let. me. welcome to show the real headlines with none of the mercy or if you live out of washington d.c. now the obama administration has done a complete one eighty on the nine eleven suspects detained announcing that they're not going to be tried in civilian court but rather military commissions they blame congress but we'll see if they ever even try to fight then could be heading to the cia according to reports from n.p.r. gen david petraeus might be the next head of the intelligence agency so we'll have

details on what that move could mean both for our wars abroad and her presidential politics here at home and today many people are wondering what about israel all the drastic changes that are happening in countries in the middle east how is it going to affect this tiny country and its foreign policy to look into it and we'll hash out the details of one u.n. report author who slightly changed his stance on the war in gaza and the countdown to the shutdown continues the government will turn off its lights this friday unless the right and left can reach an agreement on the budget paul ryan's two thousand and twelve budget plan is also out with six trillion dollars worth of cuts over the next ten years so it's a baby who the winners and who the losers will be and then sit back and enjoy a much needed happy hour with us producer jenny churchill and the daily callers mike riggs will join me to discuss the stories making a buzz us far this week like the sledge walk in toronto it's going to be five we'll have details on all that and much more but first our top story. yesterday attorney

general eric holder made the announcement that collates shaikh mohammed the alleged nine eleven mastermind and four alleged coconspirators will be tried in military commissions at guantanamo bay instead of in a federal civilian court in manhattan where the crime was committed so move it has many legal egg. it's cringing as the fierce debate of military commissions versus federal civilian courts has proven the latter to be more successful to deal harsher sentences and of course to be the math that's been tested by time more than two hundred years worth of perhaps worst of all yet another plot by the obama administration one of their choosing to blame on congress who passed legislation barring the transfer of detainees from u.s. soil. seasons ago who where and how to prosecute have always been and must remain the responsibility of the executive branch members of congress simply do not have access to the evidence and other information necessary to make

prosecution judgments yet you're taking one of the nation's most tested counterterrorism tools off the table and tie your hands in a way that could have serious ramifications. but the politics are really tie obama and holder's hands our debate just shoes to succumb to any need to discuss this from our studio in new york is scott horton contributing editor and legal and national security matters for harper's magazine scott thanks so much for joining us tonight now there's a lot to talk about here both for obama and for attorney general eric holder but let's start just with hold it right i mean he's the leading prosecutor in the country this is the deadliest crime in american history so arguably one of the biggest cases in american history and yet he really sounds defeated to me it sounds like he's not even really willing to fight for what it is that he wanted. i think that's right i think this is really a shattering moment for eric holder personally and you think back to the interview

he gave to the new yorker's jane mayer last year he clark with pride about his resolve on principle to take these courses these cases forward in the federal court he described that as a defining moment in his tenure as attorney general and i think that we see it is a frightening moment but it doesn't define eric holder in the positive light he looks incredibly weak and decisive this decision about where to bring the charges and what charges to bring is eric holder's decision that's clear under the constitution and laws of the united states it's not a decision that rests with congress in fact that there's that's fixed by our constitution the seventeenth century precedent that says the legislature maybe not intrude into this area we discover that eric holder had an indictment already secured in the southern district of new york in two thousand and nine he was

prepared to go forward he didn't do it he trembled he set back and he let his adversaries in congress outflank him so right now he looks like a defeated man but what about president obama right because eric holder also in this speech said that this power still lies solely within the executive branch and you know i feel like obama the president had decided that we can go to war in libya without any kind of congressional approval preventive point fingers and say the congress is tying his hands when it comes to closing guantanamo bay and to trying these people on american soil i know that argument is kind of lacking for me after we've actually that he's committed in the last few weeks. it's inconsistent it certainly looks weak you can look back at his predecessor george bush who set up kuantan the mo organize the commissions put things through acts of will as executive never really even caring about what congress had to say until the supreme

