04/25/19 04/25/19 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] am from new york, this is demoacacy no >> that is onlyeard theords of therereside of the iteded states that shockedhe consciouess of this nation. heaiaid the weweresome very fine people on both sides." very fine people oboboth ses? amy: fmer vice preside j joe bideentersrshe presintntial race saying heasas insred d to

run n ter present trump's reacti t to thdeadadlyhite supremact t rallin charloesville,irginia,n 20. will spk to andw cockbu abt what hcalls bin's disarous leglative lacy. cockrn'recent pce in rpers isitled "njoe!" bufirsrst,hetoric versus reality: h how the 'most precise air campaiaign in historory' let raqqa the most destrtroyed cityn modern times." when i i first cameo raqqa after ththe war, civilians killd and d destroyed mucuch of the cy duduring the batattle to o oust. but what i came to discocover ws that little to no protection was afforded to the thousands of cicilians who were trapped in thcicity. amy: aestyty iernationals estimati m more an 16060 civilianans were killed in the

u.s.-led offensi.. as chips firired more arartilley ininto raqqa than anywhere since the vietnam war. quits the laughter in manslaughter. that was scrolled in mosul, iraq. we will at a "newer terms" inose of a platoon leader the gallagher commit war crimes in iraq were encouraged not to speak out, and told they could lose their jobs for reporting him. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. president trump pushed closer toward a constitutional crisis with congrgress wednesday, vowig to fight all subpoenas from house democrats ordering current and former aides to testify on capitol hill. trump's remarks came as the white house continued to suggest the president may invoke

executive privilege to prevent former white house counsel don mcgahn from testifying publicly to the house judiciary committee on may 21. pres. trump: the subpoena is ridiculous. we have -- i have been the most transparent president and administration in the history of our country by far. like these are not impartial people. the democrats are tryingng to wn 2020. amy: house oversight committee chair elijah cummings said aides who defy subpoenas could be held in contempt of congress, warning -- "these employees and their personal attorneys should think very carefully about their own legal interests rather than being swept up in the obstruction schemes of the trump administration." house judiciary chair jerrold nadler has suggested fining officials personally if they refuse to testify to his committee. in afghanistan, the united nations says u.s.-backed afghan security forces have killed more civilians so far this year than

the taliban. new u.n. figures show that, between january and march, anti-government fighters killed 227 civilians, while afghan and international forces killed 305 civilians. the report also found air strikes have killed 145 civilians so far in 2019, half of them women and children. meanwhile, a m mor new report by amnesty international and airwars has revealed the u.s.-led military coalition in syria killed more than 1600 civilians during the 277 offensivtoto ousisis m mitants from the citof r raq. amnenesty is calliling on the u. and coalition nations toulully investigate the ma civilian sualties. afafter headlilines, we'llll goo london to spspeak with dononatea rovera, the report's lead investigator. in hong kong, hundreds of activists held a candlelight vigil wednesday outside the prison where four protest leaders have been ordered to serve 16 month sentences for organizing pro-democracy demonstrations in 2014. four other activists received

suspended sentences while a ninth had her sentencing trial delayed for health reasons. the so-called "umbrella movement" brought hundreds of thousands of protesters into the streets of hong kong to oppose the chinese government's plans to only allow candidates approved by beijing to run for office. they were ultimately unsuccessful, as chinese officials continue a rollback of the policy knknown as one country, two systems, that grants greater freedoms and political autonomy to hong kong. sri lankan police are on high alert amidst fresh bomb scares in the wake of easter sunday attacks that killed 359 people and injured more than 500. overnight, authorities arrested 16 more sususpects in the case. among those arrested, one of sri lanka's s chest spice traders.. authorities say two o of his sos were among eight suiuicide bombs who died in sunday's attacks. on wedednesday, srsri lankan prpresident police chief that

security forces had ample warnings about imminent attacks ahead of the bombings but failed to act. the united nations has condemned saudi arabia's mass public execution ththis week of 37 prisoners, some of whom were convicted based on confessions extracted through torture. this is raravina shahamdasani, spokesperson for the u.n. office for the high commissioner for human rights. >> we had concerns the due process and the fair trial righghts of the individualals hd not been respected. in at least three cases, the individuals who were executed yesterday were sentenced to death when they were minors. this is completely unacceptable inin international human r righs law. wewe utterly condemn the executions carried out yesterday by saudi arabia. amy: back in the united states, texas has executed one of three white supremacists convicted of killing an african american man more than two decades ago in a modern-day lynching that shocked the conscience of the nation and

