08/31/21 08/31/21 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> i am here to announce the completion of our withdrawal from afghanistan and the end of the mission to evacuate american citizens, vulnerable afghans. amy: u.s. forces have left afghanistan, ending the longest war in u.s. history. we will go to kabul where we will speak with danish-afghan journalist who once kidnapped by the taliban but later embedded with them on a reporting assignment.

he has been investigating sunday's u.s. drone strike that killed 10 afghan civilians, including seven children. plus, we will speak to the longtime peace activist kathy kelly, whoas traveled to afghanistan dozens of times to and fears the u.s. were made actually not be ov. >> joe biden leaves in a combination of dro surveillance, drone attacks, special operations commandos. and i don't think can count on united states to stop using the methods in order to try to continue to control what habits and afghanistan. amy: new orleans remains in the dark after hurricane ida devastates the region. we will the latest. >> ride this would not but i could not. things falling apart, blowing

over. ain't got a dry spot and it has. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the u.s. military has completed its withdrawal from afghanistan, bringing an official end to the longest war in u.s. history. marine general frank mckenzie said the last troops flew out of kabul just before midnight local time on monday. >> nine withdrawal signifies both the end of the military component of the evacuation, but also the end of a nearly 20 year mission that began in afghanistan shortly after september 11, 2001. amy: the taliban and its supporters celebrated the u.s. withdrawal, setting off fireworks and firing tracer bullets into the night sky. the taliban is now in full control of afghanistan, including the kabul international airport, which the u.s. used to evacuate over

120,000 people fleeing the taliban over the past 17 days. according to the costs of war project, the u.s. spent over $2.2 trillion in afghanistan and pakistan. by one count, over 170,000 people died in the fighting. after headlines, we'll go to kabul for the latest. hurricane ida has been downgraded to a tropical depression after it hit the louisiana coast sunday as a category 4 storm, on the 16th anniversary of hurricane katrina. on monday, ida continued to bring torrential rain and flooding to louisiana and southern mississippi, where two people died when a flooded highway collapsed. louisiana's main utility company entergy says it could be weeks before it restores electricity to nearly a million people in the storm's path, including all of new orleans, as temperatures rise to near 40 degrees fahrenheit. we'll have more on hurricane ida

later in the broadcast. the u.s. covid-19 outlook continues to worsen with hospitalizations rising and deaths averaging more than 1300 per day. on monday, the biden administration announced a civil rights probe into five states that have banned local officials from mandating masks. the education department's office for civil rights argues those states are endangering students with disabilities w are at greater risk of covid-19 by denying them equal access to safe in-person instruction. in florida, republican governor ron desantis has made good on his threat to punish local school boards that mandate masks in schools. on monday, florida's education commissioner said the state was withholding funds equal to the monthly salaries of school board officials in alachua and broward county. that's despite a court ruling friday by a judge who ruled

desantis overstepped his authority by banning mask mandates. florida is in the grips of one of the world's worst covid-19 surges, averaging more than 16,000 hospitalizations and 260 deaths per day. the central florida disaster medical coalition recently shipped 14 portable morgues to area hospitals to handle the overflow of bodies. in haiti, survivors of the massive august 14 earthquake are growing desperate as they continue to face shortages of food, shelter, medicine, and other resources after thousands lost their homes and everything they owned. this is a resident of the hard-hit city les cayes. >> my house was destroyed by the earthquake. several of my family members died. i came to the market to see if i can sell the two boats that remain. we need help. amy: this comes as a coalition of over 300 rights groups are

denouncing the biden administration's ongoing deportations to haiti. the groups are urging biden stop the removal of haitian asylum seekers and to expand temporary protected status, tps, and other immigration relief for haitians. in a letter, the groups say more haitians have been deported since biden took office than during all of fiscal year 2020. more than 500 refugees were rescued from an overcrowded fishing boat off of the italian island of lampedusa over the weekend. the boat had reportedly departed from libya. some of the refugees showed signs of having been physically abused or tortured, and italian officials are investigating whether some of the refugees had been wrongfully imprisoned in libya. meanwhile, reuters reports european union officials are planning a coordinated response to block large numbers of afghan refugees from arriving in europe. this comes as the united nations says some half a million afghans could flee by the end of the year following the taliban's seizure of afghanistan. the united nations says the

