03/19/15 03/19/15 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacifica, this is democracy now! >> i can't say anything other than this was a huge tragedy that has fallen on tunisia and there is no hope for these people, so tunisia must stand strong against these militants and wipe them out. amy: tunisia, the birthplace of the arab spring is in mourning after gunmen attack the national museum killing 20 foreign tourists and two tunisians.

two of the attackers were killed. we will go to to tunis for the latest. then debate heats up over the trans pacific partnership. >> who will benefit from the tpp? american workers, consumers, taxpayers or the biggest multinational corporations in the world? amy: will congress give president obama fast track authority to negotiate the secret trade deal? we will speak with lori wallach of public citizen. then to how the fbi created a terrorist. >> the really dangerous guys are not being trapped in a sting operation, because in a way they're not dumb enough to go to the local mosque or the community and talk to an informant about how they want to commit an act of terrorism. the really dangerous guys are not being deceptive by the fbi. amy: we look at the case of sami osmakac. he is currently serving 40 years in jail for plotting a terror attack in tampa that was put together almost entirely by fbi agents. all that and more, coming up.

welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. a shooting rampage at tunisia's national museum has left 22 people dead, 20 foreign tourists and two tunisians, nearly 50 people injured. two gunmen began the attack by opening fire on tourists as they got off a bus and chasing them inside the museum. it is one of the most popular tourist attractions in tunis, and adjacent to the country's parliament else in. the dead included residents of japan, italy columbia, australia, france, poland, spain, and britain. it was the most serious attack in years in tunisia where the arab spring began in 2011. thousands of tunisians have marched in the streets to denounce the shooting. the tunisian president government has pledged to wage what it calls "merciless war" against terrorism. we will go to tunis after the

headlines. the obama administration has signaled a potential shift in its approach to israel and palestine following the reelection of israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu. on the eve of the vote netanyahu vowed to prevent the establishment of a palestinian state and warned against a high turnout of arab voters. in its first public response the white house said it is deeply concerned about divisive rhetoric and "will evaluate our approach to this situation moving forward." according to "the new york times," the obama administration is considering backing a u.n. security council resolution calling for a two-state solution based on an israeli withdrawal from the occupied territories. that would mean president obama would be formally supporting official u.s. policy for the first time, after previously vetoing similar resolutions at the u.n. a white house official said -- "we are now in a reality where the israeli government no longer

supports direct negotiations therefore we clearly have to factor that into our decisions going forward." on wednesday, a spokesperson for u.n. secretary general ban ki moon renewed calls on israel to end the occupation. >> it is incumbent upon the new is really government once formed to create editions for final peace agreement that will in the israeli occupation and realize the creation of a viable palestinian state, living in peace and security alongside israel. this includes the cessation of legal settlement -- illegal settlement building. amy: dozens of people have been wounded in clashes surrounding wednesday's massive protest against austerity in frankfurt germany. a crowd of around 10,000 people marched outside the new headquarters of the european central bank to oppose economic policies that force deep cuts to public spending and worsen

unemployment. around 14 officers and 21 protesters were injured after breakaway marches clashed with police. opposition to austerity has grown with the recent election of the syriza party in greece, which has challenged the terms of its international bailout. a spokesperson for rally organizer "blockupy" said protesters are bringing athens to frankfurt. >> today and frankfurt, we have shown there is anger and frustration about german prices, politics, and the ecb's policies . in social injustice leads to social in content, whether you like it or not. we must say athens has arrived in frankfurt. amy: a prominent yemeni journalist has been assassinated in the capital sanaa. abdul kareem al-khaiwani was reportedly shot dead near his home by gunmen riding a motorbike. al-khaiwani was also a well-known activist close to yemen's houthi militia, which

recently seized power. parents and colleagues of 43 students missing for nearly six months in guerrero, mexico are bringing their call for justice to the united states. the students' families question the mexican government's claims local police under orders from the corrupt mayor of iguala turned the students over to drug gang members, who killed and incinerated them. only one student's remains have been identified, and mexican media reports have tied federal authorities to the attack. three caravans will travel across the united states converging on new york next month. speaking at a news conference at the mexican consulate in new york, felipe de la cruz sandoval, a professor at the ayotzinapa teachers college, whose son survived the police attack, said the parents bring a message for president obama. >> we are here to tell the u.s. government that in mexico, we

have been living for many years in an anti-democracy, a criminal state. as parents, we will not allow more impunity and if president obama has human thoughts and feels the pain of the mexican people he should be reviewing the political relations and the agreements with mexico. you should consider if a life is more important than a political and economic agreement on weapons with mexico, because these weapons are being used to kill students in mexico. amy: a known white supremacist has been arrested following a shooting spree wednesday in mesa, arizona. a police spokesperson said one person was killed and five others were wounded before the suspect was detained. >> the suspect who we believe is responsible for the incident has been taken into custody without major incident. he was tased during custody. at this time, we believe he is responsible for each and every one of these shootings.

