hello and welcome to our t.v.'s these are your top stories shelling and shooting in the syrian city of poems as the death toll continues to draw is iraq's foreign minister confirms al qaida militants are flowing from his country into syria to stage terrorist attacks. meanwhile wiki leaks promised to shed new light on the syrian conflict as the group begins to release millions of e-mails from the country's politicians agencies and associated companies like leaks claims the materials will expose the west's hypocrisy and dealing with damascus. and washington reportedly plans to invest millions to upgrade the military base at the

notorious guantanamo bay that's despite have brought more repeatedly promising to shut down the detention facility that's why baby step aside. up next we discuss all the controversy behind the notorious prison camp with british lawyer and university professor philip sends. today i'm joined by philip sands professor international or university college london and author of torture team an investigation into what's going on behind the closed doors of kuantan i'm obey mr fans thanks for speaking to r.t. so what torture techniques or interrogation techniques have actually been used at one time i well it's pretty well established now. what emerged they adopted in the autumn of two thousand and two in the u.s. department of defense a series of eighteen techniques of interrogation arranged in three groups and the

first group was. shouting and screaming. the second group upped the ante so to speak and included sleep deprivation the use of dogs to induce fear. and then category three the worst of all included waterboarding and the use of water to induce misperceptions of suffocation that document emerged after the abu ghraib images emerged and i was interested to find out how a country which has turned its back against torture could have moved to adopt these techniques of interrogation so i began. roots of two thousand and five to begin to look more closely through a series of interviews of course united states on what had happened and what had been done by the biggest ration it was to spin a story which effectively said it started down at guantanamo there were a group of individuals down at one time over and it did then work its way up the

system what i stablish was that that's not accurate what had happened was that it had started at the top and then worked its way down with significant pressure from the pentagon in particular people around the white house so the tale was very different from the one which the administration had spun how easy was it to uncover that truth i. began by knowing that i had to speak to people who had not previously spoken down at guantanamo and i focused on the lawyers and i began to approach a number of lawyers and once i had found one lawyer who was willing to speak with me who was a staff judge advocate down at guantanamo who was involved at the time back in two thousand and two once she had given me an account of what had happened i could then go to the next person and say well publicly it says this but i've now been told by this person who worked underneath you that this isn't that what happened would you

care to comment on it and the door could then begin to open and what are the implications of your findings meaning you are getting a book that some of these techniques equate to war crimes that well i mean i focused on the interrogation of one individual or detained number sixty three alleged to be the twentieth. september eleventh hijacker. mohamed al khatami saudi national and i focused in particular on what had happened to him in the period november two thousand and two to january two thousand and three i reached the conclusion without any real difficulty that he had been subject to techniques that amount to torture torture is an international crime whether a crime against humanity or a war crime it's prohibited under international more the united states a party to an international convention that outlaws it and the bottom line of it is if you engage in torture as a state you are responsible and you are responsible to do

a number of things and one of the things you have to do is you have to investigate and you have to investigate what happened and that has never fully occurred. even the administration of president obama has if you like turned its back on the possibility of a proper investigation to ascertain who authorized what when precisely wasn't a few bad eggs it was people right up the top and. in fact the namely where president bush ultimately said he signed off on waterboarding and the that that happened in the summer of two thousand and two we now know it's pretty well established by a group of individuals with the president at the top don rumsfeld. courtney's rice was involved in the process and various lawyers you know in the national security council and in the department of justice who signed off on waterboarding approved waterboarding gave their support to waterboarding and that to me was shocking so

what i wanted to know was how could in particular lawyers who'd been to the finest law school in the world you know to harvard to do. george carlin terrific law schools how had they got themselves into a state that they were willing to sign off on techniques that amounted to them or their answer i think there was a sense of intense pressure that the united states was under an unparalleled i don't think that's a justification or an excuse or a reason but there was a tremendous sense of pressure coupled with the fact that a number of the lawyers involved at very senior level had no real background in the subject of international or the protection of the right individual and were very ideological in their approach basically they saw their function as lawyers not as being to give independent legal advice but to give the president the tools to do what he want to do that's not the function of a lawyer in any society in any democratic society but surely waterboarding rings

