is war with lowanda, imminent rigorous debate, people who are dying because of lack of medical treatment, challenging conventional wisdom. the fact that people are starting to get angry about this is in itself a sign of progress. join me more, come on, who for upright? what al jazeera, our coverage of africa is what i'm most proud of. every time i travel bay, whether it's east or west africa, people stop me and tell me how much they appreciate coverage. and our focus is not just on their suffering, but also on the more uplifted and inspiring story. people trust algebra to tell them what's happening in their community in a clear and unbiased. and as an african, i couldn't be more proud to be thought of, you know, ah, 20 years since the u. s. invasion of iraq. we look at the daily struggles of iraqis

and the face of political and economic instability. ah, you're watching all 0 life from a headquarters and del himes, eddie and abigail also coming up at least 15 people are killed in an earthquake. that's shaken. southern ecuador and northern peru. president vladimir putin visits the city of mario poll, that russia annexed from ukraine last year, plus allegations that filipinos are being targeted, traffic's, and forced into a life of crime. ah, hello. it's been 20 years since the start of the us led invasion of iraq that toppled president saddam hussein. the military operation was launched without un support on like the 1st gulf war and the invasion of afghanistan or matic editor

james bay's looks at how the offensive damage the credibility of the united nation . un weapons inspectors in iraq, their job to track down the country's chemical and biological weapons. we now know there weren't any former iraqi rulers. saddam hussein had ceased his w. m. d. program years earlier, but in 2003 us president george bush was backed by the british prime minister, tony blair was saying he was hiding a huge stockpile and they claimed they have the intelligence to prove it. the us secretary of state colin powell now known to have been privately skeptical himself, tried to make the case in the security council, even wielding a vile. he said could be anthrax about the u. s. and u. k. bitterly opposed by much of the international community, including france, germany failed to get a security council resolution to authorize a war. they launched one. anyway, the and the after month,

one british diplomat who'd worked as his country's expert on iraq in the security council resigned. do you think the united nations ended up damaged or strengthened by the war 20 years ago? i think without doubt, it was damaged by the secretary general of the united nations. didn't assert his authority to say that the war with the legal and should not happen. which later, he admitted, and i think collectively the quote unquote un, this sense of a global community of nations. a sense of a shared set of rules took a very big hit as a result or so where does that leave things now? 20 years on. once again, the security council is deeply divided and there is no doubt that the invasion of ukraine by russia, a permanent member, was a breach of international law and of the un charter. but western diplomats, when you speak to them privately, will tell you that their efforts to put pressure on moscow or even now hindered by

the memory of what happened 2 decades ago. the run up to the war in iraq in 2003 was marked by defiance and disinformation, resulting in deep damage to the un system and the rule of law around the world. so much may have changed since, but the repercussions of events that haunted the you and then a still being felt. james bayes al jazeera of the united nations. let us me to franklin wench, who is a senior lecturer and military strategy and law at the university of portsmouth. he served as an officer in iraq, afghanistan, and the balkans. joining us from oxford welcome to al jazeera. so, you know, a lot of people now say that the iraq war was in fact a crime and not just a mistake. what do you think that the u. k actually achieved by going to war in iraq and joining that us led invasion. oh, very good. thank you for having made answer. your question is absolutely nothing. we are have found ourselves over the last 20 years with the completely distrusted,

mistrusted political, political leadership aren't given us. a series of crises. got distrust remains, but you know, what happened to us isn't merely neither have that responsibility that we have to back. it's what we did to iraq, and most specifically bags that we must be how to account for particularly our leadership. and i think the answer your question is essentially we achieve nothing except the reservation of the people on the ruination of our reputation. as an honest doctor in any international community. right. and what do you make of the fact that no one has indeed been held to account up until now and also on your point on busted out in the british military. there the, you know, the conduct of the british military husband called into question. there were multiple reports, one inquiry in 2011 found that british soldiers inflicted violence and cowardly

