test yourself and become free. see what nature can give you. five thirty pm here in moscow you with a quick summary of the headlines now i just wired loyalists crowds in syria's capital activists sound the. same clashes in the north of the country have killed three people it's all as president assad has promised to establish a committee to draw up a new constitution all of this is global pressure continues to mount. in the united states protesters determined to stamp out corporate greed take their grievances to the doors of the wealthy. big business of trying to buy elections

despite having beaten the rest of the determination recently spreading. and as berlin concerned over japan's nuclear fallout in march plans to turn back on its nuclear power in the next eleven years some experts say such plans are untenable i believe a push to swap atomic energy for greener alternatives could leave germany out of jobs and in the. spotlight program at this time i suggest is the vietnam war veteran it neuer so much for the thousands of american soldiers that never returned from foreign conflicts to stay. hello again and welcome to start like the infamy shall i say i'll bring all of them

today my guest on the show richard norton veteran say war goes on until its last victim is very thousands of soldiers america sent overseas are still missing but hope dies last and families are p.o.w.'s in m.i.a. still waiting for their beloved to return home in america the veterans of foreign wars are going to ration deal with problems of the servicemen including assistance with searches of the missing how is it going on and how we sharing experience let's ask the commander in chief how the america's veterans of foreign wars all know they shouldn't richard the north. both russia and the master card 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 battle joins russia u.s.

commission on prisoners of war and missing in action was created its primary objective is to clarify the fate of the russian an american serviceman missing military conflicts of the past and the present. i welcome to the show thank you i thank you very much for being with us thank you alex 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 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 pointing as co-chair can see

a question yes we are advocates for the recovery and a dedication 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 did you really would collect on the ground really is the we do we do every consider the effort is it really well we we visit taiwan we visit 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 go through that the russian and the russian official rest of the fish was they they volunteered to be a sort of a middleman to try to talk the koreans you into the country absolutely never the remains of absolutely how successful have the recent well we're not here yet but i've heard rumors that. things are getting better 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 away then we were asked to leave. to come back to north korea this would be a breakthrough it needs and it's a little bit this will be what we call a grassroots like getting the country together no absolutely we still have eight

thousand. missing in action that have not been accounted for and we're very concerned about finding out. what happened when we talk or five thousand tens of thousands of american soldiers still missing from world war two this definitely isn't here it should be most members leave the pacific in the because in europe i think i think i think most of the most of the people killed in you have been recovered these are 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 seventy yard 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 in my generation 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 pulling for appointing this lady you can see in the piece was very unhappy thank you and i didn't mention her name because i i think i know that i would rather why doesn't. you folks a bit. except communicating with there 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 are hoping that we can help them doing that on the other hand it's a reciprocal thing basically disk 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 children some of the ways that we had done a five remains and so forth so my answer would be that it's a research thing there's ways that when they can help us with the north korea issue in this way that we can help them maybe in afghanistan and other places as well only 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 you really in the news so why is that work why is the has it they kept so slow profound 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 committed 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 that i can't really say too much of what happened in the past that's but ok you mentioned the russians there to me lights to to find their missing soldiers soldiers missing in afghanistan do you think the americans will be ready to really assists russian groups and though the geisha and entering together on their land and begin looking for the well is of course was 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 v.f.w. doing with sid mean room. in the supporting the the families of the these. 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 a current time we are so. that advocate for them with the defense p.o.w. m.i.a. office depot mall 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 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 the soldiers are not public lucian's goods you have to you you have to get engaged in politics to have the yes we do about well 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 two years of people political yourselves in to a certain degree do you do favor of raising money for those people who are worried it all comes from the firms that they're going to mars well. the. i would say the am i missing the the missing in action groups in in america probably get their own donations and so forth but as we do it as you know we get our own funding from re-offending from a fund raiser. membership. dues. corporate donations and so forth all of that those were 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. is the

government in gauged in helping 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 from 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 and 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 to contact as 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 gets calls and that i don't know how many i have i'm going to count on that but yes and if they did we would certainly try to

find the information for the answer says richard there neuer commander in chief of the american veterans of foreign wars organization spotlight will be vance truth and will take a break right now and then please join us again here on russia today spotlight will continue to stay with. us. on. a very warm welcome to you this is your news today protesters on the wall street. ladies and gents a good chance to choose is a good look at least status of the human experiment to explode in the weeks to hoax

islamist rap music would expose the basilica to try sensibly claiming and it's all changed things in the financial to the recent planting to maintain our confidence in markets and. wants to be seems way mullins's risk if you missions close to collapsing the subprime loans close. to fail simple a bias against the little things the us crash and imminent smashed ceiling is like ultimately the decision in springfield six million plus programs increased the total economy. the lists

. lists. slums. the be. politically. welcome back to spotlight i'm al grenada and just a reminder that my guest on the show today is richard dinora commander in chief of the american veterans of foreign wars organization. richard 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 the occupy the wall street movement you know i want what 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 and what i want to ask is is are the veterans really important for the u.s. government do you think that the government will certainly take into account what the veterans hampson have to say is a demonstration becoming more serious more more. important when the official scene of the vets there on the streets a lot 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 protests 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 half well these more than a third of the americans the poor afghan war and all. in the war in iraq believe that these wars weren't worth the money spent on the war itself do you think the opinion of those veterans are pretty young people would somehow influence the whole withdrawal strategy. i don't i can't speak for our government as far as they come

up 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 as entitle 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 i is it's is the years and they they are entitled to have it. they knew veterans the young veterans people coming back from the afghan war of iraq war are they 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 of the vietnam veteran faced with exception. more people are separating the war from the warrior and they are appreciating the service that these young people have given their country and yeah this was different than the oh absolutely no question about it why it was unchanged well propaganda i think i think i think so when i when i say when i say yes propaganda i think the news media distorted 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 this is this is understandable because what we remember the vietnam war is that the hunter the african shore now you know movies like that but hollywood contributed to you know you know you want to put through and you think you know about the war right why. why do we see films movies of this

caliber to do it better than you would call it going to war is different well i think that people understand maybe there's been better communication better publicity but i think they seem to understand there is a war on terrorism. and there were two buildings in new york and went down a 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 common front against terrorism. but they know obviously the cost is something to consider 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 against it i fought in vietnam i'm a proud. like and 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 not now i get many people saying it's many years later but thank you for your service so our society has changed their outlooks on what. many veterans suffer through the through called. through the design would 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. had 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 i 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 the demeter has more and that. the term post-traumatic stress disorder p.t.s.d. was born after good war in vietnam u.s. veterans found it difficult to read just for civilian life after all they've gone through in russia the show started to be talked about after its military complains in the ghana stand and later changed. remind the loop of remembers how you were sent to change in one thousand nine hundred ninety nine good ones were established my city that was our first battle for of course we were scattered in size militants was shouting at us and it's also terrible to see your friends some dead others injured and crying for help no one veteran of many missions remonde says he's first but it 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

ruination all these robson's after they'd come back home when their class perhaps are right there but i will miss america for we try to but there really isn't. and so here are still shaking your heart's racing your mind is going you know the last minute and. you know complete loss of control you scientists have recently discovered that proved to you that could lead to the development of a drug and it helps you reads traumatic memories of working on these kind of you might think these are even their kids meanwhile the terrans often have to call. not all of them are ready to share the bit in memories or ask for help. developing drugs that would raise its memories this of course something of the future but if we talk about today if we talk about specific ways of helping those guys yes settle

in the in the peaceful world what's what do you think personally is the best way the best rehab 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 in to me with p.t.s.d. or psychological problems the v.a. has the 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 that have participated and that i found there 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're going to the community like you were is that true you know yeah we're also good but isn't we're it's strange that 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 all been know they need to be in a group with those that have a similar circumstance a similar nature of the birth of exactly that how do you hope that you 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 vein if you are i'm a veteran myself and you want i do remember my so feeling any post-traumatic stress disorder well i was very fortunate first of all i didn't serve in the infantry i served in combat support 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 that so you think it depends on and actually will use exactly do you know because i was in the air force i mean i. didn't see anybody die i'm saying and you know it's some people say well a marine you must have been if you are bad you must the same 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 is painful isn't it for people like you when you return back. because he did used to it so quickly i mean these couple of years you get used to that this is your mil and when you come back to normal life there is certainly you know just doesn't seem normal it will be 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 for the not anywhere near the type of adjustment that someone that was in the infantry was and nationally was in hard combat. thank you very much surprised to be with us and just a reminder that my guest on the show today was richard good to work hard to achieve how the american veterans are for. and one of them just shut up and that's it for now for wallace he will be back with an update and for them to stay on our team and take care thank you. submitted to. the body.

used today violence is once again flared up. these are the images.