really nine years. america's war in iraq will be over. the next two months our troops in the. sense of it may be over but is it really mission accomplished as the commander in chief promises to withdraw all u.s. troops from iraq by the end of the year what does this mean for the future there and our troops only leaving because iraq's leaders have told the u.s. it's overstated welcome. to early nine years. america's war in iraq will be your. next two months for troops in iraq tens of thousands of the packet there deal. you just saw that we showed you again so here's another question what happened to nato as a original purpose in libya to protect civilians not to kill gadhafi so is the libyan leader dead will the new government be there what external forces had in mind r t is live on the ground in tripoli. there's

a bad state of civil liberties and strange a state some say is even worse than under the bush administration so well the former president sent prisoners to one ton of mowbray where they were often tortured is this president stepping up the game by skipping the torture and just only straight for the kill. it's friday october twenty first four pm in washington d.c. i'm christine and you are watching our team all our top story today the united states will withdraw all troops from iraq by the end of this year president obama says all troops other than about one hundred sixty active duty soldiers attached to the u.s. embassy will be out of iraq before christmas. the last american soldier will car across the border out of iraq where they're held heads held high proud of their success and knowing that the american people stand united in our support for our

troops that is how are americans military efforts in iraq will end. this isn't largely a result iraqi leaders refusal to give us troops immunity from prosecution in iraqi courts and the americans have refused to stay without it now there has been talk that over forty thousand or so troops in iraq right now among three or four maybe five thousand would stay to help with training however iraqi prime minister nuri al maliki told president obama the rest just want enough votes by the iraqi parliament to allow such a thing getting out of iraq certainly a promise that made by candidate barack obama and many people say even propelled him to pass hillary clinton back in the primaries and here was obviously constantly reminding people hillary clinton voted to authorize the war in the first place all right that was then and this is now and we want to dig deep into both the history of this and a look ahead to the future and what this means on

a global scale tell me that i'm joined in studio by ranger our blogger and iraqi american political activist thanks so much for coming marie a couple questions just to start off i want to know your take what does this mean for the iraqi people and is this war actually over it is a very important milestone i think iraqis in journalism have been waiting for this is the use you want to hear this u.s. military occupation is over saw it is a meter of what i've heard action it's of. action in the u.s. as well because as you mentioned going to the bark obama promised us audiences and experience that he will end this war and bring all the troops before and of this you know unfortunately while this is a very good step in the road it does not necessarily mean the end of the u.s. involvement and prevention in iraq because the u.s.

is planning to keep it on sixteen thousand personal and the department fears are going about private contractors but from what i under. stan there is no guarantee that those private contractors will have immunity either i mean do you think they'll actually still stay without you know that protection that's half of them half of the sixty thousand are expected to be private contractors and it seems that . iraq will not grant them immunity immunity talks are not over yet there is one less the current us spent on the state department are trying to implement which is keeping all of these forces a whole truckload of under an existing existing agreement between iraq and the needle and this equipment was actually sent to the occupied women plus week parliament is on recess until the twentieth so we would see the parliament would have between november twentieth and the end of the year to debate and maybe pass

the agreement if you press it it means that the u.s. will be able to tell you a few hundred or even thousands of military contractors and troops with some immunity i want to talk about our what we should bring in terms of this relationship between the u.s. and iraq today it seems to me everything i'm seeing and hearing the u.s. actually wanted to keep several thousand troops there to help with the training and the iraqi leaders simply said no. i want to know what you said what you think this says about the relationship between the two countries and is this just simply a matter of the u.s. over saying is welcome or is this you know too many incidents that we have covered as certainly as journalists throughout the last decade almost of incidents like the abu ghraib prison scandal like hundred near like indeed for cases of u.s. military personnel killing innocent civilians what was this a result of i think all for all your political leaders of not against keeping some u.s. through notice two three in the new iraqi army on using newly purchased u.s.

weapons but they are against don't think immunity because as you mentioned have been a laundry list of crimes. that we're committed killing iraqi civilians with no accountability so the government although they would like to actually give them immunity would be you know that is so much public pressure and there is so much parliamentary resistance to the idea of granting immunity to the u.s. troops because of the so many crimes that were committed in the west if u.s. and i do want to remind some people and put out some facts and figures of the actual cost of war take a look at these figures those serving in the u.s. military in iraq came home injured from iraq more than thirty two thousand and also u.s. military deaths in iraq almost forty five hundred can't forget though the biggest figure fifty thousand iraqi civilian deaths most people estimate that number to be much higher closer to one million civilian deaths simply tallied from two thousand

