ghana stand maybe sinking its longest war. the winners are on the corporations and the government people with power and with money and the losers are that whistleblowers life liberty and the first suit of silence and you bill in congress looks to muzzle whistleblowers it's one of national six secrets that the u.s. has to worry about leaking its training freedom as well. and too poor to grease a section received its second bailout in as many years but money isn't everything and while the country gains financial support from the eurozone is it losing its own democracy and the process will question mark. good evening it's wednesday february twenty second seven pm here in washington d.c. and lucy catherine of you watching our team. well we begin today with ghana

scotland where at least seven people were killed and dozens wounded in clashes over the burning of a koran at a nato military base the protests spread across the country despite a u.s. apology for what it called a mistake them stray sions illustrated the intensity of afghans anger at what they see as foreign forces who flout their laws and insult their culture a culture of religion that's a broader reaction to u.s. policies that include night raids secret prisons policies that the u.s. insists on continuing on with even after the bulk of its troops come home independent journalist gareth porter explains. well the two issues closely related which are clearly at the center of the sort of the crack up of the talks were the failure to get toward agreement are the night raids by u.s. special operations forces and the continued u.s. detention and holding of afghan prisoners for longer periods of time.

the president. hamid karzai has made it clear that he will continue to insist that both of those issues have to be resolved in favor of afghan sovereignty which is the issue that he's raising as a general principle on both those counts before he will agree to station in u.s. troops permanently however he's really in a fix because he knows that he needs u.s. support big time and needs very large infusions of both military and economic assistance but he also needs u.s. military protection as much as he can get and really the only thing that the united states is planning to leave there besides some air power is the special forces so he's he's really in a kind of dilemma as is the united states because the one offensive tool the united states still has and it's to look at once the three thousand and fourteen period is over is the special forces raids and they are so intensely unpopular in afghanistan

they really generate much greater hatred and opposition to the u.s. then they pay off in terms of really killing or capturing insurgents oh i don't want human rights lawyer i can get in. why wasn't there a huge. recruitment helping them replacing writers quicker than they can be killed at the radar so outrageous in fact and to rile the local population so much why why wouldn't the us get to not well i mean the reason is that as i said that's all they have left financially in fact it's already been the case for the last year and a half at least that really the special operations night raids are the only thing that. the generals in kabul can claim has been successful now they really have been successful but they can cite statistics which are misleading but nevertheless that's the one thing that been able to claim that they thought would work here at

home so you know this is really a serious dilemma for the united states it's not just that popular sentiment is against the united states but even the afghan troops as i point out in my story that the united states is counting on to really take up the war against the taliban and they're just as opposed to night raids as the general population as shown by a special study that was done last year by for the u.s. military with six hundred thirteen police and afghan soldiers who were asked for their opinion about u.s. troops in afghanistan and this was the single biggest issue that they cited as the cause of altercations serious what occasions between afghan troops and u.s. troops it just seems to me that there is a contradiction and a policy shift if we're supposed to be fighting the taliban there and these policies are essentially helping to radicalize the population and perhaps helping

the population see more support for the taliban isn't there a bloke that's well i mean i think what this shows is that the real sources of policymaking are not objective interests or the objective situation in the country it's the. credit needs and interests of the u.s. military that really drive the war in afghanistan if the u.s. military and according to internal studies that report that came out itself knowledge that we're essentially losing the war to the taliban we're now concerned though sharing with the taliban exciter out if that's not the overall focus of that conflict there then why continue a policy on you know flushing out these insurgents from the house that that's no longer the objective i think the answer to that is that the military leadership has been very successful in selling to the american public and i'm afraid the news media as well the success narrative that general petraeus particularly initiated in

two thousand and ten which has continued since then no that can break down i mean i think it will eventually it will break down but so far they've been very successful and i think they're counting on that to sort of carry them through some of that they don't have to admit the truth essentially now there's other policies that the u.s. has in place that sort of sort of further this globe back of fact i mean you mentioned the jails were supposed to close down and hand over control of the prison to the afghans now it turns out we're spending millions more on making it bigger there's a whole network of secret jails but there's also a sort of political support for figures that aren't necessarily loved are respected by the afghan people whether it's in our man in kandahar warlords who have been accused of torture or what not to actually militia groups who don't really behave according to human rights conventions talk about that well you can point to particular militia groups one of the things that the u.s. military particular patris has counted on to sort of take up the slack when the

american troops come out is in fact setting up these local militias around the country which are supposed to supplement the official police and afghan military the problem of course is that these are in many cases if not all creation is essentially criminal right. things who are armed and use their arms to take advantage of people to murder rape and pillage just as the police have traditionally as well so it's really not an answer to their problem at all but again it's something they can cite you know growing numbers and unfortunately that had to admit that there are serious human rights abuses committed by these militias and that of course involves the same sort of problems that we talked about in the case of the bridge it seems like there's a short sighted policy planning here because we're supporting groups because they're anti our enemy in this case the taliban and so propping up these groups whereas the taliban is an issue because we propped up groups in our fight against

