nuclear power to renewable energy could save millions broke jobless and left in the dark. so the lines here in our news continues at the top of the hour next though we're bringing our interview show spotlight with al gore now. the first.

hello again to welcome to spotlight the interview show r.t.e. i'm al going off and today my guest on the show is richard norton a veteran say war goes on sale its last victim is bearing thousands of soldiers america sent overseas are still missing but hope dies last and families are p.o.w.'s and m.i.a. still waiting for their beloved to return home in america the veterans of foreign wars often as ration deal with problems all the servicemen including assistance with searches of the missing how was it going on and we 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 continent number of conflicts across the world world war two the vietnam war and various military operations in all parts of the goalpost 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 be to both russian and american servicemen as military conflicts of the past and the present. home is their welcome to the show thank you thank you very much for being with us thank you all so great to be here thank you very much great to how you are first of all i would like to ask you about the room 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 eighty 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 appointing this co-chair to answer your question yes we are advocates for the recovery and a den of occasion 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 of world war two to the present so so you do really would collect on the ground really is not as we do we do every country they have to visit with well we we visit taiwan 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. 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 a good about that and i go through that the russia the russian official rest of the fish was they they volunteered to be a sort of a middleman to try to talk the koreans in correcting you into the country absolutely however there remains of the absolutely how successful have the russians well we're not there yet but i've heard rumors that things are getting better is

all we're hoping in the near future that we may be able to we were in there in the ninety's for a short period of time and we then we were asked to leave. oh that is to come back to north korea this will be a breakthrough i mean and it's a little of this will be what we call a grassroots like getting the countries together absolutely we still have a thousand. missing in action that have not been accounted for and we're very concerned about finding out. what happened when we talk a thousand tens of thousands of american soldiers still missing from world war two this definitely isn't europe it should be most mostly the pacific the number because in europe i think i think i think most of the most of the people killed and you have been recovering bodies that try well i don't know the statistics exact statistics but i would i would say the a probably correct on that we have recently just found some world war two remains in the pacific theater there's approx seventy odd 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. m.i.a. 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 responsible for starting this movement you started this interview by mentioning by thanking the russians by pulling for pointing this lady you quoted in that pretty high. i didn't mention her name because i i think i know if i will probably why doesn't. you folks but. except communicating with with koreans what else do russians are russia's ready to do to help putin 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 are hoping that we can help them doing that on the other hand it's

a reciprocal thing basically this commission 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 went 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 this ways that they can help us with north korea ratio in this way so 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 back in one nine hundred ninety two mistaken but but today is the first time that i hear about it really in the news so why is that why is it has it they kept such low profile i mean you 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 come. it 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 at the pats but ok you mentioned the russians that may like to to find them missing soldiers soldiers missing in afghanistan do you think the americans will be ready to really assists russian groups delegation entering have gathered stone on their land and digging in for 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 this much to be gained by working together and so i'm hopeful that both governments will take this commitment seriously yes what is the the w doing with sid mean rahul in the supporting the the families of the. there are there is m.i.a. groups in our country and to 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 p.o.w. m.i.a. office d p d p i'm all and by doing so i think that gives them hope that things will be done i think we give them hope i am glad i said that i think we do

give them hope they know that we're advocating for them we won't let 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 use of the soldiers. they're not public goods you have to you you have to get engaged in politics to how the yes we do about 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 the lobby and probably certainly you have to yet to be political yourselves i mean to in to a certain degree do you do raising money for those people who are or it all comes from the funds that that government well or the ngos that the. i would say the m.i. . the missing in action groups in america probably get their own donations and so forth that well as we do. we get our own funding from re a funding from fundraisers membership.

dues. corporate donations and so forth all of that goes with our form of finance and so forth and most of those m.i.a. groups have the same type of benefactors and all of the government what extent is the government in gauged in helping and giving money to the people to the families that need help the government funds the d.p.m. all office yes which is part of the department of defense and all of the activities of the office in hawaii feel cruiser go wild fun recovery missions and so forth that's all funded by the government and of 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 lot 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 the do

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

us. russia would be so much brighter if you knew about sun from fines to pressurize. please please don't talk t. don't come. down the official on t.v.

application to your ipod touch from the i.q. zaps to. what geology life on the good. video on demand. minefield costs and already says feeds now in the palm of your. question on the dot com. welcome back to spotlight i'm al green knob and just a reminder that my guest on the show today is richard dinoire commander in chief of the american veterans of foreign wars organization. richard a we were talking about veterans being non political 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 you know how long we see a lot of war veterans engaged taking part in these protests well it doesn't make them automatically political but it shows us that they are politically active for 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 venture have to say he is a demonstration becoming more serious more more room. important when the official see out of events there on the street 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 on shore 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. nearly one hundred well at least more than a third of the americans the poor afghan war and also in the we're in iraq believe that these wars weren't worth the money spent on the war itself do you think that the opinion of those veterans are pretty young people will that somehow influence the whole withdrawal strategy i don't i can't speak for our government as far as

their they come up with with this strategy i do know that i believe our president said that we he 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 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 as is theirs 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 from vietnam all of these new wars 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 war and they're appreciating the service that these young people have given their country yeah this was different in the oh absolutely no question about it it was unchanged propaganda i think i think so when i when it when i would say when i say yes propaganda i think the news media distorted a lot of the war and 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 do this is this is understandable because what we remember about the vietnam war is the deer hunter the epic. movies like that but hollywood contributed to it took to the air you know you'd want to put to it and you think you know about the war right why why do we see films movies. this

accountable to do about the new war is going to war is different well i think the people understand maybe there's been better communication better pull blisse city but i think they seem to understand that there is a war on terrorism. and there were two buildings in new york that went down and nearly three thousand people along with the pentagon died on that particular day and i think they see the necessity of having some kind of a common front against terrorism. but they don't obviously the cost 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 again i guess that i fought in vietnam i'm a proud vietnam veteran i'm not going to you know i'm not going to say that i'm ashamed of anything that i did i 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 society has changed their outlook somewhat so many veterans suffer from this so-called post to mini series does it would those the v.f.w. the help them overcome overcome this this called the 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. had service officers or our veterans advocates just about every federal get 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 life even to me there has more impact. post-traumatic stress disorder p.t.s.d. was going up to who were in vietnam us veterans found it difficult to read just civilian life to rule they'd gone through in russia these shoes started to be talked about afterwards military complains in the guinness than. remain who is deluded remembers how you listened to change in one thousand nine hundred ninety nine. did when i was boy the thoughtlessness it was our first battle for of course we were scared to lose size militants were shelling us and it's also terrible to see your friends some dead others injured and crying for help now a veteran of many missions remonde says he's first back who 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

fruition all these ruptures after they'd come back home or when their clash back sore or nightmares there really isn't any control or try to but there really isn't . and so here they're still shaking your heart's racing your mind is going you know one hundred eighty miles a minute and. you know complete loss of control you know scientists have recently discovered a protein movie cue that could lead to the development of a drug that helps erase traumatic memories but working on these kind of you might take these are even decades meanwhile that runs often have to call alone not all of them are ready to share the b. to memories who ask for help. belittling drugs that would raise bits of memories this of course something on the future but if we talk about today if 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 rehab program group therapy group there 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 their group therapy centers and they just. around a 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 that have participated in that have found that very rewarding so this is so these sort of help each other and this psychology sort of like that like a talk show host like you know out of them community like you well it's not true yeah yeah. but isn't well it's strange that that that it's easier for them to be in

a group of people who are. more like human and it's not better for them to be in a group of just ordinary people have to be know they need to be in a group with those that have a similar circumstance a similar account each of the books in exactly that how does help them to normal life well i think it possibly i quit i can't speak for every 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 vein if you are on i'm a veteran myself and you won 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 so

you think it depends on and actually when you serve the exact we do because i was in the air force i mean right i also didn't see anybody die as i'm saying and some people say well a marine you must have been and you are bad you must have seen people die and some do some don't and it depends on what your role is and your job mine was to make sure that the infantry got the ammunition 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 experienced. as some of us believe is painful isn't that for people like you when you return back they have to because he did used to it so quickly i mean these couple of use you get used to that this is the only rule and when you come back to normal life there is certainly and i just it doesn't seem normal that he will ya 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 that's what it is it's a way of life and if there is an adjustment but for the not anywhere near the type of adjustment that someone that was in the infantry was unnaturally was in hard combat yeah thank you thank you very much surprised to be with us and just a reminder that my guest on the show today was to return to doing laundry in chief of the american veterans of foreign wars and that's it for now for wallace parklife will be back with you until then stay on r.t. and take care thank you.

listen i only saw you heard by. the syrian capital host a massive show of support for president asad with calls for him to be given war time to make the promise of reform the reality. angry anti-corporate activists knock on the doors of some of america's richest as a wave of demonstrations critical of washington's loyalty to big business sweeps nationwide. and how some believe that germany's move from nuclear power to renewable energy could see millions broke jobless left in the dark. this is already coming to you live from moscow.