06/03/13 06/03/13 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] >> from pacifica, this is democracy now! >> extraordinary american who went on record and acted on his awareness and it was wrong -- that it was wrong for us to the killing foreigners. he was doing and not just for american citizens -- although i think he saved american lives -- but he was concerned that the people of the world should be informed of the way he put it the first world of the west

towards the third world. >> more than three years after he was arrested, bradley manning goes on trial today accused of being behind the biggest leak of classified information in u.s. history. we will go to the site of the military trial for the latest with kevin gosztola and speak to attorney chase mader, author of, "the passion of bradley manning." and we go to turkey. all think we need it and parts of our lives. this is just the tipping point. >> what began a week ago as a small protest against demolition of trees in istanbul park have grown to a nationwide protest. we will go to turkey for the latest. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the military trial of bradley manning begins today more than

three years after he was first detained. he is accused of disclosing a trove of u.s. cables and government documents to the whistleblowing website wikileaks and the largest leak of state secrets in u.s. history. on saturday, hundreds of manning supporters rallied outside the barracks at fort meade, maryland where the trial will be held. we will have more after the headlines. hunger striking prisoners at guantanamo bay have written an open letter asking military doctors to stop contributing to what they call abusive conditions. the letter calls out the doctors taking part in force feeding and pleads for independent medical professionals in their place. it signed by 13 prisoners, the letter says -- more than 100 of guantanamo's's

166 prisoners are taking part in the strike. at least 36 are being force fed through tubes. the death toll from friday's tornado in central oklahoma stands at 13, including four children. three people were killed in neighboring missouri. the storm triggered massive flooding areas around oklahoma city. it came 11 days after an ef5 category twister left 24 people dead in a nearby suburb. oklahoma governor mary fallin toured the damage on sunday. >> we will recover. we need people to spring to action just like it did a couple of weeks ago in moore, oklahoma. with all the different charities, neighbors helping neighbors, everyone has performed to the very best of their ability and i am extremely strong of oklahoma -- extremely proud. >> oklahoma's death toll also included three so-called storm

chasers, people who risk their lives to cover storms up close for media and the weather agencies. wild fires have erupted in california and mexico as the u.s. faces what could be a record shattering drought. a wildfire burning north of los angeles exploded in size over the weekend, spreading to around 25,000 acres. the powerhouse wildfire in the angeles national forest has destroyed at least six homes and forced the evacuation of over 2000 others. new mexico meanwhile is in his first major fire of the dry season. 5,000re has consumed over acres of forest. over 98% of new mexico is in severe drought conditions, with 44% in exceptional drought, the maximum level. it is believed to be new mexico's worst drought in decades. according to the forecasting service, the nation's current drought pattern may be the

biggest natural disaster of 2012 and 2013. if the drought continues apace, damages could approach $200 billion, even more costly than superstorm sandy. the canadian province of british columbia has dealt a major blow to the extraction of carbon intensive crude oil from the alberta tar sands. in a victory for environmental and indigenous activists, the b.c. government has formally rejected the enbridge corporation's northern gateway pipeline project, which would have carried tar sands oil to canada's west coast. the proposal had sparked protests for standing to cut through sensitive environmental areas and indigenous land, announcing its rejection, british columbia officials cited a lack of evidence enbridge could adequately respond will spills along the pipeline's route. canada's federal government could still override british columbia's decision, but that prospect appears unlikely given local opposition and the chance

of a protracted legal dispute. the northern gateway has been seen as the main back up option should president obama reject another tar sands pipeline, the keystone xl. in a statement, 350.org founder bill mckibben called on the white house to follow british columbia's lead, saying -- turkey is seeing its biggest wave of protests against the ruling government in many years. tens of thousands of people rallied across the country sunday for a third consecutive day of mass demonstrations. the unrest erupted last week when thousands of people converged at istanbul's's taksim square, a public space set for demolition. the protesters have managed to remain despite a heavy police crackdown including tear gas and rubber bullets. the turkish prime minister says around 1000 people have been detained and over 200 protests