assaults on, on iraqi civilians. i mean, does someone who served in the iraq and the british military, excuse me, does this way on you at all? i'll just say 2 things. about that 1st of all, about a $100000.00 british service persons served in browser, in the south of iraq and elsewhere. and my experience to my knowledge, 99 point, something for sent of them a decent young men and women. there are, however, exceptions, and of course they've not been held to account at all. we went there supposedly to protect the people of bad. so we ended up of course, as occupiers, and that's in my 2nd point. so my perspective is what it's worth worth, not much, no more than anybody else is, is, or i'm left with still now 20 years on a combination of anger and disgust. but being made to be occupies, have been made essentially to be, to some degree carry out the fact that most of my, almost all my colleagues, but decent young men and women,

the bad guys. we were the occupiers. and i something i think that will never get over us for crimes. well, we're not alone and not being held to account for that. let's say that in british intelligence at the time led by m, i 60 and produced that now we know was very much flawed evidence about saddam hussein's. suppose it weapons of mass destruction and that argument was amplified by the then prime minister, tony blair. and for you in the military, was there a certain point when you actually realize that this evidence was indeed flawed and there were no weapons of mass destruction? well, darin, i'm the right person to talk to about that since i commanded one of the teams looking for these weapons of mass destruction. i got there in september 2003 and i think by october, that's late september 2 weeks or so into my mission. our mission, we realized that we were wasting our time and we were conducting a highly dangerous chase's, acquitted chase after moonbeams. it's as simple as that, and this went on for

a year or so is entirely few tullocks realized to be futile. officially, by christmas. of course, with the resignation of my most senior commander, david k, a former official in the cia. so this was hopeless, almost since it started. and i think a lot of people knew that even before our teams got that. okay, we'll leave it there. thank you. so much frank hello, lead wedge for joining us from oxford. we appreciate your time and catering opec. second largest oil producer are still struggling to improve basic public services in iraq, political instability in the country. and demik corruption as well as security issues have all contributed towards the economy being in flux. some of the job aids reports from bus, from the bus route. the famous italian bridge wasn't here 20 years ago. neither was the main road that leads to busters international stadium. now the streets are peaceful and there's relative political

come in the city and across it all packed up and the chief more than $8000000000.00 a for an investment up to february 2023. we are keen to achieve major projects. this is all in coordination. with the federal government, lots of projects were completed in basra, related to infrastructure services, commercial and tourism sectors. in this oil field is the image noon, which means crazy in arabic, something that refers to the large amount of oil, or there's found here in one location, an estimated 38000000000 barrels. the mission field produces 240000 barrels a day for iraq's economy. and production is planned to be expanded to 5 and a half 1000000 barrels per day. in our government says, despite obstacles like corruption, red tape and an unstable region invested the lining up. the mainly interested in the countries abundant deposits of gas. but despite its large hydrocarbon resources, iraq imports a 3rd of the gas. it needs for its power stations. nearly $2000000000.00 worth

comes from iran in on a stretch budget. that's a burden. it also spends an estimated $5000000000.00 the unimportant diesel in petrol. that's left it off currency struggling against the dollar. and that's not all. and there's no molly on the idea of either let the remodel, behead do it as estimated by a parliamentary committee. corruption cost around $10000000000.00 a year, around $600000000000.00 have been smuggled out of or i can the past years, we have to fight against corruption, administration, and financial. there's no real development in the rocky economy. despite that wealth, millions of iraqis struggled to get clean water every day. and every year, thousands of people fall due to waterborne diseases drank drivers and climate change has increased risks of food shortages. 2 decades ago, the 1st battles of the iraq war were fought in buster, a city of a 1000000 people was besieged by mean the british forces. cluster munitions were

used in the international coalition to band uranium weapons says u. k. and us forces use depleted uranium. frenzy is after the invasion, a lot has stays yet. this problem continues to remain the backbone, put her off oil based economy. but still the complains of the people are lack of job opportunities, infrastructure. and the lack of attention from the people in power, family guy without the 0 button. ah, president vladimir putin has visited russian occupied maria, pole and ukraine. the city in the don, yet screech, and was annexed by moscow last year. who tin drove around several districts on saturday and was shown restoration work at a theatre and a university. his trip comes after he traveled to crimea, to mark the 9th anniversary of its annexation from ukraine. stephanie decker's and keith with more on putin's visit. it's the 1st time he visits the city since the

