he says the choice is not between and the opposition -- assad and the opposition, but between two oppositions. >> we had millions of supporters around the world. it is more of an issue now of just wikileaks or just julian. this is now an issue of justice. >> before doing assange took refuge in ecuador, he interviewed the ecuadorean president about wikileaks. >> president correa, why did you want us to release all the cables? >> we have nothing to fear,

nothing to hide. your wikileaks have made us stronger. >> we will speak with peter kornbluh, who wrote a story of a wikileaks. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the u.s. and arab league special envoy to syria coakley and has announced his mechanic -- resignation after failing to bring to an and more than a year of violence. he said both sides had failed to respect the cease-fire plan. >> the increase in the militarization on the ground and a clear lack of clarity in the security council have fundamentally changed the circumstances for the effective exercise of my role.

yet, the bloodshed continues. most of all, because of syrian government intransigence and refusal to implement the six- point plan. and also because of the escalating military campaign of the opposition. all of which is compounded by the disunity of the international community. >> his resignation will take effect at the end of the month. his departure comes amidst fears clashes in aleppo, where rebels say they now control half of the city. the net nations says north korea has requested urgent food aid following the major floods that hit the country last month. north korea says it needs assistance in areas where at least 190 people died and tens of thousands made homeless. the floods devastated infrastructure and crops,

compounding the problem. on the campaign trail, president obama continued to swing through battleground states on thursday, making a stop in florida. he said republicans' backing of tax cuts favoring the wealthy is very best. >> we know better. they have tried to sell us this trickle-down tax cut very best before -- fairy dust before. and guess what? it did not work then, it will not work now. it is not a plan to create jobs, it is not a plan to reduce the deficit, it is not a plan to build our middle-class, it is not a plan to move our economy forward. it takes us backwards to a place where we do not need to be. >> mitt romney meanwhile was in colorado, and in an apparent effort to focus on that obama

sending's scrutiny of jobs overseas, he responded. >> i understand how businesses grow, why they decide to go overseas, why they decide to come back here. i understand what it takes to get a better working again. i understand that small businesses and people create jobs, not government. >> the u.s. government's lone site for handling and processing weapons-grade uranium has been temporarily shut down after activists infiltrated the premises. three activists reportedly cut through fences to paint slogans and throw blood on the wall of the y12 nuclear weapons plant in oak ridge, tennessee. the facility processes hydrogen for new bonds. the three activists appeared before a magistrate judge in

knoxville on thursday. the facility will remain shut down until next week. u.s. officials have maintained no nuclear material was compromised, but experts have marveled at how a small group could have infiltrated the high- risk site. one investigator called it the worst breach of security they had ever seen. the measure would have directed the department of homeland security to conduct cybersecurity risk assessments of critical infrastructure and carry out responses. the bill had been updated to reflect a number of privacy concerns after president obama threatened a veto earlier this year. the new provisions called for annual disclosures of the information collected by government agencies and would grant u.s. citizens to sue in cases of violation. the obama administration has confirmed it will oppose any proposal that and the regulatory

control of the internet to the united nations. proposals to circulatin a new pe u.s. said it would continue with its current system of oversight by the department of commerce. the psychiatrist who treated the color of the shooting suspect james holmes reported the disclosed she had warned officials at his school, the university of colorado. dr lynne fenton said that her warnings went unheeded and that no action was taken because hilmes was in the process of dropping out of school. the wife of an african-american man who died in the custody of police is seeking justice. travis carter was detained saturday after allegedly being found with marijuana.