world's last stockpile of leaded gasoline has been burned up, completing a worldwide phaseout of the toxic additive tetra-ethyl lead after a century of use. the fuel additive improved engine performance but led to the widespread contamination of air, water, and soil. the u.n. said the phaseout of leaded gasoline will protect children from brain damage and will prevent more than 1.2 million premature deaths each year from heart disease, strokes, and cancer. u.n. secretary-general antonio gutteres on monday called on nations to build on the environmtal victory. >> the same commitment to ending the crisis of disruption by -- pollution. shift from also fuels to renewable energ we need mobile mobility. amy: more than 50,000 residents of california and nevada have been ordered to evacuate the lake tahoe region after the massive caldor fire swept closer

to populated areas. the evacuation order includes prisoners at the el dorado county jail anthe entire city of south lake tahoe, home to 22,000 people. the forecast continues to call for extremely low humidity and strong winds, with red flag warnings in effect for the northern sierra and western nevada. meanwhile, the u.s. forest service has ordered all of california's national forests to be closed to the public until september 17, citing the threat of extreme fire conditions to public safety and firefighters. more than 15,000 firefighters are battling dozens of california wildfires. a federal judge has struck down a trump-era rule that dramatically rolled back protections of the clean water act. in 2019, trump's environmental protection agency redefined its "waters of the united states rule to end protections for hundreds of thousands of miles of streams and rivers, and more than half of all wetlands.

six federally recognized native american tribes sued, and on monday a u.s. district court in arizona took their side, ruling the trump administration's process was riddled with errors and that allowing the rule to proceed could lead to serious environmental harm. texas abortion providers filed a emergency petition with u.s. supreme court monday seeking to halt the texas state law banning abortions when a fetal heartbeat is detected, which is often just six weeks into a pregnancy. the law also makes anyone in texas eligible to sue patients, medical workers, or even a patient's family or friends who "aid and abet" in an abortion. texas republican governor greg abbott signed the so-called -- and unless the supreme court intervenes, it's due to take effect wednesday. in less than two days, texas politicians will have effectively overturned roe v. wade. meanwhile, texas republican-controlled house of representatives advanced a a

bill monday that would cut off access to abortion pills for people who are more than seven weeks pregnant. democratic representative donna howard of austin spoke out against the legislation. >> i am really tired of every single session having to come here and debate one more obstacle to a woman having a right to choose what happens to her own body and her own destiny. amy: a house committee investigating the u.s. capitol insurrection has asked nearly three dozen telecommunications and social media companies to preserve records related to the january 6 assault. that includes data from smart phones used by members of congress and their staff. some republican lawmakers -- including mo brooks of alabama, lauren boebert of colorado, and paul gosar of arizona -- have been accused of taking active roles in promoting the deadly capitol insurrection. meanwhile, prominent lawyer john pierce, who's defending some of the most high-profile capitol

rioters, has failed to appear in court in recent days amid reports he's been hospitalized with covid-19. an associate said pierce was on a ventilator and unresponsive. pierce mocked the use of face masks during the pandemic and pledged he would never get vaccinated. and in mexico, relatives of people who've been disappeared led a protest monday outside the presidential palace in mexico city, marking the international day of the victims of enforced disappearances. they're accusing the xican government of failing to act to find their loved ones. this is arely ramirez, whose brother and uncle were disappeared in november 2020. >> this is not life. since the day of their disappearances, this is not life. we live look for them. you go to sleep thinking about them. you wake up thinking about them. this is life for us. amy: since the launch of the

u.s.-backed, so-called war on drugs in 2006, some 90,000 people have been disappeared in mexico. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman in new york, joined by my co-host juan gonzález in new brunswick, new jersey. hi, juan. juan: hi, amy. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. amy: well, the last u.s. soldiers have left afghanistan, putting an end to this stage of the longest war in u.s. history. marine general frank mckenzie said the last troops flew out of kabul just before midnight local time monday. >> good afternoon. i here to announce the completion of our withdrawal from afghanistan and the end of the military mission to evacuate american citizens, third country

