it basically means that kids are disposable, they don't matter. amy: president trump has tapped former hospital lobbyist mary mayhew to oversee the federal medicaid program. mayhew served as maine's health commissioner under outgoing republican governor paul lepage, where she led efforts to reduce the number of medicaid recipients. she also championed governor lepage's efforts to reject federal funds for medicaid expansion. this comes as republican senate majority leader mitch mcconnell said tuesday he's concerned about the rising federal deficit, which will approach $1 trillion by the end of this fiscal year.r. >> it is very disturbing and driven by the three big entitlement programs that are very popular. mcconnell's call for massive amy:mcconnell's call for massive cuts to those programs comes after he led a successful republican effort to slash corporate and capital gains taxes in what's been described as one of ththe largest wealth transfers from poor to rich in u.s. history. a federal judge in california has thrown out a defamation

lawsuit brought against president trump by adult film star stephanie clifford, also known as stormy daniels, who says she had an extramarital affair with trump in 2006. on twitter, trump mentioned stormy daniels by name for the first time ever tuesday, though he misspelled her name, writing -- "great, now i can go after horseface and her third-rate lawyer in the great state of texas." trump has a long history of misogynistic tweets. he's previously called women, dogs, pigs, crazed, crying, bleeding, fat, ugly, and low iq. north dakota senator heidi heitkamp apologized tuesday after her campaign published an ad identifying survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and rape without their knowledge or permission. the ad was an open letter to person it race opponent congressman kevin cramer, heitkamp's republican opponent. folks i think this is horrible and i look at this the way i would if i were someone who's name was in the paper who did

not authorize it. i think that that is a colossal and huge mistake. amy: recent polls show senator heitkamp is trailing congressman kevin cramer by around 10 points. she voted against judge kavanaugh in the confirmation process for him to become supreme court justice. in the occupied west bank, israeli bulldozers have entered the palestinian bedouin village of khan al-ahmar ahead of its planned demolition. in september, israel's supreme court approved a plan to raze the village to make way for an expansion of two nearby jewish-only settlements. the plan will force the relocation of the village's 180 residents to an area next to a landfill. on monday, israeli forces arrested four villagers and injured seven as they protested the arrival of demolition teams. this is bedouin villager ahmad abu dahouk. free peoplel of the in the air of nation to react. it is a war crime. the israeli authorities want to

demolish and evacuate us. are they going to send us to a better place? no, they will not. they will relocate us to a worse place. amy: at the united nations, the generaral assembly vototed 146 3 tuesday to appppoint palesti a s next year's chair of the g g77 coalalition of developing natio. since 2012, palestine has been recognized by the u.n. as a non-member state, similar to the vatican. tuesday's vote will alallow palestine to act more like a full u.n. member. opposing tuesday's vote werere just three countries -- israel, australia, and the united states. elsewhwhere at the u.n.,., dipls from bolivia joined their cuban counterparts tuesday in a protest that drowned out the launch of a u.s. campaign on cuban political prisoners. the diplomats chanted, "cuba yes, blockade no!" -- a reference to a stifling embargo unilaterally placed by the u.s. on the caribbean island nation for nearly 60 years.

the protest came as the trump administration continues to roll back a thaw in u.s.-cuban relations begun under president obama. it comes two weeks before the u.n. general assembly is set to vote on a non-binding resolution calling for an end to the embargo. the general assembly has approved similar resolutions each year for over a quarter-century. president is threatened essentially government of honduras unless it halts a caravan of thousands of migrants who are crossing guatemala towards mexico and bound for the u.s. border. trump tweeted monday -- "the united states has strongly informed the president of honduras that if the large caravan of people heading to the u.s. is not stopped and brought back to honduras, no more money or aid will be given to honduras, effective immediately!" trump's threat came as guatemalan authorities arrested and deported bartolo fueuentes,a former honduran lawmaker who helped organize a migrant caravan of up to 3000 people. ahead of his arrest, fuentes said trump had allied with the corrupt government of honduran president juan orlando hernandez.z.