police say he was handcuffed and placed in the back of a police cruiser, at which point he accidentally shot himself in the back of the head while reaching for a gun. in an interview, his mother cast out against the claims. >> i think they killed him. they searched him twice. my son was not suicidal. i just want to know what really happened. >> carter's mother says the police account is further questionable because he was shot through the right temple, despite being left-handed. shortly before his death, he had phoned his girlfriend to tell her that he would contact her from jail. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we are on the road in baltimore, maryland. we begin the show with syria. the united nations general assembly is due to vote today on a resolution that condemns the security council for failing to

stop the 17-month conflict. the resolution is not legally binding but is intended to pressure the security council to take action. the book comes in the wake of the u.s. and arab league special envoy to syria coakley and then announcing his resignation from the post. following his decision to leave thursday, he criticized the security council's actions in hampering a resolution. >> without purposeful and united international pressure, including from the powers of the region, it is impossible for me or for anyone to compel the syrian government in the first place and also the opposition to take the steps necessary to begin the political process. i have therefore inform the secretary general of the u.n. and the secretary general of the arab league today that i do not intend to continue my missions

when my mandate expires at the end of august. >> annan will continue in his position until his mandate expires. in a separate announcement, secretary general ban ki moon said that a search for a replacement has commenced. the plan was never fully adhered to by either side and the violence has continued to escalate, according to activists. more than 20,000 people, mostly unarmed civilians, have died in the past several months of fighting. several in the international community expressed their regret at the decision of kofi annan to take eight. >> we just heard about the decision to step down by kofi annan. we understand his decision. we regret that he chose to do so. we have supported strongly

coakley and -- kofi annan's efforts and we hope this month will be used as effectively as possible in order to keep pursuing the goal of a political settlement in syria to stop the bloodshed in that country. >> meanwhile, white house spokesperson jay carney said the intransigence of the outside regime is partly to blame for the resignation. he said despite the promise to abide by the plan, he continues to brutally murder his own people. it is disgusting and only highlights the absolute requirement that for the future of the syrian people, assad must step aside. syrian rebels in turkey expressed anger, accusing the secretary-general of bias. >> kofi annan decided to resign

and not interfere in syria? we believe he is an accomplice and we believe his heart is with assad. >> kofi annan has supported bashar al-assad and is an accomplice to the massacres in syria. he is also responsible for what has been going on in syria. >> both sides of the conflict are facing new accusations of committing atrocities. opposition activists reported further deaths across the country on thursday, including in the city of aleppo, where government forces have been trying to reclaim areas taken by rebel armies. rebel forces meanwhile released footage of the video execution of four pro-regime fighters. the video shows the bloodied fighters being led into a courtyard before they are mowed

down in a hail of gunfire. the violence is identified with government forces using fighter jets to carry out bombings and rebel groups deploying tanks. to talk more about the situation in syria, we go to london to speak with charles glass, former chief middle east correspondent for nbc. his book on syria "tribes with flags" is being reissued. can you talk about the significance of kofi annan resigning, and important what is happening right now in syria? >> the resignation is a setback for anyone who had hoped there would be a diplomatic resolution to the conflict. he was the go-between between the u.s. car russia, saudi arabia, the opposition, and the regime. he was the only person that

could carry messages amongst all the parties. this is clearly an indication that diplomacy is failing and the outcome, as we see in aleppo and other areas today, an attempt at an agreement seems to be on its way out. >> talk about who the opposition is right now. your piece said it is not a decision between kofi annan and the opposition but two oppositions. >> what i wrote was that there are two oppositions. there is a non-violent, peaceful opposition, who represent a vast spectrum of opinion in syria, who never wanted the conflict to become violent. they felt the violence itself

would be too destructive for the country, no matter who won. on the other side of the opposition you have the free syrian army, al qaeda-supported militias, 70 or more militias that people do not know where they come from and who they are, and in many cases, they are beating the regime, in other cases, being beaten by the regime. just outside aleppo, they did shoot on unarmed prisoners. the descent into brother versus brother, citizen vs citizen chaos or is proved to be -- war is proving to be a serious issue.