alarm bells with any lawyer it should have rung alarm bells and it did ring alarm bells in many parts what i established was that two of the major organs of government in united states were cut out of the process the military the upper echelons of the military were cut out of the process by don rumsfeld general counsel jim haynes. and the state department was cut out of the process and the lawyers at the state department and the lawyers in the department of defense the military lawyers the career military lawyers know better than anyone that it's in the united states' interest not to engage in this kind of activity so they were caught over the process. and instead you got a group of ideologues brought in to give the president the tools to do what he wanted to do their respective of whether there was a reasonable argument it was all for naught which individual moment in the investigation would you say shocking most when i was speaking with the folks who

were down at guantanamo i discovered and my book actually broke the story that one of the influence that was in the autumn of two thousand and two was a television program called twenty four which is a t.v. program about the use of torture which promotes the idea really that torture works it produces results it's a sensible way to proceed and one of the people that are indeed on beaver confirmed to me actually unexpectedly because i hadn't really asked a question. she just said that twenty four was a big influence and it created an environment and so you began to see that. the connection between popular cultural t.v. programs and what people do that was shocking so is there any chance those responsible for went on at one time my bait well actually be held to account there's already some degree of accountability i mean there's a group who are known as the bush six the six main lawyers at the top of the bush

administration the former attorney general alberto gonzales the former department defense lawyer jim haynes some of the public justice lawyers john yoo jay bybee it's very difficult to know set foot outside the united states now there's every possibility that they could be subject to questioning if they were to set foot outside the united states and there's some degree of accountability but my position is this is a breach of law this is potentially a crime and you need a criminal investigation and that has not happened and there's no indication that it will but what about former president bush is there a chance he could actually be charged with war crimes i mean president bush has rather brazenly given the series of interviews in which you know he says waterboarding is right why did i do it again dick cheney said the same thing and has taken responsibility for it and that's had certain consequences in the sense that some of his international travel has been limited he was due to go last year to switzerland that didn't happen he said because there were questions that in big

protests when he's gone to canada. who knows what will happen over time you know one of the things that i was involved with many years ago was the case of pinochet . that was of course a different time a different scale but it took twenty five years for the wheels of justice to sort of creak into motion and one day visiting london he was arrested and so these things take time you don't know when these things are going to produce results or what's going to happen and you know hangs question of responsibility hangs in the knowing of the other. matters now saif gadhafi trial libya's recently announced that the trial will go ahead in libya under their laws but given what happened to his father surely there are concerns over libya's ability to actually hold a fair trial i mean i think there are concerns about. liberation of a country which over the past four decades has come to be associated with the high

standards of criminal justice so i think it's reasonable to conclude that there are problems saif gadhafi has been indicted internationally i think there are good arguments on trying him in libya or trying him at the international criminal court but if he's tried in libya the proceedings have to meet minimum international standards that can be done in a variety of ways but you can't have summary justice but since the arrest warrant was actually issued by the international criminal court then surely there isn't any actual legal framework for libya to hold the trial international criminal court works on a basis of a principle called complementarity. the i.c.c. the international court in the hague steps in if justice is not done locally so if justice is not done locally there been there has to be an actual trial the libyans can demonstrate to the international criminal court that they can meet minimum international lenders they're free to try to mystically but i think they're going

to have to show to the international criminal court judges that they meet those international standards and i suspect. he himself would be rather happy of being tried in the hague where he knows he's going to get in a right and of course he's going to get death penalty you've also written extensively about the iraq war the legal issues surrounding that now do you see any similarities between the run up to what happened then and what's happening now in the standoff between iran and the west iraq went very wrong i think it went very wrong and there are very few people in this country in the united kingdom who now really want to stand up for iraq on policy grounds and. even fuel on legal grounds i focused on it as a legal matter but not in my view authorized by the security council he did not meet international legal requirements and it was therefore i am in the eagle. war but i think lessons have been learnt from that experience we saw some of that in relation to the we saw that the security council did adopt

a resolution russia and china did not return a resolution permitting some use of force question as to whether they exceeded the mandate. but there was a security council resolution iran is working its way through the security council . who knows which way it will but i suspect the lesson of iraq is such that it will be very difficult to imagine the kind of coordinated military response with a large number of countries involved a lot iraq in the case of iran in the absence of proper security council authorization for that sounds thank you thank you very much.