nationwide. the turkish prime minister has dismissed the protests as the work of political opponents and extremists, vowing to proceed with government's plans to remake taksim square. we will have more on the turkish protests after the headlines. around 120 people have been killed in a massive fire at an industrial turkey plant in northeast china. the victims were locked inside and hampered by narrow exits to escape. the plant is a major producer of processed chicken. relatives of the victims say the plant's doors were always kept locked during business hours and workers were forbidden to leave. massive worker strike continues at a cambodian factory that makes clothing for n the sports clothing forike. around 4000 striking workers into the fact today and briefly clashed with colleagues remained on the job. the strikers have been picketing for over a week for a pay increase of $14 a month. nike has formally responded by

saying the factors responsible for setting the worker's pay. at least nine people have been killed in a suicide bombing on u.s. military convoy in eastern afghanistan. the attack came outside a boys' high school. at least six students and two u.s. soldiers were among the dead. palestinia president abbas has appointed a west bank university professor as the new prime minister of the palestinian authority. rami hamdallah will replace the outgoing prime minister who formally steps down next month. the gaza-based hamas has criticized the pick, saying it could jeopardize a tentative unity government agreed to a principle last month. thousands of people marched in ethiopia's capital on sunday in a rare show of protest. demonstrators carried pictures of jailed opposition leaders and chanted slogans calling for respect of the country's constitution. it was ethiopia's first mass protest since 2005 when

election filled unrest left around 200 dead. thousands of people rallied in tokyo sunday to protest the japanese government's move to restart the country's nuclear reactors. japan has brought back to of the country's 50 reactors shut down following the fukushima disaster of march 2011. six more could follow by the end of the year. japan and parts of south korea have banned u.s. wheat imports after the discovery of a genetically modified crop in oregon. testing has confirmed the gmo wheat comes from the agri-giant monsanto. the herbicide-resistant strain was field tested several years ago before protests helped force monsanto to withdraw it from consideration. the european union is urging members to test what would amount to 80% of its imported u.s. wheat. in washington, officials with the department of agriculture insisted the wheat is safe. >> we have reviewed this

particular trenchant rate in a variety of different crops -- cotton, corn, soybean, canola and wheat. although there are no wheat varieties approved for unrestricted planting we have no safety concerns related to planting of this week at this time. >> we understand how one port in this issue is to the american public and to our agriculture industry and of a team of dedicated investigators working on the ground daily to collect all of the evidence available for us to figure out what is going on here. >> in a statement, the center for food safety called on regulators to suspend all field trials of genetically modified crops, saying -- a bipartisan congressional delegation is wrapping up a bit -- visit to russia where they probed the circumstances leading up to the boston marathon

attacks. the trip was held amidst scrutiny of the fbi following news russia warned u.s. law- enforcement about one of the two bombing suspects. republican congressmember dana rohrabacher of california said the trip unearthed no evidence of an intelligence mishap, only the need for closer u.s.-russian cooperation. that the boston marathon massacre could have been thwarted. could it have been prevented? the answer is, there is nothing specific that would have been done, that could've been done that we could point to that could have been done differently would have prevented this. but we can say that had we had a much higher level of operation all along so that the whole situation would have been different, i believe that would

have been one of the type of things we could have thwarted by higher level of cooperation between our two countries. >> a federal judge has ordered the internet giant google to hand over customer data sought by the fbi. in a ruling disclosed friday, u.s. district court judge susan illston said google must comply with the so-called national security letters granting the government access to users' private and affirmation without court warrants. the judge's latest ruling appears to contradict her decision earlier this year to order the government to stop issuing the letters. a group that has challenged the letters in court, the electronic freedom foundation said -- hotel workers in chicago have ended one of the longest labor strikes in history. employees have been picketing over wage cuts for the past decade. it is believed to be the

