09/03/14 09/03/14 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] from pacifica, this is democracy now! the united states and cooperation with our allies plans to significantly increase the readiness of the nato response force to ensure the appliance is prepared -- alliance is prepared to respond in a timely fashion. expandato prepares to its presence in eastern, are missing the start of a new cold war? we will discuss it with jack matlock who served as u.s.

ambassador to the former soviet union. then we will be joined by a researcher from human rights watch just back from a besieged city in eastern ukraine. militants from isis release a video claiming of executed american journalist steven sotloff. war isnalism covering dangerous. they can get killed in crossfire and they can take steps to diminish those risks. but that is different from being dragged in front of the camera and butchered simply because you are a journalist. and those thatme committed these crimes should be brought to justice. >> hours after the ice's video was released, president obama ordered more than 300 troops to iraq. we will speak with the committee to protect journalist and in an iraqi journalist who had to flee to the united states were his own safety. all of that and more coming up. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman.

ukraine has retracted an earlier claim to have reached a cease-fire with russia. the office of ukrainian president poroshenko initially said he agreed with russian counterpart vladimir putin on steps toward a cease-fire with pro-russian rebels in eastern ukraine, but the kremlin then tonight a cease-fire agreement saying it is not in a position to make a deal because it is not a party to a deal. ukraine has accused russia of direct involvement in the violence amidst the recent escalation. the confusion comes as president obama visits the former soviet republic of estonia had of a major nato summit in wales. more than 2600 people have been killed in eastern ukraine since april, the majority by ukrainian forces. the un's has more than one million people have been displaced over one quarter internally. more after the headlines. the militant group islamic state has released a video which appears to show the second

beheading of u.s. journalist in as many weeks. steven sotloff is seen wearing an orange jumpsuit, similar to those worn by prisoners at one time obey. he kneels in the same position as the previous victim, james foley. as a masked person stands over him with a knife, sotloff speaks directly to the camera and recites what appears to be a coerced statement about "paying "he price for u.s. airstrikes against the group. the man with a knife, who also issues a warning that isil will continue to kill americans if the strikes continue. >> i'm back, obama, because of you and your insistence on continuing your bombings, despite are serious warnings. for your actions, just another american citizen. knife will continue to strike the necks of your people.

>> steven sotloff was kidnapped about a year ago in syria while working as a freelance journalist. on tuesday, a film maker, a friend of sotloff, said he was dedicated to reporting on the middle east. for the region. he took time to understand the region and understand the people, to make friends and contacts there, to learn the language, to drink the tea. he was really set on doing things that way and really getting -- it allowed him to get stories. attackry on the benghazi was one of the first conference of investigations where he talked to witnesses and began to unravel the truth of what really happened there. >> the video's release comes as president obama has authorized an additional 350 soldiers. the u.s. has well over 1000 troops operating in iraq. the statement, the white house said the soldiers would not serve in a combat role. "the daily beast" reports special operations forces may be

operating on the ground in parts of northern iraq. more on the islamic state in iraq later in the broadcast. the u.s. military has killed at least six people in monday's drone attack in somalia. the pentagon says it struck a meeting of leaders with the militant group al-shabaab. in washington, pentagon spokesperson john kirby said the leader may have been among those killed. >> at approximately 11:20 eastern time, working from actionable intelligence, u.s. special operations forces using manned and unmanned aircraft destroyed an encampment and a vehicle using several hellfire missiles and later -- laserguided munitions. it was a direct strike against the al-shabaab network, specifically its leader. >> the group has denied the death saying their leader was not at the attack site.

the u.n. and international aid groups have issued new please for heightened global response to the ebola outbreak in west africa. the virus has now killed over 1500 people and spread to ginny, bavaria, nigeria, senegal, and the democratic republic of congo. the world health organization says the outbreak is outpacing efforts to contain it. >> this is the largest and most severe the most complex ebola outbreak ever seen in nearly 40 years history of this disease. even outbreak responders, but experience dating back to 1976 to 1995 have ever seen anything like it. as of this week, more than 3500 ,ases reported in guinnea sierra leone, and liberia and more than 1500 deaths. the outbreaks are racing ahead

in theseld effort countries. >> the world health organization and other groups have called on countries to send donations, doctors, biohazard experts, and protective gear to the affected regions. the contracting giant halliburton has agreed to pay a $1.1 billion fine for its role in bp's 2010 oil spill in the gulf of mexico. a white house panel found bp and halliburton ignored critical welln in the cementing just before the explosion. halliburton later pleaded guilty to destroying evidence relevant to the investigation. the bulk of halliburton settlement money will go to local residents and businesses. two african-american half-brothers have been exonerated of rape and murder in north carolina after over 30 years behind bars.

