stooges freeze. mostly blows just plug in video for your media projects free media are cheap drugs tom. what you know if you live from moscow here's a look at the top stories the syrian capital hosts a massive show of support for president awesome with calls for him to be given more time to make the promise of reform a reality that's as activists report bylane clashes with police outside damascus during opposition rallies. angry anti-corporate activists knock on the doors of some of america's richest as a wave of demonstrations critical of the government's loyalty to big business sweeps nationwide washington's approval ratings taking ahead with the public

demanding accountability over the corporate lobbies influence. and some believe that germany's move from nuclear power to renewable energy could see millions brogue job was and laughed and the dark. that's now is here in our teen years continues out of top of the hour next though we're bringing our interview show spotlight with al gore now. the first.

hello again then the welcome to spotlight the infinity show our teeth i'll bring all back in today my guest on the show is to richard norris veteran say war goes on sale its last victim is buried thousands of soldiers america sent overseas are still missing but hope dies last and families are p.o.w.'s in m.i.'s still waiting for their beloved to return home in america the veterans of foreign wars optimisation deal with problems all the servicemen including assistance with searches of the missing how was it going on and always sharing experience let's ask

the commander in chief how the americans veterans of foreign wars all know they shouldn't richard good morning to. both russia and the u.s. to toss in a number of conflicts across the world world war two the vietnam war and various military operations in all parts of the globe cost both countries thousands of missing soldiers after the iron curtain found a joint russia u.s. commission. prisoners of war and missing in action was created its primary objective is to i replied these are both russian and american servicemen as military conflicts of the past and the present. is their welcome to the show thank you thanks very much for being with us thank you allison great to be here thank you very much greater how you are first of all i would like to ask you about the rule of the veterans of foreign wars association your association playing in what you call the full accounting mission it's aimed at

recovering the traces of more than eight thousand american servicemen those still missing is that true that is true well i've got to before i answer your question i would like to thank the russian government very much for appointing a co-chair recently to the u.s. russian commission for p.o.w.'s. we work together jointly and we appreciate their commitment by by appointing as co-chair to answer your question yes we are advocates for the recovery and it benefit cation of p.o.w. m.i.a.'s we actually travel to many countries russia being one of them and we are part of a joint as i said the joint commission we have a joint commission with russia on that and we visit recovery sites recently i was in cambodia i went to a recovery site where the four young american soldiers went down in during vietnam and they were working to recover those remains we also visit china to try to get

assistance from the chinese government as well so we are very very active in this issue we take it very very seriously and of course the purpose is to get closure to many families who have lost loved ones world war two to the present so you did do really work a lot on the ground really is not only do we do every country they have to visit with well we did with we visited i one we've had. china we visit russia and primarily those countries and of course we also visit southeast asia where the actual many of the vietnam remains still there and but of course we're also interested in world war two and korea as well we'd like to get into north korea possibly your government might be able to help us do that then i'll go through that the russia the russian official rest of the first was they they volunteered to be a sort of a middleman to try to taunt the koreans in creating you into the country absolutely

never the remains of absolutely how successful have the russians well we're not there yet but i've heard rumors that things are getting better we're hoping many are future that we may be able to we were in there in the ninety's for a short period of time and we don't we were asked to leave. but we know they should come back to north korea this would be a breakthrough again i was a little bit this will be what we call grass roots like getting the country together absolutely we still have eight thousand. missing in action that have not been accounted for and we're very concerned about finding out. the what happened when we talk a thousand tens of thousands of american soldiers that were missing from world war two this definitely isn't here it should be most but mostly the pacific and the because in europe i think i think i think most of the most of the people killed and you have been recovering from these a try we are i don't know the statistics exact statistics but i would i would say

that you're probably correct on that we have recently just found some world war two remains in the pacific theater there's a proxy thousand still unaccounted for and i would like to add to that it was the vietnam veterans who started the movement for the recovery of p.o.w. when i say which of course we went back and also it advocated for recovery of the world war two as well so it was my generator. and the war that i was involved in that actually was is responsible for starting this movement you started this interview by mentioning by thanking the russians by pushing for appointing this lady you quoted in the police records and you know if you think you have and i didn't mention her name because i think i know if i would rather why doesn't. your folks but. except communicating with with koreans what else do russians are russia's ready to do to help you in this and if you feel your mission

well i know that the russians have a great deal of concerns in recovering some of their m.i.a.'s in afghanistan and obviously they they are hoping that we can help them doing that on the other hand it's a research thing basically disconnection one hand helps the other. i understand i just found out today myself i met with the federation and they mentioned to me that we actually saw some russians going to our laboratory in hawaii and we assisted them and gave them some d.n.a. kits and show them some of the ways that we had done a five remains and so forth so my answer would be that it's a reciprocal thing there's ways that they can help us with the north korea issue in those ways that we can help them maybe in afghanistan and other places as well i would be i would be frank with you i know that the joint russia u.s. commission on p.o.w. m.i.a.'s was was founded vaca nine hundred ninety two mistaken but today is the