nation's longest ever strike by hotel workers. the statement, you and your local one says the workers have decided to move on and unconditionally bring the strike to a close. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. show in turkeys where protests that began last week in the capital istanbul have now brought tens of thousands into the streets in cities across this -- across the country. the demonstrations started last monday when about 100 activists in istanbul tried to block the demolition of trees in gezi park by setting up occupied-like encampment. they succeeded by sitting in the trees and blocking bulldozers, until early thursday morning when police fired tear gas into the park and reportedly set their tents on fire around 5:00 a.m. by friday the protests had spread to the much larger taksim square nearby, one of the last public gathering spaces in the city. the square was already the focus of protests because of plans to

tear it down and replace it with a shopping mall. by friday, tens of thousands were drawn to taksim square by word of mouth and reports on social media, only to be met by massive show of police force, including tear gas and rubber bullets. some say demonstrators were also upset over new laws passed last week that place strict new restrictions on alcohol. among the most controversial new rules as a ban on sales of alcohol within 110 yards of a mosque or a school. this is one of the protesters. >> i think [indiscernible] tipping point.e >> many people were injured as police tried to disperse the week-long protest. one widely shared photo showed an officer in taksim square wearing a face mask and directly spraying tear gas or pepper spray into the face of an unarmed young woman. journalists were also reportedly targeted. botha's posted on twitter show well-known turkish investigative reporter ahmet sik bleeding

after he was hit in the head with a police tear-gas canister. still protests continued throughout the weekend. on saturday, the turkish interior minister said police had detained almost 1000 people at demonstrations across the country. been 939have detentions in various cities, some of them have already been released and some are arrested pending trial. 26 police officers and 53 civilians were wounded, 19 from istanbul. one of the when it is in critical condition. turkey ambassador to released a statement on the protests and --

as all of this unfolded, cnn turkey was widely criticized for airing a three-part documentary on penguins while cnn international was covering the protests. few of the television stations in the country covered the protests while they were happening. on sunday, the turkish prime minister erdogan dismissed the unrest. unfortunately, we have been witnesses to attack a provocation over the past few days. we are once again expressing the -- to threaten government and create chaotic scenes in order to pave the way for interventions against democracy. >> protests in solidarity with those in turkey were also held around the world over the weekend from new york to belgium. the turkish to ministrations are being appeared to the egyptian uprising that began in tahrir square and to the occupy movement that the can with --

began with the occupation of zuccotti park near wall street. for more we are joined by nazan üstundag, assistant professor of political science in istanbul. he participated in the protests and is now at his office were devoid -- and says the via videostream. can you describe for us what is happening in the streets of istanbul and the capital and other places? in more than 60 cities of the country, there are more than 100 demonstrations. in taksim square, the main avenue, this is like times square of new york city. imagine if there is a public park. the president wants to build a

shopping mall their. or cutting a central part to build a mall. this is what happens, with the prime minister wanted to do in istanbul. 700 peopleago, gathered to protest this and police gassed them. the next day, thousands gathered and police gassed them. on saturday, 700,000 people came together and the police fled. >> explain the tension that is clearly in mounting well before even these protests began in istanbul. >> [indiscernible] was the tip of the iceberg. the main problem was increasing totalitarian government. [indiscernible]

neighborhood,e losing 51 people. instead of changing people's attention to a different topic, the prime minister decided to introduce a ban on wine and beer and other spirits in the country. said,eople protested, he how come two drunk man can write a lot and our religion islam cannot be a lot? he was alluding to the founder of modern turkey. there is some democracy in the country. you can raise your opinion. he is the main hero in this country. it was a red line when the prime minister look down on him. afterward, the mayor from his own party, the mayor of

istanbul, said, there won't be a shopping mall or residential center in the park and his minister of culture, former minister of culture, said, there were not planning to build a mall on he said, we're going to cut the trees, the park will go, and we're going to bring a mall and residential center in the city center. everyone to to the streets. >> we're speaking to professor koray caliskan who is assistant professor of political science in istanbul. we're also joined by nazan üstundag, an activist and scholar, in the streets right now in istanbul. can you describe what has been happening mary? last couple of days? >> you can go through the whole weekend. >> well, people have been arriving more and more.