he was taken into custody in the 1700 block here in may so. we have one deceased. the other five have been treated at hospitals. one of them is in critical condition with, i believe multiple gunshot wounds and still being treated. amy: the suspect has been identified as 41-year-old ryan elliot giroux. the southern poverty law center says giroux belonged to skinhead and white supremacist groups. a u.s. air force veteran has pleaded not guilty to charges of trying to assist the self-proclaimed islamic state. nathan webster pugh was indicted this week on charges of seeking to provide material support to isil and attempted obstruction of justice. prosecutors say he was caught trying to cross the border into syria earlier this year. the chemical industry's top lobby group has reportedly drafted a chemical safety bill before congress. the bill is sponsored by senators tom udall, a democrat and david vitter, a republican. but democratic senator barbara

boxer says a digital copy she received proves the authorship of lobbyists. information imbedded inside microsoft word shows the company of origin for the document is the american chemistry council. >> now maybe i am old-fashioned, but i don't believe a regulated industry should be so intimately involved in writing a bill that regulates them. the voices of public health and safety organizations that speak for our citizens must be heard. there are views must not be drowned out by the very industry that is supposed to be regulated. amy: gemma collects says: for probe after police arrest left a black student bloodied and bruised. charlottesville police say martese johnson has been charged with obstruction of justice without force and public swearing or intoxication. but the group concerned black student said -- uncle resultednewly emerged video

footage shows dallas, texas police fatally shooting a mentally ill african-american man at his home six seconds after encountering him. jason hears and was reportedly shot dead in june after his mother called 911 through four she was worried about him because he was bipolar and schizophrenic. within two minutes of the officer's arrival, harrison had been fatally shot in video released by the family, harrison is seen standing in the doorway with a screwdriver. after he doesn't heed police orders to drop it, they opened fire. harrison was shot six times in the chest as he was dying, police officer them heard asking if they should handcuff him. the obama administration set a new record for concealing information for the public. according to an associated press analysis, of the more than

700,000 requests per information last year, the government censored or denied access to information more than 250,500 cases. and over 200 $15,000, said it could not find records. when the government was challenged over his withholding of information in nearly one in three cases, it it knowledged the decision was improper. as the number of records request in greece, the a administration cut the number of full-time employees pay to look for records by 375 to its lowest number in five years. but what has present for terry josh earnest will reporters "when it comes to our record on transparency, we have a lot to be proud of and it sets a standard for future ministrations will have to live up to." and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now! democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we begin in germany were dozens of people have been wounded in clashes surrounding wednesday's massive protest against austerity in frankfurt.

a crowd of around 10,000 people marched outside the new headquarters of the european central bank to oppose economic policies that force deep cuts to public spending and worsen unemployment. around 14 officers and 21 protesters were injured after breakaway marchers clashed with police. the german climate justice activist joins us now on the phone from frankfurt. he took part in the protest yesterday. thank you so much for joining us. can you talk about what is happening there in frankfurt? >> well, thank you very much for having me on the show. there were two things that happened yesterday. there were blockades of the opening of the new ecb tower block, which used to be in frankfurt, has built itself a new tower. there were going to open it with a lot of fanfare. and the blockupy groups saying

we're going to block it or opening because there's nothing to celebrate. they had a big party planned with big heads of state. blockuppy said there is nothing to celebrate given your policies are leading to impoverishment, especially in the european periphery, but all throughout the euro zone. it shows -- we announced these blockades. in response, the ecb kind of scaled back their party plans and invited just a few people to come. it was a success. that is what happened in the morning. that is what you saw the major clashes that also produced images you probably saw on tv. then in the afternoon, there was a rally and a major march. if you're maybe five or six blockades in the morning, the rally and the march gathered up to about 30,000 people.

