trial and error from closing get mo to the international case of lead shaikh mohammad president obama has done an about face on campaign promises and so did he caved to political pressure. syria. is. a road bird. it's so boring. he says it is just the way the review. is that true given libya is it possible the u.s. would intervene next in syria. and from libya to the trial of khalid shaikh mohammad a former us gov reads between the lines to expose secrets the government doesn't

want you to know it will be juicy as r.t. speaks with jesse ventura. from fota friend of washington how does this not been easy it may involve a bun stop shop make over on k. street. meaning it's tuesday april fifth eight pm in washington d.c. i'm lauren lyster and you're watching our t.v. now he's the former wrestler and minnesota governor author now of sixty three documents the government doesn't want you to read a new book and self-proclaimed scores of the mainstream media accusing m.s.m. d.c. of keeping his show off the airwaves because of his views on the iraq war and he's also a rumored possible two thousand and twelve vice presidential contender to run alongside ron paul the most recently perhaps jesse ventura sat down with our very own anastasio for a one on one interview earlier i spoke anastasio she told me about her interview

with the former minnesota governor take a listen. jesse ventura is certainly a man of many titles apart from the ones you have named he's also former wrestler he's a t.v. personality like you mentioned he has had five bestsellers released in the last couple of years and now the question on our mind was whether or not he's on a mission to become the new gillian astonished because of course with this new book out circa sixty three documents the government doesn't want you to read we were we wondered whether or not this is a little bit of a coincidence that his book is released so shortly after the whole ricky leak scandal broke and jesse ventura told us that that is a coincidence and that the difference between wiki leaks and this book is that the documents that he claims are featured in his blog are all open and available to the public the public just doesn't know about them because the mainstream media doesn't cover those issues we're going to have it here and he can have secret of what he had to say about the about face the obama administration has done to now have

a clean shaikh mohammad case tried in a military tribunal as opposed to a civilian court as they originally said well daryn certainly this is a major issue and major decision that we have seen come out of washington and i have to say even sort of really didn't pick his words here he believes that the only so major reason that the military tribunals are going to be hearing the k.-s. them case is because they don't want the public to find out a lot of the evidence surrounding this whole issue take a listen to what he told me he would be tried by a military tribunal well i believe that's being done so that we the american people can be able to give you evidence why should we be able to hear the evidence. for took place in new york city they're going to try these people under the bill and they're not military there's different rules in the military tribunals it's not open to the public it's closed door and our constitution and bill of rights which.

titled. to a fair trial well how come of it how come the constitution bill of rights is not applying to the gentleman. you know who were insisting that the mean message of our interview with jesse that he gave us some really of this new book out is he claims that there is as many as sixty million documents currently being covered up in the united states now that is certainly no you know light number and he says that there everybody should join the mission of releasing these documents and we really have a long and serious discussion about what kind of documents is ok to be known to the public and what kind of information should really say behind closed doors but that our viewers are going to have to get in the full version of this i'm sure they are going to wait you can and i know you weighed in on other issues what was his take on the u.s. intervention in libya. well as well as many other analysts at this point jesse ventura has really joint the call saying that the pretense for this intervention

from the west has really been different he brought up brought up the issue with us of double standards and really compared this to some of the other situations that u.s. and western leaders have chosen to conveniently ignore take a listen how could we didn't intervene in rwanda we showed the documents in our book on their rwanda you had the genocide of nearly a million people and nobody lifted a finger you want to know why because rwanda didn't have anything the international corporations needed libya's oil so it's very important to get the oil rwanda didn't have anything like that. the world ignored it because there was nothing to go in there for that they could for lack of better term rape and pillage. well the word out basically the mother me thought there was that unless the west and the united states are able to support some sort of corporate interests in the countries that they're getting involved with they really don't just do it they don't do it

