08/30/21 08/30/21 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> as predicted by the national weather service, this is one of the strongest terms to make landfall here in modern times. amy: hurricane ida slammed into louisiana sunday, leaving a million people without power, including all of new orleans. the devastating storm hit 16

years to the day after hurricane katrina. we will speak to two new orleans residents who evacuated their homes, monique verdin of the united houma nation, d oil an energy investigative journalist antonia juhasz. >> this orm is barely to the oil and gas part of louisiana and i'm deeply worried about the impact. amy: they to afghanistan where u.s. forces have intercepted five missiles targeting the kabul airport as the u.s. withdrawal enters its fil hours. this comes as the u.s. is facing accusations that a u.s. drone strike killed 10 members of the same afghan family, including seven children, sunday. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and

peace report. i'm amy goodman. in afghanistan, at least six people, including three children, were killed in a u.s. drone attack near the kabul airport sunday. some reports say the total number of victims may be 10 people, including seven children. this is a local resident who lives near the site of the attack. >> this is the neighborhood where we live. a rocket t a house and six or five people died. i have nothing else to say. we are distraught. amy: reporters on the ground are investigating whether the u.s. attack missed the intended target when it killed the civilians. it was the second air strike by u.s. forces after thursday's attack by isis-k, an archenemy of the taliban, at the kabul airport which killed at least 175 people, including 13 u.s. soldiers. the u.s. military said it shot

down rockets fired at the airport this morning, just one day ahead of its withdrawal deadline. on saturday, the u.s. said it was ending military evacuations of afghans after flying 117,000 people out of the country over two weeks. hundreds of students and staff from the american university in afghanistan who were waiting evacuation were reportedly turned away. the u.n. security council is holding another emergency meeting in new york today. meanwhile, the u.n.'s refugee agency is warning half a million people could flee afghanistan between now and the end of the year. over half a million people have already been displaced by conflict since january. we'll have the latest on afghanistan later in the broadcast with journalist and author emran feroz. hurricane ida roared ashore in louisiana sunday as the

fifth-strongest storm ever to hit the united states, bringing a seven-foot storm surge, 150 mile-per-hour winds, and up to two feet of rain to parts of the gulf coast. over one million electricity customers, including the entire city of new orleans, lost electricity. officials warned it could be weeks before it is fully restored. president joe biden has declared a major disaster in louisiana, where at least one person was killed. that toll is expected to rise. hundreds of thousands of residents were forced to evacuate over the weekend in the midst of louisiana's deadliest covid-19 surge of the pandemic. louisiana governor john bel edwards spoke sunday as ida approached. >> there is no doubt the coming days and weeks are going to be extremely difficult for our state and many, many people are

going to be tested in ways we can only imagine today. amy: ida struck 16 years to the day after hurricane katrina hit louisiana on a similar path, with similar ferocity, leaving much of new orleans underwater. this time, officials said the region's complex network of levees and pumps is holding. ida made landfall at port fourchon, a major hub of louisiana's offshore oil and gas industry. "the new orleans times-picayune" reports nearly 600 industrial sites with toxic chemicals were in the storm's path. meanwhile, at least one person was killed and seven went missing on mexico's pacific coast after hurricane nora made landfall sunday as a category 1 storm. after headlines, we'll go to the gulf coast for the latest. u.s. covid 19 hospitalizations are averaging 100,000 per day for the first time since the winter surge.

southeast states warn they are running out of oxygen as the highly transmissible delta variant continues to spread, especially in areas with low vaccination rates. a florida judge has blocked governor ron desantis' rule banning schools from issuing mask mandates. the judge concluded that requiring masks during the pandemic is "reasonable and consistent with the best scientific and medical opinion in this country." at least 10 school districts are already defying governor desantis' order. in california, an unvaccinated, covid-positive teacher infected half her class of 24 elementary students after removing her mask for story time. the case study was published by the centers for disease control and dates back to may. meanwhile, a cdc-backed study says that without masks or

regular testing, over 75% of unvaccinated children could be infected with the coronavirus in the first three months of back-to-school. with pediatric covid cases surging, dr. anthony fauci said sunday he supports a vaccine mandate for school children, though for now, only students 12 and older are eligible to receive the shot. reverend jesse jackson was transferred to a rehabilitation facility after being hospitalized last week for covid-19 treatment. his wife jacqueline was moved to the icu for ongoing treatment. unlike the reverend, who was vaccinated at a public event in january, jaqueline reportedly never received the vaccine because of a pre-existing condition. conservative florida radio host marc bernier has become the latest vaccine critic to die of covid-19. he referred to himself on-air as "mr. anti-vax."