nationals, and vulnerable afghans. the last c-17 lifted off from the airport august 30 this afternoon at 3:29 p.m. east coast type and the last man aircraft is clearing the air above afghanistan. amy: the u.s. withdrawal leaves the taliban in full control of afghanistan, including the kabul international airport which the u.s. had used to evacuate over 120,000 fleeing the taliban over the past 17 days. it was the largest civilian airlift in u.s. history. the last two americans to leave were ross wilson and major general christopher donahue of the 82nd airborne division who spoke to taliban commanders just before the u.s. left. the pentagon sent out a photograph of him as he left the tarmac. earlier today, the taliban held a news conference at the kabul airport declaring the defeat of america. supporters of the taliban celebrated last night in kabul setting off fireworks and firing tracer bullets into the night sky.

but for many afghans, the countris entering a period of deepncertain as the taban return to power amid a devastating humanitarian and economic crisis. in washington, congresswoman pramila jayapal praised the end of the u.s. war, writing on twitter -- "america's longest war is finally over. as we continue working to help our allies and welcome afghan refugees with open arms, let's also commit to stopping endless wars once and for all." according to the costs of war project, the u.s. spent over $2.2 trillion in afghanistan and pakistan. by one count, over 170,000 people died in the fighting. just hours before the u.s. left, a family in kabul held a funeral for 10 family members who had been killed in a u.s. drone strike sunday. the dead included as many as seven children. five of the kids killed were five years old or younger. the u.s. is now investigating the incident. the pentagon had claimed it had targeted a car taking suicide

bombers to the kabul airport. relatives of those killed spoke out against the u.s. drone strikes. >> i lost my brother. my brothers three sons, my own daughter, and four of my nephews. it happened around 4:30 in the afternoon. we were extremist, we would not have worked for foreign organizations. i have worked for foreign organizations for four years and my brother for 17 years and one my nephews for the a mac in iraq for six years. we cannot ev find the bodies seen in the strike. we want justice. the american military must hear our voices never do this again. amy: we go now to kabul, where we are joined by the danish-afghan journalist nagieb khaja, who is reporting for the danish television channel tv 2. he has been reporting on sundays u.s. drone strike. he interviewed relatives of the victims. in 2008, he was kidnapped by the

taliban. he later embedded with the taliban while making a documentary for al jazeera. he is the director of the documentary "my afghanistan -- life in the forbidden zone." welcome to democracy now! it is great to have you with us. can you start off i first responding to what is being reported is the end of the u.s. longest war in history, what is happening on the ground, and specifically, talk about your investigation at this u.s. drone strike. >> thank you for having me here. what is happening on the ground is that for the past few weeks, not much has changed because the thing is, a lot of things change when the taliban took kabul. but since they took kabul, you had the western voices, mostly american voices, in kabul

airport. so the last troops leaving afghanistan doesn't really make a big difference for the average afghan. out in the streets, it is business as usual. in the past three weeks, the people are like, these people had something to do with the evacuationnd it did not make any difference for us, the people who are not leaving afghanistan. so in that sense, it does not make a difference. historically, of course it makes a difference because it was the u.s. that started the war in afghanistan, invaded afghanistan with its allies. and then leaving this place here, it is unimaginable. it is still difficult for me to grasp that the war between the

taliban and u.s. government and possibly also the remnants of the afghan government, there is a small group of insurgents north of kabul -- besides them, there is no war in afghanistan, so it is really unusual to be here right now. juan: what can you tell us about this drone strike with his family that was killed? was this actual collateral damage as the was military is claiming or where they completely erroneous and either intelligence hitting that car? >> you know, what i could see was that you had this family -- i talked to the brother of one of the deceased. the brothers name is amal. he told me about his brother who was an engineer. he was working for an international ngo, some

california-based chari, nongovernmental organization based in pasadena. he has been working for this organization for 16, 17 years. he was like a father for the family, taking care of his other brothers -- of this brother i talked to and also his other brother. they were dependent on him. according to his brother, he had applied for a special u.s. immigration designation, which would allow him to leave afghanistan and go to the u.s. he said he came home and was driving a car into the yard. he took his 12-year-old son with him, let him actually drive the car because he was just being nice to his son letting him drive the car for a few meters. a lot of the kids -- some of the

kids went into the car. other kids were playing around the car. suddenly, the drone struck the car and everything exploded. the car was on fire. this tragedy of these family members who were killed by this bomb, it happened. neighbors came and tried to say people but it was impossible. it was a horrific scene of flesh on the walls, pieces of human beings all over the compound. it was a nightmare he said. can that thing is, what he is telling me and the neighbors are telling me and also i spoke to one of his cousins, is that they were a normal family stggling to make it in afghanistan.

the three adults who were killed the man and his nephew, they had a lot of interaction with westerners, with afghan government. so they were doing a lot of things that you normally would not connect it to people who are sympathetic to the state in afghantan. there was also a 20-year-old young man killed. he was also part of the family. so the thing is, everybody around them were saying they were innocent but -- you have two options. one is that they did not know one of these adults was an undercover is member and the other is they were innocent. it was wrong. the attack was based on wrong intelligence. but if the first option is true, you actually have somebody in

u.s. making a decision that it was worth killing the children together with this is member. either way, there are -- it is quite problematic, to use a very mild word, about what happened. juan: and it would be clearer than that there were no explosives anywhere near the area? the u.s. government has claimed they had an eminent threat they were responding to. >> i am not an expert on explosives. it needs to be investigated. i know a lot of journalists are trying to investigate what was happening. i could see a burned out car. the american official who said they struck this car, he said it

was loaded with explosives. of the family members that i spoke to in the neighbors, they said it was one blast. there were not several. this is like the testimony from these people. they said none of them had the impression there were two explosions. it was o car that was hit and this car was set on fire and the people all around the car and inside the car were killed. whether there is a possibility there could have been explosives in the car, you know, he needs to be investigated because -- or else -- theurviving brother, he said he wants this to be investigated. he wants court ce. it can't be true that one of his family members, one of the other

adults has been accused of being a terrorist. and you don't have a case about it. he insists he is innocent. amy: you have a remarkable history and afghanistan over the years with the taliban will stop you were kidnapped by them, then years later, you embedded with them. and now today, august 31, the day president biden set as the deadline for u.s. troops publicly withdrawing from afghanistan. can you talk about what is happening in the streets, who the taliban are, and your experience with them and if you think they will change, as they say that they will? >> the taliban has been true in

evolution, but you still have a very -- on the surface, it is one organization but i'm of, you have different liars. you have the southerners and the taliban, people from condo heart and helen were more -- kandahar and helmond, those who have the most with the taliban from the 1990's but still progress because the organization in the 1990's, they were smashing telephones, pictures, forcing women to wear burqas. i saw women without face coverings five or six days ago. i also saw women with just a hijab, a scarf on their head. even the taliban from the south,

the more traditional, they have changed. then you have the eastern taliban and some of the northerners in the taliban, more pragmatic, more modern -- if you can use that word about them. i talked with some of my sources from the taliban in logar and they reviewed for me they had fought hard to convince the southerners to accept women education and women working. so you have these differences, opinions among them, but they don't let people know about them. they try to act like one force. they put so much pressure, according to the sources, they ended up accepting it for now. then you have t hi connie -- haqqanis that rebels, but also more by terrorist organization, some of the most extreme terrorist attacks beforeis

showed up, they were carried out by the haqqanis. they have links to isi, pakistani intelligence, and influenced a lot by them also. the old school television and the television from eastern afghanistan, they hate isi. so you have like an umbrella called the taliban, but under that umbrella you have different kinds of taliban who have frictions depending on what subject you're talking about. and what kind of afghanistan are we going to have? that is a good should because the thing is, what i have lened my days here and also before i came here is they have not agreed on what kind of afghanistan we are going to have. they have postponed some of the decisions about what they want. some of the topics we discussed a lot, some of the progressives in afghanistan and the educated ones in afghanistan, liberal

people talking about women's rights, freedom of speech. the taliban, for example, when they talk about women's rights and female education, they talk about female working, they say, of course we allow it. but whin the islamic framework. so if islam was just one thing, it would be easy to analyze ourselves to what we are going to expect from this movement. but when they disagree internally about what is an islamic framework and what is not, and we don't know what is going to happe and that is why -- from the people have been talking to, there postponing some of the decisions about what kind of afghanistan we're going to have. is it going to be much more like the veion of taliban than the 1990's or less like? 100% sure some of the progress

