it's judgment day for victor booth the russian man accused of arms trafficking and terrorism conspiracy the judge is expected to hand a verdict down at any moment now we will bring you a live report from new york. plus bloodshed continues in syria this just like he's promises from both sides of the ugandan freezing involvement in the conflict will anything end of violence at this point well following the crisis that we've been following the crisis and we'll bring you the latest.

on happy homecoming for some not all returns of u.s. troops come with tears of joy as the one of the media isn't showing you the ones where black covered coffins come quietly and the night and that show these are the images that show the true basis of war so why aren't we seeing that side of the conflict all explore. thursday april fifth four pm here in washington d.c. i'm liz wahl in you're watching our team. well he's been dubbed the merchant of death in the u.s. russian arms dealer viktor bood is set to be handed his sentence at federal court in new york within the hour he was found guilty back in november for selling millions of dollars worth of weapons to south american terrorists and while his the

he has become enfamil send us his supporters say he is a victim of entrapment and never stood a chance at a fair trial or to correspond anastasio is in new york with more on the case anastasio so at this point how's it looking for. well you know liz it's definitely not looking too good for victor goot so the fifty to forty five year olds of russian air cargo business men is awaiting to hear and to learn his destiny and hot in federal court room we are expecting the sentencing hearing to come down in about half of our baby an hour and the main core of this problem of this case really is that seems to have lost his case in the court of public opinion a very long time ago for really a look at what his case is all about let's not turn to our record. here is spend five us to hunt down one russian man tens of millions of dollars of

taxpayer cash who are into a sting operation snatched from a third country alleged arms dealer viktor boot was handcuffed flew to you wes and police in solitary confinement for months before trial found him guilty on all four charges one conspiring to kill united states nationals two conspiring to kill united states officers and employees three conspiring to use an acquire anti-aircraft missiles and for conspiring to provide material support to the dark forty four year old russian air cargo business and fascinated hollywood are several people. in our court. now we are on the other over. bood lost his case in the court of u.s. public opinion and long before his trial kicked off raising concerns of the fairness of his trial this is the lord of war. the merchant of death right and

you've got him in your hands spread he's in custody it's a great feeling u.s. officials were relentless in their efforts to get behind bars so-called merchant of death is now a federal inmates american agents posing as far members of colombian group to terrorist in the u.s. but not by many other countries and the u. when met with and then arrested in thailand in two thousand and eight after twice being found not guilty by thai courts the u.s. reportedly play dirty arm twisting thailand into extraditing him to america they're willing to flaunt every international law to get what they want and that means doing all these illegal things in the case of the trouble to extradite him or should say kidnap and boot family also called us actions entrapment and kidnapping the police clive's i can accept the possibility that they did who might have some information that might be of interest to someone why is it bad other countries don't just think for themselves that there is someone who has some interesting

information and why don't those government just drag those people out of their territory while those requests to send him to russia for trial were brushed aside there was no official decision of an extradition russia called boots extradition illegal and question the validity of his conviction one of the main arguments of the defense that the u.s. lacked jurisdiction was ignored by the court would stiffen says the russian was aware that he was not in touch with real far members and all he was trying to do was to alter cargo planes majnoon crimes many factors stiction and manufactured evidence journalist george map has attended every hearing in the case he says is one of many victims of u.s. judicial power play and i feel that victor in this and in particular charges that were brought against him that he's innocent so you know i don't feel i don't want any innocent man whether it be russian citizen writable who are troy davis to be you know sentence life or chemical reprised if they don't commit which are good.

the second russian citizen in the year to face sentencing on american territory for legit crimes committed in a third nation both cases a major precedence and represents a worrying us trying to simply override the legal systems of other countries is this a trick or two. some background information there about how this case has played out over the past year victor boot is said to be sentenced within a half hour. any word on what that sentence will be what it's looking like for him . was considering the charges that are brought against him which include conspiring to kill u.s. citizens and conspiring to cooperate with farka group that steam terrorists in the united states victor boot is looking at a minimum term of twenty five years but we have to keep in mind that the prosecution is asking for as much as a life sentence behind bars boot himself continues to maintain his innocence to this moment his defense team has called the fact that the prosecution is asking for