his death came just a week after tennessee-based radio host phil valentine, another prominent vaccine critic, died of covid-19. his brother said that he said from his deathbed that people should be vaccinated. thousands marched in washington, d.c., and in cities across the country saturday, the 58th anniversary of the march on washington, to demand the protection of voting rights. demonstrators called out the onslaught of voter suppression bills around the country and called on lawmakers to end the filibuster to protect voting at the federal level. latosha brown, co-founder of black voters matter, spoke at the make good trouble rally in front of the lincoln memorial. >> jt a moment press to say how are we going t protest? this is a moment press to really think about how are we going to transform this nation and the transformation starts with us. where we decide that all human

beings deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. amy: in southern yemen, at least 30 soldiers were killed and 60 others injured sunday after houthi rebels fired missiles from a drone at a saudi-led coalition air base. the attack struck dozens of soldiers on morning military exercises. it came as u.n.-brokered peace talks between the saudi-led coalion and the houthis have stalled. since 2015, saudi-led coalition air strikes in yemen have killed nearly 1500 civilians per year on average, a quarter of them children, while sparking the world's worst humanitarian crisis. saudi arabia is backed by the united states. israel launched another round of air attacks on gaza over the weekend. the israeli military claimed it struck hamas sites in response to incendiary balloons launched from the besieged territory. meanwhile, as protests continue in gaza demanding an end to the israeli blockade, israeli forces

fired live rep -- live rounds, tear gas, and stun grenades at palestinians, injuring at least 11 people. in related news, hassan abu al-neil, a 12-year-old palestinian child who was shot in the head by israeli forces during a protest in gaza last week, has died of his wounds. and in occupied jerusalem, a 17-year-old palestinian teen, identified as ali burqan, was killed this weekend when a wall collapsed on him while helping his neighbors who were forced by israeli forces to demolish their home. meanwhile, in the occupied west bank, israeli defense minister benny gantz met today with palestinian authority president mahmoud abbas in the first high-level encounter between israeli and palestinian leaders in a decade. in nigeria, dozens of kidnapped children have been freed after about three months in captivity. they were part of a group of over 130 students abducted by gunmen from an islamic seminary in northwest nigeria in may. at least six of the students

died in captivity and anothe15 escaped in june. in mexico, a caravan of some 500 asylum seekers, including young children, were assaulted by mexican authorities saturday as the group made its way mexico city to demand expedited asylum proceedings. the caravan was mostly made up of people from haiti, central america, cuba, and colombia, who've been blocked from leaving the southern state of chiapas while their cases are resolved. -- while their cases are processed. this is an asylum seeker from nicaragua. >> think we could live in our countries, we would not have come. if we were not oppressed, we would not have come. most are people in need. we only want to work. amy: in britain, climate activists with extinction rebellion have been staging a series of daily actions to draw attention to the climate catastrophe. on friday, demonstrators poured red paint symbolizing blood money on banks in london's financial district to call out their ties to the fossil fuel industry. on sunday, activists rallied outside london's science museum to protest shell's funding of the museum's exhibition about greenhouse gases.

elsewhere in london, christian climate activists, including several clergy members, staged a a protest inside st. paul's cathedral to demand the church of england stops investing in fossil fuels. meanwhile in brazil, 6000 indigenous people representing 176 groups have been camping out in the capital brasília to condemn the destruction of the amazon rainforest and the genocide of indigenous people. the massive gathering and protests come ahead of a pivotal supreme court decision that could either help restore, or severely limit, indigenous sovereignty over their ancestral lands. california officials have ordered evacuations for parts of lake tahoe basin after gusty dry winds pushed the caldor fire toward heavily populated areas overnight. the caldor fire has burned about 170,000 acres. it's just one of several major wildfires raging in california, which is on pace to top 2020's record-shattering fire season.

