Government & Politics

Journalist Patrick Cockburn (CO-BURN). He's been a senior Middle East Correspondent for the Financial Times and the London Independent. He's the co-author of the new book, "Out of the Ashes: The Resurrection of Saddam Hussein" (HarperCollins). He'll discuss the bombing campaign against Iraq, Saddam's hold on power, the royal family and more.

Journalists Sherry Sontag and Christopher Drew. They are the authors of the new book, "Blind Man's Bluff: The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage" (PublicAffairs). The two spent six years researching secret submarine missions like how the Navy sent submarines wired with self destruct charges into Soviet waters to tap crucial underwater telephone cables. Sontag covered government and international affairs for the National Law Journal and has worked at the New York Times, and Drew is a special projects editor at the New York Times.

Tom Blanton is the Director of the National Security Archive, A research library at George Washington University in Washington D.C. His department, using the Freedom of Information Act, obtained the transcripts of former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. The now declassified papers detail Kissinger's secret negotiations with key world leaders such as Leonid Brezhnev, Andrei Gromyko, Mao Zedong, and Deng Xiaoping. The transcripts have been edited and published in the new book "The Kissinger Transcripts" (The New Press)

Satirist Harry Shearer. His new book is "It's the Stupidity, Stupid: Why (Some) People hate Clinton and Why the Rest of Us Have to Watch." (The Library of Contemporary Thought, The Ballintine Publishing Group). He'll discuss the Impeachment proceedings.

Pierre-Richard Prosper served as a prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal in Rwanda. In 1994, more than a half-million Rwandans were killed in a massacre. Last year, he successfully prosecuted the former Mayor of Taba, Rwanda for genocide. He also convicted the former official on rape charges. This is the first time rape has been recognized as a instrument of genocide. Prosper is an American attorney who worked for the Justice Department and for the Los Angeles County D.A.'s office.

Photographer Fazal Sheikh. (Fuz-ill) (Shake) In his new book "The Victor Weeps: Afghanistan" published by Scalo, Sheikh weaves portraits and stories together to document their experience. His 1996 book "A Sense of Common Ground,"(Scalo) presented a series of photographs taken of African refugees.

Linguist Geoffrey Nunberg remarks on the Senate's awkwardness in discussing sexual contact in the Clinton impeachment trial.

Guitarist Salman Ahmad (Sol-MAHN AH-MAHD) and bassist Brian O'Connell, from the Pakistani rock band Junoon (Ju-NOON). They are Pakistani's best-selling band, with four albums, and 2-million sales. They've gained an international following thanks to the Internet and MTV. The band also includes lead singer, Ali Azmat. The group is currently on tour.

Executive director Richard Feldman of the American Shooting Sports Council which represents gun manufacturers.

Last year New Orleans became the first city to file suit against the gun industry. Chicago followed. And now many other cities (including Philadelphia, Boston, Miami, San Francisco and L.A.) are considering similar actions. Journalist Fox Butterfield writes about crime and criminal justice for The New York Times. He'll discuss these suits as well as one filed in New York by a group of individuals who lost family members from gun violence. Butterfield was a member of the Times writing staff that won a Pulitzer Prize for its publication of The Pentagon Papers.

Senior policy analyst Tom Diaz at the Violence Policy Center, a non-partisan non-profit public policy institute working to reduce gun violence. He's the author of the new book, "Making a Killing: The Business of Guns in America" (The New Press). In the book, Diaz writes how in an attempt to increase profits, the gun industry has introduced more aggressive and lethal guns to the public. DIAZ says they do this free from regulation and under a cloak of secrecy.

Satirist Al Franken, former writer for Saturday Night Live, and creator of Stuart Smalley (author of "I'm Good Enough, I'm Smart Enough, and Doggone It, People Like Me!"). His new book is "Why Not Me: The Inside Story of the Making and Unmaking of the Franken Presidency" (Delacorte Press). It's the story of America's first jewish president, himself, Al Franken!

We remember writer and urbanologist WILLIAM WHYTE. He died yesterday at the age of 81. The former editor of Fortune Magazine began a second career studing the life of urban cities. Whyte was best known for his 1956 book "Organization Man," a groundbreaking work that examined the mechanized rituals and routines of the corporate culture. His other books included, "The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces" (1980), and "City" (1989). (REBROADCAST from 2/22/89)

Criminologist Richard Wright. He teaches at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. He'll discuss the statistics released last month by the Justice Department showing that the crime rate has been falling steadily since 1991. He'll also discuss the link between the crime rate and the decline in crack use which he has studied. Wright is the co-author of the book, "Armed Robbers in Action: Stickups and Street Culture" (1997, Northeastern University Press).

Linda Douglass is the senior congressional correspondent for ABC News. She'll talk about how she handles rumors and allegations of officials' sex lives, and she'll tell us her opinion of the Flynt investigations.

Flynt joins us to discuss his investigations into the private lives of congresspeople. In light of the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal, he's gathering information on other officials. The coverage has led to the resignation of House Speaker Robert Livingston.

Jeffrey Toobin is the legal correspondent for ABC news and a staff writer for the New Yorker magazine. He will also discusses the impeachment vote against President Clinton.

Presidential historian Michael Beschloss discusses the upcoming Impeachment vote in the House. He is author of "Taking Charge: the Johnson White House tapes 1963-64" now in paperback.

Linguist Geoff Nunberg comments on language as a source of national pride and independence.

Film critic John Powers reviews "A Simple Plan" by filmmaker Sam Raimi. The quiet rural lives of two brothers erupt into conflicts of greed, paranoia and distrust when over four million dollars in cash is discovered at the remote site of a downed small airplane.