and they don't lift a finger like jesse ventura said and that was a big message he's trying to send out these days well that's a big message and also he has that he's very critical of the two major political parties domestically themselves he calls himself the voice of the independent so what's it take on just kind of the general state of the u.s. government well you know of course just even sure is known to have been calling up for a while through these last several years of really the people rising up revolution is a big word he uses often and he says that this doesn't have to be a violent watch your back and people really according to him have to start to really express their concerns not just in their day to day lives but when that election day comes not just completely go out there and make that choice and according to jesse ventura the choice now for americans should be not between democrats or republicans take a listen to what he thinks that choice is supposed to be the next time we have an election here vote for anyone good democrats or republicans anyone but them

because they are bought and paid for the shoulder to shoulder a national corporations that have making decisions for the country that are making decisions that benefit better for their benefactors and the shoulder shoulders of your cushy goes to rock and roll. well you know but also brian raised the issue of accountability in our interview and we definitely crunched a lot of on that jesse ventura's main message of course was that you know i wonder whether he thinks it's sort of naive at this point after having seen the last street collapse take the collapse caused by wall street take place and really no one being held accountable whether that's naive in the sense to still hope that this is something might happen he believes you know if people like himself and those supporting him really follow this message well and it sure looks like a very interesting interview and will everybody want to wait to see the whole thing in its entirety when it airs on our t.v.

and we really appreciate those little tidbits you gave us and especially his jacket it was that was a great reason to watch in of itself and it's not going to joining us live from new york. and as you heard from jesse ventura the announcement that alleged nine eleven plot arc lead shaikh mohammed will go to trial in a military commission it launched on him a bad day has brought much criticism of obama for the about face from last year's announcement daycare that would be tried in civilian courts in new york city it's a defeat for the president who made the case that bedroom courts are really the best place to try these terror suspects and it's a reminder that obama's campaign promise to close gitmo stands long broken well earlier i spoke to daphne ivy atar senior associate at human rights first law and security program she told me why she believes obama caved to politics partly true that congress has made this difficult for the administration but on the other hand the ministration had over two years during which they could have brought mohamed

and his coconspirators to the united states for trial and they didn't and that's two years before congress put in place a ban on transferring any detainees to the united states for trial but i want to have the disingenuous to turn around and say i'm sorry i mean this is congress is right i didn't mean to interrupt you but i just do you think it's really politically possible that it just would have been that simple that the obama administration could have transferred those suspects to the u.s. i mean already we've seen obama not be able to deliver on his campaign pledge to close gitmo and even he said it just proved to be too politically difficult so with the opposition that is beyond just the restrictions from congress we've seen more recently do you think it really could have happened is that a little optimistic to believe that could have happened. no i mean in fact this was a cornerstone of his campaign was closing guantanamo bay and bringing these people to justice and yes closing guantanamo bay is challenging because there are still one hundred seventy two detainees there but we're talking about five people being

brought to the united states for a trial that could have been done without the approval of congress we have a new a system in place that can handle federal court trials that can handle terrorism trials we had another going on i'm a detainee who was transferred here to new york for trial was tried was convicted has been sentenced to life in prison without parole but all happened perfectly smoothly perfectly quietly the new york federal court system is actually the most experienced set of courts to handle terrorism cases in the country so they could have done that quite easily where they face some republican opposition absolutely but that opposition was purely about trying to undermine undermine president obama wasn't that the u.s. justice system couldn't handle it or had some real problems came times with these detainees at the same time there's been opposition from new york lawmakers from democratic lawmakers from mayor bloomberg they did not want this trial so there's more it's more complicated than just opposition from republicans you know that are

doing that based mainly on political moves like you said so would it have really been possible given that. you know i mean that's another area where unfortunately i think the administration bots that initiation should have talked to those new york politicians first before they announced that they were going to bring police shaikh mohammed and the coconspirators to new york for a trial they should have smooth the way there was really no reason not to bring them to new york for trial and yes political opposition grew out of a bunch of local concerns and local opposition mostly from business groups who were concerned about traffic tying up lower manhattan that didn't have to happen the administration could have handled much more carefully talked through with the mayor with this new york senator kind of smooth that way before making that announcement of what if the u.s. couldn't have one and we could now convicted them and civilian court what evidence was thrown out because it's you know why they believe that he was tortured what about that issue. you know again that's really