senator bernie sanders was in michigan, iowa, and indiana over the weekend to push democrats' $3.5 trillion spending bill in town halls and other events with voters. sanders, chair of the senate budget committee, said he wanted to speak directly to working people about how the bill will impact them and their communities by investing in childcare, workers' rights, free community college, and creating well-paid, union jobs that will help combat the climate crisis. >> this bill will put hundreds of blades of dollars into -- hundreds of billions of dollars into transforming transportation into this country, make our homes and buildings more energy efficient, make agriculture greener, can on top of all of that, we're going to put millions of dollars into a civilian climate coffer. amy: in california, the los

angeles city council passed a resolution to commemorate the disappeared of el salvador on august 30, today, coinciding with the international day of the victims of enforced disappearances. between 1980 and 1992, some 10,000 people were forcibly disappeared in el salvador during the brutal, u.s.-backed military dictatorship. overall, an estimated 75,000 people were killed. over one million were internally displaced or forced to flee the country, with many starting new lives in los angeles. and the beloved hollywood actor and longtime activist ed asner has died at the age of 91 at his home in california. on screen, he was best known for playing newsman lou grant, first on "the mary tyler moore show" then in his own spinoff. off-screen, asner was an outspoken activist for union and labor rights, including during his tenure as the president of the screen actors guild. he condemned president reagan's support of the right-wing military government in el

salvador and raised funds for medical relief in the country. his activism led to the cancellation of his program "the lou grant" show in 1982. asner frequently spoke out against american imperialism and perpetual warfare. in october 2002, he spoke to democracy now! shortly before taking part in mass protests against the iraq war, and just after then-president george w. bush received backing from house leaders to invade iraq. >> this is to demonstrate that these acts will not be done in our name. we do not sign on to these acts, such as unilateral invasion of iraq into the abrogation of civil liberties in this country to pursue these warlike acts by this administration. amy: to see our full interview with ed asner at our time in the studios in the firehouse in downtown manhattan, just blocks from ground zero, you can go to democracynow.org. ed asner has died at the age of

91. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. when we come back, hurricane ida slimes into louisiana, leaving a million people without power, including all of new orleans. we will speak with two new orleans residents. the storm hit 16 years to the day after hurricane katrina. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "i am the upsetter" by lee "scratch" perry. influential and pioneering reggae and dub producer and musician perry passed away sunday in west jamaica at the age of 85. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. hurricane ida, one of the most powerful storms ever to hit the united states, roared ashore sunday in southern louisiana in an area dominated by the oil industry that is also home to many native communities. e storm brought a seven foot

storm surge, 150 mile-per-hour nds, and up to two feet of rain to the gulf coast. it was so powerful, it completely knocked out power to the city of new orleans and reversed the flow of the mississippi river. the category 4 storm hit on the same day hurricane katrina devastated the area 16 years earlier. it has been blamed for at least one death and more are expected. a system of dikes and levees that protects the new orleans region from rising waters is reportedly holding -- for now. much of it built since katrina. but still its underfunded and officials say they could be overwhelmed by a forecasted 20 inches of rain. louisiana's gulf coast is a major oil and gas hub, with 17 oil refineries, two liquefied natural gas export terminals, as a nuclear power plant, and many superfund sites.

hurricane ida made landfall near port fourchon, the oilfield service hub for almost all of the gulf of mexico and not far from the city of houma. in a minute, we'll be joined by nique verdin, a citizen of the united houma nation who just evacuated. the houma nation, one of the largest native american tribes in north america. first, this is a trailer for a documentary verdin made in 2012 called "my louisiana love." >> our people have survived the natural cycle of floods and storms for centuries. any the bayous and swamps of southeast louisiana, film maker monique verdin explores her native houma roots. >> i want to keep living on our land but i am inheriting the dying delta. our love ties us to this place that makes us feel responsible to care for it. >> they are battling the deadliest storm yet. the explosive growth in the area

below it. >> [indiscernible] >> we have been treated bad throughout the years, but this could destroy our tribes. amy: that's the trailer for the pbs documentary "my louisiana love" coproduced by our guest monique verdin, a citizen of the united houma nation who has evacuated for hurricane ida. she's also part of the collaborative "another gulf is possible," which is now organizing mutual aid efforts to provide essential needs, repairs, and supplies to the areas hit by hurricane ida. monique, thank you for joining us. i know this is a very difficult time. can you explain the extent of the devastation you hearing about not only in houma, but all over the area? a million people without power. people reporting their up to

their chest in water. >> well, amy, we are really just starting to hear from folks. i know many have just completely lost their homes. many of our fishermen rode out the storm on their boats. we have not heard from a number of them. everyone was waiting for the sender come up. that is just happening. we're not really sure, but we do know there is extreme flooding happening just to the west of the city. all of the value communities where the united houma nation, but also grand value and plaque may perish -- plaque federation of muskogee, and many other communities often get left out

of the news and have been weathering storms for many years. this is a storm like no other. amy: talk about that and talk about houma, talk about your community and complete evacuation done of the houma nation? >> no. the houma are not ones to run from a storm. we have boats and lands to take care of. many people usually stay. more people evacuated this time than ever before. we have all been scattered to the wind. everyone went to whichever direction they could if they could. many just went from the low-lying areas that are just inde risk reduction levee systems to higher ground, but they, too, -- everyone is exhausted from riding out the

storm and the rimless wind and rain. humbling experience i'm hearing. we know the disaster is only beginning to unfold. hurricane katrina really taught us that. yes, the storm comes through but the disaster keeps going for many years to come. decisions get made in these moments when people are completely disoriented and just trying to figure out how to get home. at this more -- at this moment, knowing all of southeast louisiana is out of power, when we get home and how we get home is a big question. amy: can you talk about your family members who did not evacuate? are you able to be in contact with them? being in the dark is more than the actual darkness of the night , course, as you said, people

cannot communicate. much of the rescue efforts cannot even start until today in daylight. >> yes. i have not spoken to very many social media is spotty. i'm getting reports that bill service is also very spotty or nonexistent. i did get a text message in the middle of the night from a cousin saying he did not think you could get out of his home without a chainsaw. also having no communication, so tryingo be tre for folks. you know, as everyone has been in shock and now no one has power, no one has so service, so communication is going to be key. amy: can you talk about the community that your relatives live in called big woods, where there is a waste pit in the flood areas? what does this mean?

we are talking about scores of toxic sites directly in the hurricane's path. >> yes. in the big country between the chap ally at mississippi rivers where the majorityf that houma nation still reside, this is a part of south louisiana that is losing land at one of the fastest rates and just to say to the audience, louisiana is losing land at one of the process rates on the planet. the statistic is every 100 minutes, a football field disappears from our shores. of course, that is a calculation divided over time, multiplied by disasters. so this is what we're are up against in general. and where these waste pits are, treating it in these open-air pets, is just north of some of the fastest deteriorating lands on the

planet. and just south of what is the houma navigation canal,, made canal. these pits have been there for a very long time. with every storm, this low-lying area, because of the levee infrastructure that has been added since hurricane katrina, water goes for the path of least resistance. this areas left out of the levee system in big way. i have not gotten reports from family there yet. i'm hoping to hear something today. the last photo i saw was a picture of my cousins house that was completely flatted. what the weather's like there, i'm not sure. overnight is when the surge -- it had been pushing up against the levees all day. amy: can you talk about climate change crashing into covid? the reports on the south

louisiana, texas, arkansas, the -- florida. give oxygen running out in hospitals where the patients are dying are younger and younger. what does this mean at this time of the hurricane close delta has been ranging this raging. the hospitals have already been at capacity for weeks now. i read a report that one of the hospitals into middle loss or generators. they lost power for a while. they're having to manually pump oxygen into people who were in icu and on ventilators that were not -- electrical system. and it is going to get really hot and humid. so weang a masis not ideal and people are with each other and in each other's homes at this time evacuation and in the times of the disaster aftermath, you know, community is what gets

you through this. and being in a time we're supposed to be social distancing and not being in the same space is really hard, especially when you're going to start needing to rip out your walls and pull out your floors -- yeah, try to salvage what you have left. amy: i want to bring in another resident of the area, also evacuated to pensacola, florida, as you did. i want to bring in antonia juhasz as hurricane ida slammed ashore sunday as a category 4 storm. two-thirds of louisiana industrial sites with toxic -- in its path, like refiners in storage tanks. impairment of quality says it has asked more than 1500 oil refineries, chemical plants, and

