today on our team u.s. drug war in latin america over the weekend d.n.a. agents killed someone suspected of smuggling drugs and hundreds we'll take a look at the u.s. drug war efforts in latin america and ask if operations in the region have turned into a full fledged military conflict. keeping tabs on you a new report looks at a growing trend of u.s. police departments tracking you through your cell phones so what are the looking for and who are they targeting and drink up and place your bets as cash strapped states and cities deal with budget woes many are turning to gambling and looms for an economic boost is this a fair way to balance the budget or a recipe for disaster.

it's monday july ninth five pm in washington d.c. i'm abbie martin and you're watching our team. in addition to the multiple wars being waged by the u.s. military to fight the war on terror there's also a war being waged in latin america to fight the war on drugs for the second time in one month a d.a. agent has shot and killed someone on doors for allegedly transporting drugs a few weeks ago the d.a. oversaw a raid in which four civilians died traveling by boat so why is u.s. law enforcement interfering in the region and what is the war on drugs all about to talk more about this i'm joined now by adrian pyne a professor at american university thanks so much for coming in. so this is the second time in the course of a few weeks that this happened we just had you want to talk about this a couple weeks ago to talk about what exactly happened in this instance well from

what we understand and there hasn't been a lot of information coming out about this but there was a plane carrying cocaine and it crashed and. agents who were acting basically on their own authority arrived at the scene and when somebody refused to meet at least surrender they shot and killed him one of the pilots and this is an interesting shift from in the three killings that we've seen over the past over the past two months the first one on may eleventh when there was the killing of four innocent civilians who had nothing to do with drug trafficking whatsoever the talking point of the d.n.a. was well it wasn't us we were just there in an advisory capacity as if somehow it were better to be telling them to shoot the gun one hundred police to shoot rather than to shooting them to shoot them themselves the second time around last month when a right killed somebody who was suspected of drug trafficking which is what happened

this time they said well it was in self-defense this time they're claiming is that the pilot refused to surrender and made an unspecified threatening gesture. so you know there's a dilution. of argument here and it's it's clear first of all that we are at war and that the united states is engaging in a war in honduras but we have no clarity on what the rules of engagement are in this war that hasn't been declared and in which u.s. law enforcement is just going and executing people in a foreign country and you sort of dilution kind of a comprehension of what exactly is going on because we hear one thing and you know another thing was reported but hyperbolic situation of what this would mean if a him dern local law enforcement came over here and started implementing these kind of activities well yeah i mean i think that's that's the absurdity of it really is

that you know it's impossible for us to imagine what is happening in honduras happening here in the united states and yet that's what we have to imagine in order to understand just how out of control things are and just how little democracy hundreds have how little say they have when there's a foreign nation carrying out law enforcement operations without any input from honduras simply and they're not even law enforcement operations i mean it's illegal by our laws it's illegal by their laws to simply be carrying out executions and you know really this is the same politics of the obama administration that we've seen in other countries that was well you know with the kill lists and with drone attacks is that this this sort of sense that it's ok for us to just be going in and killing people without any due process without any without any judicial process whatsoever as and as i mentioned earlier there's just simply no clarity on

what the rules of engagement are in this war that is taking lives with with no legitimation and you mentioned the similarities kind of between these drone strikes and it does seem like the you. government has taken itself as the moral high ground here and spreading democracy through intervention around the world why do you think that the us is pouring money into natori asli corrupt agencies the military and the local police how would that even further its goals i mean what's really going on there the the less democracy that there is in central american or latin american countries the greater influence the united states can hold over those countries and you know the police and the military forces in honduras where the forces that were responsible for carrying out a coup in two thousand and nine and then for violently and forcing it and you know just in the past week alone there have been three targeted assassinations in the back one region of hunger is carried out either by law enforcement or by paid

security guards many of whom are most of whom are either former current law enforcement and you know we just we don't see the u.s. pulling back from the kind of aid that it's giving to these incredibly violent institutions that even the state department has come out and said are just horribly corrupt and in honduras everybody knows they're hardly corrupt and it seems like the solution might be to pull back and allow for a democratic process that take place and for there to be some sort of oversight but instead what the united states is doing is just pouring more and more money into these honduran institutions and then assisting them by bringing in u.s. military and the agents who are carrying out targeted assassination and not only are we nowhere close to point back injury but i want to show a map really quickly of u.s. expansion of its military presence in all all across latin america i mean as you

can as you can see it's definitely widespread are these kind of activities going on in other regions as well in terms of the drug war across america with a day. and there you know carrying out these kind of things well you know we've really seen it most intensively in central america in just the you know in the recent months at least. but you know the the model for what's going on in central america is the model that was created through plan colombia which was the sastra see u.s. military intervention and you know in financing of a war that killed you know just so many people in colombia and then also created human rights bottles like the false positives where where military in colombia were basically getting bonus pay for the bodies of supposed guerrillas you know that they could provide and so they were killing innocent civilians and dressing

