01/03/20 01/03/20 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! towe are strongly committed the progress and greatness of our country. if anyone threatens that, we will confront it and strike it. amy: iran vows revenge after the united states assassinates the iranian commander major general qassim suleimani in a major escalation of the conflict between iran and the united states, which now threatens to engulf iraq and the middle east.

we will host a roundtable discussion with iranian-american author trita parsi, democratic congressman or ro khanna, negar mortazavi, ervand abrahamian, an iraqi american journalist or iraqi journalist, and peace activist phyllis bennis. in a state of emergency in australia where at least 18 people have died in massive wildfires enveloping the eastern part of the country. the prime minister scott morrrrison faces protest as he denies the impact of climate change and the government's responsibility to take action. >> i have always acknowledged between the broader issues of global climate change anand what that means the world whehether n ththe dryness c conditions in my places, , but i am sure you woud no responsibleat government anywhere in the world can be linked to anyone fire event.

amy: as one writer put it today, australia is ground zero for the climate catastrorophe. we will get response from tim flannery, chief counsel at the australia's climate council. all that and more, coming up. welcome to demococracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace reportrt. i'm amy goodman. the united states has assassinated iranian commander major general qassim suleimani in a major escalation of the conflict between iran and the united states, which now threatens to engulf iraq and the middle east. president trump authorized the drone strike that killed suleimani at the baghdad international airport and four other people, including a high-level iraqi militia chief, thursday night u.s.-time, friday morning in baghdad. general suleimani has long been one of the most powerful figures in iran. he wasas the leaeader of the isc revolutionary guards corps' quds force -- iran's powerful foreign military force, similar to a combination of the cia and u.s. special forces.

iran called suleimani's assassination an act of "international terrorism." the iranian foreign minister javad zarif said -- "the u.s. bears responsibility for all consequences of its rogue adventurism." the pentagon said -- "general suleimani was actively developing plans to attack american diplomats and service members in iraq and throughout the region." the pentagon did not offer evidence of an upcoming planned attack. democratic lawmakers slammed the assassination as unconstitutional, as trump did not have congressional authority to carry out the strike. connecticut democratic lawmaker -- senator chris murphy tweeted -- "did america just assassinate, without any congressional authorization, the second most powerful person in iran, knowingly setting off a potential massive regional war?" both presidents obama and george w. bush had rejected the idea of killing suleimani out of fears

it would lead to outright war between the u.s. and iran. this is iran's supreme leader ayatollah ali khamenei, speaking after the assassination. >> i if the islamic republic decidedes to chahallenge andnd a country, it wiwill do so unequivocally. we are strongly committed to our country's ininterests and ouour peace.e. we are committed to the dignity of our country, to the progress and greatness of our country. if anyone threatens that, we will, without any hesitation, confront it and strike it. amy: the targeted assassination came after members of an iranian-backed militia and its supporters attacked the u.s. embassy in baghdad and set fire to a gatehouse in response to a slew of u.s. airstrikes in iraq and syria that killed two dozen members s of the iranian-backed iriraqi militia katib b hezboll. these strikes were in retaliation for the killing of

an american contractor in a rocket attack in kirkuk, iraq, one week ago. the head of the katib hezbollah, abu mahdi al-muhandis, was also killed in the drone strike. "the new york times" reports general suleimani had flown into baghdad from syria in order to urge iranian-backed militias in iraq to do more to stop the wave of anti-iran protests that have swept iraq in recent months. the militias are already accused of killing and disappearing protesters and human rights activists. they were demanding and and to corruption in foreign influence on iraqi politics. the pentagon has sent more than 14,000 amerirican troops to the region since may. the united s states is now w wag amamericans to leaeave iraq immediatelely. the attack hasas sparked fear ad alarm in iraq and across the world. france's deputy minister for foreign affairs said this morning, "we are waking g up ina more dangerous world." tensions between the united states and iran have been escalating since president trump

withdrew the u.s. from the landmark iran nuclear deal in 2018 and imposed crushing economomic sanctions on iran. we'll have more on the united states' assassination of suleimani -- one of the most powerful figures in iran -- after headlines. the united states' assassination of the iranian commander qassim suleimani came the night before the senate returns to cacapitol hill to deal with trump's impeachment and only hours after the release of office of management and budget emails that show how president trump was directly responsible for the decision to withhold military aid from ukraine to pressure its president to investigate trump's polititical rival, joe biden, ahead of this year's election. in one email, top office of management and budget official michael duffey rights -- writes that there was "clear direction from potus to continue to hold," in reference to the nearly $400 million of withheld military aid to ukraine. potus is president of the united

