12/18/15 12/01815 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacifica, this is democracy now! >> i can't imagine sitting in jail for something that -- knowing can imagine. dream? of a something should've been done then. not 29 years later. colorado man has

, spent 28 years in prison based on a dream -- and it wasn't his. will he soon be free? in 1989, clarence moses-el, who is african-american, was sentenced to 48 years in prison after a woman said she dreamed he was the man who raped and beat her in the dark. clarence moses-el has always maintained his innocence. but the police threw out a rape kit and any possible evidence, like bed sheets and her clothes. this summer, another man confessed to the attack. yet moses-el remained in prison, now a judge has lifted his conviction, but moses-el still remains in jail. we will speak with colorado independent reporter who has long covered this story, his attorney, and with the denver district attorney's office. then to yemen. >> the situation in yemen is nothing short of catastrophic. 25 people killed in yemen every day and another 125 that are injured. amy: as u.n.-brokered peace talks near collapse in yemen's

nine-month-old civil war, we'll speak with sharif abdel kouddous who is just back from the country. his latest article "with u.s. , help, saudi arabia is obliterating yemen." but first, "navy seals, a beating death and claims of a cover-up." the new york times reveals the 2012 incident in afghanistan when three navy seals dropped heavy stones on the detainees' chests, stomped on their heads, and poured bottles of water on their faces in a modified form of water-boarding. one of the detainees was beaten so badly, he died from his injuries. the seals were cleared of any wrongdoing. we will speak with "new york times" reporter nicholas kulish. he broke the story. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. in california, federal officials have indicted 24-year-old enrique marquez for several

terrorism related charges, claiming that marquez purchased the firearms that were involved in the december 2 mass shooting at the inland regional center in san bernardino, california. authorities say marquez is the neighbor and friend of shooting suspect syed rizwan farook, and that the two allegedly talked about radical islamist ideas together. united states attorney eileen m. decker said in a statement -- "while there currently is no evidence that mr. marquez participated in the december 2 attack or had advance knowledge of it, his prior purchase of the firearms and ongoing failure to warn authorities about farook's intent to commit mass murder had fatal consequences." the charges come only one day after fbi director james comey said at a news conference in new in new york, tashfeen malik did not pledge allegiance to isis on social media, contrary to widespread previous reports citing unnamed government

officials. the arrest of enrique marquez in california comes as president obama said there is no specific and credible threat of a terrorist attack in the united states. obama spoke at the national counterterrorism center in washington on thursday. >> i want to repeat what my team just told me. at this moment, our intelligence and counterterrorism professionals do not have any specific and credible information about an attack on the homeland. bet said, we have to vigilant. amy: president obama is planning to meet privately with the families of the victims in san san -- san bernardino shooting today. new data shows that hate crimes against muslim americans and mosques across the united states have tripled since the attacks in paris. the hate crimes include violent assaults on students wearing headscarves, vandalism and arsons at mosques and shootings , and death threats at muslim-owned businesses. the study was performed by the

center for the study of hate and extremism at the university of california san bernardino. it shows there have been 38 islamophobic attacks since the paris attacks on november 13, a little over a month ago. the frequency of recent attacks is the highest level of islamophobic hate crimes the united states has since since the aftermath of september 11, 2001. in news from the campaign trail, democratic candidate bernie sanders has gotten two key endorsements ahead of saturday's democratic presidential debate. on thursday, the 700,000-member union communication workers of america and the 270,000-person progressive group democracy for america both announced they are backing sanders. this comes as sanders' campaign announced it has received 2 million individual campaign contributions. today, however, the democratic national committee said it has indefinitely cut off sanders' access to the democratic party's master voter file after a

computer glitch made some confidential data from clinton's campaign briefly accessible to the sanders campaign. the sanders campaign says it has fired a staffer who breached clinton's data. being locked out of the file means the sanders campaign will not be able to access information. a uk-based media watchdog group criticizing u.s. media outlets for the coverage of donald trump's presidential campaign, saying the outlets have aided the rise of his campaign and the acceptance of his xenophobic rhetoric. the ethical journalism network says the three major u.s. cable news outlets devoted twice as much airtime to donald trump than to any other republican candidate, and that the majority of this coverage did not fact check his false claims or push back against his "unapologetically xenophobic anti-immigration rhetoric." in china, beijing has issued its

second-ever red alert for air pollution today as officials warn that toxic smog will listen upon the city for four days. last week beijing issued it's , first-ever red alert last week, leading to the shutdown of more than 3000 schools and the closing of factories and construction sites. meanwhile, a new report by the national oceanic and atmospheric administration shows this year's arctic temperatures are the warmest on record. the report found some areas of the arctic experienced temperatures more than 5 degrees warmer than average. it also found extensive melting across more than 50% of greenland's ice sheet. speaking at a news conference on tuesday, noaa chief scientist rick spinrad warned -- "the arctic is warming twice as fast as other parts of the planet." the former hedge fund manager who sparked national outrage after he hiked the price of a life-saving drug by more than 5000% has been arrested on securities fraud.

