04/14/14 04/14/14 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] >> from pacifica, this is democracy now! did i think journalism in general is possible without break sources? i know ours would be impossible without the incredible courage of edward snowden. >> he came forward with information that allows us to know what is actually happening. so this award is really for edward snowden. >> journalists glenn greenwald and more portraits returned to the united states for the first time since breaking the edward snowden nsa story.

they flew in from berlin, not knowing if they would be detained were subpoenaed after the u.s. government described journalists working on the nsa story as snowden and compasses. they flew in for the george polk awards. we will play their acceptance speeches and a news conference that followed. then we will be joined by matthieu aikens who won a george polk award as well for his rolling stone piece, "the a-team killings." >> the torture and action additional killings i wrote about in the story is routine among the afghan security forces we have trained. we're leaving behind a gangster state. >> all of that and more coming up. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. three people have been killed in shootings at two jewish facilities in kansas.

a former member of the ku klux klan is accused of opening fire inside a jewish community center and an assisted-living home in the town of overland park. the suspect reportedly yelled ler" upon his arrest. the police chief said the attack is began to investigate it as a hate crime. >> i caution everyone to understand suspects are people of interest. this gentleman is in his 70's. he is a white male. he has a beard. outside of that, there's not a whole lot i can confirm. we are investigating it as a hate crime, a criminal act. we have ruled out anything. i don't want to say the terrorism word, but this is three hours into it. it is only wise and prudent we use every resource we have. >> the suspect, fraser glenn miller, had been a grand dragon as a kkk member. the shooting came on the eve of

the jewish holiday of passover. ukraine is threatening to send troops into eastern towns today after a deadline passed for pro-russian demonstrators to stand down. the protesters have occupied state buildings and a call for breaking off from ukraine and joining russia. ukraine has warned of a full-scale assault to retake the buildings and end the standoff. at the united nations, u.s. ambassador samantha power accused russia of orchestrating the unrest. >> these are very units -- these armed units raised russian and separatist flags overseas to buildings and call for referendums in unions with russia. we know who is behind us. the only entity in the area capable of these coordinated traditional military actions is russia. >> a ukrainian operation could spark a new military incursion by russia, which has massed tens of thousands of troops on its ukraine border.

the united nations top environmental panel is warning the world has just 15 years to stave off devastating climate change. in a new report, the intergovernmental panel on climate change says countries have taken so long to act that only immediate action will prevent a climate catastrophe by century's end. says action by individual countries has not been enough to tackle the problem, highlighting the need for a binding global treaty in the coming years. emissions have increased at twice the rate in this century's first decade than the last decades of the 20th century. report says the loring costs of alternative energies has made transitioning on a mass scale practical and affordable. president obama has taken aim at the republican-the rollback of voting rights with some of its most pointed comments to date. speaking to the national action network in new york city, obama said voter id laws and the gutting of the voting rights act have undermined democracy.

>> the principle of one person, one vote is the single greatest tool we have to regress -- address in an status quo. you would think there would not be an argument about this anymore. but the stark simple truth is this. the right to vote is threatened today in a way that it does not been since the voting rights act became law nearly five decades ago. country, republicans have led efforts to pass laws making it harder, not easier, for people to vote. president obama has nominated office of management and budget director sylvia mathews burwell as the new head of health and human services. she would replace kathleen sebelius, who stepped down last week. orwell appeared with obama and kathleen sebelius at the white house on friday. >> if confirmed by the senate, i look forward to carrying on the important work of ensuring that

children, families, and seniors have the building blocks of healthy and productive lives. throughit is implementing the affordable care act, supporting affordable childcare, or finding new frontiers to prevent and treat disease. >> senate republicans are expected to use her confirmation hearings to take shot the president obama's health care law. kathleen sebelius oversaw the laws troubled rollout, but ended her tenure when the administrators -- with the administration hitting its enrollment target by signing up over 7.5 million people for private insurance. the obama ministration is blocking arantxa ambassador to the united nations from entering u.s. to take up his post. the white house says it won't grant an entry visa to hamid aboutalebi because he allegedly belong to the groupie on the 1979 hostage crisis entire run. jay carney announced the decision. >> we have informed united nations and iran that we will

to mr.ue a visa aboutalebi. we will review the legislation. we're doing that now. we share the intent of the bill. >> he has previously served as iran's abbasid or to belgium, italy, australia, and the european union and has denied playing a direct role in the hostage crisis. iran has rejected u.s. decision and says it will bring the matter before the united nations. israel has seized a new tract of land in the occupied west bank will stop the israeli government has declared around 250 acres south of jerusalem as state land. onee really newspaper says of israel's biggest land appropriations in years.

