. . >> it is monday, september 9, 5:00 p.m. in washington, d.c.. you are watching rt. let's go straight to syria, where violence plagues the streets, forcing the international community to consider action. in the u.s., lawmakers are once again convening on capitol hill to look at the evidence of the use of sarin gas by the assad regime. the russian minister says he is trying to get the assad regime to surrender stockpiles of chemical weapons by the end of this week.

after meeting with his counterpart, laugh ralls said they are calling on this. membership to look at the sites under international control and also on the subsequent destruction and fully joining the treaty on prohibition of chemical weapons. so possibly a ray of hope to prevent more violence. it is a move un's secretary- general ban ki-moon has come out in favor of and one that syria appeals to be open to. however, this comes on the same day as cbs released may interview with all assad, where he threatens to retaliate if the u.s. attacks. >> these repercussions. >> playing games.

you will pay the price. there are going to be repercussions. , particularly of dealing with it. but nobody expected this until september. what is going to happen? everything is on the brink of explosion. >> national security adviser susan rice, former secretary of state hillary clinton, former president bill clinton, and the deputy held conferences today, making their case for action in the country. it is said the u.s. is ready to negotiate but will not be afraid of the assad threats. >> it is our judgment that president assad and syria would have very little interest in picking a fight with the united states of america, so i do not

think that is likely at all. second, with regard to the reports today about this russian initiative, we have seen the reports. we want to take a hard look at the proposal. we will obviously discuss the idea with the russians, and, of course, we would welcome a decision and action by the area to give up its chemical weapons. the whole point of what we are doing is to stop syria from using these weapons again. >> so a lot of talk, little action, as of yet. it is a high-stakes game of poker about who will show their cards first, although this time they are gambling in lives. while congress debates the need for intervention, public opinion is still split about military action in syria. the latest polls show the public overwhelmingly disapproves. >> no more war, no more war, no more war. >> protests were held over the

weekend in opposition of military action, including demonstrations right here in d.c., and our correspondent was there, and she tells us why so many are so against u.s. action in syria. >> hands off his theory up. >> as congress considers military action in syria, protesters turned out in washington and in front of the white house, and they demonstrate what opinion polls are showing, that america does not want to get involved. but disregard of public opinion in such matters is hardly new. >> for americans to say it is not worth fighting. >> so? >> you do not care what the american people think? >> you cannot be blown off course by the fluctuations in the public opinion polls. >> fast forward to a different time, country, and it ministration, that the

disconnect remains. a cnn poll released shows that seven out of 10 americans think airstrikes will not achieve significant goals or be in american interests. >> why would you put down a regime where a terrorist group as the rule of a country? >> at president obama move forward without the american public on board. >> we have to make some decisions about what you believe is right for america, and that is the same for me as president of the united states. there are a whole bunch of decisions that i make that are unpopular, as you know. >> if they do not listen to the people, then excuse me, there is no democracy anywhere. >> only 33% of americans agree that such an intervention would

be an effective deterrent. >> that is ridiculous. you want to send a message by killing more people? >> another talking point is that american credibility would decrease. some believe we will suffer significant blowback with intervention in syria. >> all it will do is further drive hatred towards the united states by acting so arbitrarily around the world, which can only create low back. >> syrians also came out to plead with congress. >> i have my entire family, my mother's, my cousins, everyone i love, and i am so passionate to see once again, this war started. it is going to take all of this out of my heart. >> and they questioned be evidence of chemical attacks. >> there are a lot of reports that it is the rebels, that it was an accident, that they

dropped some weapons. who knows what really happened? >> looking to see if a elijah cummings woul listen to this. >> let me tell you something. when you have got 97% of your constituents, it is kind of hard to say yes. >> meanwhile, diane feinstein of california does not share the struggles. >> what is coming in is overwhelmingly negative. there is no question about that, but, you see, they do not know what i know. they have not heard what i have heard. >> keeping secrets from the american people, and if you vote against which you know your constituents do not want. >> congress remains undecided on the resolution. outside of congress, constituents remain clear. >> everyone is saying chemical weapons are bad. everybody knows that, but it is

