the past seven days top stories and the latest developments this is the weekly on r.t. it was a tragedy that claimed the lives of thousands in an instant and later brought two wars with an even more devastating death toll united states is marking a decade since the nine eleven attacks terrorists crashed hijacked planes into the twin towers of the world trade center in new york and the pentagon in washington a fourth plane came down in the state of pennsylvania remember so many years of being held at ground zero new york and all across america it was the will strike on u.s. soil in history and united nation in its determination to seek out in public places and prevent more. but the american led invasion of afghanistan that followed has claimed thousands more lives in what's now the longest conflict in u.s. history. and reports the killing doesn't stop there. it started as a war on terror spawned by the deadliest terrorist attack in history you know whether she with the enemy 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 is a regime arming with missiles and weapons of mass destruction. while starving its citizens. iran aggressively pursues these weapons and exports terror while an unelected few repressed the iranian people's hope for freedom. iraq and change the font of trust to levy 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 used 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 hundred thousand casualties at the bottom on both sides so would be destroyed iran was too difficult seventy million people not fractured like the iraqis and the sunni and shia 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 mohi plans to be a 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 monex to belittle the idea is that so but world is going to be more secure place overall if there is a a unit whole 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 oil rich nation libya and this time in the name of removing an evil dictator. some worry syria could be next 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 toward the drop of

a coin we've reached the point now where the president of the united states can kill people for state purposes any time he or she feels the need since nine eleven america's war on terror has squashed many borders from pakistan to yemen and other countries that chase for a handful of terrorists has turned the lives of the 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 our reporting from washington our team. u.s. war on terror has backfired on muslims across the globe leading to a rise of islamophobia political scientist and former u.s. national security adviser zbigniew brzezinski thinks that washington made a mistake in mixing politics with religion. 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 epic promotes i think we didn't do that wilson and large the theater of war from the gander stand 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. a suicide bombing in afghanistan has wounded more than seventy american soldiers and killed two civilians it's being seen as the taliban's way of marking a decade since nine eleven the movement issued a statement after sunday's attack denying it had anything to do with events in the

u.s. ten years ago nearly ten years after the u.s. led coalition invaded afghanistan it doesn't seem any closer to winning the war there with the taliban still relentless conflicts estimated to have cost over ten thousand afghan civilians their lives as they're often caught in the crossfire as u.s. combat troops begin their gradual withdrawal from the country most locals don't even know why foreign forces came in the first place. helmand in southern afghanistan is the province that has borne the brunt of the fighting between the taliban and coalition forces what would afghans in this war torn province think about nine eleven and its consequences. while on patrol with the marines i get a first opportunity to ask a couple of young afghan men what they know about nine eleven but. can you show them a few more and can us do they know where it is even if we don't know if it's because because of uniform or we never heard about the world. cup.

the two young men are clearly never heard of nine eleven. but maybe the elders of the local sure would have more to say you know if you. just can see the smoke from the buildings and. that's what you think when you go show this picture. if i just got here i would be surprised but having been here now for six months this is premised stone ages where we are and what to do about their reactions. so the guy who said it was kabul was clearly never been to kabul it just shows you how isolated they are even in their own countries. i don't think you know if you're going to america afghanistan come to this point and get the airplane from here to the united states but you know how much. it was nice to go from iraq to then here is a lot easier to understand you know why you're here and what do you see at that

picture you know it's good picture remind yourself because what you're there to see the afghans looking at it in this context will wear the uniform if you're in the right. to back those prisoners out of the. ranks and saying we're going to help you to discern one building and did a survey asked how many funding and they say we're going to help you where is the help. write down what they're saying to give it to our kids going into fighting and they do it to their own kids in a cave but i don't and they didn't. i do sympathize or understand what you're some were saying it's even just from the weather we've had recently people losing their homes and nobody to help them so you know when you have when you can feed yourself there's early how is yourself are you going to care about somebody you know six thousand miles away. so i can understand i guess if it ended up i was about to finish with that i never thought to ask those questions of anybody here that's why we're here amazingly in a country where for ten years a war has been fought with nine eleven as its root cause and justification it turns

out not only with the villagers oblivious to nine eleven but so were the afghan police and even some of the translators working with the u.s. military and you don't know that is for you to know i have no idea what the syrians have never seen these pictures before. the survey taken in twenty ten by the international council on security and development found that ninety two percent of afghan men in helmand and other afghan provinces had no idea what nine eleven was with american troops that start with during this year it seems likely that they will leave afghanistan without the vast majority of afghans ever having really understood why they came in the first place adam plots from afghanistan for. well for full coverage and i should say for full coverage of the ten year anniversary of the nine eleven. go to our web site it's r t dot com where we provide you with the latest updates interviews and videos of the moments we're bringing you live pictures from the memorial ceremony which is taking place at ground zero in new

