Terrorism

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.

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.

Linguist Geoff Nunberg on the history of the term "terrorism."

TV critic David Bianculli reviews last nights special episode of The West Wing the shows response to the terrorist attacks.

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

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.

Film critic Henry Sheehan reviews Swordfish, starring John Travolta.

Journalists Lou Michel (“Meh-SHELL”) and Dan Herbeck are staff writers for the Buffalo News. The two have collaborated on the new book “American Terrorist: Timothy McVeigh & the Oklahoma City Bombing” (ReganBooks). MICHEL lived twenty minutes away from the McVeigh’s father, and over time he developed a relationship with the elder McVeigh which in turn helped him gain access to his son. Michel and Herbeck conducted nearly 80 hours of interviews with Timothy McVeigh.

Iranian born novelist Salar Abdoh. His first novel The Poet Game, (2000, Picador USA) is a fictitious account of an Iranian secret agent sent to New York City to investigate rumored terrorist plots, in the wake of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. The main character, Sami Amir poses as a terrorist to try and stop the attacks. Salar Abdoh fled Iran with his father and brothers following the revolution in 1979. Abdoh earned a master degree in Creative Writing from the City College of New York. He lives in New York City.

Director of the Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence, Bruce Hoffman. He's been studying terrorism for 20 years, and advises governments and businesses around the world about it. He has a new book about the history of terrorism is, "Inside Terrorism" (Columbia University Press).

A discussion about terrorism with Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Tim Weiner. He writes about the CIA for "The New York Times." He talks about the changing nature of terrorism and specifically the challenges of tracking down Islamic militant Osama Bin Laden.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews "The Fall of a Sparrow," a new novel by Robert Hellenga.

Writer Richard Preston talks with Barbara Bogaev about the emerging threat of biological weapons. In this week's The New Yorker magazine, Preston writes about the former Soviet Union's research into biological weapons. His new novel "Cobra" (Random House) explores the use of bio-weapons in a civilian setting. Preston also wrote the international bestseller "The Hot Zone." (Interview by Barbara Bogaev)

Washington Post investigative reporter Jim McGee has co-written with Brian Duffy the new book "Main Justice: The Men And Women Who Enforce The Nation's Criminal Laws And Guard Its Liberties." It's about the changing role of the U.S. Justice Department. As the fears of terrorism increase, Congress and the White House are giving the Justice Department more investigative powers and a wider jurisdiction which include sanctions in foreign countries.

On April 10, 1995 Kenneth S. Stern, the American Jewish Committee's advisor on hate groups warned authorities that some kind of "incident" is likely to occur on April 19, 1995. The second anniversary of the Waco fire. He was proved right. A bomb destroyed the Federal building in Oklahoma City. The bombing raised the suspicion that the bombing suspect, Timothy McVeigh might have ties to a militia. Stern's has written, "A Force Upon The Plain: The American Militia Movement and the Politics of Hate" which has been published by Simon and Schuster.

Patrick Mcguigan, editorial page editor of the Daily Oklahoman. He joins Fresh Air to talk about the Oklahoma City bombing and how he's been covering it in the news.

Film critic Owen Gleiberman says the original Die Hard succeed in part because it was tightly plotted and plausible -- for an action movie. But it's hard to imagine Bruce Willis's John McClane fighting terrorists throughout the sprawl of Washington, D.C.

Linguist Geoff Nunberg takes issue with the use and misuse of loaded terms like holocaust, genocide, and terrorism in political discourse. He says that a person's reluctance to use such inflated terms doesn't mean they take an issue any less seriously.

While some film critics praise Bruce Willis's sensitive performance, Stephen Schiff says Die Hard's charm is in its fast-paced scenes of jubilant, large-scale destruction. It's this summer's guilty pleasure.

Book Critic John Leonard reviews Chile: Death in the South by Jacobo Timmerman. Timmerman is the former Argentine journalist who was imprisoned for publishing the names of the people who disappeared at the hands of Argentina's dictatorship in the mid-70s. His account of his ordeal was titled Prisoner Without a Name, Cell Without a Number.