war began. it's also 3 days after the deadliest anniversary you may remember, and russia bombing the theatre in my apple mar. apple endured a savage assault. that theatre was sheltering. hundreds of civilians and, and that was bombed on the 16th of march in one of the deadliest incidents of this war will. now almost a year later, he is touring the city talking about reconstruction. it comes off the back of also visiting crimea on the 9th anniversary of crimea is annexation and also a defiant sign, i think, showing him traveling at the fact that now the russian president is liable to be arrested in a 123 countries. when it comes to this arrest warrant issued by the international criminal court will certainly doesn't face that danger when it comes to the territories that russia has annexed. ah, so yes. first time we've seen the russian president turing, these areas properly talking about reconstruction. but of course,

particularly when it comes to mario, paul, that city was hugely devastated by the russians in the war last year. a strong earthquake has killed at least 15 people in ecuador, and one in peru. the magnitude 6.8 tremor was centered south of ecuador, a 2nd largest city, g y a key. alex baird, reports streets littered with crumbled facades. rescue teams in ecuador scramble to save those still trips after the earthquake. who will be a good, a part of a facade collapsed. them fell on a vehicle that had already been removed by the police. we had one victim without vital signs. a male person, a number of buildings have collapsed to cross the coastal states of alberto and us . why the andes that gathered all i can to saggy at people ran out, they yelled in despair. all the people got out of their cars. i don't know how an earthquake would feel in a car, but they were desperate. they ran, they yelled, yodi cried. there were reports of damage to infrastructure across the region and

landslides, blocking federal roads. the trim was also felt across the border and northern peru where a young child was killed when her home collapsed. the baby was playing where the stain of blood is. she was playing with my other niece and the brick fell on her ecuador and peru approach to earthquakes. they struggled the so called ring of fire, and the danger isn't over yet. but after sharks still ongoing, alex bid al jazeera survivors of cycling friday or warning. another cholera outbreak is possible in malawi, the country face that's worst outbreak in 2 decades before the psych loan struck. more than 50000 people are reported to have been effected during the past year. tens of thousands have been forced from their homes by flooding and lance lives more than 440 people have died. farm dot miller has more from the kanga. it's far

from over and the rescue services are continuing. here in mccann guy. it's just off land. oh, it's quite a distance from the mainland. there's a river between my congo and the mainland, and that has been entirely flooded the water coming up into what was a village. and i'm just going to step out of shot to give you a better idea of what it looks like here. the water wasn't this close to where people were living and you see people sitting on local canoes waiting to be rescued by the police services. the canoes would normally transport people back and forth between here and the mainland, but they're charging $4500.00 below in shillings the equivalent of $4.00 to take people to the mainland and they simply don't have the money. so they're relying on police services. we're sending 2 boats out a day and connecting people to make about 6 trips and so far they've reached about 1300 people. but hundreds more are waiting on an island like this out of out to

take refuge in trees. they've lost absolutely everything. their homes have been washed away. they also don't have any food, and that's the main thing they're complained about. as soon as we reach this island, they said they're hungry and they're trying to get to the mainland to get food. because a little may, they did have, has now run out and there's nothing left they even even if they did have maze, they don't have homes, they don't have shelter, they don't have cooking utensils of pots, there's really nothing they can do. we also understand it further on this island. they are more people waiting for rescue efforts, but they're simply too weak and tired to make it here. so they would have to wait for assistance to reach them a little more in land. we know about a 126000 people in this district alone have been displaced. please say they're doing as much as they can. it's taken some time to reach areas like this because have been inaccessible. the water was just too strong and too high. so these rescue efforts continue, and it certainly will be a number of a few more days before the is i suppose, greater,

a bigger dent made in terms of rescuing people in places like this, which had been very difficult to reach up to now. still ahead on al jazeera, the former u. s. president donald trump called on his supporters to rally, saying he expects to be arrested this week. but i'm pardon me with that another down when delaware shop calling on your license has led to a huge life farm with blame this on climate change and government monitor ah 100 millimeters. the rain fell out of a thunderstorm coaching in santa rochester. this general area blazing part of borneo and that's about a 3rd of the average for the months. so this is clearly a concentration of heavy rain and it's in the forecast to which includes sudden

