well. technology innovation all the developments around russia we've got this huge earth covered. today on our t.v. it took years after the u.s. bombs erosional and nagasaki to understand the true impact the clear weapons had on japanese civilians and today nearly a decade out of the war in iraq began by starting to get a clearer picture of what impact depleted uranium is having on the iraqi people the story about a disturbing trend in birth defects and babies ahead. and they say talk is cheap but if rumors are true about the white house wanting to hold talks with iran could this be a costly mistake for the obama administration just weeks away from election day and

at a time when most americans believe war should be a last resort are to ask what's so wrong about bringing iran to the negotiating table. and our t.v. is counting down until the presidential debate but not the one between president obama and governor romney tonight that's already gotten plenty of other attention something that you won't see on network news the third party debate but don't worry we've got you covered preview coming up. it is monday october twenty second five pm in washington d.c. i'm christine for you're watching our tea. we want to begin this hour with a closer look at the aftermath of the u.s. led war in iraq there's new information out now that over the last few years there's been a significant rise in miscarriages and also in birth defects in babies in that country according to the environmental contamination and toxicology bulletin in the

past seven years the number of babies born with major birth defects increased more than sixty percent and forty five percent of pregnancies in the cities studied and deed ended in miscarriage this is one of several studies that makes connections between militaries assault in certain regions and major health problems particularly with babies r g correspondent liz wall takes a deeper look. a new study takes a look at birth defects in two of the hardest hit cities during the iraq war including fallujah and central iraq and bars around the southeastern region of the country the study from the bulletin of environmental contamination and toxicology takes a close look at birth defects at hospitals in these cities over the span of a decade and the findings are disturbing to say the least this chart takes a look at the percentage of birth defects for patients at volusia general hospital between one thousand nine hundred one and two thousand and ten as you can see birds

effect skyrocketed between two thousand and four and two thousand and six it was in april of two thousand and four the u.s. marines first bombarded the city and as time goes on the number of babies being born with congenital defects continues to rise significantly and according to this study between two thousand and seven and two thousand and ten nearly sixty percent of all babies recorded had birth defects and it looks like there is a link between the time military assault began and the number of babies that are miscarried at during this time that the number of miscarriage miscarriages rises drastically forty five percent of pregnancies end in miscarriage and the scientists also took hair samples from children with birth defects and fifty six flu shot families and what they found is that the toxic chemicals of mercury and lead were found to be five times higher in these children and the effects are devastating your looking at babies born with severe birth defects in the flu should general hospital but we may and august two thousand and ten the most common abnormalities

include congenital heart defects neural tube defects and facial cleft ing now this study is just one of many that links military assaults the prevalence of birth defects toxic metals like mercury lead and depleted uranium are used in bullets and bombs and pregnant mothers and their unborn babies are especially prone to toxic chemicals and pollution and during the u.s. army's three week bond bar. a mint of illusion marines use hellfire missiles and two thousand pound bombs in addition to what the pentagon classifies as chemical weapons these are tanks loaded with the pleated uranium and phosphorus volumes white phosphorus was the same weapon saddam hussein used against the kurds in february of one thousand nine hundred one one of the many reasons the united states used to justify their invasion of iraq so what does that apartment defense have to say about this a spokesperson told r.t. quote we are not aware of any official reports indicating an increase in birth

defects at alba's or or fallujah that may be related to exposure to the metals contained in munitions used by the u.s. or coalition partners we always take very seriously public health concerns about any population now living in a combat theater unexploded ordinance including improvised explosive devices are a recognized hazard in other words at this point the pentagon doesn't see lead mercury or depleted uranium as recognize hazards in about a month the world health organization or gonna zation is set to release its long awaited study on the lingering health effects in iraq and it's expected their findings will make the same link that exposure to toxic medical's metals excuse me a result of repeated bombings has not just ravaged the country cities but its future generations bodies as well and washington lives of all our t.v. . well we've been hearing quite a bit lately about iran and discussions on major news networks centered around what the next step should be in dealing with iran this is in part due to an article

