more sacred texts being burned but sometimes saying sorry just isn't enough people want action and they want answers so is this attempt to little too late. and which country do you think poses the greatest threat to american national security wrong china russia from cold war era suspicions to downright phobias american sere mongering has evolved to a point beyond recognition but what is the rationale behind this rhetoric will sift through the stereotypes. of all of the dr hardy you want to kill over. that's no war zone it's a movie set hollywood magic at its finest can even make something as ugly as war look appealing but behind the scenes of these blockbusters there's something else lurking tend to go in propaganda the news starts now.

whole protests in afghanistan today grew more violent and more bloody as anger and distrust for americans there grows the protests are in response to the burning of several holy books or qur'an at the bottom airbase according to the military officials of those books were tossed in the incinerator because prison officials believed they were being used by prisoners to communicate with one another but most muslims consider this consider the qur'an to be the literal word of god and desecration is considered one of the worst forms of blasphemy and this is not new information and yet it happened anyway and in response there have been several days of violent protests yesterday a man mourning and at wearing an afghan military uniform shot and killed two american soldiers and at least twenty other people have also been reportedly killed now soon after this incident was reported high ranking americans did come forward and issue apologies. i'm general john allen commander of the international security

assistance force i've ordered an investigation into a report i received during the night that i set personnel at bob graham air base and properly dispose of a large number of islamic religious materials which included korans president obama also issued an apology in a letter he wrote to afghan president hamid karzai in which he expressed regret that the religious materials were quote unintentionally mishandled at bob graham but the president's apology came several days after the incident and many people who live in afghanistan say afghanistan say it's simply not enough. apologies and not enough so. they have to be put on trial and the culprits should face the law so how will this incident affect the current war in afghanistan and how could this have been handled differently to help me answer some of those questions i'm joined by derek rowe policy director at brave new foundation derek it

appears that these apologies from the president from the general are falling on deaf ears. well it's falling on deaf ears because i think you're right the people of afghanistan are particularly moved by these apologies i think the continuing violence shows that and i think the reason that they're not particularly moved by it is that this is one of several ongoing cultural insults being perpetrated by the occupation forces there not least of which is the frequent invasion of afghan homes by u.s. special operations forces and when you have a situation where a foreign force is in your country repeatedly violating the cultural standards of your country it's absolutely understandable that just saying you're sorry is not going to get you anywhere and not going to get you anywhere but there are quite a few people who say you know at least it's a step in the right direction however there seems to be sort of a mindset especially among conservative politicians in this country that it was the

wrong thing to do i want to play a little bit of a speech that presidential candidate for the g.o.p. newt gingrich recently that the president apologized for the burning but i haven't seen the president demand that the government of afghanistan apologize for the killing of two young americans. and hamad karzai the president of afghanistan doesn't feel like apologizing but i think we should say goodbye and good luck we don't need to be here risking our lives and wasting our money on somebody you know. so your thoughts on this eric i mean newt gingrich is one of the four candidates he's still in this race. talk to me about this mentality. well i think gingrich and any other presidential candidate who tries to play these kind of games with something like this are playing a very dangerous game because it by trying to kind of dilute the president's very

appropriate apology he is in danger in fact the lives of americans who could be hurt by further riots in the situation now he's absolutely right in at least one very small sense that the american involvement in afghanistan is not productive and we should greatly reduce and remove our military forces from that location now but to say that the president was wrong to say he was sorry for something that we should issue an apology over because it is a very big deal in that culture to disrespect that bush is simply just pandering to some of the worst elements in american society that kind of think that americans ought to be free to run around the country and do what they want to do irrespective of the will of the people of the afghans and the afghan society and just to stay on this incident itself i mean this is not the first time that this is happened i want to play a sound bite from a white house briefing from back when a george w. bush was president and the president yesterday had a regularly scheduled secure video teleconference with prime minister maliki he