not america's business. we are not the world's police. >> to do something peaceful. >> in washington, d.c.,r5t. >> latest clashes. some forces have taken control of a city, and christians their fear that they could be murdered simply for their religious beliefs. our reporter is there and brings us this report. >> entering through its ancient gate, and this. army announces that most of the militants were pushed back. signs of the recent battle and destruction are everywhere. we were told to move fast without stopping or even slowing down. there are some parts of the road where we have to speed up. officers still fear there could

be snipers around. we hear them shouting, go, go fast, and on one turn, we suddenly stopped. it is hard to understand exactly what happened. there was a loud boom and feeling the earth shake. we get out of the car to take a look around. it is hard to believe. a christian community. all over the world. now, a battlefield. >> and then we realize bullets started flying around us. >> where is the army? but just a few minutes later, they told us to get back. >> the militants launched an attack thomas throwing explosives from high ground. >> this is what we are doing

now. we are coming back. this is where a car bomb exploded, and this is how it all started, after a suicide attack. the group stormed in, and since then, clashes have been continuing. for three days. >> soldiers fired shots that, but they cannot even see an ami fighters who are cooped up in their hiding places. >> this. army is saying the militants are in the hotel. this was the hotel which was taken by the rebels, the armed rebels. they are firing, even now. >> also from behind the mountains surrounding the village, that is where the

danger lies. there are many snipers, and there are rocket grenades. bombs. mortar bombs. the situation is very hard. you can see that the army is regrouping right now. tomorrow or monday, the situation could change radically, because this is the day when the american congress starts debate on serious, whether to strike this country or not. >> the decision enraged thousands of kilometers away from the battlefield and will affect a set up at the military theater. exactly how is not easy to predict. in serious. >> as world leaders try to figure out how to deal with the syrian conflict, iraq security forces are doing all they can to prevent the violence from spilling over into their country, a country that is still

on shaky grounds after u.s. troops on lid left in 2011. yesterday, the iraq branch of al qaeda claimed responsibility or a series of car bombs that killed 50 people over the weekend. iraq security forces continue to root out extremists, and a special inspector general just released the final report this week. a group we turn to in order to expose fraud and misuse of taxpayer funds in iraq, but with this, that is suspended, despite the fact there are serious concerns over monetary waste in the country. so is this the end of accountability? with us is an author. i asked him if anything new came out of this final report. >> well, actually, it is not what is coming out, it is what is not coming out. if you look at the report that

is disseminated, it kind of gives glossing over views, narrative description of the purpose of it, their mission, all of that, a few stories, but what i wanted to do in this report was i saw in the table of contents there was an issue called suspensions and debarment s in the ig report. they investigate waste, fraud, and abuse, and if somebody really crosses the line, they are debarred, meaning they are barred from being able to get further contracts, either permanently or for a period of time, or suspended, so there is a little bit in the entire report that is some odd pages long, and there is this little

section here, and there is this. and that is it. but then it refers you tob or c, and it is a list of those who have been suspended or debarred, and so i went to appendix c, and there is no appendix c. it says appendix b and c are not included in this version of the report, meaning the public version, but if you want to see it, the go to a website, so i did. i went to that website. that is the center website. i could not find it.