two separate events. the mood of the first event, the blockade, was definitely very confrontational. the mood in the afternoon was very different. it was very colorful. it was sunny, folks were there from all over the continent. there was a real sense of a europeanization of the struggle against the austerity big cats from above. any cat --amy: can you explain what are the concerns of those who are occupying, the protesters, the blockupy group? >> so you have to imagine europe or the eurozone right now as a huge laboratory for austerity policies, which is the word we use in europe to describe what may folks in other countries have called neoliberalism or countries in the global south used to be called policy of structural adjustment. the eurozone is being used by

european elite to push back labor rights. all sorts of a conference of social movements over the last decades or even centuries. everything is on the table. tension -- student rights workers rights, the right not to be a victory from your housing health care -- everything is on the table for nero a liberal offensive from the neoliberal offensive from the top. in that, european desk the country's in the periphery the south are suffering the most. greece, since it started come has gone into what you might think of as a receivership. there are no longer capable of drafting out economic social, etc. policies, but those policies are drafted by three institutions which were referred to as beach. that is the imf, european

central bank, and thirdly, the european commission. the ecb is a keynote in this tryka and it is the institution which has evacuated greek democracy. when the greeks voted for different government the and how sturdy government a few months ago, it became very clear that european elites had a fight on our hands. for many years it seemed they were able to push these projects from the top without much coordinated resistance or without resistance that managed to occupy certain levers of power. when on the 25th of january, the greek people voted for and and austerity government for the first time -- which, this point 70% 80% support of the greek population despite the

difficult situation. when this new government, this new hope came to power, european elites realized now they had a real fight on their hands. they have been trying to strangle this new hope in greece ever since. and this is why the protest at the european central bank yesterday were so tense. and also filled with rage. because on the one hand, you had is supposedly grandiose opening of an institution that says, hey, we're the sort of pinnacle of european integration and your pin capitalism. at the same time you this massive assault on social movement workers, in the entire euro zone, and especially the european career free and therefore most greece. it drove folks yesterday and large numbers to come and blockade the ecb. amy: explain what happened.

the people who were injured and also the cars that were set afire. >> there were these blockades and it is true folks from the blockades were clearly out to engage the police. i think it is understandable why there is this rage. if you look a greece you have youth on a planet of 50% increase in suicides, a terrible situation. folks were trying to express the rage. however, expressing rage is not the same as having a political strategy to change the things that are actually causing the suffering that is causing your rage. there was a lot of rage in the street in the morning, but in the afternoon and evening, that have been transformed into a sense of hope, into a sense that we can lead a european struggle from these institutions and may be wind.

so my hope would be, let's not just focus on the burning cars. what we need to focus on is the ecb and their policies because they are burning the continent. amy: tadzio mueller, thank you for being with us from frankfurt, germany activist who took part in the blockupy protest. when we come back from the break, we go to tunisia where tourists and local tunisians were killed as they went into the museum and the capital of tunisia. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

this is democracy now! democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we turn now to tunisia where gunmen wearing military uniforms stormed tunisia's national museum on wednesday, killing 17

-- 20 foreign tourists and two tunisians. 50 people were injured. tunisian officials said the dead included residents from japan, italy, poland, france and spain. it was the most serious attack in years in tunisia where the arab spring began four years ago. the bardo museum is one of the most popular tourist attractions in tunis and is adjacent to the country's parliament building. the gunmen began the attack by opening fire on tourists as they got off a bus and then they chased them inside the museum. survivors of the attack described the scene inside the museum. >> it is hard to say. we were visiting the museum. suddenly, we hear loud noises. to start with, we thought it was a statue falling over. in fact, progressively we realize it was gunfire. the four of us were there. we found another couple with children.

