iranians u.s. lawmakers and former senior officials demanded listing secretary clinton for democracy and freedom in iran d. list b.k. and that plane might not be too far from reality the obama administration is looking to take this iranian opposition group off its list of terrorist organizations all this despite the any case of questionable histories so who's really behind these ads and what will it mean for us and iran people who have lots of financial resources. and strong ideologies or strong beliefs with a particular candidate have decided that they wanted to get involved in the process this way putting their money where the election is super pacs are spending unprecedented amounts of cash in the two thousand and twelve elections anything to

propel their candidate and so the white house so well ask if money speaks louder than words. and while politicians roll in the dough millions of others are suffocating under student debt the occupy movement is getting ready to take over graduation ceremonies across the country we'll tell you how. it's tuesday may fifteenth eight pm here in washington d.c. i'm liz wahl and you're watching our t.v. . well a group considered to be terrorists is moving on up and off americans america's terrorists list the iranian opposition group known as was named a terrorist group fifteen years ago for its role in assassinating u.s. citizens but make has apparently found some friends in washington former government

officials have been advocating to get this group delisted from the terrorist list there's been a p.r. part. since you believe the list i make has well here's a look at one of the ads any case is a ron's democratic opposition working for a nuclear free iran founded on human rights unjustly listed a terrorist group and the case the victim of violence a radical regime in iran and their iraqi allies europe has delisted m e k and in two thousand and ten a us court order to review iranians u.s. lawmakers and former senior officials demanded listing secretary clinton for democracy and freedom in iran d. list m e k now this move could further strain u.s. iran aleisha relations so what's behind all this jamal of the policy director for the national iranian american council joined us earlier today to weigh in.

well i'll tell you what the state department and organizations like rand have said they're a cult they're a terrorist organization they were formally based in iran and helped topple the shah through the use of the use of violence and terrorism they had a falling out with the clerical regime in iran and sought refuge under saddam and actually fought under saddam hussein against iran in the iran iraq war since then once the u.s. went in you know toppled saddam they've been in a camp camp ashraf and have been fighting to basically get taken off the terrorist list they're committed to toppling the government in iran so that they can install their own leadership and sort of live out the dream that they had in one thousand nine hundred ninety of ruling over iran so we now know there are no longer terrorists in the eyes of the united states aren't that's what the pi shows so who exactly is behind this push to delist the group well here's the funny thing they're not necessarily considered to have given up their terrorist activities u.s.

officials have actually gone off the record and said that it was behind some of the assassinations of iranian scientists and professors that have occurred in recent years so if they make a was behind you know putting these bombs on cars and delivering bombs we have motorcycles it sounds like terrorism and there's an acknowledgment that that's the case but they you know u.s. officials have also said they're working with mossad they're working with israel to engage in this campaign and so among hardliners here in the u.s. there's a view of they're the enemy of our enemy so they're our friends they're working with the israelis there's even evidence that they may have been working with us joint special operations forces to be trained in nevada a few years ago so there's a lot of question marks about you know how are they how are they being trained and who is funding their activities and it does point to some you know. actors that you would necessarily suspect. any idea who those actors are well as i mentioned you

know the link to mossad the link to you know when the u.s. went into iraq in two thousand and three donald rumsfeld actually intervened because they were considered you know enemy combatants and he actually intervene because there was a view that they might be useful at a future date to use against iran to actually use terrorism against iraq you also have domestically or here in the u.s. you have members of congress who are accepting campaign donations from supporters of the m e k you have very prominent us former officials like rudy giuliani for instance who have spoken out in favor of them and have received really exorbitant fees for their support so you have this huge money network that is funding these activities and at the end of the day it really is hardliners you know whether it's in the u.s. or possibly even israel possibly even some of the gulf states that are supporting these guys as a cudgel against iran now you are saying that this group was has been supporting financially u.s.

officials but if they're a terrorist group how are they able to something doesn't add up here and doesn't seem that officials are supposed to be taking money are even communicating or working with a group that's considered to be terrorists well that's sort of the whole point of having a terrorist list so that these organizations for instance you don't have running around the u.s. paying for fundraisers officials the fact is you know there's been a blind eye turned towards them and now finally that this activity is becoming a little bit more front and center there have been subpoenas issued for some of these officials who are endorsing that there haven't been any subpoenas issued for members of congress for instance who have hosted the emmy kaye on congressional grounds have hosted celebrations for the group in committee rooms on the house side that hasn't yet happened and really it's a matter of they have a very extensive web of financing not just in the u.s. but in europe. they use some charities both in europe in europe in the us to