court top of the whole house of cards and force them essentially to go to congress with obama with obama we just don't see anything right that kind of resolve or decisiveness and we see incredible indecision and weakness in the face of domestic political opposition on this issue and it really is it seems to me that obama's domestic political advisors have told him oh this isn't a good issue for you. just let the republicans have what they want even though you think is a matter of principle it's wrong so it makes him appear indecisive and weak i think . and you know i also have to wonder in terms of the military commissions there has been a lot of legal opinions out there flying around saying that well you know these military commissions are very new they have a far smaller success rate than it comes to civilian courts on this case and so i'm

just wondering can people likely sheikh mohamed when they go in front of these military commissions can maybe use that to their defense to say you know if this isn't really a tried and tested form of justice that you're putting me through here. exactly correct and in fact i think few people who've looked at this have much doubt about the guilt of collegiate muhammad the fact most people expect he's going to plead guilty but there's a big question about the appearance of the process here and i think the federal court system has a lot of integrity to it as widely respected around the world but what about these courts in guantanamo i mean if you listen to what's said by republicans in congress they advocate these courts because they think they are kangaroo courts there's no question of conviction there's no question about what's going to come out of the process i think that's actually a slander of the military justice system but it does reinforce this impression

that the that there is not fair justice that's me that here and technically we would say is this a regularly constituted court that's the legal requirement under the geneva conventions very very clear and i think there's almost no one in the world looking at what's going on at one time on the mo whether they think this new system in the new rules are fair or not who would say this is a regularly constituted court it's been tankard with and changed over and over and over again and of course i think you can also argue that this is only going to perhaps you know help. mohammad's image help the entire idea that he now is a martyr and really you know help them play upon that but i do have to wonder you know for me this is a huge flip flop when it comes to the obama administration but i wonder if the average american and this is a deal breaker not considering but i think there may be a little more worried about things that hit close to home right now and economic matters that we will see how it plays out and twenty thanks so much for joining us

tonight great to be with you. now we know that there are a lot of changes coming up for the obama administration and for obama's national security team. but if the rumors are true then we may have a better idea of who exactly is going where and they are as reported several government officials say that general david petraeus is being seriously considered to be the next cia director and leon panetta current cia director will then be taking over for robert gates as secretary of defense now might just seem like a typical washington shuffling or wondering if a rumor of presidential run for betrayers has anything to do with it and of this would mean that the drone strike campaign will be taken to an entirely new and much more intense level joining with us as it is kevin zeese director of cumhal america dot us kevin thanks so much for joining us tonight first of all i guess these are rumors but do you buy it do you think that there is a big chance that petraeus might be going to the cia sure that's a real good possibility. has become much more active participant in the actual

failure of wars you mentioned the drone strikes in pakistan but it's also true in libya and sorry to see moving in general into syria to fight wars to make a lot of sense from a strategic perspective and i think you also mentioned correctly the elections coming up you know twenty two world trade is now in the public making speeches about how bad the afghan war is going now is left. to criticize the obama administration has drawn for office in afghanistan is not going very well probably will not be going very well keep the troops inside and quiet rather than criticizing obama from the outside now but in that sense you also have to wonder if this is an easy way out for general petraeus right he took over the war in afghanistan now so you could say this is also on his shoulders so now if he just moves on to the cia then he kind of gets to dump this project and just move on to

the next thing move on to intelligence and also to. not a blanket. no question about it and you know iraq is not really one of the well no either you see the iraqi government involved in torture of civilians in iraq well the u.s. government of you know the way a lot of people who are doing the torturing of general betray us was in charge of training the afghan military and police and so he gets the blame for that because there's no started i don't want her but you also see the afghan government shooting at civilians who are demonstrating against your outcome and so you have set it up you leaves i go out of afghanistan afghanistan he's been criticized by karzai there's been sort of the and there's he's trying to slow down doesn't work and so he can leave there now in as it's filling in go on to a higher job at the cia working can he be a war fighter these are really strange in libya right now as a real battle for who's in charge of the libyan armed forces a former cia agent or colonel have to or is barely now with

