it. was a. protesting for peace from the bloodthirsty u.s. justice system prison officials and protesters across the country await the supreme court's decision on whether to execute a man whose innocence is still in question could this case are right in the u.s. . the longer the teacher you could try to link streak the of admissions nobody said let's not roll that out just yet after all this year's general assembly is just getting started but in order to move forward we take a look back at the good the bad and well the downright bizarre that has come out of the meetings past plus this. you know that the old beach boys song bomb iran you're

. a writer. i think really it's a great read so what exactly makes you think that sunder come along as we explore why some of the political elite seem so eager to beat those drums of war against iran. meaning it's wednesday september twenty first eight pm here in washington d.c. i'm laura muster and you're watching our t.v. well troy davis the prisoner was scheduled to be executed tonight at seven pm in georgia by the u.s. for many believe what for what many believe is a murder that he did not commit a wrongful conviction is what many people think this is reports are coming in that his execution has in fact been delayed as georgia waits for the supreme court to act this after davis filed a last ditch plea at the eleventh hour asking the u.s.

supreme court to stop his execution and it's not just davis that's still hopeful his supporters to have been fighting for his life. that they could we were. going to. protests and vigils have been taking place all day all over the world right there you're seeing washington d.c. outside of the white house but protests have been taking place abroad too in places like hong kong and france protesters are calling for the state of georgia to spare troy davis is life davis if you don't know is a black man guilty of killing a white police officer in georgia he's scheduled to be killed by lethal injection as i told you earlier tonight this despite a number of appeals calls from amnesty international and the pope former president jimmy carter because there's a few things wrong here there's no physical evidence in davis' case that he committed the crime no d.n.a. evidence and seven of the nine witnesses in the case have recanted five say they

were coerced into their testimony originally now many of his supporters feel the case of troy davis showcases the unfair justice system in the united states as ever . because. they are there is ok. are being executed are being imprisoned now there are a number of arrests at that protest today as all of these people lobby to save troy davis who this case has been going on for decades he is then on death row for twenty years he's had a number of appeals he's exhausted them but yet there are still doubts about his case. this is his fourth scheduled execution tonight that was scheduled just an hour ago that are now earlier i spoke with chairman of the new black panther party and attorney dr in the league solution because he has

a situation for me as we were getting news right at seven of the reprieve for the supreme court to review the case that raises my spirits because i was expected to come in the studio and had to be announced to troy davis had been executed and so i say at this point with every delays have taken place and however this has been strung out and hopefully his life was spared is a victory for the movement it's a victory for his attorneys in the courtroom and it's a victory for the activism in the movement that is taking place right now all over america because obviously the supreme court realizes that the world is watching and the world is very upset and judging america on the hypocrisy that it shows in the application of the death penalty and really we were for the abolishment of the death penalty period what do you mean there's pressure on right now and i think

that accounts for the delay what do you mean when you say the hypocrisy of the application at the top quality in the u.s. or world of all of this to to sticks indicate that it is applied in a discriminatory matter and that persons are black or of color almost more likely to receive the death penalty or in that sentence then those that are not black or that those that are white so if there's there's great disparity in the application of the death penalty and that's what my primary reason for for calling for abolition of the death penalty nationwide and just to give some numbers to what you're saying i'm as of two thousand and two a.c.l.u. numbers twelve people have been executed where the defendant was white and then murdered and black compared to one hundred and seventy eight. well there were black defendants i think that dems were right so my question for you dr scott is try to give us a black man first or are just

a human first and your eyes. of course he's a black man to me because what i see him must see me i see. many of those as a defense attorney when i go into the jails i see nothing but me and that look like me black men young black men many of them unfortunately about to ways years of their lives behind circumstances that are totally unnecessary and so you know i do see meet myself in him and i see the struggle of our people in troy davis because i know that this criminal justice system as you have pointed out by those statistics is unjust it is buys it is inherently biased and on top of the fact that black defendants have less access to strong legal defenses and and other resources that of the right defendants have here in america so i have to see him first you know in and in this case for what it is in terms of race first but as

a human being and i think that's why his case attract support universally it is because again killing someone to show that killing is wrong. is wrong and so many people are now being let out of jail or prison after decades because of evidence and showing that the trial was unjust we can't be certain at all or with all of the doubt he had a valid and this created in his recap minutes of those that testified at every candidate testimony the improper lineup the. constitutionally in permissive lineup that was presented to the witnesses were what we call in the in the legal realm of frame up right all of these things mean that we cannot execute troy davis. well and there are. a lot of the aspects of this case are very similar in wrongful convictions in miscarriages of justice no physical evidence

