has exposed cover ups over the war in afghanistan the classified documents include reports on the deaths of hundreds of civilians increase taliban attacks as well as nato fears pakistan and iran are backing the insurgency earlier my colleague kevin owen spoke to our correspondents on both sides of the atlantic laura i met in london and christine for zahau in washington. well there's certainly is some suggestion that this is nothing new we knew this before we knew that there was corruption running right through the war in afghanistan and we knew that this was going on but certainly to see it in black and white particularly represented by as you say more than ninety thousand documents is something quite extraordinary what happened was that julian assange the founder of wiki leaks released this information ahead of time to three newspapers one here in london the guardian one in germany biegel and also to the new york times they then looked at that information and assessed what they wanted to write about and whether the information was genuine and he then held a media conference. and talked about it and one of the things that he said was

he was pressed by journalists on war crimes whether he thought there was evidence of war crimes here and eventually he said that he felt that it was for a cool it's of course to decide what constitutes a war crime and whether this did but he said looking at the documents that he has seen felt that there was evidence of war crimes having been committed during this war some of these documents are about civilian deaths going on reported. to pick out one that he. is difficult to do that he said it's the. secrecy of war that we don't necessarily know about when you read about some of these places that only going deaths of children the deaths of civilians the deaths of servicemen which add up he said to the every day squaller war another thing that he says is shared by the don't insist that pakistan which is being given a billion dollars a year by the u.s. government to help them in their fight against afghan insurgency is in fact not

helping hindering the members of the spy service or meeting with taliban leaders. and organizing the militant groups that are in fact u.s. soldiers practice on a pull out investment need tonight. that one of the most interesting things about this is that this not is. the end of this story that already as we've said ninety thousand documents but. there are fifteen thousand more that he has yet to assess but he is going to put out there when he judges the time is right we will release nearly all of them. but some of them may need production some of them may need. for release eventually the full material will be released as the security situation you know going to proves important to understand that this material is being held back. to assist one side of the conflict or the other

but to make sure that the civilian population you know going to stand. published today will to christine result christine the white house is saying this leak compromises u.s. national security how did they come down on these revelations today. well given they're coming down very hard on many levels as you said the national security level they say that this makes the fight against extremist much harder to have this information out here they're also coming down quite hard on wiki leaks press briefing wrapped up with president obama's press secretary robert gibbs he says wiki leaks is not an unbiased media source something interesting to note here. no point even though a lot of the questions i would even say the majority of the questions to mr gibbs were about this week you leaks not once did he necessarily dispute the content of it he did sort of try to say again that wiki leaks was not totally credible and he really disputed how this came about the vis is

a breach of law so certainly the white house coming down but in addition to this criticism they are also really really downplaying what has been released on wiki leaks they're saying that you know this is from a period of time the majority of which president obama wasn't even in office it was a time that he wasn't overseeing the war and that since december two thousand and nine which is sort of when this picture that's painted in the documents and the relationship between the united states and pakistan has gotten much better he says also sort of trying to turn this wiki leaks story around he says you know some of these atrocities that you see in these leaks well these are the reasons that president obama saw to throw more money he said it shows that the war was underfunded that the strategy was sort of on the wrong path and these are reasons if nothing else that the president got in there and threw more money have the troop surge happened so really trying to shift the message here from the white house in terms of what's happening brian becker who's the director of the american antiwar

answer coalition feels the u.s. government is quickly trying to twist the truth. well the obama administration's pronouncement is like an alice in wonderland turning reality upside down they are the ones who are putting american soldiers and afghans lives at risk and in fact taking those lives every day in a war that they know can't be won and yet when wiki leaks and people who are whistleblowers tell the truth then this sort of explanation from the white house is that these people who are telling the truth exposing the lies are the ones putting the people's lives and in danger i mean that is so ludicrous such nonsense but because of the tepid character of the prophet again the nature of the u.s. corporate media that line will be promulgated time and time again today and tomorrow and in the coming days but i don't think the american people will believe that they want to know the truth jim brann from the stop the war coalition in london spoke to us about why u.s. authorities have been muted in their criticism of the leak and who he thinks was

responsible for the disclosure. i think they can't deny it if there are ninety one thousand authentic documents. that it's very difficult for them to deny the information in them also i think the more it draws attention to this then the more credibility it gives i think they're in a trap and they have to be very careful we have to assure him in the first place we have to assure him that this is some individual who doesn't agree with united states afghan policy probably wants to expose what has gone on because we know how many wedding parties for example have been blown up over the years it's also possible that this is something that the some official within the united states armed forces has leaked that is the question of claiming that pakistani intelligence is behind behind the attacks and it could be part of that admiral mullen saying yesterday that the pakistan government must do more to locate some of

