from rebels to riches of libyan rebels claim they have gadhafi surrounded k. street lobbyists in d.c. are catching rebel fever a look at why gadhafi is a disease today when he was the toast to washington just two years ago. the you tube is not credible an eyewitness account is not credible on the come on stuff and shouts help they're killing us next door. these are not credible ways to assess the situation. was a fig leaves it leaves what happens when the news from syria is filtered through a tiny lens that of cellphone cameras just how big is the gap between perception

and reality. and over places your goal at least when you're the first lady but quoting a fellow ball of lavish trips proved to be an ugly p.r. blunder on her husband's reelection campaign. it is thursday august twenty first four pm in washington d.c. i'm christine frizz out there watching our team. well i want to talk about the latest in libya and an interesting turn of events since it was just two years ago pretty much exactly two years ago that a team of washington's best known hawks this is a good and a show of great friendship and unity let's look back at obvious of two thousand and nine where just released wiki leaks cables giving him down for a count of senators john mccain lindsey graham and joe lieberman meeting with gadhafi son to discuss a long term bilateral relationship between the two countries and

a promise that the u.s. will provide arms and military gear to the country and take seriously its requests to be treated with more respect now today as we know these are the same three lawmakers who have said the u.s. should have provided more weapons and more support to the rebels to help take down gadhafi and this is interesting too it's not just the lawmakers here in washington who can't make up their minds about the libyan dictator a lobbyist here in d.c. are the same are in the same boat at least according to the national journal they say influence peddlers who once worked for the libyan leader moammar gadhafi regime are scrambling to publicly sever ties with the strongman while their competitors are helping his country's rebels gain of valuable foothold in launching to meanwhile the same article shows that other lobbyist firms here in d.c. have signed on with the libyan trained transitional national council which the united states canada britain spain and germany now recognize as the country's

legitimate government of firms work to help the council gain that recognition after being detained this spring. so it seems that whichever way the political wind is blowing here in washington a whole lot of time money and resources go into shaping the way the world views our friends our enemies and our friends. that make more sense of all of this in a sense is he or she is foreign policy analyst for the cato institute i want to talk about all of these different aspects of what's going on. this is not really new if you look back the u.s. back has the mubarak for thirty years that also backed leaders in pakistan nicaragua there is a long history of this so i want to get your take do you think that this is something new this first friendship you know now animosity toward libya toward the dictator in libya is something different or is this sort of just like it's always been that certainly a recurring pattern or we've seen this not only just during the arab spring and since nine eleven but all actually just all the way throughout the cold war and in

fact this particular situation is very reminiscent of how the united states certainly tried to court patel of energy and effort in a standard in one thousand ninety's for unocal pipeline deal through central asia and of course the taliban wasn't privy to that they didn't really understand what exactly the west was doing because we were both condemning the regime and then through a sort of covert channels trying to operate with them and trying to sort of secure a very spoiled and natural gas arrangements with the regime and this is sort of again what we see now in libya so this is a recurring theme and it sort of exposes the united states to ocracy and i don't question the notion that president obama and u.s. officials do genuinely care about human rights around the world it's a problem when we suspend that criticism toward the regimes that we do sort of have a favor with such as the saudis such as yours and yemen where we have a specific strategic interest involved and we don't ever criticize what they do and this is definitely the case when you see the appraising now in bahrain where we actually sort of have a week in and out of the saudis to crack a lot of schools even though of course there are crack and schools going to shear

regime there and we wanted to sort of you know put that to rest even though. we're telling the shia regime in iran to overthrow their regime so it's definitely a exposing the hypocrisy of u.s. foreign policy right it seems like you were in favor of human rights and were in favor of certain dictators as long as it serves the interests here what about this idea though that these these three senators mccain graham and lieberman you know they are the loudest voices at least that i've heard it on the sunday talk shows the cable networks on the floor of the senate calling for more weapons apologizing that the fall of gadhafi took so long these are the same people that were you know buddy buddy with his son just two years ago what do you think that's that well i think it's understandable in the sense that all these people sort of change you know with the with the prevailing political winds in washington as you mentioned in your intro but again it sort of exposes the double standards that we have allowed totally ongoing it when u.s. foreign policy i think it's unfortunate of course but i think we must understand that our interests lie in not separating ideals and interests pursuit of focusing