sumatra and java and has recently included the philippines. but that looks rather dryer at the moment. for normal stress seems a big down pause too, but that's not really the story here. the streak of clay is a bit of a cold front, which is only reached this far head. a bit north of it is been very warm. 43 is not above average hubbard, so that warmth has spread dental city in melbourne, but that co drug is coming through the temperature. dropping that about 23 and 26 in sydney with a shower. 2 possible purse is still in the heat that's getting hotter. 36 degrees on monday. however, look down here in victoria and new south wales, and this is a change to a different season. i think proper rain, former probably thunderstorms as a new zealand after cart weekend monday. see the turn for you as well for sar, fallen significant rate. still 24 degrees in christ church. not so on tuesday. real changed the feel. 18 degrees and snow on the mountains. ah,

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hello again, the top stories on al jazeera, it's been 20 years since the start of the us led invasion of iraq, the toppled president. saddam hussein the military operation was launched without un support on like the 1st gulf war on the invasion of afghanistan. president vladimir putin as visited russian occupied maria pull in ukraine. the city and the don. yet regional was annexed by moscow last year. who to them at residence and he visited areas under reconstruction. at least 15 people have died after a strong earthquake, hit ecuador, the magnitude 6 born a tremor was centered south of its 2nd largest city, g y. a key rescue teams are searching for people trapped under the rubble. attacks by the m 23 rebel group and the democratic republic of congo have forced more than 800000 people from their homes over the past year. the group is widely believed to be back by rwanda and is continuing to seize territory in the east that despite

regional efforts to end violence, malcolm, what reports from the city of goma josephine, one meaning and seed a breeder, both told us their husbands were killed when the n 23 armed group attacked their villages. many people in this camp on the outskirts of goma tell similar stories. josephine says she went back to her village last week and found her husband dead among about 30 men who were killed with machetes and left, barely buried in shallow graves. dick in the runs and m 23 killed him. as we were running away, they caught us and separated the men from the women. many men were taken by the 23 in the bush. most of them were killed, and my husband was among the democratic republic of congo. his army says its fighting rwandan soldiers under the guise of end $23.00 wonders widely understood to back the armed group with a wonder denies it. the army has failed to stop and 23. the many people here

question why the government hasn't done more than 43 times 10 years ago, but at the time they had until international military support. rwanda was sanction this time in the east african regional force is meant to help the indian soldiers of the latest to arrive. that is not clear if any of the countries contributing troops did not have the political will or the resources you got to fight and $23.00 or even were wanda. here in congress general constance fema is the 3rd commander to take over congos military operation in less than a year. just as a regional deadline for m. 23 to withdraw is due to expire. your i'll position in the bio was attacked earlier today. this is why we have to repeat that we still have multiple violations of 35,

and 23 blame the congo. 4th is for breaking the cease fires and denies committing atrocities. in spite of mounting evidence, there are growing reports of mass killings and rates from the hundreds of thousands of new arrivals in the camp. but ca says her husband was trying to protect their herd of capital. last month, when 23 fighters tried to forcibly recruiting and killed him when he refused to say, did you say about joining with? she says we need help with suffering. and we can't go back to our farm. and she recall that she last idea, malcolm web al jazeera, goma democratic republic of congo, a former us president donald trump says he expects to be arrested on tuesday. he made the remark on his truth social media, web site, web media site. trump cited what he called illegal leaks in the manhattan district

attorney's office. he's calling on his supporters to protest. my county has more from washington d. c. compass, referring to a case that has been ongoing in new york. there has been a grand jury hearing into hush money pay to to women one, a former porn star. this money was allegedly paid by trump through an intermediary to get them to keep quiet about having had sexual relations with him in the past. now tramps then attorney michael cohen has appeared before the grand jury and although grand jury proceedings are secret code has stated publicly that he orchestrated the payment to, to women in order to keep them quiet about having had sexual relations with trump. now the significance of this is its timing because the payments were made during the campaign period before the 2016 election. and what the grand jury has been