opened. the meeting but i believe it was either the first or the second issue that the president brought up to tell prime minister maliki he had heard about the incident when the qur'an was desecrated and he apologized for that in the sense that he said that we take it very seriously we were concerned about their reaction we wanted them to know that the president knew that this was wrong and that the commanders in the field had. publicly reprimanded the soldier and removed him from iraq. this is not to mention the qur'an burning pastor terry jones who can forget him and all the rage that he sparked i mean this should be religion one hundred one for military folks especially those living in afghanistan and yet there are reports of some of those afghan workers who said they tried to stop this from happening and they were ignored why does this still go on derek well it's completely inexcusable that it still goes on and i don't think there's a good answer for that other than for some reason we have a problem getting through people's heads how serious these cultural violations are

and how dangerous they are in being able to whip up these kind of violent protests and i have to say the clip you just played shows that you know there's an understanding at least on the strategic level that the game that's being played in afghanistan is counterinsurgency and that means you have to win the hearts and minds of the people right now that was always the wrong strategy to apply to afghanistan we should have been pursuing a military strategy there in the first place but for republicans to have repeatedly pushed president obama into that situation and backed him when he went into it and then to get upset when apologies are issued for these kinds of violations really shows that what they were really after in afghanistan was continued american agenda me and it continued our projection base there and didn't really care about the will of the afghan people and we have as americans have got to understand the continuing a military for a strategy there doesn't make us safer if for no other reason than incidents like these are inevitable when there's two cultures that don't really understand each

other trying to interact like that i think it's an important point and you know when you talk about some of the failures in this very long war in afghanistan i want to bring up something that's been in the news recently and this is kind of what's been going on with colonel daniel davis the seventeen year army veteran he was simply sick of hearing this pretty picture painted you know from podiums in washington and around the country of what was happening in the wars and so he put. together some documents are classified some are on classified and he released some of them classified things. he testified in front of congress and he released these materials which basically talked about the actual failures and what was actually happening on the war on the ground in the war in afghanistan a lot of people angry at him for releasing this information but he's the one of the very few he's one of a very few group of to small group of people to come forward with information like this why do you think that is well i think there are two things happened i think

one is that there's not enough people willing to come forward and tell the truth about what's happening in afghanistan if for no other reason than what's being played is an information game where we're trying to set perceptions among our opponents in afghanistan from the military's perspective that we're winning that we think we're winning and that they don't know something that we do if they think they're winning and so we're using the press in a way to try to win a kind of psychological battle against the taliban but the other piece of it is that when when that kind of information was released you didn't really see the american media do what needed to be done with it which was to kind of stop the presidential election circus that goes on nightly on cable news and really get into it because i think there's been a realization for a long time for several years that our military leaders in afghanistan are telling us the truth about how it's going in afghanistan and since that's the case when someone else comes along and has a very well documented information showing why that's not the case that it kind of

landed the kind of so what moment and it shows the cynicism of our political leaders in keeping its in this war that's not making us safer some really good arguments there derek about perception i think it's important not just to think about perception in this country but to remember there are some very different perceptions of this country of this war so on the world that they're putting out there they're a crowd policy director at the brave new foundation thank you. well there's a new red scare here in the united states the mainstream media has been bashing russia and china for several weeks now the two countries of course drew ire of the media and the u.s. government after vetoing a un resolution that would have forced syrian president assad from power while the media like to paint russia and china as enemies of the state do americans really fear these two countries the residents laurie harshness took to the streets of new york to find out. if you believe the news media you should fear china and russia this week let's talk

about why if they wanted to china could wipe out the u.s. and probably three minutes but anyone with an atomic bomb could true so why china in particular chinese people are very dangerous why what has made you think that have you ever been personally threatened by a chinese person no so why do you feel that way. they know kung fu i don't think we were in the good of relationship with them so should we fear them is that going to make relations better and we should fear of them i think they should fear of i think there's a legitimate concerns about human rights there and i think we need to pay attention to what are their legitimate human rights issues everywhere don't we have them here in the u.s. sure i think a different scale there but but yes we do have another places when there's there was stuff to finance the world that is this stuff to find out so well that will screw nobody's going to give us some money or will be but we're participating in