they were found guilty in 1984 of the rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl. there was no physical evidence tying them to the crime, but police obtained confessions that they have always said were coerced. both brothers have until disabilities. one was sentenced to death, the other to life in prison. police at the time failed to investigate another man who lived nearby and had admitted to similar rape and murder around the same time. after 30 years, the case saw major breakthrough last month when testing by north carolina's innocence inquiry commission the crimeman's dna to scene. on tuesday, the two brothers were declared innocent and ordered free. prison officials say they will be released today after ordering them to remain behind bars for a final night. in a recent interview after the dna testing pointed to a likely exoneration, henry lee maccallum said he never lost hope he would

one day be free. >> i have never stopped believing that one day i will be able to walk out that door. i never stopped believing that. ago, i wanted to find me a good wife. i wanted to raise a family. i wanted to have my own business and everything. i never got the chance to fulfill those dreams. i never got the chance because people took 30 years away from me. they destroyed my life. now, i believe that god is going to bless me to get back out there. >> over the years, death penalty supporters have cited the brothers case in order to back capital punishment. in 2010, the north carolina republican party pasted his

mugshots on campaign mailers. in 1994, supreme court justice antonin scalia pointed to maccallum as an example of why the death penalty is just. henry lee maccallum was north carolina's longest-serving death row prisoner until tuesday. today, along with his half-brother leon brown, he will walk out of risen after 30 years behind bars for a crime they did not commit. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we turn now to the crisis in ukraine were more than twice 600 people have been killed since april. earlier today, ukraine said its president had agreed with vladimir putin on steps toward a cease-fire with pro-russian rebels in eastern ukraine, but the kremlin denied any actual truce deal had been formalized. initially, the ukrainian presidential website had claimed a permanent cease-fire had been reached but then the statement was retracted.

the confusion comes as president obama visits estonia ahead of a major nato summit in wales. on tuesday, the white house spokesperson josh earnest outlined nato's plans to expand its presence in eastern europe. >> the united states incorporation with our allies plans to significantly increase the readiness of the nato response force to ensure the alliance is prepared to respond of threats in a timely fashion involving training, exercises and discussions about what kinds of infrastructure will be required in the baltics in poland and romania and other states on the eastern frontier, to deal with the world in which they face new concerns. >> ukraine and nato have accused russia of sending armored columns of troops into ukraine, but russia has denied its troops are involved in fighting on the ground. over the past week, the russian backed rebels have made a number of advances in eastern ukraine. on monday, rebels took control of the airport in the city of

luhansk. now they are storming the airport in donetsk, the biggest city under their control. on tuesday, an italian newspaper reported putin had told outgoing european commissioner president that he could take ukraine's capital kiev within two weeks if he wanted to. the kremlin said the remark was taken out of context. joining us now is jack matlock who served as u.s. ambassador to the former soviet union from 1987 to 1991. he is author of several books including, "superpower illusions: how myths and false ideologies led america astray -- and how to return to reality." as well as, "reagan and gorbachev: how the cold war ended." ambassador matlock, we welcome you to democracy now! what do you think is most important to understand what is happening in ukraine today? >> well, i think one of the most important things to understand is that practically speaking, the ukrainians in the russians

have to agree on what would be an acceptable way to proceed within ukraine. that is the fact of the matter. and one can talk all one wishes about how impermissible it is for russia to intervene, but the fact is, they are going to intervene until they are certain that there is no prospect of ukraine becoming a member of nato. nato to sortts by of increase defenses elsewhere, simply provocative to the russians. i'm not saying that is right, but i am saying that the way russia is going to react. frankly, this is all predictable. and those of us who helped negotiate the end of the cold war, almost unanimously said in

the 1990's, do not expand nato eastward. find a different way to protect eastern europe, a way that includes russia. otherwise, eventually, there's going to be a confrontation because there is a red line as far as any russian government is concerned when it comes to ukraine and georgia and other former republics of the soviet union. black with theth exception to the three baltic states. >> on sunday, vladimir putin called for immediate negotiations on the statehood of southern and eastern ukraine. on monday, putin blamed kiev's leadership for not participating in direct political talks. what is the essence of the tragedy that is happening in ukraine right now? i think the main reason for that is the current key leadership does not want to carry out a substantial clinical dialogue --

