08/15/13 08/15/13 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] >> from pacifica, this is democracy now! we are facing a massacre, or even a war of genocide. this is unprecedented even in conventional wars. been least 525 people have killed as egyptian security forces cracked down onto to protest camps filled with supporters of ousted president mohamed morsi. the muslim brotherhood says the actual death toll tops 2000. the egyptian military has

defended it and declared a state of emergency. >> the government demands the political leadership of the brotherhood to stop incitements to violence which threaten national security. holds thesent leaders will responsible for any blood shed and of all acts of riots. >> we'll speak with sharif abdel kouddous in cairo and others on the crisis in egypt. bradley manning apologizes to a military judge days before his sentencing. we will speak with reporter alexa o'brien who has been in the courtroom since the beginning. all of that and more coming up. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. egypt's political crisis is growing after the country's deadliest file and sends the egyptian revolution broke out in chocolate thousand 11. at least five people were killed and over 3500 wounded in government rates on protesting catchments.

usede and troops bulldozers, tear gas and live ammunition to clear out the sit ins. makeshift clinics were overrun with the dead and wounded area did members of the muslim brotherhood responded by storming and torching police stations. 43 police officers were reportedly killed. four journalists also died. egypt's army installed government has declared a month- long state of emergency and imposed a dusk to dawn curfew on the capital of cairo and 10 other provinces. the move came shortly after it installed 25 provincial governors, including 19 military generalists. peaced elbaradei, nobel laureate, resigned hours after wednesday's crackdown began, saying the conflict could've been resolved by peaceful means. the muslim brotherhood has called for new rallies in cairo today. a senior muslim brotherhood

leader who lost his daughter in wednesday's violence, urged supporters to protest egypt's military. i swear to god that if people , they willprotesting drag this country no more troubles. he will drive this nation into civil war so he can escape the death penalty. be aware, egyptian people, go into the streets now to announce the end of the arme3d forces political life. >> john kerry condemn the violence, but the obama administration announced no new moves to cut aid to the egyptian military. >> today's events are deplorable and run counter to peace, inclusion, in general and democracy -- and genuine democracy. egyptian's inside and outside of the government need to take a step back. they need to calm the situation and avoid further loss of life. we also strongly oppose a return

to a state of emergency law. and we call on the government to respect basic human rights, including freedom, peaceful assembly and due process under the law. >> we will have more from egypt after the headlines. defense attorneys from a private bradley manning have rested their case at the convicted whistleblower sentencing hearing. on wednesday, manning spoke publicly for the first time in months in a statement apologizing for leaking classified documents to wikileaks. manning said -- an army psychologist to analyze manning while he served in iraq also testified wednesday, along with a clinical psychologist who spent 21 hours examining manning after his arrest. manning sister and aunt also both took the stand to deliver emotional testimony about his childhood.

manning faces up to 90 years in prison after being convicted last month on 20 counts for leaking troves of secret documents to wikileaks. we will have more on bradley manning's sentencing hearing with journalist alexa o'brien later in the broadcast. in a rack, at least 33 people were killed today when a series of car bombs exploded in baghdad . more than 100 were winded. state forces and bahrain have crackdown on pro-democracy rallies challenging the u.s. backed monarchy. on wednesday, a rainy police fired tear gas and birdshot at a number of protest in shiite villages around the capital. bahraini opposition activists say more than 60 rallies were organized across the country. the u.s. embassy closed down for the day after activists planned a rally outside. the bahraini monarchy is a key u.s. government ally, hosting the navy's fifth fleet. is warning anions unstable political environment in a growing humanitarian crisis

are she central african repuof t collapse. conditions have worsened since seleka rubbles ousted president bozize four months ago. in a briefing to the security council, talk you and officials warned that international support is direly needed. >> the country runs the risk of descending [indiscernible] are police officers reporting it is unsafe to walk. >> much more international support is needed to meet growing needs. critical sector such as water, sanitation, and hygiene have received less than 10% of the funding required. >> the african union peacekeeping force for the central african republic has asked the u.n. for greater assistance to fulfill its mandate. the group doctors without borders has announced dangerous conditions are forcing it to cease operations in somalia after 22 years. in a statement, the group cited

extreme attacks on our staff in an environment that condones "the killing, salting and abducting a few miniature and aid workers." the move will mean lower loss of healthcare services for hundreds of thousands of people read the pentagon has announced it will start providing benefits to same-sex military families beginning next month in response to the supreme court decision in june that struck down the defense of marriage act, which barred federal recognition of same-sex marriages. married same-sex couples in the military insulin pentagon employees will be entitled to benefits including health care, housing costs, and survivor benefits. couples station in states that will bar same-sex weddings will be granted leave to get married in states where such unions are legal. the california supreme court meanwhile has rejected a new effort to halt same-sex marriages in the state. on wednesday, the court dismissed of it from supporters of proposition eight to of nor the initial federal court order that struck down the ban.

the supreme court ruled in june that prop eight supporters don't have legal standing to appeal. new york prosecutors have unveiled charges against two former employees of the banking giant jpmorgan chase for the so- called london whale trades that cost the bank more than $6 billion and derailed financial markets nationwide. a senate probe earlier this year accused jpmorgan chase of misleading the public, manipulating documents, and ignoring warnings from within its own ranks as the losses piled up. on wednesday, the u.s. attorney announce the first charges to stem from the case. >> the defendants deliberately and repeatedly lied about the fair value of billions of dollars and assets on jpmorgan's books in order to cover-up massive losses that mounted month after month at the beginning of 2012. those lies misled investors, regulators, and the public, and they constituted several crimes. as has already been conceded,

this was not a tempest in a teapot, but rather a perfect storm of individual misconduct and inadequate internal controls. >> the two defendants reside in europe and it's unclear if they will face extradition. backing offuse is initial reports that director of national intelligence james clapper will head a government review of nsa spying. president obama announced an independent review of the nsa's operations on friday, but then suggested clapper would be in namee three at clapper's immediately sparked outrage following accusations he lied to congress about nsa surveillance earlier this year. a national security council spokesperson says the white house, not clapper, will choose the review panel's members. ihe military contractor cac international is seeking legal cross from four iraqi prisoners

who unsuccessfully sued the company for the portrait abu ghraib. in iraqi farmer alleges he was caged, beaten, threatened with dogs and given electric shocks to wring more than four years in u.s. detention. but a federal judge dismissed the case in june, citing the recent supreme court decision to restrict lawsuits under the alien tort statute against corporations for abuses on foreign soil. based on that ruling, the website, dreams reports that caci has filed a lawsuit demanding the four iraqis hand over $15,000 to cover the firm's legal fees. the top prosecutor in orlando, florida says he plans to review the fbi's fatal shooting of the unarmed chechen man questioned for his ties to the boston marathon bombers in may. agents were questioning either him todashev at his orlando apartment when he allegedly tried to attack them after multiple anonymous claims that todashev was armed, it later emerged the circumstances were unclear. the state attorney confirmed he

has received a perimeter justice department report on the shooting. todashev's father said he wants justice for his son. >> i hope and pray that no mother and no father will at their have to go through what i'm going through right now. -- will ever have to go through what i'm going through right now. my son was a very good boy and he was innocent and he was simply killed. >> the todashev family is considering a civil action against the fbi read a recent exposé by the new york times found that the fbi has cleared its agents in every single shooting incident dating back 20 years. former democratic congress member jesse jackson, jr. of illinois has been sentenced to 30 months in prison after pleading guilty to corruption charges earlier this year. the former congressmember jackson spent more than 750,000

dollars in campaign funds on personal items, including music emeryville yet and items for his home. he resigned last year after several monthly to see treatment for bipolar disorder. his wife was also sentenced to 12 months for tax fraud. those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. >> welcome to all our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. members of egypt's muslim brotherhood have called on followers to march in protest in cairo today after at least 525 people died when security forces it'sd to protesting cam filled with supporters of ousted president mohamed morsi. more than 3500 people were injured. the muslim brotherhood says the

death toll may top 2000. police and troops used bulldozers, tear gas, and live ammunition to clear out the cairo students. members of the muslim brotherhood responded by storming and torching police stations. 43 police officers were reportedly killed. wednesday marked the third mass killing of islamist demonstrators since morsi was deposed six weeks ago three at egypt's army installed government declared a month-long state of emergency and imposed a dusk to dawn curfew on the capital cairo and 10 other provinces. in the interim vice president hoursd elbaradei resigned after the crackdown began saying the conflict should have been resolved by peaceful means. said westerny leon allies warned egypt's military leaders against using force to crush the protests. leon said --

>> international response has been mixed. john kerry condemned the violence, but the obama administration announced no moves to cut someone -- cut money to the egyptian military. the turkish prime minister called on thursday for the un security council to convened quickly and act after what he described as a massacre in egypt . meanwhile, the united arab emirates expressed support for the crackdown, saying the egyptian government had "exercised maximum self- control." four journalist died in wednesday's violence including a reporter from the united arab emirates. delaziz-old habeeba abde work as a journalist for the dubai-based xpress.

we go now to cairo, joined by three guests. democracy now! correspondent sharif abdel kouddous and lina attalah, chief editor and cofounder of the cairo-based news website, mada masr. joining us from washington, chris toensing, director of the middle east research and information project read sharif, yesterday morning when this all began, please, describe what happened. take us through the day. >> before i do that, slight correction, three journalists were killed yesterday, the photojournalist was not killed. that was an erroneous report that filtered through the media yesterday. to answer your question, yesterday was a day of violence and chaos and bloodshed, the most violent episode i have witnessed as reporter in egypt for the past 2.5 years. walking around the northeastern

where ahood in cairo mosque was located, you could hear the crackle of machine-gun fire intermittently in the air. in theas teargas thrown city mixed with black smoke rising from cairo. just to give you a sense of what it was like to get in for protesters, to get in or out, you had to make a perilous run across a stretch of open road that was exposed to sniper fire. when i was leaving once, man running next to me was hit in the head with what appeared to be a shotgun pellets. many protesters had taken to writing their names in magic marker on their arms and a number of someone to call in case they were killed. spokenerior industry has for a couple of weeks about the plan to disburse the sit ins

that would go in stages and first involved -- surrounding the protesters and then a gradual escalation. that all of the witness i've spoken to said the attack 6:30 andometime around came in very hard with teargas and the casualty started pouring in. most of them with live soon after that. the scene inside the main medical facility was extremely tragic. people were being brought in, the dead and winded, every few minutes. the floor was slippery with blood. the windows were closed to prevent teargas from coming in and it was almost unbearably hot. the dead were everywhere for it in one room alone, i counted 24 bodies just strewn on the ground , packed so closely could not even walk in. on another floor, 30. on another floor, 8. authors were overwhelmed with the casualties. it was a difficult situation.

havene i think will duplications for egypt's future not just for years, but for decades to come. >> sharif, there were reports the hospital you mentioned that they in fact even fired tear gas within the hospital, the security forces? is that correct? >> there have been reports of that. i didn't see it myself. what is also important to understand, there was no access for the ambulances to get to the critical he winded, so there -- winded, so there were a lot of additional lives lost because wounded could not get out. i think it is also important to remember this was a day where we saw so many hundreds killed in the death toll keeps rising. i just came today from the mosque not far from rabaa which

is really another massive morgue. it is another hot summer day and family members are bringing in blocks of ice and placing it on the corpses. there are fans everywhere. but the smell of death hung atvy in the mosque three many of the bodies -- at least 10 that i saw -- were charged very badly, badly burned read these were bodies in the mosque and in another field hospital that were completely burned to the ground when the security forces raided sometime around 4:30 or 5:00 p.m. >> what about the warning before all of this took lace? what about the military saying they gave warning? the witness i've spoken to said they did not have a warning of the attack, that the attack began very hard with teargas and followed quickly by

live ammunition. they cleared the sandbags and makeshift worriers they had erected with bulldozers. none of the eyewitnesses i spoke to talked of any warning and no real safe passage for people to escape the violence had they wanted to. >> lina attalah, can you describe what you witnessed yesterday? so i arrived to the side of the clashes just outside the area that became completely barricaded by military and police forces. in this area, even though it was supposed to be an area falling outside the scope of the sit in, there was still extremely heavy gunfire, it was everywhere, and teargas being thrown at protesters. those who managed to exit the sit in.

and when i tried to move on to reach the sit in, i was interested to know whether earlier reports of safe exit that was basically said in the ministry of interior statement earlier, if these reports were real. but what we figured is there was really no safe exit outside of the sit in. the city and was heavily surrounded by both military and police and special forces. was not --de street did not have a strong presence of military and police forces, however, the street was heavily subjected to gunfire by snipers from surrounding rooftops. exitwas basically the main for those wounded and dead bodies who could not make it into the main medical facility -- sharif mentioned earlier.

inside the medical facility like sharif said, it was a virtual scene of so many people. we met a lot of people who were hurt with bird shot and could not get into the medical facility just because they gave priority to live ammunition injuries. a lot of people were precariously injured but had to stay outside of the hospital in what seemed to be a tighter and tighter sit-in once the police moved on to tighten the sit-in completely on the muslim brotherhood. on the way out of the hospital when we decided to exit the hospital was an extremely precarious moment with gunfire. you can imagine how difficult it was to transfer injured and dead bodies in their. just an hour after we left this medical city, it was stormed and

put on fire by the police. i would say this is one of the of use ofious moments force to disburse a sit in than i have seen in the last three years, despite all the reports that we have gotten from the military of interior using gradual force, basically, you know, resorting to providing safe exit to the protesters and so on and so forth. >> lina attalah, could you also explain why the security forces decided to act with such unprecedented force? sure if there really was a way for the security forces to act overtly, to be honest with you. we have not seen any precedents of security forces basically using gradual force, for example, to disburse or anything like that.

we don't have a president, even though there were all the statements about the very careful of tried to minimize the death toll. --don't have president presidents are believe the military of interior has the expertise to basically disburse the least costly way like we saw yesterday. what the ministry of interior saying thating is they are armed and it justifies their use of force in order to both defend themselves and disburse the sit ins. though what we have also seen is on the other side of cairo, basically they were dispersed in less than an hour. we don't have corroborative evidence of protesters firing at police. there may have been use of force by the side of protesters, but there is no way this would have circumvented the police's

ability to disburse the sit ins completely. we are not talking about an equal amount of weaponry or anything like that between the protesters and the police. so my main explanation is the police simply has no other way than to disburse the sit ins using excessive violence. we don't have any examples of them doing anything differently, basically. >> the military said something like more than 40, 43 security forces, military forces, were killed. do you know anything about that? >> we have no information about how they were killed. as linda mentioned, there have been reports of morsi supporters using firearms and firing back. we do know at least one police truck was thrown off the main bridge here and there are photographs of police officers who were killed.

we don't know how they were killed. it is also important to point out there has been a wave of attacks on christian churches, monasteries, schools, and facilities -- mostly in cities south of cairo. the leading human rights group in egypt has called this reprisal attacks by morsi supporters for these raids coming down, so there was -- once the raids began, it ignited a wave of violence across the country. any police stations were also attacked. the death toll is overwhelmingly on the side of the morsi protesters, and he keeps going up by the hour. we are almost approaching the total number people killed in the initial 18 date -- 18 date uprising in 2011. it is a very bloody day in egypt . to the shame of the many

political and business elites in thet, they have praised police force and praised the security apparatus for what they call self-restraint as has the prime minister. last night the one notable --eption was albert dave mohamed elbaradei, probably the most prominent statesman in the interim cabinet that left legitimacy in the eyes of the international community to the military as transition. he resigned yesterday. he is one of the few voices that was calling for the sit ins not to be forcibly dispersed. he said he didn't want to take responsibility for actions that are outside of his control anymore. i think this lays bare even further, if there ever was any notion that this is a fully military-led transition and the military is in control. >> we're going to take a break and come back to this discussion the sharif abdel kouddous,

democracy now! correspondent along with lina attalah. when we come back, they will be joined by chris toensing. back in a moment. ♪ [music break]

>> this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. our guest are sharif abdel kouddous in cairo, lina attalah is there with him. in washington, chris toensing, middle east research and information project. he cowrote the book, "the journey to tahrir: revolution, protest, and social change in egypt." i want to talk about the u.s. response. responding, earnest

a white house spokesperson, said the u.s. would not turn recent events in egypt as a "coup." >> we said we are reviewing the assistance we provide and that is ongoing. you have heard us say we're not going to designate the interim government as a coup because it is not in the best interest of the united states. we made an announcement a couple of weeks ago about a shipment that was delayed. the review of our assistance that is provided to egypt is something that we do on a regular basis, and that is something that we are continuing to do. >> that was josh earnest come spokesperson for the white house, speaking in martha's vineyard were the obama's are on vacation. chris toensing, talk about the u.s. response. well, i think there's been quite muted, although it has been described by the washington post and elsewhere as a condemnation, was not a very

sharp condemnation i think in the clip that you played from secretary john kerry at the outset of this story here. i think the second sentence of his mouth was that he called on both sides to exercise restraint and to pull back from the brink of constipation. -- consternation. that is a way of inflicting the blame should fall squarely on the shoulders of the military junta. >> i want to go to what john kerry said yesterday. >> today's events are deplorable and they run counter to egyptian aspirations for peace, inclusion, and genuine democracy. egyptians inside and outside of the government need to take a step act. they need to calm the situation. they need to avoid further loss of life. we also strongly oppose a return to a state of emergency law, and we call on the government to

respect a sick human rights including freedom, peaceful assembly, and due process under the law. we believe the state of emergency should end as soon as possible. violence is simply not a solution in egypt or anywhere else. violence will not create a roadmap for egypt's future. >> chris toensing, continue with your response. the second sentence he said egyptians inside and outside government need to pull back, need to take a step back. the implication there is both the army, the egyptian state, and the protesters at the sit ins are some out equally to blame for what occurred yesterday him and that is simply outrageous. as we have heard from the very vivid reporting by sharif and lina on the ground, what happened in cairo yesterday was a massacre by any definition of the term.

it was violence initiated by the army, perpetrated by the army, which is by far the more heavily armed party. and overwhelming bulk of the casualties are among the unarmed civilian or testers. it should have been spoken of as did andnister erdogan it should be on the agenda of the international community at the u.n. if the u.s. were tears about human rights and social justice and democracy around the world would not just be reviewing its aid package to egypt, but immediately seeking its termination until such time as genuinely democratically elected and legitimate government is in place in egypt. and until there is such time there is accountability for what can only be described as crimes against amenity carried out by the prime u.s. ally in egypt, which is the egyptian army. >> chris toensing, you mentioned the question of u.s. aid.

a number of analysts have pointed out since morsi was ousted, saudi arabia, the uae possibly exercise more power with the military authorities in egypt now, given they have pledged $12 billion in aid. so how much leverage do you think the u.s. still has given that they give i think $1.3 billion? >> i agree with the premise of that question which is the leverage of the u.s. is very limited. i think that has been the case for a long time. the egyptian armies going to do what it wants to do by and large area did certainly with regard to domestic egyptian politics come and u.s. voice and those affairs is very limited. it is important to note in connection with that question that the u.s. does not give $1.3 billion year to the egyptian military in order to prop up the egyptian military or for the good of egypt. this is to secure what has been viewed as u.s. interest in the region, namely, the sanctity of

the camp david treaty with israel, prevention of another the middle war in east, keeping the suez canal open to commercial traffic and u.s. warships. these are the u.s. interests the u.s. believes will only be protected by the egyptian army for the foreseeable future. need to remember american policymakers have remarkable capacity for self-deception. i think secretary john kerry and half believeors the pieties that come out of their mouths and moments like these. ideally they would like egypt to be a free and democratic country, but only if the government that is produced from that process agrees with our concept of what our strategic interests are in the region. so the dilemma for the u.s. is that they can either have

autocrats who rule in accordance with u.s. strategic vision, or they can have a democratic system where the outcome is uncertain. sadly, to this point, not just in egypt but across the region, the u.s. has shown up for first the first option, autocrats who will toe the u.s. line. >> i want to ask about the u.s. elation ship with the military -- relationship with the military. i want to go back first to lina attalah who i know has to leave in a moment and sharif abdel kouddous, and ask you both about what the european envoy leon said western allies warned egypt's military against using force if he said "we had a political plan that was on the table that had been accepted i the other side. they could have taken this option, so all that is happening today was a necessary."

what was that plan? the problem is that we have been hearing about negotiations that have been brokered by several european allies -- qatar, but the problem is there is no transparency at all about the terms of these negotiations. so the government would not give any details on one hand and on the other, whenever a journalist approaches what remains of the muslim brotherhood leaders of prison, basically, and who may be taking part in this ago shenzhen process, the main thing they keep telling us is the main demand is reinstatement of mohamed morsi, aich does not seem to be reasonable demand. president morsi is going through a series of cases against him. the problem is that it is very

difficult to comment on whether a political plan was viable and was possible to basically avoid this violent dispersal of the we don't have any information about what are the terms of the negotiation. we have a since the brotherhood was intent on knocking compromising on one hand, especially their considered to be in a position of weakness right now free at at at the same time, are not also sure what has been offered to them in terms of political inclusion from the military are basically at this point in egypt, especially some of the remarks important leaders are basically in jail right now. others [indiscernible] there doesn't seem to be a compromising position from the military. in this context, it is hard to know what kind of political map

are political alternative to what happened yesterday. >> i think it is also important to realize the context that all of this took place, there was a very vicious campaign in the media to portray the entire muslim brotherhood and all of morsi supporters is violent terrorist, very shrill kind of repeated drumbeat coverage calling for the forcible dispersal of the sit ins, demonization of the protesters am a very heavy criticism of moment of where they of elbaradei himself. they debating crushing the sit ins and even aging the other sides -- baiting the other sides. 1990s thatto the

low-level insurgency and complete security clap down, not only on the muslim brotherhood but security blanket that is really a straitjacket and reasserts the or re-empowers a very aggressive authoritarian security state in the country. >> sharif, a teenage daughter of her prominent muslim brotherhood official was among the over 500 people killed in raids on supporters of ousted president morsi. on wednesday, he said his 17- year-old daughter had been killed and warned of a wider conflict pressingly not the head of the armed forces. >> i swear to god that if people don't keep protesting, al-sisi will to strike this country to more trouble, dragged this nation into civil war so he can escape the death penalty. be aware, egyptian people, going to the streets now to announce the end of the military coup and

to announce the officers and the soldiers of the military party would kill its own people should not respond to its instructions. >> lina attalah had to leave. being reported that hundreds of morsi supporters have stormed a set fire to a governor building ingiza. sharif, could you explain to me you mentioned earlier that brotherhood supporters have also attacked coptic christian churches in the country, could you explain why these targets are being selected? >> the report of the attack on giza security governor happened while we were on the air right now and there has been calls for mass marches today, mostly funeral marches for those killed yesterday, but of course there is a seething anger within the rank-and-file of the muslim brotherhood and other morsi supporters.

we are increasingly getting into a situation of a spiraling levels of violence across the country. tos could -- we have remember there is a state of emergency that was declared by the government yesterday as well as a nighttime curfew that was first imposed yesterday. the state of emergency lists due process rights, freedom of assembly is lifted, allows for the indefinite detention without charge of civilian, basically, allows police to crack down on all protest. but egypt has lived under a state of urgency for 30 years under mubarak. police officers acted with impunity regardless even after that was lifted. it is no surprise the state interim government revived one of the most hated, repressive tools of the mubarak regime in order to justify the crackdown. with regards to the attack -- it

is not just coptic christian churches, but all christian facilities, monasteries, churches, buildings. ablaze church was set and burned it down, businesses were attacked. this has been described as a reprisal attack for the -- by morsi supporters for the two raids yesterday, and there has been for a long time now running out of the main stage and from supporters of mom and morsi, very divisive religious rhetoric that borders on sectarian incitement. it is hard to make a direct link. it certainly lays the groundwork for these kinds of attacks to continue. >> daily beast and newsweek correspondent was among a number of journalists who reported being targeted while reporting on the crack down. he said security personnel surrounded him, took his phone, id, removed his laptop from his

back, demanded the password to unlock it. he was arrested and held for about four hours. he said he was arrested along with the new egyptian freelance photographer and a french freelance photographer. there was a woman reporter from the uae, the egyptian journalist, and there was the reporter from sky news. sharif, do you have a sense of journalists being targeted? >> yesterday was such a violent securitye're seen forces target journalists frequently in these kinds of mass crack downs. another reuters journalist was shot in the leg, another was held and had his phone taken and photos erased. let me just point out the

reporter for the dubai papers is uaegyptian, not from the read the other reporter, the veteran cameramen, the 61-year- old was also killed. it was a very, very dangerous and bloody situation, and impossible to know when you were safe. there was gunfire happening all around you. ofboth in terms of that kind deadly violence, it was a very difficult day i think for many journalist, but also security forces and the army in the apparatus in general acting the same kinds of ways we have seen in many instances over the past 2.5 years in terms of trying to clamp down on the press and stop them from doing their jobs. tochris toensing, i want you, the day before the crack were 19 military generals installed as provincial governors in egypt -- sorry, 25 were installed, including two

loyalists of the mubarak regime. could you talk about the significance of this? you look athink if the events of the last two years, capped by yesterdays massacre, i think what we're seeing is counterrevolution that is occurring. it is occurring more quickly than anybody thought it might. the powers behind the throne in egypt who have been the powers behind the throne for some 50 years, the army, the secret police and other allied civilians, politician civilian faces if they will, the so- called egyptian deep state, is afraid of the egyptian people. they don't want a sibling oversight over their prerogatives. they want to maintain their ability to operate above the law. we have seen what links they go to. to -- lengths to and they're seizing the opportunity presented by political turmoil and chaos in the wake of the ouster of

mubarak, in the wake of the miss rule of the muslim brothers and the arrogance that morsi and is compatriots displayed when they were given a taste of power. they are using that opportunity to consolidate their grip on the country, and at the same time presenting themselves riding in on a white horse to save the country from disaster. sharif can confirm this, but my impression so far is that many, many egyptians, perhaps the majority, agree with the armies version of events. that is partly because they're not being provided with enough information to judge for themselves because the military -- shut down media outlets most of the media outlets that would report independently. but it is also because there is a deep yearning among egyptian citizens for return to normalcy, return to stability, and they see the army as the only force

in national politics that can credibly promise such a scenario. it is a very sad situation as lina described. >> sharif, if you could comment on the return of big mubarak regime, and the power of al- sisi. we talked about the big posters come in the iconography around him right now. >> well, there's been a lot of talk about the return of the police state and so forth. i think it is important to note the police state never went away. a were killing and arresting people with impunity. the rule of mohamed morsi, let's remember, thanked the police after they gunned down 60 people in january. i think chris is right for you . the security apparatus rose this

wave of anger to reconstitute themselves and try to instill this more aggressive authoritarian order. i think if we have learned anything over the past 2.5 years, one, you cannot enforce .tability the idea you can enforce stability only leads to more chaos. we have seen it time and time again. two, i think the one thing people will not stand for in the long term is to have this regressive security state and put it on them. once the targets of this authoritarian apparatus moves and from the islamists starts imposing itself on other areas of egyptian society, then i think we might see, perhaps, once again, a popular uprising against that kind of crackdown. time and again there has been these mass uprisings against authoritarian rule, successive

states have tried to co-opt the old regime including the muslim brotherhood. we have seen these mass uprisings come up and force those in power to make changes to try to preserve the state. having said that, we are in a very difficult situation read the level of violence and polarization is so deep that it is hard to know when it will stop. >> sharif, thank you for being with us and your bravery in reporting. we're are going to link to your photos free and we are featuring your twitter stream on democracynow.org on the homepage. we want to thank lina attalah who had to leave, the cofounder of mada masr and also i want to thank chris toensing for being book,s, coeditor of the "the journey to tahrir: revolution, protest, and social change in egypt." what didome back,

bradley manning same court yesterday at fort meade? stay with us. ♪ [music break]

>> this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. >> we turn now to the trial of army private riley manning is the sentencing phase winds down with a decision expected to soon as next week. on wednesday, the 25-year-old whistleblower who faces up to 90 years in prison for leaking hundreds of thousands of documents to wikileaks took the stand for about three minutes read manning told judge colonel denise lind -- manning added --

>> and army psychologist to analyze bradley manning wally served in iraq also testified wednesday, along with a clinical psychologist who spent 21 hours examining manning after his arrest. manning sister and aunt took the stand to deliver emotional testimony about manning's difficult childhood. all of this comes as several other defense witnesses took the stand this week after the government wrapped up its witnesses friday. for more we're joined by alexa o'brien and washington, d.c., who has been attending the trial daily since it began at fort meade, and will return their friday when a court martial is set to reconvene in the government may make a rebuttal read we welcome you back to democracy now! it is good to see you in a studio. can you talk about bradley manning's apology? >> one of the most important

things i want to say today is the fact that his statement yesterday is completely consistent with the statements he made in court back in february, with that provident statement where he pled to 10 lesser included offenses. he pled to service discrediting and told the judge back in february that he didn't have the authority and he knew that what he had done was wrong. he also said he could understand how his actions harmed perceptions and feelings about the united states not being able to handle information securely, and how that might affect the u.s. in its relationships globally. so i don't think that his apology is in any way contradict in -- hundred 18 the last 19 months in court. >> could you talk about the shift in the focus of the defense during the sentencing phase opposed to during the

trial? it seems during the sentencing phase, the focus was much more on riley manning's, what was termed his troubled childhood rather than his desire to what he perceived to be the injustices of u.s. military in iraq and elsewhere as he witnessed them. >> as you know in the merits phase of the trial, manning was convicted on probable harm. and mode of an actual damage was all relegated to sentencing -- mode of an actual damage was all really get it to sentencing. we knew he was going to talk about his motive. what we had yesterday was a clinical psychologist and a forensic psychiatrist who explain to the court mental health issues as they related to legal issues. talk about manning's good faith motive. it came in a very -- i was on to characterize it as an earnest and sincere package.

people have to understand, bradley manning is more of a moral character than a political one. why are people so moved by bradley manning? because his acts were fundamentally an act of conscience. the way in which he has presented himself in court has always been deferential to authority, always in a certain sense respectful and free neutral. he has even instructed his attorney to only speak in text- text documents with the press in a very accurate way and to get right to the point. i think in bradley manning doing that and in taking even the statement of apologizing to the u.s. government, what he does is show in stark relief the prejudice of u.s. government and the prosecution -- how overbearing that ben, hysterical they have been. bradley manning has been nothing of the sort. he has a complex history. you cannot package it and sell it to the media and everybody

loves it. he has identity disorder in a very complicated relationship -- interpersonal relationship. he was very young. somenk you'd like discrimination deeper protect himself over the might of u.s. government when it came to these leaks. he was completely wide open to be abused by the press as well is abused by the u.s. government. with very much in line what is been really successful itense strategy is to lay out there and show how it all fits together. >> we have this cross-dressing photo that bradley manning sent his sergeant. if you could talk about the significance of this. it is something he alludes to in his own statement when he said "i was dealing with a lot of issues, issues that are ongoing and continued to affect me." mail, "it hasn e-

caused problems with in my family. i thought a career in the military would get rid of it." if you could comment on the significance of this is the sentencing phase of the trial is wrapping up, alexa? >> i think fundamentally we need to understand when bradley manning's psychiatrist and clinical psychologist talk about his gender identity issues in court in relation to the leak, they didn't do it as [indiscernible] they did it in the fact the two occurrences were happening at the same time. the largest week, the first leak 2010 and it was around the time where he started to dress as a woman. his truth and acts of conscience of leaking these large data sets all came -- come from the same

threat. >> thank you for being with us. we will continue to follow this trial that continues on friday. . [captioning made possible by democracy now!]

>> the following program is an original production of link tv. [applause] >> thank you. thank you very much. i'm so delighted to come here and talk about our work. and this is an occasion that, uh, gives me the opportunity to raise more issues that we see in the connection with our work. grameen bank, which was started back in 1976... not as an effort of a bank or