-- because we've also had progress in afghanistan dung the war. we have had female -- women have much more freedom, freedom of speech is very white in afghanistan compared to iran or other neighboring untries. what are they going to do here? we are not going to have the same freedom in afghanistan as before, but is the freedom going to be very less or a lot less than what we have right now? juan: could you talk somewhat about the actual practice so far in e last two weeks or so the taliban have been in charge of the country -- do you see any indications they are actually moving now to govern, to provide services and, clearly, as you

mention, afghanistan has changed , about 75% of its budget during the occupation was coming from international donors. so they're going to have to have some kind of a relationship with the international community to be able to continue to have some kind of financial assistance. so what is your sense of their governance so far? >> my sense of their governance is right now they are going to announce the government very soon that they have chosen to certain persons for certain positions. they will reveal that very soon. the thing is, they fought hard to keep their administration. a lot of people have fled and they fled either because they disagree with them, because they don't want to be part of this afghanistan war because they are scared. they don't trust their promises.

so they have lost a lot of resources. there is been a huge brain drain from afghanistan. you were talking about 100,000 people who left the country in a few weeks. a lot more people are going to leave this country. they're going to struggle with a lot of things. they will also struggle with the economy, the money flow that has stopped to afghanistan. we don't have money going into the country right now. people are not getting their salaries. people working for the government, for example. it is going to be a very tough time for the afghans and really tough for the taliban to be in charge. but they have showed signs of wanting to cooperate, like keeping the mayor of kabul. they did not fire him. they kept him as the mayor. they have done the same thing in other places, too.

at the same time, you also hear stories about looking for certain persons who disagree with them or have been very critical, local -- vocal critics of them. on one hand, you have the leaders of the movement. that part of the leadership which negotiated in doha with the former afghan government and the international community, very pragmatic, flexible leadership. much more open-minded than you would eect from the taliban before. they sat together with secular people, discussed with them and acknowledged their differences. they sat together with women, discussing with them. on the others, you have these battle-hard people who only know war. they grew up in villages.

they have not going to school. they are an educator. they're not used to being together with people who have different opinions with them. they're not used to being with women. they have just been painted by the war. so you have these people coming to afghanistan and trying to work under one umbrella. that is maybe also why we are hearing all of these contradictory stories about leaders promising people that they can be safe and on the others you hear of incidents of commanders or rogue elements in the movement doing the opposite. so it really is going to be tough for the afghan people. also tough for the taliban. amy: you staying? >> in afghanistan? no. i am based in copenhagen. i am traveling back and forth.

i have covered afghanistan for 17 years. i have been covering this conflict since 2004. i have decided to stop covering it because i have a family, have children. you told the story about me. i tried to be kidnapped, i tried to be in prison. once by the afghan intelligence and once by a rogue taliban group. i have some critical moments and this country, but it is really difficult to let go. after i saw what was happening in afghanistan, i could not stop myself from coming down here and trying to document what was happening. it is important for the international community, that they have eyes and ears coming from abroad. i can tell you one thing, western journalists are getting special treatment from the talent and right now because they have a pr campaign right now. afghan journalists have a tougher time then as. it is important for people like

us to be here. amy: nagieb khaja, thank you for being with us, award-winning danish-afghan journalist and documentarian who has covered the war in afghanistan and syria. he is in kabul reporting for danish television channel tv 2. we hope to revisit with you soon. next up, we speak to the twice nobel peace prize nominated a longtime peace activist kathy kelly. she fears the u.s. war may not be over. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. u.s. mitary and diplomatic forces withdrew from afghanistan just before midnight local time in kabul monday night. while the move is been described as the end of the longest war in u.s. history, some worn the war may not truly be over. on sunday, tony blinken appeared on "meet the press." >> we have the capacity around

the world, including in afghanistan, to find and take strikes against terrorist who want to do us harm. as you know in country after country, including places like yemen, somalia, large parts of syria, libya, places where we don't have boots on the ground on any kind of ongoing basis, we have the capacity to go after people who are trying to do us harm. we will retain that capacity in afghanistan. amy: in april, reporte that thiss expect to keep relying on "shadowy special operations forces, pentagon contractors, covert operatives inside afghanistan." it is not clear how these plans have changed following the taliban takeover. for more, we're joined in chicago by the longtime peace activist kathy kelly who is been nominated for the nobel peace prize over and over again. she has trouble to afghanistan dozens of times. welcome back to democracy now!

can you start off by responding to what is being handled in the u.s. press as the lungs were in u.s. history is over? >> [indiscernible] third wave of covid, terrible economic reality. they are still suffering a great deal and the drone strikes acting are an indication in the most recent drone strikes that the united states has not set aside its intent to keep on using what they call precision about what daniel hale, now in prison as shown, 90% of the time did not hit the intended victims. this will cause more desires for revenge and retaliation and legit. -- and legit. juan: in terms of -- do you feel

the american people will draw the best lessons from this terrible situation in afghanistan, this clear defeat for the united states and its occupation after we have seen now for 70 years u.s. military force exercised in these occupations from korea to vietnam to libya to the balkans is the only thing the u.s. can sort of claim as a victory? there has been disaster after disaster in afghanistan. what lesson would you hope our population would learn from these terrible occupations? >> juan, i think the words of everyone apply. some are to blame, all are accountable. i think everyone in the united states and ievery country that has invaded and occupied

afghanistan on to make reparations and seek that and only financial reparations from the terrible destruction caused, but also to address the system you just mentioned played out in country after country. the systems of warfare that i to be set aside and -- ought to set aside and dismantled. i think this is the lesson that u.s. people need to learn. there was more covered in the last two weeks by mainstream media of afghanistan and there had been in the past 20ears. people are underserved by the media terms of understanding the consequences of our wars. amy: you're not in the business, kathy, complement and u.s. presidents when it comes to war. this is one u.s. president after another, i think, for at least overall. do you think biden had political courage in pulling out to the extent that they have, publicly,

the last u.s. troops, the photographs sent out by the pentagon by the general getting on the lt transport carrier and leaving? >> i think that president biden said he was also going to go up against the united states air force request for $10 billion to enable over the horizon attacks, that would have been the kind of political courage that we need to see. we need a president who will stand up to the military contracting companies that make billions by marketing their weapons, and say "we are done with all of it." that is the political courage we need. amy: and the over horizon attacks, for people who are not familiar with the term, what it means, how the u.s. is set up to tack -- attack afghanistan from outside? >> the 10 latinos u.s. air force request will go to maintaining both dne surveillance and that type drone capacity unmanned

aircraft capacity in kuwait and the united arab emirates and qatar and in an aircraft in the middle of the ocean. this will always make it possible for the united states to continue to attack often people who aren't the intended victims and also to say to every other country in the region, we are still here. and because thank you, kathy, for being with us. -- amy: thank you, kathy, for being with us. 10 seconds on reparations. what would it look like when you y the u. owes reparations to the people of afghanistan? >> massive amount of money put in by the nato countries into perhaps an escrow account that would not be under the guidance or the distribution of united states. the united stes has already shown it cannot do that without corruption and failure. i think we would have to look to

the u.n. and groups that have a reputation for being able to truly assist people in afghanistan and reparations for dismantling the war system. amy: kathy kelly, longtime peace activist and author. the co-coordinator of the ban killer drones campaign and a member of world beyond war. she has traveled to afghanistan nearly 30 times. next up, new orleans and at the dark after hurricane i. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "song for george" by mat callahan and yvonne moore. today is the last i of black august. this month for 50 years since the assassination of george jackson.

this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. hurricane ida has been downgraded to a tropical depression after it hit the louisiana coast sunday as a category for paying -- category 4 hurricane on the 16th anniversary of hurricane katrina. louisiana's main utility company entergy says it could be weeks before it restores electricity to nearly a million people in the storm's path, including all of new orleans, as temperatures rise to near 90 degrees fahrenheit. meanwhile, the new orleans police department drew criticism for diverting resources from helping vulnerable residents to sending out what it called anti-looting officers. some of this recalled the aftermath of hurricane katrina, when the media and police spread misinformation that left people stranded without basic necessities. more than 1800 people died in hurricane katrina and its