states. the house has impeached president trump for abuse of power and obstruction of congress over the withheld aid. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell is slated to address impeachment on the senate floor today as the senate returns. the democratic-controlled house and the republican-controlled senate are in an unprecedented standoff over president trump's impeachment. house majority leader nancy pelosi has refused to send the articles of impeachment to the senate in efforts to pressure senator mcconnell to preside -- conduct a fair trial. secretary of state mike pompeo had been slated to meet with the ukrainian president today in kiev, but has postponed his trip to ukraine amid the mounting tensioions between the u.s. anad iran. in election news, julian castro has dropped out of the presidential race. he was the only latino in the democratic field. he served as secretary of housing and urban development in the obama administration andd was previouslyly the mayor of sn antonio, texas. throughout his campaign, castro

struggled to gain traction in a crowded democrcratic field of mostly white, wealthy candidates. he did not qualify for the last two debates in november and december. castro has demanded the democratic national committee reform the presidential nomination system, including changing the order of primary election states -- which for years has prioritized the majority white states of iowa and new hampshire -- and changing the debate qualifications, which has seen top candidates of color excluded from the stage. castro ran on a platform of decriminalizing crossing the border undocumented, abolishing immigration and customs enforcement, ice, police reform among other progressive issues. this is castro in an interview with democracy now! in october when i asked him about president trump's zero tolerance immigration policies. >> i hope more and more americans are paying attention to the depravity of this president and the cruelty that he has inflicted on people that are simply seeking a better life

. and that is consistent with people from different places all over the world that have come seeking a better life, have come from desperate circumstances, throughout the generations. this i is nothing new in our country'y's history or the histy of the w world. amy:y: julian cacastro's withdrl fromom the presisideial rarace s after cacalifoia senat kamamal harris ao o dropd ouout earlyly dember.. maanne wilamson haalso id off h campaigtaff tionally in morelectionews, vernt senatobernie sders' campaig raised or $34.5 million fo the four quarterf 2019 - more tn any otr democric candate and ll over $10 llion mo than foer vice presidenjoe bid's caaign. sanders campaign said it raised the $34.5 from 1.8 million individual donors and that the average donation was $18. former vice president joe biden raised $22.7 million in the fourth quarter.

politico reported last week that democratic party officials and insiders, including hillary clinton allies, now say it's possible that sanders might win the party's presidential nomination. party insiders had largely written off sanders's campaign. but in recent weeks, some have reconsidered his chances as sanders continues to rise in the polls. president trump raised significantly more in the fourth quarter of 2019 than any democratic candidate, including sanders. he raised a total of $46 million. australia is bracing for what is expected to be the worst weekend yet in an already devastating climate-fueled wildfire season that has ravaged the southeastern part of the country, killed at least 18 people and nearly half a bibillion animals, and destroyod 14.5 millionon acres of land. temperatures are expected to soar above 100 degrees fahrenheit, with high winds expected. new south wales transport minister andrew constance described the coming conditions as "a blast furnrnace."

on thursday, the state of new wales, which includes sydney, declared a state of emergency, and victoria declared a state of disaster. as the catastrophe in australia deepens, conservative prime minister scotttt morrison is facing widespread condemnation for his administration's climate inaction. on thursday, angry fire victims chased morrison out of the town of carbago. >> how a are you? >> i will only shake your hand if you give -- so many people have lost their homes. we need more help. >> this is not fair. we are totally forgotten about down here. we get nothing. if we were sydney, if we were elsewhere, we would have donations with emergency relief. amy: we'll have more on the wildfires in australia later in the broadcast. and amazon has threatened to fire workers who speak out about the online retail giant's environmental policies.

leaders of the group amazon employees for climate justice say they've received letters reprimanding them for speaking to t the media withoutut the permission of amazon's cocorpore offifices. last september, thousands of amazon workers joined a youth-led global strike for the climate, with some of them speaking out publicly on social media. >> i'm walking g out. close to show solidarity with the uth leaders. > bececause global imate e ange afcts evevybody,ut it is goininto affect the mo vulnerable o sococie first. iis i imptant t tshow my n a mol l of wt it loo likike fit for juicice. b becaut t is t rigighthing to do. >> bause aman does n demotrate thsame learship on clima chae what im excted to denstrate ery y on theob. y: and tse are se of the headlis. th is demoacy now! decracynowrg, the r and ace repo. i'm amy odman. the unit states s assainated inian comnder mar generaqassim seimani in a maj escalatn of the confli betweenran and e uned state which n