prosecutors say martin shkreli orchestrated a ponzi-like scheme at his former hedge fund and his start-up pharmaceutical company turing pharmaceuticals. attorney robert capers announced the charges thursday. >> today this office and the fbi are announcing the arrest this morning of martin shook kelly and grable. with securities fraud, conspiracy, securities fraud, and wire fraud conspiracy. and grabel with wired fraud conspiracy. amy: martin shkreli was freed on $5 million bond thursday afternoon. u.s. authorities said during the arrest, they did not seize a one-of-a-kind clan album that martin had reportedly purchased for $2 million, then boasted he did not even plan to listen to it. in pennsylvania, imprisoned former black panther and journalist mumia abu-jamal is set to testify in court today on the lack of adequate medical care he's received in prison. abu-jamal has been ill with

symptoms of the hepatitis c virus for more than eight months, but prison officials have refused to dispense an anti-viral drug that could cure him, claiming his symptoms are not "severe enough." a hearing set to begin this morning, in which abu-jamal will appear via video stream from prison, will address whether he should be treated immediately. his supporters say he nearly died from untreated diabetes in march, and has been suffering from serious skin rashes and swelling linked to his untreated hepatitis c virus. the new orleans city council has voted to remove four monuments to the confederacy in a 6-1 vote thursday. officials will soon take down statutes of confederate general robert e lee, confederate president jefferson davis and , other monuments. it's the latest series of confederate symbols to be targeted for removal from public spaces since a white supremacist killed nine african-american worshipers in charleston, south carolina june 17. , new orleans mayor mitch

landrieu described the move as a courageous decision to turn a page on our divisive past and chart the course for more inclusive future, he said. and the university of chicago has announced it will build a level 1 adult trauma center for the south side on its hyde park medical center. the south side has been without a level 1 adult trauma center since 1991, forcing residents of communities with a disproportionate amount of gun violence to travel the furthest for life-saving care. black youth from the south side of chicago have waged a more than 5 year-long campaign demanding university of chicago built this trauma center, staging dozens of protests, lock downs, and other actions. the movement was sparked by the 2010 death of 18-year-old activist damien turner, who was shot only blocks from the university of chicago but had to travel all the way to another hospital downtown, where he died. organizer veronica morris-moore explained the significance of thursday's announcement.

>> it means that black lives matter. it is not just a #and not just a movement. fors a revocable source political changes. it means that people who believe that racism exists within the institutions, within the policies of this country have to organize to believe what they believe and find common issues to fight for him a that addresses the day-to-day lives of black people. the university has conceded its power to the demands of young black people and the people that have supported them in the community that they represent. amy: and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. juan: welcome to all our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. we begin today with a look into a stunning new investigation by

the "new york times" into claims of military abuses and a possible cover-up that goes up the chain of command. the article titled, "navy seals, a beating death, and claims of a cover up," uncovers accounts that in may 2012, members of a navy seal team stationed at an outpost in kalach, in southern afghanistan, abused detainees that had been rounded up as suspects after a bomb exploded at a military checkpoint, killing one member of the afghan local police unit the seals had been training. according to a report by the naval criminal investigative service, which the "times" acquired through a foia request, three navy seals dropped heavy stones on the detainees' chests, stomped on their heads, and poured bottles of water on their faces in a modified form of water-boarding. one of the detainees was beaten so badly that he eventually died from his injuries. amy: but what happened after the incident has many military justice experts questioning whether navy commanders worked to cover up the case.

four u.s. soldiers working with the seals at the outpost reported that they witnessed the abuse, but navy commanders chose to deal with the matter in a closed disciplinary process, one usually reserved for minor infractions. the seals were cleared of any wrongdoing. two of the seals implicated in the abuse of the detainees and their lieutenant have since been promoted, despite calls by one commander to have them forced out of the seal team. retired rear admiral donald j. guter, who as former judge advocate general of the navy was in charge of all its lawyers, said of the process -- "it's unfathomable. it really does look like this was intended just to bury this." "new york times" reporters spoke with some of the soldiers who reported the abuse, as well as one of the afghan men who was detained. they also spoke with the brother of muhammad hashem, the man who died after being interrogated at the base. well for more we're joined by , nicholas kulish, a