that why is it their fault because they're acting smartly. it's hard to resist last year i was in china. i wasn't scared at all so i don't think you should be i don't think we should run our country like china or russia but i think there are some ideas and some kind of plans they have that help their economy so maybe we can learn from that so that's more amul aiding and looking up to rather than fearing but we're taught to fear them why do you think that it because fear keeps you in control if you are afraid it's easier to be manipulated by somebody telling you to do something rather than questioning what they say everybody is freak scared today because the news and all the media makes people scare them specially in america why china and russia in particular are we made to feel scared because they're very powerful that's what we think ultimately they're going to be a part of the growth picture and they need us as much as we need them so why are

people scared of them why are they painted in this more of a picture you know it's always the same so maybe we should get to know them to be good invite them over for coffee like that whether or not you believe the world should fear china and russia the bottom line to me is the old adage those who live in glass houses should never throw stones. all right so there you have it straight from the mouths of regular people or people there is a fear out there of china and russia whether those people know why or not but if there is indeed a scare orchestrated by the mainstream media why have the senate on these two countries and when if ever well those attitudes change earlier today we talked with danny schechter in our new york studios he's a filmmaker and blogger for newsday sector dot net and here's his take. well you know we have the series in the world we're competing all the time with other countries and the best way to compete with them is basically to try to discredit

them the american people the american people won't take what they say seriously it's part of the whole psychological operations information operations that goes on regularly to try to discredit other critical voices about the united states particularly in other countries and what better way to do it than to cast aspersions on their leaders or suggest that they're not telling the truth there's of course if you want to look at what's going on now there's this decision by china and russia not to intervene militarily in syria and you know if you turn on any number of networks there have been and list pundits out there talking about why this is bad but you know we should also mention this china russia fear goes back to the days of mccarthyism and before i wondering do you think that some of this fear have blended together from the two sort of arrows or that there are two distinct generational views against these countries. well you know fear works.

people it gives them pause it makes them think again about what their views are if their personal security or the country's security is by implication being threatened in some way we're not in good shape economically china is doing better than we are russia is doing better on the energy front in many cases than we are so there is a tremendous amount of insecurity in american insecurity leads to this sort of a certain overzealous attitude to try to assert supremacy which may not be backed up by the facts but we live in an age of perception trumping reality people don't have the context they don't have the background they don't really understand what other countries are doing and saying because there's very little attention paid to it there's much more attention paid you know to various republican candidates

beating up on each other and then what actually is happening in the world at large so it's not surprising that these tactics are used because they're basically directed at an audience that's really not very aware of the underlying dynamics i think it's really interesting you know if it's perception and there was a recent poll i think it was a survey just taken in the last week or so and a lot of people more people than not think that china's economy is actually larger than the u.s. as the u.s. is still much larger of course china is growing much faster certainly in an election year i'm sure you and i will start a lot more election ads invoking this you know china taking our jobs kind of thing and of course iran is a whole other story for another day but then i mean what do you think is the so-called free fearless an independent press even exists. who i think you know it did but it's becoming an endangered species in terms of the american media.

that's why so many people are getting their news online and not from regular newspapers or network newscasts they're listening more to contentious argument than they are to you know informed speculation and information and as a result the public is being dumbed down it's not their fault because that's what they think they know and you know that that's what they think they're supposed to know that's why it's important to have independent media outlets you know i card and others who are trying to offer other perspectives and other points of view and without that you would have a total domination of the media by basically misinformation that's being challenged today and there a lot of people when asked if they trust the media they say in large numbers that they don't are so damning i mean as you say the public is being dumbed down and quite frankly i think for many people ignorance is bliss but other than a less informed what do you think are going to be some of the you know the real