in london for example and it could be part of that campaign it's also a campaign waged by hillary clinton who says that somebody in the pakistan government you know where osama bin laden is so they could be that element but i think in the first place we should trust that this is some honest individual who wants the world to know what's actually being going on robert fisk the middle east correspondent for the british daily the independent says in stories like this the internet is stepping on the toes of newspaper and t.v. journalism. we've got all these expensive newspapers with huge investigative staffs watching the new york times in london in france and yet we didn't get this story it was the internet that got it this is the most important proof so far that in many ways newspaper journalism is retreating and going along with authority please can i be embedded i mean i'm not a baby but please can i be embedded can i go with the tenth mountain division can i be with the british army and these reporters are not getting the story and these

people this week leaks organization which i have some serious concerns they have managed to do it on a mass bulk scale that we've never seen recently in modern newspaper journalism or television journalism this i think is one of the lessons for us journalists. in our teens latest edition of crosstalk peter lavelle and his guests debate on afghanistan and whether pakistan is becoming a failed state that could be the target of the next american led invasion in the region that's coming up next hour. the u.s. needs to look at this very carefully before it goes beyond just they do enjoy a spot of trying to save yourselves by provoking some go for military conflict with pakistan actually most of the american soldiers i know do recognize the appalling dangers of a direct attack on pakistan i think there are two circumstances in which this would happen the first if there was if they really had actionable intelligence concerning

bin laden and zawahiri then i think they would launch a raid to get them the second is if of course there's a serious terrorist attack on the united states. in. the. war veteran groups in the u.s. are becoming increasingly angry over what they claim are broken government promises they say the country they fought for has turned its back on them leaving many out on the street remodeling their went to speak to some of them. beyond san diego's picturesque lies an ugly truth a wounded military community neglected by the very nation they fought to defend. the mentally able to defend this country. and i came home to be medicated and pushed it was. morally ethically

and just like a monster we're creating when our vadra i think bigger. not just. the service people but i think. everybody these are just some of the troubled voices coming from a growing number of homeless veterans this particular weekend they made their way to stand down an annual nonprofit event that helps thousands of homeless vets get back some dignity many of these vets will get assistance in housing clothing work even a little in their team. and a good meal just a day here at stand down they're going to go through about how tanami just to keep all these veterans it's a big deal some of these veterans haven't had a square meal in

a weeks and unfortunately once they leave here they won't have another one for a very long time it's kind of depressing. to justice. clifford wakens is a vietnam veteran hoping to get his life back on track for his grandchildren he's a recovering alcoholic weakens remembers returning from the war and the better ones administration trying to medicate him and stead of addressing the real problem he suspects there motivation politics politics. this country takes care of everybody else. it shouldn't be like that. it's a pattern that has continued for the newer generation of vets i went to the veterans administration for treatment a year after i was discharged because i was feeling suicidal and i was discharged i was refused treatment actually brian little things history is repeating itself that the u.s.

government hasn't learned anything from the vietnam war and that the ongoing conflicts in afghanistan and iraq will only get worse. it's scary i don't want to be around here in ten years this place will be wall to wall no active duty military in general i think. needs to do a better job helping people with transitioning to civilian life dr john nash is in help start stand down twenty three years ago he's relied on volunteers and donors to pitch in and help where the government has failed not just in things a growing bureaucracy and a lack of coordination are keeping veterans from getting the help they need is whether war heroes have their own take on it. julio. ok. why should he have to come to you and ask. you give it to him and more people are going to say you know screw this this is wrong we've got to do something about it instead of committing

a crime or writing or hurting somebody or tell him. to walk up to a camera get on the internet you know start an insurgency that needs to be started . in san diego. r.t. . he was veteran adam kokesh says the institutionalized life of a soldier leaves them ill prepared for life outside the service that for those that can't get their head on straight after coming out of the military for whatever reason then yes not having that as part of their natural you know mindset is definitely a contributing factor to homo since for a lot of these guys and then this wasn't so much the case with with my experience in the military but a lot of these guys are you know joined straight at a high school they're seventeen eighteen years old they've never lived on their own and then you're right they don't want that institutionalized environment where everything is taken care of they come out if they don't have a kind of support system for on their they've never lived on their own before it