a life sentence a disgrace but we're going to have to wait and see how events unravel like we mentioned in that case with so much build up to this case with so much negative attitudes towards him including in the courtroom you know to the extent that the judge had to ban the term merchant of death inside the courtroom in order to not influence the jury the outcome looks quite quite negative for victor boot today and he has been the merchant of death here in america but he has been so infamous abroad. well the point that's quite interesting though you bring that up because the term the merchants of death was the name of a book written allegedly about victor boot the lord of war was a movie needs allegedly about victor boot where nicolas cage starred as the as blue and it's been important to point out that in the united states these nicknames have really been played up long before the case even started and we do know that as much

as allegedly hundred one hundred million dollars were pumped into this so called operation relentless to hunt down victor boot it's clear to the defense and many of the analysts who have been following this case that it's going to be very unlikely that comes out with a minimal sentence out of today's wrapping up of this trial and there has been honest as you touched upon there in your your news story controversy surrounding how he was caught and how he was a bra ultimately to the u.s. . that's true liz as we know of course in march two thousand and eight undercover drug enforcement administration agents posing as these five members like we mentioned a group deemed terrorist in the united states but a group that's not considered terrorist by the united nations many other countries these undercover agents lured into this operation he himself says he never did anything at all that would be considered a crime and set up getting people arrested in thailand and of course as we know

after lord said that this man was not guilty twice and they said that this case was politicized by the united states there were so many reports of alleged arm twisting coming from the united states that good ended up being extradited to the you know cries from russia like we mentioned that his extradition was illegal and there's not enough proof to show that this man was conspiring to commit those crimes we know that the defense has been saying that putin knew all along he was dealing with members and most importantly victor good never even stepped foot in the united states now i'm he does face at least a minimum of twenty years prosecutors are asking for and like any word on a whether or not there are plans for the defense to file an appeal absolutely liz definitely no matter what kind of sentencing comes out of today's hearing we do know that of course it's going to be either the defense or the prosecution filing appeals demanding for a different outcome by again as we mentioned with such

a tough stance by the united states with literally almost a decade spent by u.s. special agents to hunt down this man it's very unlikely that the attitudes toward richard reid will end up changing in a blink of an eye if they haven't up until now. thank you very much we will be checking back with you throughout the day on the very latest on a story that was r.t. correspondent. now we want to take a step back and look at some of the other crimes that could lead to a potential life sentence here in the u.s. so to put into perspective we made a graphic to show you a few other crimes that would merit a twenty five year to life sentence well as expected topping the list are rape and murder high treason of course could land you a have to prison sentence or more also severe child abuse human trafficking average aggravated burglary or robbery and then there's severe or violent cases of drug dealing and other violent crimes including but not limited to aggravated assault

aggregated data re and carjacking now obviously these are all horrible crimes that justify the harsh sentence murder torture treason the horrors of these cannot be understated however and all of these cases it is the duty of the prosecution to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the crime was committed by the person in the case of viktor bhutto many believe that there is substantial doubt over his involvement in the arms ring and even question even more questions over why he was extra day extradited in the first place well be sure to stay tuned to our next half hour the sentencing for mr blewitt is expected to come down very soon and we will bring you the latest developments in this case. when it comes to the public understanding of war it seems ignorance is bliss not least when you watch how war is covered by the mass media. i don't want there to sixty but i want.

to write it. all today marks the two year anniversary since the release of this video link to the whistleblower site wiki leaks the video shows u.s. troops in iraq iran down and us and civilians on the ground the video is shocking and reveals what really happens in war that usually will go unreported but it's rare that images and information like this is made public this fight being involved in two major wars for nearly a decade reports from the frontlines almost never show what actually happens accounts are severely edited an image is cleaned up getting in an accurate portrayal of the true cost of war and starts a correspondent christine freeze out shows us a mess information from player role and shaping policy. a happy homecoming for those who make it home for me.