them in military clothing so that they could get extra pay which ultimately comes from the united states taxpayer budget and you know so we're we're financing murder abroad in the name of this this drug war which is which is criminalizing poor and project only african-american people here in the united states and it's and it's murdering tens of thousands of people throughout latin america and there are many similarities between the drug war and the war on terror as you mentioned just kind of is on accountability in terms of what we deem to be you know necessary in order to carry out to pursue our interests. but i wanted to touch on something that you mention in the last interview that you were here where you said the u.s. is borrowing a model i mean you just said that we're kind of barring the colombian model what happened there but you also said that the u.s. is borrowing some models from the war on terror the torture model and hearing it to honduran tundras can you elaborate on that shirley on in the iraq war people in the

military and in the bush administration bragged about using this salvador option to bring to iraq and that was of course the cia trained dead. squads and torture squads that existed in honduras it was bitterly in three sixteen but throughout central america that were you know used to torture and extract information and you know and divide people and cut loyalties and and so that was exported to iraq and now that's being exported back into one hundred s. and we saw you know articles in the new york times celebrating this from embedded reporters in honduras saying that the iraq model and you know lessons from iraq and afghanistan being used in hundred or so they're talking about these forward operating bases and you know the kind of war that you know very much a sort of written in this way that you know talks about it as a success even the d.d.a. operation that you know that killed this person without any judicial process last

week is discussed by the spokeswoman as having been a success and to me to say that you know we came in we got some coke and we assassinated someone is a mixed success at best speaking of coke and i wanted to show a headline that caught my attention it was from two thousand and seven but it was a cocaine four tons of cocaine were found in a crashed jet cia one of their rendition planes. and you know it just begs the question really the war on drugs creates billions of dollars in the black market and we we hear that the taliban had almost eradicated the opium crop in afghanistan before occupation and we know you know in l.a. the crack cocaine epidemic some say that it was in part facilitated by by the cia i mean. is that really some might speculate that it's really about eliminating the

competition or controlling these resources in some way or what do you think about well we know that the united states has been involved in drug trafficking we know that oliver north was involved in drug trafficking to speak of a one hundred and press that you know of the united states being being in the region you know in addition to the example that you gave of the crashed plane there's the example that i might have mentioned last time i was on. say wiki leaks cable that came out from i think it was two thousand and four from the u.s. embassy talking about how they know that one of the strongest u.s. allies in the north coast region the land magnate who say was involved in drug trafficking cocaine specifically so. and of course they never mentioned this so what we see is the united states protecting their allies who are the main drug traffickers and you know i think that's one of the things that is really

concerning about this what we hear is you know they're getting cocaine they're killing people but who's getting arrested we're not seeing big swer just seeing you know these sort of flashy operations where the u.s. law enforcement goes in assassinate people but does nothing to stem the flow of drugs. very interesting point does seem like there's little accountability and to wrap it up i just wanted to mention that the united nations drug and crimes are told the observer the drug money is what kept the financial system afloat during the global financial crisis so it really does come full circle there where you know the top tier of the people who are really running the show do you want to comment on that yeah well i mean i think that it's you know it just goes to show how divorced the financial system is from the lives of everyday people and except for that what it's doing is the strong lives you know by by promoting this

drug war and hence promoting drugs because that is the way that it's played out instead of promoting sensible drug policies which legalize drugs and regulate them what we're doing is the stirring the bodies of people you know allowing people to to be destroyed both here and there wherever there is you know wherever we're carrying out these destructive drug wars it is a very important story to touch upon thank you so much for coming in and joining us that was adrian pyne professor at american university syrian leader bashar all saud is accused of the u.s. of hindering peace by aiding the rebel forces within the country opposition leaders are asking the west for intervention against his regime but some in the country fear for their lives in the hands of the rebels are to correspondent to reaffirm know she reports from syria and i should warn you that some of the following images are graphic. since the uprising in syria escalated the west has been consistently

calling on assad and his government to step down in an effective link i want to go to the demands of the armed opposition but it seems so far from his nuclear understanding of exactly they are. these fighters of the syrian opposition they're brave determined full of pride they took the fate in their hands. but for some taken control of their destiny meant taken up arms in this amateur video posted on you tube which cannot be independently verified gunmen calling themselves members of the opposition militia from it live explain why this man was hanged and which really helped the syrian regime and it was killing the rebels they say i am. on behalf of all fronts let me express my admiration by their bravery. but this kind of justice only adds