a red herring i mean eric holder himself the attorney general in two thousand and nine stood up and said we have a ton of evidence against these guys none of which comes from their statements now if they were tortured which we know that they were mistreated in prison and some of them were tortured those statements made under torture cannot be used in u.s. federal court but as eric holder said they didn't need to use any of those statements and if you look at the indictment that was unsealed yesterday it lists so much evidence against them reams and reams of evidence against them you had prosecutor spending years spending their whole careers putting together this case these prosecutors are extremely experienced they track all sorts of things from every song call to every communications of the purchase of blackman's and of weapons materials you didn't need to use their statements in order to convict them so what's really lost care what's really lost internationally you know get more has been used by al qaeda for example to continue to fuel support for that cause an outcast them who already may be considered

a martyr almost becomes one does this make this worse. i think it makes it much worse and i think that is one really big issue is that now has them kind of gets what he wants as he gets to be martyred he gets to keep the health keep it going to be a prison open and have that continue to harm the reputation of the united states and at the same time i think the american public loses out we don't get a public trial of the worst atrocity that courage that i've ever occurred on u.s. soil this is the worst terrorist attack that ever occurred to thousands and thousands of victims and relatives and family members of people who died in those attacks now we don't get a public trial we get this trial in a remote island in. the bay in cuba which is a country we don't even have relations with people cannot travel there to see the trial a handful of reporters will be allowed in who will be highly restricted that's not the way to try the most important terrorism case in this country's history in

secret and under special rules a lot done according to our normal us system that was daphne avatar senior associate human rights first law and security program and when it comes to the war on terror you just saw how things can change course and it wasn't long ago in fact just two thousand and eight if the u.s. welcomed an unlikely ally to the u.s. fight against terrorism libya's leader colonel moammar gadhafi well now the libyan leader faces its third week of u.s. coalition airstrikes so what's behind a change well argued guy and can take a look at u.s. interests that are at play and what could be next. as waves of public rage sweep through north africa and the middle east world powers jump on as many analysts say in an attempt to direct the waves of unrest in a way that's more favorable for them in libya forging relationship with the opposition so that it could not because there are people there to do business with

as syria popular raphe gather steam some experts say western powers might see the advantages of getting involved there to these three countries iran and syria are the main countries that will not align themselves or the manically to the global power elite or the western powers interested objectives in more power for good in the middle east as for example egypt will do or used to do with hosni mubarak and definitely kuwait saudi arabia syria is iran's closest ally in the region and the cost to support the revolver in syria affan come with mentions of you ran period is obviously a strategic ally for iran in the in the region and without syria iran loses their their bridge their line bridge to lebanon and their hit has blunt force and so of course hezbollah would suffer if the syrian regime was to fall and that would be stabilize iran and weaken its power in the region which would be an obvious benefit to being called american forces some expert even believe that destabilize ation is

part of a strategy of the west perceiving the region you're seeing reflect a strategy which includes our moms other points the generalized weakening of a sovereign nation states of the sovereign genes in the arab world in order to try to isolate iran leaving very few perhaps no friendly countries in the region and that will then leave iran pretty much alone at least in the arab world and will facilitate further turmoil inside iran although the u.s. secretary of state has ruled out america's involvement in syria for now the country's defense secretary caspar the syrian army to quote empower arab revolution and follow the example of egypt's military syria. thank you just where you live then you say you ran though would be

a tough call and no matter how much washington you want the regime there to sault for now it's seen as a mission impossible i'm sure that there are some in the u.s. who would love to attack iran and there are others who would like to take over the iranian opposition i think they know that the iranian opposition is not so fond of the united states they have a long memory in iran people remember the role of the united states in overthrowing the the precursor to the shah of iran overthrowing the democratically elected government of mossad there back in one thousand fifty three so i don't think the u.s. would be welcomed and i think many in washington know that would leave you being torn apart by the war and anti-government protests gaining momentum in syria the question on everyone's mind is who might be next i'm going to check our reporting from washington r.t. and for more on the motives behind us military involvement in libya and what that means borth a syria i'm joined by stephens nunez professor of politics and chair of middle

