from rebels to riches as libyan rebels claim they have gadhafi surrounded k.-street lobbyists in d.c. are catching rival fever a look at why good doggie is a disease today he was the toast of the town just two years ago. the you tube is not credible an eyewitness account is not credible after they come out of this town and shot to help the killing us next door. these are not credible ways to assess the situation applies if it leave did leave us alone 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 all the places real goal at least when you're the first lady of the united states mo could michelle obama's lavish trips prove to be an ugly p.r. blunder on her husband's reelection campaign. it's thursday august twenty fifth seven pm in washington d.c. and christine for a sound you're watching our team. let's start off with a look at libya tonight where there is still no sign of the libyan dictator moammar gadhafi but some information has come out about just how deep the ties are and work between he and some high powered government officials it turns out it was just two years ago pretty much exactly that a team of washington's best known hawks visited libya and a show of friendship and unity let's look back at august of two thousand and nine

where just released wiki leaks cables give an in-depth account of senators john mccain lindsey graham and joe lieberman meeting with gadhafi son and discussing a long term bilateral relationship. between the two countries and also a promise the u.s. would provide arms and military gear to the country and take seriously requests that the government 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 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 the lobbyists here in d.c. are in the same boat according to the national journal influence peddlers lobbyists who once worked for the libyan leader are scrambling to publicly sever ties with the strongman while their competitors are helping his country's rebels gain a valuable foothold in washington the same article also shows that patton vons of

the harbor group two lobbyist firms here have signed on with the libyan transitional national council which the u.s. canada britain spain and germany now recognizes the country's legitimate government both terms work to help the council gain that recognition after being retained by spring things to me whichever way the political wind is blowing here in washington whole lot of time money and resources going to shaping the way the world views are friends and our enemies even our friend of mine as well to help make more sense of this all i spoke to lou innocent she is foreign policy analyst for the cato institute she stands by our studio and i asked her font on whether the current animosity against the former friend in this case libya was different or just par for the course for u.s. foreign policy and here is her take. the recurring pattern of we've seen this not only just during the arab spring and since nine eleven but all actually just all the way through out the cold war and in fact this particular situation is very

reminiscent of how the united states served trying to court the taliban regime in afghanistan during the one nine hundred 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 a covert channels trying to operate with them and trying to sort of secure oil 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 parker see 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 bahrain centers and yemen where we have specific strategic interests involved and we don't ever criticize what they do and this is definitely the case when you see the a crazy now in bahrain where we actually sort of you are going in and out of the saudis to crack a lot of skills even though of course they were cracked in schools and the sheriff

team there and we wanted to sort of you know put that to rest even though we're telling the shiite regime in iran to overthrow their regime so there'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 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 of the senate calling for more weapons apologizing that the fall of gadhafi took so long he said the same people that were you know buddy buddy with his son just two years ago but 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. totally ongoing 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 but sort of focusing

on where our interests and ideal sort of intertwine around the world is unfortunate because we end up actually promoting a great deal of the animosity that spurs a lot of the past with an 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 in western europe but again it coming back to this notion of blowback in this notion that you know our actions today may create future enemies and i think a lot of what you read in the arab press now especially you know in the middle east and north africa there's this feeling that yes thank you so much nato for helping us to be become liberated but now yankee go home and i think there's also this sort of narrative that if we were stairwell committal 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 has a chance even said they're going to be opening up libya's oil and natural gas interests to a western oil company so this all is very bizarre and it's unfortunate because we are essentially undermining the very principles that we purport to. boat what about the challenges that you say you had i know we've been talking a lot here on r.t. and i read extensively about the t.n.c.

the transitional national council how it is made up of so many different factions and a lot of these factions disagree about just about everything except wanting to see khadafi go what happens when gadhafi goes if he's already gone in terms of that p.r. war in terms of the lobbyists here in washington what side 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 it is 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 really 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 cut off is gone and that saddam hussein is gone but now the real work will begin and we don't know will come next you mention the word hypocrisy a few times as far as this country and the u.s. foreign policy i think is important to point out to you this is not as far as a lobbyist are concerned and the changing messages and 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 know 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 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 think there's a critical difference between engagement and assistance and i think that we can certainly engage diplomatically with the various authoritarian regimes i mean that's just part of diplomacy that's part of statecraft it's a question of as you mentioned earlier with mubarak we're actively supporting a regime that is ruthlessly suppressing their internal dissidents as you see with gadhafi now we were basically remained on the sideline until the u.n. authorize the intervention for nato and so i think that's where the hope parker see kind of comes into play in this new crowd and that's an expose again sort of the hook ocracy this sort of notion that it will it will what's interesting also is

that the western press isn't talking about the soccer 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 and principles of values that america so likes to explore those ideals can be spun whichever way you want i mean you know we say go invade libya in the name of human rights but 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 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 think 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 writing the u.s. the methods i think the first thing would be a potential again for blowback 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. thousand years down the line we may not know and also again the same view that we can create or sort of rebuild countries from the bottom up this is something that we've encountered in iraq and afghanistan i think it's and we've done that 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 the bottom up certainly very interesting and great to have you heard this is certainly an expertise of yours and we appreciate you weighing in and sharing your if i spent on policy analyst for the cato institute so it appears it's not just the u.s. that maintains their rather friendships leaders of other nato countries have

changed their tune as well regarding who side to be on this is particularly true in regards to the future of libya and in particular the future of oil in libya correspondent sara firth is in rome and breaks down the game of seduction italians are hoping to win in a coast guard off in libya. kill to the hearts of most modern was and you'll strike oil whether or not that's sayings true when it comes to libya well it's going to play a pivotal role in the country's future q we have to feel restruck interest deadmeat . western interest to tell if it's one. or two rebels fighting with a future libyan government interest to restart show me how it's possible the stranger to the concepts of friends with benefits berlusconi's being quick to k.z. up to the new transitional council inviting the public face of the group but

djibril to italy. these places do you have here an ally in the eighty bombing campaign began back in april probably switch sides in the game causing the rebels. pull the wool almost a third of its least daily energy needs were imported from libya and oil any with the largest foreign operator in the country because many here have been doing all they can to safeguard these contracts but if they will be able to maintain these previously close business is by no means a given in a post in libya the future looks extremely uncertain and there are little guarantee one of the biggest problems 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 . amongst the rebels there are many factions commission people.

and many of these groups of rebel without former politicians that before with gadhafi and then they completely change the face. of the senate i think that corrupt politician if. it's the personally only number of occasions business reactions among the gay sure turn for the. fact finding ship to libya with a handwritten letter she says was written by gadhafi to but it's going to it he allegedly says he was surprised by your decision to join the coalition against libya especially after we started the friendship and cooperation cittie between the two sides the treaty he's referring to he was signed just two months before the libyan uprising alessi case on to ask why did you join our enemies or any diplomatic dialogue or investigation berlusconi now seems to be making the friends he wants it may be the final chapter to be anything a conflict will continue i would dare to see duffy's if you talk to you she said

that she's among the rebels so there is no such. consensus no consensus hoping it'll be an internal. meeting. actually the person to talk to. will be. with her foreign media now is silly along with many in the west could well find previous lucrative relations may turn out to be just as it will be the rainfall the friendship there for the. more u.s. and e.u. countries are calling for an arms embargo against syria calling what has become a violent crackdown there but with no foreign journalists allowed inside the 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 reify national reports. so this is how the world has been

watching the unrest in syria through mobile phone cameras i want to footage from the wall street in the country has flooded international news or rather blooded killings and executioners supposedly at the hands of president arsons military filmed on cell phones have become a trademark of the regime syrian officials though insists the scenes are staged and the you tube is not credible and eye witness account is not credible i can come around and shout help they're killing us next door. these are not credible ways to assess a situation the us has condemned ourselves over to violence against his people but damascus as the sizes of the far until recently lawyer and nation have crossed the syrian border hunted the correspondence with saudi arabia based at the international news channel in syria he says because english claim itself for the country's image as a good deal of my teaching and the band foreign journalists and fact finding

missions from coming in and they don't allow us to work they cannot just take a camera and they were filming even here in damascus and you should and i would never wait to learn from him either stable it's very generally in reporters in the trenches everyone has a phone why should they wait with the local access to information and many people have used their cell phones to fill us with happening and to share it with the rest of the world. what for and against censorship is a double edge so 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 could come at the cost of people's lives more than not his real name is the man behind the camera is a freelance journalist currently working for a western media outlet i cannot tell nor i he doesn't want his face to appear on screen hiding the truth about himself he tries to reveal the truth of another kind . of show during the garish reading confirmation about what's going on they always