more anger to what has already been called a civil war. the terrorists are criminals murderers and i believe is necessary for them to leave. we cannot ask the opposition to unilaterally give up their struggle for justice dignity and self-determination in other media whose origin is hard to establish these men say they captured the syrian air force officer then they dispense even more rough justice. the united states will continue providing non-lethal assistance to help those inside syria who are carrying the fight to organize and better communicate. in this video camera says the fight must go on it warns this will happen to anyone who can

operate with the assad government. they are top criminals these people are top of criminality how do they have the right feel sad when you find your country destroyed our country we've been building all our lives. the whole world wants to see a political transition from this illegitimate regime you seem to actually see one that can take care of its people many here however fear that should such people force us to leave since like these will become a familiar occurrence and have little faith in a western force democracy. where they talking about democracy in the gulf or in other countries we are syrian people we should decide these things ourselves. this mantra that the syrian people alone should determine their country's future has been repeated by many nations and has finally been recognized by major world powers but why some states still continuing to call on assad to leave and support in his

opponents fears mounting in syria that this is the people that will pay the ultimate price. from damascus in syria. for the first time data has been collected on a national level that reveals the extent of cell phone wiretapping in the u.s. the level of surveillance has exploded in the last five years increasing about fifteen percent annually since two thousand and seven two thousand and eleven cell carriers reported that they've had one point three million demands from law enforcement agencies requesting text messages color locations and other information yet as cell surveillance increase increased warrants for wiretapping has declined fourteen percent last year to only two thousand seven hundred thirty two so how is this happening and will this disturbing trend of exponential growth of the surveillance state continue unabated to break it all down i'm joined by cade crockford privacy rights horder for the american civil liberties union thanks for

coming on cade i think can you break down why people should care about what was revealed. sure it's really interesting actually that there are fewer wiretap requests now than there are for what we call on the business transactional records now those transactional records that's the one point three million number which is actually substantially higher for a number of reasons that we can get into later that information contains such things as your location information who you call when you call them again things like text messages could possibly be contained in that transactional data so there's a lot of information maybe even you know if your mission about the apps that you use on your phone and how you use them there's a lot of information that isn't strictly content that's to say the words that you're speaking on the phone to someone that can reveal a tremendous amount about your life about you know where you go for example if you

go to a meeting or are you know if you're if you travel out of state frequently you know i could tell the police for example if you're currently at work because they can get this information off and in real time so you know it's very revealing and points to a major problem which is that as technology has changed our law has not kept up so we're in a situation where you know the police are hardly ever asking for wiretaps partially because in order to get a wiretap they have to go to a judge that to show the judge is evidence they have to go through a longer process that you know maybe they don't have the evidence for or maybe they simply don't want to bother with but in either case we you know people in this country end up losing and you know the one point three million number is actually substantially smaller likely than the number of people who are actually targeted by

this kind of surveillance and i want to i want to get into that in a second but but kate i want to talk about what you just said as a you know the substantially lower number of actual. all warrants issued but the increasing number of these actual data retrievals but also only a third of them are based on those emergency data retrievals that they're asking the kind of circumvent the legal aspects here were the other ones coming from i mean how can they how are they retrieving the rest of it so there are a number of ways in which they can do this. the one that i want to focus on that i think is the most important for people to understand is simply a subpoena is it is never seen by any kind of judge you know the last time i was on this program i thought briefly about well orders these are orders that are issued in ex parte judicial proceedings which basically just means that the government shows evidence to

a judge that you're involved in criminal activity but you never get to see the evidence you never get sick you tested so that's what's called a twenty seven a three d. order so a number of these are probably actual orders but a number of them spread said five hundred thousand last year or simply subpoena and subpoenas are never seen by any judge so pinas are basically you know a prosecutor in his or her office going out a piece of paper and sending it to eighteen t. and getting information back so there's no process around this and you know some of these subpoenas on the federal level are authorized and the patriot act they're called national security letter is these are particularly pernicious because many of them. you know the government can force third party content providers like eighteen c. like horizon like comcast they can force these companies to be gagged so that the those companies could even tell you about the existence of the order for your information if they want to know it so a lot of

a lot of legal loopholes that same is the kind of retrieve the data and you mentioned earlier the one point three million is definitely a low number and a labrat on that and also talk about kind of the the data dumps where they can make one request but some sometimes it'll be hundreds or thousands of people's data included in the shirts so you know first i just want to say that paradoxically this is actually a great day for privacy in this country you know in order for us to have decent privacy law we actually need to know about what the government is doing with the statutes that it has on the books and frankly you know in the space in between what those statutes explicitly say what the constitution says and then the new technologies that we have you know some of which are not addressed by these laws at all so you know just to put that in to sort of surround this conversation i just want to say that i'm actually pretty pleased and i thank ed markey for doing this work because had we not known the extent to which this surveillance is so pervasive

