This month marks the 25th anniversary of the congressional authorization of the first Gulf War. The Center for Strategic International Studies recently noted that for the U.S. it was the start of almost 25 continuous years of bombing and military engagement in Iraq. John Mearsheimer from the University of Chicago recently said that “since 2001, the US has had the midas touch in reverse” when it comes to the Middle East. We talk with two veteran peace campaigners who make the case that first Gulf War was instrumental in a series of cascading events with negative repercussions for the US and the world. We’ll talk about how militarization, the media, and politics changed after the Gulf War Guest: Jennifer Bing is the director of Chicago AFSC Middle East Program Guest: Kevin Martin is executive director of Peace Action (AP Photo/Marcy Nighswander)​