funnel this money through and what they claim is look we are just concerned iranian exiles who want to support this group the fact is iranians don't support the group and they're operating some very shady sort of networks here in order to finance their activities now jamal how was tehran viewing this move how could this affect the u.s. relationship with iran a relationship that is already shaky well i think given that you have negotiations that are ongoing with iran right now that this is actually potentially dangerous. it's a dangerous signal to iran that the u.s. may be willing to use a terrorist group against iran sort of poisons the well for these negotiations that are supposed to be occurring in good faith and it really says to iran you know how can the united states and its allies credibly urge iran to not support terrorist groups when it appears that we may be opening the door to openly supporting

terrorist groups against iran and iran sees this as another example of the u.s. possibly or ultimately pushing for regime change is that the case and why i think that the supporters of the in the make itself actually that's that's that's their stated goal which is really unfortunate because this is not a democratic organization they function as a cult they don't have democratic values as far as the administration's view i think what this really is is a deal that they're making with the m.e. k. in order to facilitate the safe transfer of any k. members out of this camp in iraq to a different location because the iraqis don't want to be there and has actually threatened to commit mass suicide if they don't get their way so the u.s. is looking at this as this potential you know you know masses. committed by whether it's a war if the iraqis go in there and they've said ok look we'll make

a deal i mean if you leave this camp voluntarily we'll take you off the terrorist list now if you want to take another look at the administration's stance on this and why they potentially would want to delist this group apparently i mean i'm seeing reports that this group has agreed to renounce terrorism and kind of change its ways and if that's the case that the group is changing its ideology and now agreeing to help the u.s. you know foreign policy can sometimes evolve in does it make sense for the u.s. then to change their approach in foreign policy if this group has agreed to renounce terrorism. you know if they have credibly renounce terrorism and absolutely there should be a way for this group to get off the list they should not they should not be there indefinitely it should not be a political tool that being said they have made this claim several times they've made this claim least two or three times in the past decade and then there's always

some incident that happens that exposes the fact that you know they're still using violence to advance their goals so if there can be a credible assurance if i make a for instance if they actually issue something to their members that says we're no longer going to use violence to advance our goals that would be a good first step their number of steps they can take to actually make this a credible offer instead of what it really is which is just p.r. very interesting jamal thanks for coming on the show pleasure as always that was jamal of the policy director for the national iranian american council well as voters today cast their ballots in two g.o.p. presidential primaries and the time of limited campaign spending for millionaires and billionaires we ask does every voice count nowadays and what's expected to be the most expensive campaign and a history backed by super funded super pacs are hitting the airwaves and of course many of them are negative attack ads here's a look at one of the most recent ones targeting republican presidential candidate mitt romney if we lost they made money if we survive they made money.

simple as that he promised the same thing you know. you'll give you the same. you'll take it on. us actually was responsible for the content of sacrificing. so with so much money being pumped into campaigns by just a handful of donors and with deep pocketed donors funding the message that gets out to the public who really decides who will be the next commander in chief our correspondent christine takes a look at the faces that fund presidential campaigns today. mo money mo problems not for these candidates whose campaigns and issues were kept alive well past their expiration date by excessive amounts of money oftentimes funneled in by one person to a large extent gingrich's candidacy is possible thanks to billionaire casino mogul

sheldon adelson a new ad is hit the airwaves promoting the presidential candidacy of jon huntsman doesn't come though from the huntsman campaign but rather a super pac when you step me up to sheldon adelson and hans van you know i'm really the underdog billionaire and it's not just the red billionaires there are blue super donors as well like george soros are mover and shaker today hedge fund kingpin george soros a billionaire investor pledging q million dollars to two democratic groups and jeffrey katzenberg who gave two million dollars to the pro obama super pac priorities usa people who have lots of financial resources. and strong ideologies or strong belief in a particular candidate have decided that they wanted to get involved in the process this way bob your sac says the money may not be able to buy the votes but often can control the message a reality that seems unfair to those who can't afford to give some americans can give several million dollars to a candidate they like and

a lot of americans can maybe afford one hundred dollars do you think that's a problem or do you think pass just how it is it's a major problem why is that a major problem i think as they have more say never had the money pulled the strings quite often the ones pulling the strings are anything but representative of the american people still their choices often determine who makes it onto the ballot the range of choices is narrowed significantly because certain kinds of interests have a lot of influence here and that comes at least in part in no small part from the money they're able to bring into the political process. john kerry has not been honest about what happened in vietnam he is lying about his record i know john kerry is lying about his first purple heart remember this ad it was funded in part by home builder bob perry to discredit democratic nominee john kerry this year he's given three million dollars to restore our future super pac supporting mitt romney