impacts the real negative impacts of having people get the wrong information. well the consequences of all of this you know are really quite major you know this is what leads to more people war other people believing you know the enemy is about to attack them you know bombs from iraq are going to go to london within forty five minutes you know all of these you know claims that were used to mobilize support for a war that turned out to be a total flop and failure and the same thing in afghanistan where you know we started over a war against al qaida ended up in a war against you know the taliban and the war against often civilians in afghanistan no wonder they're not real happy with the united states this is why i think our you know challenges as viewers and as citizens is to try to find

information sources that we can trust not to rely on the same sources over and over again to seek out other types of information and to inform ourselves because the media is not doing a very good job of informing us and now is danny schechter filmmaker and blogger for news dissected dot net. well today is the nationwide opening of the new military flick act of valor which uses real life navy seals to give americans a realistic view of what those secretive forces do i watch the trailer and it looks exciting and heroic but it is of course hollywood so does the movie portray reality or just what the government wants you to see it's a question worth asking and when the mainstream media often ignores to what extent does the pentagon doctor hollywood scripts in order to shift public opinion are to correspond to ramon go in no shows us this cozy relationship and how it's been winning hearts and minds for years.

some of the world's most elite warriors outfitted with the most technologically advanced equipment and plenty of firepower stored secure. the american hero comes out on top in act of valor but there is something missing from a hollywood suppose it realistic portrayal of the u.s. military that stuff looks fine but soldiers today who are joining the military the number one thing they're going to be doing is driving around in a truck or walking around in a foot patrol in a big circle every day day after day and every single day a bomb is going to go off in a room. blow up one of their friends blow up one of their vehicles in act of valor there are definite reinforcements of the muslim terrorist bogeyman schall is an old school jockey he wants to kill americans but the film doesn't show the

damaging effect of war on u.s. troops also missing soldier actions on the battlefield they're described as war crimes then valor many military movies such as act of valor aren't born here in hollywood but in the pentagon and while they may be a success at the box office their true measure of success isn't just measured in dollars but in the number of recruits they can help bring into the service. this film was made with the backing of the military for a reason it exposes the future generation of seal operators to our community and how we operate. when the pentagon have teamed up to create entertaining propaganda since the early twentieth century but the partnership really took flight after the success of top gun. now many more filmmakers are getting access to taxpayer funded military equipment if the message lines up with the pentagon's mission what does that ultimately happen. is that hollywood studios and said i've said

screenwriters quite publicly if your screenplay cannot get the acceptance of the pentagon then we financially are not in a place to be able to make your movie besides shaping the narrative of how we perceive war some are concerned that movies like these are specifically targeting america's core youth if you look at how this movie act of valor came about a special operations commander mcraven straight up told people that the movie began as an effort to recruit minorities into the seal team but you're not there to teach people about the hardships of war act of valor has all the makings of a hollywood blockbuster complete with some high flying promotion by the navy seals dropping in on the red carpet premiere we ended up being able to shoot the action another way you'd watch a football game on t.v. . but military battles are no game to veterans who have seen the ugly face of war they are plagued with psychological trauma for the rest of their lives and the

reality was they didn't go to do anything heroic but their role as an occupier the role feeling guilt for what they had actually been a part of is what's caused i mean the epidemic of suicides today in the military no b.s. here. sometimes turns up but. fortunately for a bit of cash and ready access to real military hardware hollywood is more than willing to provide a happy ending for both the movie's hero and the pentagon. in los angeles for among the lindo r t. so i think this is something that bears looking at the academy awards after all are this weekend so let's talk about the sometimes too close for comfort relationship between hollywood and the pentagon now on one hand getting the most accurate account comes best straight from the source but on the other hand what impact does filtering that account have on us as a society especially when war is glorified i spoke just

a little bit ago with keith harmon snow a war correspondent in williamsburg massachusetts and here's his take. absolutely first of all you guys in the movie act of valor in the production of it they're saying that this is this represents the dynamic that exists in the world today but the truth is it has nothing to do with the world today look at america we've got poverty hopelessness destitution kids who don't know what they're going to have do for their futures no opportunity for anything poor people even middle class and they can't see any hope in the world what do they do that watch them film like this and they're recruited they're promised massive pay benefits are promised in adventure they see these ideas of courage and honor and and valor which are not anything like the reality and it's one of your spokesman said they come back from having killed people seeing things is atrocity they're incredibly traumatized what they do they're committing suicide by crazy because suddenly they're faced with the reality of what they left behind and b.