the soviets and it's obviously it's a short sighted in terms of an objective analysis but if you look at it in terms of who wins and who loses in terms of actual bureaucratic another interest maybe not so short sighted ok so just a last question i mean when we have a chance like this the fortunate kron burning even if it's a mistake even if it's a cultural misunderstanding what there's a broader context here there's a reason why for me people turn to the streets not just the koran yeah and this of course reveals in a massive and dramatic way a complete blind spot that is inherent in u.s. posture and policy in afghanistan the refusal to admit that we simply are not capable of dealing with a situation where we have to interact with people with a very different culture language and religion most important oil well not capable they're an unfortunate seems like the drums of war are beating to yet another country iran jared i hope we'll have you back on the short term future to talk

about that thank you so much for your insight that was investigative journalist and historian there is pressure. after nearly two years in custody the soldier charged with the biggest leak of classified information in u.s. history will be formally arraigned tomorrow private first class bradley manning faces a life sentence for his allegedly the anti-secrecy group wiki leaks but critics warned that the u.s. is trying to make an example of the young soldier in order to dissuade others from releasing government secrets they call it a war against what the wars are black bradley manning is just one of many casualties are you correspondent correspondent christine persia reports. nearly two years in waiting much of it in solitary confinement and private first class bradley manning struggle is finally set to begin. among the twenty two charges filed against him aiding the enemy violating the

espionage act and illegally transferring classified data to an unauthorized source wiki leaks. part of that was this video showing u.s. army pilots killing unarmed civilians including children readers and points of video that had been classified by the u.s. military though the government accountability project just. it never should have them you can also cannot go around classifying criminal activity that is not proper classification and i haven't heard a single person claim that what the collateral murder video showed was not. a sentiment manning seems to agree with in an online chat conversation he said he hoped his putting the information out there would prompt worldwide discussion that he wants people to see the truth a short time later bradley manning was arrested in the process becoming one of the clearest symbols to date of a new set of standards

a system that now works against those who were port wrongdoing and protects those doing the wrong quite often in the name of national security. that pendulum right now is still very much a post nine eleven time national hysteria and limited civil rights and liberties and she would no great act was the justice department whistleblower in the case of the so-called american taliban john walker lindh i had advised not to interrogate him without an attorney and not to torture him and when i blew the whistle i ended up being put under criminal investigation referred to a state bar or some which i'm licensed as a lawyer and put on the no fly list but it wasn't always this way in two thousand and two the time magazine person of the year was the whistleblowers and although the government tried to have him put away for life daniel ellsberg was hailed as a hero by the public for leaking information that became known as the pentagon papers classified documents he helped author that revealed what was actually

happening in vietnam those were. what he revealed to the public what the program should have known from the government itself. important knowledge important knowledge now often stifled both on and off the battlefield and the military is sexually assaulted or abused or even raped she's supposed to go through the chain of command much will actually harm her instead of helping her outside of the military policies are also being drawn up to protect corporations the so-called whistle blower improvement act if passed would actually harm whistleblowers requiring them to report misconduct to their employer first before going to any regulatory agencies it would also remove any incentives to do so our government and . the businesses are still intricately linked as hard to tell them apart both now working harder than ever to keep their secrets out of the public eye in washington

christine for now r t. well bradley manning thomas drake john kiriakou the list of whistleblowers who have faced retaliating by the u.s. government goes on at the bottom of that sabella edmonds knows about firsthand she joined the f.b.i. in the wake of the nine eleven attacks as a translator and during her time there she reported serious up of secret security breaches and cover ups for which she was retaliated against and ultimately fired but the girl now heads the national security was of course coalition and join me earlier today here's part of that interview him. well the war against the whistleblowers has been going on for a long time however it has been steadily increasing. we thought they had reached its peak during the previous administration this was the bush administration and that was when i was retaliated against the state secrets privilege to our class of by my case gag me and i really thought this was really

the worst i would ever see in this country inch retaliation in government was the worst even journalists are however since president obama's election since the. presidency it actually has reached president at levels and when people and this is the statistic that. has engulfed the state secrets privilege and persecution persecution and prosecution of the wars he has taken are a feat all the united states presidents who might be all of the past up with the previous administration even had a steel rule whistle laure prosecute it and you're cocking about eight years and here within the first three years or obama administration we have had six that we know are not in some cases. even exist there's not grand jury is that classified