york commemorating the tenth anniversary of those attacks as it was moment of silence is being followed by the reading of the names of the victims of the tragedy and you can watch the ceremony live on our web site. called. the terrorist attack that became synonymous with. the senseless slaughter of innocent people stop. over. ten years old. to. look back at nine eleven to see come up to twelve minutes past the hour here in the russian capital and this week russia's sporting world was rocked to its core when one of its best hockey teams was all but wiped out in the blink of an eye they died on wednesday when motive yes levels plane crashed on takeoff on saturday thousands gathered at the team stadium to say their final goodbyes to the victims and all to

sean thomas witnessed a city in mourning. waves of emotion poor through jaroslav as residents realize the full weight of the tragedy that controlled the lines of some of the city's brightest stars but ended up with the fans of this team for many years our whole family including our little child went to all their games for us is here operable los but it's like losing a family member. i knew one of the clears 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. just after four in the afternoon on wednesday the charter plane. carrying almost the entire jaroslava locomotive k h l 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 look at this we

heard a 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 with us in the wake of the tragedy put in ordered an immediate and thorough investigation as president 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 here at the stadium the loss of. was a huge blow to this community international. team it was a larger loss of for russia and of the rest of the world as well. my friends with. a. couple of years ago. of course one just just want to give my condolences to.

the ceremonies to honor the players were held in minsk in bratislava somber reflections from those who knew the players well. better to have all 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 and 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 to 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. we have buried our people who brought us joy and played for our country this is an irreplaceable loss for the people of years level and.

thomas r t. still to come this hour here on r t fury in the middle you can find out why i. took the israeli embassy by storm leading to the evacuation of its diplomats from the country. and the sense of national identity in the united kingdom is under threat with another nation possibly going its own way. this story still to come but first twenty seven people are reported to been killed by syrian security forces backed by troops in several towns across the country this comes as the arab league announced it's reached an agreement with president bashar al assad promised reforms the plan outlines proposals to bring an end to the bloodshed release prisoners and hold elections within three years u.s. and europe impose sanctions on syria and according to the un security council to condemn violence in the country united nations says more than two thousand died in the uprising since mid march what authorities in damascus plain groups for the rest . meanwhile russia resurging both sides to start talking to avoid another libya

style conflict moscow 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 the russian capital requesting foreign help speaking on the sidelines of an international policy forum in the russian city and present it said he's concerned about events in syria that the situation is far from simplistic. the resolutions we would approve to send a strong message to the syrian regime should be addressed to both sides things are just black and white and the anti-government protesters in syria are not followers of some refined european models of democracy some of them are to put it straight extremists and some might even be called her. 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 and 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. in libya the head of the country's interim government has arrived in the capital tripoli for the first time since it fell to rebel forces most of the country is now controlled by the national transitional council but gadhafi loyalists have been putting up fierce resistance in bani walid one of the colonel's most strongholds of leaders on the run the interpol's wanted list he's claimed in recent audion messages that he's still there in libya gadhafi fighters have been given until saturday to surrender to the leadership in streets across the country celebrations over the end of the old regime of been replaced by fear as. reports. a city celebrates for more than ten days that they've been capital has been read joisting in the dictator's fall. he wanted to hand he's portrayed here in the central square for his rules forty second anniversary but we put our flag up

instead we want we are so happy with it it seems in the last weeks rebel fighters have fired bullets into the air there were shot during this salt untruthfully earlier. be a fino. this. he told. me earlier. we don't argue that what they are like what they are care but away from jubilant crowds we meet those who are not so pleased. man lives in chief police 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 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 and we always wait for something bad when gadhafi was here at least we didn't have to sleep awake what we do know. up the man says he's also wanted change and the brighter future for his country but not base way. people are dying on both sides of the cities destroyed or no one cares do they seriously think that they changed it for the better don't want you so 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 rise in stink of garbage and decomposing bodies armed youngsters roam the streets barely old enough to understand that what they carry our weapons

not toys many shops schools and hospitals are closed while the city's symmetries growing bigger and bigger. shortly after tripoli fell into rebel hands the national transitional council livia's new authority claimed it was moving here from benghazi but weeks have passed and there is still no sign of order being restored the city is functioning by itself and treading a fine line between freedom and anik a. river national. tripoli libya. the egyptian government's failed to tighten security and keep order in karo where an angry mob stormed and sacked to the israeli embassy on friday night three people died and more than one thousand were injured in clashes after a demonstration demanding faster political reforms turned against the embassy egyptian police were slow to intervene but eventually managed to disperse the crowd and israeli sentiment rose sharply last month after israeli forces responding to

