followed washington a wage that's war on terror with the aim of preventing a nine eleven from ever happening again but critics say conflict has become an obsession with a price tag of billions of dollars as garnished account reports in our special coverage it started as a war on terror spawned by the deadliest terrorist attack in history either with history with the enemy that's that's clear but the circle of america's enemies grew quickly and included nations that had nothing to do with nine eleven they were defined by george bush as the axis of evil some of these regimes have been pretty quiet since september the eleventh. but we know their true nature. north korea as a regime arming with missiles and weapons of mass destruction. while starving a citizens. iran aggressively pursue zs weapons in exports terror while an unelected few repressed the iranian people's hope for freedom. irak and chinese to

fly on a lead toward america and to support terror two years after nine eleven the us invaded iraq on the grounds that he had weapons of mass destruction and was doing business with al qaida grounds which proved to be false hundreds of thousands of iraqi civilians have died since the invasion they use the moment in in the wake of nine eleven to divert from afghanistan our real target should have been our real target and go to iraq it also was the low hanging fruit north korea was far more dangerous but too difficult one hundred thousand casualties were predicted by the panel on both sides seoul would be destroyed iran was too difficult seventy million people not fractured like the iraqis and the sunni and shia and christian and other as for the motives behind invading iraq some top or oil iraq right now is sitting on probably two hundred billion barrels maybe three hundred billion barrels that's correct zone or report. he plans to be at thirteen million barrels per day

production capacity in seven years that surpasses saudi arabia now you know why dick cheney went to war in iraq others blame america's self assigned role as the world's policeman the driving idea behind it is that it had to monex debility the idea is that so but world is going to be more secure place overall if there is a a unocal or world a sole remaining superpower much of what has happened post nine eleven in the name of responding to nine eleven has been a pretext as terrorism was no longer the only reason for landing on washington's enemy list the us had even more far reaching plans on the table former. vice president dick cheney says he urged the bush administration to bomb syria at one time because of its alleged nuclear weapons program a move which experts say would have had disastrous effects on the region president obama was elected on hopes that he would and the endless wars overseas which most

americans are opposed to but he continues and adds one more another or oil rich nation libya and this time in the name of removing an evil dictator. some worry syria could be next we have an executive power that is beyond any check by the people by the congress or by the courts for war we can go toward the drop of a coin we've reached the point now where the president can kill people for state purposes any time he or she feels the need since nine eleven america's war on terror has crossed many borders from pakistan to yemen and other countries the chase for a handful of terrorists has turned the lives of entire nations upside down we're talking about hundreds of thousands of innocent lives taken by the decade of constant war and many worry that a tragedy as great as nine eleven has served as a pretext for an even greater tragedy one that has no end in sight i'm going to

check out reporting from washington our team. washington's response to the attacks especially the invasion of iraq and afghanistan received massive global criticism but brian becker from the antiwar answer coalition says the war on terror is just an excuse to keep those countries in the grip of america so i would say the american people who originally bought the position that this was a war to stop another september eleventh they have no longer believe that position they now believe that it's a war for something else ill defined for the broad public the bush administration launched the war in iraq for instance on a completely false pretext the war on terror in fact has become a slogan it will be all to meet we know and in history is the ultimate pretext to do whatever the u.s. government wants but in the case of iraq they invaded iraq hundreds of thousands died millions were made into refugees a beautiful country was torn apart and and divided along ethnic sectarian lines and iraq had nothing to do all to do with september eleventh likewise in afghanistan we

have thousands of troops who are going to be in afghanistan for decades because this is part of a grand scheme to keep these countries under a u.s. could. troll is part of the us americans fear of influence. one of the apparent consequences of the war on terror has been a rise in islamophobia both in america and abroad zbigniew brzezinski a political scientist and former u.s. national security advisor told r.t. that outset washington adopted the wrong approach and its fight back the response should not generalize this and this. one particular religious phenomenon but it's a political issue in which our objective ought to be to isolate the terrorists from their political cultural national context and required avoiding stigmatizing the phenomenon as a generalized islamic phenomenon but view it as an aberration. against which we can

mobilize most of the support of their purpose i think we didn't do that we'll say and large the theater of war from the getting this done to your rock and as a consequence we have become embroiled in a much larger regional political conflict and not some sort of the religious crusade. for terrorist attacks that became synonymous with. the senseless slaughter of sunnis people stop. listening. to music on the t.v. . to. look back at nine eleven and see. a tragic loss hit the sports world this week fans of families are mourning the victims of a plane crash in central russia which killed almost the entire lokomotiv yaroslavl