correspondent for the "new york times" and lead reporter of this article, "navy seals, a beating death and claims of a cover-up." why do you start off with how you learned about this incident that happened back in may 2012? had a tip from a confidential source that this had taken place, which is what investigative report. the problem at that point was that it was entirely redacted and it said the soldiers involved were the witnesses had recanted their statements. at that point, unless we could figure out who the soldiers were, tracked them down and find out what they actually seen and what they had, there was nothing we could really do with it so that is where we focused our efforts. juan: you are able to track down some of the soldiers. had they recanted? >> all of the soldiers and they all said they had not recanted their testimony. amy: talk about what you believe happened on that day. >> i mean, i can talk about what

the witnesses said. they said there had been in ied, a bomb blast that killed one of the alp members. amy: afghan police. >> afghan local police. they had rounded up the usual suspects, you might say. they grabbed some out-of-town scrap merchants as well as the people they were staying with and brought them to the base, beating them with rifle butts, whipping them with car antennas along the way. one of the soldiers who was closest to the incident when a took place said he expected the seals to stop the abuse. with a kick to one of the kneeling bound detainees, he said that it began with the seals taking over and leading the abuse themselves from that point on. amy: then what happened? >> two of the soldiers were standing on a rooftop nearby, two of them were standing on another building farther away. all four described a consistent

set of circumstances, which you alluded to -- dropping rocks. one of the soldiers said i'm a so heavy a muscular seal needed two hands to lift them. which would mean at least 20 pounds, probably. dropping them onto their chest and at one point pulling their legs apart, dropping them on their groins. standing on one of the victims had eight to 10 times. gruesomepretty circumstance. juan: one of the things that struck me is some of the statements that were given is apparently come in may not have been an isolated incident in terms of how the seals were dealing with a local population. ,ne of the soldiers said enlisted men not part of the seals, my initial thought i'd thought they were disciplined professionals. as time went on commencing the seals became bored. they started throwing grenades off the roof, shot at local

the time, and most of they would do it without warning. when they did she warning shots, it was for no reason. there was no threat. this did not happen every day but it was often. it did seem there's definitely conflict between some of the regular soldiers and the seals on the way they were handling their assignments. >> absolutely. there were other incidents i heard about. at one point, he still pulled a gun on a soldier in the base gym as a joke, supposedly, but that is in and of itself we have been told by military lawyers would be us areas offense. shooting at a kitten under an ammunition shed, which aside from the kitten itself, you talk about possibly hitting explosives or ricochet hitting one of the service members on the base. i would like to point out we spoke with afghan elders and villagers who confirmed a lot of this, such as shooting at people ves orir almond gro

wheatfields, just warning shots or for fun or however you want to characterize up. amy: i want to turn to an excerpt from the statement by the soldiers who witnessed the abuse of the detainees. one of the soldiers, whose name was redacted from the report, spoke of the general actions by the navy seals, saying -- "me and my guys witnessed all sorts of inappropriate behavior by the seals. i personally witnessed them throwing grenades over the wall of the compound for no particular reason. i saw them shoot at random vehicles with the .50 caliber and i also saw one of the seals shoot an mk-13 grenade launcher towards and afghan male as a warning shot. they didn't kill anyone, but it was all very excessive." so you have the situation in the question is, how does the military then deal with the? >> that is the real issue. these seals were from seal team two and the commander -- amy: explain where this is. >> usa in southern or eastern or southeastern afghanistan. it is a very remote area.

you don't even have cell phone service. road crossing and a bus stop, so by afghan standards, it is a bustling commerce. the soldiers did not report the abuse immediately. there was some concern that added isolated -- added isolated outpost. they waited until they got back to the larger regional base where they then reportedly -- reported the abuse of the chain of command. they may be so commander in charge of the four seals accused called in the naval criminal investigative service, took their guns away -- amy: in cisa. >> he sent them home. as far as the criminal justice experts that we have spoken to, the military justice experts, that was all handled correctly, the way you would expect. juan: what happened? how come they weren't

court-martialed? >> i think that is the biggest question that remains. i think, you know, the former jags we spoke to, lawyers, also the logical next up would have been in article 32 hearing. that is similar to a grand jury for the military. i think some it be familiar because of bowe bergdahl recently had an article 32 hearing. for some reason, that did not take place. the navy captain robert e smith said he believed the conflicting statements between the naval personnel and the army soldiers was enough that he should handle it with his own closed hearing. amy: one of the military experts who spoke to was geoffrey corn, former military lawyer who was the army senior expert in riser. he warned that not taking charges seriously damages ethical standards and morale. you quote him saying "what's the