threatento enguliraq andhe middle eas presidt trump thorizedhe drone rike thakilled suleimi at theaghdad inteational rport anfour her peop, includg a high-lev iraqi mitia chi, thsdayight u.s time fray , morng in bagad. genel suleimi has lo been one the mospowerfuligures in iran. he w the lear of theslamic revotionary ards cor' qs forc-- iran's poweul forei mitary for, similato a mbinatioof the c and u.s specl forces ir called leimani's asssinatioan act of "internaonal terrism." the irann foreigminister vad zarisaid -- "the u.sbears reonsibili foall consuences oits rogue adnturism. e pentag said -- "geral sulmani wasctively deloping pns to atck amican dipmats andervice meers in iq and thughout the reon." e pentag did notffer

evidence of an upcoming iranian planned attack. after the assassination president trump tweeted an image of an american flag. democratic lawmakers slammed the assassination as unconstitutional, as trump did not have congressional authority to carry out the strike. connecticut democratic lawmaker chris murphy tweeted -- "did america just assassinate, without any congressional authorization, the second most powerful person in iran, knowingly setting off a potential massive regional war?" both presidents obama and george w. bush had rejected the idea of killing suleimani out of fears it would lead to outright war between the u.s. and iran. this is iran's supreme leader ayatollah ali khamenei, speaking after the assassination. >> if the islamic republicc decidedes to challenenge and fia

country, i it will do so unequivocally. we are strongly committed to our country's interest in our peace. we are strongly committed to the dignity of our country. we are strongly committed to the greatness of our country. if anyone threatens that, we will, without any hesitation, confront it and strike it. amy: the targeted assassination came after members of an iranian-backed militia and its supporters attacked the u.s. embassy in baghdad and set fire to a gatehouse, in response to a slew of u.s. airstrikes in iraq and syria that killed two dozen members of the iranian-backed iraqi militia kataib hezbollah. these e strikes were in retaliation for the killing of an american cocontctor in aa rocket a attack in kirkuk, iraq, one week ago. the head of kataib hezbollah, abu mahdi al-muhandis, was also killed in the drone strike. "the new york times" reports general suleimani had flown into baghdad from syria in order to urge iranian-backed militias in iraq to do more to stop the wave of anti-iran protests that have

swept iraq in recent months. the militias are already accused of killing and disappearing protesters and human rights activists. the pentagon has sent more than 14,000 american troops to the region since may. the u.s. is now warning americans to leave iraq immediately. the attack has sparked fear and alarm in iraq and across the world. france's deputy minister for foreign affairs said this morning, "we are waking up in a momore dangerous worldld." tensions betweenen the united stateses and iran have been escalating sincece president trp withdrew the u.s. from the landmark iran nuclear deal in -- and imposed crushing economic sanctions on iran. inin respopoe to the assassination, protests are planned saturday in at least 30 cities across the united states as part of a national day of action u.s. troops out of iraq. well, for more, we are j joinedy ghaith abdul-ahad, correspondent for the guardian newspaper.

trita parsi is the executive vice president of the new thinktank, the quincy institute. his most recent book is titled "losing an enemy: obama, iran, and the triumph of diplomacy." he's also the author of "a single roll of the dice: obama's diplomacy with iran." welcome back to democracy now! your response to the assassination of suleimani? formerink a couple of obama officials on tv yesterday put it best when they said this is an act of war. it is an act of war that took place without any consultation with congress, any approval from congress, any authorization from congress. assassinating to see the last -- to see the last couple of days, pompeo has been spending a lot of time talking to the foreieign ministers and the leaders of saudi arabia, the uae, and israel, and not until today did he start making phone calls to the europeans and others. this is someththing that is goig to be a major point of escalation, decision that i think ultimately has made america less ratherer than more

safe. i think that is clear from the decision by the state department today t to urge all americans to immediately leave iraq. rather than ending thehese endls wars that trump promises he would do, he is sending more troops t to the middle east, d g things that are further destabilizing the middle east, and that will probably trap american servicemen and women in the middle east for a longer period of time. amy: john bolton, the former national security advisor, tweeted -- "congratulations to all involved in eliminating suleimani, long in the making, this was a decisive vote against iran's could force worldwide. hope this is a first of to regime changnge in n tehran." trita parsi? >> it is clear now even without john bolton in the white house, trump has surrounded himself with so many neoconservatives were people who are very close in the thinking to the

neoconservatives that he is continuously getting advice that is very similar to the advicice the bush administration was given went it came to the invasion of iraq. bolton has for long urged not only war with iran, but regime change in iran and pushing the u.s. to go in that direction. i think part of the reason why many of these war hawks are celebrating on twitter today is not because they think this actually was a decisive blow to iran or to the irgc, i t think this bececause they view this aa point of irreversiblble escalatn . after this, there can only be more escalation and, ultimately, war. that is what they're celebrating. amy: i know you have to leave, but this is such a significant day today in the united states, in iraq, and all over the world, if you could explain who is suleimani? qudsleimani is head of the force, the external arm of the

irgc. the irgc itself has a tremendous amount of problems as we have seen how they have been involved in the repression of the iranian people, seen just in the last couple of weeks. but suleimani was head of the external activities. as a, he was receiving -- he had an image that was separate from that of the irgc. polls made by u.s. entities have showed he had popularity levels whihich0% inside of iran, is l largely because a large pat of that population viewed him as a key reason as to why isis was defeated, as to why radicalism and terrorism did not reach iran . this is not going to be something i think that will hurt the regime. on the contrary, i think that will utilize this in order to be able to consolidate their power and on top of that, move the iranian governmentnt in a much more repressive as well as hockish direcection then it was

before. amy: finally, of course the u.s. is calling him a terrorist. moran, hero. 'slk about suleimani significance around the world and the fact that obama and george w. busush, though they hd the opportununity, did n not assassinate him. >> because they recognize thatat woululd b be a majajor escalatit it likely would lead to war. itit does not mean they in any y shshape, or formrm, had a posise view of susuleimani, but i think they did recognize that he is revered in corners and the middle east that may the outside the controls of iran. as a result, even of the trump administration and the government of iran would end up in a scenario in which both of them would like to de-escalate the situation, they may not be able to do so because they may not be able to control other t o jesus that will seek to take revenge -- entities that will seek to take revenge by killing americans. as a result, the ability to put

out this fire much -- may be much more limited. i think the bush administration and obama administration recognize this and chose not to go in this direction because they recognize how uncontrollable the situation would be. amy: trita parsi, thank you for being with us, executive vice president of the new antiwar think tank the quincy institute. his latest book is titled "losing an enemy: obama, iran, and the triumph of diplomacy." also author of "a single roll of the dice: obama's diplomacy with iran." he is an iranian american author and scholar. i want to turn now to iraqi journalist ghaith abdul-ahad, correspondent for the guardian newspaper. he is joining us via democracy now! video stream from his temple, turkey. we talked to yesterday about the protests in a rack, right before the assassination of suleimani. if you can describe the significance in your country, iraq. what does this mean?

the u.s. assassination of suleimimani o occurred at the baghdad airport. we have to go to a break because we are not quite hearing you and then we will come back to you. ghaith abdul-ahad, correspondent for the guardian newspaper. we will be back with him in a minute. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, i'm amy goodman.n. aftercontinue on this day the arabianation of commander major general suleimani, number two almost in iran, a major escalation in the conflict of iran and the united states which now threatens to engulf iraq in the middle east. from siliconmian, valley in california, member of the house committee on oversight anand reform. your response as you join us by telephone to what has just taken place, ro khanna ro khanna congress member? >> this is what many of us

feared. as you know, i had an amendment in the national defense authorization that would have prevented iran from having any offensive attack against iran and any funding for that attack. that amendment was stripped from the final bill at the pentagon's insistence. i believe is the pentagon has had this kind of activity in the come in the plan for a while. and they have not come to congress, but the tragedy is that congress has not insisted on having that authorization. amy: explained. explain what has just happened. you come along with senator bernie sanders, fiercely passaged the bipartisan of the pentagon spending bill, the overall spending bill. why do you believe this allowed for the assassination? amendment inan that bipartisan bill that passed

the house of representatives that would have prevented congress from authorizing any funding for an offensive strike against iran, including any iranian official. that clear language was saying the president, the pentagon, had to come to congress before taking any offensive action. this is clearly an offensive action and maybe an active retaliation, but it is an offensive action, not of self-defense where there was imminent harm. this is exactly what the amendment would have prohibited. that is why the pentagon pushed back incredibly hard on keeping that amendment the national defense authorization. the white house pushed back incredibly hard. and the amendment was removed, even though the house had passed it and even know a majority of senators had supported it. the amendment did not make it into the final bill. i believe that was a signal to the pentagon that congress was

not going to stand up against this kind of action in iran. amy: congressmember khanna, you tweeted, "suleimani had blood on his hands and so did saddam hussein, but we should not have gone to war in iraq and we must now with iran." can you elaborate? >> no one is arguing that suleimani hasn't done certain terrible things. campaigns,ated possibly order the killing of -- he is, and that is not a good person. neither was saddam hussein, neither was qaddafi. the question is, first constitutional, the united states doesn't go and start wars without congressional authorization -- and i did not happen here. is,second, the question what is an appropriate response in terms of keeping us safe and not allowing terrorism to