ice hockey team in response president dmitry medvedev wants new legal powers to ground their alliance and able to assure a passenger safety sean thomas looks at the catastrophe that killed mattie a much loved players. waves of emotion poor through jaroslav as residents realize the full weight of the tragedy that country or the lives of some of the city's brightest stars but ended up with the fans of this team for many years our whole family including a little child went to all the games for us is there operable loss but it's like losing a family member. i knew one of the players he was my neighbor and he was a great person he's got two little kids left how could this happen when we saw the news on t.v. i just burst into tears. at just after four in the afternoon on wednesday the charter plane carrying almost the entire jaroslava locomotive k h o hockey team

crashed shortly after takeoff bursting into a wall of flame after clipping a runway antenna forty three of the forty five on board perished to newark a mostly we heard the plane takeoff so we told our granddaughter look there's going to be an airplane then i heard a bang and my daughter told me mom it's falling down to the side but then came the flames and the smoke and we wanted to run away but we didn't know where to run and then we went to the river and saw the plane which was in the wake of the tragedy vladimir putin ordered an immediate and thorough investigation as president medvedev led a country in mourning visiting the crash site and paying his respects. meanwhile fans of the three time championship winning jaroslava locomotive team made their voices heard in a show of solidarity and support. as you can see from the flowers and candles and mementos left here at the stadium. it was a huge blow to this community but international nature of this team it was

a larger loss of for russia and of the rest of the world as well. my friends when the play and the guys have played together a couple years ago. of course wonders just want to give my condolences to the families of. the ceremonies to honor the players were held in minsk in bratislava with some reflections from those who knew the players well. of the title demitra told me he actually wants to quit hockey that he wants to play a little bit more and then leave and spend time with his family so this last conversation came back to my head when i heard about the crash i want to only him at least by lighting this candle not only him but everybody who died i would like to express my condolences to his family to his children and wife. saturday marked the end of an official three day mourning period as thousands poured into the stadium to view fourteen coffins on display and say their final goodbyes to deposit

it we have buried our friends the people who brought us joy and played for our country this is an irreplaceable loss for us the people of and the whole country. in years level sean thomas r.t. . still have for this hour here in our stalemate in libya. the resistance of gadhafi loyalists stands firm with a deadline to surrender ignored we have the latest on the fighting and the growing sense of fear in the capital. and israel vows to keep a peace agreement with egypt despite amnesty riots that led to the evacuation of diplomatic staff in cairo. russia plans to send a fact finding mission to syria to get firsthand information on the areas hit by violence the decision was announced after members of the syrian opposition visited moscow they accuse president bush of continuing a bloody crackdown on anti-government protesters and wants international help russia is urging both sides to start talking and avoid another conflict speaking on

the sidelines of an international policy forum in the russian city of yaroslavl president medvedev said he's concerned about advances in syria but the situation is far from simplistic. the resolutions we would approve to send a strong message to the syrian regime should in fact be addressed to both sides things aren't just black and white and the anti-government protesters in syria are not followers of some refined european models of democracy some of the most to put it straight extremists and some might even be called terrorists the situation is not that simple and we have to take into account the balance of different forces and interests russia may support certain moves but only if they don't boil down to the one sided condemnation of the government of president assad we should send a strong message calling on all the conflicting parties to come to the negotiating table start talks and stop the bloodshed. the west has been pushing for a hardline approach to the syrian government imposing various sanctions but

professor edmund ghareeb an international relations expert thinks the harsh measures may not put their regime on its knees but they will definitely hit ordinary syrians. in any case what happened whatever happens the sanctions are clearly a. instrument that does not discriminate between the regime and the people and what my end up happening is that the people who probably are going to pay a price and the regime especially if we take a look at what happened in iraq or what happened with. the experiment is a very good example of this where some of the harshest sanctions ever imposed on any country in history were imposed on iraq and despite that. did not succeed in bringing the regime down. the public which was hurt severely. as

a result of the sanctions so this is. i think is going to raise a lot of questions especially some of them political economic and some of course. professor edmund ghareeb they are commenting on the west push for sanctions on syria. to another civil conflict now in libya this week cut off the loyalist put up dog of resistance against rebel forces with a surrender deadline expiring on saturday fighting rages on near one of khadafi the last four strongholds bani walid nato airstrikes continue to assist the rebels maybe as ousted leader is on the run and now on interpol's wanted list he's audio messages claiming he is still in the country despite reports his family and some associates crossed the border into nation air meanwhile the head of libya's transitional council in the stuff has moved to tripoli in a major step toward setting up a post gadhafi government the capital fell to rebels last month but life there