secret the assertion here is that the so-called war against was a blowers are supposed to dissuade sort of other people from speaking out as well but i sort of want to broaden the discussion because it's almost as a dissent as the target here earlier this month with a top u.s. official telling the new york times or anyone to criticize as the u.s. drone program is helping al qaeda succeed are we sort of seeing our blurred line between activism and terrorism these days. absolutely not because i mean yes you're right it is learning lying and it's getting worse and worse unit lee most people here in the united states they still think that these laws and these these actions are you're towards some terrorists or you know nine eleven and now orginally because we don't have a real media good investigative reporting and because these are not being what are the wait years to be recorded americans still don't know that yet you've got

american. government insiders who are being prosecuted first you dick and hans just because they have told the truth or they have export criminality or as you just said they have been in. the government one glad you brought up the role of the media because of something i want to bring into this discussion i'm here in our t.v. dedicated a lot of time to covering wiki leaks what will go or if you are right wall street movement and so forth we've also gotten a lot of criticism for that not the least of which came from our decision to give julian a song just an opportunity to do a ten part series on this network next month the outrage has been so bad that in fact one of our frequent commentators had their several publicly announced she is no longer going to appear on our team because we're getting a songe a platform. as have you seen sort of a trend where the press becomes essentially

a mouthpiece for the government and any sort of outlets that counteract that are retaliated against. absolutely and it has been the case for a long time i can start my own case this was absolutely the case because you see but of course then congress usually watch the media and if we see traction on it in fact they feel kind of forced to do something to or at least appear to be doing something but we need just putting maybe one headline yet we're actually joining the government in terms of persecuting the whistle wars and we just look at the report price you know they say this was local or describe the usually united it's like front all alleged. other hand by our own government for the last really when they get their information from the heads of these agencies is that they are reporting it as confirmed fact but even if you bring down three credible

veteran whistleblowers from our better government agents that that exposed criminality they still stick with that alleged disgruntled and very. they are big you have need that you need in this industry where you and i wouldn't hold them. accountable in terms of what has been happening in laura's right up with the white house brand congress media has been up there and unfortunately. many so-called pseudo alternative media channels as well so i'm very glad you have figured out and you're probably in well thank you said alan unfortunately in all of this it's the american people that suffer because again we get our information from from the press most often and it's important true to essentially treat whistleblowers as citizens or not terrorists at a time when there are so much information that's not publicly released thank you so

much that was surveillance editor of the boiling frog post and director of the national security will slow blowers coalition moving on to greece where fresh protests broke out across the country today the result of harsh spending cuts that were condition for the second bailout that country has received the one hundred and thirty billion euro rescue package reverse a chaotic default next month but there's very little to calm fears about greece's long term future and greece is the birthplace of democracy but the assyrian rules have some critics asking whether it's become a colony of the eurozone the u.s. does have little direct exposure to greek debt so the bailout ok for now economically speaking but the financial crisis still looms large and we may not be as isolated as we think from our great counterparts independent journalist james marsden has more. so it's not only a more extreme example of what's been going on here but it's a more first world example of what's been going on all over the world you know the

i.m.f. and the sort of major international engines of near liberal capitalism have been treating the developing world the global south this way for decades you know haiti in liberia and all these places that they presume to bail out when they reach horrible fiscal conditions but what that entails is huge cuts to. social spending privatization of the commons obliteration of labor a huge very sharp decrease in labor in living standards and in wages and this kind of thing has been going on all over the world for you know in africa and in latin america and in southeast asia and greece is the first place that we really see. hugo a big first world economy ostensibly a democracy a robust middle class white people being treated exactly the same way as as you know the guy m.-f. of the world bank and everybody else have been treating the third world for some

time so i think that that has sort of brought it home in the united states but we see in wisconsin and in indiana and in ohio a tax on labor rights we see privatization of the commons here we see a shifting of responsibility for the financial crisis from the people who actually caused it to the people who suffer most from it in the united states and in greece because they can't pay back their debts it's just turned into a much more extreme thing there which is how come you see buildings torched in athens well i'm glad you brought that up because that's exactly what i want to get into if you like for those of us who aren't economic experts and don't sort of focus on the ins and outs of this the word austerity sounds like some foreign term but you know whether or not you think it's good policy or bad policy actually taking away services and spending less on things that people are you still that results in ordinary. people paying the price for an economic situation that wasn't necessarily their doing and that's something that we've seen echoed right here at home in the occupy wall street movement if you could just sort of bring the grease

