Scott Horton on Lex Fridman: Why Saddam Hussein Was CIA-Made

ℹ️ EPISODE INFO

Released

August 24, 2025

Duration

10h 26m

Channel

Lex Fridman Podcast

Watch on YouTube

▶ Open ↗

📝 EPISODE DESCRIPTION

Scott Horton is the director of the Libertarian Institute, editorial director of Antiwar.com, host of The Scott Horton Show, co-host of Provoked, and for the past three decades a staunch critic of U.S. military interventionism. Thank you for listening ❤ Check out our sponsors: https://lexfridman.com/sponsors/ep478-sb See below for timestamps, and to give feedback, submit questions, contact Lex, etc. *CONTACT LEX:* *Feedback* - give feedback to Lex: https://lexfridman.com/survey *AMA* - submit questions, videos or call-in: https://lexfridman.com/ama *Hiring* - join our team: https://lexfridman.com/hiring *Other* - other ways to get in touch: https://lexfridman.com/contact *EPISODE LINKS:* Supplemental Notes & Corrections: https://lexfridman.com/scott-horton-links-and-notes/ Scott's X: https://x.com/scotthortonshow Scott Horton Show: https://youtube.com/@scotthortonshow Provoked Show: https://youtube.com/@Provoked_Show Scott's Substack: https://scotthortonshow.com/ Scott's Website: https://scotthorton.org/ Scott's Books: https://amzn.to/3T9Qg7y Libertarian Institute: https://libertarianinstitute.org/ Antiwar.com: https://antiwar.com/ *SPONSORS:* To support this podcast, check out our sponsors & get discounts: *Allio Capital:* AI-powered investment app that uses global macroeconomic trends. Go to https://lexfridman.com/s/allio_capital-ep478-sb *Hampton:* Community for high-growth founders and CEOs. Go to https://lexfridman.com/s/hampton-ep478-sb *BetterHelp:* Online therapy and counseling. Go to https://lexfridman.com/s/betterhelp-ep478-sb *AG1:* All-in-one daily nutrition drink. Go to https://lexfridman.com/s/ag1-ep478-sb *OUTLINE:* 0:00 - Introduction 0:45 - From the Cold War to the War on Terror 53:43 - Iraq War 1 1:21:48 - Bin Laden 2:21:09 - Afghanistan War 2:36:05 - Iraq War 2 3:02:30 - Military Industrial Complex 3:41:56 - Scott's life story 4:11:45 - Iraq War 2 (continued) 5:03:14 - Syria 5:56:32 - Iraq War 3 6:08:59 - Somalia 6:14:26 - Iran 7:04:12 - Israel-Palestine 8:53:49 - Cold War 2.0 *PODCAST LINKS:*

• Podcast Website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast
• Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2lwqZIr
• Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8
• RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/
• Podcast Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrAXtmErZgOdP_8GztsuKi9nrraNbKKp4
• Clips Channel: https://www.youtube.com/lexclips

*SOCIAL LINKS:*

• X: https://x.com/lexfridman
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/lexfridman
• TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@lexfridman
• LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/lexfridman
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/lexfridman
• Patreon: https://patreon.com/lexfridman
• Telegram: https://t.me/lexfridman
• Reddit: https://reddit.com/r/lexfridman

🎤 SPEAKERS

• Lex Fridman

  host

• Scott Horton

  guest

• Narrator

  other

🧾 EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of Lex Fridman Podcast, featuring Lex Fridman and Scott Horton, Scott Horton on Lex Fridman: Why Saddam Hussein Was CIA-Made explores scott Horton Dissects U.S. Wars, Blowback, and Permanent War Machine Scott Horton joins Lex Fridman to lay out a long, detailed narrative of U.S. foreign policy from the Cold War through the War on Terror, arguing that interventions in the Middle East and beyond were driven by self‑interested bureaucracies, the military‑industrial complex, and allied lobbies rather than genuine national security needs.

🔗 RELATED EPISODES

Keoki Jackson: Lockheed Martin | Lex Fridman Podcast #33

Elon Musk: Neuralink, AI, Autopilot, and the Pale Blue Dot | Lex Fridman Podcast #49

Grant Sanderson: 3Blue1Brown and the Beauty of Mathematics | Lex Fridman Podcast #64

Rohit Prasad: Amazon Alexa and Conversational AI | Lex Fridman Podcast #57

Gary Marcus: Toward a Hybrid of Deep Learning and Symbolic AI | Lex Fridman Podcast #43

Christof Koch: Consciousness | Lex Fridman Podcast #2