on where our interests and ideals are intertwine around the world and it's unfortunate because we end up actually promoting a great deal of the animosity that spurs a lot of the passive and active support for terrorism that of course has blowback against the united states let's talk about what i think sometimes we here in washington have just sort of accepted as part of the political game and that is the whole idea of lobbyists in washington working for every cause whether it be for you know a better environment or tobacco regulations or as we have now seen a lot of these lobbying firms right here right down the street from our studios are working or working to boost the reputation of moammar gadhafi now severing ties and other firms kind of saying hey we're going to go support and give the good message to the t.n.c. what about this close relationship and how so much is controlled from our little bubble here well there's a great deal of money to be made in nation building as we've seen in iraq and afghanistan of course those go to the more well connected industries and

individuals. that have relations either with the white house or with capitals and with the western europe. but again coming back to this notion of blowback in this notion that you know our actions today meet create future enemies and i think a lot of what you read in the arab press now especially in you know in the middle east and north africa there's this feeling that yes thank you so much nato for helping us speed become liberated but now yankee go home and i think there's also this sort of narrative that if we overstay a welcome it'll be sort of sort of feed this broader narrative that this was sort of a pretext for western imperialism and i think unfortunately we open ourselves to that criticism as a result of sort of overstating our welcome and obviously the t.n.c. even said they're going to be opening up libya's oil and natural gas interests to the western oil companies so this all is very bizarre and it's unfortunate because we are essentially undermining the very principles that we purport to promote what about the challenges that you see you have i know we've been talking a lot here on r.g.p. and i read extensively about the t.n.c.

the transitional national council how it is made up of so many different factions and how a lot of these factions disagree about just about everything except wanting to think about if you go what happens when gadhafi goes. on in terms of p.r. war in terms of the lobbyist here in washington what sides do they choose then when this one group that they purport to be supporting turns into many groups your guess is as good as mine i mean it's really unfortunate that the euphoria in the western media it's a bit presumptuous because we don't know what's going to come next we don't know what will follow could offer we don't even know if the t.n.c. really represents the interest of all of the libyan people so again this is sort of reminiscent of two thousand and three with the fall of saddam hussein's statue certainly many people are happy that gadhafi is gone and that saddam hussein is gone but now the real work will begin and we don't know what will come next you mention the word hypocrisy if you time as far as this country and u.s. foreign policy i think is important to point out to this is not as far as the lobbyist are concerned and the changing message is in the sort of fair weather

friendship this isn't just one party certainly we saw bill clinton come into office as president and say you. china's human rights record should be tied to you know how much they're given by this country and then you know on his way out it seems that he you know under his presidency china really really moved up in terms of trade the same thing with jimmy carter with ronald reagan and other countries. as far as hypocrisy goes to what extent are other countries aware of this i mean do they hone in on this or i think there's a critical difference between engagement and assistance i mean i think that we can certainly engage diplomatically with the various authoritarian regimes i mean that's just part of the claim is that it's part of statecraft it's a question of as you mentioned earlier with mubarak or actively supporting a regime that is ruthlessly suppressing their internal dissidents as you see with khadafi now we are basically remained on the sideline until the u.n. authorize the intervention for nato and so i think that's where the hypocrisy kind of comes into play in the state craft and that's when it exposes again some of the hypocrisy of this sort of notion that it will it will what's interesting also is

that the western press isn't talking about the soap opera so this is something that we should also be discussing here in this in this conversation but i think unfortunately a lot of the political debates within washington are so focused on the ideals the principles of values that america so likes to export those ideals can be spun whichever way you want i mean you know we say go invade libya in the name of human rights that's not exactly the full story or even most of the story i mean i think that's important to point out absolutely absolutely i mean if you notice just the broad spectrum of obama's foreign policy you know drone attacks in pakistan that increase for a full of an hour there is talk about creating a base within the middle east for even more drone strikes in yemen and somalia so certainly the question of human rights goes out the window of course when it comes to our strategic interests and we don't talk about the afghan civilians who are killed as a result of the training for the afghan forces that we support or the you know the iraqi leader that we support al maliki who is essentially turn the country back into a police state so it's unfortunate but it's

a part of statecraft what do you see just kind of honing in on libya what do you see as one or two of the greatest challenges from this point forward regarding the u.s. relationship with reading the rest methods i think the first thing would be the potential again for a blowback of the potential of just this could all backfire in this is something that we we didn't really see in the one nine hundred eighty s. until essentially nine eleven so this could be five years ten years. years down the line we may not know and also again this idea that we can create or sort of rebuild countries from the bottom up this is this is something that we've encountered in iraq and afghanistan i think it's and when i and many other countries before that i mean exactly forgotten that it's easy to topple governments it's very difficult to rebuild them from a lot of mark certainly very interesting great to have you have this is certainly an expertise of yours and we appreciate you weighing in and sharing your insight is that foreign policy analyst for the cato institute so it appears it's not just the u.s. that maintains fairweather friendships leaders of other nato countries have changed

their tune as well regarding whose side to be on this is becoming particularly true in regards to the future of libya and in particular the future of oil and libya r.z. correspondents there a fourth is in rome and breaks down the game of seduction italians are hoping to win in a post gadhafi libya. kill to the hostage was and you'll strike oil whether or not that's things true when it comes to libya well it's going to play a pivotal role in the countries here we have to be restruck and meet. the press or interest to check the torah. but also rebel to i mean we. may be interested to restart something or less responsible the stranger to the concept of friends with benefits. being quick to k.z. up to the new transitional council inviting the public face of the group but brill

it's really it's. was conducting his closest european allies when the nato a bombing campaign began back in april properly switch sides began courting the rebels. the full the wall almost a third of its least daily energy needs were imported from libya an oil giant any was the largest port operator in the country because many here have been doing all they can to safeguard these contracts but the italy will be able to maintain its previously close business ties it's by no means a given in a post gadhafi libya proceed select extremely uncertain and there are little guarantees one of the biggest problems to date italy and other western countries since the beginning of the war has been a struggle to adequately understand the internal workings of the rebels themselves . among the rebels there are many factions islamist tunisian people.

and many chiefs of these groups of rebels are from the politicians with gadhafi and they completely change their face. because they say anything i think corrupt politician he. could just be personally on a number of occasions through business connections to the money to gay she returned from a fact finding trip to libya with a handwritten letter she says was written by gadhafi to berlusconi in it he allegedly says he was surprised by your decision to join the coalition against libya especially after we signed the friendship and cooperation treaty between our two sides the treaty he's referring to he was trying just two months before the libyan uprising the letter goes on to ask why did you join our enemies without any diplomatic dialogue or investigation berlusconi now seems too busy making the friends it was that maybe the final chapter of. many fields of conflict will continue i would dare to say there's no doubt if you talk. to. among the rebels

themselves there is no such. consensus vote consensus to me to be an interim. leader who actually the person to talk to. the. here now is silly along with many in the way he will find previous lucrative relations we turn out to be just as fickle the rainfall the fairway the french there are the. well the u.s. and e.u. countries are calling for an arms embargo against syria knowing what has become a violent crackdown there but with no foreign journalists allowed inside that country the reports that do come out are both scarce and hard to verify as a result the way it is perceived from the outside appears to be one sided as artie's maria financial reports began to run for part of the morning this is how