closer to our viewers for american viewers to understand why there are similarities between the what occupy wall street wants and what greeks want. sure well i have some numbers here that i've written down so this latest deal is one hundred seventy two billion dollars going not to the greek people but to the holders of greek debt which is you know goldman sachs and deutsche bank and all of the big villains of the world plus one hundred forty one billion dollars in debt write down going to the same people and the conditions for this and this vote is going up early next week is a five hundred thirty million dollar cut in pensions so you know like grandma's going to be living on dog food two hundred twenty five million dollars and health education cuts six hundred sixty one million dollars in cuts to the health care system these are numbers that i can't even really comprehend because i myself am not an economics expert seven hundred fifty four million dollars in cuts toward

medicine it's defaulting on the people the country the government has the sovereign debt to big financial interests all over the world and rather than defaulting on those they've decided to default on their people and that is a condition that cannot be upheld by a democracy means people it's people power and to that end greece where which where as you know democracy started has given up its democracy has turned the government over to this guy puppet you most who you know is is euphemistically referred to as a technocrat in the press but what that really means is a banker he's formally a vice president at the e.c.b. the european central bank which is the thing that controls. fiscal policy monetary policy all over europe so greece does not have sovereignty of fiscal policy which is the way that most people deal with big situations of debt and they often have an elected government i'm sorry i got up there on that kind of very briefly i mean that greece is in a dire situation and the u.s. might do certain things that seem similar you know we're talking about cutting

certain services we have bailed out large corporations but it's not exactly at the level of greece how long could it take for us to get to that situation could we get to that situation where. wall street is going to be rioting and protesting against actual dire cuts and not just a question of these cuts the united states has a much bigger economy than greece greece is a peripheral country and in europe so there's very very little danger that the united states will have to default on its loans but that doesn't mean the people in power won't use the situation the united states towards the shock doctrine right creating greater ease of accumulation of wealth for the already very wealthy at the expense of living conditions for the already very poor all right i think i think that's all the time we have for that now but actually let's do one more question. i guess what's the biggest takeaway lesson here in terms of people who cause these financial crises not necessarily paying a price the biggest takeaway is that what the world faces now and this is not just

true in the developing world but also in the in the extremely wealthy world that what we need to do right now is exert all of our pressure on our ostensibly democratically elected governments to you know extricate themselves from the grip of the wealthiest financial interests whose sole. motivation is the infinite accumulation of wealth that that that situation is incompatible with democracy and we have to reclaim not reclaim we have to claim our country for democracy thank you so much jesse myers an independent journalist and contributor to truth out. all right now often on this program we talk about the issue of u.s. double standards whether it's the american support for protesters in other countries amid violent crackdown subpoena by wall street movement here at home or demands for transparency by foreign governments of all our own grows increasingly cloaked in secrecy and now this the white house praising aggressive journalism

abroad now escalating its war against truth tellers right here at home and it all came to light this afternoon in an awkward but rather telling exchange in the white house briefing room spokesman jay carney began the presser by praising the work of three western journalists who died in syria this month it was echoing it was echoing he was echoing similar sentiments from vice president joe biden who was the state department now take a lot of the incredible risks that journalists take. hold and you should read in french food for most who was killed yesterday as well in order to bring. the truth about what's happening in a country like syria now their deaths are undeniably tragic as is the bloodshed and the casualties of in alist innocent civilians who have died in syria but in light of this administration's widening crackdown against whistleblowers here at home the words frankly i've

a hollow rein and apparently i wasn't the only one with that impression and to give credit a b c's jake tapper for calling the administration out on its double standards to check out this exchange. how does that square with the fact that this is history. has been so aggressively trying to stop progress of those in the states by using us being the giants since to sort of take whistleblowers to court seems to be a disconnect for you that the president was abroad just don't want to state well i would hesitate to speak to any particular case for obvious reasons and i would refer you to the department of justice for their issues here that involve. highly sensitive classified information and i think that you know those are. divulging or to the wall to wall tonight kind of information is a serious issue and which has been so true to come out abroad and should come out well that's not at all what i'm saying. except that's exactly what he said the

problem here is so here is that the war on willful blowing isn't just about whether classified information is released the white house talks a big game about press freedom abroad while back home wouldn't they throttle blowers and subpoenas to journalists who report the report their story carney may have denied as being the case but it doesn't make it a strip now another point we often like to point out mainstream media misses here in our team but in this case i do want to give credit where it's due jake tapper did what all members of the press corps should be doing on a daily basis he challenge the official story and only hope that other journalists have the power to question our. i will that does it for now for more on the stories we've covered is that r t dot com slash usa and of course there's a huge new page where all the segments are posted in full but out there says you tube dot com slash r t america as always you can reach out to me tell me what you thought of any of the segments we covered today or what stories you'd like to see are to follow more closely to do that just follow me on twitter my address is

absolutely catherine of one word stay tune in about half an hour we'll have another show for you. len. culture is that so much i know there's a huge musician time in the market here and offices contradictions and iran is a drumbeat towards war now inevitable as the chattering classes discuss the possible date. that the. good.