a massacre in afghanistan this time at the hands of a rogue u.s. soldier sixteen dead thousands outraged and the second time in three weeks that president obama has had to apologize so is winning the hearts and minds of the afghan people losing battle. and as if the u.s. military didn't have its hands full u.n. security council is meeting today in new york to discuss the ongoing unrest in the middle east a million dollar question will the u.s. intervene in syria we'll bring you the latest. plus all of us to base the rights and freedoms of other nations taking away many of those rights here in the u.s. with the national defense authorization act but

a team of authors and to visit politicians and professors are trying to stop the law in its tracks i'll tell you how. good afternoon it's monday march twelfth at four pm in washington d.c. i'm christine rushing yards here. well we want to start this afternoon by taking a look at some of the fallout from this weekend's massacre in afghanistan the shooting rampage led by an american soldier who left his base saturday night lock more than a mile and then broke into three separate homes killing sixteen civilians including nine children and three women who have been in this village in the punjab why district of khandahar in this area is considered to be the birthplace of the taliban where this is a after the shootings the men gathered the bodies and then set them on fire before returning to his base and turning himself in that man is now in custody according

to u.s. officials he's a staff sergeant based at the joint base lewis mccord in washington state he's married with two children and has already had already served three tours in iraq and had been in afghanistan since december now as you can imagine this incident has been a major setback in u.s. afghan relations already on extremely shaky ground after last month's incident in which u.s. soldiers burned several copies of the qur'an which muslims consider to be the holiest of books and also the direct word of god of the incident over the weekend has raised questions about the psychological impact on u.s. troops the u.s. justice system and the war in afghanistan itself we want to look a little deeper into this story and to help me do that i've got former u.s. marine and our team. isn't spending the last several months of studying in the u.k. hey there jake are people obviously outraged by this incident and a lot of people are now saying the u.s. should be doing everything it can to cooperate something even if that means handing

this soldier over to the afghan government to be put on trial there now obviously that's not really how things work the u.s. has judicial power over the members of the military but a lot of people are calling for president obama to make an exception to show that this kind of behavior won't be tolerated what are your thoughts on this. christina it's nice to be with you again i don't think that the u.s. is going to hand him over the afghans for a variety of reasons. but i one thing's for sure that we know that the taliban is eating our lunch in the information war they are going to be combing the the villages and valleys claiming to get receipt get revenge and claim blood for the killings of these innocent people i think that you're going to see in the next couple days so some more people held accountable to specifically the guards at the front gate that led to staff sergeant out here going to see. some sort of punishment coming after them as well as the command saying you know we did this

start to represent signs of sociopath ology and that sort of thing so i want to ask you that and just because you have been in war zones before i mean i thought it was very surprising that a single soldier would be able to just wander off a base in the middle of the night obviously the base is guarded how could this have happened well mostly guys standing at the front gate or are seasoned corporals and you know maybe every now and again you get a sergeant but you know he was a nice it so he was middle noncommissioned officer ranking basically he can walk to the front gate and tell these lance corporals or p. of c's or you know whoever hey let me out and he was also attach a special operations unit he was not special operations self but he was attached to it so basically he's got some freedoms there and you know he can basically tell them do whatever they want they're going to do it so again there's a breakdown in and following orders and protocol and i think that i think that this this is just the just the pathetic pathetic display of american presence or

receives because not only did we screw up the koran burnings this year not only did we screw up with the you know the innocent killings a year ago drone strikes etc but a lone ranger running out in the streets of. killing people it's insane it's absolutely pathetic and jake out of course the pentagon has a full investigation to hold responsible any perpetrator involved in this incident but i do think it's important to remember here it was just a couple months ago that our marine staff sergeant frank wuterich was given no time in jail and only a reduced rank for his involvement in an attack in iraq and had which left twenty four iraqis dead and i think it's putting it very lightly to say the people in afghanistan don't really trust that the suspect will in fact be held responsible. well i think that would certainly be the right question that i mean it's just it's

the whole situation is just i mean there the war in afghanistan and those who goes who you know claimed that there was going to be an easy thing going easy thing going to a simple you know war of winning the hearts and minds it's just just anybody who thought that you know a ten year long counterinsurgency hearts and minds campaign in afghanistan would work out i mean one of the worst target afghanistan had a government never that's when never when the last time afghanistan was stable never you know i mean these these cockroach you know i didn't think guys in washington to think that somehow sending a hundred thousand troops is a good idea or to been promising to provide ice cream to every child in the world because it was this was from the get go there's anything as i've ever heard i take i want to take a look at this incident i sort of compare it to the qur'an burning incident that resulted in the deaths of. four or five u.s. servicemen but also another thirty or so i afghan citizen it resulted right away