published over the weekend in the new york times which sparked a major discussion about the u.s. role dealing in dealing with iran ahead of tonight's presidential debate on foreign policy now the article outlines someone vaguely how both the u.s. and iran have agreed in principle to talks after the november sixth election those talks would be aimed from the u.s. and tehran curbing its nuclear ambitions though some have called it an attempt by iran to use the prospect of the directable matic talks to buy time following the publication of the article the white house and iranian officials both publicly denied it national security council spokesman tommy vietor says it's not true that the united states and iran have agreed to one on one talks or any meeting after the american elections we continue to work with the p five plus one on a diplomatic solution and have said from the outset that we would be prepared to meet bilaterally the president has made clear that he will prevent iran from getting a nuclear weapon and we will do what we must to achieve that we're going to dissect

this and look at it from a few different angles here i've got patricia de janeiro a senior fellow at the world policy institute to help me do that patricia thanks for being on the show and i should say you know you have been writing about iran about the u.s. role in dealing with iran for several years now what would the significance be of an agreement by iran and the white house to meet and hold talks. well that is significance i mean this is this is long overdue they should have been talking in yuma latterly a long time about how. it's really the mistrust between the u.s. and the iranian government itself that is the problem so i would i would count this is good news actually if this were happening unfortunately it's all actually mirrors though everybody wants to make sure that they look tough instead of looking towards more of a peaceful solution to issues that are going on today. it's a very good point especially when you talk about and you sort of look at polls in

terms of what the majority of the american people want and that is not war not using military action if it's you know working with them having talks to try to come to some sort of an agreement you know we have seen over the last few months patricia an increase in sanctions against iran against countries that do business with iran the white house has said these sanctions were designed to pressure iran to come to the negotiating table is that in fact what you see happening. and so what i see happening at all you know history tells us that sanctions really don't hurt anyone except the population or the people so they're hurting me or i mean people right now and they're the ones that are suffering but governments have actually have access to all the resources they have and money that they mean so it's not really hurting them at all in iraq also has a very strong that's where some of its neighbors including china russia and india are why and so i think you know the answer here is to sit down and start talking to

people this animosity between the u.s. and iran has been law going you know way back since the assassination of less and then through the iran contra scandal during the reagan administration so i think it's about time we hit a reset button to use secretary of. analogies and we've forgotten. some talks that are going to have to be patient with. yeah it is of course and important to remember that this subject iran sort of moves in waves that ebbs and flows depending on what the story in this case on the front page of the new york times is but but as you say this has been something going on not just for for months or years but really really for decades need for an ironing out in this relationship whatever it takes and we did see this over the weekend patricia on the mainstream media a sort of blitz when it came to interpreting the meaning of all this i just want to

play a small bit of what a lot of people may have seen or heard this weekend days before the big debate on foreign policy the obama fan club newsletter i.e. the new york times drops a bombshell claiming the u.s. and iran have agreed to negotiate on nukes let me ask you about something that's developing this morning in the new york times exclusive reporting about iran yesterday there were reports of the administration is considering or moving toward direct negotiations with iran over its pursuit of nuclear weapons to the timing of this is so curious the weekend before the final presidential debate hours really before and i think that's why the white house was so quick in its denial last night so you know talk about the timing the curious nature of this. what do you think is the message that sort of wasn't conveyed by the mainstream media. well i think the message is the conveyed is that this is really an issue that needs to we need to learn we need to get moving on this issue we need to continue to move forward on american support for us to talk to all you know since the soviet union before they

broke up and you know john kennedy set the tone for us. to make sure that we talk to everyone and you know we continue to have ongoing dialogue you know i mean that is why are we always looking for an enemy and i think this is what our view is does they have you know their talking points a that they want to get through that animosities against us this is ministration and they're looking at the future this is a future and this is an issue for the united states of america it's not about one of mr nation are either and of course when there is talk about iran it's always necessary for a lot of that media to get the opinion of israel i know prime minister benjamin netanyahu said in a statement that if iran in fact had agreed to talks that it would only be as a way to try to you know quote by time i guess talk to me about your reaction to this. well truly disappointing actually because i think that iran has been showing signals for the past ten years or so that it's been ready to the top and we have