led to state and federal laws. in june of 1998, 49-year-old jasper resident james byrd was chained to a pickukup truck and dragged to his death. james byrd was afrian american. the three men who murdered him were white. one of the men, john william king, was killed wednesday evening by a prison official in huntsville who injected him with a single, lethal dose of the sedative pentobarbital. king was an avowed racist covered in tattoos depicting nazi imagery, a lynching and the words "aryan pride." he was the second man to be executed for james byrd's murder. a third man serving a life sentence f for the murdeder is e fofoa parole hearing in 2034. former vice president joe biden s formally enter t the 20 race forhe whiteououse, coming the 20th momocratoo seek t n nominion,n, t largege field ev for theararty. in a campaign viderereleas onn social miaia thimornrnin bidenen took aimt presidt t tru's respon t to th201717 "ite thth right" march of itite naononalis in charttesvill virginia, and e e killg ofof

anti-racist protester heather heyer. klansmet 2017, we saw and neo-nazi o out ithepen. veinscrazed face bulging. chanting the same anti-semitic vial heard inhe 1930's. they we met by courages grouof americans in a violent clash eneded. a brave youngoman lo her lif that is wh we hearthe word of theresident of the united states tt t stund ththe rld d shococd the cocience as of this natn. he said therwere "the were some verfine peoe on both side" veryine peop on both ses? am as a lotime senor from delare, bidehas prevusly rutwtwice r r the mocratic

mination biden's 1994rime bil while implemting sweing gu contro also heed fuel mass incarceration with financial incentives to keep people behind bars. biden has long faced criticism for his handling of anita hill's charges against clarence thomas in 1991. at the time he was thehe chair f the senate judiciary committee. biden is known for close ties to the financial industry, notably helping push through a 2005 bill that made it harder for consumers to declare bankruptcy. he also voted to authorize the u.s. invasion of iraq in 2003. we'll have more on joe biden's record as a senator and vice president later in the broadcast. "the new york times" is reported that before she left the post as head of homeland security, kristjen nielsen sought to sound alarm over russian interference in the election but was ordereded not o brbring it up in froront oththe president. as dhs secretary, she was tasked with overseeing the nation civilian cyber defenses.

but according to "the new york times," mick mulvaneney made it clear trump still equated any publicic discussion of malign russian electioion activivity wh quesestions about the legitimacy ofof his victory. nielsen resigned earlier this month after overseeing trump's zero-tolerance immigration policy that has seen childldren separarated from their parents d entire families held in cages resembling dog kenennels. in brazil, thousands of indigenous people and their allies are rallying in the capital brasilia, protesting a massive assault on their rights and territories by ranchers, miners, and the government of far-right president jair bobolsonaro. this is kawaua apurina of the aputina tribe. >> we are tired of being murdered. we are tired of not having our land demarcated. we are tired of this genocide, ecocide with indigenous people, for protecting the planet. amy: the protest comes as new data from the world resources institute show nearly 9 million acres of pristine rainforest

were cut down in 2018, with most of the destruction caused by clear-cutting in the amazon. the data show deforestation is still on an upward trend, with losses accelerating in brazil, where loggers and cattle ranchers are pressing further into indigenous territories aided by the government. and in belfast, funeral services were held wednesday for northern irish journalist lyra mckee, who was shot in the head by an irish nationalist militant last week during riots in the city of derry. leaders from both sides of northern ireland's political divide appeared side-by-side at the funeral. they were e joined by british officials and leaders from the republic of ireland in st. anne's protestant cathedral. at wednesday's funeral, a friend revealed that just hours before she was murdered, lyra mckee said she was about to propose marriage to her partner, sara canning. a group calling itself the new ira, which opposes the 1998 belfast agreement peace accord, has claimed responsibility for her murder, though it didn't identify the shooter. ahead of wednesday's funeral, sinn fein president mary lou mcdonald condemned the assassination.