these are the images of war that often touch us the most. the ones that take place off the battlefield. it is ok. to put the stories pictures like this tell is incomplete you have a child break. responsibility. the press choke point where the people of the united states aren't as informed as they could be despite being technologically capable of transmitting photos and videos from the frontlines what's viewed by the american public is almost always distilled and some of the exceptions to that rule have proven why during the vietnam war photos like this captured the horrors of innocent children need. harmed fighting for their lives and

public opinion changed when the opinion of those covering it changed as well as what we are mired in stay on it seems the only realistic satisfactory conclusion and she wore sentiment at home exploded. the images of prison abuse at abu ghraib in iraq how the similar impact of disturbing the general public on happy american military personnel could be seen torturing prisoners in iraq. still most images of brutality and thus of reality are kept out of the public view. of so does the right with. a little bit of. them going to that is the best. opposite of what. even american flag draped coffins were forbidden the ban handed down by president george h.w. bush in one thousand nine hundred ninety one and not overturned in tell two

thousand and nine when nearly five thousand of these had already returned and many argue not showing it concealed the cost of war to those who are asked to support it and fund it they've had so many instances where reports were. just censored or they didn't get all the information it was omitted in those reports so they're not able to actually know what is going on in germany mandatory tours were given to german civilians a book involved concentration camp soldiers believe the people should see the atrocities of war firsthand but that firsthand look for us led wars is extremely rare after nearly a decade in iraq and afghanistan the images we see look more like this happy soldiers having completed their mission coming home but we don't see are the result of their actions the aftermath of drone strikes or the night raids gone wrong

putting that rule back in the hands of what still seems to be a very unwilling media in washington christine for south r.t. . well to talk more about the reality of war versus the reality of portrayed on your television screens michael prysner iraq war veteran joins us now welcome like all so why do you think we don't see more of these images that show the true cost of war. well it's good that your report referenced the vietnam war and the fact that during vietnam and the war was brought into people's living rooms every evening and they saw it from the frontlines and the u.s. government made a calculation that the reason that so many people took action to force the war to end was because they were seeing it every day and so the change in policy was a very conscious concerted effort to hide the reality of u.s. conflict from the american public because the u.s. government felt if they wanted to wantonly carry out the mission that they wanted

to and shield it from the public this is what they would have to do so you know i wish it wasn't necessary for people to see the gruesome reality of war but the situation we're in today is such that a war is in destin we is opposed by the vast majority of americans a war for empire a war that's costing us literally hundreds of millions of dollars a day in precious resources and one that's causing a massive casualties of innocent people in afghanistan and among us soldiers but the u.s. government tells us that we're not allowed to look at that we're not allowed to observe the war we're not allowed to see its effects there are though michael some rare instances where we do see graphic images for example and i think we have the video where gadhafi was killed are when saddam hussein was killed though the bloody images were all over the place why is it ok in that scenario. well you know the censorship of raw images of from iraq and afghanistan is part of the government's

attempt to have full control of the narrative so they want people to see what they want people to see so that the photos that they release will be the photos have been want people to see and what they want that will shape a narrative in the way to be want it's about control of information so that they can shape public opinion to suit their interests and this is completely contrary to the concept of democracy where we're told that we live under and can you how can you talk about how this policy empacher people's perception of war and what's going on. sure absolutely i mean already i think it's first important to point out that majority opinion is already against the afghanistan war oh polls show that the vast majority of people in the united states oppose the war in and out of the military not to mention the people of afghanistan but the government knows that a political fallout from an image from a report on can set off a spark that leads to a revival of the mass anti-war movement because it is the people that have the ability to end the war and the us government is well aware of this and the fact

that they're hiding these little facts and hiding the reality of the occupation even though most people already oppose it they're trying to prevent more outrage and more anger that takes form in the streets and takes form in a move now and follow some more of these images that were exposed images from the battlefield some of similar to what you had mentioned previously of these images that works posed and vietnam how do you think that would affect people's sentiment toward a war today. well i think that if people saw the every day life in afghanistan saw the effect that it had on the people in afghanistan. the gailey tragedy experienced by u.s. soldiers and civilians in afghanistan it would move them to take action against the war i mean it would show them the reality of what all of their tax money is paying for wider education is being cut by their social services and medicare is being cut why jobs are going away it's to pay for those things and to pay for those atrocities and that's something that can really move people into action and how the

government says that people don't show these images out of respect for the families of the people who are involved in them which is a complete lie if they had any respect for the families or service members whatsoever it would be sending them to endlessly kill and die in a war that the vast majority of people look oppose if they had any respect for us in our family they'd stop lying about the war ended immediately and then bring those resources back home now michael i know in newsrooms across the country there are some pretty strict policy is as to what can be applied in the news that you cannot show that body and especially children that there is these policies that are that are in place they just don't want to subject their viewers to these graphic any jazz so what about the argument that there is a time and place for everything and possibly graphic and violent images shouldn't be smothered on screens during the morning or evening. well i think that the mainstream media today it's become quite clear is nothing more than just