when that happen in mass protests riots in the street and take i want to ask you this because i know you study theology break this down the serious of the qur'an burning even though it wasn't a direct attack on people compared with what we saw here over the weekend it hurt. of the koran was it for the afghans and for muslims across the world the biggest or gratian that could have ever happened it's it's as if someone in a in america you're a patriotic american that somebody took the american flag and burned it on the porch of the white house it's just but that if you would put into words we don't even have categories in america to understand how blasphemous this seems to muslims and i also want to say i spoke to i today i was e-mailing and in speaking with friends of mine that are in afghanistan soldiers as well as tribal leaders and n.g.o.s workers we don't we haven't seen before recourse of what this is going to go because people in kabul you know

a lot of people haven't even heard about it the pictures that we've gone out with the pictures do go out the back rush to come in from this could be. it could be to catastrophic it could be is worse than anything we've seen the i think the information that's an important point that i think a lot of people don't realize that people in that in the villages of afghanistan aren't exactly tuned in to their twenty four hour cable news and i'm certain that this will eventually get around but you're right it probably hasn't yet you know a lot of people saying this will undoubtedly hamper relations between the u.s. and afghanistan they've been working of course on a plan for what happens when the combat troops leave in twenty fourteen the strategic partnership agreement we think that does this and then bring this these kind of things just totally back to the drawing board. well i think what it's going to do is makes partisan politics back in the united states even more problematic obama president obama's going to get receive more pressure from the anti-war coalition both here and right the presidential candidates are going to use this

against president obama saying he doesn't have control he's doesn't demonstrate leadership president karzai is going to use it against president obama i mean this for the white house this is this is the worst thing imaginable in especially considering in three weeks we have now some koran burning incidents and then that's a you know genocidal murderers that's. for the white house is as bad as it gets let me ask you this on the basis that this soldier who we don't know his name at the base where he was i was in washington state the joint base lewis mcchord. they base that we saw an incident last year in which another soldier i believe went on sort of a shooting rampage was shooting for spore and i believe he was cutting off the fingers of some of his victims to keep the superiors on what i mean when is what's going on here i mean these people from the same place that is there something a lot are there any what's going on well you christina that it's a very astute point a lot of people don't understand exactly punjab are we going to understand kandahar

very well it is the heart of the taliban it is where basically the insurgency is the population there are trying to convert these these forces that are there for the longest time but have been trying to make the afghans that are living in those villages not take up arms against westerners and they've been trying to course them why a number of different ways hang them off direct action raids against the insurgent leaders that are you know in some of these villages tribal leaders. you know the one think with think this guy or he probably was doing what he thought would help win the war which is why we've seen this kind of craziness happen not just once twice but three times all right from a u.s. marine and r.t. blogger jake thanks so much for your insight today expressed the. well let's turn now to new york where russian foreign minister sergei lavrov met with secretary of state hillary clinton the central topic to their talks what to do about the situation in syria russia along with china have already vetoed previous attempts by

the u.s. and the u.n. security council to try to pave the way to bring down the government of bashar al assad leaders from both russia and china say they're simply following international law and want to try to help the region come up with a diplomatic solution instead of getting foreign military involved are to correspond honest answer is in new york she's been monitoring all aspects of the visit and brings us more. if they're honest with coming out of these meetings of are we any closer to some sort of an agreement than we were a few weeks ago. well christine these meetings of today definitely come at a very important juncture like you mentioned russia and china have in the last five months vetoed two resolutions that were attempted to be pushed through by the united states in the west but unfortunately the steel meta remains after hours of negotiations we know that the foreign ministers descended upon the security council to hold a meeting and we know there were bilateral meetings meetings behind closed doors unfortunately the positions remain very different the united states in the west

continued to call for regime change in syria and this is something that russia said many times over it does not support the russian foreign minister sergei lavrov was in cairo before arriving to new york and he came to an agreement with his arab league. colleagues saying that the five principles are important to work out a solution to the syrian crisis those include a complete ceasefire on the ground on both sides a hole to violence creating a strong monitoring mechanism as well as humanitarian aid to all syrians who are to call the monitoring mission on the ground and the unacceptability of outside intervention and this is something that we know that the u.s. has not openly called for yet but we know that there have been reports suggesting this and on a thursday we've been hearing a lot especially in the mainstream media about sort of the tension between the two countries certainly president obama secretary clinton not happy that russia has sort of remained defiant in not letting these previous attempts of u.n.