>> it is past timeme now for the groups that masquerade as republicans to pack up and pack it in, to end their activities, and to let the people get on withth the work of building a nw united ireland, the ireland that we'll want. an ireland that will be a true to our patriots and toto all who died. the ireland in which lyra mckee should have lived. amy: and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. nermeen: and i'm nermeen shaikh. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. we begin today's show in syria. a major new investigation by amnesty international and airwars has revealed the u.s.-led military coalition killed more thaha 1600 civilians during the 2017 offensive to oust isis militants from the

syrian city of raqqa. the coalition launeded thousds air strikes andens s of thousandofof artlery s sikes on the city. u.s. troopfired more artillery into r raqqa thahan anywhere s e the vivietnam war. at the te,e, the uted d stat claimed it was the "mo p precise air campaign in history." amneststy is callingng on the u. and coalitition tions s toully investige e the mass civilian casualties. amnesty inteternational's donatella a rovera traveled to raqqa to s speak with susurvivo. >> thihis is where w we are goig because ththis is one ofof the placeses wre u.s..orces havee the artillery facactories. ththey were firiring from there. nydidn't ce with preconceivived ideas. it is a joururney of discocoverg whatat happened.d. when i first came t to raqqa afr

bomrdmentelentless killed civililians and destroyed much of thee city duringng the battlele t to oust isis. wasat i came to discover lilittle to no p protection waws forded to ththe thousands s of civililians who were trapped in the city. amy: while amnesty international donatella rovera was in syria, she spoke with a womanamed ayatat. whose entire family was killed in an s check. >> the wholele family. i've lost them all, my dearest ones. we were sitting in the basement when the rocket hit just before sunset. and it hit my face, it was burned by the flames. my neighbor was in front of me and was left totalally charrede. when i c cameround, mon was screaming. hehe was in n in but i could not help them. he was scrcreaming, " "mommy,y,p me."

i told h h, "i"ian't, my son, i can't help you." amy: those were the words of a syrian woman named ayat. a u.s.-led coalition airstrike killed her entire family. we go now to london where we are joined by donatella rovera, senior crisis response adviser at amnesty international. she was the lead investigator of the investigation by amnesty and air wars titled "rhetoric versus reality: how the 'most precise air campaign in history' left raqqa the most destroyed city in modern times."

donatella rovera, welcome to democracy now!w! just explain the level of the devastation and the involvement of the united states. >> the devastation is clear for all to see. there is no single neighborhood in raqqa that was spared. more than 11,000 buildings were destroyed or damaged all over the city. people are living in the middle of the ruins. as for the level of responsibility of the united states, they were the lead party in this military operation that involved also the u.k. and french forces. but more than 90% of the air strikes were carried out by u.s. forces and all of the artillery strikes were carried out by u.s. forces.

far the.s. was by overwhelming power in this military operation that caused so many civilian casualties that could have been avoided. nermeen: could you explain exactly what this investigation entailed and what your findings were? weeks and months in raqqa. just in the past year, i have times,ck for four visited more than 100 sites of coalition strikes and interviewed more than 400 witnesses and survivors and carried out come on the ground, investigations beyond just collecting testimony. for example, i went to scrap yards to find how much they had received by way of used

artillery shells and other pieces of munitions. as well as the on the ground investigation, we carried out extensive remote sensing with our evidence lab. we had a project whereby thousands of volunteers examined more than 2 million satellite image frames. we examined every single scrap of information that was available on open sources. and the findings of all of that is we were able to verify on the 640 civiliansan killed. and the rest come up to 1600, are cases where we have names, we're very strong and credible reports. the same is also -- this same information has also been collected by a air wars. so we have done a very large part of the job that the

coalition should have done and has not done until now. they have not been in raqqa investigating on the ground, speaking to survivors and witnesses, to try to find out what the impact of the military operation that they carried out has had on the civilian population. our investigation shows two things.. first, i it is notot a questionf some individual isolated cases. it is way more widespread than that. entire families, time and time again, were wiped out. 10 people here, 20 people there, 30 people in another building, and so on. and secondly, our investigation shows it is possible to do these kinds of investigations on a large scale in raqqa. in a not always the case postwar theater, but it is possible to do so in raqqa. therefore there is no impediment, therefore no reason,

why the u.s.-led coalition has not been willing to do a proper canstigation so that facts be establishshed, they can take responsibility. because until now, the coalition has only admitted to roughly 10% of the civilian casualties. that is not good enough, frankly. theononths have passed d since end of the war. it is time for the coalition to be transparent, to come clean, to take responsibility for the civilian casualties that it has caused, and to provide reparation to the victims. amy: you say that u.s. marines boast they fired more artillery into raqqa than any time since vietnam. one u.s. military official posted about firing 30,000 artillllery rounds during the campaign, the equivalent of a strike every six minutes for four month straighght, surpapasg the amount of artillery used in any conflict since the vietnam war. is d deeply worrying.