we didn't know what to do. we hid. we were on the top floor. after a while, the gunfire stabilized. there was a guide in the mosaic room who let us in. we awaited for approximately one hour without moving until the police forces intervene. at that point they said we must run, you must run. get out of here fast. then they took us to the military barracks, which we just left. amy: earlier today, tunisian prime minister habib essid said neither of the two gunmen, who were killed in the museum attack, has been linked to any known terrorist group. one of the gunmen was said to be known to authorities. tunisian officials said security forces are searching for conferences. in recent years, thousands of tunisians have left the country to fight with the self-proclaimed islamic state in iraq, syria and libya. tunisia's president beji caid essebsi promised to wage a merciless war against terrorism. >> i can't say anything other than this was a huge tragedy that has fallen on tunisia and

there's no hope for these people. so tunisia must stand strong against these militants and wipe them out. amy: joining us now in tunis from the site of yesterday's attack is amna guellali. she is director of the tunisian office of human rights watch. welcome to democracy now! explain what you understand happened and who were the shooters? >> according to the official account of what happened in the description also from eyewitnesses around 12:00 p.m., at noon, two men not wearing any military attire is the first description of the events were saying, they were in plainclothes normal civilian close, entered into the main entrance, running into the main entrance of the big door to the

museum, which is also the same door to the parliament. after a while, they started shooting immediately at the tourist. after shooting outside in the parking lot, they went inside the museum and took hostages and shot them as well. in the meantime, the security forces were trying to liberate the hostages. the anti-attack operation on the two people, the two gunmen, and at 3:00, they declared the operation was over and they killed the two gunmen. unfortunately when the people and security forces when inside, they discovered the very ghastly picture of what happened because the remaining more people who were killed than what was initially expected or envisioned. amy: can you talk about the location of the museum next to the parliament building? and what was happening inside the parliament building?

did the attackers attempt to go into parliament before they went to the museum? >> there are two entrances to the parliament. one entrance is really the entrance to the parliament and there is a backdoor entrance. this is the entrance from which is adjacent to the bardo museum. there is a big door, which is open. there are usually security guards. apparently, the two gunmen went into -- went inside running. they were not stopped by anyone. so the bardo museum, which is the location of the largest historical and archaeological artifact of the roman empire one of the largest in the world it is very close and adjacent, the same building, basically what of it is dedicated to the simile of the representatives of the people, so the tunisian

parliament, that is what the name of the parliament is, and the other part is the museum. they are communicating doors. so they entered inside the big door where there is the entrance, and then the parking lot. in front of the parking lot there's the main door to the museum. they opened fire on a tourists coming out of the buses and the tourists cars and going inside to the museum with a open fire on them. they left eight people dead then , then they went inside the museum. there are also some information from one of the main -- the main twitter account of the local branch of al qaeda in tunis which has kind of claimed responsibility for the attack and gave a very detailed account in description of what happened. and the name of the two gunmen. they said their original intent was to target the parliament and a target the representatives

the mps, but when it became impossible to do that, they turned to the other target which were the tourists. the closest target to them in and the easiest one at all, because around protected at all, at least to the level they should have been. amy: members of parliament word debating -- were debating anti-terrorism legislation at the time? >> the parliament is reviewing a draft legislation on anti-terrorism. the draft has been cemented already to the previous -- submitted already to the previous parliament. they started voting in discussing since july 2014, then they stopped. they voted on several articles and they stopped. what happens now is there is a new draft which normally you

will be summit by the ministry of interior and the ministry of justice to the new parliament. we don't know yet what is the content of this law and whether it has the flows of the gush laws of the previous anti-terrorism laws, whether it has harsher sentences or harsher antiterrorism operation exceptional powers to the security forces. this is what the human rights community tunisia fears, that the aftermath of this attack, there will be more tightening of the security apparatus around antiterrorist operation and sweeping antiterrorism operations that could lead to some backsliding on rights. the anti-terrorism law is really at the heart of this challenge and at the heart of the stakes in tunisia between the different political forces and it is a

political debate that will now become really central because many people are calling for the enactment of harsher law that would lead, obviously, to establishing the death penalty against the alleged -- the people allegedly linked with terrorism. now the death penalty in tunisia, there's a moratorium on its in stock to 91. there is been no one executed since that date. there are a lot of elements in the attack that could lead to possible backsliding on rights but this is this year only and it is not a reality yet. amy: amna guellali, it is estimated upwards of 3000 tunisians have gone to fight with isis, with the so-called islamic state. it is disproportionately higher,

i believe, than any other country for foreign recruits. can you explain why you think that is? >> it is very -- it is a disturbing number. definitely, something that makes tunisians very perplexing. it is very perplexing for tunisians. the explanations are many -- many fold and very complex, although, i don't have one exact exhalation for that. i think it is a phenomenon that started even before the fall of the previous regime. many tunisians were fighting in iraq since 2003. some of them have been executed there. i think like the strength of the jihadists movement in tunisia started really to gain traction after the uprising. obviously, for a while and for a moment in time, they had free hands to recruit, free hands to

