Hussein and Iraq. A Somethin' Else Production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On September 11th 2001 the world changes in an instant. George Bush calls his greatest international ally, Tony Blair, and the two leaders stand shoulder to shoulder. But where and how should they strike back? A team of intrepid reporters in Washington investigates why the Bush administration is turning its attention towards Saddam Hussein and Iraq. A Somethin' Else Production.

How did Bush and Blair get so close? We go back to the late 90s and hear how British Ambassador in Washington Christopher Meyer carried out Blair’s instruction to ‘get up the arse of the White House and stay there’. Meyer tries to find out what Bush’s position is on foreign policy and gets to know the influential group of conservatives advising him. They’re known as the neocons. A Somethin' Else Production.

How did Bush and Blair get so close? We go back to the late 90s and hear how British Ambassador in Washington Christopher Meyer carried out Blair's instruction to ‘get up the arse of the White House and stay there'. Meyer tries to find out what Bush's position is on foreign policy and gets to know the influential group of conservatives advising him. They're known as the neocons. A Somethin' Else Production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Was there a chance to stop the 2003 invasion of Iraq before it even began? In February 2003 CIA agent Bill Murray chased a high level, top secret new source across the middle east. Bill was looking for a piece of information so valuable he might be able to use it to stop a war. A Somethin' Else Production.

Was there a chance to stop the 2003 invasion of Iraq before it even began? In February 2003 CIA agent Bill Murray chased a high level, top secret new source across the middle east. Bill was looking for a piece of information so valuable he might be able to use it to stop a war. A Somethin' Else Production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On September 11th 2001, as he faced incalculable losses after the terrorist attacks that day, President George W Bush made a call to his greatest international ally: British Prime Minister Tony Blair. 18 months later, Bush and Blair led a coalition into a war that went horribly wrong. David Dimbleby, one of the BBC’s best known news hosts and reporters, takes us back to those crucial 18 months. Talking to prime ministers, politicians, spies and weapons inspectors he asks how and why we came to invade Iraq. And as we experience an era of lies and mistrust - did the events of 17 years ago set the stage for the world we live in now? Coming September 29th...... This is a Somethin' Else production. 

On September 11th 2001, as he faced incalculable losses after the terrorist attacks that day, President George W Bush made a call to his greatest international ally: British Prime Minister Tony Blair. 18 months later, Bush and Blair led a coalition into a war that went horribly wrong. David Dimbleby, one of the BBC's best known news hosts and reporters, takes us back to those crucial 18 months. Talking to prime ministers, politicians, spies and weapons inspectors he asks how and why we came to invade Iraq. And as we experience an era of lies and mistrust - did the events of 17 years ago set the stage for the world we live in now? Coming September 29th...... This is a Somethin' Else production.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices