violence president medvedev says negotiation is the only way to peace while the arab league announces it has reached an agreement with damascus on long promised reforms well the decade that followed the nine eleven attacks was marked by wars fought under the flag of ridding the world of terrorists lawrence wilkerson a former u.s. official in george w. bush's administration told r.t. that america thinks it holds unchallengeable place in the world and abuses the power it no longer has. i. after nine eleven america did not just go after those who perpetrated that tragic vicious attack it only campaigned on nations that had nothing to do with nine eleven we're talking about iraq where hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians have died since two thousand and three america's been in constant war since nine eleven in different countries are we talking about one of the most profound overreactions in military history to talk about that i'm joined by colonel

lawrence wilkerson whose service call in powell as chief of staff collin powell secretary of state under george w. bush colonel wilkerson thank you so much for joining me thanks for having me more than six thousand american servicemen have died in the last decade of war spawned by the nine eleven attack. tragedy worth remembering and knowing no doubt but why in all those speeches delivered by american officials i never hear about hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians dead in the wars waged by the united states and other countries like iraq as a collective entity we seem to think were exceptional and so exceptional that we don't have to think about other people or as i said that's a position you can maintain as long as you are as powerful as we were powerful as roman in its day post world war two but we're no longer that powerful when our powerful recedes even as we speak here today some of the people who were at the

helm back then are now writing books saying everything they did was right including guantanamo including everything else i'm talking about dick cheney first of all president under george w. bush and at the same time they're all blaming each other for something why all this confusion and should one be worried about the general picture that's being created of the last decade of war because they're all trying to blame each other and trying to get out of some of the blame and yes we should be. why are they trying to blame each other let's let's face a factor for a moment that most americans don't even think about. nine eleven happened on george w. bush and dick cheney's what. they allowed the greatest killing of americans on american territory since were are by. a lot of their rhetoric and aggressive actions post nine eleven was to hide that fact and also to keep it from happening again because if it had happened again they probably would have been impeached on the spot thrown out of office so we spent four trillion dollars to counter an attack by bin laden's

a lhari that cost maybe half a million that's not very cost effective that's really bad it's bad business so you have to understand that first of all about the bush cheney administration the second thing you have to understand i think is that we have made a cottage industry if not to much more than a cottage industry out of the what my former boss colin powell has called the terrorist industrial complex lots of people are making lots of money off of this so-called global war on terror you're saying that you had lots of doubts about building this case for war in iraq was it possible that some point. to stand up and say no we have doubts we're not writing that speech where we're out of it we all did key points in the preparation of old pals presentation on some of those occasions george tenet and his deputy john mclaughlin said ok ok let's roll that out of the cia head of the cia and the director of central intelligence at the time

. will throw that out and they threw it out the real essence of that presentation and they preserved they being george tenet and john mclaughlin and i think under some strong influence from the vice president's office they preserved and that was the mobile biological laboratories that was the active nuclear program as symbolized by the aluminum tubes and it was the existing chemical stocks and. next sions hard connections between al qaeda and baghdad those were the real faults of goods in that briefing that george tenet and john mclaughlin the representatives of not just the u.s. intelligence community but of israel finance britain jordan and a host of others who were feeding intelligence into us. that's what they said was sacrosanct they said that is the case that is what saddam hussein is doing only later did we learn that even those elements of his presentation were composed of

half truths false hoods even and i think today after doing more research outright lies lies created in the defense department under undersecretary of defense for policy doug feith and his special iraq team lie and lies created in the vice president lied in your opinion because i wanted for the same reason that in the summer of two thousand and two i have discovered that b. emphasis on enhanced interrogation techniques changed suddenly from being to try and find out if another attack were coming after all a lot of time expired for another attack or a coming it would have come. in the summer of two thousand and two it shifted suddenly to enhanced interrogation in order to find out if baghdad had contacts with al qaida so we were actually torturing people not under the so-called smoking gun argument that we might have another attack so it was justified we were