>> in honduras, trump has a corrupt government. it should sanction honduras for condemning these people to misery, forcing them to live in a situation of violence. and trump has a corrupt government. ae serveder who took part in colossal fraud. the honduran government knows this pretty -- perfectly well. the criminal government supported by trump provokes migration. amy: in new york city, police plan to charge nine members of the white supremacist group "proud boys" on counts of rioting and assault after they violently attacked people on a manhattan street on friday night. the nypd announced the charges on monday following public outcry after videos showed dozens of members of the group physically assaulting anti-fascist protesters after attending a talk by leader gavin mcinnes at the nearby metropolitan republican club. three people protesting the proud boys also face charges. meanwhile, in portland, oregon, members of the proud boys joined another white supremacist group,

patriot prayer, in a downtown march on saturday where they clashed with anti-fascist activists. this comes as portland mayor ted wheeler reveals that on august 4, portland police found a hidden group of patriot prayer members on a rooftop with a cache of guns right before the white supremacists took to the streets for a rally. no arrests were made that day and portland police instead fired rubber bullets at anti-fascist protesters at the march. portland police chief danielle outlaw later said the counter-protesters were acting like children and were "mad because i kicked your butt." in malta, supporters and loved ones of mamaltese journalist daphne caruana galizia gathered on tuesday to o commemorate one year since her murder by an unknown assailant. galizia was a wewell-known investigative reporter who reported on corruption at the highest levels of the maltese government, including tax evasion, nepotism, and money laundering. she faced personal and legal threats, harassment and arrests because of her work. the investigation into galizia's

murder has been criticicized for itits lack of independenence and efficiency. her son matthew galizia said -- "it appears that there is a complete cover up and a complete lack of will to investigate the motive for the assassination and the people who ordered it." the last words galizia wrote were, "there are crooks everywhere, the situation is desperate." and in new york city, students at nyu protested former secretetary of state henry kikissger at an evevent organizd by the school on tuesday. >> are you telling me you are not a war criminal, that you do not deserve to go to jail for the crimes you have enacted? crimes against humanity. you deserve to go to jail and rot in hell. you have enacted crimes against argentina, cambodia against vietnam. you are a war criminal and you deserve to rot. amy: kissinger served as the top foreign policy maker under president nixon. during his tenure, he ledd massive bombing campaigns in

cambodia andnd laos, prolonged e devastating war in vietnam, supported death squads and coups in latin america --including chile and argentina, greenlighted indonesia's invasion of east timor resulting in hundreds of thousands of deaths, supported anti-liberation insurgencies in angola and mozambique, and supported pakistan's genocide in bangladesh. this is nyu student madison kelts outside of the protest. >> during his time as secretary of state and national security adviser, henry kissinger perpetrated massive violence, massive crimes against people in vietnam from laos, cambodia, bombing campaigns. he is an imperialist warmonger who has to answer for -- which he is not answered for yet. thousands and thousands, hundreds of thousands of unnecessary or -- unnecessary deaths. and those are some of the amy: headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. juan: and i'm juan gonzalez.

welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. more details have emerged about the disappearance and probable murder of saudi journalist and "washington post" columnist jamal khashoggi who has not been seen since he entered the saudi consulate in istanbul on october 2. the middle east eye is reporting khashoggi was killed soon after he entered the consulate. the turkish government reportedly has audio recordings showing that khashoggi was dragged screaming from the consul general's office, forced onto a table in a neighboring roomom, and ininjected with an unknknown subsbstance. khashoggi was reportedly then dismembebered by a saudi forensc doctctor and autopsy expert who allegedly listened to music on headphones as he used a bone saw to cut a still-breathing khashoggi into pieces. it reportedly took khashoggi seven minutes to die. meanwhile, more information has come to light about the saudis suspected of being involved in the e killing.

