You don't have to leave your house to understand that the world is a filthy, corrupt, and often straight-up evil place. But Jeremy Scahill, the investigative journalist who made Erik Prince's life immeasurably more difficult with his award-winning book Blackwater, has spent the last several years traversing the world to prove it to you. He connected the dots through Afghanistan, Yemen, and Somalia to produce his new 600-page book Dirty Wars (Nation Books), which explores Obama's covert counterterrorism program. There is a lot of dirt in the thing—"black budgets," targeted killings, cruise-missile strikes against tiny Yemeni villages, kidnapping, and, of course, drone strikes. Scahill unravels what amounts to a new Cold War against terrorism.For those without the attention span to dig into this doorstopper of a book, Scahill collaborated with filmmaker Rick Rowley to produce a stunning-looking film of the same name. In it, Scahill seems like a real-life Jason Bourne, chasing stories across the world, staring down shadowy characters, and struggling with burnout. Fitting into our preconceptions of how a handsome, grizzled muckraking reporter should be, there are lots of shots of him smoking in the dark.Scahill will be appearing tonight at New School's Tischman Auditorium in New York City in conversation with Spencer Ackerman from the Guardian from 7 to 9 PM. They will discuss drone attacks and the rise of America's covert wars. The event is free and open to the public. Seating is first come, first serve. Doors open at 6:30 PM. Audience questions will follow the discussion and books will be available for purchase. There will also be a book signing.The event is co-sponsored by VICE, the Nation, Haymarket Books, Democracy Now, Civic Bakery, the Center for Constitutional Rights, the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at the NYU School of Law, the Institute of International Humanitarian Affairs at Fordham University, the New School, and Democrats.com.