the world has been watching them dressed in syria through mobile phone cameras and to footage from the war stricken country has flooded international news or rather blooded. killings and executions supposedly at the hands of president our son's military suman cell phones have become a trademark of the regime syrian officials those seized the scenes or staged the you tube is not credible an eyewitness account was not credible after come on now and shout help they're killing us next door. these are not credible ways to assess the situation the u.n. has been downed over the violence against his people for damascus emphasizes from afar until recently no u.n. mission has crossed the syrian border as a correspondent with saudi a rather than raised i being a national news channel in syria he says the coalition's claim itself because this image i look at a good deal of my thinking is they ban foreign journalists and fact finding

missions from coming in and they don't allow us to work can i just take a camera and go filming even here in the mask and you should and i would never wait till the government made a statement every ten million reporters in the country like everyone has a phone why should they wait for the local access to information many people have used their cell phones to film what's been happening and to share it with the rest of the world. but this what went against censorship is a double edged sword while mobile video can give anyone a voice and perhaps help save lives it can just as well be used to transform the truth and that's become a cost of people's lives. not his real name is the man behind the camera is a freelance journalist currently working for a western media outlet i cannot tell more he doesn't want his face to be on screen hiding the truth about himself it's tries to reveal the truth of another kind yeah

but that's very very critical for making the book was always. there are some armed forces on the ground that are killing civilians while. that's good forces are for killing innocent unarmed. civilians and. for him freedom. i am muslim isn't afraid of being thrown in jail has been there three times already. his afraid of being killed or friends in the room where he got. this was who was filming it was the only one who was thirty thousand. brokers and others are very peripheral syrian state t.v. brings their evidence to support their leader. of the better so i do be cheerful mother crying over her boy apparently there they said that was in homes

but here it is same picture indeed it was made in the right in the person's name they can be on the side but they just play one of the most oppressive regimes in the world for the moment past has never been serious strongpoint because this is all we ask all we ask is for the truth to come out the best sides of the story to be told not just one side all the time the fact that not as many foreign journalists are allowed in. the western world once does not give the right to the western world to grab any story. i put it as true but that doesn't move to be among them it is gold and this conflict the press is not just about coverage it's a war and as an every war they go with the we roof notion r t the moscow syria. still ahead on r.t. from martha's vineyard to sound africa ally and latin america the first lady has

been accused of living with the old save you time but a tabloid journalist get a hold of michelle's so-called extravagant trips all their tactics and spoil obama's chance for reelection and is this a p.r. disaster in the making. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else and here's you some other part of it and realized everything you thought you knew you don't i'm sorry welcome to the big picture. what drives the world the fear mongering used by politicians who makes decision to create programs. who can you trust no one. is you know you are with the global machinery see where are we heading state controlled capitalism is called

sasol so when nobody dares to ask we do our t.v. question more. let me give the we in the park let me bring. my i think. the the one.

we have the globe that says you're safe get ready for freedom. all right so basically since the first week since president obama got elected there have been popularity polls and attacks on his record on his citizenship calls for his reagan resignation hitler comparisons but now it looks like the real attacks have launched the first major battle and what will no doubt be a long vicious war it's hacks on the first lady michelle obama in the form of a string of articles and criticisms on her well lifestyle the most notable perhaps

coming from the daily mail a british tabloid and the us how to live the national enquirer and reports that michelle obama is quote a vacation junkie that has been indulging in a five star and five star hotels where she splashes out expensive massages and alcohol spending ten million dollars of us taxpayer money and have been going on while shopping sprees according to the article much to the distress of her husband who is absolutely furious about his wife's quote out of control spending well let's talk about this and what this could mean and joining me from new york to our new york studios t.j. walker daily national managing editor of the daily national dot com. good to be with you hey t.j. i know that your specialty is very much in sort of p.r. and shaping the message do you think that what we're seeing here and you know i should mention that very few people are actually talking about this it's not a big story but we want we want to just kind of explore this a little bit is this a p.r. disaster. yes it is