, message for the 10,000 guys that were in the same moment and said, 'no, we're not crossing this line'? it diminishes the immense courage it takes to maintain that line between legitimate and illegitimate violence." this is a very profound point. >> i think geoffrey corn fell very passionate about that. it is not easy to be out there in these difficult situations and places like afghanistan or toq losing friends at times wounds are even being killed to follow expected the laws of war and behave yourself and be respectful to the local population by overlooking or choosing to ignore serious allegations of abuse, in some ways, i think geoffrey corn would say you are invalidating all of the efforts and hard choices those other soldiers have made. juan: what was the effect of this on terms of the local -- you say you talk to local elders on the surrounding communities

of these kinds of actions? >> sure. i think it is important to note the point of this mission was to win over the local population. the reason they were in such a small outpost is they were supposed to be close to the people, getting to know the people, building off local police force like a defend them from the taliban. after this incident and a series of incidents is that preceded it, many people fled from the taliban-controlled area. we recently learned in the past couple of weeks that after this incident took place -- were just recently, the taliban are in control of the area and with the help of the villagers, bulldozed the output is that americans had retreated from. amy: in may of 2010, matthew mccabe was the last of three navy seals acquitted after facing courts-martial on charges that they mistreated an iraqi prisoner suspected in the deaths of four blackwater security guards whose charred bodies were dragged through the city of fallujah in 2004.

u.s. military officials had charged one of the seals with punching the prisoner, ahmed hashim abed, after he was taken into custody september 1 in iraq. all three seals had been charged with dereliction of duty and lying to navy investigators to cover up the incident. this is matthew mccabe speaking to fox news after he was cleared. >> i am ridiculously happy right now. this is an amazing feeling. i am glad we could tie it up with me being found not guilty of the other two guys were hourly found not guilty, so this is amazing. i'm on cloud nine right now. amy: that was matthew mccabe began to fox news after he was cleared. he also described the court-martial process. >> there's some misconception -- we denied general staff, which doesn't necessarily mean that we request court-martial, however, that is the next up is the convening authority does not want to dismiss the charges. we ended up coming to court-martial and that was in the best interest of everybody

anyway, and we all got acquitted. amy: that is an example in another case not related to this one, but what this means -- and if you could talk about not only the navy seals not been court-martialed, this in afghanistan in your case, the people being promoted? >> yeah, and i think for the witnesses, in fact, the witnesses did not know what had happened with this case. they believed they were testifying at a court-martial when in fact it was just what is called the captains mass procedure. i think it is fair to say they were stunned when they learned the people involved had been -- the seals who they had accused him been promoted. they were shocked. juan: has her been any reaction since your article came out to what he reported? >> there is been a great deal of reaction from readers, people have been interested in the story. there is not been anything from the navy commander -- the

statements to us, they said they defend the prerogative of a commander to deal with these discipline issues as a broader point because there's a long tradition of that being the way it is handled, whether they agree with each and every case or not. amy: is there a possibility of this being reopened and what has been the response to your piece? it was front page on "the new york times" yesterday. >> we spoke with rachel who was the chief legal advisor to the army or the military central command for detainee matters. she said very strongly after reviewing the entire ncis file that she thought the case should be reopened. so the question -- i think the open question is, whether that will happen. amy: thank you for being with us, nicholas kulish, correspondent for "the new york times" and one of the authors of the article, "navy seals, a

beating death and claims of a cover-up." he's also the author of, "the eternal nazi: from mauthausen to cairo, the relentless pursuit of ss doctor aribert heim." this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. ton we come back, we go denver, colorado, to a case of a man who has been held in prison for decades. the evidence? the dream of a woman who said she believed he raped her based on her dream. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: amy: "after we torture our prisoners," dave rovics. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. juan: we turn now to the case of a denver, colorado man who has , spent 28 years in prison based dream.

and it wasn't his own. that's right. in 1989, clarence moses-el, who is african-american, was sentenced to 48 years in prison after a woman said she dreamed he was the man who raped and beat her in the dark. the victim said she was raped in her apartment after a night out drinking at a party. she was beaten so badly during the attack that she suffered broken facial bones and lost the use of one eye. initially, the victim named three men she had been drinking with as her possible attackers -- none of them was clarence moses-el. but police never investigated any of those men, because, a day and a half later, the victim said she had a dream that moses-el was the one who raped her. amy: since day one, clarence moses-el has maintained his innocence. in 1995, he won a court order to analyze evidence that could have proved his innocence. he persuaded his fellow prisoners to chip in $1000 to pay for dna testing. denver police packaged the evidence, which included the victim's rape kit, her clothes and bed sheets in a box, and marked it, "do not destroy." but then the police threw the box in a dumpster.

juan: the story doesn't end there. one of three people the victim initially listed as a possible attacker was a man named l.c. jackson. in 2012, jackson sent clarence moses-el a letter in prison that read in part -- "let's start by bringing what was done in the dark into the light." in court this past summer, jackson confessed to the attack , admitting he had what he claimed was consensual sex with the victim and beat her that night in her apartment. jackson's then live-in girlfriend corroborated his testimony, saying he left their house during the time of the attack and blood evidence pointed to someone with jackson's blood type, not moses-el's. yet clarence moses-el has remained in prison, and denver district attorney mitchell morrissey has fought for years to uphold his conviction. amy: during the 28 years moses-el has fought for his freedom, a number of his family members have passed away

including his mother, who died , in 2013. he has 12 grandchildren whom he has never met because he doesn't want them to see him behind bars. well, on clarence moses-el monday, finally won a major victory when a judge lifted his conviction. he could be freed as early as this next tuesday when a bond hearing has been set. the district attorney's office has not yet said if they will attempt to retry him for the crime. for more on his case, we're joined by susan greene, editor of the colorado independent, who has reported on clarence moses-el's case for years. gail johnson is moses-el's defense attorney. and we will also hear from lynn kimbrough, spokesperson for the denver district attorney's office. let's start with susan. how did you learn of this story? you have championed this case for years in your reporting. >> i used to work at the denver post, amy, and we worked for a year on a series called "trashing the truth" about the loss and destruction of dna evidence. it was a national series,

stories about what happens when these tiny parcels of biological evidence go lost or missing. clarence's case was the story we started the week long series with because it was so flagrant with so much dna evidence being right there. clarence having raise the money in prison to test it. and the police, despite the fact it was in a box marked "do not destroy" and he had two court orders to have it tested, threw it in a dumpster. that is how i got to know clarence about nine or 10 years ago. juan: was anyone ever held responsible were discovered who decided to throw out the kid, the evidence? >> nobody ultimately was held responsible. there was a flight -- slight investigation it was doing there was like of gamification between the das office and the police department that the das office did not notify the police

department there were two court orders to test the dna. how that explains how someone can physically take a box marked "do not destroy" in magic marker and throw it in a dumpster, i don't know. amy: gail johnson, you're the defense attorney for clarence moses-el. agoyou explain how 28 years when this trial, a woman who was clearly a victim of a rape brutal assault could say that the only -- the only evidence they had was this dream that she had? shebased on a dream -- actually meant people she thought might up in her attackers and they weren't moses-el. but based on the stream, he was convicted? >> that's correct, amy. what decades of experience now in this country with exonerations and wrongful convictions research has shown is that eyewitness ms.

identifications are major cause of wrongful convictions, and that is what happened in this case. amy: how was this eyewitness, it was a dream? >> it is an eyewitness in the sense that she is the only person who has identified him because she now claims and claimed at trial that he was her attacker. there are lots of reasons to doubt the reliability of that. we are not saying this was militias on her part, but certainly, she was heavily intoxicated so much so that she had passed out before the attack and vomited. had very poor eyesight. it was dark when she was attacked. the attacker beat her about the face, which is quite trim at it. juan: you mention lc jackson when he then sent this letter to your client in prison, what was then the reaction in terms of the criminal justice system and the courts?

>> it is an excellent question, juan. motiones-el filed a based on newly discovered evidence, mainly that lc jackson was admitting his involvement in these events. the denver district attorney's office did not go out and talked to mr. jackson about the statements for 18 months after admission became public. the system was slow to respond but ultimately, as amy explained, we now have a major breakthrough in the case. mr. jackson has testified in court under oath before a denver district judge about his involvement. he has admitted under oath that he went to the victim's home at the time of the attack, that he had sexual intercourse with her, that he physically assaulted her. amy: on thursday, democracy now! spoke to denver district attorney spokeperson lynn kimbrough. we asked her if the denver da is seeking a new trial for clarence moses-el. >> the decision on whether or

not to seek a new trial has not been made. the district attorney will review the court's ruling in its entirety from a legal perspective. in addition to conducting a review of the decision, he will also be meeting with the victim. and both of those things will take place before he makes a decision. amy: so can you tell us what has been the position of the denver district attorney? >> well, so far the denver district attorney's office has been fighting mr. moses-el's innocence atis every turn, including documents from mr. jackson's sex assault case. one of the important thing for listeners to understand today, this denver district attorney's office prosecuted mr. jackson