spread? what we have seen is the war on terrorism over the last 20 years has been a failure. terrorism has spread. it is 5000% up and spread around the world since this war on terror has started. we spent trillions of dollars in these wars that could have gone into other initiatives to make our country stronger. is, just because someone may be a bad actor does not mean the united states can go to war without congressional authorization. amy: this is secretary of state mike pompeo speaking on cnn just before we went to broadcast stock looks watched protest over the last week. they were not burning american flags, they were demanding the iraqi political leadership stop their kleptocracy, stop their political shenanigans and suleimani was at the center of that. he was driving that outcomes for the iraqi people and causing many muslims in the region to be

killed. i saw last night there was dancing in the streets and parts of iraq. we have every expectation that people not only in iraq but iran will view it as giving them freedom. freedom to have the opportunity for success and prosperity for their nations. while the political leadership may not want that, the people in these nations will demand it. america congressmember, your response? >> the justification for american military intervention, we're going to bring freedom that somehow the people in those pompeoes wanted it, but was really convinced about that, why did he not come to congress to make the case? his argument is it doesn't seem to be an imminent attack. he is arguing this was a planned attempt to help bring greater freedom to iran to the people there. if that was the case, he should make the case to the united it's congress. and he knows if he had made that case to the congress, congress would not have authorized this

kind of offensive attack. amy: michael moore, the oscar-winning film maker, this "new york times" cover from december 17, 1998, with the front page banner headline -- "impeachment vote in house delayed as clinton launches iraq air strike citing military need to move swiftly." are we seeing echoes of the past? you have the senate majority leader with the senate coming back today speaking about impeachment. you have the omb releasing all of these emails that show the drive line to president -- direct line to president trump stopping the aid to ukraine, which was about investigating his political rival joe biden. is this a wag the dog situation? speculaten't want to on motives without evidence, but i think the facts are bad in themselves. here is the facts as we know it.

this president and his advisers have been itching for an escalation with iran from the day he took office. he got up out of the agreement we had with iran that was leading to greater peace. he declared iran iran's revolutionary guard a terrorist organization. he is engaged in constant escalation in's premises. this is the height of escalation. i believe that the president's policies are putting us in terminus danger. the motive is not relevant. what is relevant is he is acting in a way that is unconstitutional, potentially getting us in another endless war and he is getting us into the middle east and anonother intervention when he proromised exactly the opposite on the cacampaign trail. amy: bernie sanders tweeted an hour ago -- telling "i was right about t vietnanam, iraq. i will do everything in my power to prevent a war with iran. i apologize to no one."

you are cochair of his campaign, ro khanna, your final words? >> this is why we need bernie sanders as president. he had warned against iraq. he will stop these unconstitutional wars and he has the courage to vote against the national defense authorization and to anticipate this situation. he had warned that we needed to restrict this president before the president took this kind of action. amco california congress member ro khanna, thank you f for joing us. in 2011, before he was president, donald trump tweeted -- " "in order to get elected, barack obama will start a war with iran." this is trump saying the samame thing in a video he posted online in 2011. >> our president will start a war with iran because he has

absolutely no ability to negotitiate. he is weak and ineffective. so the o only way he figures hes going to get reelected, and as sure as you're sitting there, is distorted war with iran. amy: that is trump. we're going back to ghaith abdul-ahad, correspondent for the guardian newspaper, joining pewter string. what you understand is having now in iraq amongst iraqis and if you can also respond to what trump said, before he was president, what donald trump said about obama wanting to start a war with iran to get reelected. >> and baghdad, there is a real anxiety. i loveve secretary pompeo o whee talks about freedom for anarchy. these words are so absurd and meaningless. concecer consult iraqis?

this is an active were committed on t the land of another countr. an act ofof were commmmitted on the land of ananr countrtry. we do nonot want another round iraq of civil l war happening in iraq. what you have is a very delicate situation between different elements of sheer polititical powers, she'll militias. in between, you come to the u.s. anand assassinate e the bigggget iranian journrnalist in the region. there will bebe a reaction from iranians inance -- this reactction will happen onon iraqi soil, not a new york, not ndc, it will hapappen in my countrtr this is why this is such a dangerous gameme. game we h heardtive

in 2003 o of what i heard when i wawas a child in 1991 and ofof l of the wars in between. this is veryry dangerous. yes, there was somome dancing scenenes. five or six people, ththe same number of people that chanted -- dodon't they read history? don't they know nonone of these militatary actioions have been tataking place from the 1990's o today lead to more peacece? i totalllly agree with your previous speakerer that 15, 20 ars after r the war on terrororism, what have we achieved? we have ice says, we have cities destroyed. when did war evever achieve anything in this region? who was have suleimani assassinated, also the head of the popular mobilization forces was also assassinated -- i think altogether, there were e five people killed at baghdad airport. the significance of this? signinificance. it has two layers of

significancece. one in terms of the confrorontation between the e u. anand iraq. on the other layer, a confrontation between pro-arabian elements within the militias, mobilization units, and more iraqi moderate elementsts. they called for caution, called for preserving iraq from internal conflict. everyone is trying to create this middle path for a rack which will be very difficult. i have been talking to activists in the square and journalists. they are fearing they will be the first target on these pro-iranian . -- militias. they will be able to attack iraqi pro-democracy people in the streets. amy: "the new york times" is reporting general suleimani had

flown into baghdad from syria in order to urge iranian back militias in a wreck to do more to stop the wave of anti--iran protests that have swept iraq in recent months. you talked about this yesterday, these protests. if you could respond to that? know suleleimani -- pro-iranian elements have been very vocalal and lislele in confronting these demonstrations. we know about kidnanappings, disappearances, stepper shooting demonstrators. and a petition of the way demonstrations in n iran were quelelled. we know these elements werere vy highly involved in trying to oppress these demonstrations. but as i said yesterday, kind of like these demonstrations managed to put these pro-iranian

on the back foot. what the attack on these mobilization units on the border with syria and now this attack on suleimani, suddenly giving them - -- there is no depth to respond and to be more vocal and more violent in their response. what doith abdul-ahad, yoyou see happenining now? you have the french foreign ministry saying we have woken up to or more dangerous morning in britain. jeremy corbyn has condemned the assassination. one democratic leader after another in the united states. the democrats are saying the u.s. did not approve of this. what do you see happening at this point? >> for the past decade, there's the a kind off we both irananians and amemericans were confronting each other come there were rules of the

game i in which each trieded to avoid an open confrorontation of war. i think these rules have collapsed. i don't see how another round of how iraraq i don't see will prosper in peace. savedtt see iranians being . this is very maddening and dangerous. dangerous is an underestimation. this is criminal. on thebeen reporting last 16 years of war in iraq. i am flying back to baghdadd to cover the next round of fighting in iraq. this is not assumptions or theories, this is the reality. tens of thousands of proactivive-iranian mililitias,s iraniansands of anti-

foforces. you have a competition, a war by proxy in a region. it is maddening. amy: let's be clear, these pro iranian militias are iraqi. they are part of the iraqi security forces. targetedwhile they u.s. forces for years, they then went on to targett isis. is that right? >> of course. these uninits when largely established after the isis congress one third of iraq, they werere ford,d, trained by the iranians. they are still fighting isis. inciting violenence agaiainst the iraraqis come accd of corruption, f financial corruptionon, atever they y want to call itit, but they are paraf official iraqi military structure. resentment, butof

that does not chchange the i is, the point they are part of the established iraqi military structure. duriring the battle against isi, i wititnessed at least two incidents in which american airstrikes came -- unofficially -- supported thehese militias wn they really needed helpp on the ououtskirts of mosul. both of these units have been fightiting a common enemy. a common enemy is a must gone and now we have a situationn wherththe americansns want to settle the discourse with the -- nine i in the north apologize. amy: ghaith abdul-ahad, thank you for being with us, correspondent for the guardian newspaper. he is headed into iraq. please be safe. as wes democracy now!

continue our roundtable discussion after the u.s. assassinated the basically number two in iran, major general suleimani. now threating to engulf a rack in the middle east. we are also joined by negar mortazavi, an iranian-american journalist in washington, d.c. is the authorian of several books including, "the coup: 1953, the cia, and the roots of modern u.s.-iran relations." and phyllis bennis in washington fellow at the institute for , a policy studies, who has written the book among others "understanding the u.s.-iran , crisis: a primer." is s this attack on suleimani going to unite people across the polilitical spectrum in iran? >> it definitely is and it already has.

