July 17 - The Fall of the Assad Regime Coming Soon; Bankers Behaving Badly; Big Donor Files Vanish From FEC

Full Program	LISTEN TO FULL PROGRAM
Part 1	We begin with Syria, where street battles are underway in Damascus indicating the fall of the Assad regime might happen sooner than expected. Rafif Jouejati joins us from Cairo, she is the English-language spokesperson for the Syrian Local Coordinating Committees inside Syria and we discuss claims that the Assad regime has already used chemical weapons against the opposition and look into whether Syria’s WMD arsenals might end up with Iran or Hezbollah.
Part 2	Then we examine a report by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations released Monday about the extent to which the global British bank HSBC has been engaged in laundering money for Mexican drug cartels, dealt with Iran, Syria and Cuba, and is doing business with a Saudi Bank that was an early benefactor of Al Qaeda. Former banking investigator, William K Black, the author of “The Best Way to Rob a Bank is to Own One” joins us.
Part 3	Then finally we speak with Thomas Ferguson who has been investigating the deletion of key files at the Federal Election Commission, documenting so-called “dark money” contributions from some of Romney’s biggest donors such as the “swift-boater” Harold Simmons. Tom Ferguson has an article at Alternet “Revealed: Key Files on Big-Ticket Political Donations Vanish at Federal Election Commission.”
	MUSIC: Dead Kennedys - Chemical Warfare; Immortal Technique - Rich Man's World; Shabazz Palaces - Yeah You; Ottis Redding - Tell The Truth