Armed Forces

Intercept journalist James Risen says new documents show how Iran has embedded itself in the politics of its neighbor — and that the late Gen. Soleimani oversaw Iran's proxy wars in Iraq and Syria.

In his new book, Accessory to War, the astrophysicist argues that people who work in his field are often complicit to military development — despite being overwhelmingly liberal and anti-war.

In 2009, Maj. Mary Jennings Hegar was shot down by the Taliban in Afghanistan while co-piloting an Air National Guard medevac helicopter. Though she was wounded in her rifle arm, Hegar managed to return fire while hanging onto a moving helicopter, which saved the lives of her crew and her patients.

Washington Post Pentagon Correspondent Greg Jaffe joins Fresh Air to talk about the military options available to President Obama as he develops a new strategy in Afghanistan. Jaffe is co-author of the new book The Fourth Star, about the four generals who led the US military's efforts in Iraq.

Washington Post senior correspondent Thomas Ricks says the Iraq war is likely to last at least another five to 10 years. He has written a new book about General David Petraeus and the Iraq war called The Gamble.

Thomas Ricks, senior Pentagon correspondent for The Washington Post, talks about his new book, Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq, Ricks, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, takes a hard look at the American military invasion and occupation of Iraq.

Alda, who spoke to Terry Gross in 1997, is being awarded the lifetime achievement award by the Screen Actors Guild on Sunday for his humanitarian efforts and acting roles.

Writer Allan Berube wrote the book, "Coming Out Under Fire: The History of Gay Men and Women In World War II." He spent ten years interviewing gay and lesbian veterans, searching out wartime letters, and consulting newly declassified government documents. He found that hundreds of thousands of gays entered the military despite a procedure for screening out homosexuals. Terry will talk with him about the ban on gays in the military and the hearings going on now, and whether it should be repealed.

Terry speaks with Admiral Ge LaRocque, director of the Center for Defense Information in Washington, D.C. They discuss the future of the American military: Is the American military becoming a world police force in the post-Cold War era? General LaRocque offers an analysis of yesterday's allied air strike on missile bases in southern Iraq and also sheds light on question of military invervention in Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Balkans. They also talk about the American military and the U.N. and how the military may fare during the transition between the Bush and Clinton presidencies.