[000:00:00;00] i've i've . how can they alone a show at the real headlines with none of the mersey coming live out of washington d.c. now in light of the unrest in the middle east the us has come forward with statements regarding all of these protests except for those going on in iraq who want to know why do you ask has been so quiet when it comes to iraq in particular maybe it has something to do with our several year involvement and war in this country last

author michael o'brien next the richest of banker turned prisoner speaks out bernie madoff made several claims in his latest interview including one saying of the entire government is a ponzi scheme so is he just spreading the blame or is this con artist right we'll talk about it with richard ask also how much will the u.s. be directly affected by the conflict in libya do americans realize that supporting democratic revolutions may end up hurting their wallets we're going to hash it all out with our chief financial correspondent lauren lyster then the hacktivists have struck again after concentrating their efforts on defending weekly leaks anonymous has expanded and recently they attacked a web site for the koch brothers group americans for prosperity and now they've added more groups to their hit list and we want to know why they've advanced their mission we're going to speak with two members to find out and would you put a price tag on your internet privacy some people have saying that they'd sell their personal information to companies if the price is right but it brings up

a larger issue where privacy isn't just a right anymore it's now become a commodity and a hot one at that will discuss the changing role of internet privacy with ryan rattie at the end of the show but now let's move on to our top story. unrest continues in a number of countries in the middle east and north africa and officials are reacting with harsh words and harsh actions over the weekend the u.n. security council unanimously set sanctions on libya yesterday the white house strongly condemned the iranian government's organize intimidation campaign. and arrests of political figures human rights defenders political activists to leaders journalists and bloggers and days ago hillary clinton called out iran for human rights abuses for the death of peaceful protesters by security forces for some reason when it comes to iraq the u.s. has been strangely silent last friday thousands protested in baghdad and other cities and what they called a day of rage it's now being reported that about thirty people have been killed but

three hundred journalists intellectuals and lawyers have been arrested and yet still silence so what does that say for the marker see that america brought to iraq here to discuss with me is michael o'brien author of america's failure in iraq michael thanks so much for being here now for starters on this program we've been following this all along the way when it comes to certain inconsistency is in you know the u.s. foreign policy at first we were supporting tunisia but we were quiet on egypt then finally we were supporting egypt but we've been quiet on yemen also a government they were friendly with but how much worse does it look when you know this is iraq this is a place that we we don't have support this government because we've had a longstanding relationship with and quite the opposite we invaded this country to bring in this government there and now we don't want to say anything or you know i have to say that we invaded the country in my opinion and i think tomorrow she was

an afterthought we weren't here to topple the saddam regime but frankly you know in my in my opinion i don't really know why we invaded iraq in two thousand and three but we did we went there and you know much has been said about the current the reasons for the invasion the conduct of the invasion all of the things that i do i've talked about a lot is in my book and also on our website is the fact that we destroyed much of the infrastructure of iraq we really just you know what you can almost you know the cliche bombed it back to the stone age i was there for fourteen months. and there is no electrical grid there was only power for four hours a day while i was there and i believe that's still the case there was no gasoline it was essentially free before we invaded no three and now it's about it's through the roof the core of the price of fuel and not much has been done about it malott of the protests are directly related to services the people have no services and

nothing's improved now that's right people are protesting because they don't have services because they don't have access to clean water or access to electricity but how much you know of our reconstruction efforts how much of the money that we're now still spending in iraq is supposed to be going to fixing these issues that we guess you could say in some way created because we bought it and you know this situation we very much created it and how much of the money is going into it i really don't know but i can i can tell you tens and tens of billions hundreds of billions of dollars of going into iraq in general much of it just simply due to the combat operations and as as far. how much has gone into the reconstruction of it i know that i was an advisor to the iraqi ministry of defense and we were involved in the rebuilding of the new iraqi army that had been disputed by paul bremmer on the ministry of interior side we were involved in rebuilding creating from nothing the iraqi national police also disbanded by paul bremer but as far as money going into

things like infrastructure view electrical power grid and all that the u.s. army corps of engineers gulf region district was over there during the initial stages of the conflict and then the the u.s. government through the coalition military was involved in much of the additional ongoing work and today there is room for a lot of a lot of firms that are going over there to american firms and other foreign countries to go over there and rebuild the country but it's not organized it's just a mess it's a hodgepodge and the people are suffering there's just not electricity there's not running water there's not sewage it's a real mess and much of it was created by our own vision of zero three and i hate to sound so critical but it really is true i think there's nothing wrong with being critical right if we if we invaded the country that we then should look back at it critically and see you know what the results were or perhaps what some of the damages are that we caused when you mentioned the foreign firms are going in there

how about the fact that we give so many responsibilities now are passed on to contractors and just last week a report came out saying that billions of dollars have been away said because there is just no central database for anyone to even figure out how much money we've given to these contractors who also do for all the governments on a regular basis but you know else is really interesting about these protests that we're seeing in iraq right now as as we watch the same thing happened in libya or in iran it here if you have and have to taters and so you look at it as people fighting for democracy in iraq you already have a democracy right this is a well supposedly it's supposedly they've been radically elected government i want to democratically elected government starts firing on its own people and killing its own people what does that mean you know i if i if i may as your question by backing up just a little bit. and no one will deny that saddam hussein was a bad actor absolutely put it was in the middle east as it is tribal and in the

tribal tradition the leader runs the show and everybody follows and saddam was that guy he was a bad guy you know absolutely no question about it but the iraqis that i worked with when i was over here by a laura life if you stayed out of trouble you had a half decent life you really did after our invasion of zero three all that went out the window and what's what if we do and we invaded that country with no plan for after the invasion and then as again at the very beginning of this i said that democracy was an afterthought world we're there we might as well make it a democracy which is fine but can it be to sustain and no form of government can be sustained if the people don't have the basic services that government is supposed to provide and when i was there we were trying to form the new iraqi government but after a road to include contracting for goods and services the iraqi government can't do it because of not only of corruption but we're used to having them use our own government federal at u.s.

government federal acquisition regulations which they can never understand they just don't grasp the graphs the concept yet the iraqi government is awash in or all revenue but because of the systems we put in place here for the information they can spend their own money i talked about this at length and my book oh you know i ended watching not only is not looking a looking at the corruption in iraq which has been obvious now looking at their violent reaction i feel that you know the silence from the u.s. government is not going to bode well for you and i'm going to get some ideas in our group thank you thanks for having me thanks as to come as night fell protesters in wisconsin are not giving up other plans by the governor and lawmakers to eliminate collective bargaining rights for workers live report from madison with our kids and if they featured an oil prices on the rise in the rest of these but you americans realize. democratic revolutions of the what's part of that at the gas parties are in the courts in the country the look of. the world the fear mongering

used by politicians who makes decisions to create through it's already been made who can you trust no one will is imbue it with a global missionary see where are we heading state controlled capitalism and score sessions when nobody dares to ask what we do our t. question more. leg. lifts. the. lists.

load o. o. the the so. hey guys welcome to shower intel on the alone a show we've heard with our guests not to say on the topics now we want to hear our audience just go on to you tube the video is on going to twitter for part of the questions that we post on you tube every monday and on thursday in the show your responses and we play global economy. oh many americans might not realize that problems in the middle east are directly

affecting people here gas prices are on the rise thanks around certain uncertainty in countries like libya which happens to be hot spot for some of the biggest oil companies in the world but americans also supports the idea of democracy in the middle east so are ready to come to terms with the fact that a changing world the fall of dictators will affect your wallet our keys our listener takes a look. tunisia. egypt. algeria and libya protest in countries seeming to fuel one another unrest spreading like wildfire through the middle east and north africa all raging in or near or you'll rich countries that helped fuel the world's use of more than eighty four million barrels of crude a day uncertainty over production has sent prices soaring i mean the shock waves

from the middle east turmoil are being felt worldwide or oil is a most valuable resource on the planet today controls. extremely now the mideast crisis is eating home for average americans as oil prices have skyrocketed so too have the prices people paper gasoline and now the price americans pay at the pump is threatening to derail the u.s. economic recovery a surge in oil. prices will be the u.s. economy not just an end to the recovery there's no more bailouts we're a reality peak oil expert michael c. rupert sees happening it will hit one hundred fifty dollars a barrel which he believes is inevitable this year others predicted going to two hundred twenty dollars it's so devastating because oil. fuels more than just cars.

it fuels the entire global economy. though there's no doubt that if gas goes to five dollars a gallon for americans something big there would be a high political price to pay for the obama administration you know gasoline prices go up and much and for a very long period and it could be severe. your political impact yet there is no denying the u.s. has played a role in the events that have transpired in the middle east every time u.s. president barack obama went to the podium calling for this that there must be reform political social and economic reforms that meet the aspirations of the egyptian people and calling for egyptian president hosni mubarak's resignation he was calling for an end to the status quo which means a rise in uncertainty and we will reach region so did leaders weigh the toll it could take on their own economy some argue they don't have the power to kind of

meaning back up trying to push their back against an avalanche and i don't think we're going to have a lot of success that may not stop the u.s. from trying to take control some observers believe the u.s. may intervene militarily in libya were all reserves are massive under false pretenses of helping protesting people has nothing to do with interest. it has everything to do with the interest of the u.s. corporate oil corporations military for its profit either way analysts say the price of fuel going up will simply fuel public rage and the government is largely helpless the american people are going for a very nasty ride and there's no way out of it now i can tell you the government understands that it's time lauren mr r.t. new york. well from more on this will go to our studio in new york are joined by artie's lauren lyster of aren't walk us through the past couple of weeks in terms