as the idea of multicultural society. sharing the motherland r.t. . oh sure is that so much of a given to you that israel apparently trying to hide from the mark when he's been here a brain finally coming to sudan as the protest movement grows the regime of all bashir appears to have limited options with the control. line in russia soon which brightened if you move about someone from phones to persian. whose friends don't talk t.v.

don't come. here in the. homes as the. shelling and shooting in the syrian syrian city of homes as the death toll continues to rise that's as iraq's foreign minister confirms al qaida militants are flowing from his country into syria to stage terrorist attacks . meanwhile wiki leaks promises to shed new light on the syrian conflict as the group begins to release millions of e-mails from the country's politicians agencies and associated companies wiki leaks a claims of the materials will expose the west hypocrisy in dealing with damascus. and washington reportedly plans to invest millions to upgrade the military base at dettori is gone totem obey that's despite barack obama repeatedly promising to shut down the detention facility that's based

at the site. sports news now with paul. thank you very much karen welcome back to the world of sports has what we've got for you the final countdown serena williams secures a place in her seventh wimbledon final question now faces the number three see that nascar fans go. italian job reports just fabio capello is in moscow for talks of the vacant post as manager of the russian national team. and a turn when a rival germany's our very greipel clinches back to back stage wins at the top of france but i was still far beyond control our feelings the overall standings. but first tennis and this year's women's singles final wimbledon will be between four time for much m.p. and serena williams i'm world number three at nascar advance scott williams

reaching her seventh final at the all england club courtesy of six three seven six we are going to hear as a banker an early break in the first set but how firmly in control in american soccer required to get the australian open champion williams delivering a record twenty four aces during the world the second set was a cultural back to its entire grand slam it's hard work for a straight sets victory after a talk among the frogs. who is the england final i don't know any other way to come out except for my birthday once has been playing well she won miami. and she's been consistent this year and more consistent than i have so that ari tells me really beginning i really need to go out there and be really hit a lot of shots and be ready to play hard she has great hands and she does everything so well so if i come out flat i want i want to win well williams opponent in saturday's final will be a mascot advance guard who has become poland's first grand slam finest in seventy

three years she overcame german and jimmy carter six three six one. kerber actually got the first break of the match so however the number three seed consistency shone through after that securing the win just one hour and nine. it's always. tough and hitting the ball very well and of course she's being very generous and so i think doesn't. think they really have to. go to the best well later on friday is the turn of the men's semifinals first up is defending champion novak djokovic sure takes on six time former winner roger federer it's the sixth time in the last eight grand slams that the pair have met at the semifinal stage the having won four of those previous meetings while the second match sees home favorite andy mari take on frenchman joe wilford sunda murray is

aiming to become the first british men's final since one thousand nine hundred thirty eight he's reached this stage of the tournament three times before losing the last two samis to rafael nadal. now faith have confirmed they are to introduce goal line technology football's governing body made the announcement following the meeting of its lawmaking panel at their headquarters in switzerland support for such a system has been growing in recent years with high profile mistakes tainting both the world cup in two thousand and ten and the recent european championship in poland and ukraine two different systems are set to be tested out the world club card at the end of the year and if successful will be introduced in time for the twenty thirteen confederations cup and the two thousand and fourteen world cup both in brazil the english f.a. say the premier league could also adopt the system as early as the end of the year . in today's. it's a cause that you know we've had on our agenda for a number of years we believe the right technology helping the referee make

a decision over something which is a relatively rare event in football the scoring very goal. is entirely appropriate well elsewhere fabio capello is believed to be in moscow for talks over the very composed as russian national team manager however the country's football union have refused to confirm that that's the reason the italian is in russia russian media stating the sixty six year old touched down at the city's weak over three airports sparking speculation that he is to succeed former manager dick advocate the next england boss was linked to a job but russian club f.c. on the last year received in moscow he said he was in the campus who watches the bolshoi theatre public with his england manager two months before the start of euro two thousand and twelve. meanwhile domestically the russian premier league could soon see an influx of foreign players the or if you're making what some say as a controversial decision to increase the limit on overseas players from six to seven on the field at any one time having spending on jay ancestor must go the main