years later on what is known on is a cold hit dna case for the brutal sexual assault of a woman and her nine-year-old daughter in their home that occurred about a mile, mile and a half from the events underlying mr. moses-el's case. there are striking similarities between the manner in which those assaults were committed and the assault in the 1987 case for with -- which mr. moses-el has been incarcerated for 28 years. when you put together mr. jackson's history, criminal history as well as his admissions as well as we presented evidence from his girlfriend at the time of the assault who said he left the house right after about 20 minutes after the victim. she lived two doors down and that he was gone for an hour or two and then he returned to her presence and then about 20 minutes later, they learned about the assault. so he was gone at the exact moment of the assault. juan: susan greene, since you

have been following the story for so many years, one, what has been the reaction of the other and colorado to the story, and why do think the district attorney has been so intransigent on this case? media reaction by other really has been to ignore this case for years. i wrote about it at "the denver post" and when i left, i continued writing about it. and now with the "colorado independent" but when i left the denver post and all other media have ignored this case, nobody went to the hearing, nobody has done any investigative work on it at all. i think that is largely because there is been so much mis- information put out by the das office. this is a da who in this case has simply made stuff up. we have a media market here that

just doesn't have the kind of investigative journalism resources to dig in. and not only that, media that is cowed by the powers that be here so much that ms. morrissey will dish out facts about this -- not facts about this case, misinformation about this case, and the media will buy it. and since -- it is not just a problem in the da system, it is a problem systemwide and it is by -- why journalism is so important. years ago,n 2012, 3 lc jackson wrote this letter to -el saying, "let's start by bringing what was done in the dark into the light. i have a lot on my heart. i don't of who is working on this, but have them come up and see me. it's time. i'll be waiting." that is what jackson wrote to moses-el. that was in 2012. what happened as a result of that letter, susan greene? >> what happened is clearance,

from prison, who really has been just kind of silently imprisoned in the most part for 20 years, a new hearing. it took, i think, about three years for that process to move forward will sto. you would think, because the da's responsibility is to seek the truth and to fact find and to make sure if there is new evidence it is looked at, but that is not actually the case. the dax nor did this new evidence. not only did they ignore the new evidence, but it kept maintaining incorrectly, as mitch morrissey has done for at least 10 years now, that the victim never named elsie jackson in her outcry. and that is incorrect. he is testified to that in the legislature and said that in press releases, said that in

videos. again, this goes back to the media. people buy it. what the documents show, the police reports show in the court records show, in fact, the victim several times named lc jackson and her outcry if. she never named clarence moses-el. when nobody else has really talked about is that the lead detective in the case in the denver police department said before he died, he always had reservations about this case. and the reason yet reservations is because the victim, before she was attacked, and she was brutally attacked, amy, had had whitet with moses-el's and said publicly, i am going to get back at you. so this detective had concerns it was a personal vendetta that prompted her to have the so-called dream as gill said, the only evidence on which clarence was convicted. amy: where is clarence moses-el right now? >> he is in a prison in

colorado. he has lived for many, many at a facility hours away from denver. he was transferred yesterday on his way to denver to bond out, but didn't make it here because -- i guess, he needed to transfer from prisons. it is like a terrible never-ending bus ride. so he is in territorial and hopefully, on his way to denver today. hopefully, if the da doesn't continue fighting it, to bond out. amy: do you think clarence moses-el will behold for christmas? >> i do, amy. there is been incredible outpouring for mr. moses-el, his situation and his plight. our hope is a reasonable bond will be set and he will be able to make that and be home for christmas. amy: we thank you both for being with us, gail johnson is the

defense attorney for clarence moses-el. and susan greene is editor of the colorado independent. when we come back, we will talk about yemen. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. we turn now to yemen where u.n.-brokered peace talks in the country's nine-month-old civil war are faltering, amid disputes between rival factions over the release of prisoners. meanwhile, local officials have reported intensifying clashes and renewed air strikes despite an ongoing ceasefire. over the weekend, airstrikes by the saudi led coalition that is backed by the u.s. killed 19

yemeni civilians in their homes and at a market. about half of the nearly 6000 people killed in yemen's conflict are civilians, including more than 600 children. rima kamal of the international committee for the red cross in yemen warned of a deepening humanitarian crisis. >> the overall humanitarian situation in yemen is nothing short of catastrophic, as in which you have 25 people killed in yemen every day and another 125 injured. this has been ongoing for more than eight months. the civilian population is suffering on multiple fronts. you have ongoing airstrikes, heavy ground fighting, then you have on top of that, restriction on the movement of goods and services. amy: the united states has bolstered the saudi-led coalition's air-strikes in yemen through arms sales and direct military support. saudi arabia is one of the u.s. arms industry's biggest customers. last month, the state department approved a $1 billion deal to

