WHYY's Radio Times with Marty Moss-Coane Podcast

Giving the President advice on the Iraq War. We'll talk with two Middle East scholars who participated in closed-door conference with President Bush on Iraq. We'll hear from two of the conference presenters, ERIC DAVIS, a professor of political science at Rutgers University, and author of Memories of State: Politics, History and Collective Identity in Modern Iraq, and with VALI NASR a professor of National Security Affairs at the Naval Post Graduate School in Monterey, California. He is author of The Shia Revival: How Conflicts within Islam will Shape the Future.

Literary blogger Edward Petit has called for Edgar Allan Poe's body to be moved from Baltimore to Philadelphia, claiming that Poe has a closer historical connection to Philadelphia. We discuss this proposal as well as Poe's controversial biography and compelling writings.

There are currently 228 people on Pennsylvania???s death row, but according to a panel of the American Bar Association, Pennsylvania???s death penalty system is inconsistent and flawed. The panel???s findings were released last week. We talk with ANNE BOWEN POULIN, Villanova University Law Professor who chaired the panel and RONALD EISENBERG, deputy district attorney of Philadelphia.

A rebroadcast of Marty's conversation with EDWIDGE DANTICAT. Her new memoir, "Brother, I???m Dying" tells the story of her two fathers: Mira, the man who gave her life and his older brother, Joseph Danticat, with whom Danticat lived in Haiti until she was twelve and her parents were permitted to bring their children to live with them in New York. Danticat has been nominated for a national book award.

According to Pulitzer-prize winning reporter TIM WEINER, the CIA???s history is one of catastrophic failure starting with its work behind the Iron Curtain to its current efforts in Iraq. Weiner's new book is ???Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA" has been nominated for a National Book Award. Weiner has been covering the CIA for over twenty years. This is a rebroadcast so tune-in but don't call-in.

We talk with poets and musicians DAN SIMPSON and DAVE SIMPSON. Twin brothers who are both blind, they are involved with ???Independence Starts Here: A Festival of Disability Arts and Culture??? which begins today in Philadelphia and goes through mid-November.

Should military leaders who are concerned about our role in Iraq be more vocal? Has the administration overreached its authority when it comes to developing and implementing military strategy? We look at the complicated relationship between civilian leaders and the military ??? historically and as it exists now. Our guests are military historians RICHARD KOHN and LAWRENCE KORB.

"When all is said and done, killing my mother came easily.??? That???s the first sentence of Alice Sebold???s new book ???Almost Moon,??? uttered by the narrator 49-year old Helen Knightly. It is the story of complex family relationships ??? mother and daughters, husbands and wives, children and their parents.

An update on the Kurdish region of Iraq with BRENDAN O???LEARY, Professor of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania and PETER GALBRAITH who served as US ambassador to Croatia and East Timor. He is the author of ???The End of Iraq: How American Incompetence Created a War Without End (2006).

Why are there so many corruption investigations involving New Jersey politicians? One might get the impression that corruption is problem there. We'll talk with GEORGE ANASTASIA a reporter for The Philadelphia Inquirer who is covering several corruption investigations in and around Atlantic City, and with TOM MORAN, political columnist for the Newark Star-Ledger, who brings us up to date on some recent corruption cases that have ensnared state senators and mayors.

Is Afghanistan's government becoming paralyzed by corruption? We'll talk with ANDREW WILDER the research director of politics and policy at the Feinstein International Center at Tufts University. He specializes in Afghanistan and Pakistan affairs. He says, Afghanistan's government is viewed as deeply corrupt by citizens as unruly warlords now Have legitimate governing powers. This, he says, is undermining support for Afghanistan's government and by extension NATO's military campaign against the Taliban.

Musician turned novelist. We talk with EUGENE DRUCKER a violinist for the Emerson String Quartet who has written the new novel The Savior. It takes place in a WWII concentration camp where a German violinist is sent to be the musician for a "rubber making plant" but he soon learns that it is actually a Nazi concentration camp. Drucker is in Philadelphia, to perform with the Emerson String Quartet tonight at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia.

Is the Bush administration serious about a possible war with Iran? Our guest REESE ERLICH is author of The Iran Agenda: The Real Story of the U.S. Policy and the Middle East Crisis. He argues that the U.S. is playing a dangerous game that could turn into a real war. Erlich is co-author of the 2003 book Target Iraq: What the News Media Didn't Tell You. Erlich is a freelance correspondent, and writes regularly for the Dallas Morning News, NPR, And the CBC in Canada.

Marty talks with SCOTT WEIDENSAUL author of several works on natural history including, ???Living on the Wind??? which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. His newest book is ???Of a Feather: A Brief History of American Birding.??? He is a licensed bird bander and lives in the Pennsylvania Appalachians.

Writer and director WES ANDERSON (The Royal Tenenbaums) and actor JASON SCHWARTZMAN (I Heart Huckabees) discuss their latest film, The Darjeeling Limited. The adventure comedy, also starring Owen Wilson and Adrien Brody, follows three estranged brothers on a spiritual quest to India.