political dialogue. and mine pinon, the process of direct talks starts. we been working on it for a long time and we agreed upon that with president poroshenko in minsk. we start to have [indiscernible] >> ambassador matlock, the significance of what president putin is saying? thatll, it does seem to me , practically speaking, there needs to be an understanding between russia and the ukrainians as to how to solve this problem. it is not going to be solved militarily. so the idea we should be getting more help to the ukrainian government in a military sense is simply exacerbates the problem. is, ukraine isem

a deeply divided country. as long as one side tries to impose its will on the other -- and that is what has happened since february. the crania nationalist and the west have been trying to impose their will on the east and russia is not going to permit that. that is the fact of the matter. an, there simply needs to be agreement. say most of the influence of the west in trying to help the ukrainians, i would say, defending them against the russians, tends to be provocative. putin is right. if you decided, he could take care. russia is a nuclear power. russia feels we have ignored that, that we have insulted them

time and again. and that we are out to turn ukraine into an american puppet that surrounds them. psychology, byof resisting that in russian eyes and he is gain unprecedented popularity. so it seems to me that we have to understand that like it or not, the ukrainians are going to have to make an agreement that is acceptable to them. >> speaking to reporters thursday, president obama said the u.s. will collaborate with its nato allies in dealing with the ukraine crisis but ruled out military action against russia. >> we will continue to stand firm with our allies and partners that what is happening is wrong, that there is a solution that allows ukraine and russia to live peacefully, but it is not in the cards for us to

see a military confrontation between russia and the united states in this region. keep in mind, i'm about to go to a nato conference. ukraine is not a member of nato, but a number of the states that are close by our. we take our article five commitments to defend each other very seriously. obama, is president investor jack matlock, you say russia is very threatened by the possibility ukraine would join nato. most people in the united states i don't think i understand the politics of nato. it is not on people's radar. why is nato such a threat and what was the agreement that was originally worked out around nato with ukraine and also in the baltics, lithuania and estonia -- were president obama is right now? members ofey are

nato. they will be defended. russia is not threatening the militarily. of course, we will defend them because they are members of nato. ukraine is not a member of nato. and why we react as if it is an cooperationm on our in defending them from russia, simply not the case. these are different cases. by saying we have to increase our military presence in the baltic states, this just reinforced the russian perception that they must at all cost keep ukraine from that happening. or else they will have american bases in ukraine, american naval bases on the black sea. this is the fear. it seems to me that it is not

necessary to protect the baltics , which are not being threatened by russia, and it is apt to make the russians even more demanding toward the ukrainians when it comes to ukraine. however, we are on that course, clearly, the estonians and others feel they can be there'sed, but i think no question that as members of nato, they would be defended by the united states and russia is not going to present a military challenge to them. going to do whatever they consider necessary to make sure this doesn't happen in ukraine. >> what about the nato officials saying they plan to approve nato rapid reaction force that would, what, be a 4000-member force that could be rapidly deployed to eastern europe in response to what they called russia's

aggressive behavior? aware of whatot that aggressive behavior in regard to the baltic states is. again, i think that is unnecessary. it tends to make the russians even more demanding when it comes to ukraine. >> and talked about the original understanding of nato and russia. understandays to what the deal was worked out between russia and nato allies. well, when the berlin wall came down, when eastern europe began to try to free itself from the communist rule, the first president bush george herbert walker bush, met with gorbachev

in malta and it made a very important statement. one was, we were no longer enemies. the second was, the soviet union would not intervene in eastern europe to keep communist rule there. and in response, the united states would not take advantage of that. now, you might say this was a derailment agreement between gorbachev and -- gentleman's agreement between gorbachev and president bush. it was one which was echoed by the other western leaders, the british prime minister, the german chancellor, the french president. as we negotiated german unity. and if the question was, could a united germany stay in nato? , no.rst, gorbachev said if they unite, they have to leave nato. and we said, look, let them