since thursday, there have been resistance against the police and the police have been gathering people. but more and more people have joined. basically, the whole man square of taksim is occupied. police cannot enter. more and more cities are joining in. >> describe what people are saying in the streets and what the police response has been. >> well, it all started with the parke but it has become bigger than that. istanbul has been differentriety of generation projects for a long time now. people have not -- there have .een occupations

more than being islamist, i would describe it as a neoliberal party. it has supplied all of its neoliberal policies for a long time and people have lost their spaces it were living in because of the renovation projects, because of the reconstruction projects. there has not been a great resistance against it because the economy was going well, there was the war and turkistan, so people are more concerned with the kurdish problem. but with the park, all of this resistance, all of this dissatisfaction with the government has come out. it started as the urban movement, actually, to protect the urban areas that occupy has been transforming without consulting with people.

it has been transforming them without consulting with people for a long time now, without opening in the democratic channels for people to ofticipate in the making their urban futures. so everyone has a different reason for being here. women are here because they have the -- onked on their the reproductive rights. there have been new laws passed for restricting abortion, which had been a relaxed issue in turkey until very recently. there are elegy -- lgbt people. they're here because last week there was a meeting about their rights and the government and the people and the government have consulted in various ways them and their rights.

so everybody has a different reason for being here. and because of the peace process going on, i guess, people have found for the first time in 30 years the space to react against the oppressive policies that have been culminating. >> we're going to come back to is dcussion in a moment. we're going to take a break. we're speaking to nazan üstundag who has been in the streets for the last few days, activist and a scholar, and koray caliskan, assistant professor of political science in istanbul. back in a moment. ♪ [music break]

>> this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we're talking about the mass protests in the streets where it is believed at least 1000 people injured and a number of dead in the streets of turkey. i want to go to the turkish prime minister's comments about the protesters in taksim square in his temple and around the country. -- in istanbul and run the country. >> they have been breaking the windows of local stores. is this democracy? they say erdogan is a dictator. i have nothing to say if they call themselves to as committed themselves to this nation a dictator. >> the prime minister also condemned the way social media was used to spread the news about the protests. he said --

i want to get the response of both of our guests, nazan üstundag, activist and scholar, and koray caliskan, assistant professor of political science at the university in istanbul. professor, first of all, it is my understanding that the prime minister of turkey was one of the first turkish leaders to sign on to twitter and tweets quite a lot. but the significance of the blackout on news in turkey and his comments about social media echo >> this is what happens. we see this in every to tea totalitarian leader in the middle east.

twitter has blasted in the last three days. only in the last four days by followers increased by 30% in the country. i just came back from department of computer engineering at the university and i sat down with , a industrial engineer computer scientist. we are writing an article for the day the newspaper published for the data newspaper. analyzing this relationship between twitter and social political movements in the country. the prime minister erdogan uses twister pretty well. when people take to the streets against him [indiscernible] when it comes to talking about the alcohol ban, he says, how

come a drunken man cannot write a lot and we don't listen to islam. he bans reality according [indiscernible] >> cnn international's ivan watson was filing a report on live television when he started to cough after police used pepper spray and istanbul's taksim park. i want to go to an excerpt from his report. >> you can see the riot police in the central taksim square, scoring off against demonstrators who are starting to set up burning barricades, hurling rocks and bottles. it is very overwhelming. this is the commercial heart of turkey's largest city. this started as a protest movement against plans to bulldoze that park over there. and replace it with a shopping mall. >> at the end of that report, cnn's ivan watson said it was hard to breathe without wearing