obviously, this was said by u.s. marines on the record. it is nothing to be proud of because artillery is a battlefield weapon. it is not meant for urban areas. every artillery shell has a margin of error of 100 meters or more. we all know in a city where there are civilians, even j just 10 meters can make a legitimatae military target and a house full ofof civiliaians. artieryy is cheap, but it is very costly in terms of civilian lives when used in areas around civilians. it should never be used around civilians. and when it comes to the air bombardments carried out by the coalition forces, the munitions were precise but were very wide impact radius. emissions, big mk-type bombs that took out entire buildings.

buildings.even floor those bombs are not your most sophisticated. they could have used more precise, likely more expensive and requiring more labor-intensive to use, but it would have been possible to achieve their military objectives without causing so much harm to civilians. and secondly, the importance of the quality of the intelligence. ultimately, precision munitions as they as precise intelligence is. the question is whether the coalition forces tooook all of e time and resources they should have an could have put in verify the target. because time and timime again throughout the entire military operation, we had entire builildings taken outt with tenf

civilians killed. something went horribly wrong. for the coalition to show interest 18 months at the end of the war and understanding what rick truong -- what went wrong so the same mistakes will l be repeateththe next time. because lessons should be learned fromom what has been a very tragic military campaign for so many families in raqqa. nermeen: the report is also titled -- as you pointed out, the air campaign due to the relatively precise weapons despite the resulting devastation, respective of their precision, but the artillery fire resulted in so many of these civilian deaths. and the report says raqqa was the most destroyed city in modern times. you spend time both in aleppo and mosul, both of which were

inost entirely destroyed war, in coalition airstrikes and nato airstrikes. can you talk about what happened in raqqa that distinguishes it from these two previous wars in aleppo and mosul? scale, really. in mosul, we saw the old city, which is a small percentage of the city, that was entirely destroyed. in aleppo, we saw the part of aleppo that was under rebel control that was largely destroyed. in percentage terms, raqqa is another story. raqqqqa is not one neighborhoodr a few neighborhoods, the destruction is everywhere. published that shows satellite ,magery -- it t is clear to see

so in terms of percentage -- obviously, mosul is a much bigger city thanan raqqa. the destruction was concentrated in the old city, which is a small percentage of the city of mosul -- thankfully. again, in alepeppo, itit was paf the city. in raqqa, the destruction is everywhere. i have been looking -- working in conflict situations all over the middle east and africa for the past two decades. i have not seen this levelel of destruction in percentage terms anywhere else. amy: amnesty international stririke truckers project identified more than each of the 11,000 destroyed buildings raqqa hit, using this project. what did they do to determine these numbers? >> basically, we had a project that involved online volunteers examining satellite image frames

to locate the precise time when each building was destroyed. every task was performed by multiple people so there was a review.eer the final information was reviewed by our qualified analystss. the importance of the prprojects it allowed us to scale up the analysis of a very, very large body of s satellite imagery that was important in understanding how the battle unfolded, troop movements, where the destructitn was, against where troop movements in the f front lines were. so that was a very important component. that is what makes this particular investigation different than what we're done before. it is multidimensional investigation because it involves both very extxtensive work investigating on the ground, but alslso technology ad

considerable resources put into the remote sensingng, looking at the satellite imagery on a very large scale and all of ththe available information on open urces. we have also done this in partnership with other s,ganizations such as airwar whereby we have pulled together our data and the data they have been collecting remotely throughout the time of the military operation. and we are also visualizing this the findings of this investigation and a different way. it is not the usual report. it is a class for, a site that will be live and that contains a material andvisual people can e explore. amy: we will link to it at democracynow.org. donatella rovera, senior crisis

response adviser at amnesty international. lead investigator of an extensive online resource that's just been published headlined, "rhetoric versus reality: how the 'most precise air campaign in history' left raqqa the most destroyed city in modern time." when we come back, former vice president joe biden enters the 2020 presidential race. we will speak with journalist andrew cockburn. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: the late pete seeger, a never before released version of a song. this is democracy now!, i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. nermeen: former vice president joe biden has entered the 2020 race for the white house, becoming the 20th democrat to seek the nomination in the largest field of democratic candidates to ever run for president.

biden will hold his first fundraiser tonight in philadelphia. it will be hosted by comcast chief lobbyist vid cohen. amy: in a campaign vid released ososocialediaia ts rning, biden took aim at president tru's spononseo the 17 "unite the rit"t" mar of wtete natnalilistin charlottesvie.e. you begiby talki about charttttesvie, t theome o thomas jefferson, the one on to talk about -- then went on to talk about what happened most recently. >> it was there on august 2017 we saw klansmen and waaa emises a neoeo-nis comomout .n the open thr r craz f faceslluminined by torture, vein bulging. chanting the see anti-semitic vile heard acros in the 1930's. met by crageous oup of ericansnd a violent clash

enensued ana brave young woman losterer life. and that is on h heardhe w wor of t preside of the tice dates that stunned the world and shockeththe cociouousns of is nation. he said the e were "some very fineeople onoth sides." very fine people on thth sid? those rds of the presintnt of ththe uned states us on the moral equivant betweenhose spading hate and tho with the coagage totandnd ainst it. and inhat mome, i knew the threat to this nation was unlike any i had evever seen inin my lifetime nermee t that's jobideden annonocing hisun for presiden as a longtimsesenatofrom delaware, bidehahas rutwicice befo f for t dememoctic nomination the lastime was 2008 wh he ultimely beca then-sator bark obama's nning ma. den'third bifor the presiden comes ia democric polical clime that i notay more pgressivehan

the last time he sought the nomination. he will face scrutiny for his long and checkered record in the coming weeks. it includes his 1994 crime bill that helped fuel mass incarceration with financial incentives to keep people bebehd bars. long facedlso criticism for his handling of anita hill sexual-harassment allegations against supreme court justice nominee clarence thomas in 1991. at the time, biden was the chair of the senate judiciary committee. he is also known for close ties to the financial industry, notably helping push through a 2005 bill that made it harder for consumers to declare bankruptcy. according to "the new york times," the credit card issuer mbna was biden's top donor from 1989 to 2010. amy:y: one of vinenes key -- onf biden'ss key l legislative achievements wasas the 2005 babankruptcy law that madede it harder to reduce student debt, preventing most americans from

claiming bankruptcy protections for private student loans. he also voted to authorize the u.s. invasion of iraq in in the 2003. weeks before biden announced his bid for presidency, at least seven women stepped forward to accuse him of inappropriate touching. well, last month, juan gonzales and i spoke with andrew cockburn, washington editor for harper's magazine, about biden's potential run for the presidency and his recent piece headlined "no joe! joe biden's disastrous legislative legacy." i began and part two of this discussion b by asking andrew cockburn about biden's role in the 1994 crime bill. strongeamed up with thuman, this sort of very aged old segregationist from south ofolina, really, the face everything that we have been trying to get away from. and it was -- joe thought this was really going to propel him to the top.

as he said to a former aide who told me, i think it was around about 1990, the aide was telling me how joe was always trying to hold hearings on crime and drugs. every week his poor staff had to sit around dreaming up a new excuse for hearing on crime and drugs. as biden said toto his staffer,e said, when people hear the words crime and drugs, i want them to think joe biden. he was really running like george bush senior on a sort of report and test sort of willy fortin. , thisastonishing this man politician should be considered a front runner for the democrats. amy: could he simply say he has completely reversed his decision? >> not really. he has apologized for a few things. not, i notote, on busing.

not on choice or his record is truly teterrible. heasas said he is kind of a bit sorry a about his crime legislation and said he is sorry for the financial deregulation, the queue for appeal of glass-steagall. ofsaid that was the worst - his entire career. just thinking of his political viability, supposing he has to go through the campaign saying, i am sorry i did what i did on busing, i'm sorry i did what i did on cririme, i'm sorry i did what i did on banks, he is going to sell like another shifty politician. amamy: and on anita a hill, i'm sorry but what i did? >> yes. he has expressed some regret for that, i should admit. has very, his record little that is good about it. hehe has this shtick of being a

friend of the working man, but he is been much better and closer friend of the financial industry. amy: talk about what happened neilthe speech with connect. >> very bizarre. neil was a leader of the labour party -- amy: in britain. >> the british labour party. in his stump speech you would say, why was that he was the first in a thousand years to go invokedge and his wife she was the first from her family to go to college. he made a sort of moving rags to riches piece out of that. biden heard this or his speeeechwriter d did and though, that sounds good, and simply ."bstituted the word " biden