eastern studies at the university of san francisco thanks so much for joining us now you argue libya is not likely being fought on humanitarian grounds and you know you thought i had ongoing support we've seen forth a yemen or bahraini regime while those countries brutally suppress the anti-government protesters there those are of course u.s. allies but yet the quick intervention in libya so i want to know what you think is really the primary then the u.s. is bombing libya right now. oh clearly we want to get rid of because i'm. going in the side of those who would like to see more progress turn government in power. while he is indeed a brutal dictator. creatures very nasty and and one could indeed make a case perhaps that this intervention and then the massacre that's sort of the actual reason really when you look at the united states britain france i mean all three countries that have led this effort have supported governments that have also

you know killed hundreds of thousands. of innocent civilians and guatemala and tunisia israel right and there was no there's other there's a history of other african dictators that the united states has not had had bombs dropped on but in fact has given economic assistance and security assistance so what's behind that double standard. this is an effort at least initially. they win pretty easily and hopefully get a government that will over itself though its power to us intervention was very different than facing east in egypt and the exciting thing about that was uprisings was not just that they were nonviolent but that it leads were insanely huge missed movements by the people themselves but it was without foreign intervention it was a challenge both the al qaida in the sense that you need to have that kind of

terrorism and islamic extremism to overthrow dictators but also a challenge that will be a conservative warning that only through u.s. intervention tend to block or seek the middle east right in many ways they're trying to really hijack islamists and bad people can do it themselves nonviolently i think oh no we need to come to your rescue we need to help you to get you to come out and once there you go if the savior ok speaking of western intervention and also western interests you know syria is not a friend to the u.s. much more similar to libya than these other countries where we're seeing protests so what do you think the likelihood would be that the u.s. would get intervened i mean i want to just play a little bit of what a lawmaker recently said about intervention in syria there's a pressure there now that the world community is in libya and it's the right one we're not going to stand by and allow this assad to slaughter his people like his father did years ago and in doing so we're being consistent with our american

values and and we're also on the side of the arab people so i think the u.s. could use that kind of thinking to possibly intervene in syria. certainly politicians who would like to see that but i doubt that you go on the street would go that far certainly they would not get support from the arab league and from most european countries because while they have issues with assad it's not considered he's not they are the way a good off the has been alienated everybody also the big difference between the repression that's going on now in syria which is real but but it's not massive to the to what the senator was referring to and in terms of the whole massacre in one hundred eighty two that was an armed uprising by islamic extremists where what the regime probably could get away with that kind of severe repression by contrast is a nonviolent movement similar to what we've seen elsewhere and while they are willing to certainly. be and and attack and in some cases even shoot

protesters it's not going to get to the point of the kind of massacres that the west could then use as as intervention the other big difference is that despite the many problems of the assad regime it has much more of a social base and then the gadhafi does at this point and the people of syria even those who oppose assad would resist any kind of the western intervention back to russia has a base and serious hard to see any kind of resolution for an intervention getting past the u.n. security council in the case of that country now also i'm curious you know gadhafi you mentioned he's a dictator that is now the scored and the u.s. and u.s. allies but how did it get to that point because it actually wasn't that long ago that back in two thousand and eight khadafi was actually helping the u.s. in the war on terror and back in two thousand and three when the u.s. that you know for gain diplomatic ties with him and he let oil companies then you know how to fall turn around and look like crap. well he was rehabilitated in

a sense but we were happy with him either he was an ally but is currently going to community and unit nations and so we could work with him etc and there was no real prospect ones of poor him being overthrown so they figured might as well live in what we have we're going to look like there's a possibility of actually being overthrown i think then the interest game for more involved and ironically however the donkey was was in the biggest trouble during the first week of the uprising when it was nonviolent that's when the that's when the opposition took over all those cities there's massive sanctions and as my last guest pointed out when it comes to african dictators and their relationships with washington often have their assets frozen aid embargoes even airstrikes that's worse than libya others enjoy a warm and fuzzy relationship with u.s. diplomats so how does this happen well our t.s.k. life or take a look at the role of washington's p.r. machine kate street lobbyists and the part they play in the make over. corporate