lobbying for the new world they say the move will increase competition between domestic and overseas players forcing local talent out there gang opponents of the rule however say rising russian stars will miss out on valuable game experience on the bench or teams of tours and sports mr vitale would carry around to do everything in his power to reverse the decision. now to cycling we're under a great part of germany has clinched his second consecutive stage of this year's tour de france thanks in part to a perfectly timed sprint finish the german became the first rider to win more than one stage at this the one thousand nine hundred eighteen of the race just a day after finishing first in stage four rifle produced another high class performance the lot was the quickest at the sprint finish between matthew dawson kwan jose hydro in the second and third respectively team sky's mark cavendish settle for fifth place while swiss star country law retained the lead is yellow

jersey the state's top of the overall standings russian tennis menchov is currently sitting six thirteen seconds behind. now to go where v.j. saying is taken and i need at the greenbrier classic some big names vying for the one million dollars prize multiple major win a tiger woods and phil mickelson already eight shots off the pace words carting four birdies including this on the eleventh mickelson saw his three birdies wiped out by a double bogey on the fifth saying meanwhile has a one shot lead heading in to the second round. now with the championship perfectly poised to moto g.p. pitches in germany this weekend the standings it could not be closer with both casey stoner and who gave the reds i want to hundred forty points each out to seven races reigning champion stoner who is retiring at the end of the season is looking to retain the title he won twelve months ago although german stephan praga will be hoping for a home victory runs i mean while admits he's not fully recovered from last

weekend's crash in the netherlands. when i could see him in us and i just felt some pain but not not really big but after a few hours start to go up the field and then when i came to the doctor. they told me that they really i mean it's were. you still cannot put their feet on the ground so you must weigh some days to two completely the future on the ground now finally with just over three weeks to go until the start of the olympic games one of russia's top swimming hopes you have gagne qualities qin who was on the verge of quitting the sport four years ago has been speaking to artie's constantly to top off about his past present and hopefully successful future. it's hard to imagine that one of russia's best swimmers of the buzz the key and its biggest hope for a medal at the london games you again you can was almost at the point of weaving the

sport four years ago after the moscow i'd failed to qualify for the finals in his favorite one hundred metres butterfly at the beijing olympics but help came in the form of a serbian olympic silver medalist i was desperate and i wanted to quit but luckily miller a challenge now invited me to train with his coach under dineen though in italy with it so we could progress together and i wasn't really interested in swimming as such i just wanted to see new methods of training from a coach who had learned in the u.s. i said to myself a new language a new country it's a good experience even if i don't improve so i jumped in with both feet since then karate skin has learned to enjoy swimming again and here's a result have certainly improved. he has said world records in short courses under a new coach demeanor and won gold silver and bronze at the european championships in twenty. and he won the moscow stage of the world cup in twenty eleven beating

fourteen time olympic champion michael phelps and his training port beach which is what i feel i've truly become a swimmer and learned a lot in russia i've become a hard worker but sometimes i regret that i didn't leave to train a broader earlier the training sessions are almost the same but the surrounding atmosphere is completely different you don't get bored of the routine and for me it's easy to focus on training when i'm away from home beating phelps in the all in peace keeping where kurdish kings mother taught him to swim gave the most provide a boost of confidence however it's not his opponents that own the mind of the two time world record holder ahead of this summer's olympics where you could you know i want gold at the european and world championships and i set the world records but nothing can be compared with the olympic games the psychological pressure is extremely high and you start hesitating and wondering if you have ready for that of course i'm ready i've been preparing for this my whole life it will be the third

and probably last olympic games for twenty nine year old cora to skin and russia's captain is surely ready to make a big splash in london because. well that is all from the water sports and i'll have more like to hear when i'll take the wild weather is next followed by the headlines with carol.

the new super secret laboratory to mccurry was able to build a new world most sophisticated robots which on fortunately doesn't give a dollar amount anything tim's mission is to teach the creation why it should care about humans and world this is why you should care watch only on our t.v. dot com. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something

else you hear or see some other part of it and realize that everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm tom harpur welcome to the big picture.