according to turkish officials, 15 saudis flew into istanbul shorortly before khashshoggi end the consulate. they then left the country just hours later. "the new york times" reports four of the saudi men are linked to crown prince mohammed bin salman's security detail. one of the men, maher abdulaziz mutreb, has traveled frequently with the crown prince, including on his recent trip to the united states. according to "the washington post," several other of the saudi suspects have ties to the saudi security services. amy: the reporting directly contradicts president trump's claim that "rogue elements" might be to blame for "the washington post" columnist jamal khashoggi's disappearance. on tuesday, trump refused to criticize saudi arabia over khashoggi's disappearance and probable murder. he told the associated press -- "here we go again with, you know, you're guilty until proven innocent. i don't like that. we just went through that with

justice kavanaugh. and he was innocent all the way as far as i'm concerned." trump's comment came as secretary of state mike pompeo travel to saudi arabia tuesday to meet with saudi crown prince mohammed bin salman. he said the saudi leadership strongly denies any knowledge of what took place in their consulate in istanbul. >> he told me they were going to conduct a thorough, complete, and d ansparent t investigation and made a c commitment to holod anyone connected to any foundoing that may be accountable for that, whether they are a senenior officer or official. they promised accountability. amy: pompeo met with the saudi king and the crown prince. he then traveled to turkey to meet with turkish president recep tayyip erdogan. well, we go now to istanbul, turkey, just outside the saudi consulate where we are joined by jamal elshayyal. he is international award-winning senior correspondent for al jazeera.

he has been outside that consulate for days. for people were not familiar with this story, since you have been reporting on this now -- since almost the beginning, it was october 2 that jamal khashoggi walked into that consulate where you are standing now, and has not been seen again. tell us what you know at this point, right through to yesterday when you were snapping photographs of cleaning crew going in with bleach before the turkish authorities went in to investigate. will, amy, it has been a very bizarre but sobering story to cover. talking about a journalist who enenter the consulate in n ordeo process of paperwork to get married, to essentially start a new chapter in his life, but

never to come out again. initially, jamal khashoggi tuesday over two weeks ago for a couple of hours. his fiancee waited for him outside. he never came out. she then asked for the secured regards at the dodoor of the consulate to i inform her whehee was, to which the responded saying he was not actually inside and they claim he left 20 minutes after entering. that was, a claim never substantiated by any sort of evidence. the first bizarre thing to come out from the saudi authorities is they claim the seven-story building behind me that has dozens and dozens of cctv cameras installed around it was not recording on that day, which cast a lot of doubt to what happened. if you days after tomorrow khashoggi went missing, the turkish authorities released their cctv footagege of their cameras outside the door of the

consulate, whihich clearlyly establishehed that jamaal l had entered, putting the onus of responsibility on the saudis to the improved -- they failed to do that. after that we started getting leaks and information from sources close to the investigation who were speaking on the condition of anonymity. roughly about four days after, said hentered -- they had been killed, murdered inside. the released footage of a 15 man hit squad that fluid earlier on the day. thencluded members of security personnel, saudi crown prince mohammed bin salman, members of the spepecial forcesf saudi arabia. most important, including one of the kingdom's top for the experts, man who prides himself as being one of the top autopsy

experts in saudi arabia. they flew in that morning. flightsw in on several and they all flew out on private jets that are linked or owned by companies linked also directly to mohammed bin salman and the saudi royal court. since then, the evidence that the turkish authorities have has been shared with the u.s. intelligence community. are trying to walk a tightrope. they were tried to get some sort of support from their allies in nato as well as the europeans. interestingly enough,, it's made by u.s. intelligence community, several american outlets where they describe the evidence for there were shown by the turks as truly shocking. for them to describe it, considering they are the intelligence community that were behind things like abu ghraib prison as well as guantanamo and

other hugely distasteful incidents, it goes along way to show just how gruesome the details of those recordings are. if the u.s. intelligence community is saying they were shocked by what they saw. the problem about this case or maybe what is making it so significant is it is not just a who wasut a journalist murdered. there is so much more at stake. politics, diplomacy, the future of saudi arabia and the future of the middle east. because up until now, people were looking at saudi arabia's future under crown prince mohammed bin salman. he, through his very aggressive foreign-policy in yemen and egypt and libya and so forth, allied with the crown prince of abu dhabi has been dictating how things are moving in the arab world. if indeed the turks are able to prove beyond doubt that he is the one, as they say, who