jet blue card of. their countrymen has turned against them but several autocratic leaders have friends where it counts in washington. while several of them have been swept away by popular revolutions across the middle east and north africa for decades they clung to power with u.s. support and the help of disease k street home to the biggest and most powerful lobbying firms in the world capable of transforming libyan leader moammar gadhafi from this mad dog of the middle east as a. revolution to a partner in talks ties between. takeover. turn in recent years perhaps the best cinderella tale i'm k.-street is that of oil rich at which oriel getting the bounce is one of the most repressive regimes in the world for its torture extrajudicial killings and political prisoners. brought to power in

a military coup thirty years ago and claiming to have been elected by ninety seven percent of voters in two thousand and nine recently dropped one million dollars to hire lobbyists lanny davis davis was former president bill clinton's lawyer during his impeachment proceedings and enjoys close ties with secretary of state hillary clinton says it came here with the latest and finally i. went from despiser presser to a smiling snapshot with president obama himself and while lobbyists are autocrats salesman to the state department the pitch is a very specific one the u.s. withdrew its ambassador in the lab in one thousand nine hundred four but is exxon mobil and chevron texaco billions into drilling equitorial gagne's oil washington warmed up to over but the old beings aren't just dropping dollars in d.c. . being signed little teodoro is living the sweet life in hollywood dating pop stars and purchasing this thirty five million dollar. malibu mansion which you paid

for by why we wish for america's oriel beauty to us bake a cone of us truly in commission plans for a three hundred eighty million dollar yacht three times with the oil rich country it spends on public health and education per year. thirty eight million. well most of the population survives a must than a dollar a day like his predecessors of both republican and democrat before him president obama loves the united states as a defender of human rights around the world intervening in libya i'd so-called humanitarian grounds but critics say he's just as pragmatic as his predecessors as well when it comes to turning a blind eye to repression and places like equitorial guinea as long as the oil keeps flowing feeling for the arts washington d.c. . and from influence in washington to influence somewhere far far away outer space

there was a time when americans boldly went there were no man had gone before the fast forward to two thousand and eleven and the us is effectively shuttered its manned spaceflight program but decades after the space race russia has not done the same as we were reminded first hand as russia sent the soyuz t.m.a. twenty one into space now earlier i spoke with space entrepreneur jeff manber on what the u.s. may be losing out on with its change in national priorities. the russians were first to embrace capitalism and commercial and they've kept their program going in large part because they have customers the united states and nasa and the european space agency so when they face cutbacks and they have a serious economic interest dislocation they said wait a second we want to continue space but we'll go commercial and go to a customer's and their launch vehicle safe which robust it's operational and they were able to continue by embracing a lot more commercial program we made a i think foolish to teach it decision twenty years ago you can't blame it on

democrats republicans it's the way we are in america twenty years ago we should have said you know we need a new vehicle after the shuttle but we don't think that way we wait until emergencies and we have a tragedy of columbia and the crew that was it was killed on the return of columbia and then a committee came along the augustine commission and said we can't continue the shuttle and so as usual we're going to have this last minute situation we have a gap of maybe six years before the americans get back involved how does the u.s. lose out by not investing in stating well we we lose out because we have to keep workers here who are doing cutting edge technology what's the payoff the payoff could be supersonic jets that take us from new york to moscow in two hours the payoff could be having transportation to national labs and space you never know with the taylor office and speaking of that let's talk about that because for

example that twenty two fighter jet has funded recently gotten that funding but that was one of the most expensive fighter jets in american history hundreds of millions of dollars so how does it compare building is that to building say a space shuttle with a different well you don't want to get into that game everyone always plays their game invest in my program let me for the let the well read well i can say well what we should do in terms of the pentagon i will say that we need a commercial space program we are moving in that. we can't we why our government funding we need customers we should be taking the saudis and the israelis and and everyone else to space commercially. that was based entrepreneur jeff manber and that is going to do it for now for more on the stories we covered visit our website r.t. dot com slash usa and be sure to check out our youtube page we're always putting fresh video up at youtube dot com slash our team erica and you can also follow me at twitter and please do at lauren lyster and lay out what you think about our shows have a great night and i will see.