security council pass talk to me about the energy i mean how did that energy seem today between la and clinton. well you know christine definitely we know the united states flights likes to point fingers and find a bad guy but we don't have that never finds a solution and importantly russia has been you know especially with a very seedy serious media propaganda campaign going on namely in the west saying that russia and china are blocking any possible solution to the syrian crisis you know russia has said that is just not an honest approach take a listen to what the russian foreign minister said earlier his notes on this one people say it's interesting because of that. i would love to see such situations with the russians or the regime in the world affairs and look i would also like an old to hold that they're going to states can legitimately resolve the middle east crisis the arab israeli conflict or. still the drug trafficking from of the distance but we all understand that today's problems of the world can would be

resolved by the desire for it's. within systems even action by one country alone. well it's important to see that so the russian foreign minister also pointed out that really statements loud statements pointing fingers at russia and china really make good t.v. but at any solutions to be found in fixing the syrian crisis would have to make sure that all the difference in opinion are raised and that a compromise is found and we definitely know that the diplomats are looking forward really to keeping working in finding a solution and this problem is there a point so far anastasio that people are sort of focusing on a place that seems the most likely for compromise on you know for all parties involved. well the biggest problem christine as we know is of course the difference in opinion when it comes to regime change or are. really russia this entire time has been saying that it's important to keep in mind that it supports the opposition

groups on the ground could be very tricky it's a risky business because opposition groups include groups even like al qaida and you know pretending that regime change would. assad stepping down would really be a quick fix to this problem is definitely something that is a myth and unless russia and the united states find some sort of you know middle ground some sort of compromise it doesn't look like we've got a solution will come and a unified message will be sent until star talks of regime change really stop from the west and certainly an interesting point there that perspective very different we have people like senator mccain here in washington saying you know the syrian rebels should be armed and we have leaders from other countries saying you know what these syrian rebels this opposition is just as bad as the government itself and it's really hard to know unless you're in that country are due course on honest enough joining us from our studios in new york. still ahead on our team sometimes defending freedom means going head to head with a government that swears to protect it and that's exactly what

a group of authors activists politicians and professors are trying to do tell you how in just a moment. at first very much is your eyes right right i mean it's like a derivative of actual cap or it's a food product essentially. it's much stronger than anything you'd be by a lot. of times stronger than any kind of the people you ever put your. car is the state run english speaking russian channel it's kind of like.

russia today has an extremely confrontational stance when it comes to us. well this year twenty twelve started off with a brand new law of the land after the signature of president barack obama on a piece of legislation called the national defense authorization act and a among other things gives the united states military the power to legally detain suspects indefinitely and without charge or trial and that includes american citizens so basically the due process clause in the constitution gets to be ignored thrown out of the garbage and the language in which the bill targets terrorists it also uses other terms like associated forces coalition partners and those who substantially support terrorists and that kind of language offers no exemption. for journalists and many other people so we want to take a look at a lawsuit that is challenging the legality of this specifically the authorization

for use of military force one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit is chris hedges a former middle east bureau chief for the new york times and a columnist with truthdig chris is also the author of the book death of the liberal class. and their press thanks for being on the show today with your reasoning here well what do you hope to achieve with this lawsuit well if nothing else to raise public awareness i think it's clearly unconstitutional certainly the lawyers for an encore mayor we're bringing the case believe it is unconstitutional whether we will get a hearing we will find out soon to be in court in the southern just record in new york on the twenty ninth if i am ruled as a credible plaintiff then we can go forward in the first in the lawyers to attain tend to do is to file an injunction because the law went into effect earlier this month it is a decimation of the most basic civil liberties that americans have taken for

granted that overturns two hundred years of domestic law which has prohibited the military from functioning as a police force and as you pointed out when you began it removes due process for anybody who is deemed not not just a terrorist but to have contact with these associated forces that's not a term that's defined it's nebulous it's quite a frightening piece of legislation i know and for the like you who has worked over many years working as a middle east correspondent i know you've met with some of these terrorist groups you spoken to members of hamas and the palestinian liberation organization. are you concerned at all that you could be you know charged for guilt by association. well yes precisely we went through the state department list of terrorist organizations and i have had direct and personal contact with leaders or members of

seventeen of those groups as you pointed out hamas islam and jihad i covered for the new york times based in paris after nine eleven and was in mosques interviewing clerics and figures some of whom are now in prison. who were have been charged as being members or leaders of al qaida yes when the state department or the government the white house dislikes reporting that we do this happened to me when i covered the civil war in el salvador under the reagan administration or even in the balkans or the middle east they tend to shoot the messenger or attempt to shoot the messenger and i have been you know in. dinner at the homes of dr n.p.c. a new user on two of the leaders of hamas who were later killed by the israelis in targeted assassinations and as you know again as you said there is no exemption for