ordered the assassination of jamaal khashoggi, if the international committee is to step up and respond as it should to a crime of this magnitude, thethat essentially ignores vienna convention in terms of what diplomatic missions should be used for, one that targegets journalists, one that while heed somebody was allegedly still alive, then that could very well see at least mohammed bin salman's influence not necessarily vanish, but clipped to an extent. considering the huge amounts of investment the trump administration has made in mohammed bin salman and the links it has, that is what may be making things take a lot longer than they should in terms of wrapping up this criminal investigation and establishing what sorts of rookie jewish and dish retribution should be

placed on criminals behind it. juan: i want to ask about the turkish government's release of information. it has been coming out in drips and drabs over the period since khashoggi entered the consulate. i want to ask you, first, why they took so long to actually go in and investigate since they knew early on, apparently, that a crime had been committed? behindt do you think is the partial releases of information over this period of time? think turkey's foreign-policy establishment is before lot of -- it has this. when you look at the war in syria and the crisis in the kurdish separatists in the eu and all of that, i think they are not happy this has landed on them. and they suddenly found they are being dragged into a

confrontation with saudi arabia, which although on paper is an ally, they don't really see i die on several issues. in the beginning, it seems the turks were trying to exhaust diplomatic corridors between them -- or avenues, rather, by trying to maybe get the saudis to own up to what happened and therefore, it would not be seen so confrontational. when that did not happen, they started leaking this here and there to maybe try to garner support from other countries like the united states, like britain and germany and francnce so it is not framed as a turkish-saudi spot -- stat more than international outrage of what saudi arabia has done. more interestingly, the latest information we were able to get from the attorney general's office the night that his to insert disk into the consulate

in the gruesome details of how jamal khashoggi was indeed murdered, i think the timing is very important. they came right after trump initially tried to float the idea that it was rogue elements that were behind us and therefore i think the turks wanted to show how can of beer rogue elements but this took place in the consulate, a diplomatic mission under the direct order or control of the government? and secondly, the details of this taking place when trump maybe try to float the idea this was somehow a rogue operation, and interrogation that went wrong, the fact that you would send your head autopsy expert, the fact that jamal khashoggi was barely question and was in fact descended upon by the special forces officers and killed in the way he was went

cast a lot of doubt on the idea that it was simply an attempt to interrogate or question him come and that people did not really listen to the order that they were given. obviously, the press themselves have a lot of state. not just in the sense that they don't want to cause this rift or fallout, the turkish economy has been suffering quite a that recently. they have been trying to maybe make amends of the relationship with washington, and we assume that in recent days with the comments coming out of the trump administration following the release of the pastor. thati say, this is a case has to do much more with geopolitics in the interest of fair groups than it is, unfortunately, just the case of freedom of expression and a journalist who has been assassinated. with jamalre friends khashoggi's brother. can you talk about how his family is responding right now? what they are demanding?

you president trump is seems even before the saudi regime has publicly floated that there were rogue elements who did this them a though they did this and it has not been explain how they did this in the saudi consulate or the saudi consul general residence, and you have trump himself saying this was rogue elements possibly. and you have pompeo, who has now gone to turkey where you are, but going to saudi arabia yesterday. any question, why wouldn't they be calling in the saudi ambassador in washington? why would he be going directly to riyadh and taking smiling pictures with both the king as well as the crown prince, mohammed bin salman? how is the family responding to all of this? explain just to jamal khashoggi is and was. this is not a dissident within the saudi regime. the correct you, amy.

i am not friends with his brother. jamal khashoggi, may he rest in peace, was very good friends with my brother. i had met him on several occasions as a journalist in different conferences and conventions and symposiums, but i do not know jamal khashoggi's brother. it is my brother who was great friends with jim all. on different occasions. i am aware that one of his sons is currently in the united states. i'm also aware that one of his other sons has been under essentially house arrest in saudi arabia for many months and that the saudi authorities put a travel ban on him. to comeo force jamal back. it does seem there is a lot of pressure being put on his family. one of his sons in the united states recently created a twitter account which he

released through a statement or he is demanding for transparency to what happened to his father. you can only imagine obviously in a situation like this what kind of toll it could take. not only do you suffer the loss, but you are suffering the everyday agony of not knowing or not having closure not being respects or, or pay pray from a religious perspective to ensure that person is resting in peace. obviously, that would have a lot of stress. it speaks volumes of the saudi authorities would maintain a travel ban on his son. it speaks volumes one of his other children is too scared to go back home or to travel and is in the united states. that would give you an idea of the contempt, maybe, the assembly the saudi authorities have to anybody, as you mentioned ,jamal was not calling for the downfall of the monarchy.