witnesses that recanted witnesses that were coerced i mean those are through lines and a lot of these cases i actually used to work on them with an innocence project so these are all sounds familiar my question to you is troy davis went through his four schedule of executions he went through all of the checks and balances of the criminal justice system he had appeals he exhausted the appeal process appeals process is yet there are still doubts so is this a problem with the criminal justice system just in general. again i say my experience has been in my research has shown me that there is an inherent problem with the criminal justice system even when you go through the appeals an appeal to the supreme court you come back with. us corpus and motions and everything that has been done because in this in the state of georgia which i've had the opportunity to represent defendants and the hades corpus process of the appeals process in georgia it can it can this can turn on the attitude of the judge

the opinion of the judge and the same is so much subjectivity involved in whether the case could turn one way or another. depending on who is on the bench and who is deciding the case is so much of a human factor. they subjectivity or a judge just believing or being predisposed to believe that a man like troy davis is guilty of this murder despite all of the doubt that has been listed so obviously is and here is an inherent problem isn't this much of an inherent problem as racism still is in american society so then i want to know how you view this as a you said that you see him as a black man first you also mentioned they tried davis as case has gotten supporters i mean that just run the gamut from the hundreds of protesters on the streets to the pope to jimmy carter to amnesty international so do you see this as a human rights issue first or as a race issue first i see is a see it as both i believe we have to take one if i had to pick one. it would be

impossible for me to pick his argument because all humans in my world human rights issues are always tag to race because most people have always been fighting to establish their human rights but obviously the universal support that jury believes has received from all corners from all races from what the pope jimmy carter to many that are better now. we have spoken of i'm talking about grassroots activists that have been pressing his case and fighting his case for years now i would say it is as far as these delays are concerned right now and i'm hoping they stay and their choice davis will remain alive again i will be a victory for the movement is a victory for the human rights movement and movements in america and it would be certainly a strong big three for those in the in the black activist movement as well as i think it touches all of those points if he is executed will there be riots in

georgia if you had to say. you know i'm like a war if i'm not a weather man in that sense but you've got i would say you're on a different pulse and the weather and i think and i think i'd want to say you know i personally i think i think georgia needs to be shaken up and i think american society needs to be shaken up and so you know whatever happens i would not be there would have found it was and nor will i be assisting the police believe that. that american justice right now is on trial that the people in america are fed up and if he is executed i don't know what i don't know what will happen i will say that things are changing and i don't think that troy davis will be executed and everything goes silent again i don't think so according to what i can predict right now. i have no further control over anything i'm just

analyzing the situation if there were riots you mentioned how this case has brought together everyone despite not everyone but you know anything at all to foreigners despite race despite which you know kind of activist movement they may be identify with first if there are riots as a result would you say that this would be race riots or would this be supporters of trade davis against the state how would you characterize me that's hands on the car as we used the term is use rebellion rather than riot you saw. rebellions in england recently so those were and then again not they were there well you're right here we analyze those as rebellions you know i mean a nice day's government they call what happened in libya a rebellion but they call it what happened in england criminal activity we say that what happened in england was a rebellion and it started in the black community with the murder of a black person by police officers but it's spread across. racial lines and so. you know i don't not only exactly know what will happen

i do know that people across racial lines are upset i know they're getting fed up and if it if it does happen it just has to it's happened before you know it's happened in. one thousand nine hundred ninety two as happened in many times in the one nine hundred sixty s. and it was just predicted by time magazine that what was happening in england could soon spread to america and this could be one of those times and we'll see if this time we'll see what the fate of troy davis is like i said earlier we are waiting to see what the supreme court will decide after davis made a last minute eleventh hour appeal to the supreme court perhaps not be executed that was chairman of the new black panther party dr leak solution of os i. now as davis' fate is being decided president obama was preaching to the

international community today about honoring human rights at the sixty sixth united nations general assembly the debates kicked off now in the midst of u.s. wars in afghanistan and iraq but more specific to obama the nato combat mission in libya that he greenlighted for the us obama talks a lot about peace at the one. the pursuit of peace peace is more than just the absence of war a lasting peace with. peace is heart people can live in sustained freedom dignity and security even as we proclaim our love for peace and our hatred of war. he says hard this is hard he says hard you heard him he talked about peace a lot also when talking about conflicts in the arab world he urged sanctions for

syria all he took a much more cautious approach you could say to u.s. allies yemen and off rain and as a bid for a vote on palestinian membership builds up at the u.n. obama said it is not the body's role to recognize the state of palestine while tens of thousands of palestinians rally for that in palestine and one hundred twenty of the un's one hundred ninety three members already recognize palestine as a state now his speech also comes a year after obama stood at that very same podium pledging hopes for brokering middle east peace and giving palestine statehood by this time we'll get the latest from the u.n. g.a. debates that began today but first a look back at the most memorable moments of u.n. gas' in the past. if only these walls could talk. pumped up while factor and center stage drama would be their story every year for