a cross border militant attack mistakenly killed five egyptians israeli prime minister says his country will stick to its peace treaty with egypt despite the embassy assault that led to its being flown home base journalist ahmed abdul fatah says done plenty to make enemies videotron people. there is a lot of. of anger at what israel did recently which basically they crossed the border from israel into egypt killed a number of egyptian soldiers and they promise investigation and nothing has not been delivered yet ever sends their spin huge huge them on the stray sions and the sit in a few days outside the israeli embassy the minus traitors are the egyptian government to at least expel the israeli ambassador from egypt this is not the first time that israeli troops kill people all soldiers in the border area egypt's public opinion

has been liberated and that means they are not going to face silence again when israel commits any act of thuggery on its own our folder or the people living on our food and that's what has happened last night so we have to look at the motivation to make a strategic solution to what has actually been happening. just turned twenty two minutes past the. hour have a look at some news making headlines around the world today in our world update this hour swedish police have arrested four people in the city of gothenburg on suspicion of plotting a terrorist attack hundreds of people were evacuated from the city's art center following the arrests of the swedish authorities decided not to raise the terror alert level which has been elevated mark since november officials have not yet released any further information regarding the suspected plot. the tanzanian region of zanzibar has begun three days of mourning for the victims of a ferry disaster that claimed as many as two hundred forty lives many more still missing after losing power in rough seas the ship began taking on water eventually

capsizing survivors it was overloaded with both cargo and passengers many of whom were children meanwhile rescue teams have resume their search but hopes of finding more survivors are fading by the hour it's the country's worst maritime disaster in fifteen years. nature's reach mexico's gulf coast where officials of open shelters as a precaution forecasters say the girl force winds have been strengthened as expected and the chances of it becoming a hurricane were juicing meanwhile an intensified air and sea search failed to find ten oil rig workers who went missing and it was no word from a dozen fisherman who disappeared aboard two shrimping boats much of the u.s. east coast is still recovering from last week's hurricane irene which left more than fifty dead. with immigration rates reaching record highs experts warn the sense of national identity in the united kingdom is on the wane it comes at a time when scotland's ruling party the s.n.p. has been pressing hard for independence since coming to power earlier this year and wales is not far behind with growing calls to break from london's royal. explorers

now the small nations. welcome to wales part of the u.k. and a proud nation with its own language and customs and the latest voice to call for independence plight which means the party of wales and. always argued the country could be better off without the u.k. and it seems increasing numbers are starting to see their point of view our economy has been run from london with the interest and priorities of the south east of england to the fore an independent will be able to chart a different course based on our needs and priorities wales is a long way from declaring independence but it's no longer just a pipe dream people here voted overwhelmingly earlier this year in favor of handing the welsh assembly full law making powers that was considered a turning point in welsh nationhood and plights couldn't read the party of wales have undoubtedly taken heart from the surprise victory of the scottish national

party that victory in may gave the s.n.p. an outright majority in the scottish parliament which has many powers devolved from westminster the party's promise to hold a scotland wide referendum on whether to declare independence according to plied comrie that marks the turning of the tide for a unified u.k. people now who i believe are beginning to to use the word independence in in a welsh context which they say they wouldn't of jennifer use or. debating value of sizing the people in where's it going to seem that they're to when scotland becomes independent the next logical step is for we're just becoming dependent to of course separatism is nothing new to the british isles and the thousands of victims of the troubles in northern ireland are testament to how high feelings can run both in the present day and for centuries past while national sentiment may not be

a new phenomenon the reasons for it have changed over the years and in these current turbulent economic times money talks scotland has oil and gas but while wales was a proud coal producing nation its mines are now closed and it's got some of the unemployment highest. levels in the u.k. because of that the older generation is reserved when it comes to independence but young people are filled with national fervor but them independence is less about money and more about nationhood and identity wales needs to be independent because it is a great country and we do we do and like an ageing has already patriotic i think of more patriotic than england definitely have a lot of culture that we shouldn't forget just seem to be a bit better here at the moment but you can get free prescriptions. education seems to be a bit better. says it's going to build on that support providing not just emotional

reasons why wales should be independent but concrete economic reasons too and it says wales does have resources particularly land and sea for green energy if the scots vote for independence wales might not be far behind. but i'll be back with a recap of this week's top stories in our menus in just a few moments stay with us live this is our team here in moscow.

i've lost thousands of dollars in retirement funds and i haven't had as many.

to. me ma'am.

the tragedy of nine eleven which you know to the nation brought about. the country's top national. well scott calls on the international community not to take sides in syria's internal violence as president says negotiation is the only way to peace while the arab league announces it's reached an agreement with damascus on long promised reforms. but to bring it up to date for the moment i'll be back with more on those stories in less than half an hour from now in the meantime we explore what's being done to clean up the world's oceans of deadly plastic it's our special report for you next on. the most shocking to me of all the samples we've taken whether they be at the sir.