journalists because of the amorphous nature of the language it is a very short step for those of us who do have direct contact with these individuals and with these groups to be branded as accomplices and we are seen now with the use of the espionage act on the part of the obama administration six cases on and since the espionage act was passed in one thousand nine hundred woodrow wilson between then and the obama administration only three cases only were only three uses of it none of those cases went to the supreme court certainly one of the cases maybe bradley manning maybe sterling maybe another will reach the supreme court i think it's widely assumed that the court will uphold the use of the espionage act to prosecute. people who have spoken to the press and given what is considered secret classified information to the press and at that point we have a de de facto official secret act we shut down any anything but the official

narrative the official version of events so when you put what's happening within the court system and the espionage act with the n.b.a. the national defense authorization act towards this latest incarnation of the n.b.a. it really. you know is a giant step towards. a kind of corporate fascism and it will put more than a chill because anybody who leaks essentially can be sent to prison for life and part of the you know one of the biggest criticisms of course is that it can impact american citizens which is new but the president president obama issued a signing statement that said it would not be used on american citizens why isn't this good enough. well because it has no legal standing and dianne feinstein had proposed when she discovered u.s. citizens indeed could be caught up in this dragnet essentially extraordinary

rendition on the streets of american cities and not only sent to military facilities but sent to these offshore penal colonies abroad. that they insert into the language that u.s. citizens would not be subject to this kind of treatment and that was rejected by both the obama white house and the democratic party so we know from leaks out of carl levin's office he was for a democratic senator a co-sponsor of the bill with john mccain that all of the disputes of the white house were never over whether or not u.s. citizens would be deprived of due process over who would decide which citizens were going to be subject to that treatment and which citizens would be exempt the white house wanted that authority they got it once they got it they signed a bill and you know something i find really interesting is as unprecedented as this law is one people have never even heard of that and you know those who have for the most part don't think that i think i read between two and nine percent i think it's

a good law how did this come brody and how did it how is it that so many people still have no idea that this is a lot. well this is just part of the failure of the corporate media. you know at this point because it has bipartisan support because the acceptable range of political discussion in this country runs as dorothy parker once of. katharine hepburn's emotional range as an actress from a to b. you know anybody who raises these kinds of issues is automatically pushed outside of the mainstream and let's remember that obama signed this on new year's eve i mean he signed it at a moment when most americans attention were focused elsewhere and there has been official spin by both the white house and the democratic party including this signing statement that mask what this kind of legislation what this bill can actually do and it's not

a long bill i mean if you're interested you should go read it it's it's pretty clear cut and pretty frightening it's not that difficult to pull up and kind of get through chris that while i have you here i want to switch gears for just a second and talk about what happened over the weekend in afghanistan sixteenth civilians killed most of them women and children and what was apparently a u.s. soldier acting alone as a former middle east correspondent as the many with a lot of experience here i just want to get your reaction when you first found out about this. well that's what happens in war you know the thing is when you're fighting the kind of war they're fighting in afghanistan you were centrally have an elusive enemy an enemy you rarely see attacks are carried out by improvised explosive devices or ambushes where people then melt the assailants and melt back into the landscape and this creates what the psychiatrist robert jay lifton calls atrocity producing situations so when you have casualties taken within a unit and you have an inability of no target to strike back against it becomes

a very short step to just branding everybody even women and children as the enemy and taking out acts of vengeance against them this is something that we saw repeatedly in vietnam and i think that this is an incident that illustrates the frustrations that u.s. military personnel face and let's not mince words the fact that we are losing the war in afghanistan and one wishes that the pentagon and the political leaders of the united states had sat down and read the ten year history of the red army's attempt to occupy afghanistan we might have learned something yeah certainly interesting we do appreciate your perspective on death and the national defense authorization act to keep us posted i think you said you'll be in court at the end of the month will definitely keep our eyes out for what happens there bill it's a prize winning author and columnist for truthdig chris hedges in our new york students. well the capital count is up next here on our team let's check in with

laura let's start to see what's on the agenda say happy monday lauren what you got for us happy monday christine you know i heard you talking about the national defense authorization act so let's stick to this discussion on military and on defense and on warmongering because we have heard this stepped up seemingly moment to moment when it comes to iran we see syria debated at the u.n. today live the mandate extended one thing after another and you know we spent most of the time on the show focused on the economy but you can't separate the economy in our view from war and defense and military actions or expenditures because it's such a huge chunk of the u.s. budget it is big business there are a lot of interests involved that stand to benefit and so we're going to spend time discussing those issues today we have former cia officer michael scheuer he was in charge of the bin laden unit tracking him for several years and he's really going to help us break this down and understand it christine all right certainly very interesting and a very good points for us here that's going to do it but for more on the stories we

covered how do you tube dot com slash r t america or r c dot com slash usa you should definitely follow me on twitter also i'm christine for south and we'll be back here and a half hour. shows that she must be a huge musician and. the more we can see in the middle east and what is the condition of the spring or humanitarian interventions or first is what about the. feel. i passed.

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