about ten days the united nations becomes america for world leaders of the confrontational to the surprising to be outright wacky b. when she never fails to impress what happens right here becomes a mirror image of what an engaging game politics seventy over a hundred and ninety members make up the general assembly to get attention we don't have to get creative if you want a lot of attention you could try to make streak the united nations nobody nobody has come in but naked with a gold on their back i mean so far none of this has happened but i wouldn't rule it out in the future that's one of few tricks that have not been performed here yet i think that one that i remember the most i mean it was could i think with who i guess will never be back again so it becomes memorable because it's a collector's item now his long speech and tearing up tearing up the u.n. charter and falling asleep so we're just because you can't you're out of court. you are trying to destroy the constitution. the record holder for speech

link an indian envoy in the fifty's nobody remembers what he said but they remember that he went on for eight and a half hours exhausted a diplomat collapsed at the podium only to return and carry on the un is really owned it's owned by its member states so it's not really anyone's role to you know be kind a western and grabs you know you've got to when they're up there they can go as long as they want they can also see whatever they want and accusations often go flying towards the u.s. yes then ok. thank you. roger and it's made as a sense for still today and from the us the greatest obstacle to this future is that your rulers have chosen to deny you liberty and the media obsessed. creating legends out of billy's performances people who have creek lad carla bruni becoming a headliner for the simple act of showing up to serve you leader nikita who short

the legendary banging his shoe against the quality of. slavery in which people the better half a century leader of the story is really to be a favorite among tourists visiting the e.u. when the soviet leader saw him says the episode is a legend as the shoe banging is never captured on video push through the. media view of the t.v. . all. that you can believe in. to showcase work as dean officials pull out so-called facts sparring accusations backed up by wooden so you. need to invade iraq nonexistent recommenced of mass destruction but we're giving you our faction conclusions based on solid intelligence the key players come and go . because you have the firm for one side of the sun and the just

so poor that you're team in the open with the fierceness clearly not for into this international political stage drama year after year as the number one guest are asleep. and archie. now tell us and on what will go down as legendary this year r t a correspondent and a star and i was in our new york studio and there. i have asked him here i look at i have having a good night i know it's been a very long day for you covering all of this but i know that to update everybody president obama met with mahmoud abbas this evening i believe and what do we know is and our meeting. that's correct lauren you know this meeting was really unexpected we knew that obama was scheduled to meet up with israeli prime minister netanyahu of course and this really was announced at the last minute obama and her boss did meet up and from what we understand of course obama his administration

have been working very hard round the clock behind closed doors and out in the public to try to convince palestine to change their mind about policing an official bid for statehood at the united nations either security council or general assembly and that is exactly what obama and abbas were talking about today what exactly came out of this meeting is not really being talked about we are assuming however if this meeting were a success between obama and of gaza we would certainly be hearing a lot more about more progress and america's diplomatic attempts because we know that of course this this palestine's fresh course should be officially recognized by the international community something that really does not present a positive image for the united states as a mediator in this whole israeli palestinian conflict so you kind of had the united states as a role as a mediator and of course we heard obama last year with lofty goals for middle east peace by this time and possibly

a palestinian state so why is it so important to the u.s. that this does not go to a vote at the u.n. . well the united states has been mediating and has been really spearheading the talks between the sort of on and off talks between israel and palestine for almost for almost two decades now and it's really has been an important part of obama's really image as world leader for the united states to be able to present themselves as successful mediators for israel and palestine and the fact that palestine has shown that at this point it's quite fed up that nothing is happening that we know that talks surface stall and they decided to take their own sort of unilateral action and present their bid for statehood at the united nations security council and we know of course that the united states was completely by this prospect they have been trying to scare palestine by saying they would veto this at the security council this is not sort of frightening palestinians at all they said they would go

through the united nations general assembly which is a little less of an important status but still quite a symbolic event if you know the one hundred twenty countries that support palestine in the general assembly would support its membership that would make the united states really. marginalized country together with israel from going to this number one mediator to really a country that's isolated because the international community would have supported palestine if this bid were officially to take place that sums it up so well and so that is kind of the latest of what's been very serious focus of today's debates but now let's talk a little bit about the lighter stuff because i know that a lot of side shows and highlights happen far away from the podium and outside of these meetings what has really gone on today behind the scenes. well in terms of talking behind the scenes we do have to see that it is surprisingly usually there