the move comes amidst u.s. efforts to salvage peace talks between israel and the palestinian authority. dozens of people have been killed in a bombing of a bus station in nigeria. there are at least 35 confirmed dead, but the toll is expected to rise. the national security agency has reportedly known of the massive new internet bug heartbleed for several years, and even adopted it for its own use. bloomberg news reports the nsa was made aware of heartbleed in early 2012. the bug leaves private web information open to theft by hackers, including passwords and browsing history. instead of reporting heartbleed to repair its flaws, the nsa reportedly started using it as a means to steal passwords. the nsa has denied report, saying it was not aware of the heartbleed vulnerability until it became public this month. if confirmed, the use of heartbleed would apparently follow under a newly revealed

exemption for the nsa's handling of internet security flaws. according to "the new york times ," president obama has exempted the nsa from disclosing major internet bugs in cases where a clear national security or law enforcement need would justify heaping it secret. a veteran attorney for the securities and exchange commission says his bosses have been too lenient and going after wall street banks. speaking at his retirement party, james kidney said the sec has been "tentative and fearful" in going after major financial firms for the reckless policies that caused the 2008 financial crisis. he said "the sec is an agency that polices the broken windows on the street level and really ."es to the penthouse floors

residents of a small canadian town have voted to oppose a major pipeline that would carry crude oil from alberta's tar sands in the driver and in style vote. residents of kitimat rejected hosting the terminal for the enbridge corporations northern gateway pipeline project, which carries tar sands oil to canada's west coast. the project has sparked protest for standing to cut through sensitive environmental areas and indigenous land. the northern gateway is seen as the main backup option should president obama reject another tar sands pipeline, the keystone xl. the canadian government has final say over the northern gateway, with a decision expected in mid-june. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. 10 months ago, laura poitras and glenn greenwald flew from new york to hong kong to meet nsa whistleblower edward snowden.

since then, there've published a trove of stories exposing the nsa and the national surveillance state. poitras and greenwald did not return to the united states until this past friday when they flew from berlin to new york to accept the george polk award for national security reporting. they flew and not knowing if they would be detained or subpoenaed by the u.s. government. in january, the director of national intelligence james clapper described analysts working on the nsa story as a compass is." in february, mike rogers, chair of the house intelligence committee, accused glenn greenwald of selling stolen goods are reporting stories on the nsa documents. greenwald and poitras were accompanied by an aclu attorney, greenwald'ster, and partner david miranda.

last year he was to tame for nine hours that lenin to throw airport under an anti-terrorism law. at the george polk awards ceremony friday, poitras and greenwald were joined by their colleagues you and mccaskill of "the guardian" and barton gelman of "the washington post," who share the award with them. this is laura poitras followed by glenn greenwald in their acceptance speeches. >> i am incredibly honored to be here and thankful to the polk committee for giving me a really good excuse to come home. this is the first time i have been home since i boarded the plane with glenn and ewen to hong kong. it is also quite disorienting. the field of what would look at was a lot of uncertainty, risk and a concern for everyone. it is extraordinary to be here and receive this award, but i think it is also important that

we remember when we actually do this reporting, the enormous journalists take on, especially that sources take on. in the case of snowden, putting his life on the line -- literally -- to share this information with the public, not just the american public, but the public internationally. i want to say something about working with glenn and ewen. you don't really know how people will respond to risk until you're confronted with it. you hope you will stand up and thateach other's back and those will be the people who will protect you and get you home safely. i just want to say this award would not be possible without their courage and bravery and fears reporting every step of the way -- fierce reporting every step of the way.

had our areas of expertise working together. we got on the plane having never worked together. we worked together in a way that was extraordinary and i will forever be bound to them. here, all ofuld be the people who are being offered these awards without the fact someone decided to sacrifice their life to make this information available. he is not the first person who sacrificed her life, but he came forward with information that allows us to know what is actually happening. so this award is really for edward snowden. [applause] >> first of all, thank you so much to the polk committee and long island university for this award. the reporting we have done has received a lot of support and a

lot of praise and the like, that it has also received intense criticism, primarily in the united states and the u.k. so to be honored and recognized by our journalistic colleagues, speaking for myself as well, means a great deal. i am also really honored to be able to share the award with the people that i call my journalistic colleagues who are on stage are with me, the people that james clapper calls accomplices. it really is true that the story could not have been told without numerous people committed to telling it involved every step of the way. i'm finally really happy to see " table full of "guardian editors and journalists whose role in the story was much more intercooled than the publicity generally recognized -- integral than the publicity generally recognized. it is easy to look back and say this is an incredible journalistic story under think that any editor or newspaper

would simply dive in and want to address the story. it wasn't true back in the early days of hong kong. there were all kinds of very grave question marks hanging over the source, the material, the legal liability, the political reaction. i am so happy that i was part of it. and many of the reporters and staff, but leading the list is stuart miller and janine gibson who really never flinched . not only allowing us, but encouraging us to pursue the story as for leslie and aggressively as possible. i really believe the reporting could not have happened the way i thought it should have happened had it not been for the "the guardian." i consider them an integral part of this award. just one final point which is kong,hen we were in hong we spent a great deal of time

talking about surveillance policies and the documents and the like, but we spent at least as much time if not more so talking about issues of media and journalism. in part that was new -- because we knew how the media treated the story was a major impact of the story and partly because the debate we hoped to trigger was not just one about surveillance, but the proper role of journalism and the relationship between the media and the government or other factions that wield great power. but we also knew we were doing is reporting in the context of what already was some pretty grave threats to the news gathering process in terms of the unprecedented attacks on whistleblowers by the obama administration as well as the controversy that happened literally weeks before we get in publishing cover-up was the trolling through ap and e-mails and phone records of editors and reporters and formally declaring james rosenberg a co-conspirator for having done what -- james rosen a co-conspirator. i think it is important to

recognize how intensifying those threats became over the last nine or 10 months. there are ways to intimidate journalists. you can imprison them but there are other ways you can do it. calling journalists accomplices are having powerful chairmen of committees specifically accuse analysts of being criminals -- journalists of being criminals were having major media figures openly debate whether we ought to prosecute is a way to intensify that climate of fear, as is attending my partner are marching into "the guardian close quote newsroom and forcing them to destroy the laptops. ultimately, the only way to deal with those kinds of threats is to just do the reporting as aggressively, if not more so, then you would have absence those threats. i feel all of the journalists involved in the story have done that and i'm proud to have worked with so many who did. finally, i think journalism in general is impossible without great sources.

i know our journalism in particular would have been impossible that the incredible courage of edward snowden. it is a marketable reporting we have done has won all sorts of awards around the world and he, in particular, has received immense support, incredible amounts of praise from countries all over the world and all sorts of awards. the fact or the actor bringing to the world's attention a system of mass surveillance that have been constructed in the dark, he is now threatened with literally decades in prison, probably the rest of his life, as a result of what u.s. government is doing i think is odious and unacceptable. i hope as journalists we realize how important is not only to defend our own rights, but also those of our sources like edward snowden. i think each one of these awards provides further vindication that what he did in coming forward was absolutely the right thing to do. it merits gratitude, not indictment and decades in prison. >> journalists glenn greenwald

and laura poitras giving their acceptance speeches at the george polk awards ceremony in new york on friday. the george polk awards, among the most prestigious and journalism. when we come back, we will air excerpts of the news conference after the ceremony. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. back in a minute. ♪ [music break]

music from the album "the celestial green monster," by the baritone saxophonist composer, bandleader, writer and activist, fred ho. he passed away saturday after a long battle with cancer. he was 56 years old. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. winning the george polk award for national security reporting on friday in new york, journalists glenn greenwald and laura poitras held a news

conference along with guardian reporter ewen mccaskill. the three of them were the reporters nsa whistleblower edward snowden met with last june in hong kong. poitras and greenwald flew in from berlin for the ceremony, arriving mid way. reporters in the room did not know what would happen. newsracy now! attended the conference after their ceremony. greenwald and poitras began by responding to a question about whether they were worried about getting detained or arrested entering the united states friday for the first time since they started working on the nsa story. >> we weren't as so worried we weren't going to get on the plane. if we were really worried, we would not have come. but we knew certainly it was a risk. i think the important thing to realize about this is that american national security officials and other officials and the government had deliberately created an environment where they wanted us to think there was a risk. they had deliberately and

publicly suggested the journalism we were doing was a crime. they have advocated we be arrested. they have had their favorite media figures openly speculate about the possibility we would be. they'd attain my partner for nine hours. they announced there was a terrorism investigation pending in the u.k., and refuse to get my lawyers any information at all about whether there was a grand jury investigation, whether there was an indictment under seal. very unusual behavior when dealing with these lawyers in particular who say they can always get at least something. they wanted us to have this uncertainty about whether or not they would take action upon our return to the u.s. i guess it is easy to say it doesn't seem likely that it will happen, but when those threats are being directed at you, you take them seriously. so we did. obviously, assessed rick was -- and werelow enough willing to get on a plane and come back. >> the conversations about the

indictment, along to those conversations go on? >> we have been trying to get information about whether or not we can safely return to the government for four to five months. originally the government said they were willing to have conversations about what that might entail and ultimately, i guess, decided -- they just stopped returning calls and giving any information. they expressly refused to say whether or not there were -- whether there was a pending indictment under seal or if we were the targets of a grand jury investigation. >> your trip isn't over. what are you concerned about? laura, if you could describe your expression the airport today compared to previous times? subpoena, or the government subpoenas are material to try to get information about our source. we know the government has been using the border as a sort of

legal no man's land to get access to journalistic materials. i've experienced that for six years were have been detained, interrogated, had equal menses that the border. never told for what reason that is happening. >> [indiscernible] and've asked the government they won't tell me. i think close to 40 or more. i have foia's out. the risk of subpoena are very real. as you indicate, the fact we're indication there isn't a threat. we know there is a threat from what the government is saying, in terms how they're talking about the journalism we are doing. the reason we're here is because we're not going to succumb to those threats. >> what are your plans for the united states? we be staying here long? will you be moving back? >> i think this first step,

since we did not know what today held, we haven't been doing a lot of long-term thinking because we had no idea what the outcome would be of our deplaning. i thinks one -- i think once we got an airplane this morning, it was a command not just a comeback for this one time, but whenever we want, which is our prerogative as american citizens. i don't know what laura's long-term plans are but for me, have a book coming out next month and i want to be able to come to the u.s. to talk about the issues it raises. i have a lot of journalistic colleagues with whom i'm working and i want to be able to freely travel and work with them and work on stories in the u.s., and talk about things i think need to be talked about. many more visits to the u.s. for me. >> i started working outside the before was contacted by

snowden and because of the repeated targeting ahead of the border. this is a decision i made before working on the nsa material. for me, i don't fell confident i can protect source material in the united states right now. i certainly can cross the border with it or with mike women or anything that appears to be sensitive. my plan is to finish editing and then return. i absolutely plan to return. >> what worries each of you the most about the intelligence court? >> what worries me is the fact it doesn't have any of the asributes that we are taught first-year law students or even as american citizens, to make a court an actual court. it operates in complete secrecy. only one side is allowed to be heard, which is the government. housed in time it was the justice department, indicating what its real purpose is. which is to not be an outside

body exerting oversight, but to be an enabler of what the executive branch wants to do. the proof is in the pudding and that there is been 30 years of fisa court decisions in an humiliatingly small number of demands by the u.s. government to be surveilled that every been rejected by the court. it is purely fictitious it exerts any oversight over the surveillance regime. >> what is in your latest to medication with edward snowden? -- what is your latest communication with edward snowden? >> i don't think it is any secret that i talk to him regularly. i feel like a lot of what we do has an impact on him. choices that we make can have an influence on how he's perceived or even what his legal situation is. we certainly talked about our plans to come back, and he was very supportive of that. russia the situation in is what it is basically been for

the last eight months, which is in a country that he did not choose to be in, that he was was forced to be in by u.s. taking his passport. but at the same time, the alternative, as imperfect as it may be, is preferable to the alternative of not being in russia, which is being put into a super max prison in the u.s. for the next 30 years, if not the rest of his life. given how likely of an outcome that was and he knew that was when he made his choice, i think he is happy with his current situation. >> do you know whether [inaudible] >> i think -- it is kind of an extraordinary thing that has been underappreciated, the fact he made the choice to go before this leak,nd say which is the largest national security leak, the one that has made the national security state

angrier than any other, something that i did. i'm not only saying i did it, but i'm telling you my rationale for it and i'm proud of it. eight months later he is farther from the united states and his ever been. i think he feels not just a duty, the sort of responsibility to participate in the debate he helped to trigger around the world. the fact is able to do that is one reason i think it is so important he has not been in prison. i don't think you will ever feel safe, but i think he feels confident enough to be speaking out, especially because he feels the focus will remain on the revelations and not him personally. >> what is the most important revelation do you think came from the documents released? >> for me, the most significant revelation is the ambition of the united states government and its four english speaking allies to literally limited privacy world ride -- eliminate privacy

worldwide. to give themselves the capacity to monitor and analyze the communications. even though i've been warning for a long time about this being an out-of-control surveillance state long before her the name edward snowden, to see in the documents that not only is her ambition but something they are increasingly close to achieving, was to me the most significant goal, something i don't think anyone in the world knew or understood. follow-up, to think nuclear terrorism or any threats against the united states could justify that kind of searching of the world? desire to think the detect what a small number of people are doing justify his the ubiquitous massive suspicionless surveillance. i think the system that says collect everything makes it harder to find the things they claim they're looking for.

and you collect so much, it is a must impossible to find the boston marathon attack or the attempted detonation of a bomb in times square or any of the other things the surveillance state as ubiquitous as it is failed to detect. administration has prosecuted more whistleblowers than all other administrations combined. what is the future of whistleblowing? >> i think -- i'm not going to go into too many details, but i think what we're seeing is more people coming forward. -- moree realizing that people realizing that their consciences telling them things they know of, then that should be public. one that has been reported was a story that glenn did with jeremy scahill which was on the targeted killing program and how they're using metadata to assassinate people without actually knowing the identities of the people. -- that wastion was

a source they came forward. -- i think post-9/11 era, a lot of people have heavy conscience about what happened. i think maybe the risks that snowden has taken opens up a space where people will maybe feel that now is the time to come forward. >> [inaudible] talking about people doing national security reporting? boardand i are both on a of the freedom of the press foundation and just publish a blog about a tool called tails, an operating system that runs disc that is or sd sort of an all-in-one encryption and it isyou can use

really secure. we did not talk about it for a long time because we didn't necessarily want to draw attention to it so it would avoid being targeted, but we figure by now the intelligence agencies were paying attention, it would be on their radar. it is really an important tool for journalists. there are huge concerns for international journalists and their communications and how they protect sources. havethese revelations exposed. for instance, information that is foreign information that is transit to the u.s. gets left to protect her sources and how the intelligence agencies behind the scenes share information. these are all things that i think will continue to come forward as more sources come forward and more reporting is done. >> how do you feel the u.s. public has reacted and you think there has been sufficient amount

of reaction from the u.s.? >> i think the number of people in this room 10 months after we first did our reporting is a testament to how much the story has resonated. because i live outside the united states, i think i'm probably more attentive to how it has resonated internationally, sometimes i think it's lost in the debate in the united states. really, literally, around the globe, people thing not only about surveillance, but individual privacy in a digital age and the trustworthiness of government officials to exercise power in the dark in the proper role of journalism. different point and they did prior to this reporting. otherthe impact when i go places and talk about the story, how much it continues to resonate. i know i've said this before over many months, many times, and there's a little skepticism when i say it in some circles, but it really is true. in my opinion, the stories that

are the most significant and that are the most shocking and will have the broadest and most enduring implications are the ones that we are currently working on and have not yet been reported. i think it is really hard to assess while were still in the middle of the story, which is really where we are, with the ultimate consequences would be. i don't think we know. for me, there's some indifference, apathy, some jaded citizens him. but in general, the public reaction has been, speaking for myself, vastly larger and more consequential than even in my wildest dreams i imagine could happen when i started working on the story. >> edward snowden just warned u.s. government is surveilling human rights groups in the united states. can any of you address this, what you know about this from the documents and -- giving chancellor merkel her file? >> i will only break news on

democracy now! as you know, not press conferences. [laughter] i think some of the most significant stories are left to come. it is hard to preview them when they haven't gone to the journalistic process and to talk about one's we haven't published. odyssey, edward snowden is aware of the material he gave us. so when he describes what the surveillance state is doing, i think it should be deemed critical reliable since everything else he said about that has been proven to be true and i believe that will as well without sort of talking about the reporting we're doing. >> working in germany, as we all know, the history in germany makes its country very sensitive and aware of the corrosive and pernicious effects when you governments who serve our own populations. yes that and are balancing the -- il politics of allies

mean, the government there i think is deeply, deeply concerned about the spying and they're trying to investigate that. and i think there are a lot of things in which they're working with the nsa. i think it is too soon to say what is going to happen there. >> a lot of the focus has been on the government and the nsa. [inaudible] it is hard for us to talk about things were you haven't actually reported, because it just wouldn't be a meaningful way to talk about it. because the reporting we do -- oftentimes rooted document any think you know the meaning, and you do the research and he consults experts and it turns out to understanding you had of it originally is not accurate.

i try hard not to spout off about things we haven't gone through the process of reporting. having said that, i will say in general, there almost is no division between the private sector and the nsa or the private sector and the pentagon when it comes to the american national security state. they are really essentially one. so to talk about whether or not there are protections on how ruth allen uses the material compared to how they u.s. uses it, almost assumes falsely there is this really strict separation. they call each other partners because that is what they are. they are indispensable in every way to the national security state, which is why edward snowden has access to all of these materials, not as an nsa employee, but a booz allen employee. -- anyour your regrets regrets for what you have done? >> not at all. i doubt they do, either. >> [inaudible]

speaking for myself, i would like to see the debate be about not whether the u.s. should be collecting metadata under specific provision of the patriot act 215, but the broader question of whether or not we want to empower the government to monitor and surveilled people who are suspected of absolutely no wrongdoing whatsoever, essentially to engage in mass surveillance. is that really a proper function of the state? and beyond domestically, why should one government in particular turn internet from what it was intended to be in its greatest promise, which is a tool of freedom promise next duration and liberation into the most oppressive tool of human control surveillance in history. i don't think anybody thinks there is no legitimate form of surveillance. i think it is perfectly legitimate for the government to people that surveil

are in gauge in actual wrongdoing, targeted surveillance of people for whom there's probable cause or some similar standard. but mass surveillance, suspicionless surveillance, of our product medications, i think is without any justification whatsoever. i think the national security state ought to be reined in and converted from a system of mass surveillance to targeted surveillance. >> have you seen any other evidence that other countries regarded these revelations that we better up our game? >> as a matter fact, i don't think any countries -- i can't talk to post societies like china, and i don't know what their reactions have been, but i think open governments, open countries, the reaction has not been, let's pull our resources to match and replicate the capabilities of the united states. it is instead, let's figure out how to defend ourselves and what

essentially is this digitalization of the privacy of our citizens and our elected leaders. i know in brazil and in germany, the two countries that probably have been the most affected by the revelations and where the reaction is been most intense, there has been very serious debate and resources devoted to figuring out how to build the fences to protect the sanctity of the privacy of their communications. >> quickly, president obama renewing the phone record data collection despite calling for some reforms? your response? >> president obama likes to parade around as some sort of king solomon figure in between he excesses of the nsa and those who are raising concern about it and trying to balance it and come up with some reasonable centrist approach. the reality is, he has presided over this out-of-control system for five years. and has never expressed a single

inclination to rein it in in any way. so the fact he is continuing it for as long as he can, i think is the opposite of surprising. he is an advocate of this system over which he presided for so many years. i think is one of the obstacles to reform, not a vehicle for it. >> glenn greenwald and laura poitras speaking at a news conference on friday after winning the george polk awards. they flew in from berlin that day, came in the midst of the ceremony, not knowing if they would be detained or subpoenaed by the u.s. government when they enter the country. they won the george polk award along with you and mccaskill of "the guardian" and barton gelman of "the washington post." the pulitzer prize will be announced today. glenn greenwald and laura launched thetly

intercept along with jeremy scahill. when we come back, another george polk award winner will talk about the elections in afghanistan. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

salimd ho and dr. washington. fred ho died on saturday after a long battle with cancer. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we and the show with another recipient of the george polk award, matthieu aikens, who was honored for his rolling stone article, "the a-team killings." it uncovered convincing evidence that a u.s. army special forces unit till 10 afghan civilians and wardak province. he spoke friday at the george polk award ceremony in new york. >> i want to highlight the difficulty of the lives at the

other end of the scale, you know, what they call a great ability, people whose lives pass bymournig and whom the balance is legitimized. this is the role, illiterate poor, particularly men who are bearded, conservative and debt are easily labeled taliban. >> he went on to warn about the future of afghanistan. >> the torture annexed judicial killing that i wrote about in the story is routine among the afghan security forces that we have trained. we are leaving behind a gangster state -- gangsters preside over the largest narco state in the world. >> matthieu aikens at the george polk award ceremony in new york. he won the award is partial results from the presidential vote in afghanistan show former foreign minister abdullah abdullah slightly head of ashraf ghani. some 7 million votes were cast across afghanistan's 34 provinces in the april 5

election. only 500,000 votes in 26 provinces had been counted and the independent election commission has had a front runner could easily change is counting continues in the coming days. full preliminary results are expected by april 24. if no candidate wins a majority, a runoff will be held in may. the vote heralds the first democratic transfer of power in afghanistan. for more on afghanistan, we go now to washington, d.c. to talk to matt aikens. he just came back from afghanistan to receive the george polk award and heads home soon to double. he recently co-authored a piece for harper's magazine titled "the ghost polls of afghanistan." , the ghost mean polls? and by the way, congratulations on your award. >> thank you. open on paper, but never open in reality.

instead, they're often taken away by powerful strongman or warlord figure and stuffed with ballots. we observed this in the countryside. we traveled to war-torn areas outside kabul and visited a school. up the hill, we found the boxes being stuffed. this is a story i think was repeated across many places inrural afghanistan as it was in previous elections. it was virtually unreported this time it's very few reporters left the capital. >> can you talk about the front now,r night now -- right abdullah abdullah, who proves the ran against hamid karzai for president, the form -- four minister?eign >> abdullah abdullah was karzai's main rival and in that election he got close to one third of the vote.

he represents a network associated with the north of the country as opposed to ashraf ghani who is more strongly associated with pashtuns who predominate in the south. along with the finance minister, they are respected technocrats, seem to be personally honest, but they have survived out of necessity with much more dubious figures, people you could frankly call warlords. in that respect, they don't really -- they're not dissimilar from president karzai himself. it speaks to the nature of the political system itch won't change regardless of who is elected. >> i want to ask you about anja niedringhaus, the veteran associated press photographer who was shot dead an afghan police officer just before the elections. she died instantly in the attack to the pakistani border. her funeral service was held

saturday in germany will stop she was 48 years old. this is ap senior vice president kathleen carroll. >> she showed calm while all around was chaos. and i believe that is why her pictures from terrible places resonated with so many people around the world. dignity. their she found the quiet, human moments that connected people in gray strife to all of the rest of us around the world. >> canadian ap reporter kathy gannon was shot twice in the same attack as the two women, the two journalists sat in the back of the car. she is receiving medical assistance still. mueller read bernd out a letter from canada the

funeral service. >> you said, i am so happy. you had decided the pictures she wanted to take. you knew just what you wanted. even said, we will send them out on tuesday, that's the best day, you said. you were so happy. your heart knew no bounds. you could not give enough. you wanted to help everyone. i love you. >> that is parish priest mern mueller at the funeral of anja niedringhaus, reading out a letter of kathy gannon also injured in the attack that killed anja. matthieu aikens, can you talk about them? >> they were extraordinarily accomplished, fearless reporters that we all greatly admired.

i did not know anja pursley, but i know kathy. sadly, they're not the only ones in the last couple of months -- it has been a rough couple of months in kabul. a friend of mine, reporter was hised, murdered with family. a swedish journalist was shot dead on the street. that buffeted the press corps in mourn and we're all in ing. but it is important not to let those close -- not to let us close us off from the people. mourning people experience every day in the countryside, and not to allow it to close a sof us off. >> can you talk about the death toll? >> there are more silly and casualties last two than any other year. the violence is not diminishing.

i think it sets a pattern for what will continue to be a very intense conflict between afghan parties. >> matt aikens, you won the award for the george polk award, for your piece in rolling stone, "the a-team killings." if you could briefly summarize what you exposed, and then talk about the pentagon's response to your report. >> as i discussed in the show when you had me on in november, i investigated the allegations the u.s. special forces team had run amok in wardak provinces and been responsible for torturing people, for killing them. eventually when the team left, they found bodies buried outside the base. u.s. military has denied any responsibility for these events, and have claim to do three investigations that exonerated

any other service members. that was our point of departure. what we found, what we recently established, in my opinion, was very strong evidence that the team had been responsible for these men's death. -- saying they arrested people that were later found buried on the base. >> and this took place? >> about a year ago. >> how did you discover this? >> one of the ways we discovered it was by going out to this very insecure area, interviewing people. eventually, i visited one of the translators that was in an afghan prison. he was a central figure. he led to the name of the team, the people involved themselves. eventually, by getting photos of the individuals from their facebook accounts and other sources, and mixing them with images of random special forces

members i found online, to create the sort of police lineup and ticket back to these villagers and said, you said your tortured by a green beret and you said the guy took away your brother he later found dead, can you pick them out of a lineup? and they did. >> and the pentagon's response to your report? they have opened a criminal investigation. they said it was ongoing when the report came out. when the report came out, i asked about the supposed investigation that they had started. none of the many, many witnesses that i had spoke to had ever been contacted by the criminal investigation team. however, since then, they have come to kabul and have been interviewing people -- witnesses, connected with these events. so there actually is some sort of criminal investigation taking place. the track record for the

military on holding their service members accountable for these kinds of war crimes and other illegal acts is pretty dismal. almost no one has been convicted who did not sort of run amok like sergeant bales doing crazy, but actual units carrying this out in the line of duty, but say, the track record of accountability is very poor. it remains to be seen if anything will come out of this in terms of accountability. >> i want to ask you also about the video you broke on democracy now! in november that shows a prisoner being whipped by afghan security forces as what appears to be in identifying american military officer looking on. we will play just a short clip. the video is extremely violent and disturbing.

>> that video we played in november. when you are here last, you said the army's criminal investigation was vested getting this attack. what has come of that? army, theyg to the completed their investigation and turn the findings over to the unit's chain of command, which means they were confirmed as americans. that chain of command is the was army special operations command, so i have contacted them for information about what cop if any, action was taken against those individuals who are seen supervising torture session. they have not gotten back to me yet. you have to go to the freedom of access or information act request. >> in this last minute that we have caught your thoughts about the future of afghanistan, when the elections will be announced, and what happens next?

>> we're all hopeful the election will not descend into some sort of prolonged crisis like there had in the past, that there will be a successful transition to a new president. afghanistan's problems are deeply rooted. it is one of the largest narco states in the world. the tremendous urban/rural divide. , thank you aikens for being with us, journalist based in kabul where he will head back to sin. you just received the george polk award friday for his november when a 13 rolling stone article, "the a-team killings." we will have a link at democracynow.org. his recent piece is in harpers.

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