and five and on another thing to consider is the actual war monetary only caught monetary cost of war more than eight hundred billion dollars possibly with for that for the united states live in another three important mark right right what do we take from these numbers we think that the u.s. intervention and occupation of iraq has stopped there is no victory to claim it is nothing to look back at it has been a disaster should not have happened it's a disaster of this destruction and the u.s. has been a part of iraq's problem in the last decade or two decades since the intervention started i'm very happy that the u.s. is ending its and potentially because i think this will help iraqis move forward but could not confirm that i talk on the right track to what do we see in the coming months in the next year in iraq in terms of violence in terms of government there is nothing substantial i don't think the change will come dispersed there's

no magic wand in dealing with the situation in iraq we're talking about two decades of death and destruction sanction. the complete the suspicion i think the country needs a good or two to go broke but i think the first step but i version is being foreign interventions especially the us one we will of course are take a look and see what happens in the in the coming months and the next year or so raids around longer and iraq american political activist thanks so much on to libya now where many libyans are celebrating the death of a dictator colonel moammar gadhafi of course killed yesterday after a forty two years in power western leaders say now the gadhafi is dead a transition to democracy can now begin but what's next in that region is anything but clear anything but certain and even though nato is expected to end its bombing campaign in libya as large a corresponding energy can reports their business there may just be beginning.

hillary clinton on a surprise visit to tripoli days before the killing of the ousted leader leader where she was quoted as saying the u.s. hopes to see khadafi killed or captured sooner if they captured scenario might have put could up in the town for rejection leaders truth or those of iraq's saddam hussein but a trial over colonel gadhafi did not pan out here do you have more confidence that they still have that he was very clear for the big european players for the u.s. if you went to the hague you would spill the beans of all older dirty deals there are still for real politic between the west in a developing country like libya nobody wanted that libyan transitional government official say i hope to doubt he was born adding a brain underneath the road in open country site near the city of sirte please don't shoot was allegedly heard at the site many when asked similarities to the

capture of saddam hussein he was discovered in a small underground full crew sealed next to farm buildings near his own home county but unlike sadam who was captured alive by u.s. forces colonel gadhafi was reportedly shot dead by lead in transitional authorities not without the help of the u.s. and american defense official claimed a u.s. predator drone along with a french fighter jet hit could alpheus convoy thursday morning as they were trying to escape effectively handing them over to the lead in forces on the ground there are still unanswered questions about what happened to the colonel qadhafi how was he killed all to be guy but clearly i think what a lot for external intervention and all of nato. wells in benghazi may not have been able to achieve their objective nato's when mandate was to protect libyan civilians but it quickly became to get rid of gadhafi and prop up a government which is now in power only thanks to this. support of the allied

forces and i think we'll see. not a new democracy in libya but a new reorganization of the libyan political and economic institutions for the benefit of those who brought the national transitional council to power it will be for the benefit of the united states oil companies for the benefit of the british and the french or perhaps the italian oil companies i'll do the big winners here in the meantime western leaders are celebrating leave us transition to democracy putting a single u.s. service member on the ground we achieved our objective with the us president did not mention his celebrate where he speech was stores the believed in still the needle strikes widespread violations of human rights are reported in today's league there is no water. there is no. medication even oxygen in the hospital they don't turn the situation into it. because i

feel i can assure you. if you say. to this if you know it's it is disaster it's a catastrophe. libya is now brimming with weapons expert seeks premiss of most likely gotten their hands on the brass armories left on tend it as for libya's transition to democracy the people who are now in power there have not been chosen by the libyan people and many libyans here that when the time comes to vote the choice will have already been made for them i'm going to check our reporting from our team all this is short time ago our own unease and now we arrived on the ground in libya she is in tripoli and joins me live right now. and there anything i know you just got there a little while ago but i want to get your take what are you seeing what's the mood like on the ground there. well the mood is celebrate story lots of people out the

streets lots of horns fornes being honk lots of house lights on but i have to say it's definitely a different feeling than when we saw barak egypt al sadr people were out on the main square singing playing their guitars crying on their knees here it's people out with semi-automatic and automatic weapons plainclothes people sitting in the air and there's still a feeling of chaos here the n.c.c. which is the national transition committee announced that the official liberation ceremony will take place later today on saturday at least here in libya in benghazi which of course is the rebel stronghold knife here in tripoli and there are rumors that that's perhaps because just a couple of days there were shootouts here between and to see troops and it's not fuel oil so that we don't see why i was out in the streets there are critics who do feel that they are somewhere hiding and that it's not quite a very secure situation here in the capital like i said but really the mood certainly is subtle persuade lots of people here in tripoli happy that you taffy is finally but certainly an interesting time there i want to get your take unease that