are several different aspects that get covered and reported on when it comes to the united nations general assembly this year really all eyes have been on palestine we do have to mention though that in terms of really the differences of what we've been seeing in the last years covering the general assembly sessions is that really the face of the arab world has become very different and that has been reflected like we mentioned you know gadhafi was here a couple of years ago ripping up the u.n. charter and his wishes came true you know the international community obviously turned their back on him and that has become very different you know and in terms of the united states' position really it's interesting how that's developed in the last couple of years from two thousand and nine when obama was here as the mean it boy the really the leader of the world's here to lecture everyone that has then gone to two thousand and ten when he was here to win political points ahead of the midterm elections and now two thousand and eleven so far pretty unsuccessful participation when it comes to israel and palestine and extremely the lowest

approval rating obama has or feast in his presidency at thirty nine percent so really you n.t. sessions are really a great reflection of what happens in world politics as the years really go by absolute as a great summary you gave and just real quickly i just need a quick answer here but are new yorkers as pissed off at the u.n. g.a. this year as they normally are with all the streets blocked off and. clogging the roads. oh yes lauren absolutely asked of like clockwork every time the sessions kick off everything gets cordoned off police are everywhere tourists are confused they don't know where to go because everything because they walked off this is exactly the case this year protest you know any self respecting organization is out there on the streets anti israel pro israel anti policy problems time anti bush anything you name it they're out there protesting with the flags and we're definitely covering that all of that that happens outside the u.n. g.a. with all the public that has something to say but maybe is not being heard by world leaders these days we certainly do and of course the angry new yorkers that you

never hear about they get their city or their neighborhoods taken over by the u.n. g.a. everywhere but you're there filling us then that was our t. correspondent and it's going to from new york now every year when has its punching bags and for the u.s. that has often been iran now we heard republican presidential candidate michele bachmann just yesterday calling on president obama to block the iranian president mahmoud ahmadinejad from speaking at the united nations she said he has violated the u.n. charter and international law so he should be able to speak now in fact it is bachmann who is calling for a violation of the law as the site of the u.n. is international territory and because of that the u.s. is actually obligated to allow access for leaders whether michele bachmann likes them or not to get to the bottom though of why iran is such a target for the u.s. and what this could lead to christine fears outbreaks at all. just about everywhere

you look at iran it continues to develop nuclear weapons someone whether politician or pundit are controlled by a fanatical regime is beating the drums of war how close are we to the point of no return well i think we may be past the point of no return in the sense that iran does have inside the country everything it needs to produce a nuclear weapon that point of no return often exaggerated according to journalist seymour hersh whose in-depth articles recently this one in the new yorker illustrated time and time again the lack of evidence of a nuclear threat from iran the rhetoric though has resulted in widespread support for harsh actions against the country we support the stations program that's the sign to stop the punishment is. aimed at stopping the iranians from doing something we know we know they're not doing so called for repeatedly by the obama

administration so let me be clear iran's nuclear and ballistic missile activity poses a real threat not just to the united states but for all runs neighbors and our allies hurst compares president obama's added two toward iran to bush and cheney's policy toward iraq they want to punish they want to make their case against iraq they didn't like the politics. and so we made a case about nuclear weapons we have if you remember they were talking about mushroom clouds i make a case to go to war. and to war america when. many worry it could happen as well in iran if rhetoric becomes reality iran is in a very perilous position and it's obvious that the crosshairs are on them squarely if anyone wants to know how it would begin to look no further than those hoping to have their finger on the button here's john mccain four years ago that old beach boys song bomb iran. and history does in fact repeat

itself. with the greatest threat to the security the world is a nuclear iran iran is a country that has killed more american men and women in uniform in iraq in afghanistan than the iraqis and the afghanistan. this is last month's g.o.p. presidential debate in iowa they are one of the four state sponsors of terror in the world only one candidate strayed from the script texas congressman ron paul just think of how many nuclear weapons surround iran the chinese are there the indians or the pakistanis they are these realities are the united states is there all these countries china has nuclear weapons why one could be natural that they might want to weapons there'd be internationally they'd be given more respect but one man given very little respect on u.s. soil iranian president ahmadinejad number one village for so am i this is the. last year

a group united against nuclear iran with these posters up all over new york city perpetuating the idea of a hostile iran american policy needs enemies we need bad guys we need this these threats because these threats justify an expansion of the letairis spending they just thought i you know the voices of the of the military and hawkish congressman de lay all the rest of the economy is sinking the military industrial complex grows and grows and grows in other words war is good business but it may also be good business to take a closer look at the way the narrative unfolds this time around so i ask when you hear the drums of war being beaten yet again if it is in fact a matter of preparedness and perkasa or if it is simply propaganda. in washington christine for the now our team i'll leave you with that question you can see iran's answer at least tomorrow when we had an interview with iranian president mahmoud on again john.