i looked, and i went to different tabs. i could not find it. i typed in suspension search. nothing. so good luck. i am not saying it is not there, but good luck trying to find it. it is not easy to find. it does not pop out. it also says in this one little bit right here that since 2003, 280 five individuals and companies were suspended or debarred. what does that mean? >> some of the other things that they found out, this report. they did 220 reports that made 400 87 recommendations that would potentially save $973 million. they launched investigations into claims of abuse resulting in 42 arrests, 90 convictions, 76 sentencings. so given all of this, there is

still more, you are saying, to be determined, to being found out? >> not necessarily so. i want to know who they were. if they are keeping it a big secret, you know, i have got experiencing with contracting at the federal government, and if you keep it a big secret, you can do a request and find out. who are these companies or individuals that were suspended or debarred? they did a lot of work. i am not saying they did not do a lot of work. they really, really did, and if you look at some of the appendixes, i think appendix a, it lists the employees who work from them, and it is hundreds. i personally know one younger fellow who worked there for white some time. they really, really do a lot of work, but to be debarred, the word bar means you cannot do

contracts with the federal government or the department of defense for some period of time, and for contracting officers who work for the federal government, they want to know if you are on that list. they should not really have to go digging, like i was digging today on their website. not a huge issue, ok? those are a lot of major statistics, and let's face it. it was a treasure trove. they had so much to go digging up. when i was over there before i left, i went to their offices in the embassy, the republican palace in baghdad, and i met with a couple of their people, and all they did, i relayed to them things that i thought they ought to look into directly related to waste, fraud, and abuse, and the guy said to me, well, you can go to our website. >> very interested. >> i am right there at their offices in baghdad, and all he

said was, go to our website. most likely because i was a civilian. i was not a senior ranking military officer, a rank of colonel or above, so he was not going to give me the time of day. >> now, we have a short amount of time left. moving forward, is there something to learn to get through reconstruction efforts, get them going? >> they can always learn from their predecessors, and they have been in business for quite some time. one of the things i found very interesting, very shocking actually, a couple of weeks ago, there was a report in the news, in the media, where sigar, the inspector general for afghanistan reconstruction, has evidence, cold evidence of companies that are doing contracting to the department of

defense in afghanistan, that there is absolute affiliation with al qaeda. they are backed with al qaeda. they have presented this to the department of defense to the contracting officers over there. they will not do anything about it, and they came out and recorded as saying this is ridiculous. we have presented them with the evidence, but they will not do anything because they want to give these firms due process. i wrote a blog about it on my website, going back about two weeks ago when this first came out. that is ridiculous. that is just plain ridiculous. that is crazy. >> and that is why institutions like the inspector general's are necessary, in order to point these things out. thank you for coming in. >> thank you. >> edward snowden and from us he had treasure trove of information to release about the

surveillance state, and once again, he is making good on his word. the german magazine said that reviews documents from his leaks detailed how the agency has been focusing on tapping into all types of smartphones. the newspaper explains according to its documents, it has set up task forces for the leading smartphone operating systems and manufacturers, and the teams began intensively studying the apple iphone and its ios operating system, as well as others. another team worked on ways to attack blackberry, which had been seen as an impregnable fortress until then. so is anything safe anymore? arista for is a director with an information management practice group and is here to help us break down the latest developments. chris, a queue for stopping in. >> a queue for having me here. >> can you break down these

latest developments? >> the important thing about the article is they said there was no indication of widespread spying. using the capabilities of the article with respect to the smartphones, and i think people would expect that the nsa would develop the skills and abilities to access probably the leading tools for communications these days, and, presumably, to use those tools consistent with the law. >> and how do we know that they are being consistent with the law? >> as we discovered, there were some lapses with respect to what the nsa has done, and we know the five the court -- the fisa court reprimanded them. there is legislation that requires fisa court approval for anything under the fisa act, and

obviously the snowden revelations have put focus on that, and there is question as to whether it is enough, so president obama has appointed a white house senior group, and we also have the privacy and civil liberties board which is looking at this, and in the wake of the snowden revelations, we have seen the five the court -- the fissa court declassify something, and then they are also talking about their right to disclose information. there is going to be more oversight, and one would hope there would be more controls, but i think this story from "der speigel" is not astonishing.