a gas mask in the area near taksim square and gezi park. ,'m wondering, nazan üstundag if you could talk about the police use of tear gas in the demonstrations? they call this the gas state of the state because it has been going on here for a very, very long time. this is not the first time the police have been casting us. and she might recall, in october, there was a really large hunger strike in turkey and in the and it culminated to were0 people and protesting also the government finished thed police process that had started a few years ago. thes time it was the kurds

taken over the streets and thousands and thousands of people were on the streets for weeks. oft was also a mass gassing people. i think there is a subconscious, nation because we have seen as turks how they have taken over the streets and claimed their rights by taking the streets. ended legendary how they one of the most to tell a tree and police force in the world -- totalitarian police forces in the world. this amazing teargas which prevents you from breathing and talking and doing anything, but i see people -- i have seen, not

now, but i have seen people standing in the midst of this gas without moving and actually move. in the end had to it is in power in. this is a country which has been known for its brutality of its police force and for the 's unquestioning loyalty to its own police forces and its army. soak it is very exciting to see all of these different sections of people -- so it is very exciting to see all these different sections of people gathering against the police park. just to protect a whichst public space

wasn't given to private interests. and all of the neighborhoods, people are where to open up spaces they collaborate and show solidarity with each other, where they share bandages, where they share women's to protect each other from -- share lemons to protect each other from the gas. >> the mayor said the concer about the demolition of gezi park and taksim square were not accurate. he said "it is simply the mandatory removal and transfer of trees in the area in order to enlarge the pedestrian walk."

professor, i would like to go to your response, a professor koray caliskan. do you know the number of dead? doctors are saying more than 1000 wounded. >> more than 1000 wounded. 10.ve heard at least unfortunately, we lost one and five people with increasing conditions because of the tear gas that they had on their head. the police are aiming at their heads with the tear gas bullets and a maim people. what the mayor said is not right.

this is a clear sign of looking down upon people. [indiscernible] 700,000 people can just follow and they find themselves in taksim square? that is not the case. turkish people tried to review the tweets by changing a corner of its. the work started without any of the news about the nature of the work. if you start any construction project, is very much like new york city or washington, d.c. a major construction project, the a minor one, contractor, the permits, everything, all right? even the budget should be written on the construction project. there was nothing in taksim square. they started killing the trees, cutting them, and moving the

soil with bulldozers and people said, no. the mayor should not look down on those people. >> finally, nazan üstundag, where do you see this going? can you talk about communicating with people in other cities like in the capital and also, in terms of the police, the targeting of the tear gas canisters, and four heads, the reports we're hearing over the weekend? things like this are unpredictable. but we don't know what is going to happen tomorrow. one of the demands is the banning of the tear-gas. the other is the release of people who have been arrested. of course, the stopping of the mall project at gezi park.

there was one more that i cannot remember right now. there are four demands. until these four demands are met, we are not going to leave this place. --m not sure that the police at some point the police will try to enter so the whole thing can start again. at night, there are other districts where people demonstrate. when they demonstrate, the police arrive yesterday, actually, one person died run over by awas car during the demonstration, during the fight against the police. the police did not kill him, but it was during the demonstration. how long itlly know will be until the demands are met.

it is good news, and i would like to share this now through you as well, unions are calling for a general strike so the whole thing will take another form once the strikes start. bring in new demands once the workers joined in. we are trying -- what we are expecting, i think i can say this for all of us who are here , for once in 10 years to hear the truth come out through the lips of the president saying something truthful, saying, you know, he has done something wrong, saying people are protesting against him, saying

he has been pressuring the media not to speak, not to give any news. beeng that he has not doing the constitution that we have all been expecting for the last 10 years, saying this renovation projectss are oppressive, saying at least once in his lifetime something truthful. that is all we are expecting. >> you're talking about the president, the prime minister erdogan himself has just left? he was speaking to reporters before a four-day trip? >> right. i met the prime minister. -- i meant the prime minister. he has left. that is what he did during the hunger strikes, too. he just leaves the country. that is what he does. he just believes and hopes for the best. when he comes back in the best

is not happen, so then he makes a concession but pretending as if he does not make the concession. i don't think this time concession will be enough. >> and the number of dead in the protests? can't -- i can only tell you what the association of doctors is saying, and there singer has been only one death due to police violence and that ankara. in there have been very badly wounded people, but there is only been one until now, but thousands are injured. a lot of people have lost their knowbecause of -- i don't how you call it an english, these bullets that are not real

-- >> rubber bullets. >> yes, your eye comes out when it gets to outeyes. as far as i know, 12 people have lost their eyes. >> thank you for being with us, nazan üstundag, on the streets, activist and protester, and koray caliskan, professor, speaking to us about the mass protests taking place throughout turkey that began in istanbul about 1000 people injured. when we come back, we're going to fort meade, maryland, to talk about the trial of bradley manning. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

>> this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. today marks the first day of the military trial of private bradley manning, accused of disclosing a trove of u.s. cables and government documents to the whistleblowing website wikileaks in the largest leak of state secrets in u.s. history. manning is 25 years old. his article and guilty to misusing classified material he felt "should become public," but has denied the top charge of aiding the enemy. since his arrest, for the last three years, for much of the time his been kept in harsh conditions. he could face life in prison. possibly, the death penalty. on saturday, hundreds of protesters gathered outside the barracks of fort meade, maryland where the trial will be held to show their support for manning.

protesters included pentagon papers whistleblower daniel ellsberg. >> he is an extraordinary american who acted on his awareness that it was wrong for us to be killing foreigners. he was not doing it only for american citizens, although i will come back to that in a moment, but he was concerned that the people of the world should be informed of the weight as he put it, the first world of the west treats the third world. america has been acting for a long time, and above all, in the last decade, as if the lives of foreigners meant nothing. >> daniel ellsberg speaking saturday at a protest in support of bradley manning outside fort meade. last month a military judge ruled some testimony in his trial will be cut from the public. colonel denise lind granted the government's request to call 24 witnesses behind closed doors.

the obama administration has argued for the secretive testimony by citing the need to protect classified information. the trial begins today and is expected to run to the end of august. a week by a recording emerged earlier this year of the statement manning delivered at his pretrial hearing at fort meade in february. he acknowledged to give the classified documents to wikileaks and explained what he wanted people to learn from his revelation. it is not an easy, clear recording, so listen carefully. targets that needed to be neutralized and a pressure cooker environment. >> the audit is not clear because it was leaked but bradley manning explained he wanted the american people to know -- "that not everyone in iraq and afghanistan were targets that needed to be neutralized, but

rather people were struggling to live in a pressure cooker environment of what we called asymmetric warfare." to talk about the trial, we're joined by kevin gosztola who has been blogging about the trial pretty as a civil liberties blogger at firedoglake and co author of the ebook, "truth and consequences: the u.s. vs. bradley manning." he is a plaintiff in a lawsuit brought by the center for constitutional rights that challenges government secrecy in manning's court martial, as by the way, is democracy now! kevin, and welcome back. explain exactly what is happening at the trial. it was very unclear what would happen for the journalists, for how this trial will be covered. >> i expect we will have some sort of opening arguments that will have any sort of housekeeping issues that have to be dealt with before they can really proceed with the trial. what i can tell you about the media, having just come in,

there happens to be an overwhelming amount of media. i don't think the military were prepared to handle as many cars as were coming, even though they granted 70 requests in the number was there were about 350 or so requests that were put into the military for credentials. you have had people turned away and denied access and portly, for the issue of the media, yet the story of this crowd funded court reporter or stenographer, the freedom of the press the nation funded, will be using the credentials of the bradley manning support network in order to be covering the proceedings today. >> i just want to say, your reporting to us from your car right outside the proceedings. explain what is at stake today and we expect will happen in this first day of the trial. >> there is a lot i'm going to

find out here when i get off this segment with you, because i've not received the morning briefing. the military did not advertise what exactly the first day is going to be about. what i kentucky from my experience covering the since december 2011 -- what i can tell you from my experience covering this since december 2011, in the first day we don't know exactly what is coined happen. they will establish the business. we know there will probably be some kind of entering of the charges. manning probably will be read his rights. i think the first they could be pretty standard, maybe the word would be perfunctory. >> among the protesters outside fort meade, maryland on saturday was sarah shourd. she was jailed for 14 months in iran after she and two other americans, shane bauer and now her husband -- who is now her husband, and josh fatal, were detained by iranian border

forces on july 31, 2009, for allegedly hiking across the iraqi border into iran. which they don't believe is the case. she spoke to on jazeera from the protests. >> my name is sarah shourd. i am an advocate against the use of solitary confinement and i was held as a political hostage by the iranian government for 410 days in solitary confinement along with my now has been shane bauer and my friend josh fatal. bradley manning does not deserve to be in prison. i know what it is like to sit in a prison cell and you don't deserve to be there. bradley manning was held for nine months in extreme conditions of solitary confinement, very similar to my own in the iranian prison. we were both under lockdown 23 hours a day. we were under sensory deprivation. there is really no way to describe the deaths of loneliness. you really just have to get

through one day of the time. the fact people are coming out for bradley manning and i'm sure he knows about it, word will get to him, i am sure will give him the strength that he needs. and helped remind him that a lot of people really appreciate what he did for our country and for the world. it is a level of bravery and heroism that really takes me aback. manning!radley >> he is a modern-day hero. the obama administration is on the wrong side of history when it comes to the persecution of bradley manning. >> we're also joined right now by chase mader, the author of, "the passion of bradley manning." he is blogging about the manning trial for the nation magazine. he will be covering the court-

martial from the courtroom next week. he is with us right now. his also planted in the lawsuit along with democracy now!, firedoglake, and others, brought by the constitution -- center for constitutional rights that challenges government secrecy in manning's court trial. >> the court-martial of bradley manning is really the last ugly chapter of our sort of an ugly iraq war. a war we rushed into catastrophically in no small part because of extreme government secrecy is now ending in the trial of a truth teller behind a veil of extreme government secrecy. none of the cia torture is, much less bush or cheney, were put on trial but washington has finally found a scapegoat and a young army private who leaked these important documents. to put things into perspective, this is the biggest security breach in the history but also less than 1% of what washington

classifies in a given year. it has not put us on the brink of total transparency. it has not caused diplomatic armageddon. there is no concrete evidence whatsoever that any civilian or soldier has been harmed by the leaks. on the other hand, we have a very clear understanding of what the iraq war was really all about and what our afghan war is still all about. the leaks have sparked important debates and even reforms. in the case of tunisia, it did help spark an uprising that overthrew a hated dictator there. what is not to like? >> last week democracy now! spoke to wikileaks founder julian assange from ecuadorean embassy in london where he has been holed up for almost 11 months to avoid extradition to sweden. he fears from there he would be then be extradited to the u.s., where he fears a grand jury has secretly indicted him for publishing the diplomatic cables leaked by bradley manning

chilean assange talked about the implications of bradley manning's trial. a quite also facing decent chance of life in prison. the life imprisonment charge comes from a very new claim of the pentagon that -- and the department of justice that is communicating with the journalists, is communicating to the public, it is communicating to al qaeda. there is no allegation that bradley manning intended to communicate to al qaeda. the only allegation is that he indirectly did so as a result of communicating with journalists, he communicated to the public. if that precedent is allowed to it means a first, potential death penalty for any

person in the military -- speaking to a journalist about a sensitive matter. second, it also embroils the journalist and the publication in that chain of communicating, they would say, to the enemy, therefore, making them susceptible as well to the espionage act, which also has capital offenses. and that is part of the u.s. attack on wikileaks, including myself. >> that was julian assange speaking to democracy now! lasted from ecuadorean embassy. ecuador has granted him political asylum but the british government threatens to arrest him if he steps foot outside the embassy to try to go to ecuador. and york times op-ed suggested that when government secrets are leaked, responsibility lies with the whistleblower alone, not the media that publicized their leaks.