of the way of the markets have been reacting there there has been some up and down it hasn't all been a consistent rise. you know you're absolutely right last week was markets and everybody reeling were this spike that we saw as a result of concern over what was going to happen in saudi arabia with what's happened in libya production of their oil has been cut by barclay's estimates is one million barrels a day they typically produce one point six million barrels a day which the world relies on so without the supply being cut in saudi arabia needed to come out and reassure that they could produce that amount of oil and also people were concerned that any kind of revolution might spread to saudi arabia and in that country anything was to affect the oil supply there that would be devastating for the world which relies on twenty five percent of its oil supply coming from saudi arabia so these are the concerns that sent a spike in oil last week index which is really what impacts more of america's oil usage and has a greater bearing on the u.s.

that breach one hundred and oil broker that i spoke to said that everybody was freaking out that investors were rushing and rushing and rushing to cover their investments because this was unexpected and unprecedented and not something that they were ever expecting or elles been trading and eighty eight to ninety four range and then it went up to ninety six and then of breached one hundred now it's back down to ninety seven and then with brant crude which is something that has a greater bearing on europe for example that's one fall which is also high that's gone from in the low seventy's to one hundred twelve in the month of february so we're seeing a more gradual rise there and then a huge spike in the w.t. i index and and you're right it has come down because saudi arabia did come out and say that it can produce it can make up for the loss of production that we're seeing in libya but there's still a lot of concerns and investors are all looking to see what's going to happen next in the middle east and if any other opec nation was to go offline analysts i've spoken to say that is the real concern that would send oil prices surging through

the roof now i think there are a lot of people out there that would like to see khadafi out but of course the big question is if he does if he is out who is going to control the oil supply in libya so you know quickly what are some theories there floating around out there. well that's the million dollar question and one of the areas of made if you call that i interviewed for this story is that the u.s. is already involved in trying to get control or garner control of the oil reserves of this rebellion started in the oil rich city of benghazi that's where many of the forty six billion barrels of reserves that libya have are near that's where the oil production largely happens and it's started by the national front for the salvation of libya which reports hundreds on the internet tied to the cia that there's many reports indicate that this opposition group is financed and trained by the cia so that's one of the indicators that people see that they say the u.s. is already involved in this and also we're hearing lawmakers call for a no fly zone in libya this is something that for people is reminiscent of the iraq

war this is rhetoric that we have not heard in terms of involvement in egypt or tunisia or other countries where people are dying sudan and people argue that we're hearing it here because it's all about oil it's all about the oil interests it's about those reserves it's about the u.s. corporations that operate in libya that are already halting production and having to get out of there because of the unrest like i said oil production has been cut by a million barrels a day and the world relies on one point six for libya so there is a lot at stake here and people say that that's why we're hearing these military interests and actions being called for being hinted at or the u.s. being connected to and it's interesting you wonder if american people really put two and two together because you know recent rasmussen polls which show that sixty percent sixty seven percent of the population thinks the u.s. shouldn't get involved in should stay out of the conflicts in the middle east but then again when it comes to oil you know that's where the government is going to

get involved or to affect our pocketbooks learned thanks so much. now let's turn our attention to wisconsin our protests continue to grow in fact this past weekend the state have their biggest protest or turnout since the vietnam war and yesterday police caved and refused to forcibly remove the people who are occupying the state capitol now reports are coming forward that governor scott walker is having the windows welded shut to avoid people from passing food to those who are inside are also seeing other states all as soon as the war on unions is becoming a nationwide battle artes as this you're talking to has more. america's middle class fighting a war already dark historic. where without is now people in the option words did sound used to last for over two weeks major protests that kicked off in wisconsin and spread to other states have been raging on in the fight for workers' rights protest movement small little towns that nobody organized people just showed up at city are you seeing that kind of spontaneous action probably i

think is going to start spreading throughout the united states. to begin with the demonstrators were not asking for much and the only less it is just not the case away the collective bargaining rights police state politicians proved said to chuck you new laws to give stability to government workers and people's outrage stronger that's scary there needs to be oversight there needs to be answered and then it was this congress building up like it was back up and us politicians the. teachers are the people there we are getting louder in the biggest middle class uprising. america has seen in years and i think getting more and more than that and i think a lot of the sand it's going to keep running. during his election campaign obama promised to walk in more step with america's workers but in reality as steve far away from the people who have been begging him for support probably because. or