restock saudi arabia's air force arsenal, which was depleted by its bombing campaign in yemen. the sale included thousands of air-to-ground munitions and general-purpose bombs. the u.s. and other countries have also reportedly sold internationally banned cluster munitions to saudi arabia that are now being used in yemen. for more we're joined by sharif abdel kouddous who has just returned from yemen. he is a democracy now! correspondent and fellow at the nation institute. his recent piece for the global post called, "with u.s. help, saudi arabia is obliterating yemen." it's the first of a two-part series on yemen. sharif, explain what you found in your weeklong trip. >> i spent most of the time north of yemen, an area hounded relentlessly for the past nine months with near daily airstrikes. you can't visit a city or town in yemen without seeing the destruction on the ground. everything has been hit from

homes to schools, restaurants, bridges, roads, a lot of civilian infrastructure. course, comes of a lot of the suffering. all parties in this conflict have committed -- are guilty of killing civilians. the houthi rebels and their allies are implicated in the deaths of many civilians, using landmines, stivers and so forth. according to the united nations itself, the majority of civilians killed in this conflict have died as a result of airstrikes. a study in september found 60% have died from these bombardments. one of the cases that i looked at was the bombing of a wedding in an area, a village just south of the capital. this was october 7. three brothers were getting married from the same village on the same night. peakthe wedding was at its , you know, the brideshead just arrived in a large convoy, most

of the women and children were inside the house, men were outside in these tents. a missile struck the house and destroyed about half of it, sitting the rest of it on fire. women were jumping out of the building. 43 people were killed in the attacks including 16 children. i spoke to one of the surviving grooms. he was really even able to fathom what had happened to him. his bride had died, 18 years old. his mother, his father, his younger sister and younger brother, another one of the grooms. many people were injured in the attack, very badly burned. one of them was a child prodigy competition012 a and visit to nasa and now lies in hospital in boston. his right arm has been amputated above the elbow and two t of

hisoes have been removed. this is one of the many cases you see across yemen. it is happening while much of the world is really looking the other way. no one is really paying attention to yemen. he doesn't get much attention in the media. people, when you talk to them, they say, why is the world's first taken us? -- why is the world for second us? juan: what about the saudi led coalition? who is in it? how often are the bombings? >> it is hard to get an accurate count but certainly list ever signaled a bombs are raining down across yemen. apart from sporadic drone strikes by the u.s., saudi arabia, and the coalition, is the only air power above yemen. this is a coalition made up of mostly gulf countries, led by saudi arabia, and the united arab emirates is also heavily involved. they have been bombing since

march 26 on yemen. what i think people all need to understand is the level of u.s. interests in this war. arabia is thedi most avid customer of the u.s. weapons and has bought to the tune of $19 billion over the past five years u.s. arms. what i think many people don't realize is the united states is also providing crucial intelligence, logistics targeting assistance, support to the saudi coalition reviving vital aerial information on most every day. there's something called a joint combined planning cell, which is based in riata, approved by president obama, were you have u.s. military prison no meeting on a daily basis with saudi military leadership, helping to coordinate this war. human rights workers that i talked to said the united states is not just a backer of this war, but a party to the armed conflict and that is what people

the to understand is that united states government is complicit in what is happening in yemen. juan: in essence, yemen has become another growth market for the amerco and arms industry. the more bombs and more missiles that are dropped, the more that have to be sold to saudi arabia to replace. >> $1.29 billion deal that was just approved by the state department last month is to replenish these laserguided munitions, so carl -- so-called smart bombs. amy: these are some of the largest military deals in history. >> right. yemen is by far the poorest country in the region and it is being bombed by the ridges. amy: last week, journalist asked john kirby if the u.s. will support the yemen cease-fire. >> the next question on yemen, to begin asident, sudde seven-day cease-fire. you are part of the coalition.

we support? >> we welcome the reports of this proposal and obviously we will have to see how this plays out. report of the the proposal. amy: that was john kirby, state department spokesperson. >> you heard a very tepid response and view that repeatedly says, we have to: saudi arabia to investigate any airstrike were civilians have died, but there's been no investigations done so far. another case had a look that was the bombing of a hospital and this happened many times in yemen, 600 hospitals or health facilities have been forced to close from either being hit or from lack of supplies and fuel. but this was a hospital in a northern town near the saudi border. it was supported by doctors without borders and they readily provided the gps coordinates to the saudi coalition.