>> at the united nations, the french ambassador to the un, and gerard araud, said a political process may never have been in place for resolution to the conflict in syria. france holds the presidency of the security council for the month of august. >> mr. annan, we have confirmed, that his job was impossible. for him to resign is not surprising. what is serious is the feeling that we may never have a political process. we did not have one. there is no negotiating process in place, so we have the impression comedy the way you look at it, it is military logic that is winning the day. with all that entails for the

entire population and the political risks for the region. >> that is the french ambassador to the united nations. charles glass, your response? >> the french, like the british and turkey, have demanded regime change from the beginning. if annan has been undermined, it is by those parties. it is not surprising that they accept his resignation with such equanimity. the conflict will have to be resolved by forces of arms. and they, along with other western arms, are supplying arms to one side, while russia supplies the other side. in the long run, only syria will suffer as a result. russia, go to addressing a press conference yesterday. the russian ambassador to the un, the tally churkin, said that

certain things had added to the difficulty of kofi annan's mission. >> one of the reasons why his efforts have encountered some difficulties is that his appeal for no further militarization of the conflict, which started out as he first came here in new york, was not heeded by a number of influential members of the international community. we have a strange situation where some countries are expressing their regret about the violence in syria, while at the same time, those countries are providing weapons almost openly to the armed opposition groups. >> that is the russian ambassador to the un, vitaly churkin. >> he should remember russia is one of those parties supplying weapons as well. on the other side, reuters has

reported that president obama has signed a finding allowing for more cia control of certain opposition groups out of turkey. the british have announced they will increase their support for the opposition. basically, outside powers pushing the inside powers to resolve its warfare. >> british prime minister david cameron says the resignation demonstrated the failure of the political process. he called for more severe steps to be taken against the regime in syria. i wanted to get your response to this comment? >> it suggests the current political process has not worked and we need to be tougher and we need to start at the un with a chapter 7 resolution, full legal

backing of the un, bringing the world together to say this violence has to stop and we want to see transition at the top of syria. there is a resolution from below. more severe steps to be taken against the regime in syria. i wanted to get your response to this comment? >> it suggests the current politicali can understand how pl frustrated, but that will foment all sorts of problems unless we see the change to the top take place quickly. >> that is prime minister david cameron. charles glass, you are in london. your response? >> the prime minister, like the u.s., have been pushing for pilots all along. he has not done anything to encourage kofi annan's mission nor did he do anything to promote the line with the opponents regime, and the regime itself. the whole impetus of this conflict since it began in march of last year, from the outside and many inside, has been to militarize it and leave no possibility of a diplomatic solution. it is no surprise that he is saying it failed, but he is one of those that helped it to fail. >> the reuters news agency is

reporting that president obama has issued a secret finding to support the armed opposition in syria, the cia, and other agencies of the u.s. government. the significance of this? >> i think this is something they have already been doing, but he is legalizing his position by signing the finding. the program has been going on. the people who have been in that part of the syrian border area near turkey have reported on the activities of various western and turkish agents. it is nothing new, it has simply been formalized for his own legal sake, put down in writing. >> you have been writing about how the various opposition groups view the united states. could you lay that out? >> i think the opposition groups in the free syrian army and others fighting the war are pleased to have american

support, want more american support, and ultimately would like intervention, whether it is a no-fly zone or invasion. there is a disagreement between that. the people that had done time in prison over the years, the prisoners of the assad regime who wanted civil demonstrations, negotiations with the regime, to have a peaceful transition in which they would ultimately be freedom of action by which the regime could would lose, those people's voices are being drowned out in the cacophony of artillery and rifle fire all around syria. these people, i think they are disenchanted with the united states and believe that the united states has a different agenda from theirs. their agenda is to bring democracy to syria. they feel the united states agenda is to eliminate a regime which is too friendly to iran, l

particularly at a time when israel and the u.s. are contemplating an attack on iran. it would be better for them to weaken syria or eliminate the regime that has been allied to iran before any attack took place. those in the peaceful opposition to not want to become pawns in a super power game. >> as video footage circulated of the execution of four alleged pro-regime fighters, defected syrian brigadier general said the free syrian army is not responsible for the massacre. >> i call on all sides. i do not believe the free army is committing these violations of law. probably it is the regime's .rmy, assad's army the free syrian army is abiding by international conventions, the geneva conventions.