torturing people so we could attack iraq and convince the american people we should do so. that's how drastic it got now ask me why they want to go to war with iraq and i'll give you a half a dozen answers if it's douglas feith it's protection of israel if it's paul wolfowitz the deputy secretary of defense it's a little bit of israel it's a little bit of oil and it's a little bit of bringing peace and democracy and freedom to the middle east if it's george bush who i fear the nexus between al qaida and baghdad which cheney had convinced him of i'm sure george tenet had convinced him of it george tenet didn't think there was that big a nexus. with dick cheney i think it was a while iraq right now is sitting on probably two hundred billion barrels maybe three hundred billion barrels that's a racks on oil report that surpasses. the radio. if iraq is sitting on three hundred billion barrels of oil if that turns out to be true it will be more than saudi arabia now you know why dick cheney went to war in 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 pentagon on both sides seoul would be destroyed iran was too difficult seventy million people not fractured like the iraqis and the sunni and shia christian and other so the low hanging fruit was a right to just use the moment in the wake of nine eleven they use the moment and in the wake of nine eleven to divert from afghanistan our real target should have been our real target and go to iraq that's exactly what they did you said they would testify if they put someone like dick cheney on trial and out what would you accuse them off i think he's already done it. no one needs to accuse him of anything he has admitted publicly it is on videotape that he condoned waterboarding that he would still waterboard then he does not believe waterboarding is torture waterboarding is torture there's a facto case the man's guilty but they're saying they did it in the best interest

of their country it seems to be the ultimate reasoning which can't be confronted what would you say to that i say that the in never justifies the means and the question is does the lesser evil ever justify itself because it prevents a greater evil or some real problems with that argument the logical problems as well as philosophical and what i would call value laden problems first is you can never know a hypothetical you never know if your lesser evil action actually prevented the greater evil big cheney spends hours on television and elsewhere and in this book trying to say that his actions prevented a greater evil another attack on the united states and so forth well that's his interpretation my interpretation of the bureaucracy which is probably far better than his because i was buried in it i heard people talking about it every day so bottom line is i know what dick cheney doesn't know because he was in the ivory

palace and he can't no horse holders surrounded cheney the people who surround cheney are david addington and john hannah and scooter libby and they tell dick cheney what dick cheney wants to hear george tenet told dick cheney what dick cheney wanted to hear oh yes it's working mr vice president we're getting great information and we're stopping terrorist attacks that is utter bull they didn't stop anything through inherent enhanced interrogation techniques i have that from some of the most respected people in the f.b.i. and the intelligence community so i can't fault big cheney for not knowing the truth because he couldn't know the truth he's trapped he's trapped in his own. but the truth is the methods don't work and they rebound to your discredit and they recruit as you said for your enemy dick cheney is asked what would happen if an american were captured in iran and what would happen if they waterboarding because they thought he was a threat to the state of iran and so forth he just skirted around the question what

he really said was if you listen closely americans are better than anybody else in the world americans shouldn't be waterboarding but anybody else we can waterboard especially if we're americans doing it that's essentially what dick cheney said now here's the kicker about forty percent of america agrees with him. you poll you look at the polls that have been done about forty percent of america at any given time they think that americans have the right to torture other people and other people don't have the rights to torture americans for various reasons most seven think it's that way because we have a bigger gun that's why they think we can get away with it and do it because we have a bigger gun that's why i say the reckoning is coming the reckoning when we are just another country in the world and that day is coming it may not come in my lifetime but unfortunately i think it's coming in my children and my grandchildren's lifetime and this is going to be

a hard time for washington because we no longer going to have the money were no are going to have the economic might we're no longer going to have the military might and so forth to say to the world we can torture you but you can't torture us many say that america's response to nine eleven was one of the most profound overreactions in military history with your grave with that i think initially it was proportional it was rational it was fairly well supported in the international community and it was a sadness that yes the initial reaction what we should have done was gone to afghanistan as we did did what we did about six months later said ok here's your government karzai you've got it go ahead and run your country as best you can we'll give you economic and financial support from afar we're going home oh by the way footnote if you entertain terrorist in this country good will come back and do it again in what way could that overreaction backfire. i think it already has

and this is a. change really that's happened since world war two it's been creeping up on us and now with libya it's here we have a an executive power that is beyond any check by the people by the congress or by the courts for war we can go to war to drop of a coin it matters not that the obama administration and i have to say i voted for president obama it matters not that they have protested rather futilely and idiotically really that they were involved in hostilities that the war powers act was not relevant and so forth it certainly was any time you kill people for state purposes the war powers act is relevant and the constitution is relevant we've reached a point now where the president the united states can kill people for state purposes any time he or she feels the need james madison said very eloquently

when you compare combined the power to initiate war with the power to execute it you have achieved tyranny that is a very profoundly worrying situation in this that's happened in this country. from the.

stories on our t.v. america. marks a decade since the tragedy of nine eleven which united a nation brought about two of the bloodiest wars of the twenty first century and right now you're looking at live pictures of commemorative certainly is happening in new york city to remember the victims of nine eleven. in afghanistan which was invaded by the u.s. shortly after the atrocity need the relentless taliban stage another deadly suicide bombing has already discovered on the ground most afghan civilians don't even know why their country was never all complied by foreign troops. rush the sports world say goodbye to the country's top national ice hockey team wiped out in the blink of an eye forty three people died on wednesday when local to get a slab will spray on takeoff. and moscow calls on the international community to take sides in syria's internal violence as president medvedev says negotiation is the only way to peace all the arab league announces it has reached an agreement

with damascus on long promised reforms but right now it's time for the latest in sports with the unit. thanks tess and a very warm welcome to sports today here in twenty four hour t. plenty ahead this hour including. moving on up spartak moscow stretch there are beaten record to eight games victory over a car ensuring the finish the weekend in fourth spot. pitched reaming rugby world cup champion south africa edged wales in their opening clash of this year's campaign. give me five tips on tough long world finals kick off in moscow with the home side earning a spot on the podium on the opening day. start with tennis with the final line ups at the u.s. open are set novak djokovic on the rafael nadal will do battle for the men's crawl

and while some other stories are will attempt to hole through in a williams quest for a fourteenth ground slam title amazing not the younger sister of venus barely breaking sweat in the first set against world number one caroline wozniacki and williams continued the dominance in the second the twenty nine year old power telling in the guise of a six two six four scoreline the odds the shortened for a fourth title at flushing meadows for serena. she now take solace truly in some stores or who saw off surprise package on julie kerber in a rain delay clash stores are starting strongly taking the first set six three but the german polish boxer level of march in the textile the third set a one sided a further what stories are racing to a five love advantage before eventually wrapping it up six three two six six two the final score. had a chance to the french. was an avid take kids now on this happy have given myself

another opportunity to see just go. you know i use the little bit of that. spirit from last year really go after it and see what i can do but it. was a major highlight of my career there was another classic match up between novak djokovic and roger federer in the men's semifinals the march a full five setter with joker fighting back bringing the from two sets too much point starting to eventually team the win six seven four six six three six two seven games to five the epic result five time winner federal laws that the seams teachin to the same man up last year's u.s. open while the top seeded djokovic is even for his third grand slam crown this year alone. it's always important to. be kong to stay positive and to believe believe that you can win i mean since you're already in the fifth set for the match it's only one break difference so make the break.

rafael nadal now stands between djokovic and glory in new york the spot on your defeating fourth seed six four six two three six six two in the second semi once again denying the scots dream of a major success so. then i read of last year's final one by the serb on a battle between the world's top two ranked players currently the clash taking place on monday. on the football where a late goal is. moved up to fourth in the russian premier league cup at all sides meeting with the first of sunday's four games only one goal coming in dreary perm pitch the local car could not hold off the visiting spot clearly. but a chance for earlier highlights the misfired on the header of the fun soaking in their experience for a group to talk about by scoring as an eighty fifth minute free kick the arjun time

olympic gold medalist salvaging the all important three points for the muscovites sports set forth to missed. me it's solid inroads towards the top of the table of the one will win away to. chick rock bottom chris. huff and are into their clash with f c the home side. in some. of the crowds and when he lines up for his first home game in. just two games time for consideration in the english premier league today the first of which has now ended with west brom left to celebrate their first win of the season that he's doing so at the expense of new boys knowledge city former. peter odemwingie just three minutes into points for the west midlands side who have just one point after three games and blackburn who have no points in the day's other

clash in a run ten minutes. to the red. the world cup holder south africa have gotten off to winning start in new zealand but only just the springboks beating wales by the minimum of margins in their pool to fixture the boks getting off to a flyer in wellington from steyn them on pummeling his way over for a tries early is the third minute but a dog and welsh outfit didn't left out deter them too much going in at the break ten six don after good work from the boot of jane's who coming up in a second great effort on without warren gatland men probably seize the initiative in the second tough toby faletau touching down to give wales a sixteen ten leagues but south africa aren't world champions for nothing francois who guard here slicing through for a second try and sixty five the boks seventeen sixteen up would finish after hoops and miss penalty minutes later south africa win it by the skin all for.