he never once hoped for desk wrote about regimes change. he was, who is close to the royal court. he was close -- was the former saudi ambassador to the united states, former ambassador to london and head of intelligence for the kingdom. he was an independent mind. yet an idea with the aggressive rise of mohammed bin salman, the aggressive policies of mohammed bin salman, and the hypocrisy to buy into this concept that mohammed bin salman was a reformer when in fact activists have been calling for it being arrested while the world was upholding them for somehow allowing women to drive as being some sort of emancipation of women that some of the u.s. media were calling it. it is those things that maybe put him on the radar. so it seems going after him that the saudi regime and the

saudi current system under the rulership of mohammed bin salman is not even willing to have principal voices or even independent voices from within that are loan opposition voices. if you are to consider there are some genuine activists who are in the united kingdom and the united states, australia, and other countries, imagine what kind of fate could default them. as you mentioned, you have these pictures of mike pompeo smiling and laughing with crown prince mohammed bin salman, knowing full well that was intelligence is aware of the information turkish intelligence agencies have. they did sure the information with them, making it very clear the link between the crown happened. what for the secretary of state to go into that, will not send confidence to the pro-democracy movements or the independent journalists or the women

activists in the kingdom or the region. juan: jamal, you raise the issue of the very good press that mohammad bin salman has gotten now for months, especially in the american media. and you have raise the issue that part of that has been conceivably the close relationship that has developed between saudi arabia under the crown prince and israel. could you talk about that in the information you received previously about that? well, i mean, it is no secret that for several years, there has been an attempt to normalize relationship between saudi arabia and israel. mohammed bin salman belongs to a political school of thought that is juxtaposed to that which erected in 2011 calling for

freedom and democracy in the air world, which was then called the arab spring. it was more of, i would say, a protest movement than an intifada. it never really blossomed. for those are looking for some sort of freedom. in that school of thought, it is one that allied with ensuring anything must be done to maintain a status quo. a status quo which is that it is the few that rolled in many, it is the wealth of the many that is in the pockets of the few. and it is in the interest of stability that you have to ensure that these absolute the autocratic military regimes like in egypt or syria and so forth remain. it would seem from political scientist and commentators that as al's existence superpower within that region -- in order to maintain its upper hand existence, it requires that

those dictatorships or those absolute monarchies are also there. because what we saw, for example, and i covered cairo from january 26 m in 2011, i was on the ground in egypt for up until the end of that uprising, then i covered libya and yemen and syria. i was on the ground in all of these countries. i can tell you whenever there , youthese main protests would see hand-in-hand with the flag of that country -- so with the egyptian flag, you would see a palestinian fight as well. you would see that in benghazi and tripoli and son-in-law -- sa'naa. it became apparent that the air people realized while the palestinian and continues to be occupied, because the dictatorships that exist are more concerned with putting their efforts and quashing defense and ensuring that they continue to rule than they are

to liberate those lands. and maybe that would explain why mohammed bin salman seem to goes hip a lot more to israel than he is to the pro democratic movement in the arab world. we have already seen, for example, over the past year and a bed, saudi airspace being opened up two flights to israel, something that is never done before. we've seen saudi officials meeting with israeli officials in different countries. there were even reports that they work saudi officials who flew to israel and met with officials there. you can divide it very simply as those camps that are looking for freedom and democracy on the one hand, who may not necessarily have an issue with israel as israel, but have an issue with occupation and inequality and lack of freedom. and you have another camp which wants to maintain that status

quo, so therefore anyone who anks the boat, be it independent voice like jamal scobey -- jamal khashoggi is seen as a threat. without the checks and balances of international law, without of retribution, they're given a green light to do what they wish when they wish to whomever they wish. amy: before you go, i want to go back to the scene where you are at right now standing just outside the saudi consulate in istanbul where to about khashoggi was just seen -- was last seen october 2. just before turkish investigators were allowed into saudi arabia's consulate yesterday to carry out an inspection and search for evidence in the disappearance of khashoggi, cameras captured a teteam armed witith mops, trtras