first time that i hear about it really in the news so why is that work why is it has it it kept such low profile and we need new news ones i'm not really sure i don't know whether it which government possibly didn't have as much commitment to that issue but we're certainly not worried about that now because. certainly russia has come through and. for themselves by appointing a co-chair and in our government is going to be funding the they are part of their part of the commission so i think we're on the right road now. i can't really say too much about what happened there but ok you mentioned the russians there me like two to find their missing soldiers soldiers missing in afghanistan do you think the americans will be ready to really assists russian groups and russian delegation and entering afghanistan on their land and begin looking for as well as of course being

in a veterans organization i'm not a politician and i was a professional marine professional soldier. professional soldiers are not politicians and so i can't speak for my government but i would say that i would like to think yes. because there's much to be gained by working together and so i'm hopeful that both governments will take this commitment seriously you know what is the the w. doing would sit mean room. in the supporting the the families of the he's. there if there is m.i.a. groups in our country and basically we support them by keeping them abreast of what the efforts that we. are doing at the current time we also. advocate for them with the defense. has deep deep deep hole

and by doing so i think that gives them hope that things will be done i think we give them hope and i am glad i said that i think we do give them hope they know that we're advocating for them we want but this issue die i think that if there were it was an advocacy time does make people forget and we don't want to forget we want to make sure that everyone is accounted for their you said the soldiers. no not probably pushes but you have to here you have to get engaged in politics tell the yes we do what i want i guess what i'm saying is we don't take sides and we don't but we do have to lobby you know to lobby politicians you have two years of people political yourselves and included in to a certain degree do you do you raising money for those people who are where it all comes from the front. of well. the. i would say the m.i. the miss the missing in action groups and in america probably get their own donations

and so forth that well as we do it as you know we get our own fund from re-offending from our fundraisers membership. dues. corporate donations and so forth all of that those with our form of finance and so forth and most of those m.i.a. groups have the same type of benefactors in all of the government to what extent is the government and gauged in helping. giving money to people to the families that need help the government funds the d.p.m. all office has is that which is part of the department of defense and activities the office in hawaii the fuel cruiser fund recovery missions and so forth that's all funded by the government and course we lobby to make sure that they continue to fund that and that's our role i should say do you do you have a long of people a lot of families that approach you with with specific questions specific requests

. i don't know just how many families do contact us i'm sure there's many to do what is going on what is being done where are we now in this endeavor i'm sure that our washington office is cause and that i don't know how many i haven't got to count on that but yes and if they did we would certainly try to find the information for the may answer says richard there neuer commander in chief of the american veterans of foreign wars organization spotlight will be back shortly will take a break right now and then please join us again here on russia today spotlight will continue to stay with.

russia would be so much brighter if you knew about the sun from fines to

christianize. stock totty don't come. down to the official ante allocation choice so i pod touch from the i choose option. the jaunty life on the good. video on demand. minefield comes just an hour s.s.b. now with the palm of your. machine on the dot com. welcome back to spotlight i'm now here nabhan just to remind you that my guest on the show today is richard nor your commander in chief of the american veterans of

foreign wars organization. richard a we were talking about veterans being nonpolitical and this is true i mean i mean i agree and i am a veteran myself but watching the current news coming from the united states the process they occupy the wall street movement in their own thoughts we see a lot of war veterans engaged taking part in these contests well it doesn't make them automatically political but it shows us that they are politically active for and what i want to ask is is are the veterans really important for the u.s. government do you think that the government. we'll certainly take into account what the veterans camps have to say is a demonstration becoming more serious more more. important when the official scene of the vets where i was treat to answer your

question i would say yes and i would say we are currently involved in a war in afghanistan and we were just recently getting out of iraq and we have a great large percentage of veterans that are homeless and we have a large percentage of veterans that are unemployed and so it's an economical thing a centrally and their protest i'm sure the ones that you're referring to is an economic protest they want work they want homes they want to get off the street they want to go on with their lives and i would say they want to be productive citizens are nearly a half well at least more than a third of the americans the afghan war and also in the we're in iraq believe they're these wars weren't worth the money spent on the war itself do you think

they're the opinion of those veterans who are pretty young people will it somehow influence the whole withdrawal strategy. i don't i can't speak for our government as far as they come up with with their strategy i do know that i believe our president said that we was going to be removing people out of afghanistan i think by two. thousand and twelve i think it was or something like that next year but of course every person whether they serve in the military and i was entitled to their opinion and is entitled to their political philosophy all i can say is that we don't endorse candidates we don't support the candidates we stay away from that and their view on the war whether it was worthwhile or whether it wasn't or whether it was too costly and is it's is the years and they they are entitled to have it. the new veterans the young veterans people coming back from the afghan war of iraq war

are on the facing the same problems that your generation with facing i mean guys that were thirty three vietnam all of these new worries are have something in particular i think that they're facing the same problems that the vietnam veteran faced with exception. more people are separating the war from the warrior and they're appreciating the service that these young people have given their country yeah this was different than the oh absolutely no question about it it was an unchanged propaganda i think and i think so and i would have what i would say when i say yes propaganda i think the news media distorted go a lot of the war and people seem to. group the war and the warrior together and they blamed the warrior when he was doing what his country asked him to go this is this is understandable because what we remember the vietnam war is the deer hunter the epic alan shore now you know movies like that

but hollywood contributed to what it took to you know you know you want to put through it and you think you know about the war right why. why do we see films movies of this caliber to do the new we're going to war is the fruits of well i think that people understand maybe there's been better communication better pull blysse but i think they seem to understand that there is a war on terrorism. there were two buildings in new york and went down in nearly three thousand people along with the pentagon died on that particular day and i think bay see the necessity of having some kind of common front against terrorism. but they don't obviously because it is something to consider out which you elaborated to earlier but in vietnam i guess they did not see the necessity of it i can't speak for the people who are going to i guess that i fought in vietnam

i'm a proud. bucket you know i'm not going to say that i'm ashamed of anything that i did i answered my country's call and most vietnam veterans if not all feel that way we're proud of what what we did i think society today feels differently and now i get many people saying it's many years later but thank you for your service so our society has changed their outlook somewhat. many veterans suffer through this who called the first design wouldn't those the movie of w. the third man help them overcome overcome this this disease and help them adapt to to to to normal we do we direct them to the. the help that they need we have the v.f.w. have service officers or our veterans advocates just about every federal give building in every major city in the country and those veterans who have problems

need medical care need assistance with disability compensation we are prepared to help them absolutely who are returning. from war for many soldiers means having to cope with post-traumatic stress spotlights even a day neither has more impact. the term was traumatic stress disorder p.t.s.d. was born after the war in vietnam u.s. that's runs found it difficult to raid just for civilian life after all they've gone through in russia the show started to be talked about through its military complains in the gannett stand and later to. remind her of remembers how you were sent to changing out in one thousand nine hundred ninety nine it was a boy established my city that was our first battle for of course we were scattered to size militants were shouting at us and it's also terrible to see your friends some dead others injured and crying for help now our veteran of many nations

remonde says he's first but was a nightmare that will stay with him for the rest of his life likewise many veterans of the u.s. led war in iraq and afghanistan have faced significant physical emotional and truly tional these russians after they'd come back home when their clash or guy pairs there really isn't any control or try to but there really isn't. and so here they're still shaking your your heart's racing your mind is going you know meaning last minute and. it's a complete loss of control you scientists have recently discovered it proved to you that could lead to the development of a drug that helps you read traumatic memories but working on this kind of view might be please. meanwhile the terrans often have to call them little not all of them are really to share the beat in memories who ask for help. developing drugs

that would raise memories this of course something of the future but if we talk about today we talk about specific ways of helping those guys yes settled in the in the peaceful world what's what do you think personally is the best way the best we have program group therapy group it seems. after i left the marine corps i spent twenty two years in the marine corps i spent twenty years in veterans advocacy and many of the veterans who came into me with p.t.s.d. or psychological problems the v.a. has these group therapy they call them vet centers the group therapy centers and they just sit around and talk and they have a clinical psychologist or a clinical social worker that kind of leads the group and most of them that i've ever talked to a bit of participated in that i found that very rewarding so so so these sort of help each other and this psychology sort of like that like

a talk show host like you know go to them communicate like you well is that true you're good but isn't well it's strange that they're that it's easier for them to be in a group of people who are. human and it's not better for them to be in a group of just ordinary people have of you know they need to be in a group with those who have a similar circumstance a similar and clearly showed the brutally exactly like how do you tell that to normal life well i think it. possibly i can speak for. one of them but i would say that they probably find that hey this guy's got the same problem i have and he's making it he's he's dealing with it i can do that too and i think it's something on that on that thing if you are i'm a veteran myself and you and i do remember my so feeling any post-traumatic stress disorder did you well i was very fortunate first of all i didn't serve in the infantry i served in combat support and i spent thirteen months in vietnam i was

not out in the bush as as they say therefore i did not kill anyone and i didn't see anybody get killed and i was very fortunate i was very very very fortunate though so you think it depends on and actually when you serve exactly do you know it was i was the air force i mean all right i mean i also didn't see anybody die i'm saying and you know if some people say well a marine you must have been if you are bad you must have seen people die and some do some don't and it depends on what your role is in your job mine was to make sure that the infantry got the ammunition in and that they needed in order to fight their war and i was very fortunate that i didn't have to have some of the experiences that some of those who he is painful isn't it for people like you when you return back and. because he did used to so quickly i mean these couple of years you get used to that this is your little and when you come back to normal life there is certainly in

a just doesn't seem normal if you will yet i spent twenty two years in the marine corps and i was thirty nine when i retired and there was certainly an adjustment and the adjustment is difficult because military life is best what it is it's a way of life and there is an adjustment but for the not anywhere near the type of adjustment someone that was in the infantry was a nationally was in hard combat you know thank you thank you very much surprised to be with us and just i reminded them i guess on the show today was richard for doing laundry house the american back for these are for. it was i'm just trying to and that's it for now for all us who will be back with an update until then stay on r.t. and take your phone thanks to. subvert . the berlin.