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tv   [untitled]    August 11, 2011 10:00pm-10:30pm EDT

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market why not. why not what's really happening to the global economy was much stronger a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines cons report. on the loan to show or get the real headlines with none of them or see me live in washington d.c. now tonight we're going to speak with thomas drake progress a official and whistleblower about his case and the obama administration's war on leakers and we'll look at a pentagon spin machine regarding the daily helicopter crash in afghanistan and left thirty u.s. service members that yesterday the military told us that they got the guy that shot
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the helicopter down but don't really believe them and then let's talk about polygamy why do so many americans disapprove of it does it affect their view of mormon's people like presidential candidates mitt romney and jon huntsman and can polygamy and democracy go hand in hand we're going to look at all of that and more tonight including a dose of happy hour but first let's take a look at what the mainstream media has decided to miss. the riots in london and other english cities haven't quite stopped but they are quieting down could be because british prime minister david cameron is how the author already start cracking down. british prime minister david cameron says his government is acting aggressively to restore order following some deadly riots it was much more action in the courts as judges stayed on the bench all night to process hundreds of arrests in the weeks rioting and looting david cameron promising that there would be raids to try to hunt down some of the people
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responsible for the violence and that could be a clampdown on social media and the use of blackberry because. did you hear that last part there there could be a clampdown on social media and we fill you in on the details here british prime minister david cameron was addressing parliament today about the riots and he was discussing the role that twitter facebook and blackberry messenger play when he said that he's working with of police with the intelligence services and industry to look at whether it would be right to stop people communicating via these websites and services as in to shut them off as an censor them he then added that the free flow of information can be used for good but it also can be used for ill g.o.p. if you really just occur or did that just occurred to you mr prime minister you know unfortunately that's the way the world works if you're going to live in a country that abides by the principles of free speech the ports the free flow of information then you have to support that free flow of information at all times you can just pick and choose based on whether you think it's being used for good or for
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ill it just doesn't work that way especially if you criticize arab nations that we saw clamp down on social media during the uprisings of the last eight months which western nations did but now the u.k. wants to clamp down and it's supposed to be ok because it's the west that's doing it talk about hypocrisy i don't get me wrong i'm not saying that this is in defense of the violence of the looting that has taken place during these riots this is about something much greater than that and by the way mr cameron social media has also been used throughout these riots for british residents to organize cleaning crews to warn other individuals about avoiding areas that were particularly violent but the thing that really gets me is that after cameron made this announcement well where is hillary clinton our secretary of state of not only launched initiatives worth millions of dollars but constantly spoken out about the need for that belief free flow of information internet is a network that magnifies the power and potential of all others and that's why we
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believe it's critical that. it's users are assured certain basic freedoms the goal is not to tell people how to use the internet anymore than we ought to tell people how to use any public square whether it's career square or times square the value of the spaces derives from the garage idea of activities people can pursue. from holding a rally to selling their vegetables to having a private conversation. interesting right that we haven't heard of people now that it's our best friend our oldest ally that wants to restrict those freedoms and the mainstream media they don't even bother to call them out on it they don't even bother asking the state department even making the connection that there is some hypocrisy at play here and that throwing this idea around could be a very dangerous step toward censorship in england and it really makes you wonder what our government would do if we were to ever see the same type of rights here in
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the us i'm betting that they would also want to clamp down on social media and i'm betting because we've now seen examples of it surrounding the events in the u.k. there are mainstream media would be happy to miss all those contradictions. but. now it's back to a subject that we've spent so much time covering here on this show the obama administration's war against whistleblowers and government leaks and we spoke in great depth about the case of thomas drake former n.s.a. senior official who the government tried to convict of ten felony charges some by using the espionage act when in reality created shared information about waste fraud and abuse of the n.s.a. with a reporter from the baltimore sun and none of that information was classified now it also took the justice department two and a half years to indict him after raiding his home after years of persecution by the government the threat of thirty five years behind bars and the financial burden of
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fighting for his freedom just a few months ago often charges. or suddenly dropped and drake pled guilty to only one misdemeanor charge of unauthorized computer access now what's important to note here is that this was a case carried over from the bush administration and then pursued actively by the obama administration the same administration that promised to be the most open and the most transparent you have the same one that's launched a full war on whistleblowers and how to use the espionage act to press criminal charges in five different cases of alleged national security leaks more prosecutions than all other administrations combined so now that one of those cases has been a result let's hear the firsthand account joining me to discuss this is thomas drake former senior executive with the n.s.a. and n.s.a. whistleblower and his attorney jesselyn radek national security and human rights director for the government accountability project the nation's leading whistleblower organization i want to thank both of you for being here tonight now thomas i'm going to start with you because this is been going on for the last
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couple of years of your life and just a few months ago you face to face the possibility of possibly spending thirty five years behind bars and now you're not going to now it's over how does that feel strongly really. did this entire experience to ruin your life or at least the last couple of years of your life i mean you were labeled a traitor you were demonized i can't even imagine the emotional stress that i national stress that this is placed on you and so would you i would want to be american or any human being to go through but would you do it again do you fundamentally believe in the information that you did pass on and the value of it yes but certainly with issues of public concern raise serious questions about the conduct of our government so let's get into what some of those issues were exactly because you always stood by the fact that none of the information you put out there was classified information that you you know carried it gave over to the to the baltimore sun and for you what was that what is that information mean especially talk about some of the leaks that you put out there will be permanent it was
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focused on ensuring billion dollar fraud we should have use to me. your program it was a flagship program for n.s.a. at the time i also discovered that the government had engaged in illegal activity with respect to i tried surveillance of americans in clear violation of the statute in the constitution and how many times did you try to get this information out there before you went to the baltimore sun when you had other people that were trying to work with you that recognize that this is wrong and you tried to report it to people who were superior within the same organization it was a multi-year effort it started from within and i say reporting to my immediate superiors also general counsel inspector general's office but then i was also a material witness on three major investigations two of them were nine eleven congressional investigations and one involve the department of finance inspector general audit just occasion of n.s.a. on this flight ship program and a clear legal alternative so this was a number of year long effort for you to try to get this information out there and what was the response that you always got when you tried to bring out abysmal
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failure nothing was done. but what do they tell you when you when you when you try to say we need a point we need to pay attention to this something's wrong and if they chose to cover the remain in denial and shoes are going to pursue the decisions that have made that it didn't seem to matter it didn't seem to matter what was being actually called out is that why you then decided to go to the press or to feel like i was the only option left at that point was a fateful decision because it was fraught with significant per i've heard by virtue of actually going to reporters outside of the system outside of the formal reporting charles it was fundamentally centered on my first amendment rights as an american to do so and what have you when you say reporter outside of this is that you mean outside of washington d.c. outside of these so media publications that work closely with off already by virtue of going to a reporter under the first amendment you know freedom of the press i was technically
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the administrative violation to do so in an authorized manner but i do not have prior approval to have contact with a reporter in the free press that i was an administrative violation. i understand now just like i want to go over to you for a minute or two because this case was going on there was a lot of media attention surrounding it and then suddenly we learned that all the charges were dropped that we were that the government was trying to get a plea bargain and you ended up with only one misdemeanor was unauthorized access to a computer what really happened here why did it suddenly go away well i i think the government thought on many occasions that they could get tom drake to clean guilty and he always said from the get go i refused to plea bargain with the truth and i have to say in my history of lawyering i had never seen a defendant reject so many plea bargains because they couldn't find one they actually fit any crime he committed it was to the point where it was like time
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happen you have parked in the wrong parking space third. no spit on the sidewalk or anything but he stepped that sleet rejected please it's what we could find something that would actually fit what he did which was excessive authorized use of a government computer which pretty much every single government worker has done if they've ever checked facebook while at work and yet that was still charged here but the federal judge in this case actually be rated the prosecutors he raided the government for the fact that it took two and a half years after they raided your home before they even indicted you and you know how did that feel to at least have somebody finally be on your side that is supposed to be you know up holding the law it demonstrates to me that those are sure third branch of government called you sure and they're actually holding his or her brains to account for their actions now do you see a difference between what it is that you do this information was was not classified