if there is a group that has done something wrong, i cannot lay responsibility on one faction of the free army for wrongdoing, but if there are grey areas, it is because of those militias that have cost massacre against their own people. >> that is the defected brigadier-general. charles glass? >> both side has blamed the other four every massacre that has taken place. it is clear to those who have been inside with the rebellious forces and with the regime, massacres are being committed on both sides, which is inevitable in civil war, but that is why it is urgent to have negotiations. it is tragic that kofi annan has withdrawn, that the impetus for any kind of negotiated settlement is gone. if this war continues, there will be more and more massacres by both sides and many more

revenge killings on both sides. it could escalate the with lebanon escalated because there was no serious attempt to negotiate a solution in lebanon when war started in 1975. ultimately, the war lasted 15 years. >> amnesty international implicitly blamed china and russia for the impasse on syria in the un. this is the director of amnesty international usa. >> there are steps that can be taken in the council to condemn this action, impose an arms embargo and stop sending weapons to continue to fuel this crisis. those are steps that can and should be taken. referring the assad government to their international court. the reason it has not happened is the political resistance of some governments, their refusal to come to grips with the crisis, to face the facts and the knowledge there is

wrongdoing happening, there are human-rights violation being perpetrated, and the to national community has an up to pet -- obligation to respond. >> she also regret -- expressed regret that rebel forces were deploying more violence but said that the assad regime is responsible for most of the human rights abuses. >> we are seeing what may be evidence of war crimes being perpetrated by does fighting against assad's forces. at the same time, you have to keep in perspective. the vast majority of the killings are being carried out by the government. clearly, this illustrates an identification -- an intensification of the crisis. we call on all parties to investigate. we understand there is a statement that the free syrian army will investigate.

we think it is important that they do so in a credible and serious way, and quickly. >> charles glass, suzanne nossel, president of amnesty international. >> i'm not sure that she worked with hillary clinton because she is closer to clinton's to view than the normal amnesty view. in this case, she is right. most of the violence has been from the regime. that does not absolve either side from the its participation in massacres and it does not absolve the backers of either side who have the responsibility to stop this war, to stop the weapons from reaching both sides. the resins -- russians should not be giving weapons. the russians and the west should

be leaning on the two parties in this conflict to try to find a way out of this conflict before there are more massacres. before syrians become so afraid of the potential fundamentalist takeover that they flee the country forever. before the kurds to clear a separate entity along the border with iran. before people have to flee back into the mountains in the western part of syria. all these things should be done. there should be a diplomatic solution as a matter of urgency to prevent all of these obvious things from happening. >> charles glass, i want to thank you for being with us, former abc chief correspondent.

his most recent book is called "syria: the citadel and the war ." when we come back, we will be talking about wikileaks let america -- latin america with peter kornbluh. stay with us. [♪] [♪]

>> ollin arageed by hamza el din. the mother of julie and assange had wrapped up a visit to ecuador in an attempt to get asylum request. julian assange is fighting extradition to sweden and ultimately avoids handing over

to the united states. after meeting with rafael correa, christine assange, the mother of julian assange, said that he would enjoy living in ecuador. >> i respect the will make the decision in the best interest of julien, human rights, and his country. i like to live a life close to nature. if he were to come here, i think he would love it. >> ecuador's foreign minister bowed to wait until the end of the olympic games to announce the decision. he said ecuador had invited swedish authorities to question assange in ecuador which could give him an opportunity to avoid extradition, but it was discovered that sweden had turned down the offer. ecuador has not decided whether it is inclined to grant political asylum, but president

rafael correa recently spoke to julian assange and praised him for his work. >> president correa, why did you want us to release all of the cables? >> if you do not owe anything, we have nothing to fear. we have nothing to hide. your wikileaks have made us stronger, related to the excessive nationalism accused by us. >> if assange is granted asylum, he will become a resident of latin america, where the cables he disseminated have generated hundreds of headlines. one year after thousands of cables on latin america were first released, "the nation" magazine looked at the impact of wikileaks across the region.

the impacts of the cables have had different results in different areas. for more, we " to peter kornbluh, the special guest editor for "the nation." he is a senior analyst of latin america at the national archives. talk about the significance of wikileaks in latin america. >> wikileaks was exposing cables from the state department. if you brought them all together on latin america, you could really understand the broader policy of the united states in the region. the way that countries, like venezuela, colombia, ecuador, reacted over issues like the farc insurgency, u.s. commercial

interest in the region. latin america seemed a cohesive place as a case study for the impact of these cables and the influence they have as they were disseminated through various media outlets in latin america. that is the reason why the executive editor of "the nation" decided to devote an issue dedicated to wikileaks and latin america. >> before assange was in the embassy, on his show, he asked rafael correa -- who was a guest on the show -- about u.s. involvement in latin america. >> what do the ecuadorean people think about the united states and its involvement in ecuador and let america? -- latin america? >> as evo morales said, only one

country does not need to fear a coup d'etat, and that is the united states. they do not have an embassy. one thing that led to police -- discontent is we cut all of funding to police. before and even after we took office, we took a walk to correct this. before, there were all police units who were fully funded by the u.s. embassy, whose offices in command were chosen by the u.s. ambassador and paid by the u.s.. so we have been increasing the police pay. >> that is julian assange speaking to president rafael correa. today he is in the ecuadorean embassy in london, concern that he will be extradited to sweden and then the united states,

where he fears the has been arrested -- will be arrested. your response, peter kornbluh, to what rafael correa said? >> as we all know, the united states has a long, dark, sinister, tragic history of the materialistic intervention in the latin american region. that is one of the reasons why the wikileaks cables would be of such interest to the region as a whole, because they are detailed in the inner workings of the u.s. embassies throughout the region. they allowed citizens of latin america to be a fly on the wall as u.s. officials held meetings with members of the host government, several leaders, with all sorts of actors and political and cultural society. one could see what the policies

were, what the influence was, and quite a bit of revelations about what the governments of the region were saying to the united states as well. wikileaks has provided the ability for latin americans to gauge, at least in terms of the embassy -- we should stress these embassy cables are not cia or defense department cables. they do not look at the dark in covert operations that are still going on. they allow you to see the workings of the embassy, the u.s. influence, how that influence is exercised militarily, culturally in the region. >> peter, you have been covering latin the workings america for decades. what surprised you most? give us specific examples in these cables to about what was most revealing? >> each country have different

levels of revelation. in mexico, where of course, the united states is deeply invested in all sorts of areas -- the economy, the counter-narcotics operations, counter-corruption operations, etc.. you have cables which revealed the extent that the u.s. government is influencing the president of the sodden country of mexico. the bureaucratic structures that the united states set up to influence, and in some ways, died policies in that country. this was the main point that the journalist made in her article in "the nation mexico. ." the sum and country of mexico have basically given up its sovereignty to the united states if one was to accept what the cables suggested.

that is an important point. you had cables that came out of the argentine embassy, that went to the embassy in but a cerus, where the state -- buenos aires, where the embassy is asking to spy on the president. the caa is suppose to do that on their own but here you have u.s. diplomats being enlisted to find out what kind of anti exam 80 medicines the president of argentina is taking, the kind of relationship she has with her husband in terms of how state -s aires, where the embassy govern dividing the country. he was president and she is now president. these are the details that come out of the cables that are really important and interesting. in some countries the created scandals. in other countries they did not. but taken as a whole, you get a

sense of the modern-day influence, or in some cases, the lack of influence, of the united states government at this time. >> enrique pena nieto belongs to the puree -- pre in mexico. i want to go to a clip of his victory speech delivered last month. >> i assume with the motion, with great commitment and full responsibility demanded that the mexicans had given me today. in the past three months, the politicians, candidates have

spoken every day. today, july 1, it has been the citizens who spoke. and they did it with absolute clarity when they voted for a change of direction. thank you to all mexicans. >> peter kornbluh, what do the wikileaks cables say about the new incoming president of mexico? >> this is part of the value of these cables. some them are written several years ago on political personalities that are now the presidents of their countries. in this case, the president elect of mexico. in the article on mexico there is a section that deals with cables that deal with when the current president elect of mexico was the governor of the state of mexico. it shows the u.s. government had a very dim, negative view of him. they suggested that he was a corrupt got some of former

president carlos salinas. this governor was now the president-elect and will be the president-elect will be dealing with. he was covering up corruption, cast himself as a modern, new leader of the pre party but was basically in the same mold of the leaders of the corrupt party. so now you have a candidate's unvarnished assessment of our country, and that is worth having. that will create more pressure on him and will certainly give mexicans and americans knowledge of the way that our diplomats saw him early on. >> last year, we covered the return of the honduran exiled president manuela, after two years in exile.

we spoke to the former minister of culture, one of those who returned from haiti to honduras with zelaya. talk about the pressure that the u.s. exerted on the venezuelan president hugo chavez. >> i was repeatedly approached by american military officers and diplomatic personnel who were trying to discover if i was unsure of myself or unrestful with what we're doing in government, plans for the future. repeatedly, the theme that came up was our association with john best and venezuela all seemed like such a threat and a profoundly disgusted relationship to them.

i never understood why they would think i would manifest myself against president chavez. i may not like his personal style but i respect him very much as the national leader of his country. i am convinced that the kind of aid that president chavez was giving our country was absolutely necessary at the time. >> they were convinced for ideological reasons? >> i would manifest myself in sympathy with their alarm. >> that was the former minister of culture. peter, your response? >> you have done a great job for your listeners and watchers, your audience, by raising this particular issue.

the wikileaks cables are really very revelatory on the issues of venezuela and on the u.s. diplomatic efforts in the region to try to distance other countries from chavez, as well as garner -- garnered intelligence on what java's was doing. there is a special issue right now on brazil, in which the cables that are discussed, show u.s. officials were asking brazilian officials to spy on chavez and pass intelligence back to the u.s. on what he was doing. the brazilian basically said, to hell with you. we do not see him as a threat, like you do. there are also cables discussed in the columbia article, in which the issue of the border conflict between colombia and venezuela is detailed in the

cables. the conflict and the pressures that the united states were discussing with columbia about how to deal with chavez are detailed in this document. there is a lot of information to run the region -- throughout the region to be read in these cables on the sp nine posture. the colombians, i should add, was given the collection on venezuela from wikileaks as well as the collection on colombia. in colombia you have a publication of articles about what the united states was doing in venezuela. the united states is doing a lot of things in venezuela. as i say, it is the defense department documents that will be more revelatory, if we ever see them, on the dark side of

our policy. u.s. cable traffic on venezuela shows the number of important things. it chose the u.s. was certainly engaged in "democracy programs," funding opposition groups, some of which has been in the papers, but you get more details on of these cables. >> peter, finally, you have investigated u.s. policy in latin america for decades, particularly in places like she lay -- chile. you know well that it is hard to get information. these secret documents, now in one fell swoop we see hundreds of thousands of cables. ultimately, more than a million documents. you have to read assange in the ecuadorean embassy in london trying to get political asylum in ecuador to avoid going to

sweden because he is afraid the u.s. will have him extradited to the u.s.. you have bradley manning, who allegedly released the documents to wikileaks, who has been held for close to two years, in conditions close to torture, according to many. he could face the rest of his life in prison. talk about the significance of these documents? >> the significance is the size of the documents and the contemporary nature of the documents. those of us who work an issue of declassification, often dealing with historical records that are at least 30 years old -- >> then why are they such a threat to the united states today? >> the wikileaks cables are a threat today precisely because of the things that you and i

have been talking about. they detail u.s. meetings and opinions, operations with latin- american officials, who in some cases, are still in office or have been elected to office, as is the case in mexico. they are not national security dangers in any way, i think that has been proven, even though hillary clinton came out, when the league first happened and said that it was an attack on our security, etc. that is why when they want to prosecute julian assange. the truth is, is more of an embarrassment than anything else. the documents are important because they give you a timber -- contemporary picture of the relationship of the u.s. with hundreds of countries. that is why the united states has been so adamantly against this type of leak.

truth be told, the impact is important. we have learned a lot about what has been going on. in latin america, it should help people in the right to know movement there, press for documents from their own country to be declassified and released. documents that tell the mexican or the colombian side or the brazilian side of the meetings that are detailed in these cables. this is now an important data base, these cables in latin america and elsewhere, for further research, research on freedom of information, and furthering the right to know. that can only strengthen democracy there and elsewhere. >> peter kornbluh, thank you for being with us. special editor for "the nation." we will link to that cover story on democracy now!

and we come back, we remember corp. the dow -- gore vidal. >> this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we end our show with the late and great gore vidal who died in his home this week. multiple volumes of essays, plays, books.

he was the most prolific chroniclers of u.s. history and politics, dedicating his work to critiquing the injustices in society. he made two unsuccessful bids campaigning for the congress and senate. describe as the less noble defender of the american republic, the american small-r for paulette. i want to play an excerpt of the conversation i had with him. i asked him where he was on september 11, 2001. >> the united states is not a normal country. we are a homeland now under military surveillance and military control. the president asked the congress right after 9/11 not to conduct a major investigation comment as it might deter our search for

terrorism, where rich may be in the world. so congress obediently rolled over. there was, i remember, pearl harbor. i was a kid then. within three years, i enlisted in the army. that is what we did. we did not go off to texas air force and hide. i realized the country have totally changed, that the government is not responsive to the people, either in protecting us from something like 9/11, which they could have done, should have done, did not do, and then when it did happen, investigate and investigate. so i wrote two books. one called "perpetual war for perpetual peace clause " in which i tried to go into the why, osama bin laden or whoever it was, what it was done. and then another one "dreaming

more" on why we are not protected to 9/11, which is that normally lead to the impeachment of the president. they said they had no information. since then, "the new york times " prince another mountain of people that warned the government. president putin of russia warned us. the president of egypt warned us. three others claim they had come to the united states to warn us. sometime in september something may come out of the sky in our direction. when we defend it? no, we would not. has this ever been investigated? no, it has not. it was a termination because of the midterm election, there was a pro forma committee in congress. they have said nothing less for three years later. it is shameful. the media, which is controlled by the great conglomerates which

control the political system, has done an atrocious job of reporting, though sometimes good stories get in. i have worn my eyes out studying the wall street journal, which despite its dreadful editorial policies, is a pretty good newspaper of record, which "the new york times" is not. if you read "the wall street journal" you can pretty much figure out what happened that day. according to law, faa, it is mandatory within four minutes of a hijacking, fighter planes from the nearest military base go up to scramble, meaning they forced the airplane down and find out what is happening. one hour and 50 minutes, i think it was. no fighter plane went up. during that one hour and 20

minutes, we lost the two towers and one side of the pentagon. why didn't they go up? no description from the government. no excuse. a lot of mumbling story which were later retracted, new stories replaced them. that, to me, with the end of the republic. we no longer have a congress which would ask questions, which was in place to do of the executive. we had a commander in chief that liked strutting around in military uniform, which no president ever did, as they are supposed to be civilian keeping charge of the military. this thing is a realistic now and it is getting nastier and nastier as we are more and more kept in the dark about those things that much affect us, which are war and peace, prosperity and poverty. these are the main thing is that a government of the tractor. we, the people, should be told

about it. we have been told nothing. and every voice is silent. so i wrote two little books which were then noticed by people who like to look at the internet, and then a few hundred thousand people had bought them. i do not come out with conspiracy theories. i never became a journalist. i am and historian. journalists give you their opinions and pretend they are facts. i do not give you my opinions because they may be down able to my mother, but they are of no valley to anyone else. they may be of dowdy to me. i give the facts as i find them, and i listen, and they are quite deadly. this government is culpable, if nothing less, of negligence. why were we not protected, with all of the air bases and fighter planes on the eastern seaboard, not one of them went

aloft as the hijacking took place. finally, two from otis field in massachusetts arrived at the twin towers after the second one had been hit. if anyone were thinking, they would have tried to prevent an attack in washington. they went back to massachusetts. so i ask a question that washington does not pass, which the press should ask, but is too frightened. it is a reign of terror. >> the lead author, activist, essayist gore vidal died from complications from ammonia in his calais route -- california home. you can watch more interviews on our website democracynow.org. democracy now! is looking for

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