a former. interior minister general yunus and it looks like the cia may get control over the libyan rebels and having the train is in charge that would make a license so it's a very. really maybe showing that the cia will become even more active military player and i do already yeah i definitely think that i mean i think that we've definitely seen the cia and the military really fused together in some ways even switch roles when it comes to conducting some of these wars abroad in iraq and afghanistan but in pakistan in yemen you can say especially with these drone strikes i stand it's very sad. pakistans very interesting you know when we have that blackwater agent who the new york times wouldn't tell their readers was it was a cia agent who was forced out of the country and hundreds of other cia agents were forced to leave as well so as an active and secret and not approved by congress

were going on by the cia in pakistan and there's some similar going on in libya so these are really interesting times for portrays to come into our job to get this job because the cia sees me as a player in this ongoing never ending war on terror going from country to country in the first troops in. in libya and also conducting a war in pakistan so patrice is a master at propaganda he is very good with the media he's very good with congress is loved by the traditional corporate media and so he did a great propagandist to have a cia. what petraeus is definitely someone loved by congress as well i can imagine the pride wouldn't have the time in confirmed for something like this you know some of our t. speculated that cheri would just be in a completely unanimous decision but let's say the petraeus did want to run down the line i think that he wants to run in twenty sixteen is that also just going to to beef up his credentials if he now says that he's working for the cia but as you

know we've heard one other. who became president that was a george bush the first and so i think there will be a resume for those who are hawkish and there are a lot of those i do agree that you have an easily easy confirmation through through to the senate which will be you know who a lot of controversy a lot of infighting something obama is a need so i think this is a really legitimate rumor i think that it would be beneficial work for troops into obama and i think if it was a series goes up around there is this i think this is a normal you relatedly scenario to unfold before us but you know i think a lot of people might have started perhaps becoming the next joint chiefs of staff chairman coming up in to admiral mike mullen role which he's going to step down from this fall would have been more of a step up there as a kind of a dig that he isn't even in the running for that one. that's a really interesting question i mean patrol is has you know a very puffed up image in the military and there's

a lot of i think exaggeration of peter gabriel the diplomat for for a duel met peter galbraith said exactly that that there's a lot of exaggeration about his record in fact when he succeeded in mosul you know setting up the afghan police and and getting control as soon as he left it fell apart. and when he also was very involved in building up the civilian police and in the military and in iraq he did the largest weapons procurements as were two or three percent of the weapons went missing we don't know when they went according the g.a.o. in the washington post exposé and petraeus was in charge of that so you know there have been some some scandals have snuck out it may not be good to put in the joint chiefs of staff because of that kind of stuff i think the cia maybe even more appropriate for the kind of skills here as which is fighting counterinsurgency wars are dealing with the media in dealing with congress or frankly as he does he may be more effective here if you're for support us foreign policy which is very little

tricycle charges based i can i thank you very much for joining us and giving us your insight on this i guess we're just trying to have to wait and see that definitely will be an interesting change thanks thanks a lot. now coming up next it's been one year since wiki leaks released the video collateral murder and that's a look at the ascension of wiki leaks from a little known web site to enemy number one over the last year how to save the middle east has radically changed forever it is clear from how israel and the united states plan to deal with it is not to take a look at the changing dynamics of the book. get up some pleasure see the story of the siege so sorely sleep you think you understand it and then he glimpse something else and here's some other part of it i realized everything you saw you don't understand are welcome to the big picture.

let's not forget that we had an apartheid regime right now. i think rather the dummies be the only one well. we never got the book says the bird can come safely get ready because of the freedom. hey guys welcome to show and tell me alone a show we've heard are just stuff to say on the topic now i want to hear our audience just go on to you tube the video response our twitter profile of the questions that we've posted on you tube every monday and on thursday and with the

show your response is going to leave your voice be heard. today marks a very sobering anniversary it's been a one year since the video collateral murder was released to the public by then a little known website called wiki leaks now we can leaks have been around for years but this is the leak that really put them into the spotlight and show the world yet again the horrific realities of war where a helicopter of u.s.