we see various political notions inside iran --i'm talking about dissidents or the opposition base outside -- the political l ctions opeperating inside including the ones considered opposition to the government who had been cracked down during the 2009 green movement. some have been to jail. they're still operating inside the country. we see messages of condolencese. we see messages of condemnationn coming from almost e every faction, including reformists,s, momoderates, and hardliners who saw suleimani as a hero. it was probably the quickest way to have aa unifying rallying cry for iranian political establishment. amy: phyllis bennis, as a u.s. activist, scholar, organizer, your response e to what t has tn place? >> whahat is very impoant t fors

to rememember is histo is shaped by when you u start the clclock. this crisis, thihis escalalatiod t begin with the kikilling of one u.s. m military contractorr last week. we stitill don't know w w was respsponsible for that strike, t this was not the b beginning of the escscalation as we e are ben told in much of the mainstream medidia. this crisis goes directly b back to the trump administration decision that was imimplementedn nuclelearabandon the iraran deal. that is whatat destroyed t the potential for aa diplomatic rather than wawar-basedd approrh in the regegion. i don't think this attack was aa reflecection of a new strtrategc approachch on the part of thehe trump p administraration. ththere is no evidence that this a strategicic onn approach aalall. so i think we hahave to be v vey

clclear at looking at the trectory frorom 2018 from the withdrawal of the iran nucuclear dealal right up to thehe increag tensions that have led to potentials for clashes between the u.s.s. and iran and between u.s. aieies aniriran throughout the regioion, and we now have reachehed the most reckless, the most dangerous provovocation tht we have seen so far. there is a a very serious possibility that this action -- whicich will force somome kind f iriranian reaction. we don't know what it will be. wewe don't knowow what form it l tatake, whether it will be a direct military attack on u.u.s.-based, on a u.s.s. ally, whether it might take the form of cyber attacacks o of one sorr another. but wewe know there will be a response. and then t the questioion will , what will be the resnsnse of the trump p administrati to ththat? are they p prepared to set t the gigion ablazeze in another full-scale warar that would pit

the united states and its allils -- study r review, uae,, israea, potetential g gathers in lebano- against iran and its allllies throughoutut the region? ththis could be a devastating w, fagrgreater militarily if it came t to that,, then the alreay horrific history of the u.s. invasion a and war in iriraq. and you u have done so witithouy care a about cononsuation as wee heard from her presented of roro khanna a f fewinutes ago, the notition that this went forward without t any effort to consult with congress to get authorization. we shohould rememember the authorization that dodoes exist, that didid exist for u.s. troops to bee sent backck to o iraq waa veryry, very narrow decision wiwithout direct authorization t was based on a a cla by thee white housuse, by e trump white house, that troops were bebeing

sent back only to challenge isis . this was not an attatack on isi, as we hahave already heardrd. general suleimani was one of f e leading forces against isis s ad hihis forces and the u.s. forces were on the e same side in iraq throrougho much of t the years f war against isis. amy: i want to bring in ervand abrahamian. you are a historian. you have long covered the u.s.-iranian relationship, including 1953, that has no significance that day for many people in the united states but the moment the u.s. funded the overthrow of the democratically elected leader to get that historical context in this last minute that we have and the significance of it today as you heard that suleimani was killed, apparently his son-in-law was also killed as well by the u.s. at the baghdad airport. is in thepast, iran u.s. as a conspiratorial power that carries out cruel -- now i

think it has become a different ballgame. they can describe the united states as a state terrorist power that actually goes out and not only kills someone, but kills them at an international airport in a foreign country. this, by any definition, this would be described as terrorism. a newthat way, they have basically propaganda weapon to use against the united states. and i suspect what the national security council in iran will do instead of doing something rash, people are expecting some sort of military reaction, so they think politically. they're going to say what we're going to do politically. and politically, they will use basically the whole issue to rally the public. their elections in a few weeks time. the right wing populist will

sweep the elections. that will sweep away the more moderates who have been talking about peace negotiations and normalization. you're going to have, in the long run, increasing tension. i don't expect were in the near isure, but if trumump reelected, i would say it is 110% c chance of war after the election. . well, i think a person who is having the best laugh at this kalif in ise former great. what the killing of suleimani ascent is provided a wonderful opportunity for isis to recover. there will be a resurgence of northern iraq. and that p paradoxically will hp

iran because iraqi governmenent will h have no choice but to rey more and more on iran to be able to contain isis. after all, isis was contained earlier by the u.s., the k kurd, and iran. amy: these very militias and these pro-iranian/iraqi militias. >> trump has pulled out of the area where isis was, pulled the rug out from the kurds, now has declared war on the pro-irani and militias. the iraqi army has not been in the past capapable of dealingngh isis. the obvious thing is now the iraqi government, how are they going to deal with the rig viable of isis? possibly they could turn to russia, but i i think russia haa chance -- hands full in libya and syria so they will have no choice but to rely more and more