aftermath. for more, we're joined by two guests. reverend lennox yearwood is president and ceo of the hip hop caucus, a civil and human rits group. he is originally from shreveport, louisiana. after hurricane katrina in 2005, he helped lead protests against racial profiling of survivors, and established the gulf coast renewal campaign. he's also a climate justice activist and air force veteran who has spoken out against the u.s. wars in afghanistan and iraq. he joins us from washington, d.c. also with us is flozell daniels, president of the foundation for louisiana, formerly known as the louisiana disaster recovery foundation, founded just days after hurricane katrina. he is a native of new orleans and lives there. he joins us from katy, texas, where he evacuated for hurricane ida. he is also a member of louisiana governor john bel edwards' climate task force. we welcome you both to democracy now! flozell daniels, if you could describe your decision to relocate -- now many who state are being told to relocate

because of the blackout right now, no power to a million people in the new orleans area. and what you're hearing about what is happening on the ground? >> thank you, amy. my family and i decided to relocate because we are natives of the louisiana. what you're going to find time and again is louisiana and snow and understand how to take care of themselves. there is a lot of wisdom on the ground. we understood the science of the storm and we understand that climate is driving the severity of these weather events. we can talk more about that. we knew it was going to be a dangerous storm. it made sense to us when you have the resources and family and friends you could take us in in texas so we could roll up our sleeves and started to get to the business of doing the work to not oy do emergency response from the perspective of social justice philanthropy, but begin to build out the justice and fair recovery from hurricane ida. i think what we are hearing and know for certain is we had real

struggles with regard to even emergency response. if you think about the leaders of disaster we are already dealing with, covid, the spikes caused by the delta variant, the economic calamity like indigenous, poor, rural communities, our neighbors who are queer and gender nonconforming, these were disasters already happening before hurricane ida hit the shores as onof the stronst storms in american history, stronger than hurricane katrina even. what we saw were people struggling to evacuate, struggling to get the resources to safely shelter-in-place. we were fortunate through some of our donors and suorters to move resources to the mutual aid groups that have been doing the most incredible work on the ground. people should support them to move resources to indigenous communities that are historically in coastal

communities, know how to get people out of the city safely. now to your point, we're dealing with this catastrhic failure of the energy grid. we have to talk about the infrastructure. people going to have to leave the city. no one can survive a weeks on end without electricity. it will have an impact on whether the water is clean and safe. it will take resources in one of the poorest communities of louisiana is in -- in the nation, it take resources of the federal level and from philanthropy and resources and love and partnership from our fellow neighbors to help us move through this current disaster. juan: i want to ask you if you could talk aut the role of the oil and gas industry in louisiana because, clearly, because of the power grid failure now, all of the

refineries are shut down in the area until power is back. will there be a battle now over who gets the resources first, the industry or the people, to be able to get back on their feet? >> if history is any indication, there will be a battle. what we have seen before and continue to see is infrastructure and resources, particularly mission-critical resources after disaster, get prioritized toward industry and not people. folks get upset when you say that, but that is what the evidence has been. the good news is what we have now that we d not have as much of 16 years ago is social infrastructure. that is people in neighborhoods and organizations that are deeply committed to a social justice perspective. they have experience and talent from organizing and policy advocacy and moving a just and fair agenda.

there are folks who have been fighting the good fight who are already mobilizing to make sure we can fight for what is right so we can mobilize power so we can push elected and public officials to do the right thing by way of allocating those resources come and pushback on this industrial narrative that they have what is in our best terest at heart. amy: very quickly, if you uld talk about being on governor john bel edwards climate task force. the battles you're having on the task force as a group of you trying to reduce the house gas emissions and increase regulations, and a group is fighting to increase the greenhouse gas emissions and support the fossil fuel industry. >> there are two important things we know. one, we finally got the inventory on greenhouse gas emissions and they showed us what we already knew. district is responsible for more than 60% of the emissions. we are in a battle to limit stop

those emissions and move to a renewable economy that will save us in louisiana and of the entire planet. i think what you're finding are the scientists, social justice activist, books and pins like community's -- particularly along the river, goal refineries -- pushing for an agenda that will stop not only the emissions, but also limit and stop the poisoning of the people, the land, air, and air while we move toward renewable economies that are going to close the racial and gender wealth gaps we see in louisiana. industry is pushing back on both the data and the science, and pushing back on the social justice imperatives. we are fortunate to have a community of actors that are going to make sure the narrative is out there and we can push for the kind of recommendations i policy that will help us get there. amy: i want to bring reverend lennox yearwood into the conversation, president and ceo of the hip hop caucus, community