call for jihad in syria and iraq , until the authorities realized that this is going to have a very serious backlash on tunisia , inserted cracking down on the movement. and declared, for example, one of the leading movement in tunisia outlawed in early does in the fall 2013. this is one of the elements. the other elements is also the desperation and the lack of any prospects, i think, also from the economic side in tunisia, the fact there are a lot of people who are disenfranchised. and even though some of the forces now of these young people joining isis are highly qualified, so they're not only people who are not from lower class. they can be from all walks of life and they can be very highly qualified. i think they don't see what the

country can afford them or give them in terms of prospects. i think this is really going beyond tunisia. i think maybe the numbers coming from tunisia are alarming, but i think everywhere in the world, even in france, we start hearing about thousands of people -- mainly from muslim origins, but also many converts -- who are to join isis. it becomes a kind of -- illustration of the system, the breakdown of the system, and how there are no kinds of hopes or alternatives to violence in the world today. so i think we should look at it really from a broader perspective than tunisia itself. amy: mcclatchy news has some 4000 fighters believed to be in libya now from tunisia and another 3000 finding in syria and iraq. this news just in, authorities

have arrested nine people in connection with the gun attack at the bardo museum. four direct related to the attack, five others made under strong suspicion of relation to the attack. amna guellali, as we wrap up, next week the world social forum is being held in tunis. that's thousands and thousands of people from all over the world coming in to talk about the state of the world and to talk about issues of inequality. can you talk about whether or not this will move forward and your concerns there? >> apparently, the social forum the world social forum, the organizers decided they will keep the event. they didn't just cancel it which is a really good sign for the country. it means they're still confident that there will be security. and i think now the authorities

have had a wake-up call in order to really secure all of the venues and all of the places and all of the sensitive locations both for the world social forum and elsewhere. i think the concerns mainly for tunisia now is to keep democracy and to keep the transition on track. obviously, this kind of attacks can have an impact on rights and freedom. there can be some kind of restrictions on some of the rights. so far, we did not hear from the government that they will declare emergency state or anything else. there is no immediate measures which are taken so far. the president declared the total war on terror, which, obviously rings some alarm bells when you hear about the total war on terror, which reminds us of the

patriot act in the u.s. and some of the very bad laws and very bad practices of torture that were done for decades -- for a decade now. and this is something that is worrying. i think on the political side, i don't expect to have a big blow for the political dynamic in tunisia. now we have a coalition government. this coalition government came after the presidential and legislative elections. it has brought together the party in tunis who won most -- the majority of the seats and also the islamist party. and i think the fact they are in the coalition government may give more stability now and

avoid a total blowing of the political process. i think the government will definitely take some steps in order to counter any threat on any threat that could arise. unfortunately, the problem is that there are lots of arms and there discovering lots of arm cash everywhere in tunisia. it is going to be a challenge for the government to find a way to counter these possible terrorist attacks. amy: amna guellali, thank you for being with us director of , the tunisian office of human rights watch. she is standing right near the site where the shooters first attacked the tourists, the tunisians who are just outside the museum, and then pushed them inside. this is democracy now! democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. as returned to washington, where congressional democrats are opposing new secrecy surrounding the proposed trans-pacific

partnership, or tpp. this begins as president obama begins a major push to pass the controversial deal. the united states is in talks with 11 latin american and asian countries for the sweeping trade pact that would cover 40% of the global economy, but its provisions have mostly been kept secret. after the white house deemed a briefing on the trade pact classified congressman rosa delauro of connecticut called the measures "needlessly secretive," saying -- "if the tpp would be as good for american jobs as they claim, there should be nothing to hide." this comes as president obama recently called on congress to pass fast-track legislation to streamline the passage of trade deals through congress. >> as we speak, trying that is trying to write the rules. that would put our workers and businesses in a massive disadvantage. we can't let that happen. we should write those rules. that is why congress should act