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or excuse me yes it was it was unclassified that you leaked out there did you see a difference between what you did and with weekly weeks that information is classified but do you think that it still serves a purpose that it needs to be put out there in the press to actually yes i do a little good for the distinction is that i released on classified disclose on closer information where the allegations are in terms of what you would use the events around that incident involved classified information would you support that . we can at least as an alternative source carry permits of a place to go and i just think the fact that. the government tried to explain what happened that the charges were dropped they again tried to use this idea of secrets and say that really what was going on here is there are too many secrets that we didn't want to close and the judge would have actually asked for that well that's the government's mean and that is a myth. they had to clear the case because it would have revealed too much confidential information in point of fact they knew ahead of time that they had indicted him on information that had not been classified and they to speak here and
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he would fold under the enormous weight of the new leashing the full force would be entire executive branch and he didn't and the boss to string of rulings but believe me it had nothing to do with revealing secret information in point of fact this information turned out to be stuff that had been posted and seen by thousands on the n.s.a. interest net so why do you think that this is ministration did put their full force and full power behind this did they try to make an example of you do you feel like this is an intimidation tactic so that others don't leak information don't want to be whistleblowers. as that surprising to you as you that will suit you just wrote an op ed recently where you said it's surprising that obama did this it's surprising but it's certainly become the norm it certainly is that spirit of the war was a war's precedent now do either of you think that this type of war on whistleblowers
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that this excessive government surveillance excessive government secrecy is that something that can be stopped at this point are we just moving towards this perpetual ever expanding surveillance and secret classified state. for a new center if go to work or if it doesn't stop i do feel like there's a lot of movement even disappointingly by obama. towards expanding the secrecy regime that was put into place by bush and the fact that obama has indicted war people under the espionage act of all things for mishandling classified information then all previous presidents combined sends a very chilling message and i think it's sort of a backdoor way to get an official secrets act which we don't have in this country in which we've managed to live for two hundred years without you still think that it can be stopped you said of the latter situation would be a very chilling one but can it be stopped now requires more exposure disclosure of
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government for you since high crimes and misdemeanors that your girl has and using the power of secrecy to heart all that is untouchable well that means that it requires more people like yourself that are actually willing to put yourself on the line and know that the results might be this type of persecution you know the government going after you for a number of years but here you did prevail the and i want to thank you very much for joining us tonight thomas and thank you very much if you were. just ahead do you know where your congress members vacationing this summer or who is paying for that trip stick around for a very interesting story out of pentagon says that it's killed a taliban leader who shot down a u.s. helicopter in afghanistan killing more than thirty people including one hundred eighty feels it's a night it was the news of this taliban death really a p.r. move but if you go deep into some of. you know some of the story and it seems so. you think you understand it and then
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you get something else here's the part of it and realize. you don't. really know and you know. five. feet.
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let's not forget that we had a hard time. i think. well. we never got the look as they're going to be safe get ready for freedom. also secret of the u.s. and israel are the best of friends hell when netanyahu came to the us back in may
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and podium in front of congress he got more bipartisan standing ovations from the president of the united states himself. and i do see a lot of old friends here and i see a lot of new friends of israel as well. democrats and republicans alike thousand now we all know august is government vacation season so while president obama is on vacation so is congress collectively and guess where a lot of them are going bright sunny israel that's right nearly twenty percent of congress in fact both republican and democrat will be visiting the middle eastern country for a week during their vacation and all the eighty one congress members are there they'll be visiting with president shimon peres prime minister benjamin netanyahu and will also visit with palestinian authority president mahmoud abbas in the west bank now for some of this is going to be their second or their third trip like