the msf logo was on the roof of the building. in late october, -- this is a town that has been really devastated. i mean, everything has been destroyed -- schools, water projects, the main road is completely rubble. this is the one place of sanctuary for people and it was hit at night while doctors were sleeping in the back were sitting down for dinner. luckily, no one was killed in hasattack, but the place been completely destroyed and this will definitely have consequences. it served over 200,000 people in a very remote area and now people, doctors who worked there, save people died because of lack of access to health care. juan: what is the potential for any kind of political settlement? a cease-fire has been announced between the warring factions in the civil war. >> it is very tenuous. the stated goal of the saudi coalition is to reinstate what

they said is a legitimate president -- he is very little support on the ground in yemen, and i think most observers would agree it is an unrealistic goal to achieve. one of the problems is the array of groups, different groups that are fighting now each other in yemen. they're not represented at these talks. groups, southern session is groups, and they are not -- they don't have the same goals and same grievances. so really what is been happening in yemen for the past year is threatening to really tear the country completely apart and bring it to a state -- juan: it is more like libya right now. >> countries like libya and syria that have completely fall in apart. yemen is right on the brink of that. and part of the problem also is the massive, massive humanitarian crisis. as i said, yemen is the poorest country in the region. this is a place where people were struggling to is arrived before the conflict.

it imports 90% of its food and fuel. and now 21 million people are in need of humanitarian aid. that is more than double or just under double the number of people who need aid in syria. have skyrocketing levels of malnutrition. 3 million people have been added to the ranks of the hungry. there has been millions of people -- i went to one camp where people were living on the sun washed till on these rocks in these tents. they had no money given to buy would make fire to bake their bread. children would go out and scavenge for plastic bottles to burn to make fire to make red and this toxic booze would sludge out the bottom. i said, this is very bad. but they said, but otherwise we will starve. many are surviving on just bread and tea. they beg in the streets.

it is a very dire situation. yemenst basic of needs in are not there -- food, water, shelter, health care. there's hardly any electricity anywhere. so at night, it is like going back in time. ing are waiting -- wad through darkness, people walking with headlamps and flashlights. it is becoming one of the greener places because those who can afford it are buying solar panels. their becoming experts and knowing how to manage wattage and store batteries. a dire situation. amy: i want to go back to saudi arabia's role, the foreign minister adel al-jubeir speaking on cbs news in september. he was asked about the efficacy and accuracy of saudi airstrikes in yemen. >> we are very careful with targets. we are very precise weapons. we work with our allies, including the united states, on these targets. we do damage assessments of

these targets after they are hit. amy: so that was the saudi foreign minister. "we are very careful in our targets." >> he should then answer for the thousands of civilians that have been killed by his bombs, by the bombs coming down. i mean, it is shocking that there isn't enough -- that the u.s. is not putting more pressure, that the united states is not doing its own investigations given his conduct in the war. when i was talking about the humanitarian situation, saudi arabia and the coalition has imposed a blockade, a siege on yemen, this country that is in desperate need for its basic goods. this comes under the rubric of security counselor solution on its embargo. for example in september, 1% of yemen fuel into the country. fuel affects everything, access for food delivery, electricity. yemenis are slowly being strangled to death.

both sides are using eight as a weapon. aide as a weapon. the third-largest city is under .iege they have blocked it off to the extent that people, individuals walking and carrying a bag of groceries, they take those away from them and if they're found to be carrying any medicine or anything like that. so both sides are complicit and yemeni civilians are suffering. juan: i want to ask you, what is the attitude of the egyptian government to all of this? egypt still being the largest tontry in the air world, this conflict not very far from their borders? >> egypt is part of this coalition. sisi is veryt of close to the saudi arabian government, which has helped prop up his government through billions of dollars in aid. their policy closely mirrors saudi arabia. they have not sent any troops

direct we on the ground, but they're part of the coalition. amy: meanwhile, this journalist protection group has egypt has become the second deadliest place for journalists in the world. >> the second worst jailer of journalists in the world after china, probably the most rapid deterioration in press freedom in the world. 23, according to the committee to protect journalists, reporters behind bars. among them, a photojournalist who was held for over two years without seeing a judge, which violates even egypt's own penal code. you have another journalist who just arrived back. he knew he was in danger if he was going to go back to egypt, but he had to see his sick mother. he was taken at the airport and is in prison now. amy: sharif, i want you to be very careful when you go back onto cairo, sharif abdel kouddous is a democracy now! correspondent and fellow at the nation.

his recent piece is called "with , u.s. help, saudi arabia is obliterating yemen." it's the first of a two-part series on yemen. [captioning made possible by democracy now!] happy birthday, renee feltz!

val: hello, i'm val zavala, and i'm here at the california science center in front of a magnificent piece of history--the space shuttle "endeavor." you're about to see a film that will lift your spirits and put you in awe of what we here in southern california are capable of accomplishing when we work together. you're about to see a documentary that captures the three nights and three days in l.a. when divisions disappeared. why? because all eyes were on this.