can be a shock i think that's actually a contributing factor for those guys that have never lived on their own before never have to support themselves as adults outside of the military. two other stories around the world now twin suicide attacks on a road often used by muslims in the rocky city of karbala had killed at least twenty five people six others died in a separate attack on a television station in baghdad officials say that al qaeda was planning to target a rabbit channels that were seen as being too pro restaurant it's thought that our other big news was here to because it regularly interviews u.s. state figures. the e.u. has slapped iran with more sanctions targeting the country's energy sector to impede its nuclear program european foreign ministers meeting in brussels also agreed to tougher restrictions on international trade canada has followed the move and imposed similar limitations this comes after last month's security council resolution to pass a fourth round of sanctions on iran there ron has been

a key supply to develop nuclear weapons something it's strongly denies. it's been ten years since it became possible for crews to both live and work at the international space station new russian and american life support systems also meant more research could be carried out at the i s s r t sean thomas went to star city near moscow to witness some of the wonders of space engineering up there. it circles the globe about three hundred fifty kilometers from the earth's surface it is the largest construction in space it is a marvel of modern engineering which is approaching a crucial milestone moment. this is a major contemporary space project it has a huge mass of around three hundred eighty tons it involves a big number of program participants including the united states canada european countries belonging to the european space agency and japan and the station is being used as a big scientific laboratory. though it is a prime example of international cooperation now the roots of the station stem from

the apollo soyuz program thirty five years ago when two rival space programs of the u.s. and soviet union integrated technology for the first time twenty years later russia and the u.s. expanded on that shared experience with the goal of creating a permanent space presence. we've done a lot with in the mir shuttle program which was the ancestor of the international space station we work hard to ride cymbal to news operation of both the mir orbital station and preparation for the launch i remember those years the most interesting period of strenuous work which finally did to this great result during the link up there were no hiccups and everything went smoothly. this is the mark up of the capsule which is where astronauts and cosmonauts come to train at star city who are traveling to the international space station and it is in here that you get a sense of the significance of this capsule in one thousand nine hundred ninety

eight the zarya and the unity capsules worldwatch but it wasn't until ten years ago when there's various the capsule was attached that the space station became livable what she. did say was a validation of sorts for the rest of the station if the module had failed then other systems work would be pointless since the module consisted largely of life support systems the module made it possible for their crew to stay in both the station it would be impossible to build the station at the pace it was constructed that without the special part of the infrastructure was now in place it was up to the station's first crew to get everything in motion good with those two weeks were critical since a lot of the systems were being activated for the first time some russian system segments were merged with us systems those machines had never seen each other in earth and that was the first time they would work together on stability was huge and that was why they were pretty had been composed of experienced cosmonauts with

him. ten years on the i.s.o.'s is approaching the record for a structure being continuously inhabited in space and on are currently held by russia's mir project and while it was originally only supposed to be in service until two thousand and fifteen it looks like a bright future for the international space station which i think a part of or another from assessment has decided to prolong the station's use until twenty twenty and possibly even longer if the technical state of the station is good for. ensuring a continued international presence in space for many more years to come john thomas r.t. moscow and we have greetings for you from the current crew of the idea assess if you're not here to the russian flight engineer tells us earthlings about the advantages of life in space. squared let me like ok actually you know a space office is the best window of the traffic jams on the way to work there are not many people around space aliens having visited us yet whenever ball is crushed

and luckily we are far away from it. israel has yet to respond to an official request to cooperate with the un human rights council's investigation into the deadly attack on a gaza bound aid flotilla next here on r t we take a closer look at the story with veteran british journalist alan hart who spent decades covering the arab israeli conflict. today i'm talking to you alan hart veteran middle east correspondent we're going to

start by talking about israel's blockade on gaza and the aid ships that are trying to get into the region allan hart thanks very much for talking to r.t. let's talk first about israel's blockade on gaza and the eight ships that are trying to get in and israel insists that that blockade is legal what do you thing well let's first of all say that the purpose of the blockade is the collective punishment of the whole people of gaza to try to wean them away from hamas now collective punishment by definition is a war crime it is absolutely illegal. the only benefit of the attempts to break the blockade is not really assisting the people of gaza but it is helping to make israel. be perceived in the world to people as more and more prostate i'm here to is set to gain the most from that p.r. exercise has a very simple truth that most people don't know when israel was created and closed

the palestine file after its picture on the battlefield in forty eight. the whole establishment world wanted that file to remain closed in other words zionism. and the western powers were not only of one mind the arab regimes behind closed doors world one mind they wanted the file to remain closed the palestinians were supposed to accept their lot. as the sacrificial lamb on the altar a political expediency and then along came this argued for a man yasser arafat who opened the file and it stayed open so the file is opened but it's deeply embarrassing for the arab regimes because they are divided they are impotent they are corrupt they are repressive so back to the flotilla a point that you made it's a little gesture that says you know we really with the with the palestinians that's what president carter worlds called b.s.

bullshit but not israel says that it's now easing the blockade and allowing certain supplies to reach garza seemingly in response to its national international press or do you think that the timing of that is evidence that israel accepts that this blockade is unjustifiable to the international community well i have a yes or no answer yes answer is zionism i hope as a point we can talk about different judaism and zionism zionism is becoming terribly worried about its image in the world it realizes of course it is being perceived by people as if not governments as something of a prostate so you can say yes to a certain extent they're playing their own p.r. to bend to that to say look we're not all that are reasonable but i would quote one of the better independent writers on it jonathan cook who writes out of israel palestine will have a story the other day that to what it means is the salvation of the strangulation

of the people of gaza more slowly and maybe now is a good time to talk about the differences between zionism and judaism as you perceive them the key to understanding is knowledge of the difference between judaism is art some simply stated judaism is the religion of jews not the jews because by no means all jews are religious and like christianity and like islam it has as its core a set of moral values and ethical principles right now that is judaism. zionism. is the nationalism of some juice it's a sectarian colonial enterprise which created a state in the arab heartland for some jews by terrorism and ethnic cleansing and in doing so it made a complete mockery of the moral values and ethical principles of judaism the truth in summary is that judaism and zionism are total opposites so what we are

witnessing is the rise of anti israeli ism now that is not anti semitism it is anti israelis in other words it is designed this colonial enterprise that is promoting anti semitism and what about israel's position in the rest of the world do you think that it's reaching a turning point where the us may be forced to say at some point in the near future enough is enough only an american president has the leverage required to cause or try to cause israel to be serious about peace on terms but they all palestinians and most other arabs and muslims could accept the problem is that an american president has his hands tied by the zionist lobby the zionist lobby really does control in congress. american policy for israel posts are not saying the whole

middle east i'm saying israel palestine another of israel's issues at the moment is iran do you think that iran is justified in being worried about a nuclear threat from iran i don't think they have any interest in developing nuclear weapons but maybe some of their number now saying look we ought to at least have the capability but let's just opposing iran had one two three dozen nuclear bombs do you think you would be stupid enough to launch a first nuclear strike on israel of course it would because the whole of iran would be devastated and let's talk about the future of the region with the palestinian authority now decidedly divided into a with hamas in charge of one point that's important corrupt irrelevant but is there any chance of a two state solution though the two state solution is long ago dead the two state solution never would've given a fair complete solution to the problem it's now much too late to happen i mean

israel's colonization of the west bank is is about forty two percent of the land area and it's stretching either there will eventually be a one state solution and which as i said jews and arabs have equal rights but in my view zionism will never allow that to happen because it amounts to the santa zation palestine. i think israel's leaders will invent a pretext to drive the palestinians off the west bank and into jordan syria or wherever. and the blood will flow the west bank will be sowed with blood and it would be mostly palestinian blood and if there be honest reporters around they will call it a zionist holocaust now i fear that's where we're going because that wouldn't be the end of the story. it would so inflame. a muslim masses that you would be opening the pandora's box of

a much wider conflict well as i think i've suggested earlier the only person with the real paula to try to influence israel to behave in its own best interest as well as those the world is the president of america now yes it's true that europe russia there are lots of other countries with the same power the same leverage economic sanctions whatever but no other government on earth is going down this road until an american president gives the lead. every month we give you the future we help you understand how to get there and want to bring the best in science and technology from across russia and around the world

to join us for technology update on our g.

but watching our do you live in moscow two thirty in the morning here and these are our top stories a whistleblower leaks of thousands of military documents to the internet you dealing with major cover ups over the war in afghanistan it's the biggest leak in u.s. military history which discloses unreported civilian deaths at america's suspicion that pakistan was supporting the taliban. war veteran groups in the u.s. are up in arms over what they say are broken government promises they claim because they served as a left them down and left many homeless. a space to call home it's ten years since the international space station first became habitable whether russian module with a life support systems docked with the orbiter many space experts worldwide see the project as the pinnacle of international cooperation. and up next report on america's.