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stating who we are who is hosting a vacation for twenty six democratic members and he really said recently said that he is pleased members of congress have this opportunity to study american interests in the middle east and gave a deeper understanding of the issues involved in increasing stability in the region he's probably also referring to all the republican congress numbers most of them who are freshman this year as this is going to be their first trip to israel let's get to the juicy part of this story right these vacations are all sponsored as in paid for by the american israel education foundation which is basically a pac and a self-proclaimed america's pro israel lobby is treating u.s. congress members to an all expense paid vacation the same congress members who vote for their aid package isn't that nice you know i'm feeling of goldman sachs was paying for twenty percent of the u.s. congress to head to aruba for a week and be looked at quite a bit differently or a pro china lobby sent eighty one members of congress to china on vacation i
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probably wouldn't go over too well either but when it comes to israel anything goes including vacations and they're really really just the tip of the iceberg c. a.p.i. has already spent one point four million dollars alone this year and it's open secrets dot org explains there they'd been up. they're logging expenditures over the past couple of years so perhaps that's why congress has dropped billions in aid to israel according to a graph from the congressional research service the us has dropped a total of one hundred and nine billion dollars in aid and if we get a rough average looks like the u.s. is getting between two point five and three billion a year in israel in aid to israel and that number is always rising so just let all those numbers sink in turn it while the u.s. economy teeters on the edge and congressmen fight viciously over what cuts should be made to social programs they still manage to have bipartisan consensus to always pump out billions to israel every year that's just a sign of where the priorities of your elected representatives really lie. now this
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week we've been talking about the deadly helicopter crash in afghanistan took place last weekend in the wardak province and it took the lives of thirty american service members who in one thousand nine hundred seals this was the biggest loss of life in a single incident since the war began and yesterday the remains arrived at the dover air force base in delaware an event which the pentagon decided to close to the press but all blocking any video of the tragic reality of this war there was another effort to get another story in the papers yesterday and i sad statement said that through a precision air strike from an f. sixteen the man who shot down the u.s. helicopter had been killed and the statement also said that they killed not only the shooter but taliban captain. and several of their taliban associates after they received multiple intelligence leads and tips from local citizens on how to contact that taliban is disputed the claim and said that taliban members were killed in the airstrike the shooter was not one of them but we do have to raise a few questions here you have to wonder how the hell we know who this one guy is
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who shot down the plane especially since the military hasn't yet determined what exactly is the helicopter he said plane but the military hasn't yet determined what brought this helicopter down the general john allen who is now in command of afghanistan so that he believes it was a single rocket propelled grenade but they don't know with any certainty yet so again how do they expect us to believe with certainty that they know who this one guy was that means we need to take a good hard look at the military's attempts to spin this war to discuss this with me is jim hansen retired special operations master sergeant and military blogger at black net. gen thanks for being here tonight are you with me here are you with me that it's a little bit hard to believe if they don't even know right they haven't even concluded the investigation to see what exactly brought this helicopter down how how would they possibly know who the one guy is that maybe shot the r.p.g. if that's what it was and right again. what they had in
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a raid like this if you have a lot of satellite coverage a lot of drone coverage what they got in addition to the tips from local villagers and what they watch this group of people leave so they have fairly good idea of exactly where that group of people who conducted the ambush went to the people who were in contact with the ranger unit to start with so they just assume that since they were black that whole group they got the one guy they have one hundred percent certainty i doubt it ok so then why that's the well because it's really really good sounds better but you know i feel like it really makes you have to wonder because obviously this was a tragic loss of life you know for this war in the u.s. but it's this concept of revenge that i think that they're trying to spin because you could look at this you know this helicopter crash and you could say this is another sign that this war isn't going well ten years and it's still not getting any better they can still take down helicopters but yet they want to make it seem as don't worry because we've got the guys back and now it's. i don't know that makes a particular statement about whether the war itself is going better because any
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time you go on a raid like i mean the time you go on a mission to an active firefight it could go back you know that's got nothing to do the taliban right now has trouble gathering enough people to make a good firefight so i don't think it's a sign that the war itself is going poorly i think this is the same time all they need right is one r.p.g. and it could take down a helicopter and it could have some of the most elite they sometimes have the ability to take one incident like that and catch us in a bad way. but stuff happens but you don't think this is about the concept of revenge you don't think of this is trying to appease americans trying to pacify that right it's not going to that there's also in tribal honor culture there's the idea that when you take down the guy who you then you make an impact it's a part of the disinformation operations against the taliban and to influence the local population and of course there's no middle of it to make the american public feel like we've got some revenge and we did it we were there we got the exact guy who pulled the trigger we got all his buddies if we didn't kill him and that's a good thing but then again today we're. are we actually getting out of this war again why don't these men die well let's hope we did not understand pakistan as