on something called trade promotion authority. amy: meanwhile, the afl-cio says it will withhold contributions to congressional democrats in advance of congress's vote on fast-track authority. and some tea party-backed republicans are saying obama cannot be trusted with the same negotiating authority that past presidents have had. this spring, the white house has invited japan's prime minister shinzo abe to address a joint session of congress in which he may promote the trans-pacific partnership. well, for more, we are joined by lori wallach, director of public citizen's global trade watch. as the push for the tpp heats up , she was recently featured in a national journal profile headlined, "the trade debate's guerilla warrior gets her day." welcome back to democracy now! tell us about what you are most concerned about lori. >> fast tracking the tpp would make it easier to offshore our jobs and would put downward pressure enormous downward

pressure, on a mac and because it would throw american workers into competition with workers in vietnam orchid less than $.60 -- who are paid less than $.60 an hour and have no ever rights to organize, to better their situation. plus, the tpp would empower another 25,000 foreign corporations to use the investor state tribunals, the corporate tribunals, to attack our laws. and then it would be another 25,000 u.s. corporations in the other tpp countries who could use investor state to attack their environmental and health and labor and safety laws. and if all that weren't enough big pharma would get new monopoly patent rights that would jacket medicine prices, cutting off affordable access, and there is rollback of financial regulation put in place after the financial crisis. and there is a ban on by local

by domestic policies, and it would undermine the policy space that we have to deal with the climate crisis, energy policies are covered -- basically, almost any progressive policy or gold would be undermined, rolled back, plus we would see more off shoring of jobs and more downward pressure on wages. so the big battles over fast-track, the process, and right now, thanks to a lot of pushback but activists across the country, actually, they don't have a majority to pass it. that there is an enormous push to change that. that is passively where we come in. amy: people are not used to hearing president obama and republicans have found common ground in that president obama's opposition by the largest block in congress, and that is the progressive democrats. can you explain why president obama is pushing tpp forward and tpa, the fast-track authority which means, again, you can't

amend this agreement, you can only vote up or down? >> actually, i want to take one step back before guessing why, because it is hard to imagine. if you go to our website tradewatch.org, we have done a five by five of obama's policy goals as a president and everything fast tracking the tpp would do to basically undermine everything that he has fought for, from lower medicine prices to more energy-efficient climate crisis combating policies to allegedly this middle class economics agenda. the tpp and fast-track are the antithesis. but one other thing about fast-track that folks need to know, which is -- this gets to the weird politics -- is that the president basically is doing the bidding of all of the big corporations and commercial interests that spent millions of

dollars to make sure he wasn't elected the first time and a try and not elect him the second time. against him are the entire labor movement united will stop there was a letter signed by every union president. basically, the most unity the labor movement since certain unions left the afl-cio 20 years ago, and it is the service sector unions, government unions, all of the unions affected by what happens when the good jobs are taken away in the tax base crashes. and you have groups that have never been involved in a trade fight before, the internet freedom groups who realize the agreement would undermine the basic rights to an accessible free internet, issues about net neutrality that could be rolled back. it is just overarching wait a delivery mechanism for huge corporate agenda. so what would the president be with the chamber of commerce,

all of the big lobby groups that tried not to elect him, and against him or almost every houston a cracked. -- every houston a cry. and conservative republicans. the issue is not that anyone doesn't want this president to fast-track, the issue is fast-track is not appropriate for any president. fast-track lets the president unilaterally kick negotiating partners, set wind rules, not about trade that would route right domestic policy, signed an interim agreement that would requires to change all of our domestic laws to meet those rules, before congress votes to approve the content, then bright and committing legislation to change all the u.s. laws that isn't subject to congressional reviews or committee. because directly to the floor. the president is guaranteed in 90 days a yes or no vote with no

filibuster limited debate, and no amendment. it is literally a form of diplomatic legislating. since 1988, only two presidents have managed to have congress give away all of that authority. that is ronald reagan in 1988 and george bush ii in 2002. every other president that has try -- clinton in 1995 1997, 1998, congress said no. it is not an anti-obama thing it is a no give away of the ability of congress to make our laws all stop that is what fast track is. and that is why would enable something as outrageous as the tpp. amy: i want as one example b,uy american. how would that fit in to tpp? >> the way that works is tpp, amongst its 29 chapters, only five of which have anything to do with trade, one of the