and cleanining solutions enterig the building.. you wrote in your tweet -- "you couldn't make this up!!! literally minutes after #saudi authorities said turkish investigators could enter the consulate - a cleaning team arrived and entered the building!!!! as we wrap up, explain the significance of this as that the trump says saudi regime is conducting a thorough investigation. the way in which this operation happens, happened and it is very much reflective of the policies we've seen of mohammed bin salman so far. it is essential, excuse me, to put it this way, but it is a big two fingers up to the world. we saw that in the war in yemen. we see it every day when they're bombing school buses and children and nothing happens. we saw that with a blockade on qatar in with the abduction of a prime minister with a lebanese

prime minister who is literally kidnapped. nothing happened. so as far as the saudis are concerned, the beginning they thought, we're going to get away with it. when the turks put a little effort or pressure on them and they said, ok, we will allow the investigators to come but before the investigators they were we're going to clean up what we can clean up. at the end of the day, people will say, well, you can't really clean it all. why would you do that after so many days? but it is about the message that you can reach any opponent or critical voice in any country whenever you want, and nobody is going to punish the regime for it. and even if they do catch the regime, they can do with a want as a result. an active crime scene, even people walking into it, that in itself would be something -- the fact that was allowed to happen in front of the cameras speaks more to the brazen nature, the shameless nature of the regime - -- which

has been giviven a green light d enabled not just by the trump administration, but the entire frfree world and for many decad, not just now. therefore, that is what happened. amy: jamal elshayyal, thank you for being with us, international award-winning senior correspondent for out to zero, currently reporting outside the saudi consulate in istanbul. last year jamal wrote a piece for the middle east eye titled "the rise of mohammed bin salman: alarm bells should be ringing." when w we come back, w we contie the latest on khashoggi's disappearance of probable murder with sarah aziza, investigativie reporter who spent the summer in saudi arabia. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. juan: would continue our discussion on tomorrow khashoggi as gruesome new details emerge in the disappearance and probable death a at the saudi journalilist and "washington po" columnist.

he was reportedly still alive when his body was dismsmemberedn the is simple consulate more than two weeks ago. a turkish sources it took in seven minutes to die. "the new york times" reports four of the 15 saudi men implicated in the killing are directly linked to crown prince mohammed bin salman's security detail. amy: for more, we're joined by sarah aziza investigative , reporter who's been reporting from saudi arabia with the pulitzer center for crisis reporting. her latest piece for the intercept is headlined "jamal khashoggi wasn't the first -- saudi arabia has been going after dissidents abroad for decades." it is great to have you with us. we were just speaking with jamal elshayyal. if you can add to what he was saying, what you think it is important for people to understand at this point will stop many wondering why president trump is doing pr work for the saudi regime, even before they say publicly -- he says maybe it is rogue elements when we are talking about an

official government building in saudi arabia -- i mean, in turkey, the saudi consulate, khashoggi disappearing their october 2 with his fiancee standing outside for hours waiting for him to come out and he never did. first, saudi arabia said he did walk out and now it has been two weeks and they have had to change their story. >> absolutely. well, in many ways while the story is incredibly shocking in its details, it is really just a different degree rather than kind as far as what we is in saudi arabia capable of doing over the years, particularly under this crown prince. as the reporter pointed out, many activists and journalists have found themselves silenced and one where another were placed under pressure even while abroad. the latest of illness with khashoggi's case have only further reinforced the feeling that many activist and writers and students in any everyday saudi who may be abroad feels

they're never quite beyond the reach of the saudi government. as your previous guest mentioned, jamal was not even a dissident. he was clear on that while he was alive. he was a reformer. a long time coming as a loyalist. in ago and he was criticized by many. >> for not going far enough. he wanted to believe that mohammed bin salman could deliver on his promises early on. it was only when he saw the crown prince aching actions that directly contradicted all of the promises of reform that he felt the need to step out. we have seen all of this before in a sense. i've spoken to many saudis who have spent years abroad who may be like jamal khashoggi put themselves in self-imposed exile because they felt it was no longer safe for them to be speaking out or writing for you we within the kingdom.