simply politics like everybody else are forced to pander. you know i voted for obama but i'm tired of democrats to vote. this sentiment has grown even stronger as americans remember wall street not being similarly ignored when it's action spun the economy out of control if we allow the right wing media and the glenn becks of the world in these kinds of post the world to convince us that this problem is about state workers and not about j.p. morgan chase jamie dimon got seventeen million in bonuses it was ok we're here because a wall street reckless gambling angry ok that is why we're all here people are suffering as days of protesting turn into weeks realisation of being left to fend for themselves many when the president took office there's a feeling that some day the president is going to come in and just see everybody people don't feel that way the more they feel like they have to fight for themselves and some are beginning to stress if the massive uprising continues to be

ignored the tide could turn on obama president obama will not win two thousand and twelve without states like wisconsin a middle class that was forced to rise up is not going to get tired even if we think we'll still be here until it's got. an end to the battle of the workers is nowhere in sight. and in america now so divided along political and class lines is this a church or madison wisconsin. all looks like anonymous has struck again that he centralized activist group is now targeting the koch brothers yesterday they temporarily took down the website of the koch funded group americans for prosperity and now in a press statement and on a said that it's come to their attention that david and charles koch have quote a long attempted to assert american democracy their actions to undermine the legitimate political process in wisconsin are the final straw and the statement goes on to say that in

a world where corporate money has become. lifeblood of political influence the labor unions are one of the few ways that citizens have to fight against corporate greed and anonymous cannot ignore the plight of the citizen workers of wisconsin or the opportunity to fight for the people in america's broken political system so not only is the list of groups anonymous is targeting growing but apparently so are the anonymous ranks joining me now are two people affiliated with anonymous connie a participant in op was constant an anonymous source within anonymous now scotty i'm going to start with you because you are in wisconsin and so i'm just curious what is it that made you want to participate in what they're doing. basically. we need all the help we can get here. the voices of it protesters here in madison are clearly not being heard. everyone in the political groups keeps on saying that this is about money it has nothing to do with money and

it's getting to be less and less about unions and more and more about rights and democracy. the governor and the republicans especially are not listening to their constituents who they were you know voted in to represent. so do you feel that becoming a participant with anonymous. is somehow furthering this cause you go like that makes a strong statement what they're doing. i think it does i came to anonymous after hearing that they were siding at least with the rights of people everywhere. they are a force to be reckoned with they are something that cannot be ignored. anonymous you know just hearing that strikes fear into the hearts i believe of politicians of corporations of pretty much anyone who hears it because there is no one that they can think or there is no one that they can stop. now i know on i want to switch to

you know the koch brothers might be a good example of you know corporate power in the us which is what you talk about in your press statement they were pretty good financier's of scott brown but you know they're not the only ones so now should anybody to perhaps help finance a campaign for governor of the now taking on unions should they all be concerned that they might be targets as well. i'm going to go ahead and say yes the separation expand become a lot bigger than it is here in wisconsin however as stated before it necessarily. lay out an entire game play here it's really played out well now this is another going to say your press release says that you know you're asking people to boycott coke paper products while you search for other vulnerabilities and you what kind of hold her abilities are we talking about sounds like you're searching for

a plan. oh yeah coach. h.p. to build these new systems. and you know a lot of things came to light when we found out what they were up to exactly. some of the abilities people are looking for so the you just could sum it up as just. necessarily doing anything a listen. all right. ok so maybe sometime soon we'll see a leak of thousands of e-mails from americans for prosperity or some other coke company . you know there's no centralized structure to anonymous i'm just wondering how are these decisions made when it is the you when you decide to give a press statement like that not everybody who is a part of anonymous agrees with every attack with going after the koch brothers or

going up to companies that went after with the leaks or age gary. no. this is this is something that we like to reiterate to the press how is a part of anonymous but not on our public and on ops we are a small arm of the collective and even an operation like this. is necessarily on the bandwagon so to speak. to work on the ideas or submitted constantly for things to do targets of attack what to do so on so forth. the good ideas or ideas that people support are run with the idea if a structure will be set up support will be gained in the operation will be launched . so it's a bit difficult really trying to speak on this this operation has a lot of politics involved and. getting too political in

this sense after the company because of what it's doing not necessarily because of any of the politics and as as far. ok. well i don't know it sounds like you guys are getting pretty political to me with some of your recent statements but john and scott i want to thank you both for joining us and you know i guess we'll just have to be waiting to see when you do expose or if you do find those vulnerabilities within the koch brothers ok let's just go to. now still to come on tonight's show in our tool time segments banning teachers from talking about homosexuality in the classroom one state is actually considering that ridiculous idea and that is the entire u.s. government's ponzi scheme already made often serving one hundred fifteen years in jail for running the world's largest ponzi scheme thinks that it's. a charmer and her broadcasting live from washington d.c.