damascus upon long promised reform. i'll be back with another summer when fifteen years from now the mean time the decade that followed the nine eleven attacks was marked by wars fought under the flag of ridding the world of terrorists while lawrence wilkerson a former u.s. official in george w. bush's administration has been telling r.t. that america thinks it holds an unchallengeable place in the world and abuses the power it no longer has that some special interview next. i. after nine eleven america did not just go after those who perpetrated that tragic vicious attack it only for the campaign donations 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 over reactions in military history to talk about that i'm joined by

colonel lawrence wilkerson whose service collin powell is chief of staff colin 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 well as i said that's a position you can maintain as long as you are as powerful as we were powerful as rome when its day post world war two but we're no longer that powerful in 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 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 at 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 fact here for a moment that most americans don't even think about. nine eleven happened when george w. bush and dick cheney's what. they allowed the greatest killing of americans on american territory since there are but. 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 a 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 impossible at some point. to stand up and say no we have doubts we're not writing this 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 we'll 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 that they preserved they being george tenet and john mclaughlin and i think on or 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 france 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 woods 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 why 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-qaeda 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 all iraq right now is sitting on probably two hundred billion barrels maybe three hundred billion barrels that's a rx on oil report that surpasses. yes 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 in question and other so the low hanging fruit was a rock just used a moment in the wake of nine eleven 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 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 is a fact ok yes 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 know horse soldiers surrounding cheney the people who surround

cheney or 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 order book 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 middle 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 iraq 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 a 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 where 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 and you will come back and do it again in what way could that overreaction backfire. i think it already

has and this is a profound 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 iata they really that they weren't 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 would 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. you deleted. the future. wealthy british. markets why not. find out what's really happening to the globe. economy cars report on our.

top stories this hour an r.t. america marks a decade since the tragedy of nine eleven which united the nation but brought about the true of the bloodiest wards of the twenty first century. and afghanistan which was invaded by the u.s. shortly after the atrocity the relentless taliban's stage another deadly suicide bombing discovers most afghan civilians don't even know why their country was ever occupied by foreign troops. rusher in the sports world say goodbye to the country's top national ice hockey team wiped out in a plane crash in the blink of an eye. on the international community not to take sides in serious internal violence as president says negotiation is the only way to peace in the arab league announces it's reached an agreement with damascus on promised reforms. in less than a quarter an hour from now in the meantime union is here with the support.

great to have you with us this is sports today plenty ahead over the next ten minutes or so including all that's. moving on op sports like moscow stretch their arms beaten record to eight games in the russian premier league with victory over our. pitch reeling rugby world cup champions south africa age wales in their opening clash of this year's campaign. give me five top clone world finals kick off in moscow with the home side earning a podium spot on tape. let's get going with football. since june in the russian premier league has been extended for another week the couple sides meeting with the first of sunday's four games only one goal coming on

a dreary day in perm archon zuba had the chance to alter the school board midway through the second half but miscued his effort when really he should have at least forced a save the bones literally soaking in the experience when nicklaus did i break the deadlock with a pinpoint free take five minutes from time not strike from the origin time enough for the muscovites to take all three points. the league's other sports meanwhile saw there was continued going don to get our stuff. off the opportunity to open from the spot thirty eight minutes and although the former russian international beat the keeper he couldn't beat the post both teams with trouble executing on creating chances on till the. first interim period started home to be three minutes in sport techno bottom of the league after the loss.

bump. is because. going into the weekend nominees to team only their fourth victory this season should be. getting things started against it see tom with nine minutes gone the international left all alone to pick a spot for. the inside story was then doubled right before the break quick peek from kabul oh yeah. i can the top science the fans cars wide open to milk the final straw. in the days the final game. his second goal in as many games for the fourth time african player of the year equalizing. his first home game and. before another world. the winner right before the hour mark. moved up to fourth in the table. monday see one more game before week twenty three is. home to the crust in.