but as democracy's family experienced, some of their family may then placed under house arrest, under travel bans, threatened or harassed by the government. so this is -- in many ways, this is not a departure for saudi arabia. in the same way you mentioned trump's response. unfortunately, we have seen him very willing to be flexible on the truth to change his story, bereally not honestly apparently looking for the truth, but looking for a story that fits as a justification for what he wants to do. juan: there is but a lot of attention in the world press to the right of women to be able to drive in saudi arabia under the crown prince. what is the actual situation for dissident women in saudi arabia today? >> thank you for asking that. i think that is something those were following the story december were confounded at the world's lack of response

made ahammed bin salman lot of pomp and circumstance about finally given women the right to drive up until this past year women in saudi arabia were the only women on the planet who did not have that right. it was a meaningful change for many women. but the world was willing to ignore the fact that at the same time, mohammed bin salman was jailing the very women who would work for years or decades calling for the right to drive, among other human rights and rights for women. loujain al-hathloul among many others, some of the most havenent women activists then working since the 1970's for equality and were jailed without any real public charges. in the case of loujain al-hathloul, government propagated rumors they were foreign agents, and -- amy: explain. you wrote this brilliant piece

over when the decision came down, what they have been fighting for for years, sometimes getting behind the wheel, being arrested. when the decision came down, they got calls like loujain tohathloul, not to speak or tweet t about this. >> let's talk about loujain. she was a prominent women's rights activist. she was in riyadh when the announcement came from king salman [captioning made possible by democracy now!] . but part of mohammed bin salman 's grand agenda. she was in riyadh only because she had been abducted from the uae a few months before. she was studying for her masters in uae and was arrested, forced to return to saudi arabia, placed under a travel ban, and then a few months later was arrested. before that when she was sitting at home watching the announcement come down about women driving, she knew about that from a few days prior when the royal court called her personally and told her to remain silent, to not speak

publicly, even in praise of the lifting of the band as a way of controlling the narrative that tightly. that is one of the many instances where we saw how mbs, the crown prince, is really obsessed with controlling the narrative from the right and the left. amy: even in praise. >> he did not want to be appearing to giving praise to activists. amy: so what happened? >> she tweeted "thank god" and that is it. they got for the right to drive. and very quickly was sent a message from someone from the road course saying, we told you not to speak. if you know what is good for you, basically, you will shut up. amy: next week, another woman faces a trial and death. >> there are several people

going on trial in saudi arabia .ext week prosecutors are asking for the death penalty. juan: in the charges against her? >> basically, undermining the state. she is a connection with minority groups and activists in the kingdom. the saudi government and especially under mbs, has been extending -- expanding its definition of terrorism, it's crackdown on cyber security laws, using the phrase "fake news" or defamation against the royal family is incurring higher and higher penalties, including imprisonment and fines. it really doesn't take anything substantial to be jailed or imprisoned by the government. hundreds have been jailed under mbs, including in the last 2, 15 journalists just in the kingdom alone. this is something mbs has been

showing us his intent and willingness to trample on human rights and to be completely intolerant of free speech among citizens. while the case of jamal is grisly and bizarre and shocking, it i is, again, not a departure fromom what we have seen from ms saudidi rulers. amy: not to mention what is happening in yemen every single day, the worst to monetary crisis in the world, backed by the united date from the saudi uae coalitions constant bombing of this country. >> i might add, i have spoken -- i have many contacts within saudi arabia and among the saudi diaspora who are probably the least shocked of anyone who is following this story. the world is sort of aghast at what is going on in istanbul, but in the case of many saudis, saudi dissident or just saudis