president obama has made sure to point out that the u.s. was by no means in charge these last six or seven months that this was a unified front and if anyone is taking the lead it was taking the lead in this it was british prime minister david cameron and french president nicolas sarkozy however seems to me the u.s. has certainly spent a lot of money on this lot of weapons whose war was this really what what is the mindset of people where you are. well it of course and so you ask a lot of people here are fans of obama in the west obviously because they're being told that that's who saved them really that's who provided them with weapons i think it was vice president joe biden who said today that some two billion dollars went into this so-called humanitarian mission here and obama today kind of praising the fact that there were no ground soldiers here in tripoli and in the rest of of libya during this mission but a lot of money has gone into this like you said

a lot of weapons and certainly the experts and analysts that we've been speaking to around the world are talking about the libyan oil there's no secret that it has the largest oil reserves here in africa and it's not an accident that the west of course is is now going to be doing very well it's expected with the national transition committee a lot of those leaders are probably going to be perhaps elected or somehow come into office so this is far from the end of the mission even though the u.n. security council is now looking into officially end the no fly zone the question of what's next for libya certainly remains far from answered yeah really really interesting point i mean i want to mention you talked about people firing weapons into the air people honking horns we can hear that all the way here so so it is certainly a loud and chaotic situation let's look ahead to the future of course this is still very new but what do you expect do you have been covering the arab spring for us going from country to country you mentioned you were in egypt what do you expect things to look like when we think of where the arab spring started we must remember

it was in tunisia elections there for this weekend and a ninety ninety one percent chance really that islam ists will win in these elections talk about that and i know it's loud there and what you may expect is what the world may expect to see happen in libya in terms of a future government there. well first of all i just want to point out that it will be interesting to see how the global media covers the elections in tunisia because of these killing and i think it's fair to say that the mainstream media won't be talking very much about those tunisian elections they'll be talking about these afi throughout the weekend up and on throughout the year really in terms of tunisia they're certainly into music each going to be if you take three countries completely different atmosphere is one thing that they all have in common is chaos that can happen after these so-called democracies begin their new life it's unusual like you said exactly what you mean like the sex part why is this will take control of the country in egypt it's expected that the muslim brotherhood will russia is

declared a terrorist organization will get thirty percent of the pergamon in november and here the main fear not so much out about the islamists although certainly people are talking about that with the main fear is that we're going to see some kind of tribal war break out and a power struggle so people here on the streets of tripoli as you can hear are celebrating with their automatic weapons certainly not thinking about what's next for them how is this destroyed infrastructure of the country i mean the standard of living here in libya during gadhafi was one of the highest in africa certainly the highest in north africa so how are these people going to live once they realize that gadhafi is gone but perhaps democracy and stability hasn't come to the country if it does come it's certainly not going to come quick i think that's a pretty fair statement right and he's now a giving us her take what it looks like on the ground also lending some good perspective there about libya about the arab spring r.t. correspondent lisa nowi joining us from tripoli. libya of course one of many

examples in which a dictator was taken down was killed with the help of the u.s. government but how common is this and why not instead have sure gadhafi or for that matter osama bin laden or along why not question them try them and then decide on a punishment that's what happened after all with saddam hussein and with other prisoners still being held are you correspondent were important i take a look at this change and shows us how it came in many ways with the president who promised change vote and he say this was not quite the type of change i had in mind . long before you became u.s. president or a nobel peace prize winner broccoli bamma was a constitutional law professor we have never been more energized. a civil liberties champion turned charismatic candidate who vowed to reverse the abuses and policies of his predecessor george w.

bush nearly three years later many civil rights advocates who once cheered yes we can are finding themselves saying no you can't not only has the obama administration blocked torture accountability and refused to investigate and prosecute but one time the most still open there are one hundred seventy one man still there it's been more than eight months since someone has been released from guantanamo and that's the longest time since one time it was opened. he's he's basically maintained indefinite detention he's revive military commissions. and as we've seen as well he has expanded targeted killings so they've increased under the obama administration many fold and he's even authorize the killing of a u.s. citizen so you know i think yeah we're in a you know there is a bad state of civil liberties under the obama administration world renowned author and scholar and chomsky believes the obama administration has changed gears and

accelerated a legal practice into overdrive. between. wasn't one of the bombers. who this. person was to kill or. whatever. would put them on top. of the. obama's before he killed. another is the targeting drone killing of an were out walking and american born cleric u.s. drone strikes during obama's first two years in office have exceeded the total carried out during bush's tenure president obama described the walking as the leader of external operations for al qaeda in the arabian peninsula when u.s. journalists asked for an explanation of the allegation the white house spokesperson

said this. human rights groups which voiced international opposition against bush counterterrorism policies have quickly condemned the killing journalist jeremy scahill says obama's policies have drifted far from his political roots a president mccain doing the exact same thing that a president obama is doing would have been denounced by a lot of liberals and so we're at one of those dangerous moments in u.s. history and we saw it a bit with clinton in the ninety's where a democrat who campaigned on a pledge to change you know the country in the world has actually pushed a right wing agenda further forward than a republican republican could have if they remained in power or they took power or expanded power as obama gears up for his reelection campaign civil liberty groups that believed his words the first time around are now left to judge the commander in chief on his actual american democracy is represented by

a president who studied and thought the rule of law and is now armed with a duty to carry it out but critics say as long as obama raised by his own rules the constitution and his promise to change both i mean compromise or enough or not artsy we are. lots of ways to say this and lots to talk about so i want to bring in lieutenant colonel anthony shaffer senior fellow at the center for advanced defense studies and then a colonel so far fewer kidnappings but far more targeted killings under obama way informed us what's going on here. well i mean it's their last report was exactly right there are huge violations of law and this is just getting worse and let me be very clear i'm i'm a conservative and i am against the new targeted unmitigated killing of individuals really for u.s. citizens or not for the very fact that if you kill them they can't talk and let me tell you something and more law he would have been a treasure trove of information and let me say this would be very clear there's no

reason we could have not captured in yemen as a replacement vironment that is military terms for we could do whatever the heck we want and the folks i talk to the special operations community have told me they prefer they prefer to capture these guys for the intel value rather than kill them so why on earth would president obama be authorizing the summary assassination of u.s. citizens let me give you this little blurb there are at least four other u.s. citizens on the kill capture list so you've got to wonder what's going on and i shared parenting skills of a soldier or a friend when they were not a size inspector he's got he's completely right if this was a republican president we would have everybody up in arms about it the fact that you have a liberal doing it somehow makes it ok which really in my mind makes it it just terrible why you ask the question why why are these leaders and these people not being captured certainly a lot of theories out there one of which is that while we can't find a one to one tunnel we're trying to shut down

a lot of different theories about this but i do want to talk about this in terms of libya a little while ago we showed a report in which the times correspondent had to ask of our said gadhafi i mean you say a lockie gadhafi also knew a whole lot was what he had been put on trial he could have aired a lot of dirty laundry secret deals crouse between the west and libya a lot of details still murky about exactly how he died how gadhafi died but it seems to be the goal why do you think the u.s. didn't try him well look there was a current by changing. i can dock after nine eleven and this was somewhat revealed in the we can leaks documents for there was clear relationship between western intelligence service that included the us intelligence and libyan intelligence and obviously looking to try to gain favor by helping us with the war on terror in my judgment that meant they were doing things like enhanced interrogation things that we still don't like talking about and obviously he would have said look why are you

trying to be right try to help you in this regard obviously something good will come out and frankly you know i'm not going to shed i'm not going to lose any sleep about gadhafi being dead he is a bad guy he was a mad you know madmen but with that said you know we stand for rule of law and process or we go the other think it's very intervene at this point time i hold here and i hand the current suit against president obama for a violation of the war powers act is that as determined by congress i was on the hill just yesterday talking with the staffers involved in this action so clearly there are a whole range of things which obviously as president obama could and should know as a quote unquote a constitutional scholar that apparently just doesn't matter which again to me is is something we all need to be concerned about as citizens of this nation you either you live by the rule of law or you don't and if you don't there's a slippery slope which i think we're going to pay the just president obama those i

am in making this decision to kill these people from going lot into locky to gadhafi i mean is that president obama is is that under his jurisdiction in this here and he alone has his finger on the kalman well yes he answered the simple answer is absolutely having run these operations at least sort of what we call black operations for a twenty five years you don't have anything done at this magnitude without clear signature authority by the president no one's going to buy this president says neighborly go do it now but i find. right and there's no legal there's nothing in congressional law title ten title fifty any that title previously titles which allow us to do essentially either warfare or told collection has fascination i think gives him a sense there's some murky group on the national security council which supposedly manages the cult so-called show capture list so this is the issue this administration claimed to be the most transparent in history well they're not and

this is another example of where if you really do have an issue you need to bring it up and show the american people why we're doing this family tony we're out of time want to talk to a little bit about iraq that big announcement today but thanks so much for joining us but a good insight there lieutenant colonel anthony shaffer senior fellow at the center for advanced defense studies and that is going to do it for now but for more on the stories we covered go to our team got com slash usa our check out our you tube page at youtube dot com slash r t america you can also follow me on twitter i'm at frowsy be sure to stay tune into our tech right here r.t. up next is the capital account with lauren lyster today she's going to tackle how the fed may act again more and asks whose interests are they acting in us so have much more on the on the capital account for now i'm christine for sound.

culture is that so much a lot of people have hearing all their little words come to roughly fifteen hundred occupy protests occurring in eighty two countries worldwide this is a global protest movement was staying power to. get off sometimes you see a story and it seems so for life you think you understand it and then you've lived something else you fear see some other part of it and realize everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm sorry welcome to the big picture. we'll. bring you the latest in science and technology from around russia. we've gone to the future covered. the for.