other industrial facilities in the area to self-report leaks or spills. after about 95% of oil and gas production in the gulf coast region. for more, i want to bring more into this conversation a long time oil and energy investigator journalists antonia juhasz who tweeted sunday -- "hurricane ida cutting through louisiana's offshore oil and gas corridor, into port fourchon, and on into cancer alley, baton rouge and new orleans -- areas congested with fossil fuel and petrochemical infrastructure -- refineries, storage tanks, petrochemical manufacturing, pipelines, etc." " "it has always struck me as the most painful of ironies that the industry contributing the most profoundly to the climate crisis has also located its operations in the heart of the region consistently overrun with global warming's worsening storms." those the words of antonia juhasz, who lives in new orleans but just evacuated to pensacola, as well as monique verdin.

welcome back to democracy now! talk about that fact, that horrific contrast of the energy and gas facilities that are producing the climate change that intensifies the hurricane and the path of that storm and what it means for the population. >> this has been a consistent problem of worsening -- worsening consistent problem with every hurricane that is come through the gulf of mexico is that the oil and gas industry concentrated here in louisiana and texas. and ida is barreling through first the officer infrastructure . and it katrina, was on 9 million barrels of oil released from the pipeline. you have the offshore risk and there is a mesh of pipelines that carry that product to short. those pipelines burst, were

split during katrina, releasing oil. had platforms -- at the ofcer infrastructure and then the infrastructure that carries it to short. an onshore you have refineries, petrochemical plants export terminals. all of that is concentrated in an area, particularly this storm moving through first the coastal region, which is already so hard-hit as monique explained from coastal erosion. coastal erosion is the result of the building of canals to facilitate the movement of the oil and gas, construction of infrastructure and the movement of the pipe to shore. those canals created the opening that saltwater comes in and it eats up the shore, eventually

making it to the communities that have lived -- indigenous communities that have lived on the coastal region forever. their homes are rapidly disappearing. when you add to that spill, so while when it spills -- and we saw this with the bp disaster -- the oil needs the marsh coming literally eats the shore. the oil itself is literally when it spills is eating away at the shore. then you move through cancer alley, this intense concentration of petrochemical and fossil fuel facilities, primarily in black, look him region from new orleans to baton rouge. new orleans and baton rouge, massive refinery. as you said at the top, there is no power in new orleans. none. there is already the refineries have been announcing flaring and

i have seen photos of flaring. that is what we are able to see with our eyes. what we know the storms, that we get the data after, is the chemical releases that go into the air. the chemical releases that go into the water. the sword spent -- facilities, the oil, liquefied natural gas. those tanks have a very strong tendency to squash and break into storms. in this one has the highest wi nd ofs any strong, stronger than katrina. what we don't know right now -- monique was saying, we have not been able to get complete recordings from anywhere in the region right now. and the only information we have right now other than what folks see,hich is the flaring, is

the reporting from the companies themselves. and that has been limited. generally, we only get the truth about what has happened with spills and releases under normal conditions refineries and petrochemical facilities from lawsuits were nongovernmental agencies and groupssue -- and groups sue to get the information. amy: can you talk about the scientific connection we're seeing an i'm change, the hurricane? >> the icc report finally had a report to be able to say with scientific certainty, looking at all of the data now collected between global warming and storms to be able to say with certainty that global warming is worsening the climate crisis, which is directly linked to the factors that are intensifying

storm systems. the burning of fossil fuels is responsible for 80% of the emissions that cause global warming and lead to the climate crisis, and that warming is making storms increase in frequency, increase in intensity, and makes them more likely -- it makes them stay i place longer. that is one of the things we're seeing right now with ida. it is moving really slowly. it is really strong, which means it is just hitting and sitting. the ipcc was able to say now with the first group -- and certainty, worsening the storms frequency of storms is a direct result of climate change, global warming. so this storm system, hitting another massive storm system is region -- there have been plenty

that have already been hitting. katrina by far was the last one. is getting pummeled by the fossil fuels that are also concentrated in this region. and they in turn are getting pummeled by the storms they created, which releases more chemicals and toxins on the very same community that has to do with the impact of the infrastructure day in and day out and the impact of worsening climate crisis take in and day out now also have to deal with that worsening climate crisis creating a storm that then causes more releases. of the companies also know the storms are worsening, that the facilities are threatened, they still have not put in place -- we're going to have a massive hurricane come in that really shouldn't have fossil fuel -- there's only so much you can do to prepare for it. but there are things they have

known they can do much better that they still have not put in place, even knowing of the consequences to local communities, to workers, safety, of these intensifying storms. amy: antonia juhasz, your recent investigation for the guardian is titled -- can you talk about the new project in guyana, is thousands of miles away, projected to be the corporation's largest oil production in the world, coming despite warnings against fossil fuel development. guyana is currently a carbon sink. you say it is at risk of turning into a carbon bb. and then related to what we're seeing in the gulf. >> exxon has said it is committed to helping me to paris

climate goals of reducing global warming to preindustrial levels, but -- says it is aware of the climate crisis and taking steps to reduce things like flaring and to move into a less carbon-intensive model of production. at the same time, it is through this new project in guyana turning a country that was a non-oil producer right now into a dense prediction of mine billion barrels of oil to be produced in guyana. this is a brand-new development. 2015, started production in late 2019. made the decision no one institutions, including the international energy agency, have said driver the worst of

the climate crisis, there can be no new fossil fuel production. in the midst of that consensus emerging, exxonmobil ring's largest oil production online in guyana. that is a huge mismatch of rhetoric and reality that in my article for the guardian, i found this production would release 125 million metric tons of carbon dioxide per year from 2025 to at least 2040. that is the equivalent of 15 coal facilities erating every year annually. not only exxon flaring consistently from these operations even though it says it would not and is not supposed to and also release methane and more carbon intensive operation, but in terms of safety to communities and lessons learned from things like the bp disaster

in the gulf of mexico, i had dr. robert, one of the worlds most renowned experts at the university of california berkeley and one of the most trusted experts in the bp deepwater horizon disaster and many other offshore disasters, formally worked for shell, 1000 pages of axons permit and other submissions to the government of guyana for its offshore operations there. i mean, deepwater, ultradeep water operations, very technologically complex and risky operations off the shore a guy on a. he said exxon's plan superficial, putting forward improbable predictions of what their capacity was to address and put in place the neceary safety mechanisms for operating in ts dangerous type of production and that they were taking -- another person i interviewed, the former head of

guyana's environmental protection agency as well as in environmental lawyer from guyana who wrote many of guyana's environmental laws, they both said guyana completely lacks the capacity to oversee these operations, to be a regulator of these operations. those two pieces combined make us very concerned there is not safety mechanisms in place here in case there is very predictable outcomes with deepwater drilling come a blowout like in the case of bp deepwater horizon. that they don't have the necessary safety equipment in place, the lessons learned from bp. things like a capping stack which comes out if there is a blowout to secure in the pipe, second relief well which is how the deepwater horizon -- only after 150 days, finally shut in, the mcconnell will blowout. these are not in place in guyana and he said he is far from

comfortable with the safety of the operations and exxon should be far from comfortable as well. amy: before we end this part of the discussion, i want to go back to monique verdin of the houma nation. your group is called another gulf is possible. as we began to see the level of destruction, what is possible? >> well, i mean, the only ing that is really possible right now is for people to support people as best they can. from past disasters, we know it is really those o are on the ground who are able to support their community members, who know what they need. we currently have a mutual aid campaign there on anothergulf .com where we are trying to raise funds. we are planning to deploy a

cover of just recovery vehicles in the coming days to bring supplies in and to try to support folks were not going to be able to come home in whatever ways we can whether that means that is helping them to find housing, food. everyone is so broken already because of covid and the situation we have been in for the last year and a half. we know folks are already - yeah, they are at the end of the rope. also, we are trying to -- just knowing this is not going away, right? you're in the climate chaos dance for now until. so what kind of equipment can we give to folks so they can be as resilient as possible and in these times on their own. we have also been deploying these just recovery kits which include water filter and a little solar pack. we know those two simple items

