NewsTalk: Hamideh Aramideh hosts today’s program. Our topic will be the Conference on Security Policy in Munich, Germany. VOA’s Vafa Mostaghim reports live from the conference via satellite. Our guests are Bahman Aghai Diba, (in our Washington studio), Consultant, World Resources Company; Mehrdad Khonsari, (Live from LA), Former Iranian Diplomat & Sr. Research Consultant, Center for Arab and Iranian Studies; Mehran Barati, (on the phone from Berlin), Researcher, University of Berlin
News and Views: Anchor Setareh Derakhshesh had the rare opportunity to interview former Iranian leader Ayatollah Montezari on the current Iranian regime, of which he is highly critical. -Washington Report: Defense Secretary Gates says the US has no plans to attack Iran. Also, former Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani is saying an attack would be very costly for the U.S. In addition he has said that there is no need for Iran to interfere in the region. -Siamak Dehghanpour reports on the U.S. Congress debate over a resolution to condemn President Bush’s new Iraq strategy, the confirmation, by a vote of 83-14, of Gen. George Casey, a former commander of the multinational forces in Iraq, as the U.S. Army's next chief of staff. We are also covering the U.S. Senate Armed Service Committee briefing on the Defense Department Inspector General’s report on the activities of the Office of Special Plans prior to the war in Iraq. Vafa Mostaghim reports live from Munich on the 43rd Annual Security Policy Conference there, and examines what the conference is expected to accomplish. Nazzy Beglari reports on her interview Jeff Laurenty, a Senior Fellow at the Century Foundation in NY, about his article "Contain Iran, Not Bomb It."
Roundtable: Host Ahmad Baharloo and his guest Mr. Bahram Moshiri, historian, live from L.A., compare the Iranian Constitutional Revolution of 1906 with The Islamic Revolution of 1979.
Late Edition: Ladan Yazdian reports on VOA’s her interview with renowned Time Magazine correspondent Michael Weisskopf. He is the magazine’s senior correspondent in Washington. He covers national politics and investigations, and most recently, the ongoing war in Iraq. While reporting TIME's "Person of the Year" story in December, 2003, Weisskopf threw a live Iraqi hand grenade from a U.S. Army humvee, saving himself, TIME's photographer and four soldiers, but losing his right hand. He had won numerous awards for his work.