the evening to hold. for five. now just too much is for john for consideration in the english premier league on sunday the first of which finishing with west brom left to celebrate their first win of the season then claiming their first victory at the expense of new boys. peter odemwingie. points for the west side. block burned both the. craven cottage. ok let's move to the rugby world cup where holder south africa have gotten off to a winning start in new zealand but only just the springboks beating wales by the minimum of margins in their fixture the boks getting off to a flyer in wellington from steyn the pummeling his. way over for

a try early as the third minute. that's dogood well she didn't left up deter them too much going in at the break ten six. after good work from the pit of this man james. and warren gatland men from the seize the initiative in the second half to be followed so touching down to give the world sixty and lead but south africa aren't world champions for nothing francoise who guard slicing through your free site second try on sixty five minutes the box seven being sixteen up on how it would finish after he missed a penalty minutes after that south africa when it's the spin off their. australia showed why they are second favorites for the tournament before the bettering it by twenty six points wallabies fly half quade cooper starting things off with a nineteenth minute penalty. for them becoming one of four different history in

pearce across the tri line making it sixteen six while i sighed center digby on a another explosive facet to see thirty two six the final score a possible pool topping encounter with arlene no weights on saturday for the twice world cup champions. they irish themselves taking care all of the us eagles in between those games but only after a tough eighty minutes in new plymouth running in two tries for ireland in about one kick off their campaign on thursday against the u.s. . to the european basketball championships to russia are continuing to do everything right on the hardwood david plotz menno on beaten after seven games following victory over two thousand and five winners greece they gained close to half of the greeks much russia shot for shot however the russians were up by eight to start the final quarter mainly to some superb shooting from two. the famous golf

eighty three sixty seven how the second run group stage clash would eventually end . who have not lost since their opener are open next for russia on monday. ok that brings us to formula one and sebastian vettel second straight drivers' title appears all but imminent with six races to go the overall leader once again dominating the competition finishing almost ten seconds ahead of mcclaren rival jenson button. it was ferrari's fernando long's will who initially ruled into the lead but german vettel regained kept his number one position after about his red bull teammate more webber was one of eight drivers to retire russian vitaly petrov another so it's vettel who's finished on top again his eighth win from thirteen races amazingly this season will second with a long taking the last step on the podium bethel's lead in the standings no rises to one hundred and twelve points along. staying with. her and

benefitted from team it must see love fall a slowing down on her team orders to win the rally of australia the finn taking his second win of the season with his competitors relegated to second place overall fifteen points behind seven time day fending. three races to go. to me now because my rough ride this is a crush during particularly challenging stretch of terrain but it is herman who takes the win this fight for team it was a superb weekend off work where he won nine special stages peter so bird was third in the long leagues and trying to. finally the modern pentathlon world championships kicked off in moscow ukraine's victoria tara shook securing individual gold and the russian couple while team russia didn't finish the opening day empty handed either. reports. 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 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 relinquish their leading roles with dropping to fourth and who are asking are all the way down to thirteenth. in the third events which is 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 meter distance stoppages should it's our gets separated the cool headed from the rest though the russians result wasn't enough to win an individual men's all the fourth place finish still earned it 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 women spin tough on is very competitive now and to win a tournament and athlete must out to himself the tournaments 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 that is all the sport for this hour but if you'd like to check out some more why not log on to our youtube and indeed facebook pages where you'll be kept busy for hours i promise you that is all this c shortly.

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america marks a decade since the tragedy of nine eleven which united a nation but brought about two of the bloodiest walls of the twenty first century. which was invaded by the us shortly after the atrocity of the relentless taliban staged another deadly suicide bombing and it's all to discover as most afghan civilians don't even know why their country was ever occupied by foreign troops. russia in the sports world say goodbye to the country's top national ice hockey team wiped out in a plane crash that killed forty three. moscow calls on the international community not to take sides in syria's internal violence and president says negotiation is the only way to peace.