unite. , but we stay in nato will not extend nato to the territory of east germany. well, it turned out that legally, you could not do it that way. so in the final agreement, it was that all of germany would stay in nato, but the territory of used germany would be special and there would be no foreign troops and no nuclear weapons. later -- at that time, the warsaw pact was still in place. the statements made were very general. at one point, secretary baker told glover talk, nato jurisdiction would not move one inch to the east. mind,he had the gdr in but that is not what he said specifically. if i have been asked when i was

ambassador of the united states in moscow in 1991, is there an understanding of nato won't move to the east, i would've said, yes, there is. however, it was not a legal commitment. and one could say, once the soviet union collapsed, any agreement then maybe didn't hold, except when you think about it, if there was no reason to expand nato when the soviet union existed, there is even less reason when the soviet union collapsed and were talking about russia. reason many of us argued against the nato expansion in the 1990's, was precisely to avoid this sort of situation we have today. it was totally predictable. if we start expanding nato, as we get closer to the russian border, they're going to

consider this a hostile act. and at some point, they will draw a line and they will do anything within their power to keep it from going any further. that is what we're seeing today. >> jet matlock, we're going ask you to stay with us. jack matlock served as u.s. ambassador to moscow from 1987 to 1991. we will continue this discussion and talk about the beheading of the freelance journalist steven sotloff by isis in the u.s. response. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

>> this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we continue our coverage of ukraine by looking at the humanitarian crisis on the ground. according to the united nations, more than one million people have been displaced of the fighting. over 800,000 ukrainians have fled to russia, another 260,000 are displaced inside ukraine.

joining us from paris, france is ole solvang, who just returned recently from eastern ukraine and is the lead author of the new report, "ukraine: rising civilian toll in luhansk." details how both ukrainian forces and russian backed rebels are contributing to the rising death toll of the besieged city where many residents have not had electricity, gas, and running water for weeks. also still with us, jack matlock , served as u.s. ambassador to the former soviet union from 1987 to 1991. ole solvang, described the map of ukraine for us to where the crisis is. is a city thatk has been under siege by the ukrainian army for several weeks now, held by the separatist forces. it is a place that is difficult to get into. all coming occasions are cut. we know less about what is going on in luhansk than other places,

and that is part of the reason why we felt it was so important to get there. an interesting thing was, when you arrived in luhansk in the afternoon, it seemed completely empty. it seems like a ghost town. there was nobody in the streets. but in the morning very early on from around 6:00 in the morning, you would see hundreds of people lining up in the street at water and food distribution points, as the city has not have running water and most of the residents have not have running water for we and no electricity. the human a train situation is quite difficult. they're running out of food and fuel. biggestthe most -- the challenge for people living there, as they told us, was the ongoing bombardment, the ongoing shelling nearly daily with strikes in the city including the city center, but particularly on the outskirts. we saw that ourselves. we looked into these or some of

these strikes, and they appeared to be indiscriminate. their killing and injuring civilians. one doctor said about three heard civilians had died in luhansk alone since the military operations started in may. >> if you could describe just where luhansk and donetsk is in relation to russia. -- drawword map for us a word map for us. areoth donetsk and luhansk in eastern ukraine. donetsk is the bigger of the cities. normally, it has about one million inhabitants. luhansk is about half that size. but luhansk is much closer to the russian border. it is fairly close. now, when i was there, at least, ukrainian army had surrounded the city luhansk and

it was very intensive fighting on the outskirts. we heard recently on the news in recent days, the separatists have taken back the airport, for example, but the situation there is still very difficult. >> can you talk about the number of deaths and who is responsible for these deaths in the area? >> it is difficult to establish with certainty how many civilians have suffered, how many civilians have been killed. it is even more difficult to establish how many soldiers and fighter separatists have in killed, but our focus is on the civilians. so in luhansk, the first thing we did was go to the morgue in the city and the head of the morgue told us they had registered more than 300 civilians had been killed. he said all of them had been

killed -- almost all of them have been killed by shrapnel injuries from artillery and rocket shelling. the morgue also was having difficulty operating without electricity. when we got there, there were 17 bodies lying outside on the lawn and the morgue was hoping to get generators starting again -- refrigerators starting again. who is responsible? in many cases, it is difficult to determine with certainty. there is, logically, if you look at the situation, the separatists are holding the city and the ukrainian army is trying to retake the city. so logically, i think there is an assumption that rocket artillery shells that fall within the city come from the ukrainian army. the ukrainian government is claiming that these are rebels

firing into their own areas. ,here might be cases of that but most of the cases we looked at, the evidence pointed to the ukrainian army. for example, we know the central market in luhansk was hit by a shell that burned down half the market and killed four people. right next to the central market is the headquarters of the separatists, which is a strong indication that might have been the target of the ukrainian army. in this particular attack, they missed into the central market. >> and refugees, those internal and those leaving? andhere are vast numbers what we're seeing more and more are coming out and we're spoken to many of them. they do cite the difficult humanitarian situation in luhansk in particular, but most of them said the determining

factor for them, the trigger point, if you will, was the increased shelling in their neighborhoods. many of the people we spoke to could cite several examples in the neighborhoods or in the streets were shells had fallen and hit houses, burned down houses, or killed civilians. so this is really one of the main driving factors that are driving people out of the cities and into ukraine or into russia. >> investor matlock, what do you ?hink should be the approach president obama will be giving a major speech today in estonia, the nato summit is taking place in wales. what do you think should happen? what do you think would solve this crisis in ukraine? hope that in a diplomatic effort will start

bearing some fruit. it does seem to me a lot of the public rhetoric doesn't help. and the accusations back and forth, no matter how accurate will stop i think president obama recently has been much more restrained than some of the other spokespersons. so i don't want to be focusing entirely on that, except that we have to understand the russian attitude, which is that what they're doing is defending from western interference, therefore, anything that seems to challenge stimulates the opposite reaction from russia. it is a tragic situation, particularly for the people directly involved. no question about that. and it is only going to be solved, i think, by negotiations

where both the russians and the ukrainian government is reasonable in what they demand of the other and what they agree upon. there is going to have to be a settlement there between the two. that is where it has to be. i think outsiders need to be a little careful that they don't seem to stimulate one side or the other to be more rigid than they should be. but i can't predict what is going to happen. >> what do you think russia wants? >> it will be solved by quite a compromise between the russian and ukrainian leaders. >> what does russia want, ambassador matlock? >> i'm sorry? >> what does russia want? >> what does russia want? >> yes. >> they want a ukraine that is

not a threat to them. that is what they want. the people who seized power in kiev in february are openly and vehemently anti-russian. they may have a good reason for that, but that view is not shared by the people in the east who don't necessarily want to be part of russia, but they also don't want the country which deprives them of free contact with russia. and this is, in essence, a family fight. that is something we have to understand, we outsiders. ukraine is a very complex country, which has been put together rather artificially, to be frank, and without any real consultation of the ukrainians as to where the borders were and so on. and to treat it as if it is some

primordial unified state is simply incorrect. know, ukraine is basically a house which sits independence has been divided against itself. that is the basic problem. outsiders taking one side or the other, it doesn't help. it is inevitable russia is going to take a side because it is part of their backyard. many russians would say part of their own heritage. so we're dealing with highly emotional issues when we outsiders get involved, and when we start talking about military action and military alliances, we cause very irrational and very damaging reactions. ,> ambassador jack matlock thank you for being with us, former ambassador to the former soviet union from 1987 to 1990 14. among the books that he is

.ritten, ole solvang, i want to quickly switch gears to talk about what you been working on for the past three to four years, the you haven't been back recently , and that the danger is syria. if you could summarize what you understand is happening on the ground in syria, what human rights watch has found? >> what we're finding, unfortunately, is that violations for the syrian government continues that indiscriminate shelling continues, and we have received a lot of information about continued torture. and of course recently, we have been focused very much on the threat islamic state this posting in a violations they are committed.

just today, we released new mass executions. amid it five site in tikrit with an estimated number of bodies anywhere from 500 almost 800 bodies in mass graves within executed apparently by the islamic state. very, very serious violations. i think what is also important to keep in mind, though, as i was very much focused on his violations, is that we should not allow -- we should not allow his violations of a test run to the violations committed by the syrian government and iraqi government and shia militias. comparison argument to be made that violations by these two governments contributed to the rise of islamic state by

antagonizing the sunni population. what human rights is calling for is to be principled in terms of condemning all human rights violations, no matter who is doing them, even in the face of very horrific violations that we're seeing from the islamic state. >> ole solvang, thank you for being with us, senior emergency researcher for human rights watch, returned recently from ukraine as the author of the report on ukraine called, "ukraine: rising civilian toll in luhansk." he has spent the last years looking at the situation in syria. when we come back, we stay in iraq and syria and on the islamic state. we will be joined by an iraqi journalist as well as a spokesperson for the committee to protect journalists. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

>> this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. iraq andic state of syria released a video tuesday which appears to show the second beheading of a u.s. journalist in two weeks. in the video, steven sotloff is seen wearing an orange jumpsuit like the prisoners i can't on the mo. he is kneeling in the same position as isis's previous victim, journalist james foley.

stands overperson him with a knife, sotloff speaks directly to the camera and says he is "paying the price" for u.s. airstrikes against the group. sotloff was killed -- kidnapped about your ago while working as a freelance journalist. quick jim foley before him, steve's life stood in sharp contrast to those who have murdered him so brutally. they make the absurd claim they kill in the name of religion, but was steven, his friends say, who deeply loved the islamic world. this -- his killers try to claim they defend the oppressed, but it was stephen who traveled throughout the middle east risking his life to tell the story of muslim men and women demanding justice and dignity. whatever these murderers think they will achieve by killing innocent americans like stephen, that artie failed. they failed because i people

around the world, americans are repulsed by their barbarism. we will not be intimidated. there horrific acts only unite us as a country can stiffen our resolve to take the fight against these terrorists. >> joining us now is the deputy director of the committee to protect journalists. also joined by mohammed al dulaimy, an iraqi journalist who reports for mcclatchy journalist . he is now seeking asylum in the united states out of fear for his safety. he recently has come on television to talk about the situation in iraq. i wanted to go first to robert. can you talk about steven sotloff? >> yes, first of all, we're horrified by the fact this is the second journalist in just over two weeks to be butchered in this way in front of a camera. stephen is one of those journalists who had a passion for the middle east. he learned arabic.

he went with full knowledge of the great risks he was taking in order to bear witness for us and bring these reports. he has been brutally murdered. he is one of about 71 journalists that we have documented who have died as a result of reporting on the syrian conflict in the last three years. that is a very heavy toll. he is one of those who have been taken hostage, journalist. we believe there were around 20 -- the majority of those syrians. talks where are they being held? >> we don't know precisely, but they were taken in syria. the problem is, when journalists cross from turkey to syria, they can be captured been passed on by the many groups that are syria inurnalists in the last three years. they could be anywhere. the video looks like any part of

northeast syria, parts of iraq. there's no way to tell where that is. >> can you tell us, the end of the video, there's another journalist, just like we saw steven sotloff in the video for james foley when he was executed and they said sotloff would be next. talk about the next journalist. he is british? a my understanding is he is humanitarian worker and not a journalist. the british government has asked the british press not to name him, and he hasn't. he has been named in the american press. to my knowledge, he is not a journalist. >> what does this mean now? >> first of all, it shows the journalists and other hostages are being used as political pawns. i don't know whether the jihadists have any intention of theoming or releasing

people they have taken hostage. journalists have been captured since lebanon, but they were kept alive. the islamic state have taken this to a new level of barbarity, as far as we're concerned, because the demands we heard that were made in terms of money for james foley were so outrageous, over $130 million, they were never even taken seriously. i don't think there is any real chance of negotiating with these captors. >> the committee to protect journalists recently talked about the 20 people who were ald hostage, who made decision to make the public. can you talk about how you found out who they were? >> through research was syrian groups on the ground, syrian journalists, talking to families, employers. when there is a request by news organization not to talk about its employees that have been

taken, we follow that. we respect the family's wishes or the employer's wishes. but most of these journalists that have been taken are syrians. there are very few people to stand up and advocate for them. so we made a point of documenting their cases and putting their names out there, too. anmohammed al dulaimy, your iraqi journalist. you have come here seeking political asylum. your response to the beheading of steven sotloff and before that, james foley? all, i would like to pass my condolences to their families. ofis really an act barbarism, as president obama described it. it is clearly an indication that has seen the pain of the

u.s. air raids and made them see the first defeat after all the, say, victories they have achieved in the past two months. about the effect of the islamic state on your country, on iraq right now? who is supporting it and who isn't? state islamic something that not only iraq, but the religion of islam itself hasn't been something like this in 1400 years. i would dare to say, they have their own differences with many other radical movements that the region has witnessed. groupre a very different

than anything else that we saw or read about in history. the abnormal situation in the region and the sectarian it, that theto globalization add to it, the internet, social media, the capability to reach people -- all of that gave them a way to spread the and radical thoughts. what is it doing to my country? it is killing my country. islam, it is also giving the image of islam that cannot be accepted by any muslim. just a few days ago in saudi arabia and other countries, said the islamic

state is enemy number one of islam itself. and fighting it is a duty upon all muslims. you how the to tell majority of people are repelled by their actions. >> speaking at the white house last thursday, president obama said he has asked the physical to draw up a range of military options to build a regional coalition against the islamic state. >> i've asked secretary kerry to travel through the region to continue to build a coalition needed to meet this threat. as i have said, rooting out a cancel like isil, will not be quick or easy but i am confident we can and will. we will prepare a range of options. will be meeting with my national

security council begin this week as we continue to develop that strategy. , i woulded al dulaimy like to ask your response to what president obama says and what you think the united states should be doing? should it be in iraq right now? knowwill tell you what i as a fact. canow as a fact that i.s. be defeated. i know is a fact, from all our sources on the ground, from all these long years of reporting and knowing the area very well, that their numbers are not that much. they were building on anger against the government, a government that is a proxy government working for iran. get witharted to civilians and it, ticketed the situation, gave a window for

isis, now islamic state, to seize on that. building a coalition could be done. and i think the united states could build it, but the problem that the u.s. faces now -- and i think the policymakers in washington are facing -- is if they supported the iranian trained militias in defeating islamic state, wooden that be handing iraq and syria over to iran? a substitute to that. iraq has disintegrated. the military itself has collapsed. i think it is a policy dilemma. what is going to happen in the country after the islamic state defeats? i will tell you in example that might simplify that. 10 days ago, in the town north

of fallujah, the islamic state members asked tribal fighters to pay allegiance for their self proclaimed could leave. when is fighters refused, they were threatened to be killed. they were outnumbering i.s. the fight was stopped in fear the surrounding iraqi army, supported by the militias, would see that chance and control the town possibly a massacre would be committed against that town. what they did was they chose to give their arms to islamic state. so all i'm saying, the coalition could be built, but society itself might not support any

action on the ground in fear of revenge by the pro-government forces. in the islamic state response yesterday and today, they described it as a crusade against the islamic state, they to get other jihadi groups to pay allegiance to this coalition, so they are taking measures and they're looking like afraid and they're trying to bring support by describing it as a crusade. >> how significant is what has happened in gaza to recruitment for islamic state? is that at all a role or, of course, the u.s. invasion of iraq, does that play a role here? i don't see indications of , especially in iraq.

but i would say complicated the it also has a long list of solutions. the recruitment with isis is a long list of reasons, and a buildup of years, more than a decade. but i can to you one thing i know for sure. the indiscriminate use of weapons against civilians by the iraqi government is the number one. and we have talked to dozens of people who were so happy the u.s. is involving at least a minimum casualties happen among civilians, especially among sunnis, and that is what isis is afraid, that the people now look to the u.s. as a force that will

try to bring minimal casualties to civilians. but i can't see the u.s.-led invasion and the series of events that took place afterward, i can see the iranian intervention and talking about sunni -- the whole regional situation is so complicated. >> i want to and with robert mahoney on the issue of journalists who cover this, to bring the faces, the names of the suffering on the ground to people all over the world. our freelance journalist more in danger than anyone else, certainly james foley and steven sotloff for freelancers. >> absolutely. the majority of journalists going over to syria in northern lancers. free

they don't have the same backing of a large multinational news organization or big newspaper. what is happening is they banded together, share information, organizations like mine provide some basic security tips for them, but they really are on their own. they are the ones that are the most vulnerable. >> are people reading out to the committee to protect journalists to get out of the area now? >> we help syrian journalists who have fled. many have fled to turkey. there are very few openly practicing journalists in syria, and we have helped bring syrian journalist to safety from turkey. unfortunately, a lot of them have been killed in syria. and those that are getting out the few images and stories we see from syria, are practicing almost clandestinely, particularly in the islamic state. >> robert mahoney, thank you for

being with us, deputy director of the committee to protect journalists. and thank you to mohammed al dulaimy, now seeking asylum in the united states, speaking to us from south carolina. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your commen

>> scientists predict the small nation of kiribati will be one of the world's first countries to disappear as a result of climate change. >> [speaking english] >> our future is actually being--it's written. it's written on the wall that the sea level will rise, and it will affect our islands. and so, the international c--community cannot ignore that. >> [singing in kiribati]