soldiers opened fire on a group of civilians and journalists in iraq. i am there are. now the attack which left civilians and reuters reporters dead also showed how the casual rhetoric used by the soldiers was when they opened fire using terms like light him up like it was a video game and i personally sat down with wiki leaks co-founder julian assigned on the day that this video was released to the public and explained to us the purpose of sharing these graphic videos with the worlds. that's right we believe in releasing documents to the world together with analysis to put them in context for people to understand because the full source material is what helps keep journalism about us but it's independently verifiable independently checkable assertions a chicken in the same way as the scientific paper is trickle it's

a source material was released the public. ever since this video was shared with the world join the science has become a household name in wiki leaks has become public enemy number one of the us government and all some people praise the songs for bravery showing these clips to the world as well as thousands of war and diplomatic documents others they washington's political elite say that he's put the country safety at risk these are the same is true foreign terrorist organization is that they were engaged in terrorist activity there what they're doing is clearly aiding and abetting terrorist groups are using its information against american. information warfare is warfare and julian assange is engaged in warfare information terrorism which leads to you getting killed is terrorism and julian assange is engaged in terrorism so i think the managed care. he's done in the so much yes there is going is enormous damage to our country and i think he needs to be prosecuted to the full fullest

extent of the law and if that becomes a problem i need to change the law and leaking the material is deplorable agree with the pentagon's assessment that the people will be least going to have blood on their hands it sure looks to me on the facts that mr science and wiki leaks are violated america's espionage with great. negative consequences for us. are a short while later it came out of the government in prison to the man they suspect of leaking the government documents and the video to wiki leaks p.f.c. bradley manning however there's never been an official says. ation made between manning and songe and then of course came the massive leak of diplomatic cables it was like christmas for the media when the cables came out exposing our every facet of the us government feels about foreign policy foreign leaders stuff issues and that is just scratching the surface but as soon as washington found out about the classified information now being made open to the public the outcry from lawmakers

was really really loud. and. leaked that information is cool to treason i think anything which it should. be. most washington lawmakers couldn't explain was why waiting weeks was any different than the new york times or the washington post which has exposed classified government information for years now when they called out the u.s. government on its hefty amount of state secrets they were applauded when a wiki leaks did it they put our national security in jeopardy and as the public debate rages bradley manning has sat in solitary confinement quantico subjected to an ethical treatment and he still to this day has not been convicted of any crime now keep in mind that all of this happened under the obama administration president obama announced on day one that he would have the most transparent administration in history but it's become very clear that he hasn't kept true to his word on that one he even accepted a transparency award ironically behind closed doors perhaps to avoid any obvious

questions from the press and makes you think about how much difference just one year can make or the word transparency started out as something that our government would strive for but ultimately became the enemy and all efforts were put towards protecting state secrets and fighting whistleblowers over it so strong that both songe and manning are now facing serious criminal charges so that the protests continue and the call for more transparency gets louder just stop and think for one minute today about how the u.s. government our government has changed the course backtracked and cornered itself when it comes to being honest with the world and just think that it all started with a video. and not only is he quickly changing middle east raising questions about israel's foreign policy future but the heated debate over the gaza war in two thousand and eight and two thousand and six he backed off as well this week richard goldstone who chaired the u.n. fact finding mission to look into war crimes and civilian deaths in the conflicts

and whose name was on the final report came out with an op ed in the la shinton post this week changing his stance slightly goldstone said that how do you know then what he knows now after israel conducted their own investigation the findings of the report may have been skewed differently and that the attacks on civilians by israeli defense forces may not have been deliberate and it sparked a division within the un which is about to send the report to the security council with the aim of referring both israel and hamas to the international criminal court for alleged war crimes perhaps we need to ask first and foremost if this puts all such reports into question especially when all sides don't participate in the findings or discuss with music or erekat human rights attorney activists an adjunct professor at georgetown university thanks so much for being here tonight thank you for having known for starters what goldstone did to this op ed is he didn't completely changed his stance i think a lot of people are misreading a little bit but he did say that he had a few reservations that perhaps it might have been a little different had there been the information that he knows now then what is it