nontrade chapters is a chapter about retirement, government procurement rules. the requirement is the u.s. government treat kids from any company in any tpp country identically to how they would treat a u.s. company's bed. but buy america and buy american, requires you give a preference to domestic company so when we are getting our tax dollars, instead of off shoring our tax dollars, we are reinvesting them in our committee decreed jobs and also by the way create innovation. the fuel efficiency standards for cars, that was procurement conditions. the new renewable energy standards are now part of government procurement. they create a market using government funds for behavior you want the private sector to shift to. great tool, super, except under

tpp, we have to get a waiver to that preference. any company in any tpp country -- so even once that aren't from those countries, chinese don't enterprise vietnam would have to be treated the same as u.s. company and get all of those government contracts. that is also the same role that undermines all the buy local preferences. for instance, a lot of school districts have done rules that say, let's buy local food from local farmers and not have a big multinational company ship our vegetables 1000 miles away when we have the ability from right here to produce and procure. those would also be violations. you have to treat the foreign companies the same give them the same access as you would any domestic company. and if we don't change our laws to meet those rules, we would face trade sanctions until we do. amy: who negotiated this? >> there's an office that is part of the office of the president called the united states trade representative

they are the actual negotiators. but i think underlying your question is, who the heck negotiated this? the reason we have such a lunatic agreement is those negotiators are advised by an official set of trade u.s. private sector trade advisers. there are almost 600 of these advisers and all but one handful of them -- all the handful of them represent corporate interests. there are about 20 labor unions in the mix of the 600. there are three or four environmental groups. there is one consumer group, a couple family farm groups. otherwise, does all corporate. literally, when it comes to the form suitable rules, the pricing of medicine, you all of the industry there. amy: can you talk about the strategy that people are using in opposing this, democrats in congress have spoken out, some of them, around the issue of secrecy. the reason we know this agreement, what is in it, is because wikileaks released a draft of it about a year ago. going back to 1999, the world

trade organization in seattle, for example, the massive protest outside led to the world trade organization -- i mean basically, the whole ministerial being called off. what kind of organizing is taking place right now? >> actually, what shut down the debbie geo expansion was a combination of inside and outside. so folks so the protest in the street in seattle in 1999, but there was an entire year of campaigning country by country around the world to get the government who were going to that meeting to agree to not do certain things and to demand certain things. and where we are in a campaign now is, basically, folks have to ramp up the inside and the outside -- which is to say, it may sound corny. i sway in exodus on forcing -- i

swear it makes a difference on forcing cut a hole. folks, if you have not contacted your representatives and senators and have them committed in writing that they will affect fast-track if you have not done that you must do that. please, do that. write them snail mail, e-mail, call. the switchboard at the capitol can connect you if you're not sure who your representative is. all you need is your zip code. the capitol switchboard -- write this down and stick it on your refrigerator for all purposes. 202-225-3121. 202-225-3121. amy: we have to leave it there. >> tradewatch.org to learn all you need to know. webinar today. amy: lori wallach is director of public citizen's global trade watch.

we will be back in a minute. ♪ [music break] >> amy: this is democracy now! democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we turn now to our last segment how the fbi created terrorists. that's the question raised by a new exposé in the intercept by trevor aaronson. the story tells the story about sami osmakac.

the operation involved a paid informant who hired osmakac for a job when he was too broke to afford in a government weapons. the fbi provided the weapons seen in the so-called martyrdom video for you plan to deliver what he believed was a car bomb to a bar in tampa, florida. his family believes he never would have initiated such a plot without the fbi and transcript of conversations obtained by aaronson show fbi agents agreed the transcript show how the agents worked to get $500 to him so he could make a down payment on a weapon, something government prosecutors wanted to prove their case. this is part of an exchange between special agent richard arms and jacob collins. >> this poor guy gets almost 500 bucks in his hands tomorrow, do you need me for another week? that is $1000. why would he show up? >> well, right, the eu are a

hard-working logical being. amy: that was part of a conversation between fbi special agents richard worms and jacob collins in the lead up to the sami osmakac sting operation. in november 2014, osmakac was sentenced to 40 years in federal prison despite a court-appointed psychologist diagnosing him with schizoaffective disorder. well, for more, we're joined now by two guests. in tampa, florida we're joined by avni osmakac, the older brother of sami. and we're also joined by trevor aaronson. he's a contributing writer at the intercept and executive director of the nonprofit florida center for investigative reporting. he is the author of "the terror , factory: inside the fbi's manufactured war on terrorism." his most recent piece for the intercept is called, "the sting: how the fbi created a terrorist." he joins us from vancouver canada where he delivered a ted talk this week on sami osmakac. democracy now! invited a