what they really did the recruitment this isn't about hollywood this is the pentagon this is a hollywood film this is the pentagon propaganda well that's what i want to ask you i mean what do you think about this i think a lot of people would be surprised to find out about this sort of all scratch your back you scratch mine mentality going on here i mean we've got the pentagon which by the way is funded by our tax dollars allowing movie studios to use military hardware and bases at a discounted rate and in return these filmmakers submit their scripts for input and changes are made i mean there's a strong belief by critics that some edits are actually taken out if there's anything critical of military policy what do you think about that i mean how often does this occur so i think seeing this as a hollywood operation with a little bit of pentagon supporters i'm scratching the back i think we have to look at it is a psychological operation against the american public. that means this is not hollywood it's total propaganda by and for the pentagon using hollywood as the face

and then they say well ok well the pentagon does look a little bit hollywood and we but this is the pentagon these are real live navy seals what's outrageous is you go to the web site for this film and there's a section where you can donate to support the navy seal foundation to support naval warfare i mean why are they asking the american public or whoever watch this film to give a twenty or fifty or five thousand dollar donation to support naval warfare i mean we're talking about billions and billions of dollars of taxpayers' money being used for this production including this kind of thing where they send the navy seals off to commit atrocities but i'm there's nothing honorable on either end case and i'm sure people who are watching this are at least thinking you know this is a movie this is hollywood as one of the person in the story where the people interviewed in the story said you know the reality is you know you're you're walking in circles you're doing foot patrols you're scared for your life but they're not going to make a movie about that movies need jazzing up they need heroes and they need villains

so i mean should hollywood be faulted for that. well you know if people want to find different ways to avoid reality the reality of the suffering in the world the rat reality of our perpetuation and creation of terrorism at this very moment all over the world for example united states covert operations navy seals and tenth mountain division forces were involved in the massive atrocities that existed in were committed in in eastern congo in one thousand nine hundred sixty no one knows anything about this but they're not going to show us american soldiers flattering innocent women and children which is what happened thousands and thousands of innocent women and children in september october of one thousand nine hundred sixty we're never going to see that what we see as this hollywood nonsense to say it's pentagon nonsense and these guys don't operate by day they never operate by day in the film they couldn't make the film because it's all and everything they do it night and i got this from the tenth mountain division operative directly so it's total propaganda and people as i say i mean what we have for people to use to avoid

reality and become a more immature psychologically disturbed pathologically insane society which we have and that would be alcohol drugs which the cia brings in i mean the cia in the film is portrayed as the victims not victims the perpetrators of terror so we've got alcohol drugs propaganda and entertainment those are four of the big ones and there are only certainly some interesting points and i think it's just if there's bringing to light because i think that this is a relationship a lot of people have no idea actually exists or correspondent kate snow thanks so much. all right well that's going to do it for the news for this hour but we'll be back here in just a half hour from now and of course if you missed anything from today's show we post all of our interviews online in full just head over to our you tube page that web address youtube dot com slash r t america now our intrepid web team also works very hard throughout the day to bring you stories that we don't always have time to get

to today there's an article up about anonymous is latest cyber attack on the so-called f the f.b.i. friday the geo group inc incorporated is the latest web site to be targeted by the infamous hacktivist group and you can read all about it at r.t. dot com slash usa and to find out what i'm doing when i'm not reporting the news you can also follow me on twitter you can find me at christine for now i will be back here with more news at eight pm. well with. the pizza looking glass at what will be the homes of the future where the walls might just be smarter than the residents every day transportation from the elements outside and the whole system works to see.