a disaster and now when it came to all the trips two years ago a year ago you could just write off all that criticism is as right wing ranting the same sort of people who are talking about that we're talking about the whole birth certificate nonsense but now we have a serious problem for obama we're three years into the presidency unemployment is sky high you've got so many liberals and progressives very angry at obama for giving all street everything it wanted in the bailout for not really regulating banks for extending the bush tax cuts to the rich and now to see him spending so much time in cautionary is like martha's vineyard in hawaii for cation around it's really starting to cut a lot of liberals and progressives his base that's going to hurt but i mean it in terms of these pictures and what we're seeing i mean certainly a camera always follows obama and the first lady wherever they go i mean these are people who let's be honest it whichever party or any other hardwood is the hard

working family who has to deal with the wrath of you know a public that and you know could put them in danger at points and do they not deserve to vacation should they be you know staying in trailer parks the what's the deal here i mean are they just going to to nicer places or should they be staying in the white house all year long which frankly you know i think when people work too much they don't work as well but you know what should they be doing what should the message be showing. first of all this president has taken a lot fewer vacation days than bush or reagan people sometimes forget that but visuals are important when ronald reagan was on vacation you saw him physically clearing brush. sneaking with his axe chopping away and it wasn't just being with rich famous hollywood celebrities that so there is are so you're saying then they should just go somewhere different and if so then where should they be going in that of our president how about gap how about gatlinburg i

mean when i grew up we went to myrtle beach south carolina we played goofy dog food and water we went to the arcade something a little more middle class and we're in a nation where everyone seems so fixated on wealthy and everyone's trying to be donald trump i think you have a huge huge base of people in this country tens of millions of unemployed for one democratic voters number two who feel like the whole national debate is all skewed around should we cut the wealthiest taxes you know ten percent or fifty percent no one's really looking out for average income people and obama does not help himself when he and his wife seem to just love jetsetting around with the rich and famous t.j. i mean when the obama did it the obama's are not now nor were they before and they were in the white house middle class average people they have always been successful they've worked hard why would they go to myrtle beach you know which

from what i know is strip clubs and trailer parks you know maybe three nice beach areas. you know why would they go there when it's things like that would be a harder area as well to secure with all the you know security detail they have to bring it down well because put it you only have to go back a couple of years in the obama's were not in fact wealthy they were in fact middle class in their upper middle class but when they were. in living in chicago presumably they occasionally went to you know maybe perhaps american america or a back in exile or places that were a little closer the problem with this particular location martha's vineyard is it is known as just the hot bed of the wealthiest people the biggest celebrities and hey you could say i'm jealous because i didn't get invited to go this summer but still it is not good symbolism when you are

a democratic president and you have unemployment approaching double digit level it just doesn't show a lot of sympathy you get two years ago you could make a case a year ago but two years ago it was just out there are two thousand and eight financial collapse and i will say the leading contender right now in the g.o.p. presidential race that is mitt romney who as we know is extremely wealthy but let me take us a step further t.j. because i want to talk about this what is the result of this i mean you say this is a p.r. disaster do you think that this could have an impact on the campaign on the obama campaign that is detrimental to his becoming reelected. well it does not help it's not a disaster in the sense of this is the one thing that's going to cause implosion but as you've seen with obama's poll numbers they steadily go down down down i think the big worry he has right now is not with the so-called independents and certainly it's not the republicans they're never going to vote for him which is why a lot of democrats we should stop wasting time trying to placate them here obama's

real trouble right now is he is in tremendous danger of losing support among actual democrats party activists too you saw jim hightower of texas earlier this week really coming out very forcefully attacking the president and he's a very partisan democrat jim hightower i think if his poll numbers continue to go down you may in fact see a primary challenger to president obama while i don't know how how likely that would be thoroughly enjoy thing on in one sense or last t.j. how could they reset the math and here go to vacation in you know ten a senate seat go to rocky mountain go to branson missouri and mix it up with the common folk are a t.j. walker daily national managing editor of daily national dot com thanks so much and that's going to do it for now but for more on the stories we cover and go to our t. dot com.