deciding on is whether this was in fact, a contravention of campaign funding laws, which is a criminal act. now the, the new york district attorney has given trump the opportunity to appear before that grand jury that was a week ago. and that normally does precede some form of indictment in this particular case. so this is what trump is referring to, no confirmation whatsoever from any other source. in fact, trumps own spokesperson confirms that this is from what trump calls illegal leaks. there has been no official notification whatsoever. hackathons, former prime minister, him on con, is set to address his supporters later on sunday. that's after record and his lama bod cancelled arrest warrants for him. violence broke out between his supporters and police outside the court on saturday and outside his home. in la hor con. denies the charges against them and says that they're politically motivated in

india, a sharp drop in onion prices and the western state of my roster has led to a crisis. among farmers. the country is the world's 2nd largest producer of the vegetable. the state government says that it will compensate growers, after hundreds of farmers, started protesting poverty, mitchell reports on last will gown i. this is how prices are decided at each us largest onion, wholesale market. farmers and traders from nearby areas meet in the town of laslie . dow, every morning to day, then buddha, somber. they say they are struggling because of falling prices, blood hello, back on the funnel guy, whisky white as i am going to me like i lost more than $1300.00 the season. i'm known definitely, but i can't even in my house, i'm worried if i'll be able to grow onions next year when i'm scared my dep fuel increase and i'll be stuck in cycle of launch. i get the western state of my roster as india as largest producer, red onions recently, prices dropped by half,

creating a big crisis in the region. grew as a blaming this on surplus produce estimated to be around 30 percent pharmacy. i say government policies are making it difficult for them to export onions. climate change has also impacted on in supply higher than usual temperatures and unseasonal rain have reduced the shelf life of these onions, forcing farmers to bring them earlier to markets before they rot. laraca 2nd than i did not have it j to say they're trying to revive the market before the summer harvest arrives, then courage and customers to bite low prices and working with farmers to find long term solutions. they wanted a big while. it was an exquisite failure warehouses. yep. you got these red onions cannot be stored for too long. your bible pink onions have along the shelf life. and so we are asking farmers to expand warehouses for those social studies. we are also suggesting they grow varieties that can be exported to regions like europe in the middle east. so next time there's a crisis here,

we can so the produce that last week housings of farmers started marching to move by to demand financial assistance be ended. their protests after the state government agreed to their demands. those include subsidizing prices and waving loans. some say the solution is only a temporary fix. marcus. joe, hey, will. oh, so that owner to you, the entire system needs to be overhauled right now. political parties interfere and decide who's allowed in the market. this should only be buyers and farmers, no one else. additionally, farmers need to learn to balance onion production with demand, so they can get a good price overseas and is expected to begin next month. farm was hope they'll benefit from new policies and start recovering their losses. bob newman, the larger sierra lawson gown, western india, a senator and the philippines says she's uncovered and operation that traffic filipinos and possibly other nationals and forced them into crime. she says victims

were lured into call center jobs in cambodia and then me and mar. but then pressured into taking part and fraud. barnaby. low reports romanella. so nasa slung coming down area. this clip was taken by filipinos held at a combo deon police station. in january's. they say it shows they were victims of human trafficking. and i didn't buy from america, men, 2 of the group have says, returned home and told al jazeera, their experiences were horrific. though with a broad, bruno doesn't want to reveal his identity and says he was me to travel from one country to another illegally. and by boat, 17 got me, me my leg up or there was had been in the 1st in a small with in bold, including an infant and luggage. that was the most dramatic part because to vote with god's sakes and a time. and no one would find out if we dana, this was her destination in cambodia. a large business complex with many buildings . miles says there were given customer service jobs,

but then forced to carry out online fraud. st. prepared b. the 3rd day of chatting is when we offer potential victims fake crypto investments. the lowest offer is $50.00, but it can go up to as much as $50000.00 a month with, unlike bruno miles was florence come body of posing as a tourist. what are the more common routes and methods, according to victims, filipino trafficking victims who come forward said they're usually question at border checks when leaving the philippines. but they pass through with relative ease. they say at least one immigration officer stamped their passports, let them straight through. at least 6 officers are being investigated by the bureau of immigration or b, i. following senate inquiries, the b, i should not be a scene of the crime. it should be the last line of defense for our migrant workers . so it really has 2 cracked down on the syndic.