what is particularly ironic about it, neil connect was known in britain as the welsh win back because he w went on and o on. bibiden himself is the terrible windbag. it is really bizarre to have one windbag plagiarizing another. amy: i want to talk about iraq. in 2002, forormer chief f u.s. saidns inspector in iraq "senator joe biden is running a sham hearing. it is clear by now most of the congressional leadership have preordained conclusion that seeks to remove saddam hussein from power regardless of the facts and are using these hearings to provide political cover for a massive military attack on iraq. these urns have nothing to do with an objective search for the truth, but rather seek to lineup like-minded witnesses who will buttress thihis predetermined results." that same year in 2002, senator biden said, "we must be clear with the american people that we

are committing to a rack for the long haul, not just the day after. i am absolutely confident the president will not take us to war alone." talk about the significance of that then and then what it could mean for today. behaviors into biden's on the international stage throughout, which is a very hard line hawk. as you have just said or as ritter said, biden was doing everything he could to assist george bush in the run-up to the illegal invasion of iraq. on the foreign relations committee, hee summoned from invasion witnesses. as far as i know, he was certainly not one of the famous of the five senators who took the trouble to go down and read the national intelligence

estimate that senator bob graham has talked about, that was locked away in the basement, which would have told them the was a lot of doubts and the intelligence community as to whether saddam had weapons of mass destruction and so forth. he was all for war and all for occupation. that fits in with his record since. president,y, as vice obama gave him the iraq file and the ukraine file. artn use that to be an proponent for intervention in what is a civil war in ukraine and more arms for ukraine. his family, his son had very extensive business ties to ukraine, which doesn't look too good. his son hunter was on the board

of the ukrainian gas company. biden, whenever he has been given the chance, he has been for armed intervention. he was ardently for the expansion of nato, the post 19 -- in the 1990's, which is really the root cause of the renewed cold war. biden wasas there. it is no surprise he describes john mccain as his best friend in the senate. amy: biden said in 2002, "i don't believe this is a rush to war. i believe it is a march to present security." andrew cockburn, if you could comment t on his two runs for president -- both failed. he media showing just saying is the number one followed by bernie sanders but he has the biggest name recognition nationally. he was vice president for eight years under president obama.

ofit is largely a factor name recognition but also -- we have to think about those two runs. first of all, as we have discussed, astonishing gap in 1988 where he was not just plagiarizing this british politician, by the way, it turned out his speeches also had extensive passages lifted from bobby kennedy and martin luther kingng, unbelievably. it is hard to explain. -- it is not clear his campaign was going anywhere anyway at that time. in 2008, he did not even have that excuse of plagiarism. he made an astonishing remark about barack obama really a war hehe described him as clean. it was a almost racist sounding

patronizing remark. and he got nowhere. he really splattered and his campaign sputtered and died. thisspretty bizarre to me cheering squad for biden, run, joe, run. i think thehe clip you showed featured of him at the firefighters convention yesterday was very telling because it sounded like -- i can hear donald trump invoking low-energy again. a ready tosound like go politician at allll to me.. he souounded sort of rather wea. i have the feeling sometimimes that he and his heart does not want to do it, and that t is why we have e had this hamlet performance for months now. and the people around him, these longtime aides, this is s their chance for a tickett in the big game, to begin on a big-time presidential campaign and theyy are kindnd of pushing him into . maybe i am wrong, but i think if

he does run, those poll numbers will come down in a hurry. he hates preparation. he hates debate prep. he is not a great fundraiser. he does not like have to cowtow to donors. i really think -- i'm not the only person saying this -- that what he really wants is to be anointed. biden, please come and be our candidate. please, be our president. without having to go through the hard grind, the exhaustion of a presidential campaign. amy: andrew, could you talk about the media's coverage of him? you were among the first, if not the first, in this period to start really seriously analyzing joe biden's record as a senator and then as a vice president.

then the rest of the media started -- well, repeating some of what you had to say. >> thank you. that is kind. that is true. now the pack is busy at work. cnn digging out that very damning clip you played earlier and there will be a lot more of that. there have already been things i did not know that are coming up. just imagine what it is going to be like when yes 12 other democrats sort of c chasing himm around the ring. it will be like lord of the flies or something. research can be pretty good these days and there's a lot to come out. he has so many deficiencies as a i should, including sasay, because the republicans e already saying it, a #metoo problem. if you lookk online,e, there isa montage going around of joe biden with women at photo ops,

including some quite young women, children, really, apparently fondling them. i'm sure it is all very debunkular. but as one fundraiser and operative said to me, lady said, i was never talking to him whehn hehe was not stroking my b back. hehe is very tactile, which i'm sure is enentirely innocent. but don't think the republicanas won't make a lot of hay with that and probably his democratic rivals, too. amy: that is andrew cockburn. to see part one, go to democracynow.org. aen we come back, we look at "new york times" expose detailing how navy seals witnessed their platoon chief commit war crimes in iraq, were encouraged not to speak out and told they could lose their jobs for reporting him. gallagher goes on trial for murder .. wewe will spspeak with journalit dave philipps. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, i'm amy goodman with nermeen

shaikh. nermeen: "the new york times" is reporting that navy seals who witnessed their platoon chief commit war crimes in iraq were encouraged not to speak out and told they could lose their jobs for reporting him at a private meeting with a superior officer last year. according to a confidential navy criminal investigation obtained by "the times," the commandos said they saw special operations chief edward gallagher stab and kill an unarmed teenage captive, shoot to death a young girl and old man, and fire indiscriminately into crowds of civilians. but when the men on gallagher's team called a private meeting with their troop commander and demanded an investigation, they were told to stay quiet on the matter and no action was taken. the group of seven seals eventually were able to force an investigation and chief edward gallagher was arrested in september on more than a dozen charges, including premeditated murder and attempted murder. amy: the court martial centers

on charge that gallagher stabbed to death a teenage member of the islamic state while the unarmed youth was being treated by a medic. gallagher allegedly also photographed members of his platoon posing with the corpse in what was dubbed a re-enlistment ceremony. gallagher then reportedly texted a photo of the dead captive to another seal saying, "good story behind this, got him with my hunting knife." according to legal filings obtained by the navy times, two other seal petty officers have said that gallagher bragged about killing "10-20 people a day or 150-200 people on deployment." a fellow sniper told investigators that gallagher claimed "he averaged three kills a day over 80 days." the investigation also unveiled the words "eddie g puts the laughter and manslaughter." what's scrawled on the wall of a kill site in mosul, iraq. gallagher's trial begins may 28.

if convicted, he could face life inche in prison. the navy has also charged gallagher's boss for failing to report a war crime and for destroying evidence. joining us now from colorado springs, colorado, is the pulitzer prize-winning journalist dave philipps. he is a national correspondent for "the new york times." his latest piece is headlined "navy seals were warned against reporting their chief for war crimes." tell us about how you discovered this story, what happened to this platoon and their allegations. >> thank you for having me on. the story first came to my attention when he was arrested and charged. whenenever a chief of opposed to as arrested and chaharged -- plplatoon isis arrested d and c, you immediately pay attention and try to figure out what is going on behind-d-the-sceneses. as grim as it may y sound, itt would be very easy to make this type of thing go awaway if everyone wasas on board. you can imagine a platoon and a

place like mozilla, if someone wanted to kill someone who did not n necessaririly fall into te legal parameterers, that could happen and no one would say any thing if everyone was ok with it. what struck me was s the was a schism in this platoon were clearly there were people who arare not ok w wh what wasas gog on andnd thought the chief had gone over the line. when i saw his arrest, i really wanted to see what was goingng n behind the scenes.. i was s lucky enough to get a really rare look at these confidential documenents, about 500 pages of navy criminal investigation that included hundreds of text messages from reallyhief's phone e and gave us almost unprececedented lookok at how these things unfoldlded. as you mentioned at the top, there was a lot of details in their of killing, of

indiscririminate shootings. what also struck me over and over again is you have one seal who is accused of doing things that went beyond the law in mumurdering pepeople, but then u have seven sealsls at least boosted up and said, this isis wrwrong, our superior is doioing somemething wrong. they did what they're s supposed to do, according to the documements and what t they told investigigators, they w went to their chain of command and tried for months to get anan investstigation arteted. knowwere told -- i don't what the motivation behind it was, but they were told, look, decompress, dodon't worry about could ruin your career. you might want to think about this. this could take down other people. they were really frustrated d tt evenen though theyey saw somethg abhorrent, their chain of command seemed unwilling to act.

amy: last month president trump tweeted -- "in honor of his past service to our country, navy seal #eddiegallagher will soon be moved to less restrictive confinement while he awaits his day in court. process should move quickly!" dave, can you talk about that, the fact president trump has andrvened on his behalf this man, as the investigation finds, is not only accused of killing a 15-year-old boy who captive beens treated by a medic when he was killed by gallagher, he killed a an older unarmed -- and before this in iraq in afghanistan, he killed little afghan girl who was being held by a man who was gallagher's target. he shot the girl and killed both of them to get to o the man.n.

amy: and stabbed a teenage boy. >> that's right. when c chief gallagher was arresteded in september,r, the y took a somewhat unusual m move f asasking that he be confined in the navy brig until his triaial. ththe reasonon they did is s thy they h had found evidence e thae was trying to intimidate witnesses and tamper with the investigation. so they wanted him in a place where he could not do that. cause,ily took up hisis both his brother sean gallagher and his wife andrea gallagher, saying here's a man who is innocent unless proven guilty. he has not had his day in court. he is had an exemplary career -- which is true -- and yet he is isng put in a celell before he ever found guilty of anything. they found -- they said that was

outrageous. they said the reason these allegations had come out was not because the seal she had done anything wrong, but because his hisoon was unable to meet exacting standards. amy: we have andrea gallagher, the wife of navy seal eddie gallagher, speaking to w-t-tv earlier thisear. >> he was named the numr r one chief. andas tasked tolear mosul did it in half the time. when matta said, take the gloves off, my husband listen. amy: that is eddie gallagher's wife. continue, dave philipps. >> thehey made this case that in the media and reallyly sound residents in cononservative mema outlets and in a conservative lawmakers. very quickly, , a number of republican congressman, let b by duncan hunter of califorornia,

signed on, demanding he be let out of the brig. they intervened directly -- excuse me, spoke directly toto president trump. president trump -- amy: andnd thihis is duncan hunr whom you just mentioned, republican congress member from california. >> lawyers don't know with the word combat means, prosecuting enemy.r killing the so even if everything the prosecution said is true, let's say chief gallagher killed a verified designated isis combatant, my answer is, so what? that is his job. that is what our military does. we would not have wonon world wr i or world war ii if we would have five the way we have to fight now. amy: that is the end of the congress member duncan hunter, the republican f from californi. philipps, describe what he is on trial for. for example, the stabbing to get

of this 1515 year old teenager. what his platoon members told investigators is the chief kind of went off the rails when he got to mosul, iraq. they were supposed to o be in ad advise and assist role forces.ng iraqi they were supposed to do oversight with drones anand snipers. he was suppoposed to be the pepn who sits in n the back and comes up with ththe plans but ininstee spent monthth -- - much of his e in a hidden sniper hide, were other snipers said he shot, depending on who you asksk, thre times as much or 20 times as much as other snipers. as you mentioned at the top, he bragged about how many people he killed. a lot of t that may y just haven boasting. wewe don't know how many of them shot actually hit anyone. but there are specificics wheree other snipepers say they witnesd

him killing what they saw as peoplele who are clearly civilians. there was one case where a a grp of girls were walking along the river that runs through the center of the city. one of the girls wearing a flowered hijab was shot down and they watched her collapse and her friends drag her away. in another case, a couple of old men in white beards were along the river as well, and one of them with shot in the back. the stivers say in both these cases, it was it gallagheher who took the shots. the case you mention of the top -- sorry, go ahead. nermeen: before we conclude, what do expect to come of the trial? >> this will be really hard for a prosecutor to prove, as thisng as the facts seem, wasn't investigated until a year later because of the delays. much of the physical evidence

that might have been able to be taken was gone. there is no body for any of these murders. a lot of it comes down to testimony. i think it is a very open question what happens. amy: and thehe killing of this teenager, you are just about to say? theyis is a captive -- call him an enemy, but a captive fighter, someone who is protected byby the geneva conventions and ourur own laws f war. you shohould have and cared for. and he was by the other seals. what the seal say is edward gallagher came over and without really saying anything, took out a custom knife and stabbed him in the neck and torso and killed him. amy: thank you so much for being with us, dave philipps. we willing to your ex was a in " "the new york times." the piece headlined "navy seals were warned against reporting their chief for war crimes." that does it for our broadcast.

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