spokesperson from the fbi to join us on the show, but the agency decline. we welcome you both to democracy now! trevor, lay out the story. >> what is particularly interesting about this case it is a rare, if ever, first look behind the scenes of a counterterrorist sting operation. an organizations like human rights watch have often criticize the types of sting operations for targeting mentally ill, economically desperate people who on their own would not have the means to commit this type of crime. these transcripts, the sealed transcripts we obtained that were accidentally recorded conversations among fbi agents as they were working the sting certainly suggest the fbi seems to agree with groups like human rights watch that in the case of sami osmakac, they did not think he was committed of -- able of committing such violence. the transcript you showed earlier demonstrated they thought he was a retarded fool.

they describe this plot as wishy-washy and a pipe dream's and aerial. the transcripts also show they went to enormous lengths to put money in sami osmakac's hands, to funnel money through an informant who would then give it to sami osmakac so that sami osmakac could purchase weapons from an undercover agent, which is something the federal government -- excuse me, federal prosecutors insisted they needed to show osmakac's capacity for this type of crime. bobby sleep, he did not have that type of capacity. -- obviously, he did not have that type of capacity. they show they went to enormous lengths to orchestrate -- that is their work, orchestrate where he would be given money to purchase weapons or he could essentially be shown as a terrorist. amy: where does the hollywood ending come in? >> as the sting was progressing the fbi squad supervisor richard worms was talking to his agents

about discussions he was having with federal prosecutors and describes how prosecutors wanted a hollywood ending to the sting operation. what is troublesome about that terminology, i think, is it clearly shows the fbi was not only creating every aspect of the sting operation, but controlling it in such a way they wanted a flashy ending, hollywood ending, as he says. this initially did get that ending. they were able to get samio to record a so-called martyrdom video where he is right to suicide vest and has an ak-47 behind him, all of which were provided by the fbi. they get him to attempt to deliver a car bomb, which was provided by the fbi. as he backs out, fbi agents arrest him and essentially got their hollywood ending. what is concerning is this isn't the only case where a hollywood ending has occurred. sami osmakac is one of many

terrorists -- so-called terrorists since 9/11 who have been arrested in the sting operations. amy: why did they target him? >> it is still unclear exactly why they targeted him. according to the fbi's official story on this, osmakac happen to go into a middle eastern market that was run by an informant. that man claimed osmakac asked if he had al qaeda flags. in turn, he called the fbi and they launched the sting operation against osmakac. sami osmakac denies he asked anyone for an al qaeda flags. certainly, there's questions about how fisa evidence was used and whether the government may have used surveillance before the introduction of the informant. that is to say, before he met the informant, did the government know or somehow want

to target sami osmakac? there certainly said josh and along that line. it is miraculous sami osmakac which rubble 45 minutes from his home and meet someone who just so happens to be an fbi informant and target him. to make clear, the government in the trial never was able to write any evidence that sami osmakac had any connections to international terrorists groups. this was at best an idea, an idea that was manipulated by the government through an fbi informant and an undercover agent. in the end, the capacity for that, all of the weapons, all of the money, was provided by the fbi and is very elaborately orchestrated -- amy: i want to turn to avni osmakac. what do you want people to understand about your brother's case? >> i just want to make clear that whatever the government is playing in the media never thing going on, has been orchestrated

by the government. they want you to see behind the scenes, 128 agents working on this, informants and everything, all of the youtube videos and anything have been orchestrated by the government. the same day our brother was arrested, the guy was holding the camera and everything, the next day, all disappeared. there have been multiple informants and then they disappear. and no one knew what was going on. during the trial, they were denying that russell was an informant. the sentencing, one of the agents flipped and said they knew exactly who he was and knew his location. then our lawyer asked him, so does that mean he is working for you? the response was, national security, we cannot discuss it with you guys. so i know for a fact. i have been saying it since day one. this was fbi entrapment. since day one it can to the media. i want people to wake up and see this is not the first time it is happen. it happened in ohio, in new york a couple of weeks ago with the three guys.

there are targeting people going through challenges. amy: we have to leave it there, but we will continue this after the show and posted at democracynow.org. avni osmakac and trevor aaronson , thank you so much

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