that he knows now so what also ended in his op ed was that he left it very very very open to interpretation and that's why you see these israel to the running with that in saying the thinking it all back you see palestinians think that he is about them but human rights practitioners can read into it and see where he's actually mean teams many of his original findings including his commitment to justice that kind of military application of the laws of war to an armed conflict and so what he knows now is not very much more which makes this very odd all he knows now is that israel has said what it had been accused of being deliberate killing was actually not the negligence but there's nothing to underpin that and make some very calm. that in their findings because the independent committee of experts headed by judge marion mccowan davis said that israel semester investigations were thorough impartial or independent and leave a lot to be desired what i think you know this really highlights the main focus here is the problem with all of these investigations in many ways right because

goldstone also said he had hoped that hamas would participate and make their own investigation which you know dream on i'd say you know israel also refused to be a part of the un's investigation and only wanted to do their own so you have to ask if along the way everything is really so politicized you know he also said this is by no means anything like a judicial process so how can you really trust any of the fighting that's the that's the point these findings are not to be conflated with fact the point of it is that you have enough findings that rise to the level that you need a judicial inquiry and also does meet them very clear from the beginning that nothing in the report is an indictment against israel or against hamas but at least right is the level of being referred to by jury additional body like the international criminal court which has been the point from the very beginning in the desire and the demand to make a distinction between hamas and israel in terms of investigating itself where as reviewers have found the mass doesn't even have the capacity to review with self

israel which does have the capacity does have the judicial bodies does have all the trappings of investigatory body to do those the rest of the investigation is unwilling to do so and that's why the two years later of the thirty six investigations that goldstone did in the report only a third of them have been completed by israel and none of them have necessarily been met with accountability for the palestinian victims what do you think that he was trying to do here by writing this i mean the timing is interesting because as i mentioned they want to take it to the security council to the international criminal court both or israel and hamas i don't know if he was trying to postpone that get them to change their minds or was he trying to. israel perhaps to somehow you know come back and try to join with the u.n. here so from the very very beginning israel did not want to be a part of this they boycotted it even before the mission began and accused it of being biased even before it began which makes israel's position very very curious and so it wasn't happy that last week on march twenty first in the sixteenth

pression of the human rights council the human rights council decided finally to move the goldstone report from geneva to new york and the general assembly where it could be followed up with some action and actionable like referral to the un security council neither hamas or israel was interested in it nobody was saying anything most speculated that it would probably die because the security council would overturn it didn't have to do anything if he was worried about israel's standing for it's really worth going on he didn't have to do anything it was more or less it was going to die somewhere the fact that he put out this is is makes one wonder does he feel that he could have learned israel to the teeth had he done things differently or been more accommodating and by the way it's not just him it's a four person panel so even if he rejects that there's three others to still go to and the entire process but or is there something else that playbook goldson was so worried about that he felt he needed to defend israel on the sign and the fact that

today he's accepted of an invitation to visit israel makes me wonder that there's something else there's something personal that's going on that we don't know about and i think that need be called start want to be a really conservative report and was shocked when he found that the entire world responded with this is great you actually did a thorough investigation and so it really is curious why he's done this best he was absolutely naive at worst he would be an opportunist i want to thank you very much for joining us i think that we won't really know he's not speaking out too much when it comes to this what exactly he was meeting today. you hear but like i said it definitely brings into question me this was the fact that you know this is a war people obviously want to investigate this these types of scenarios and deciding so every side is always going to think they're right of course you know hamas like i said perhaps doesn't want to investigate themselves like you said perhaps they don't even have.