activist, u.s. air force veteran. as the president hails the ending of the war in afghanistan, something you have protested against as well as the were in iraq, you are dealing with your home state, louisiana, in a kind of other work -- not to mention the covid in the delta. can you talk about what you're learning about what is happening and what needs to happen now after hurricane ida? >> amy and juan, the reality is this -- enough is enough. in the words of fannie lou hamer, we're sick and tired of being sick and tired. today, yesterday to be honest, today would be an awesome day to declare a climate emergency. that is really the case. we know who is causing this storm -- these storms, who is

causing the climate crisis. it is the fossil fuel industry. we have to stop it. the reality right now is from 16 years ago from katrina to now, we need to move past fossil fuels. that is it. it has to end right now. we have wildfires, droughts, hurricanes, folks who are displaced who are hurting because of this. so the time is right now to stop this madness. it is time to stop this madness and move beyond fossil fuels. no more talk. no more negotiations. it is time to move on. this storm was called hurricane ida. per chevron and bp and exxon, it should be ida -- they are the ones who caused this mess. it is ridiculous. it is time for us to get serious

about this climate crisis. the times of playing games with politics, either democrat or republican, the time for playing games with this climate crisis is over. it is time to put humanity first. juan: reverend, what do you say to those folks in louisiana who say the state depends on the fossil fuel industry, on oil and gas for so many jobs and so much income? >> hogwash hogwash. it is like beast think i'm dependent on something that is going to kill me. listen. the fossil fuel industry business plan needs a death sentence for us. it is ridiculous. how are we going to keep setting we depend on them but we don't have any power? we are running for our lives. that is madness. listen. it is time for us to transition

from fossil fuel to clean energy. there a number of groups -- i brotherarlier said it, a number of us on the ground are trying to do all we can do b it is clear black people and poor people and indigenous people are left behind to die. the inconvenient truth we have found out is not only a climate crisis, but white supremacy. when you mix these things together between issue of the injustice of racism and the climate crisis, it is a toxic mix that is destroying us. we have to move forward. yes, we need a plan that has climate in it. we need to have a climate emergency. we need a green new deal. we need to get serious. this is ridiculous. people are on the road right now with no gas in their cars. people are at home with no electricity suffering in need. people still maintaining the archaic views of the fossil fuel

industry? that has got to stop now. juan: is it your fear similarly to what happened after hurricane katrina that the crisis was used to implement anti-people policies, for instance, the elimination virtually of all public schools in new orleans that this crisis will be used in the segway way by those in power? >> most defitely. after katrina, we knew the fossil fuel industry started to create the climate denial platform most of they moved beyond that now as well as the policies and communities who live to destroy those community's. literally rolling back from public housing, rolling back -- closing down charity hospitals. every aspect that supports the community, they used that to come in. listen, they're putting profit before people and it causes us pain.

what i am saying, i am telling you if you are republican or your democrat, i don't care. we have a crisis right now. it is not about that. people are suffering. if you are an american -- i was an officer in the air force. i took an oath to fight for this country and i'm still going to do that. i am saying to you we have a climate crisis. people are hurting. in texas, children froze to death. we have folks are losing their home in cafornia. folks on the road running for their lives. we are in a climate emergency. this has got to stop. we need to get on the job and make this madness stop. we can do it. we have the things to do it before it is too late, but if we mess around with the fossil fuel industry, taking their money, blood money, which is killing our community, and that has got to stop. this storm was a dustup storm

and essence to a category 4 and a two hours. amy: we have to leave it there, reverend lennox yearwood. thank you for being with us, president of the hip hop caucus. that does it for our show. happy birthday, hany massoud!#

♪ hello. welcome back to nhk "newsline." i'm takao minori in new york. president joe biden said the united states has been a nation too long at war. he addressed americans and the mission in afghanistan and the way it ended. he told them he was not going to extend what he called this forever war. >> we no longer had a clear purpose in an open-ended mission