australia showed why their second favorites for the tournaments before that easily beating its lee wall of the fly half quade cooper starting things off with that nineteen minutes penalty cooper then becoming one of four different to street name players to cross the tri line but made it sixteen six while outside center digby you and me no other explosive effort to seal the deal thirty two six the final spot for a possible table topping and no weights on saturday for the twice world cup champion . the irish themselves taking care of the us eagles in between those games but only after itself eighty minutes in new plymouth both running in two tries for ardent involved russia kick off their campaign on thursday i can't the us. meanwhile continue to do everything right the european basketball championships. in seven games after seeing off two thousand and five champions greece in group after

. the game close in the opening how full. the scrappy greeks march russia shot four shots however the russians were up by eight to start the final quarter thanks mainly to some superb shooting from tim a famous golf david plotz outfit eventually taking it easy three sixty seven macedonia who have not lost since the opener are next for russia on monday. in formula one sebastian vettel second straight drivers' title appears old but imminent now with six races to go the overall leader once again dominating the competition finishing almost ten seconds ahead of mclaren rival jenson button. it was ferrari's fernando alonso who initially roared into the lead but german vettel regained and kept his number one spot after that. webber was one of the eight drivers to retire with crushes vitaly petrov another so it's vettel on top again the twenty four year old eventually finishing nine point five seconds ahead of button with taking the last step on the podium vettel is leading the standings now

rises to one hundred twelve points over a long so. let's see what motorsport benefited from teammate. slowing down to in the rally of australia the finn taking his second win of the season with his compact relegated to second place overall the thirty one year old is now fifteen points behind seven time defending champ sebastian loeb three races to go has been started today twenty two point seven seconds behind his teammate who had won nine special stages over the course of the events russian if many novikoff had quite a rough ride he crushed ice here during a particularly challenging stretch of terrain ford dominating the top spots on the podium eventually with a slowing done to a large herb and in the top spot putter solberg came home third the lonely citron in the top three. finally the modern pentathlon world championships have kicked off in moscow ukraine's victoria turkish securing individual gold in the russian

capital while team russia didn't finish the opening day empty handed either. four out of seven russian women qualified for the finals of the modern pentathlon world championship in moscow and judging from their opening performance it seems one of them might even get a place on the podium you have the key a good fish nico must start of the second event with the best results from earlier fencing tournaments while her team partner you can see you know who to ask you know wasn't third this woman competition so both women relinquished their leading roles with dropping to fourth and her asking are all the way down to thirteenth. in the third events which is a show jumping. and her horse made only one mistake and climbed up to third place going into the final phase which is running and shooting at that point she was the only russian left with a chance to claim a podium spots as her other teammates slipped away below thirty.

become blind events which is a little similar to the biathlon where athletes run a three thousand metre distance stoppages should it's our guess separated the coolheaded from the rest though the russians result was enough to win an individual medal the fourth place finish still earned that you have. a place on russia's olympic team. despite the fact that you've posted to personal best results in fan since women she still couldn't win the bronze this shows that we miss been tough on is her competitive now and to win a tournament an athlete must out to himself that certain events will continue over the next few days with the men's women's and mixed team relays still to come as well as the men's individual final. cost for of r.t. moscow great stuff analysis where we end the sport this hour i'll be back in just under two hours time with more but now it's the weather and then the news with

tessa at the top of the hour. we'll. bring you the latest in science and technology from around the world. we've got the future of covered.

the story. dynamic. to do for a. month. to

seven weeks top stories on our team america marks a decade since the tragedy of nine eleven which united a nation that brought about two of the bloodiest war of the twenty first century. and afghanistan which was invaded by the us shortly after the atrocity the lump was televised station other deadly suicide bombing you discover saw on the ground most afghan civilians don't even know why their country was ever occupied by foreign troops. on the sports world say goodbye to the country's top national ice hockey team wired dot in a plane crash that killed forty three people. and moscow calls on the international community not to take sides in syria's internal violence as president of iran have says negotiation is the only way to peace.