>> there is a lot of question as to whether they would be a rubber stamp, just as they are a rubber stamp. >> knowing some of those people, i doubt they are going to be a rubber stamp. >> even though they have ties to the administration? >> one person was white critical , and about privacy issues, and i do not think he is going to change his stripes now that he is a part of that group. >> there is the founder of a group that says that these leaks are not surprising to the nsa. they are not new. let's take a listen to him. >> i can speak as a former prosecutor. i think there is a lot of things that was on in your news hour that there is a lock the public does not know that if they knew, they would support things, and having been in the court rooms

of america, having seen the crazy amount of stuff that criminals can do, there are tactics that you take, but at the end of the day, the best part of this, and i do support this, there is a legislature and other branches, and when the constitution was created, it was noted that the different branches would balance the powers of the others out. >> if the nsa has these capabilities, there are some that could protect the user encryption data. do you hold similar views to this? >> i do, and i agree with him, and i think he is pretty knowledgeable in this area. we have checks and balances. my law firm, and i was one of the authors, producing a white paper this year that shows in other countries, there is not the level of oversight or protection or the national security agency access to those

countries citizens data, and i think that is a really important distinction that has gotten lost in the wake of the snowden revelations. say what you will about how well our framework works, we have a framework. >> that is a very good point, a very astute point. as we were talking, back in 2011, the obama administration won an appeal to reverse restrictions on the nsa back in 2008, and those restrictions dealt with the use of intercepted phone calls and e- mails. and you talk about this more? what does this say about the nsa? >> i suspect there will be a re- examination of that opinion to see whether or not that ruling was justified in terms of the needs. i think as was pointed out, and as others have pointed out, there are legitimate need for surveillance that protect the country against threats. the question is whether or not that effort to protect the country oversteps the protection

of privacy that all of us are also entitled to, so there is a balance that needs to be struck. as the general counsel pointed out a couple of weeks ago at the german marshall fund, there has been no indication that the information -- >> i am so sorry. i hate to cut you off, but we are out of time. >> thanks for having me. >> if you do the crime, you do the time. it could depend on how deep your pockets are. in one california prison, the prisoners pay for five-star treatment. they are offering inmates flatscreen televisions, better bed, and more, if the price is right. it is all part of the page used a program, and we are shown how. >> hollywood portrays jail as a violent place.

in reality, county lockups have come under scrutiny because of abuse and poor medical care, but in california, inmates are getting a much more, double plays. >> it would just be $100 per day. >> they have advertised their pay tuesday jail. they are trying to attract inmates with flatscreen televisions, a media room, and better amenities. >> anything from a dui offense even all the way up to sexual offenders. >> right now, we are down to two doors. >> it also helps clean up the jail. they have access to kitchen facilities and extra snacks if they can't pay. he is in for vehicular manslaughter. his family has spent thousands of dollars. >> there could be some arguments about what is on tv, but that is about it. people typically think of jail

as a very violent place, and that is not the case here, where you get squeaky clean floors, but at the end of the day, even for $100, you are still locked up. >> it is nicer. >> they have received calls from all of the country for people who want to be here. >> they pay to be here and then get cake out over something trivial. >> anaheim and others offer paid stay jail cells. the idea has helped the city make money and become more efficient. >> our prioritynice, safe facild offset the cost that the taxpayers have to pay. >> six years ago, the jail was run by a private contractor and had to close down. operation costs were cut, employee pay went up, and inmates got a friendlier stay.

>> i can tell you the dozens of times that we received thank you cards. in fact, i got a really long card, and someone even friended me on facebook. >> many people in america and overcrowded jails cannot afford to stay like this, but as local governments look for new money streams, pay tuesday appears to be here to stay. in california, rt. >> thanks for watching. captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org--

hello and welcome back to nhk world "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. russian leaders use their influence with counterparts in syria. foreign ministers sergey lavrov urged the syrian leaders to turn over their chemical weapons saying it might help to avoid a military strike. >> transr: