04/16/14 04/16/14 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] >> from pacifica, this is democracy now! >> what has happened is an absolutely explosive growth of groups on the radical right in general. we have never seen this kind of growth. not of the white supremacist groups, but other kinds of groups, what we used to call militias in the 1990's have grown at an absolutely unbelievable pace. >> the notorious white supremacist has been charged

with killing three people at two jewish community sites in kansas. he served three years in prison on weapons charges and plotting the murder of the thousand -- founder of the southern poverty center. we will speak with mark potok as well as a broadcaster interviewed miller. then banning the program of spying on muslims. what's not only were they acting as clients is a organizations, they were actually would have someone who would be the deciding figure on my board to have access to donors and information and financial information. i think we keep learning the program is just more outrageous. it creates psychological warfare. >> and deadly environment. nearly 1000 karmiel activist and land defenders have been killed in the last decade. the death rate has risen in recent years to an average of two activist a week. among the dead, a brazilian conservationist who campaigned against clearcutting trees in

the amazon rain forest. >> that is when the logging industry started to arrive. and that is when the attack began along with my fight against them. that is when people started coming after me. >> all of that and more coming up. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. ukraine and pro-russian separatist are staging rival shows of force amidst a growing risk of violent escalation. ukrainian soldiers moved into retake government buildings from the separatists tuesday, sparking at least one clash and the provincial airfield. meanwhile, separatists seized armored personnel carriers and eight came from the ukraine army. ukraine and russia will be joined by the u.s. and european union for talks beginning thursday in geneva. it is the first time russia and ukraine foreign ministers will

meet face-to-face is the crisis began. jay carney said the obama administration backs ukraine's incursions to retake buildings from the separatists. >> we appreciate the government's that any actions it undertakes will be gradual and responsible, and we agree the use of force is not a preferred option. that said, ukrainian government has a responsibility to provide law and order and these provocations in eastern ukraine are creating a situation in which the government has to respond. the best way to de-escalate the situation is for the armed militants to leave the buildings they have seized. >> u.s. airstrike in eastern afghanistan has reportedly killed three civilians. the victims were identified as a woman and two children who may have been camping in tents. afghan president karzai has called the attack a violation of u.s. and afghan agreements. the us-led nato force says it is investigating. the iraqi government has closed

the abu ghraib prison, the site of the notorious u.s. abuse scandal that helped bring bush era torture policies to light. iraq's justice ministry says it's shuttered abu ghraib over fears it could be overrun by sunni militants. this month marks the 10th anniversary of the release of photos that showed u.s. forces torturing abu ghraib prisoners. the un security council held a session tuesday to view photographs documenting alleged war crimes by the al-assad regime in syria. a team after international prosecutors has obtained images from a syrian defector showing the macy aided and mutilated bodies, likely resulting from torture. the defector said to be a military investigator who handed over thousands of photographs he had taken of the regimes victims. david crane said the images provide direct proof of industrialized killings by al-assad. >> it is direct, specific, provable evidence of widespread

and industrialized killing, not seen recently. the reason i underscore this and all highlighted it is a rare thing in our business that we get this type of direct evidence. but it is direct, provable, sustainable beyond a reasonable doubt evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity being regime.d by the assad >> antigovernment rebels have reportedly obtained a shipment of u.s. made missiles for the first time. it is reported a unit of the free syrian army received the missiles from western sources. hundreds of people are missing after a passenger ferry sunk in waters off the korea peninsula. the south korea ship was carrying close to 500 people on board, with around 180 rescued so far. at least two people are confirmed dead. an owner of the bangladesh garment factory or hundreds of people died last year is facing charges of murder. the collapse of the eight story

plaza was one of the worst industrial disasters in history, 1135 garment workers and injuring over 2500. they would issue police say they .ill charge sohel rana the disasters first anniversary is next week. the new york police department is disbanding a controversial spying unit that targeted muslim communities. the so-called demographics unit secretly infiltrated muslim student groups, sent informants into mosques, you stopped on conversations in restaurants, barber shops, and gyms, and built a vast database of information. after years of collecting information, it failed to yield a single to us him investigation or even a single lead. the program was established with help from the cia, which is barred from domestic spying. in a joint statement, the groups muslim advocates and the center for constitutional rights called the decision a long overdue first step, saying --

we will have more on the story later in the broadcast. retired firefighters and police officers in detroit have reached a deal that would mostly protect tensions in the face of pressure to accept large cuts. the workers are among some 30,000 retired and active public employees who have faced threats to their retirement benefits following the bankruptcy filing by detroit emergency manager last year. under the new agreement, members of the retired detroit police and firefighters association will keep their pension benefits . but cost-of-living increases will be cut in half. the deal is the first between detroit and a group of public workers since the bankruptcy process began. it is contingent on over $800 million in outside funding from charities, the detroit institute of arts, and the state of michigan. the obama administration is reportedly in talks to add $100

million in federal aid. a ceremony was held tuesday to mark the first anniversary of the boston marathon bombing. three people were killed and 264 wounded when a pair of homemade bombs exploded near the races finish line. massachusetts governor patrick and bombing survivor patrick downes from who lost a leg in the attack, pager be to the community response and the resilience of survivors. >> the thing we witnessed in the aftermath of that vicious attack last year and that i submit we are here today to celebrate, is precisely that sense of community. that him during in transcendent display you and so many others showed last year of kindness and grace. >> to our fellow survivor community, what would we do without each other? we should have never met this way, but we are so grateful for each other. we have shared our despair, sense of loss, and challenges as

well as our hopes, gratitude, and triumphs. >> oklahoma has enacted a measure that would bar locals from raising the minimum wage. the new law blocks an effort underway in obama city to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour. arizona has enacted a measure that allows surprise inspections of state abortion clinics without first obtaining a warrant. critics say anti-choice officials could use the law to disrupt clinics operations. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the man accused of killing three people at two jewish community sites in kansas made his first court appearance tuesday by video conference. frazier glenn miller, also known as frazier glenn cross, has been charged with capital murder for killing 14-year-old reat underwood and his grandfather william corporon outside a jewish community center sunday.

he also faces a first-degree murder charge for killing terri lamanno, who was visiting her mother at a nearby retirement complex. miller is a notorious white supremacist who had openly railed against choose and african-americans for decades. he is a founder and former grand dragon of the paramilitary style hairline the knights of the ku klux klan. in 1980 six, after forming the white patriot party, he was convicted of violating the terms of a court order, settling a lawsuit by the southern poverty law center. he disappeared while out on bond and was later caught with other klansmen and a stash of weapons. miller went on to serve three years in prison on weapons charge and for plotting the theer of the founder of southern poverty law center. he reached a deal with federal prosecutors to testify against other white supremacists in 1988 sedition trial. this is frazier glenn miller speaking in 1986 at a meeting of far right leaders. it's from the documentary "blood in the face."

a warning, this is filled with hateful language. down the street marching in a my bullhorn and i yell out, we thought you had some niggers down here, where are they at? we got about two more blocks and i seen where they were at. they were about eight deep on each side of the street. we marched right in the middle of them. we didn't have any trouble. they did not attack anybody, they just jumped up and down on the street. if you ever seen monkeys when they get excited -- [laughter] >> that was the white supremacist frazier glenn miller speaking in 1986. the kansas city star reports the federal government appears to have shielded miller in the early 1990's as part of the witness protection program. the possible source of his multiple names. glenn cross frazier junior received a social security number 1990, the year miller was released from prison. in his book "a white man speaks out," miller claims to of been

an fbi informant. in 2010, miller ran for u.s. senate as a write-in candidate for missouri. radio stations aired his very let as with an unusual disclaimer. paide following is a political advertisement and may not be simple for children but the station is required to carry it by federal law. >> white men have become the biggest hours to walk the earth. takeve let the jews to over our government, banks, and media and allow tens of thousands to invade our country, still our jobs and women and destroy our children's future. america is no longer hours. america belongs to the jews who rule it and then mud people who multiply in it. it is time for white men to unite, to join together, to take our country back. this is glenn miller and i approved this message. >> to talk more about him, we're joined by two guests. the potok, senior fellow at

southern poverty law center, which tracks hate groups and has been following frazier glenn miller for decades. in studio is david pakman. he interviewed frazier glenn miller in 2010. we welcome you both. let's start with mark potok. the southern poverty law center is also at the center of this white supremacist history. mark, talk about who frazier is. >> well, i would say he is one of the best known white supremacist activists in the country for a very long time. he has been active for more than 40 years in the movement. he joined as a very young teenager, joined things like the national states rights party, descendent of the american nazi party and other groups as well. he was an important player, but as you mentioned, he testified in the sedition trial in 1988 in arkansas against most of his comrades from a some 13 leaders

of the white supremacist movement. that very much put him on the outs. he was seen as a snitch, derided very widely. he has been banned up to this day on certain racist web forums. i think there are mixed feelings in the movement about him. he has, in some ways, worked his gracesback into the good of his former fellows in the sense that he has written an autobiography to scrubbing himself as an aggrieved white man -- back in 2002. since 2005, he is been publishing a newspaper called "the area an alternative." there are mixed feelings about him on the scene. it is conceivable that miller engaged in this mass murder committed in fact he is proven to have done so, as a way of showing he really wasn't a snitch but really in it for real. >> i want to play part of an interview with the head of the southern poverty law center's intelligence project done with frazier glenn miller just months

ago in the fall of 2013. >> [indiscernible] jews are increasing. >> you and your crazy numbers. it is a matter of simple god damn arithmetic you refuse to recognize. i wouldn't be in the movement if not for that. >> and you shouldn't -- >> 90% -- when i was 25 years old, the u.s. was 90% white. >> that doesn't mean whites are being exterminated, they're just other people here. >> everything that is killing us was brought about by jews. >> killing us? >> the legalization of abortion has already killed 40 million white babies in the united states. >> that is frazier glenn miller. he went on to praise a serial killer who was executed last year for the sniper killing of a man outside a synagogue in 1997.

he killed a number of other people including an interracial couple and two black teenage boys and firebombed a synagogue and famously tried to kill hustler magazine publisher larry flynt. this is what frazier glenn miller said about franklin just moments -- months ago. >> they're going to kill him november 20. >> what he did was pretty heinous, you have to admit. he was gunning people down. >> well, he did have a rationale for it. >> a rationale? unreasonable in his mind. you got it was doing the right thing. >> but all murderers have some kind of rationale. >> he is a righteous vigilante. >> that is frazier glenn miller just months ago talking about joseph paul franklin who was executed last year for the killing spree that he went on. your center, the

southern poverty law center, talk about the plot against the founder morris deeds. morris asiller saw his mortal enemy. at that point, morris and the center were becoming well known. we were just starting our first major lawsuits against klan groups. it was based here in alabama. thatidea was going around morris was the absolutely number one enemy of white supremacy in america, and he needed to be taken out. miller, in fact, created a point system where people like joseph paul franklin would get one point for killing black people, 10 points for killing jews, 50 points for killing judges, and 888 points are killing morris dees. i think that reflected more or less the way other people in the

white supremacist world saw morris. there was another plot in which involved scourging morris. they wanted to tear the skin off his body. there's a lot of hatred there. that is one of the reasons why i work in a building that is surrounded by immense security. >> what actually happened in that case? was thatwhat happened he was initially charged with conspiracy, very serious charges, in 1987 that could have sent him to prison for 20 or 30 years. but he did cut a deal with the federal government and agreed to testify in fort smith against his comrades. a mereund up meaning five year sentence for him, and he served only three years. as you noted, the kansas city paper has now reported in fact he did change his name legally. it is clear he was in the witness protection program. he wrote about it in his

autobiography, as you said. perhaps if he had been in prison all those years, rather than a witness in this trial, which collapsed spectacularly, we would not have experienced what we saw in kansas city the other day. >> i want to go to a clip of our other guest today, david pakman, interviewing frazier glenn miller in april 2010 when miller was running for u.s. senate as a write-in candidate for missouri. david pakman asked miller if he personally hated him. >> do you personally dislike me? could we get along even though i am jewish and you hate jews? do you have anything personal against me? >> i hate all jews. and i will tell you why. for me to say out of one corner my mouth that i did not hate all jews and the other corner of my mouth say that jews caused the deliberate murders of over 300 million of my people in this century alone -- >> right. >> of course i hate you. you earn my hate. >> that is frazier glenn miller

talking to david pakman who joins us now. you exchanged e-mails with frazier glenn miller just months ago, the interview done in 2010. >> initially we were in touch because another white separatist, craig cobb, was friends, i guess, or how that would describe each other, with glenn miller and glenn miller put me in touch with cobb was trying to insert himself back into my program, asking i interviewed him. i explained i have nothing against intervening in principle, but there's no news or no reason to interview him right now. he kind of resorted to the same anti-jewish statements and rhetoric. >> so talk about the first interviewed in 2010. >> i interviewed a lot of extremist, and i gave extremist, alleges extremists. the one difference with miller is the others, while the rhetoric is incredibly hateful

against huge groups of people, they are usually nice to me and sometimes they say they want to save me or help me in some way. that is what they want to do. miller told me directly he hated me and that was an outlier. >> so these most or the most recent e-mails that he wanted to come on again, was there any indication of what he wanted to say? >> i have released these e-mails. their online. people can judge for themselves. if i were to characterize them, there was a desperation for attention. when i said, why would i have you on now? he said, well, i think i'm going to run for something again soon. i said, let's talk at that time. >> one of the e-mail said ash as you know, your listenership, including the archive, skyrocketed after having me on don't sayshow, so

i'm not interesting. you can use that as a reason to have me on. explained --so this was a running thing with him where before the interview in 2010, he said, i would never run because he was so badly embarrassed me. medially after -- immediately after he said, you're not even going to publish that because i so embarrassed you. of course, we did publish it as it has been widely disseminated. that idea continued, that we were scared to have him on. >> during his senate campaign in 2010, frazier glenn miller was interviewed by howard stern on his radio show. >> we call glenn the only honest politician out there. you made a good point yesterday, robin, at least he doesn't lie. >> good morning. good morning to my friends. that is where i hang out as a discussion forum for pro-white people. anybody is invited.

i would love to have you come on their intimate me one-on-one and let everybody decide who is right and who is wrong. >> that is frazier glenn miller nforum.com.o vn can you talk about this site? >> it is essentially the second largest white supremacist web form in the country, really, in the world. the largest is called storefront. it from aned from alabama klan leader because of his informing against other leaders. but essentially, he landed on vnn where he has posted a close to 13,000 times in recent years. he recently completed and will shortly release a report showing that -- how these forums help to create killers or at least nurture killers.

we found at storm front over the last five years, registered members of that forum have been responsible for almost 100 murders. there are many people who have become murderers who post on vnn. these are sort of petri dishes, breeding grounds for people like glenn miller. vnn is a particularly vicious cycle. they use language that you won't even find on stormfront, that is similar to glenn miller. it is run by another all-time neo-nazi. he is the guy who writes the ary an alternative that miller published. >> i want to ask about the nevada rancher who is declaring victory after hundreds of armed supporters backed his standoff with the federal government, the bureau of land management began seizing his cattle this month, saying he owed more than one lane dollars in fees for grazing

his cattle on federally controlled land. bundy refused to comply, saying he doesn't recognize the federal government and hundreds of people from right-wing antigovernment, and pro-gun groups, flocked to his side. this past weekend, they shut down interstate 15, leading to a standoff that ended with the government backing down and releasing the seized cattle. cliven bundy appeared on fox news on monday. >> do you think they really have taken it over? i don't think so. they might have taken over clark county sheriff, but they never took over week, the people, the sovereign people of this nation. we are standing and we are going to stand until we take the guns away from those bureaucracies, and then we will start making it mc a great one more time. >> can you talk about cliven bundy and the wider significance of the standoff in nevada? >> it was an incredible moment. bundy ism line, cliven

stealing from the government, from you and me. his is a guy who sent the refuses to pay over a million dollars in grazing fees that every other person who grazes cattle on public lands in this country must pay will stop that is the context. it is hardly about defending the constitution or anything like that. it is true that hundreds and hundreds of militiamen and others for now members of the varied groups you referenced at the top of the show, have flocked to bundy's ranch. i've seen terrifying photographs of some of these militia types sitting on highway overpass with their sniper weapons trained on law enforcement officials. really, it was a terrifying situation. we had a reporter out there. it seemed obvious that it any moment we could have seen gunfire and really blood in the desert. this is the latest in the kinds of conflicts that we have seen

over the last 15 to 20 years with the militia movement, the idea that somehow the government impose any kind of law on people, particularly copper in the west were there so much resentment directed at washington. >> is this kind of white supremacist, far right violence, increasing, mark? >> it has been increasing or at least very much up since barack obama came into office. it was rather quiet during the bush years between 2000-2008. even before obama took office, as a matter fact, immediately after he was inaugurated in december 2008 in denver, we began to see plots, varies attend said domestic terrorism, really proliferate. the glenn miller murders or

alleged murders are not unique at all. there are -- for instance, in june 2009 after obama took office, i'm sure many people will remember another well-known neo-nazi james von brunn shot and killed a guard at the holocaust museum in washington. a couple of years after that, another neo-nazi, fairly well known, tried to bomb a parade with a very powerful ied he built on martin luther king day in spokane, washington. yet a third neo-nazi invaded a in august 2012 and murdered six people. these are only a few examples, but we're seeing quite a number of these. there's no question that we're seeing more violence from the domestic, non-islamic radical right then we are at this point from jihadists. >> how does the government organize? number one on the domestic terrorism list according to a top fbi official is

eco-terrorism, the animal rights movement. we don't hear much about white supremacists except when something horrific like this happens. >> let me say, the idea that are the major i think terror threat, is just ludicrous. anyonehas been killed by in the radical animal rights movement or the radical environmentalist movement. there are certainly groups other involved in things like bring down as uv dealerships and so on, but no one has been killed -- yet. that is in wild contrast to what we're seeing from people like glenn miller. we also had a real problem with the department of homeland security in the sense that ever since a particular report on the right wing was leaked to the hass in april 2009, dhs

towered, in a sense, essentially gutted or non-islamic domestic terrorism unit and really -- >> explain that quickly, mark. explain that for people who do not remember what happened in 2009. >> the report did things like weret got -- extremists interested in recruiting returning veterans from iraq. dhs a characterized all military people, all veterans as was supremacists and extremists and so on. and that is not at all what the report said. but janet napolitano withdrew the report, apologized, and ultimately, the unit fell apart. heardid pakman, when you who was involved with the killings, who was the shooter in kansas, your thoughts, having interviewed miller? >> first heard about the

shooting. much later, sunday night, started getting dozens of tweets from people saying that the shooter is the guy you interviewed. of course the interview was four years ago and it did not click.tely once i figured out what this was, initially, i was shocked and then realized this was the guy who spoke to me in one way, and took what he said and it now became real world violence, which of course, was were fine. >> and to those who say, why give him a platform? >> well, if i were giving him a platform in the way that corporate news gives non-science-based climate change ideas and equivalent platform as if there is a 50/50 view, that would be wrong. that is not what i do. i have an opinion program. it is abundantly clear what i'm doing is exposing their views. that is really why. imagine if we had no video. often we have these crimes and people say, we never heard

anything. now we know. >> david pakman, thank you for being with us. he broadcasts on radio and television on free speech tv. mark potok, the senior fellow at the southern poverty law center has been tracking frazier glenn miller for years. we will link to your reports at democracynow.org. when we come back, another group of people who have been trapped in your, muslims, and what the new york police department has announced, the ending of the so-called demographics unit that spies on muslims, stay with us. ♪ [music break]

byjorger of "home" narvaez. they're back in the news this week after ice arrested and rejected the asylum bid of their mother and grandmother. dream activists are calling on the obama administration to release her. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the new york police department says it has abandoned a secretive program that critics say spied on muslims.

the so-called demographics unit dispatched plainclothes to texas in the muslim neighborhoods to eavesdrop on their conversations, and built detailed files on where people ate, prayed, and shopped. but after years of collecting information, the police acknowledged it failed to yield a single terrorism investigation or even a single lead. all of this came after a series of articles by the associated press that revealed the extensive domestic surveillance program deployed by the new york police department in the wake of 9/11. the series won the pulitzer prize for investigative reporting. we are by one of the reporters on a team, matt apuzzo, who is here with us in new york. he is with "the new york times" now. he is co-author of, "enemies within: inside the nypd's secret spying unit and bin laden's final plot against america." ,lso joining us, linda sarsour executive director of the arab american association of new york and the national advocacy director for the national network for arab american communities. we welcome you both to democracy

now! matt, explain the demographics unit. >> it was created in 2003. the idea was the nypd would send about a dozen plainclothes detectives a south asian or arab descent out into muslim neighborhoods every day to kind of be -- blend into the community and keep their eyes and ears open. they would go out to a coffee shop. one of their first jobs was to gauge sentiment. to the guynd talk behind the counter and see if you can chat him up a little bit about what he thinks about america, foreign policy, drones. then you go and have your coffee and listen. you listen to the conversations. some of those conversations end up in police files. conversations like come a two pakistani men speaking about the state of the union address and what they thought of it will stop and all of the stuff goes in files think it's organized by

ethnicity and ancestry so you have files on egyptians, palestinians, where you can watch cricket, where people gather to watch soccer. the idea is, if the nypd were ever to get a specific tip, let's say, about an egyptian terrorist inside new york city, they can pull the egyptian folder off a shelf and they would know everywhere in the city that egyptian might rent a room, buys coffee, groceries, gets his hair cut. and that is where they would look. the idea was to look for hotspots. the place where in time eric and sentiment, where people were angry -- the place where anti- american sentiment, where people were angry. where jihadist sentiment i bubble up. >> that is the demographics unit. what about those that sent people into mosques. what do they call them?

>> mosque crawlers. those were run by a separate unit. those -- that is the unit the designated mosques as tourism enterprises. if the entire mosque is the terrorism enterprise, then everybody who attends the mosque can be subjected to surveillance so they will use license plate readers to collect information on who is attending mosques and use informants with hidden microphones to audiotaped sermons. these investigations stretch on for years and years. no mosque has been charged and nypd developed no information that i mosque was a terrorism organization. >> and that started with the help of the cia? >> it was actually the brainchild of the cia officer who was on the payroll of the cia, but they certainly had a terroristarting the unit as well. >> did and take david: from the

cia to be the top guy in the new york police department? thee was the head of intelligence division at the nypd, the top intelligence guy at the nypd, career cia officer. and that is fine. he was retired, but interesting part of the relationship is, somebody named terry sanchez who was still on the cia payroll was working out of nypd to help build these programs. an internal cia investigation after we wrote our stories for the ap, the cia did not break laws, but found there was no legal agreement or no rules for no clear guideline. he had no supervision. they really just shows we are talking about a post-9/11 kind of you russian and now -- we're only really now understanding the breadth of some of these things. >> they're saying the demographics unit has been closed, which sent people into the mosques and has that been closed? >> no. the terrorism interdiction unit.

may rename -- i don't know what they're going to do. i don't think anyone would say you don't need informants. i can't imagine them closing an effort to develop informants. informants are crucial to law enforcement and counterterrorism efforts. it is how you run them that makes this unit unique. really surprised if they just said, were not going to use informants anymore. but i think we're all waiting to see with the new guidelines, the new police commissioner comes up with on what the rules are going to be. >> in a statement, new york mayor bill de blasio said -- those are the words of the mayor. linda sarsour, how to the

demographics unit affect your community? , createdmographic unit psychological warfare in our community. you did not know who you were sitting with at the café, if someone was asking, what you think about what is happening in palestine and israel, if even wanted to get into a political discussion. fleeingple are speaking out against the government. talking about religious leaders recording sermons, afraid and informant will take them out of context. being in a mosque and not knowing who the person is next to you and thinking they might be an informant really creates psychological warfare in a community. i think the disbandment of the unit for me is a welcomed first up, it will take years to undo the trauma that immigrant muslim community has endured under commissioner kelly and his intelligence division with the help of the cia. >> how did this happen, the

closing of the demographics unit? ,ften we hear about a decision and you assume it was just inspired by the leader that announces that decision, the mayor or the governor, what kind of grassroots activism went into this? >> this has been years of activism from members of the american muslim community and our allies, including courageous plaintiffs who have taken risks to sue the new york police department in a lawsuit. there's a lawsuit out of new jersey as well. this is public pressure, rallies , joining coalitions with folks working on stop and frisk to show the new york police department has been conducting his predatory police tactics against many. i do not think the nypd woke up one morning and was like, we want to be really nice today and disband the unit. i think it took years of advocacy work that includes matt apuzzo's and adam goldman stories the pull back the veil on the secretive programs been conducted without any public

information without us knowing where our taxpayer dollars were going. this is definitely a community-wide effort. >> i was going to add, they did not wake up in the morning and decide to be nice to muslims. in this instance, i think they did a review of this program. and by any accounting, even people inside the unit, the bosses have said, it did not produce anything. it did not generate any leads or lead to any terrorism investigations. says, she official says, dave, you know where the muslims are, but this doesn't tell you where the terrorists are. this is an easy one to say, this is expensive and we're spending money on food and expenses and what are we getting in return? i agree it was in an effort to be nice to anybody. i think they made a law enforcement decision that, we could do this by going in overly

insane, here we are, we would like to have a relationship. >> new york city police commissioner at the time ray kelly responded to an earlier that the matt apuzzo nypd has labeled mosques as terrorist organizations. commissioner kelly insisted the nypd's operations were legal. but i haven't seen the story, but they're hyping a book coming out next week, actually the book is based on a compilation of about 50 articles that two ap reporters did on the department. it is a reflection of the articles, then the book will be a fair amount of fiction, half-truths, lots of quotes from unnamed sources. our sin is to have the temerity to go into the federal government's territory of counterterrorism and trying to protect this city by supplementing what the federal

government has done. >> you do agree entire mosques should not be labeled terrorist organizations, right? >> of course. we do it according to the law. what we're investigating and how we investigate it is done pursuant to -- >> a federal judge's directions. >> right. >> that was the former police commissioner of new york ray kelly. , nowng about matt apuzzo with "the new york times" and .on a pulitzer prize your response to what he was saying, this is all about hyping a book? mean, the facts speak for themselves. we interviewed people on the record in the book. it was really footnoted. like everything, like we here with the nsa, when people know what is going on, we can have a

debate about whether we should be doing it. i think this is part of an examination that is going on about surveillance and national security tactics in a decade after 9/11. now the people know what is going on, we can have an informed debate. >> what was your first tip broke the story wide open? >> there wasn't one tip. it started with a series of conversations that adam and i had while working -- looking at cia shenanigans on other stories and we sort of fell into this. >> do you think there'll demographics unit, linda, ins the kind of infiltration and intrusion into your community? >> absolutely not. it is one small step. we still want to talk about the informants sent in our community. we wanted to be based on suspicion of current activity, not because of our faith. we want to talk about the new guidelines the commissioners are working on and how communities can be involved in that process.

this is a multistep process and there'll probably be decades until our community can overcome this. we hope whatever we are doing in the meantime come it won't affect the future community beyond the muslim community. >> i want to thank you both for ,eing with us, linda sarsour director of the arab american association of new york. matt apuzzo is part of a team of the reporters that one of pulitzer prize for their exposé of the new york police department's infiltration into the muslim community. he now works for "the new york times" and cowrote of, "enemies within: inside the nypd's secret spying unit and bin laden's final plot against america." when we come back, we're going to london. how many environmentalist have been killed over the last decade, the number will astound you. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

>> this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. a new report says the killings of environmental activists defending land rights worldwide has surged over the past decade. the group global witness documented 147 activists who were killed in 2012, compared to 51 in 2002. the death rate is now an average of two per week. result was the world's deadliest country for environment will defenders, with 448 deaths between 2002 and 2013. honduras was second with 109

deaths over that same period. is of the activists featured josé da silva, a brazilian conservationist and environmentalist who campaigned against logging and clearcutting of trees in the amazon rain forest. maria1, josé and his wife were murdered by masked gunmen. his ear was ripped out as proof of execution. before his execution, josé da silva described the difficulties he and other environmentalists face. >> it is very uneven fight between us and environment w. .nd the buying power of money we fight for everything, then someone shows up and throws us money. on top of the misery of someone who lives there, and then enticed the guy to start destroying the forest. >> that was josé da silva, a

brazilian environmental us to was murdered in 2011 by masked gunmen. in 2012, the united nations posthumously recognized josé and his wife maria as forest heroes. for more we go to london where we're joined by oliver courtney, lead author of the new report, "deadly environment: the rise in killings of environmental and land defenders." welcome to democracy now! explain what you have found. a sharp said, we found rise in the number of people can killed defending their rights to men the environment. people like josé and his wife maria. what has us worried, we feel this could be just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the scale of the real problem. information about what is happening to activists like we just saw as hard to come by and even harder to verify. on the back of that, there seems to be an enormous level of impunity attached to this problem.

,he majority of killings there's almost nothing known about the perpetrator and who was behind it. % of ourseen just 1 cases have seen conviction and brought to justice. and those who would protect the environment are being killed in greater numbers, and they should be protected as heroes. >> let's turn to a clip from the documentary "a fierce green fire" were we will hear from the brazilian rubber tapper and union organizer chico mendes who formed a workers union that fought to preserve the rainforest from cattle ranching and logging. >> 1975 when the rangers arrived. i join the union. i cut less rubber.

>> chico mendes was assassinated in 1988, 1 quart of a century ago. if you could tell me, oliver courtney, about the current stories of those who have been killed and who was killing them? >> there are many stories and it is quite shocking that 25 years on since the death of chico mendes we're seeing such a spike in this kind of crime. what we think lies behind or what lies behind a lot of the killings is the rising competition and natural resources. it needs to be pointed out that the vast majority of the killings that we have come

across to involve people who are resisting the operations of companies, and often foreign companies, whether or not there logging companies or agribusiness companies caring of land grabs, mining companies. there are ordinary people resisting these operations. as i said, it is difficult for the -- to pinpoint the exact perpetrator. it is a startling low number of convictions. what we have seen is they are resisting offer operations. it is down to the companies to make sure they're not being associated with this kind of violence and the governments need to monitor this problem much more clearly and much more actively, and protect the citizens who are facing these threats, and ensure that any are brought to justice. >> i want to turn to maria da silva. in and her husband murdered 2011 while fighting to protect the amazon rain forest from loggers. in this clip, maria explains the

challenges environmentalists face. the truth is, my friend, the struggle is not easy. environmentalist are seen as people that hold back progress. the most important thing is the courage. >> oliver courtney, worry it was killed in 2011 -- maria was killed in 2011. talk about how people are being defended today as they tried to defend the earth. >> our analysis is there's very little protection for those kind of activists. global witness was first prompted to look into this issue in more detail by the killing of a friend of ours who was a prominent cambodian forest activist was killed by military police in cambodia while investigating illegal logging. today, his case has been dropped by provincial court. he has not seen justice. in the months after he died from

another journalist who was investigating illegal logging was found with an ax in his head and the young girl protecting election from her village was shot and killed by military -- you veteran from her village was shot and killed by military police. and're often operating protesting in remote and often risky areas in coming into well-connectedme vested interest. it comes down to governments and companies to make sure this problem is being monitored much better, and that crimes were there prosecuted for that was in a message to protect those who protect the environment will also be protected. >> oliver courtney, can you talk penetra?o luiz telles >> he was one of the most striking cases in our report. we published our first round of research into this issue shortly

before the rio summit. we try to issue a wake-up call to the international community to say we felt this problem was increasing and the threat to environment was increasing just before the delegates gathered to discuss a better way to protect the and climate -- climate and environment. enetra was fighting for the rights of local fishermen. the day after the summit ended in real, he was abducted and found executed with another campaign just a few days later. we really think that since a symbol of how much needs to be done. he was one of 18 activists were murdered in a month after rio that shows how far we have to go and how much work is to be done by governments and the international community to make sure these people who are laying their lives on the line to protect the environment beginning the protection they deserve. the want to go out with

voices of these forest heroes. in 2012, the united nations posthumously recognized maria and josé da silva is forced euros, murdered in 2011 while fighting to protect the amazon rain forest from loggers. maria's sister, laisa santos sampaio, accepted the award on their behalf. >> they only defended the forest, but showed by practical example how to live with dignity in the forest. respecting its dynamics and all its species, in the being with the forest, they were examples and taught children that one has more to gain keeping the forced to live in selling for burning it. >> that was laisa santos sampaio , remembering her sister and brother-in-law, maria and josé da silva, forest heroes. that does it for our show. thank u so much to oliver courtney we will have a link to

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