mitt romney turned around dozens of american companies and helped create thousands of jobs so how much can most americans contribute to help their candidates into office i don't know how much i would give you to be so he could become elected. because of that would you know on a budget would you give one hundred dollars. maybe would you give a thousand dollars i think there could be some things change that would make a little bit more fair for people like me to feel like they get more. tis the season for the full impact to be felt with ads paid for by super pacs not just hitting the airwaves but dominating them and if you live in a swing state like ohio or florida or virginia get ready the millions of dollars are aimed at you in hopes the message mind meld will translate into votes in washington christine for r.t. and for more on this earlier i spoke with ben cohen editor for the daily banter and

president of banter media group i asked him if election campaign fund raising and spending has gone out of control take a listen it's different now control these types of songs all very dangerous when it comes to democracy and when you have a concert the called the tradition of wealth in america where you have such extreme divides it means that power obviously if you if there is a lot of money in elections it means power obviously has cause it at the top more money you have the more power you have so that you can avoid that they're going to how they're going to buy candidates that what kind of an interest but i want to ask you about because you're british sound you can tell by your accent. what a citizens united kingdom fly in the u.k. this kind of campaign spending would wouldn't be tolerated in the u.k. and why do you think they wouldn't be tolerated there and it now it's flying here. do i think it would be the population the voting public just would they would never

accept it wouldn't be it's probably even a cultural thing that you just could fry the media wouldn't wouldn't allow the press would be whatever it is if anyone tried to kind of rig it actions like this just wouldn't be viable. let's say the leadership in the u.k. i made it so that this this could happen what do you think the response would be of the british people there that we must protest in the street. riots it would be pretty bad i mean again i think the difference between. the relationship between the government and the people in your can become the people in america. the british people. don't fear their government but they have they have no fear of the government so they basically tell them what to do a way so that way around in america you have the people charity off the government and they accept. that except power and more corruption the rich you know it's just

a given it's a fact that. every person and everyone in washington most of the millionaires most of the senate multi-millionaires. congress mostly within this this is just a fact of life and people don't really seem to it doesn't really seem to be a big problem in america that would be a much much bigger problem in the u.k. and why do you think there is a cultural difference where something like this you know it's happening now in the u.s. but it's from what you're saying it wouldn't fly elsewhere wouldn't fly in the u.k. but a difference is there's a working class culture in particular in the u.k. issues of unionization of. you know having kind of responsible press the genuine left wing press as opposed to the u.s. where it's a much more privatized system where you have union mean there's been a gigantic war against unions for for decades in america. one hundred years of of

of serious war between organized labor and private capital and they've done quite successful drug and smashing that in the u.s. and a lot of that is again is reinforced through the media system which is owned by private companies you know you have a propaganda campaign to vilify unions to vilify the working class where is that in the u.k. coach you just said it's more difficult to do that but they've tried they really tried to do it but it's not hasn't quite far reaching effects they have in the u.k. interesting so we saw there and chrissie's story we know who the faces of the big donors are they and you would presume you know these are very wealthy. millionaires billionaires so. they are not exactly representative of the american people so presumably they're quite far detached from from the average every everyday american citizen you know the policies that they would push would they be kind of

disconnected from what may be in the best interest of the average everyday working class middle class americans of course i mean if you could show to that listen because. multi-billionaire sounded a lot. of cash and you can gracious about him out who is committing to more money to to go bomber out this guy was a democrat back in the day he was a democrat until he became extremely wealthy and then he basically said well why would i why would i want to give a high percentage of my world away to someone who was poor the me to do that so you know he was a boy and he's reading newspapers well. so this this this guy was the believes he can buy his way into power. he's only a republican because the republican party is interesting after his own interests are you his wealth so he's buying elections for the sole purpose of saving himself money now do you think it's possible these days to become elected by soul by small

donors. a lot of small donors or is it just you know or can small donors not compete with the millions from sheldon adelson and the like i think you're going to see a very it's going to shift quarter months ago and you're going to start seeing it much much less likely for a candidate funded through small donations to be successful as opposed to. you know paying for policies that the very rich i think are going to attract the big donors i think because that is the you know you have been getting four books from lots of different people you know you can amount so you can different make a difference you know going to be advancing multibillion is. at a time and that was ben cohen editor for the daily banter and president of dancer media group. well this is supposed to be a joyful time for college grads but a lot of graduating students are drowning in

a mountain of debt and facing bleak job prospects are the correspondent marina parr and i a takes a look at how student debt is taking a toll on america's youth and how they plan to bring attention to the problem at graduation. it's the heaviest investment a young american can make now becoming a trillion dollar ticking time bomb for the nation i have twenty thousand dollars forty thousand dollars and one hundred fifty thousand and that the u.s. student loan bubble has inflated larger than car or credit card debt in this ballooning crisis graduates now have financial deficits that rival home mortgages. night in new york many have taken to the streets protesting against the on the fordable cost of higher education we're already seeing a a large increase in the number of student loan defaults across the country and that's coming at a rate that is similar to the rate when the when the mortgages mortgage loans started to default as well and like i said this has a cumulative effect and it's

a downward spiral according to reports more than fifty percent of recent college graduates are unemployed or working wage jobs that don't even require a degree now unlike other debt student that cannot be dismissed for bankruptcy this means loans that u.s. students and account for higher education follows them for decades or possibly the rest of their lives i don't think i'm ever going to be able to thing i did as long as i live here and so you're creating a literally. class and then people it's basically mike friedman has a ph d. in biology and works as a part time teacher because he can't find a full time position it's the option of getting an education and then being in a state of financial or economic insecurity for the rest of your life according to the federal reserve bank of new york americans sixty years old are still over thirty eight billion dollars in student debt and ten percent of that group is past

due on payments senior citizens can even have their social security checks taken away the money reportedly redirected to banks weaving to collect. as the investment of a degree morphs from security to risk more americans are reportedly turning to online colleges to save money while others are suing for a refund dozens of lawyers have filed class action lawsuits against their own law schools accusing the colleges of fraud and inflating employment figures. it was an american dream when qualification equated to security but now the once cherished degree. appears to be no more than a gamble marina port r.t. new york. saw more about the emotional and financial toll student debt takes on americans i was joined by kahlil car thing the rector of community outreach for

default the student loan documentary. well first of all thank you for having me on today and you know we're constantly seeing so many crazy stories and it never ceases to amaze me what will see and won't default really it really looks at the stories of people that have taken out private student loans and those are the stories are those are the student loans that have less consumer protections than the federal student loans so those are what we're really seeing even more today than we were several years ago so you know selling may they're really investing in these private student loans today and that's what they've been dumping millions millions of dollars of lobbying money into to chip away and to to rip away the consumer rights for so we're seeing people that can't get married and that have had

their credit destroyed in their lives were ripped upside down. because the credit is destroyed and they can't get jobs once their credit is destroyed because there are sixty percent of employers are now checking credit reports that's i mean that's an example i mean we're seeing people that have have to pay. full times what they took out so i mean it's just it's just it's just endless footwork we're seeing today and it's just unfair it's something has to be done about it and you know that's one reason why i got involved with the occupy graduation movement and and that's what's really kind of spreading right now and we're setting like what i heard earlier when you were talking about earlier is where we're spreading this to the campuses and we're we're allowing the campuses to take the shackles the balls and chains to the campuses and to where their debt on their caps and gowns to show that you know we're drowning that in this people are drowning in this and

can't get out now while i do want to show a clip i believe we have a clip of your documentary. i'm on. the same. thing with my mother no. to work for my mother right now telling me would be calling me in a cardboard box on the street cisco. and i still think if that were the case on him it would still want her. so very sad story there but are many americans many more americans in the same shoes as han yeah i mean we're really going to see more of that with with this generation today that it's peak force to take out so much debt it with the inflated towage price. kyle how do we get to this point that the magnitude of the problem the student debt problem is unprecedented even though

i think one one major reason is the removal of bankruptcy protection so there's really whether or not someone wants to file for bankruptcy or not that's one key defense mechanism that a consumer has because once that's removed. there are that's really not capitalism anymore so that that's something that no one can fall back on so that means that a whiles price is just explode and so when not only that we've got a lender such sell in may which owns the collection companies as well and they're dumping millions of dollars into lobbying and they're buying our legislators so and they also own the question companies and can tack on an extra twenty five percent on top of your loan and collect on the back end as well so people or having their lives destroyed because of they wanted to better their lives and it is just

not fair and that is one reason why we're seeing such an uproar over the last few years and now will we have this occupy as you mentioned before occupy student debt in the works out what effect you hope this will have what will i mean we're already seeing the effect we're seeing we're seeing that it's actually pay attention and saying oh my goodness sake you know we have to we have to at least acknowledge that generation y. the millennial are in serious trouble you know we're seeing representative hansen clarke has really come out and said you know here's a bill the forget h.r. forty one seventy here's something we have to at least. put forth and you know raise and people have to come together and at least reese the issue of student debt forgiveness. you know unfortunately we haven't really seen. the republicans do much about this except. tell. our generation to

pull yourself up from your bootstraps when you know there are new bootstraps left in you know that's really unfortunate because you know when our parents were our age school was so cheap is so much cheaper if if they paid anything at all and now it has you cannot work up a part time job or a full time job and pay for school you have to pay for over your entire lifetime and that is so sad and if you do or you will to pay for it it's good luck getting a really good job and like you said earlier fifty percent of people coming out of school have a job if they have one at all all right kyle thank you very much for coming on the show that was calm mccarthy a director of community outreach for the documentary the fall of the student loan documentary.