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bases for the taliban and al qaeda to plan operations against us so there are other places so that's the that's the old after ten years of war after more than a trillion dollars that is spent that have been spent on this specific war thousands of lives have been lost we can hope that we deny them this area in the future they have while we also go to yemen and somalia and just keep going the world over it's to i mean we've got to go where we find you know we could only fly to where we know they are we know they're there killing them there stop them from doing things other places you know so if they don't have that as a safe haven where they can recruit train refit and plan operations elsewhere that's a good thing because it was all going to be there isn't stopping anybody from doing things in other places because we now we see other networks rising up and like i mentioned yemen and you have somalia and you have more people who are constantly being recruited because of the fact that we like to bomb a lot of countries i don't know that that's as much of a factor as a separate al qaeda franchise you don't know the facts but you can't deny the fact
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that the more wars we wage the more of these jihad is we create because of our actions i think there is a tie there i don't think it's as direct as people like to state i don't think and i think now i do the right thing and you know you just don't want to admit it you just don't want to admit it let's talk about the fact that the pentagon also banned the media from being able to cover this event when the remains what do you think about i think it was perfectly fine it was one of the most tragic days you know in a long time for american forces and it certainly sadly didn't stop president obama from having his personal photographer use those dead bodies as a photo offers reelection that was given to us first starters can you imagine what did it but can you imagine what the response would have been like if president obama hadn't gone there is he not going to go that's right to go it was wrong to let his photographer take your picture of him trying to look solemn in a situation least one of the solemn as he nods are some of these people are dying why release the pictures. why did the pentagon have to block it again and why now
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only is the white house photographer because. they always are those who were killed asked that no media be there they didn't have the opportunity to tell the president not to use it as a reelection tool that was a group test mockery of his office when a diary that he's trying to save president george w. bush never used any moment like that as a reelection to all yes i'm saying exactly that he wanted to be kidding me how many times he told me a picture of bush at dover using dead bodies of our service members of the reelection to we had a fortune landing on the aircraft carriers illicit who's a fighter pilot obama's not you have to expect the president to go to situations like this if anything i think the biggest critique that's remade out there and this is one of the making on the show all this week is that a these types of situations unfortunately this only gets attention now right every single body that arrives a job doesn't get the media's attention the president doesn't go to greet it and yes this is been the largest loss of life in a single attack during the entire war right so it's proper but i'm just confused
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you feel like people then put more value on the lives of these navy seals because they're the elite forces are they really more valuable than it's. more of a media event and that's i think every life is equally valuable i think because the seals get a lot of you know high level attention that it's ok and it was ok for obama to go get it was fine and proper for him to go but the families asked for no attention and for his photographer to take pictures of him and then have them released was a disgraceful attempt to use an example of a human beings in texas there's a technicality because some of these remains have been identified yet and they couldn't actually ask the family members they didn't receive in the nineteen of the thirty said elmo and of the other ones they probably just didn't bother to dignify the question with an answer they knew better but so do you think about right do you think that if a family member doesn't want the images of the war that taxpayers are paying for that their relatives and their i don't. you should be respected and the public and the time. expires and we need to do what the public and the taxpayers in the media
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actually need to be able to visualize right they need to realize here they need to realize what a war looks like what is going on so far away in the majority of americans aren't even concerned about it aren't even connected to it at all sometimes you need to have that type of the concept but i do concur with the entire concept that we need to show caskets in dover in order to prove to merica that we're still at war unfortunately i think that sometimes that's the only thing that works thanks so much for joining us tonight and for sticking around for happy hour. all right still to come tonight we have our thursday edition of show and tell and that is the subject a lot of people feel uncomfortable talking about polygamy but are polygamy and democracy incompatible might dive into that topic or we're going to dive into the topic just about. into a little bit with the reclusive doodle we're going to bring just to sort out what. are you healthy.

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