can really be lifesaving. that is where we're at right now. i think, what is our community going to need? also, remembering this storm is going to pass but there are other storms that are lining up. last year was really intense. i fear that this will not be our last storm this season. amy: monique verdin, thank you for being with us, citizen of united houma nation. now evacuated to pensacola, florida. she is with the group "another gulf is possible." antonia juhasz is an oil and energy investigative journalist. 2020-2021 bertha fellow. recent investigation for the guardian is headlined "exxon's oil drilling gamble off guyana coast 'poses major environmental risk." next up, afghanistan. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report.

i'm amy goodman. we turn now to afghanistan, where u.s. troops are continuing to leave ahead of tuesday's withdrawal deadline. earlier today, the u.s. military intercepted five rockets aimed at the kabul airport where the u.s. has evacuated 117,000 people fleeing taliban rule since august 14. today's rocket attack came four days after over 175 people died, including 13 u.s. troops after a suicide bomber detonated a large explosive outside the airport. the militant group isis-k claimed responsibility. "the new york times" is reporting the pentagon is now publicly acknowledging that some of the people killed outside the airport on thursday might have been shot dead by u.s. service members after the suicide bombing. one bbc reporter wrote on twitter -- "significant numbers of those killed were shot dead by u.s. forcesn the pan after the blast."

over the weekend, the u.s. carried out two retaliatory strikes -- first a drone strike in nangarhar province on friday and then another drone strike on sunday in kabul. thpentagon said sunday's drone strike targeted a vehicle carrying as many as three suicide bombers. but local residents said the strike killed as many as 10 from the same family, including as many as seven children. five of the kids killed were five years old or younger. "the new york times" reports it was also a former afghan army ofcer who worked as a contract for the u.s. military who came to kabul with hopes of being evacuated. meanwhile, president biden traveled to the dover air base on sunday to pay respects to the 13 u.s. troops killed thursday. the soldiers were all between the ages of 20 and 31 years old. they were all children, some just infants, when the u.s. invaded afghanistan nearly 20 years ago. to talk more about the crisis in afghanistan, we are joined by

emran feroz. he is an austro-afghan journalist and author. his book has just come out in germany. it is titled "the longest war: 20 years of the war on terror." we spoke to you last week. top am about this eve about the final evacuation from the kabul airport and all that has happened in these last few days. >> thank you for having me. first of all, as you mentioned, we had two drone strikes the killed many. i think this is very symbolic because what we see at the moment is -- we see how the war in terror and i afghanistan started and how it is ending. it is with drones and civilian casualties. during the last days after these

attacks, we had a lot of officials -- many people in the media parroting what joe biden and another official said. they were targeting terrorists and this was retaliation and everything. but basically, i think it is important to deconstruct what happened now in kabul with the drone strike happened all over the country many, many times in rural areas of afghanistan and often these operatns were based on flaw intelligence. these officials to respond as they try to tell us the good war, the good war on terror which is using precise weapons they just kill terrorists and even in the final days, we see this is not true and civilians are the victims while coming targets for example on october

17, started in 2001, t very first drone strike had the intention to kill a taliban leader and founder but omar died more than a decade later naturally. also, there is another guy who is running around alive and free today in kabul. he's a senior taliban leader. during the last years, we had so many reports that this guy was killed by drone strikes somewhere in mount or whatever, but now he is running around freely, still having his finally bounty on his head. nobody asks the question, who are the people who have been killed instead of him? amy: just before the show, you tweeted -- "this is how thousands of afghans lived under drones and rural areas for two decades." i'm wondering if you can talk

about that end, clear, right now reporters on the ground from los angeles times, washington post, new york times, investigating whether he was in collateral damage the second car that was blown up with the family of 10, seven children, those numbers also have to be verified, but it was the wrong target that the u.s. hit. this is one of the things they are investigating. yes. so the thing i while we now have journalists investigating is because afghanistan is facing a lot of attention on one side and on the others, the drone strike happened in the capital of afghanistan, kabul. of course the journalists, and personally who -- did the last two decades, what, with this tweet, was that in