shows a little improvement as artie's maria financial reports celebrations over the end of the old regime have been replaced by fear in the streets. a city celebrates for more than ten days the labor and capital has been rejoined seeing in the dictator's fall where the. he wanted to hang his portrayed here in the central square for the forty second anniversary of his rule but we put our flag up instead we won we're so happy without him. it seems in the last weeks rebel fighters have fired i hope i don't seem to be here for short during this whole time tripoli in august or revealed three you know really really with. this third gadhafi gone it is good duffy's toward me he told me oh do be would love me or would that be the road that we know you see love him and of course we're out of

here that is that we don't are a good job you don't know where they are right when they were ok but away from jubilant crowds we meet those who are not so pleased. to have mom leaves and to please district historically pro khadafi when the rebels arrived his sister was badly injured she's still in hospital in tunisia. other one doesn't want to show his face on camera and in ceased when i had no location for the interview he says revolution has brought much fear in its wake. there is no peace there is no safety in the city we don't let our children outside when it's dark we are afraid we always wait for something bad when gadhafi was here at least we didn't have to sleep awake what we do know. of the man says he also want to change and the brighter future for his country but not they sway. and people are dying on both sides the cities destroyed and no one cares do they seriously think that they

changed it for the better don't lie to yourself just look around is that what you wanted. and what is around is a scene of widespread destruction and social chaos the badly damaged buildings matched by the rising stink of garbage and decomposing bodies youngsters roam the streets barely old enough to understand that what they carry are weapons not toys many shops schools and hospitals are closed while the city's symmetries are growing bigger and bigger. shortly after tripoli fell into rebel hands the national transitional council libya's new authority claimed it was moving here from benghazi two weeks have passed and then we say you know we saw in of all being restored this city functioning by south and treading a fine line between freedom and and a cave. rigged notion of. tripoli libya. the british prime

minister wants to look into claims that u.k. secret agents and terrorist suspects who could obviously be a were they were allegedly tortured human rights groups in tripoli found documents outlining m i six and cia rendition programs but former british intelligence officer and english on expect think he will be swept under the carpet. when david cameron calls for an inquiry into these allegations he's been credibly disingenuous under the u.k. law the inquiries act two thousand and five an inquiry this is established including this in this torture inquiry headed up by subpoena gibson is circumscribed by the very organizations that are being investigated in this case m i five and i six so it's going to be toothless plus of course the other consideration with this is that subpoena gibson himself is heading up this inquiry was actually intelligence services commissioner for five years prior to taking on this role so he's been cozying up to the intelligence services in the u.k.

for five years i doubt if he's going to unearth anything deliberately perhaps he probably won't shine a bright light in the dark corner should we say he'll be friends to the intelligence agencies they will have lost all credibility they have double deals in libya for decades now and really their chickens are coming home to roost and i can't see how any government that comes into power in libya will trust whatever m i six or the british government now says. for the latest news and video from around the world you can visit r.t. dot com here's what's online right here. afghanistan may be the world's biggest opium poppy producer but the u.k. is making inroads into the market online to see why british farmers are growing and why. moscow's highest observation your star going ot tower has been reopened for tourists after years of reconstruction by the full story and more on our website r.t. dot com. egypt's police have been put on

a state of alert after protesters attacked israel's amber sea in cairo this friday they destroyed a wall near the building and ripped down the israeli flag three people died and over a thousand were injured in rioting after a demonstration demanding faster political reforms turned violent anger swelled last month after israeli forces responding to a cross border militant tap mistakenly killed five egyptian police officers the israeli prime minister says his country will stick to its peace treaty with egypt despite the embassy attack that led to evacuation of most of its diplomatic staff the protests come months after a popular revolt ousted hosni mubarak the president of the arab lawyers association says its islamist groups who could ultimately benefit from the everest. the various all of tickle movements vying for part of the are trying to show who is bigger than the other i think this demonstration it's only the liberals not taking boston and

each side is accusing the other one of trying to show that the bigger power the islamists are not. about the election because well for the election no it takes they will definitely get higher votes than the liberals the demonstrations will continue i think the egyptian people who will not accept the military continue to be in this by the fact that most of the military as everybody knows are the same old team of mubarak they are the people who were handpicked by mubarak with the approval of them out against the americans would be happy for the military to stay there but i don't think they're gyptian people without the. and still had free the sour to survive hunger and home or we will be back seventy years to the start of what became one of the deadliest sieges in the world war two the leningrad blockade. tell us take a look at some of the stories from around the world as many as two hundred people