on iran. trump has undermined his own policy i if he wants to eliminae iran's influence. amy: we will leave this discussion here but we will continue it next week stop i want to thank you ervand abrahamian, historian, journalist. i want to thank negar mortazavi, the iranian-american journalist. speaking to us from washington. phyllis bennis is a fellow at the institute for policy studies. when we come back, we will go quickly to australia. ground zero for the climate crisis. we wilill speak with tim flanne. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, i'm amy goodman. australia is bracing for what is expected to be the worst we can yet in an already devastated season that has ravaged the southeastern part of the country, killed at least 18 people and nearly half a billion animals and destroyed 14.5 million acres of land. the state of new south wales, which includes sydney, declared a state of emergency thursday, and the state of victoria declared a state of disaster. as thousands of evacuees fled to the beaches, scott morrison told

reporters that fighting the fires, not climate change, was his top priority. morrison faces growing outrage for his inaction on climate and close ties with the coal industry. as fires blazed in december, the prime minister went on a holiday to hawaii. on thursday, morririson was shunted out of a small town after being confronted by angry fire victims. australia's bureau of meteorology confirirmed 2019 waa continent highest year on record. in these last few minutes, we go to melbourne, australia, where we are joined by tim flannery, part of the government's climate mission befofore it was disband. now he is chief counsel at the australian-based climate council. welcome back to democracy now! in these last few minutes, describe your country, what has happened, and how -- what many see as the trump of australia, the prime minister, often call eded the, change denying primeme

mininister comome has mobilizedr nonot mobilize thehe government. >> we're in the middle of what may be the largest evacuation in the nation's history at the moment. there are thousands of p people- [indiscernible] amy: i'm going to interrupt because were having trouble hearing you right now. we're going to go o to a clip of the prime minister scott morrison. betetweenedge the link the broader issues of global clclimate change and what that means for the world's weather and the dryryness condititions n mamany places. but i'm sure youou would also agree that no responsible, anyone government anywhere in the world, can be linked to anyone fire event. i don't think you're suggesting that here in new south wales, victoria, or anywhere else. the government's plans are clear and the achievements we are making -- what we will do is ensure our policies remain

sensible, that they don't move toward either extreme come and stay focused on what australians need for a vibrarant and viable economy as well as a vibrant and sustainable environment. amy: the prime minister scott morrison is known for his support of the dirtiest fossil fuels. in who was the treasurer of australia, brouougt a lump of coal to the floor of the australian parliament in order to mock opposition lawmakers. no one in australia is laughing now. let's see if we can get tim flannery on for this last minute to describe the situation. are you there? >> hello? hello? tim flannery here. amy: go ahead in this last minute. sorry, we just lost you. continue to hold forth on what is happening in your country. >> a national catastrophe. the largest evacuation we think in the nation's history,

unprecedented fire season from september through to today and promises to run for some months yet. it is clear whatever the government policies are, they are inadequate. we have seen enormous damage in this country. andloss of human life, biodiversity. this is being driven by climate change because the chances of this occurring naturallyly are stop if you 350 have thehe human co2 pollution,t drops to one and eight stop we will start seeing more of these extreme years i fear as time goes on unless we can do something quite dramatic in terms of reducing global emissions and greenhouse gases. amy: and the scene right now on the east coast, these fires have already killed -- we don't know how many. we believe 18. to say the least, thousands of animals.

do you see these contained at any point soon? what has to happen? >> the fire chiefs are telling us these fires are simply not containable at the moment. we have had our driest year on record. the euro for w was extraordinary dry. it is the hottest year on record. we have very windy conditions. this country is a tinderbox. what is extraordinary is it is not just the people in the fire zones being affected. the smoke balls are just devastating. we have a health crisis with people turning up with breathing difficulties. it is just rental us. it has gone on and on now for months. amy: i want to thank you, tim for joining us. i hope to be back in contact with you next week. this week and promises to be terrifying in australia by all accounts. i want to thank you so much, chief counsel at the australian-based climate council.l. that does it for our broadcast. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed

captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693 new york, new york 10013. [captioning made possible by democracy now!]

sasai: what''s up, man? how you doing, brother? tommy: excellent. welcome to my hometown. sami: thank you very much. tommy: are you ready for this? sami: yeah, man. tommy: yeah? bass to bass all over the place. sami: ethiopia's the place. tommy: yes, sir. sami: gypsy punk legend and gogol bordello bass player tommy gobena is my brother from another mother. he's originallyy from ethiopia, so of course i had to ask him to joioin the adventure when i decided to explore this cradle of