many rural areas, these things happened on a daily basis. we have so many reports about that terrorists killed by drone strikes and all these things and just a few journalists visited these areas and shall he witnsed whatappened. i have been in some of these areas mls reporting the last years and it was always the same story. people terrorized people like farmers were terrorized by these drone attacks while the targets, the taliban, militants, and others, they had the ability to hide themselves. they were successful at this because they knew at the end, they will not be killed but they will kill someone else because often the intelligence was very flawed. we also have to remember how it

happened and why it happened. in many cases, for example, with security officials or american soldiers on the ground just received wrong information because someone told him, hey, listen, this is the village full of taliban. actually, who's just something going on and in the end got a lot of civilians killed. there was a lot of racism. there's a lot of interest can racism between people from urban areas and rural areas. and also from different ethnicities. or different tribes. at the end, all these things also played a role. of the americans who had so many years over there, who stayed for so many years, did not check anything and they used the flawed intelligence to bomb the people. and i think something similar happened here. at the same time, we have all of these jelly asian rhetoric from

joe biden. there was some kind of pressure apparently from american public that something needs to be done or maybe the u.s. administration tells there is something we ne to do now most of they can say whatever they want. drones and people, nobody will check what happens. people will just spread the ficial lie. amy: i want to read a quote from a relative of the family killed sunday. he told over with the los angeles times -- like "i want joe biden know about this. why do you type these people say it is daaesh? all of these people were martyred. they worked with the government, with u.s.. look at these kids." explain daaesh, another word for isis. >> the thing is, also, it is not

the first time either way that alice of the americans were killed. -- allies of the americans were killed. there were drone strikes were victims, not just civilians, they were actually people who used to work with the americans. and not a single one of these attacks, most of them, was really investigated. i think it is unrealistic and after such a short time after the aiort aack, the americans have the capabilities to fight these daaesh embers who are against everything. the drone strike in a kinda hard, which is a rural are -- kandahar, which is role -- rural area, is rather unrealistic the americans uld find the people who were behind the attack in such a short time span.

i think also, you know, it will not be -- the war on terror was not successful. it was failed because of the civilian casualties that happen. and ask the people like the taliban could recruit successfully amongst the people who suffed from thwar. i think of this war will continue in such a way, we will still see militant gups likedaesh try and benefit from it. amy: i want to raise the "new york times coastal reporting the pentagon is acknowledging publicly some of the people killed outside the airport thursday might have been shot dead by u.s. service members after the suicide bombing in first reports there was a suicide bomber then there were shooters but we did not understand that possibly they were u.s. soldiers shooting. then you have the situation of

the students and staff at american university and afghanistan. "new york times" reporting hundreds of them were turned away from the airport in kabul on sunday, reportedly the most outspoken advocates for human rights. taliban forces reportedly have sealed off kabul's airport to most afghans were hoping to evacuate. this raises the issue ofthe u.s. working with the taliban to get people say passage and giving all of their information, passport, and sever to the taliban but now they're turning back at home and afraid having targets. >> that is a total mess. there were recent news on this in germany regarding people used to work with german forces and other forces and i think this is from today, so i just came in. also reports apparently, the german government handed over lists of these people to the taliban. of course, what is going on

here? all of these people -- i know a lot of people who are still in kabul, not just the students. i have relatives went to this university. th did not try because they were like, i don't think this will turn out in a positive way. and they were right. so a lot of people are still over there. it seems a lotf western governments think, let's be pragmatic and work with the taliban now together. i think it is very dangerous to do it in such a way, to hand them the lists of people because it really endangers them. as we also know, a lot of them are still inside the country. a majority of them could not leave. i really fear for the future of these people because it is not clear what is going to happen to them. it is obvious they will be

persecuted by the taliban. at the end, i really wonder who will answer. amy: we have to leave it there. we will come back to you austro-afghan journalist and , his new book "the longest war: 20 years of the war on terror." ?ok!3ó

♪ hello, welcome back to nhk "newsline." i'm takao minori in new york. american soldiers fought their longest-ever war in the mountains of afghanistan. but the head of the u.s. central command says the last troops have left the country. general kenneth mckenzie announced the completion of their mission one day before it was set to end. >> tonight's withdrawal signifies both the end of the military component of the