a mouthpiece for into pentagon and from washington to serve their interests in the message that they want to go out but i think that journalists and the free press are supposed to be as having the responsibility to show the people what the reality of the situation is that is being done in their name and being done with their tax dollars with their families and their loved ones and so it may be something hard to look at but you know it's the reality and it's happening every single day and has been happening for ten years i'm a dime and with our friends and family all right michael thank you very much for appreciate you coming on the show that was michael prysner iraq war veteran but the death toll continues to rise in syria as fighting rages on between a rebel and government force says activists described today as one of the most violent since the uprising began about a year ago and as syrian this happened this is going on as syrian forces say they are complying with international mediator kofi annan peace plan by pulling out of

cities and towns now the u.n. is set to send a team to syria and hopes of breaking a peace deal and a cease fire within forty eight hours so is an end to the bloodshed possible in the near future to dig deeper into this middle east analysts and that he joins us now welcome ahmed so how promising is this peace plan. education plan if it if it is followed respected and implemented it can we can have a great through with you friends unfortunately the reality on the ground sees that the syrians are mastering the art of just giving words and false promises when it comes to implementation the record is quite media yorker and it almost non existant this has been the style of the management from the syrian

regime throughout the crisis if the date that's been said by the syrian government april tense is the day that supposedly should seize their military operations i am anticipating much more violent attacks that will take place in the coming forty eight hours i still don't trust that bashar assad will comply or respect his promise now it is hard to believe that peace is right around the corner when we are seeing one of the bloodiest days in quite some time the syrian president except ten's of this peace plan as you know and withdrawing the troops being that with skepticism by rebel forces already. not only the rebel forces but other heads of states whose regional neighbors. international powers nobody staking. promises

a face value. already building a case that the entire world is against them and we sure have a great talent for broadway production if they will be qualifying to get a visa to visit the united states after he is the poles from his office now russian's foreign minister has attacked the group the friends of syria it's a group of western and arab nations that supports arming the opposition and he has said that this is not helping the peace process at all either nobody sees that the actions of the shuttle and his regime is helping to solve the crisis just makes the situation much more complicated yesterday was and today was two of the bloodiest day that we have seen innocent victims fall and. lives in a fantasy that he is not the aggressor but he is subject to

a major world conspiracy plot against his regime because of the prosperity that you syrian people and democracies that the enjoy under his leadership now we are hearing contradicting numbers are so high how high the death toll really is but it is important to know that there is violence going on on both sides but it's hard to know really what's going on there because journalists are not allowed in that country. joiners are not allowed in the country. peacekeepers we also have a problem to get into syria that's part of the annan plan there was a talk un about the need that those peacekeepers to be armed and the syrian government is refusing to allow any peace keeper was any four of arms. that the may possess not even for personal protection so the syrians are wasting

time the are playing a game of wasting opportunities and i can foresee that their hand was not going to be any different than the end of mom because the and how the libyan people have dealt with them now a. group is expected to arrive in syria shortly but can we expect to come out of that this is an administration and they are going to check the. sites where they're going to be placing the piece of observers view checking your routes for the humanitarian. aid convoys but until we see these observers on the ground until we see that there is safe corridors have been established to deliver humanitarian aid until we see a cease fire but i do syrian army that's using heavy tanks and heavy

artillery shelling innocent civilians in syria now we see any of these things happen there's going to be potential but right now there is nothing of that sort his spinning ok and it is the cease fire on both sides a pair hoping to achieve are you confident and are hopeful that that will be able to happen. if the syrian government ceasefire within forty eight hours according to the mr kofi annan plan the opposition are going to stop. firing as well but they're going to keep during the first forty eight hours defensive positions rebels are quite ready to cooperate and they are cooperating with mr annan through his deputy mr nasr of what . kofi annan is keeping daily contact with the syrian government all right

well we are minister of foreign affairs they're keeping a close eye as this story develops appreciate you coming on the show that was middle east analyst on that you work that's going to do it for now we'll see you right back here and a half hour. wealthy british scientists are. sometimes the tireless fight. for. market finance scandals find out what's really happening to the global economy with much cause or for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into all kinds of reports on our t.v. . if. any is

easy. to. see.