aware of their governments ongoing in the world, they are perhaps the least surprised by this. although, it is incredibly sobering and chilling in a confirmation of their greatest fears. the same with the u.s. response. we don't hold out a lot of hope for substantial change. for sarah aziza, they give being with us. we will link to your keys on the intercept. in 20 secondnds, we will go to a buzzfeed expose on an assassination team in yemen made up of u.s. special forces, u.s. mercenary firm. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. juan: we end today's show looking at a shocking new investigation that reveals u.s. -- united arab emirates h hired u.s. mercenaries to carry out assassinations of political and clerical leaders in yemen in 2015. the elite u.s. special operations fighters were paid to take part in missions to kill those deemed terrorists by the uae. the uae worked with the u.s. company spear operations group, founded by abraham golan, who

told buzzfeed -- "there was a targeted assassination program in yemen. i was running it." the group's first target in yemen was a local leader of al-islah, a political party labeled a terrorist group by the uae. amy: we go to washington, d.c., to speak with aram roston, journalist at buzzfeed news who broke the story. his new piece is titled, "american mercenaries were hired to assassinate politicians in the middle east." welcome to democracy now! tell us what you found. >> we found that a mercenary operation unlike anything we had ever seen before. , special forces, seals, people who have been trained by the u.s. government were working for the uae in yemento assassinate politicians that had opposed uae policies. the politicians they were working against chiefly were from a group called al-islah who

is viewed by the uae as a terrorist group because it is seen as an arm of the muslim weather hood, which he uae has declared war on, essentially. we were surprised to see this was a group that really functioned not as security contractors, but as mercenaries. two of the people who participated, who were there, two of the americans were reservists. one was a national guardsman and the other was in the navy so reserve unit. we dug into this. we found a v videotape. we obtaiained a videotape that showed one of the operations they have been involved in, which was an attempt to kilill e head of the paparty in aden, the head of the al-islah party in aden. you can see the vehicle the mercrcenariess used toto come ue the building and try to place a bomb there. you can see from the drone.

we interviewewed two of the participipants in thisis program inclcluding the head of it who told us there was indndeed a targeted assassination progrgram and anonother -- and a foformery seal super dissipated in it as well. juan: what is the spear operations group? is it conceivable the american military from the cia was not aware this was going on? >> experts we talked to say it was simply inconceivable they would not have known. remember, the uae, the military of the uae, was trained eye the united states. ally of the united states. the united states gives it intelligence. the united states fuels their planes, arms them. they are viewed in many ways as a client proxy in many ways. people leave there is no way a havery like this could hired an american company staffed by american former in aers incorporated

country corporate america without the united states government knowing about it. amy: let me ask you, you quote initiallyal who was skeptical segment was no way americans would be allowed too participate. a later you said he confirmed what you found. talk about the significance of this -- this happened actually under preresident obama, is that right? >> indeed, it did happen under obama. the period of time was after the war -- after the war started in march, the u.s. pulled its forces directly out of yemen during the chaos of when the war started. the uae stay there. they were on the ground. the yemen war is a complex one. you people see the uae and the saudis as being in the same coalition, but they had kind of a different aim or traditionally had different aims. the saudis h were bombing the

outhis, which they believe are proxies for iran, and the uae, most experts will confirm, it was really trying to consolidate control over the south. they wanted the south. they wanted to separate the cecum have control of the ports and the south. they want to control the political space because the uae and yemen are very close. amy: so they were trying to get the head of the al-islah party, who was sitting here are few years ago, the nobel peace prize winner. uae can call them terrorists. uae 10 hire a mercenary firm the state department would approve to attack any one they consider unfairly to them? >> this is a complex issue because there is no evidence the state department permitted this to happen. .e looked at the law

the law about mercenaries is far more complex than people even realize. i did a story earlier this year about an american -- retired american colonel who went to the uae and had a branch of the military. a branch of the military. he was titled commander. he calls himself a general. did this and the rest of repercussions that we know well for him. so this is different in the sense that these people you would call trigger pullers. they had guns in their hand. they were acting in an offensive combat operations, if you want to call assassinations combat. it is not as if this hasn't happened. there are not -- it is not clear there were repercussions. we have seen americans frequently will join or serve in

the israeli defense forces. they will serve in the fridge for legion. we've seen americans - -- amy: and companies like blackwater. we have to go to break that we will continue with part two and post it on democracynow.org. aram roston, we willing to his piece on american mercenaries hard to assassinate politicians in the middle east. that does it for our show. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning.