[captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy:rom pacica, thiss democracy now! want tell thpresiden .o pase, plee let us out please release us. give us an opportunity to stay here and have a better future. amy: a message for president trump from a little boy in an immigrant jail in texas. he was separated from his dad at the border, then reunited and put in detention. last week, armed guards forcibly reseparated them, taking away

his s dad and more than a dozen others who non-violently demanded their release. but first, to california, where ice agents arrested and immigrant husband thriving his pregnant wife to the hospital to give birth. the mother then drove herself to the hospital where she gave birth to their son alonene. we will speak to her laer. then we remember lifelong pacifist david mcreynolds. >> it means to challenge the institution of war and resist all wars, defensive or aggressive, even at the cost of going to prison or at the risk of your life. amy: for nearly four decades, david mcreynolds was a staff member with the war resisters league. in 1980 and 2000, he ran for president as an openly gay man on the socialist party ticket.

present present the coconcept of socialism andnd put back in the american dialogue. i think it has the right to be in. i am tired of them not knowing what we are for. amy: we will speak with david mcreynolds's longtime friend ed hedemann and with jeremy scahill. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. cnn has confirmed that the bomb that killed 4040 children when t struck t tir school bus in yememen's nortrthern city ofof a was s made by the e u.s. weansns manufactcturer, lockheheed mart, and sold b by the uniteded stato saudi i arabia. the august 9 airstrike has sparked widespread outrage and increased scrutiny about the u.s. role in the saudi-led war in yemen. the bomb, a laser-guided mk 82,

is similar to other u.s.-manufactured bombs that struck a yemeni market, killing 97 people, and a funeral home in sanaa, killing 155 people,e, in 2016. following g the funeral home massacre, the obobama administration banned the sale of precisionon-guided mimilitary technology to saudi arabia. the trump administration overturned the ban last year. to see our full coverage of the april 9 bombing of the school bus s in yemen, whwhich killed 1 people overall, 40 of them schoolchildren, go to democracynow.org. in san bernardino, california, immigration and customs enforcement agents arrested a man driving his pregnant wife to the hospital to give birth last wednesday, sparking widespread outrage. the ice agents detained joel arrona-larara when he stopped aa s station,n, forcing his wife, maria del carmen venegas, to drive herself to the hospital for her scheduled c-section.

the couple has lived in the united states for more than 10 years and have five children, including the newborn baby. we'll have more on this story after headlines. in more immigration news, in texas, armed guards forcibly removed 16 fathers from the karnes county detention center, where they were being held with their sons after the families were separated at the border and then reunited. authorities appear to have reseparated the parents and sons as retaliation for their plans to organize a nonviolent protest. many of the imprisoned fathers said they had been tricked into signing deportation agreements in english that ice told them were reunification papers. the families have now been reunited and some e have beenn released. we'll have more on this story later in the broadcast. former cia director john brennan says he may pursue legal action against president trump for stripping brennan of his

security clearances last week. this is brennan speaking sunday. yet anotherhis is example of his egregious abuse of power and authority here it just because he has the ability to revoke the clearance does not mean he is doing it for the appropriate reasons. he violated the process that he himself, his administration, put out last year in terms of the basis for revoking security clearances. i think it was designed to distract the press from so many other things going on this week. amy: former leaders of the u.s. national security establishment has and us have blasted the decision to strip brennan of the secucurity clearance, calling ia clear attempt to stifle the free speech of the president's critics. "the new york times" reports on someone cooperating with the mueller investigation. they sat down for 30 hours of volunteer interviews over the

past nine months is part of mueller's investigation into president trump's possible obstruction of justice. that ongoing tweet-storm began sunday, trop attacked "the new york times," tweeting that they made a story that made us into the white house council had turned on the president when it is just the opposite and the two fake reporters knew this. this is why the fake news pd -- media have become the enemy of the people, so bad for america. this morning, he also tweeted, disgraced and discredited bomb mueller and his whole group of angry democrat thugs spent over 30 hoursrs with white e house counsel only with the approval for purposes of transparency. palestinians and hundreds more killed on friday during the palestinian's nonviolent protest at separation events with israel.

the victims were a 30-year-old and a 26-year-old. says theelth ministry israeli military have killed 170 palestinians and wounded 18,000 more since the palestinians nonviolent great march of return protests began on march 3030. meanwhile, longtime israeli peace activist has died at the age of 94 in tel aviv. born in germany in 1923, his family fled the nazis and move to what was then palestine. as a youth, he joined a pair america early and as a paramilitary group, which he later quit to become an activist in israel. in 19 50, he founded a news magazine. 15 years later, he was elected on a piece platform. in 1982, he made headlines when he crossed the lines during the siege of a root to meet yasser arafat. this is him speaking on our show

about that meeting. crossed the lines into the palestinian territory. i met with yasser arafat, who we had aeader, and long conversation about how to make peace. when pictures of him and me appeared on israeli television talking to each other sitting on the same sofa, to some extent, it helped to change the picture monster, into the enemy with him we can make peace. amy: he went on to found a peace movement in 1993. he died this morning at the age of 94.

the afghan president has announced a conditional three-month cease-fire with the taliban. >> in order for countrymen to spend these days in a peaceful manner, we announce the cease-fire to start tomorrow, monday, until the day of prophet muhammad's birirthday and anniversary,y, provided ththat s respected. amy: reuter reports taliban leaders have agreed to a four-day truce, and the cease-firere comes amidst ririsg violence across afghanistan. says 1600 nations civilians have been killed in fighting in the first six months of this year, the highest number in the past decade. in brazil, the united nation human rights committee his world geo former president cannot be barred from running in the october presidential elections.

he is currently the front running candidate but is in jail serving a 12-year sentence on a corruption conviction his party's is was politically motivated. on its friday ruling, the u.n. panel called upon brazil to take all necessary measures to ensure that lula can enjoy and exercise his political rights while inn prison. to see our intererview with lula just before he went to jail, go to democracynow.org. in nigeria, at least 186 people have died in a cholera outbreak, with at least 16,000 more people affected by the water-borne disease. the united nations says over 70 million nigerians lack access to safe drinking water. back in the united states, a speechwriter for president trump was fired last friday after revelations surfaced that he spoke at a conference alongside prominent white nationalists. in 2016, he was a panelist at ,he hl minkin club conference

lungs of the founder of the anti-immigrant website. the southern poverty law center calls the conference a gathering of white nationalists and pseudo-academic and academic races. kofi annan has died at the age 80 at a hospital in bern, switzerland, saturday. born in ghana, annan served as -- e un's secretary-general the u.n. secretary-general from 1997 to 2006, becoming the first and only black african to hold the position. in 2001, he was awarded the nobel peace prize. he vehemently opposed the 2003 u.s. invnvasion of iraq, calling ththe action illegal. annan has been criticized for his role as head of the united nations peacekeeping operations from 1993 to 1997, during ththe rwandan genocide and the srebrenica massacre. this is the director-general of the united nations office in geneva, michael moeller. >> w we have lost the moraral ve of the wororld today. it is bad for the world in many

waways. he was a peacemakeker, alalys in the forefront of trying to help people. it is devastating for me personally, and he was a mentor, role mododel, a friend. life, oath of my professionally and personally. i am awarethat some ofof the fact that this is true for so many other colleagues and people around the world. amy: kofofi annan has died at te age of 80 in a hospital in switzerland. here in new york city, david mcreynolds, longtime pacifist , many have called the hero of the antiwar movement, has died on friday and the age of 88. for nearly four decades, 1960 to 1999, he was a staff member with the war resisters league, focusing on counter recruitment, helping to organize one of the first draft card burnings. he went on to play a key role in

some of the major demonstrations against the vietnam war. he also campaign for nuclear disarmament in 1980 and 2000, he ran for president as an openly gay man and socialist party usa ticket. we will have more on david mcreynolds and his life and germany skate hill later in the broadcast. and those are some of the headlines. and those are some of the headlines this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we begin today's show in california where immigration customs enforcement agents detained and arrested a man who was taking his pregnant wife to the hospital to give birth last week. joel arrona-lara was driving his wife maria del carmen venegas to a san bernardino hospital wednesday morning for a scheduled c-section when ice agents d detained him at a gas stion. surveillllance video shows two e vehicles surrounding the couple's car immediately after

they pulled into the station. maria del carmen venegas said agenents asked the couple for identification but thahat he husbanand had left his dococumes at home in the rush to get to the hospital. ice agents then handcuffed him and took him into custody, leaving nine-month pregnant venegas at the gas station sobbing anand in distress. she then drove herself to the hospital and gave birth alone several hours later. ice said in a statement that joel arrona-lara was detained because he is wanted in mexico on homicide charges. but arrona-lara's lawyer says the charges are unconfirmed and that he has no criminal record. videos of the incident circulated online over the weekend, sparking outrage. but ice issued a statement saying, "ice will no longer exempt classes or categories of removable aliens from potential enforcement. all of those in violation of the immigration laws may be subject

to immigration arrest, detention and, if found removable by final order, removal from the united states." here is the life speaking about her husband's detention from the hospital. >> it is very difficult because he is always been there, and he told me everything was going to be ok, that i should not worry, that we were going to meet the baby, things like that. so to be alone yesterday as i was, i felt terrible. amy: arrona-lara and his wife have been living in the united states for 12 years and have five children, three who are u.s. citizens. arrona-lara remains in detention. maria is asking for his immediate relief. for more, we go to russell jauregui, staff attorney at the san bernardino community service center, lawyer for joel arrona-lara. welcome to democracy now!

you start off by explaining exactly what took place last week? 15,hat happened on august life to was taking his the hospital for a c-section. they stopped at a gas station arcoan bernardino, an station. and theheyto get gas, were immediately sururrounded by two suv's. ice agents approached his wife and asked for her id, which she produced. then they approached him for his ,d, which he did not have because in the haste to get his wife to the hospitalal, he forgt it. the wife pleaded with offffics to allow him t to go home and gt his id.d. they live right on the corner from the gas station. he was not allowed to do so and was immediately arrested. as she said, she basically

paninicked and then drove her sf to the hospital. that is basically what happened on that day. amy: so both she and he had a form of documents? >> correct. we do not know exactly what kind of id he had, probably a drivers license. in california, all people, including undocumented, have the right to apply for and hold a drivers license. so he may have had a california service license or a mexican id. he did have a form of id, but they did not allow him to go get it, and they just live down the block on the gas station. amy: so murray edge represents to the hospital and gave birth a few hours later? -- maria drovers up to the hospital. and the baby was born, thank god, safely, and she was released from the hospital. amy: so she was alone when she gave birth?

>> she was without her husband, correct, the baby's father. amy: we see her inside the gas station, and she seems hysterical speaking on the phone , just from the closed-circuit video. >> right. amy: can you explain why ice has said they picked him up? >> at first, he was just arrested for not having an id. it was not until almost three days later that they made a statement about them detaining him because of him having an arrest w warrant in mexico for a homimicide. number one, he has been here 12 years, and this is never been an issue with him before. two, he completely denies that, saying there was never any incident and mexico. three, we have reviewed documents from the ice agents, and they allege that he came without status, that he is from

is beingherefore he removed from united states, and there was no mention of homicide or arrest in mexico. and what he says to me is no one ever brought this to his attention. amy: so what right does he have right now? where is he being held? >> he is at a detention center. he does have a right to a bond hearing before an immigration judge in immigration court. we going to represent him pro bono. he does have the right to pursue a bond hearing to determine if he can be released. we're hoping he can given the length of time here in the united states and the fact that he has three u.s. citizen children. if he is overly released on bond, then his case will continue with the immigration court. releasebe pursuing his during the removal hearing with we will have to

prove that his kids will suffer hardships without him if he is removed. the process takes one or two popular. amy: has he gotten to see his infant son and wife? >> i know he has been in touch with his wife, but he has not been able to see his son. our main goal is his release and for him to see his family and son. amy: is it possible he could be deported before seeing his son? >> i do not believe that is going to happen. his wife does have visitation rights to see him. because thendition baby was just born, i do not think she is in a condition to see him rightht now. amy: was this issue of a homicide charge brought up after the outcry over that day and the next day when people saw the video? >> very good question. yeah, it was. so the timing of this is kind of odd because this happened, i