you know things like the g.p.s. act which is the bill that's in congress right now sitting in committee might never going to where this provides you know ample encouragement i think for a lot for our legislators to take action on a g.p.s. act as your question about about why there are so many people so many more people affected than the one point three million as actually really easy to address and the reason for that is for example say the police wanted this admitted an administrative subpoena for information about myself to my you know it's eighteen right so eighteen to you would give them not only my records but also potentially the records of everyone that i had communicated with over a given period of time so already that. you know quadrupling you know maybe multiplying times thirty forty fifty the number of people who are affected by that one order and then to just the point about dan downs this is extremely troubling you know law enforcement can submit one request to account to

a telecommunications company and in return can get literally thousands of people's private information because law enforcement asked the telephone company for all of the information that was trimming in or out of one cell phone towers that you know they sometimes call this an electric fence you know they want to find out who is in a given area during a murder or a kidnapping or rape and so they they asked this own company to basically send back records of every single person who was in that jurisdiction or you know around that south tower during that given time so you know in a city like new york or chicago or l.a. that's potentially literally tens of thousands right now. definitely and thank you so much for breaking that down a really important aspect i think people need to understand and to wrap it up really quickly kate i wanted to talk about how basically we're funding our own surveillance i mean in two thousand and eleven eighteen team made eight point three

million dollars up substantial now from two thousand and seven should people care the world ultimately footing the bill here to surveil ourselves from this telecom absolutely absolutely you know look we have these you know you are busy is very clear one first needs to get a warrant if it wants to track your physical location the supreme court essentially said that much in the jones case it's not a controversial position it's something that republicans and democrats agree on in congress many of them the g.p.s. that needs to be it needs to be moved it needs to be passed and it needs to be signed by the president it's a good bill that would require that want to get a warrant before they check their communications and yes i totally agree i mean you know some people are suggesting that maybe the reason that there is such an uptick in the. the amount that this is costing companies is not simply because there are more orders but also because more people use cell phones will find it is that it is very important and you think it would be kind of commonplace to be like yeah we should require a warrant to do this also encourage people to check out the a.c.l.u.

app about recording police just check that out today thanks so much for coming on kate unfortunately we're out of time that was cade crockford privacy rights corridor for the american civil liberties union thanks for having in today's tough economic times that looks like gambling and booze and maybe the answer to america's woes or at least that's what cities and states in the country are banking on with local and state governments struggling to raise revenue we're seeing a trend across the country expanding liquor laws encouraging people to drink up but is really the best way to solve the budget deficit and one of the true costs to society or to correspondent lives wall explores. las vegas the brake lights entice an influx of people looking for a good time. but if some cities and states across the country get their way what happens in vegas won't stay in vegas struggling to raise revenue and close the deficit some governments want to bring

a piece of sin city home and marilyn marilyn live recently opened its doors more than three football fields long the massive adult playground is welcomed by some great employers put a lot of people to work great tax revenue great entertainment venue i think it's going to be a real plus for the area but despised by others it brings a lot more people in gambling i don't know how great that is for like the kid in the mall isn't really a family place now. and on the d.c. maryland border lies a national harbor a picture arrested development along the water. they proposed to see you know would bring vegas to the potomac it's really nice here in vegas i mean. and on the streets they hand you cards for prostitution with the impact that would have environmentally on this area because you don't have to push out neighborhoods in order to build it. and beyond gambling cities and states across the country are banking on booze. here in d.c.

the mayor wants to extend bar hours so they can keep those drinks flowing later into the night. it would take effect in october and bring in over five million dollars in two thousand and thirteen it's a short term gain for a big long term loss dr david jernigan warns of the dangers of encouraging people to drink up he says when alcohol consumption goes up so do alcohol related problems things like hospital room emergency emergency room admissions that's a more sensitive indicator interesting lee liver cirrhosis tests are fairly sensitive to changes in availability and it's not just d.c. from connecticut but bill clears the way for package store sales and beer sales at supermarkets every day of the year except thanksgiving christmas and new years to georgia supporters say the sunday cereal could bring in millions of dollars in additional tax revenue since the recession sparked in two thousand and eight dozens

of cities and states have eased liquor laws as a way to balance their budgets some say the answer instead is taxes whether it's taxing booze the best way is to raise an alcohol tax in this country alcohol taxes do not keep up with inflation they are flat taxes based on the volume of the beverage or taxing the rich think that. tax a tax hike for the super rich would be bad because i'm a super rich but you know i think that would probably be a better idea well america during the government if the cat and drinking away our sorrows may bring in the revenues cities and states across the country so desperately needs in washington liz wahl r.t. . that does it for now for more on the stories we covered go to our you tube channel you tube dot com slash r t america check out our website our two dot com slash usa.