are dead and three hundred seventy missing after an overloaded vessel capsized and sank off the coast of zanzibar after losing engine power in rough seas the ship began taking on water and eventually turned over survivors say the ferry was overloaded with cargo and passengers many of them children sounds of ours president has declared a three day mourning period. as tropical storm nate has its way towards the mexican coast the search is on for several missing oil workers and a dozen fishermen commercial vessel and two fishing boats were lost during nate's approach and no sign of the crews has been found while coastal areas brace themselves for the storm air and sea rescue teams are continuing their search despite worsening conditions. guatemalans look likely to elect a former military general as president in hope of bringing order to the country out of paris molina's favorite worrying the leftist groups and human rights organizations still hoping to prosecute members of the country's former

dictatorship but the key election issues for guatemalans appear to be the high crime rate and poverty which have been goal for the country. this week russia marked seventy years since the beginning of one of the longest and deadliest sieges of world war two the leningrad blockade what is now seen put as birth survived almost nine hundred days of hunger and horror cut off from the rest of the country peter all over looks back at events through the eyes of those who somehow survived . bombed out current off and taken to the brink of starvation the blockade of lebanon modern day seeing petersburg by nazi troops was one of the most destructive sieges in the history of warfare when the german army encircled the city it wasn't the shells and bombs that the inhabitants feared most but was hunger and this is a good one are worse when the famine spread well there is nothing more terrible

than famine than to be the one in nearest and dearest starve to death. those trapped inside the city have to resort to what ever means necessary to survive and i was of course slipped on an icy street in collapsed immediately people rushed out of their houses to chop it up our dad ran out with an axe he managed to get something like a hoof the whole family lived on for a week sometimes they need to eat so people take drastic action. in a growing year there were days when i would step outside my house and see dead people lying in the snow with their buttocks severed for meat this isn't something we should try to cover up with heroic stories that would be unfair to the history of the siege and the people who enjoyed it designated leningrad as one of his major objectives and from all this nine hundred forty one the german armies group north set about tightening the noose on the key baltic port this is where the blockade began on the eighth of september nineteenth forty one german troops arrived here

occupying the city of. it severed the last land connection to leningrad cutting off the city's supply of food and military equipment with the city coats off from the land the only way to get aid to leningrad was across lake lot ago in the short summer months boats we used but in the winter the frozen lake became a makeshift highway known as the road of life be it over or go for was one of those who worked on the ice helping to funnel valuable supplies into the besieged city the perils of living on a frozen. lake made the work dangerous enough without the constant german bombardment worthless people out there but one time a drive in from the mainland came to bring us breakfast he noted that one of our tents was sinking come out come out two doubles you are about to drown he shouted the driver touched the tent to the truck and pulled it out on to solid ice many of the vehicles bringing in supplies didn't make it across some of those have now been

raised from the bottom of the lake and can now be seen in the road of life museum so that seventy years on the sacrifice is not forgotten the new kids are never that interested in photographs but actually seeing historic really quick their own eyes they always ask is this thing authentic when you tell them your city is that's when their eyes widen it's told more than a million civilians died in the brutal eight hundred seventy two day blockade which finally ended in the bitter cold of january one nine hundred forty three many of those who survived went straight into the fight to drive the germans barrack their experiences during the siege sparing them on a very long after we were evacuated we joined the army to take revenge for what the nazis had done to our people in this city so many civilians lost their lives through hunger and shelling so we proudly joined the red army to take revenge on the nazis. r.t. . and for the fourth time the top prize at the venice film festival is coming to

russia alexander's a corpse movie fast beat off other rivals to win the golden line the jury was united in his decision with the head darren aronofsky praising the picture saying it would change viewers forever with two years of shooting and an overall price tag of over a nine million dollars found this the core of the most ambitious project inspired by go to tragedy dialogue in german has yet to be translated to other languages including russians well for more about the director and his work he can go to our website. dot com dollars. and in just a few minutes we report on the ever growing mass of plastic waste choking the world's oceans and that's half our recap of the week's top stories here on r.t. .

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to use. in moscow all she's available in marriage granted to rich colson royal marriage renaissance could. otoh ocean. so sure to find this beach of the first.

welcome back you're watching r t let's take a look at today's news and the week's top stories the u.s. commemorates its worst terrorist attack of the divide of the world the nine eleven assault ten years ago prompted america to launch a policing mission that many experts claim has made the globe more dangerous. farewell to the players of a top national ice hockey team who perished in a plane crash the jet went down shortly after taking off in the region killing forty three people on board. and moscow was to sand a fact finding mission to syria to get firsthand information about the crisis this as russia's president refuses to take sides in the conflict saying talks are the only way to peace. well now we explore what's being done to clean up the world's oceans of deadly plastic waste the first part of that.