believe, after the video went viral and after the public outcry. was made on saturday, almost three days after he was arrested. amy:y: zero-tolerance, is this under the zero-tolerance policy? can you see this policy change in? more i think of the trump administration's policy of everyone being at risk, anyone here without status, at risk of being detained and arrested. as you can see, this has human consequence. -- i do not kids think ice has in the protocol with dealing with people who were transferred in with spouses about to give birth. it reminds me of the case where

a young girl was passing through a border checkpoint in texas and had serious disabilities and ice followed her all the way to the hospital. it is like children of the border who have been detained and with no proper reunification. this is cruel. there needs to be some kind of change of policy. if not, some change in administration. amy: i want to thank you for being with us, staff attorney at the san bernardino community center, the lawyer for lara, who was picked up by ice a agents as he was driving his wife to the hospital to give birth. this is democracy now! back, another immigration story, and then we remember longtime peace e activt david mcreylds here it ran f for president twicice. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

immigrant." this is democrcracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i am amy goodman. we turn now to texas, where

armed guards forcibly removed 16 fathers from an immigrant jail where they were held with their sons after being separated at the border and then reunited. a boy held at the karnes county detention center, who is under the agee of 10, spoke to reporters friday and described what happened through an interpreter. he was on thethat school playground playing with his friends. he was called and asked to go into an office, and that is when he was hold that is dad would meet him soon. the child says he asked for his dad and that he was crying, but nobody told him anything. he was begging and asking for responses, and nothing was told to him. he mentions he was taken into another room with other kids. like i mentioned before, nothing was responded to them. he says, i was crying. i cried the whole day, and i

knew my dad was crying. i saw the otheher kids crying,gd the e kids knew w their dads wod be c crying, as s well. and the coat the phone through an interpreter from the detention center. the resepaparation of more t tha dozen n fathers and sons came in apparent retaliation for plans to organize a noiolent ptetest cacallinfor r all of them be reased. thisis ione ofofhe fathers speaking trereports byby pne om detention on iday. >> [speaking feign language] i s talking to other deininees,nd t the is a a an. will not be eating, d everyone has agree we are doing so becae we do not knowhat will happen to us, and we need k know if we will beeported e given opportunity totatay he. were a askg thee government to eeee us. we want to b freed.

are notriminals we want to be freed, because as human beings we deserve to be. amy: many of the imprisoned fathers said they had been tricked into signing deportation agreements in english that ice told them were reunification papers. hillary clinton tweeted about their reseparation, writing, "this is a heart-wrenching disgrace." late on friday, the fathers were reunited with their sons, and on saturday, some were released. for more, we go to san antonio, about an hour north of the karnes county detention center, where we're joined by manoj govindaiah, director of family detention services for raices, a texas-based legal aid group for immigrant children, families and refugees, and by casey miller, a legal assistant for raices who was denied access to their child clients after the fathers were taken away. we welcome you both to democracy now! exactly what has taken place here in this last

week. >> terror, honestly. from reports from the father, we heard that 6200 ice agents who were armed stormed the building with riot gear, and those men were forcibly taken from their rooms and not told where they were going. taken to another detention center, which was told to me by a few men, it was the worst of any of the detention centers they had been to in texas. not told the whereabouts of their sons, and the sons were not told the whereabouts of their fathers. ice was keeping them in the dark and continually torturing them psychologically. amy: how old are the children? >> oh, you know, they are so resilient or so they are hanging in there. they are believed to be reunited with their fathers, i think, and they are getting through these multiple traumas the best that they can. a lot of them feel to be a

little numb. sadness still of and a lot of fear that this might happen again. get are just trying to through each day. amy: so explain what went down on wednesday. talk about the ice raid. i was not actually there on wednesday, all i have our stories from the fathers. what it sounds like is the men were gathered, a group of men gathered outside of a lunchroom, and they were talking about talking to our legal services to find out the status of their cases. a guard from the private prison company came and asked them what they were talking about, and they told him. after that, he walked off. later, some of them were in their rooms and got a knock on the door, and men with shields, helmets, armed forcibly