the new york times washington bureau chief during the pentagon papers leak said -- chase mader, your response? >> this is just a shocking betrayal of an important source. daniel ellsberg and bradley manning have supplied world's greatest newspapers and magazines with cover stories and headlines that number in the thousands. it is just shameful the way the new york times in particular has turned bradley manning and wikileaks and has been an actual point of sliming both of them with the insinuations that bradley manning did woody did because he is weird or because he is crazy or gay or gay and crazy. enough of this. this is an important fact that

has in mind the public and we have paid a very heavy price in blood and money and inflicted horrible destruction around the world because we did not know what our government is doing. >> kevin gosztola, in the car outside the fort meade courtroom, describe for us what that courtroom is like and who can actually go into the courtroom where bradley manning is being tried and what you are allowed to bring with you in terms of taking notes, reporting? the audio would just played of bradley manning was not authorized, of course, it was forbidden that someone actually recorded his voice. talk about where the reporters will be and how you will convey information about this trial. >> first i will say quickly that the military positive view of freedom of the press is such that they have told us the media center is a privilege, not a right, and have also said if there is another leak, everyone will feel the pain and they want

us to police ourselves and the informing on fellow journalists. which i don't like this at all and i completely opposed. but i should say that going into it they're going to be 70 seats inside media's center. people will watch a feed from the courtroom but they will have 10 media allowed to go into the court proceedings and see whatever is going on, how the public gallery is responding, how prosecutors and the judge are interacting. inside the media center, you can use your computers, but inside the courtroom, you have to only limit yourself to pen, pencil, paper, which makes it hard, especially when what you're doing is online. that is part of the challenge, part of the lawsuit is just the fact that the judge continues to not make court records available so that the day of we can do the most extensive reporting we should be doing on bradley

manning's court-martial. >> chase mader, if you would like to wrap up with why you not only are covering this but chose to write a book on this, and what you think are the significant facts as this trial begins for people who don't know that much about bradley manning to understand. >> people need to understand that the idea that government should be as open and transparent as realistically possible, this is not some crazy new idea that was schemed up by a bunch of computer hackers and julian assange's kingtonkitchen table. it was james madison who wrote over 200 years ago that a popular government without popular information or the means of acquiring it is but a prelude to a tragedy or a farce or perhaps both. the last 10 years of u.s. foreign policy has been a tragic force. if we're going to stop making poorly informed decisions that wind up in catastrophe, we need

to know what our government is doing. >> chase mader, thank you for being with us, author of, "the passion of bradley manning." kevinthat does it from -- for te show. i am amy goodman. thanks for joining. "his is "democracy now! as we continue our special broadcast today with the acclaimed chilean economist, medford [indiscernible] yearsn the award two after the public -- publication of his book, outside looking in , experiences in barefoot economics. i had a chance to sit down with him. heis a remarkable figure as talks about looking at economics in a very different way. i had not even heard of him

before. the whole team was there. he was sitting in the corner in germany. it was snowing outside, but he found a place where there were rays of sun coming in. he said no one could interview, he was reading. then he said for sure he would not do this. and then we pleaded. finally, just to cast off these pests he agreed to a few minutes. he stood up and was a mountain of a man. he came down into our makeshift studio and we sat down. we thought we might have a few minutes and he would share a sound bite. whatnce he got going unfolded was a remarkable discussion. his whole theory of barefoot economics. >> it