. there are some armed forces on the ground. while. in most of the city. forces are killing innocent. unarmed. civilians without brought. freedom. martin was afraid of being thrown in jail because they were there three times already. he's afraid of being killed or. where he got shot at during this as well something it was the only one who was sorry. about the process and others are . hearing stated the things well evidence supports their leader for a motion. each of them are crying over her body apparently dead they said it was in homes but here it's the same teacher invade that was made in the right in

two thousand and nine they condemn assad but the jets fly. one of the most disruptive raising the world to them of the past has never been very strong point because this is all we ask all we ask is for the truth to come out of the side 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. and put it as true but that doesn't look to be among the media's goals and this conflict the press is not just about coverage it's a war and as in every war they go so we refuel shawty the moscow syria. still ahead here on our team from meeting the king of spain it too expensive

massages and top shelf liquor it's hard being the first lady on vacation but could michelle obama's lavish spending yield little returns for her husband at the polls . and he.

just put a picture of me when i was like ninety years old so she told the truth. i am a total ghetto princess i love rap and hip hop is excellent and. that is kind of yesterday. i'm very proud of the role that it's played. the lead player. if you don't work to bring justice or accountability. you have to carefully write nor my government would you want to know why i'd be there. but

i would characterize obama as a charismatic. american exceptionalism. and welcome back all right so basically since the first week since president obama took office there have been popularity polls on attacks on his record on his citizenship calls for his resignation comparisons to hitler but now it looks like the real attacks have started the first major battle in what will no doubt be a long and vicious war the attack is actually on the first lady michelle obama in the form of a string of articles and criticisms on her lifestyle the most notable perhaps the

daily mail a british tabloid and the u.s. tabloid the national enquirer they reported that michelle obama is quote a vacation junkie that she's been indulging in five star hotels where she splashes out on expensive massages and i'll call spending ten million dollars of u.s. taxpayers money according to these us how boids and that she's been going on wild shopping sprees that much to the distress of her husband who sources reveal is serious that his life out of control spending well earlier i spoke to t.j. walker the daily national managing editor of daily national dot com here's what he had to say. 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 the criticism is as right wing ranting the same sort of people who are going about their 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 wall street everything it wanted in the bailout for not really regulating banks for extending bush tax cuts to the rich and now to see him spending so much time in posh areas like martha's vineyard in hawaii three cation around it's really starting to cut a lot of liberals and progressives his base that's going to hurt i mean and 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 is are hard what 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 plants do they not deserve to vacation should they be you know staying in trailer parks that what's the deal here i mean are they just going to two 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 for first of all this president has taken a lot fewer vacation days than bush or reagan people sometimes forget that but the visuals are important when ronald reagan was on vacation you saw him physically clearing brush. making with his axe chopping away it wasn't just being with rich famous hollywood celebrities that so there is are so years thing then they should just go somewhere different if that. then where should they be going in fat of as they have got gas how about gatlinburg i mean when i grew up we went to myrtle beach south carolina we played goofy go through the waters it's we were into 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 old 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 with the obama did it the obama's are not now nor were they before they were in the white house middle class average people they have always been the last fall 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 they had things like that would be a harder area as well to secure with all the you know security detail they have to bring down well but but you're only as you go back

a couple of years in the obama's were not in fact wealthy they were in fact middle class they were upper middle class but when they were in you know living in chicago presumably they occasionally went to you know maybe perhaps back in america or at back an islet or places that were a little closer the problem with this particular little cation martha's vineyard is it is known as just the hot bed of the wealthiest people the biggest am celebrities and you can say i'm jealous because i didn't get invited to go this hour but still it isn't a. good symbolism when you're 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 the case year ago but tears ago it was just out there the two thousand and eight financial collapse and i will say the leading contender right now in the g.o.p.

presidential race is mitt romney who as we know is extremely wealthy well let me take us a step further t.j. i want to talk about this what is the result of that 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 that 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 do you saw jim toth 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 well i don't know how how likely that would be certainly interesting on in one sense or last t.j. how could they receive the math engineer. go to vacation. to cincy go to rocky mountain go to branson missouri. and mix it up with the common folk t.j. walker daily national managing editor of daily national dot com thanks so much and that is going to do it for now but for more on the stories we covered going to r.t. dot com slash usa or youtube dot com slash r t america you should also follow me on twitter find me at for and christine for the i want to thank you so much for watching we will be back here and a half hour at eight o'clock.