pulled them out of the room and told them nothing, just took them to a room where they set for six hours. many asked for water, where the -- they were not even given water. they were not told anything about where they were going to they got on a bus, and i am told there was a micro van behind them and they were hoping and praying their children were in that van, to no avail. and they were taken to the other detention center and put into isolation, into what i said before, some of the worst conditions these men had been in so far, not able to leave the room. two reports of one man vomiting lot and another man trying to hang himself with a bed sheet while there. they cannot speak between cells. all of their food was brought to the cell and put through a slot. the next day, they were eventually taking back to kairnmes, where they were

reunited with their sons. amy: and ice spokesperson said about 40 men work involved in what they called a disturbance iceairnes, and said deployed additional resources and all visitors were instructed to leave the facility. manoj govindaiah, can you respond to that description from ice? understanding, they were escorted out of the building around 12:30 in a haste manner. and from talking to the fathers and children, it appears the dads were not involved in any particular kind of disturbance. mentioned, many of the fathers were in their rooms when ice agents came to their rooms

and knocked on the door to andfy their identities, then immediately took them into a separate room away from the kids. it is also our understanding that the children were in school at the time, so the kids, many of the kids did not even see any of this happening. and the children were denied s.cess to raice we tried to see them multiple times on wednesday and thursday of last week. denied access. it is our understanding that the kids tried to see us. our staff went to were the 16 men were being held on thursday, and they were denied access. our staff are denied access to the men. even after they were reunited at thursday evening, during legal visitation hours, we were unable to see them there. an ice age and confirm to one of

our attorneys that the disruptive behavior was that the men were refusing to go with the flow and that some of them are not sending their kids to school, some of them not participating in activities at the detention center, and that was exactly the type of protests that the men were hoping to do, which was to choose not to avail themselves of services at the detention center, to choose not to have their children to go to school, some choosing not to eat. it clearly sounds like this is retaliation against nonviolent lawful protest. whatever ice is nothing to justify this seems completely untrue. amy: is it illegal for the authorities not to allow you to speak to the children or the parents? you are there legal representative. >> yes, we are the lawyers. and, yes, it is, actually.

overas brought discretion visitation hours and if somebody is in a particular type of housing, when they can actually see their lawyers. but, especially in terms of the ice mightyou know, have told us, you know, oh, it is thursday afternoon and the kids are eating pizza and watching a movie, do you really want to talk to them? after we pushed and pushed, ice agreed to go and ask the children, do you want to see the lawyers at raices? and went and asked the kids came back and told us, apparently, that the children wanted to wait until the fathers were returned and dad and son together with mcs. seetionally -- would come us. additionally, there is an outtake processing and intake proper thing, both of which take a couple of hours.

even though our clients are physically in the building, they're going through outtake, which is what the dads were going through when they were goingerred, or if they're through intake, which is what the debts were going through when they were returned to karnes, we are also unable to see our clients at that time. amy: i want to go back to the child separated from his dad twice, detained for months since they frisk into the u.s. border. the boy had this message for presidt t trum >> want to talk to the prident. toase, please l us out plplease release a spirit give s an opportuty to st here an have a better future. do not dort us, please. please dnot suppt us, becausi want tgo forwa withy d dad a n not te a step ckwards. am manoj gindaiah, we do notdentify m becaus

he's not entifyin himse. thknow whoe is a if he i stilin or habeen relsed? yes, do knowho his. he is e of ourlients, is s fher. i beeve asf fridayast ek, the he anhis fath were still deined athe detenon ceer. we wil be checng this rning see if they ve been releas over thweekend. y: i wan tto a bh -- las words? >> ias just ing to s i met th both m and hifather after th ierview, d they both seed in betr spiri and hopef about tir relea. am some of t fathersn your meeting oke downrying? >>es, yes,ll of th did. ey have st been ttured psychogically ice tim and time ain a are feaul anhing likthis cou happen again any tim

ave justad everythg pued upon them and a at their breaking points. at, every man i met with some point broke down in tears. amy: i want to thank you both for being with a spirit we will continue to be on the story. casey miller and manoj govindaiah, with raices. rememberome back, we the longtime pacifist, presidential candidate, gay so wish -- gay socialist david mcreynolds. he just died. ♪ [music break]

"give meen: "--- amy: love, give me peace on earth" by george harrison. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we end today's show remembering the life and legacy of david mcreynolds, a longtime pacifist and socialist whom historian howard zinn and many others have called a hero of the anti-war movement. mcreynolds died friday at the age of 88. for nearly four decades, from 1960 to 1999, mcreynolds was a staff member with the war resisters league, where he

focused on counter-recruitment and helped organize one of the first draft card burnings, and went on to play a key role in some of major demonstrations against the vietnam war. he also campaigned for nuclear disarmament. in 1980 and 2000, mcreynolds ran for president as an openly gay man on the socialist party usa ticket. it was while he was campaigning in 2000 that he spoke about his life of activism during an interview on democracy now! the socialist party at ucla in 1951, joins the war resisters leagague at about the same time. arrested during the korean war, not the vietnam war. i went to work for liberation magazine in 1957. i was on the staff of the war resisters league in 1960 and workeded for that untilil januaf 1999 when i retired.

i am now rununning as a socialit party candidate.. d doesory, i am afraid, nonot include any dramamatic military service but a a numberf arrests over the years. over the coursrse of the vietntm war, a visit to hananoi and saigon, and during the gulf war, a visitt to iraq shortly before the main assault there. and other visits to other parts of the world, sosoviet unionon duringng the time when it wass about to brereak up. i was in prague during the invasion. you do notot often get a chanceo be there during the kind of thing. that is a summation of my history. >> how do you respond to those who would say that your quest for the presidency is even more quixotic and irrelevant than ralph nader''s? what do you hope to do by rennie? ini came out as a homosexual 1969, so i think that was one of the first open statements.

look, the presidential election isis a referendum onon ideas. that should be all it t is. prevent theto concept of socialism and put it back in n the american dialog. of hearing a antiracist and not know what people are for. i am for democratic socialism, an idedea as old as 1901. it is not rooted in moscow. the real struggle is that the congressional level, legislative level, and in the strtreets, i o not think people really are aware -- many of those who are i do nothe major ones, think k they are aware of the power of the structurere they oppose and the cost it will take to change thatat structure. if you look at any reaeally serious social change, indndia under ganandhi which i take as y example and methodology, there were large numbers of people killeded in m massive arrests.

gandhi spent a lararge part t os adult life in british prisons. in thehe southern movement, it s a trail of blood and h horror, children killed in schools and beatings and brutatality said dy if y you were in the s south dug that time can you understand the slogan that said many atheists went to the south, none returned as atheists. because of the impact of the black wrapped his church. those struggles werere not t run simply buy votes. on the-- they are won streets. amy: that was 2000 when we were broadcasting from the republican convention in philadelphia. dave mc reynolds died friday at the age of 88. he had fallen days before in his home, apartment and the lower east side, and when he was found, he was rushed to the hospital. david mcreynolds wrote extensively throughout his life, including a collection of essays in 1970 titled, "we have been invaded by the 21st century."

we have that paperback book here. for more, we're joined by david's longtime friends here in new york. ed hedemann, who was a close friend of david mcreynolds, and starting in the 1970's, the two worked together for decades at the war resisters league on counter-recruitment and disarmament campaigns, and more. ed is the author of the war resisters league organizer's manual and also their book, "war tax resistance: a guide to withholding your support from the military." in 1982, he cofounded the national war tax resistance coordinating committee, which still l exists today. also with us is jeremy scahill, cofounder of the intercept, author of a number of books, including "blackwater: the rise of the world's most powerful mercenary army" and "dirty wars: the world is a battlefield." ed, talk about your long-term

friend and his cigna vince is. >> he was the symbol of the war resisters league from the 1960's to the 1990's, the most visible spokesperson, a very articulate speaker, organizer, terrific writer. he wrote a lot of position papers. he had the one book that was a collection of essays. he was also a terrific organizer. he had some clever ideas about war, and he helped organize the first demonststration in the united states against the vietnam war in a 263. amy: i want to ask about his participation in the legendary draft card burning protest -- itt the vietnam war in was 1965 and about 1500 people can to watch as mcreynolds and others burnt of their draft cards, as he recalled in this documentary series called "the

draft. >> they were sayaying it was illegal to burn your draftft ca, making it a federal offense. [beep] that. said, this is going on day after day. a disgrace. hundreds of protesters face off in one city block. are they part of the united states or whatat? >> you have counterdemonstrators everywhere screaming "burn yourselves, not your cards or cope --." > they are burning the draft cards. >> fear flares up.

infiltrated the crowd carrying a pressurized cylinder. >> now from the crowd comes in -- ooh. >> we e do not know what wasas happening, fluid comes, and we do not know if it is volatile. is it gas? will we be going up in flames. >> the fires get bigger and bigger. paperew pieces of burning sparked resistance to the draft. >> we were not shooting anybody. we were not breaking any windows. we were burning a card which was bebeing used by the government o send young men to vietnam by the tens of thousands. amy: that was david mcreynolds and tom cornell speaking about this draft war resistance action in 1965, the draft card resistance. >> the first draft card was

burned in 1964. it was sort of like burning the american flag back then. a create a lot of reaction from the government. they were very unhappy with the concept that many did not have their draft cards, especially earning them in public. that was an outrage. amy: and he joined with dorothy the legendary catholic worker activist and founder of the catholic worker movement, against the civil defense. explain. >> the united states required once a year that people take shelter for 10 minutes or half an hour, something like that, in the early 1950's. the catholic worker and the other organizations tried to protest, refusing to take shelter. them got29 of arrested. it was not david. he had not moved then. he later helped organize a large

protest in 1959, 19 60, 1961, in opposition, and eventually the government gave up. out and refusing to take shelter. amy: jeremy scahill, you have known david mcreynolds s for moe than two decades. talk about his influence on your life and wife he made susuch a difference t to you.. >> amy, the united states is a country that is fundamentally built on lies about itself. both david mcreynolds and the late berrigan brothers said the biggest lie of america is that nuclear weapons keep us safe, the biggest lie of modern times. if you look at who gets endless hours of cable news, henry kissinger died and i think all the networks were just shutdown. the greatesest liars and greatet

warmongers are the greatest individuals when it comes to celebrating their lives when they die. if we lived in a just society based on truth and fact an actual history, all of the cable networks would be covering the life and legacy of david martin reynolds. he was really the first secular revolutionary that i met. from a leftist catholic family, very much influenced by the catholic worker. david mcreynolds was an openly gay socialist pacifist who worked with faith-based organizers for the biggest part of his life, and under the auspices of a -- the war resisters league, an organization of people of all faiths and no faiths. a mastereynolds was technician. i remember one of the early events i was involved with with height of7, at the

bill clinton bombing iraq on average once every three days and are the auspices of the so-called no-fly zones in the north and south. david arranged a meeting with the deputy ambassador, u.s. ambassador to the united nations, and he had known her as a protest organizer during vietnam and here she was no arguing in helping to make the case that the united states should overthrow the government of saddam hussein and escalate military action. david made a remarkably technical tactical, case agagainst the war. it moral, butd make were david excelled among activists is that he could argue with the so-called sophisticate of the war party. they cannot look david in the eye and say you are wrong about this. they could only say, we'll see. david was right about every operation. military

in his lifetime, and it is very telling that all of the people who have been so wrong for so long are now talking heads on cable news, including some of the most visible ones in our history. mcreynolds, hed was always right about u.s. wars, and may young people study your example because we need it so desperately now. to ed wanted to go hedemann, something he shared with us, that you believe was 1971.n by the fbi in it is titled "the third, what?" a fake flyer be from black power activists that is meant to gay-bait david mcreynolds and other leaders of the antiwar movement just before the massive april 24, 1971 , demonstration and washington,

d.c., and april. it begins, "according to chief white fag dave mc reynolds of the lily-white war resisters league." you also shared the fbi memo authorizing the production of the flyer that notes it should be, "prepared on unwatermarked, commercially purchased paper and all efforts made to protect bureau as source of leaflets." before we talk about this, i wanted to go backk to david mcreynolds talking about his life as an openly gay activist in an interview he did with his giacchino.hony >> 1949 was a significant year of beingartly because at ucland deciding was mosexual was19, a alvin ntie 18. he w notot fous, notet a daer. , whicwasbhroom game meeng placet ucla,

and i became involved wh aln. i sh i cou say thawe had a ng love fair, buwe did not. what iotot to ow alv very well. would gover to s house about ce aeek and talk about poetry. i certainly was very much in love with alvin. alvin went on to become a m majr choreographer. i owe him an enormous debt. be a homosexual becae he was not guil, , not nenervs, notot ashamed. i had a few the wholbubusine of homosexuality is ryry deey shamel and vy, very wrong. alviwas the rst pers i met

who s sweet,harming, good-loong, but solutely seemedree of gui. that was very lirating. that w remarkay liberang toe. think my real commitment to pacifismccurred en i heard byron reston speak in 1940 nine. he w wasn many ways an esntntial papartf the e vil rights struggle, alg with randall and mainin lutr king, . he word with them closely. hehe wasn ababsotely essenal figu of the two people in my own fe whom owe my thinking and anysysis to, and aged musty was ee other -- d ajuskey was the other. aj, heonship with was th fige aund whenhe vinam movent coalesced.

these are e two men who meant the most to me personally and did change my life. amy: that is david mcreynolds talking about his relationship with alvin ailey and with the openly gay black activist who helped to organize the 19 623 march on washington with dr. king. ed hedemann, you have this flyer that was put out and an fbi: tell pro document. up as as set counterintelligence program by the fbi. they produce this flyer because of an upcoming massive demonstration in washington, which turned out about 500,000 people. him and aaited number of others to sow dissension. they talk about, their memo is

kind of amusing. i think i have it. they wrote this and said, this was written an excellent fashion in typical language of the new left and contains profanity and full gear of the decibel garrity -- and full garrity. we included because otherwise, we would render the leaflelet suspect. this is how they thougught the movement spoke. it does not speak like this, of course. listen t to as you this attending to undermine, pit different movements, black panthers, war resisters against each other? >> one of the things that i think was remarkable about the life of both david me reynolds and dave dillinger, the legendary pacifist, oldest

member of the so-called chicago eight conspiracy trial that arose out of the 1968 democratic thisntion in chicago, was ability not to be paralyzed by the tactics of authoritarians. , to his core, antiauthoritarian on big issues and on small issues. he would -- he was controversial within social justice and peace movements at times. david took pacifism very the vietnamd during war would condemn the torture of american prisoners of war by ho chi minh's forces. he also believed that his primary purpose in this world, as someone born into privilege in the united states of america, was to hold his own government accountable. the last time i saw david mcreynolds was at a gathering of , and therefriend were activists there like the founder of voices in the

wilderness who spent the majority of her life with people n someonezones, and the else who was recently on the show. that meeting was called together with david's word of as the older was counselor. he tried to discuss how to take direct action against the u.s. genocidal war in yemen. of course, i think it is somewhat fitting that you now have cnn and other networks naming the corporation that makes the munitions that blew up, for instance, a bus full of dozens of innocent yemeni children. it is fitting that there is media honesty finally. the u.s. has been bombing yemen since 2002, at times i must david. and now for truck to continue unabated. david was always clear, this is a u.s. massacre ongoing. and his last organizing effort

was and that stopping the genocidal u.s. involvement in of the poorest country in the arab world, yemen. amy: finally, ed hedemann, david who, and his beloved cat, he injected with insulin twice a day, also died as david was taken to the hospital. taken to thed was hospital. amy: his cat shaman. -- it was traragic all around, but at t least david ner knew that his cat had died. amy: on that note, we are going to wrap up this part of the discussion. youremy, i and going to ask to stay on for part two, hearing david mcreynolds talking about pacifism and why he was a socialist. david mcreynolds ran for president twice on the socialist usa party ticket, longtime pacifist with the war resisters

league. ed hedemann, colleague at wrl, and investigative journalist jeremy scahill, both knew him for decades. that doesn't for our show. check part two of the conversation at democracynow.or?

[applause] michael mcfaul: hello, everyone. gloria duffy: joining us this evening is former ambassador to russia, michael mcfaul. he is a longtime scholar of russia and the other former soviet states. he studied at stanford and then at oxford as a rhodes scholar. he was deeeply committed to bringing about democratic change in the soviet union as it crumbled in the early 1990s. he worked with the u.s. national democratic institute and democratic parties and groups in russia on election strategy and political reform during the time when it seemed possible that russia would become a more that russia would become a more democratic society. he was