just been putting on more sanctions as an international community and being more antagonistic and really with israel threatening to use military action against various reactors inside the country and you know i mean the first issue here is that the united states should be making decisions based on the united states' national security and i would think that the next best friends are and that's you know who would prefer to see a peaceful solution and listen prefer to see the u.s. step out in front of them to have israel even even have to even worry about the future of some kind of attack or or our weapon that we're that would be targeted towards them if this is you know this article is new york times article aside what kind of deadlines are in place right now in terms of you know we've seen sanctions we've seen increased sanctions is there some sort of. you know deadline or plan as

of now that's going on regarding the u.s. relationship with iran well i think the u.s. is right at this point it doesn't need to have a deadline and we need the israelis may prefer us to have you know this red line but at this particular onset we still have a lot of trust to build between administrations iran just things we want to overthrow the regime we just think they want to make a nuclear bomb i think we need to sit back take a deep breath and start these things out i mean you know they they're they're all these reports that they want to bring in larger international issue to boost to the discussion but i think you know we need to start focusing on this nuclear problem this nuclear issue and move towards schools and milestones you can't do everything at once and we can't do everything overnight but again what is not the only option he's talking ending it's a. is a better one let's talk about tonight's debate patricia if i was

a betting woman which i'm not but if i was i would say that iran would be a central part of tonight's debate on foreign policy between president obama and governor romney what do you hope to see come out of tonight in terms of you know hearing from the two candidates about their plans for the future i would like to see the two candidates talk about how they would like to build up our diplomatic and of our security apparatus our security structure we've tried to ignore the state department we're taking money out of there you know there are there are doing about security in benghazi and in other areas and and but yet they're taking money out of the diplomatic structure that's one thing the other thing i would like to because i'm a little less about how our only options are military and how that is the only role that we want to move forward on our international relationships and thirdly i would like not to be as honest about supporting that is really going to who is them but

who's doing the best thing they believe they are and that is so that toxic. world is better. but that the good. well so often the church as you know it does come down to who is a better friend to israel especially you know just looking back it's been a long campaign season and when you think about the amount of money that's been put into this campaign based on the israel you know issue alone it's a question that you know both candidates do need to answer to show where they stand on multiple issues will be an interesting one of course but we really appreciate having you on the shell patricia de janeiro a senior fellow at the world policy institute. still ahead on r t are you ready to run a third party presidential candidate sure are forget tonight's between president obama and governor romney well in addition to some of the other political contenders.

this presidential election is not just about obama and romney there are also third party candidates on the ticket and they will influence its outcome see a debate among this nation's major third party candidates right here on our t.v. on october twenty third.

i will write. that i also promised that i'd like every single day a member of. my own. there is mitt romney trying to figure out the name of that thing that many americans call a dollar. i'm sorry i missed the guy who cares an awful lot about you sorry our little you know what kind of my cancer cells in your neighborhood all want the usa to feature is

a liberal i know chris. can scarcely get out of the. clear the corporate media distract us from what you and i should care about because they're a profit driven industry that sells us and facials that garbage he calls it breaking news i'm happy martin and we're going to break that.

well tonight's debate on foreign policy between governor mitt romney and president obama has been touted as the third and final debate between presidential candidates while in fact it's not all the presidential candidates will actually be debating tomorrow and next week as well remember when you go to cast your ballot there will be far more than two names you keep hearing that you have to the option to vote for there is libertarian gary johnson who is on the ballot in forty eight states plus

d.c. the green party candidate jill stein is on the ballot in thirty seven states and washington d.c. the justice party's rocky anderson is on the ballot in fifteen states and virgil goode of the constitution party is on the ballot twenty six states with one of those states virginia causing some drama quite a few republicans are concerned it could take a vote from mitt romney and it will most likely be a close contest there now as far as these other debates i should tell you governor mitt romney and president obama were in fact invited to participate but they've declined tomorrow's debate will be hosted by larry king and that's weeks my artie's own host of the big picture tom hartman now earlier i spoke to christina tobin the founder of the free and equal elections foundation about this she's with the group sponsoring the debate and actually approached earth and i got a call from t.v. there larry king and we started talking and i so hate of larry king one of moderators the stork debate you so sure so it was that easy and they've been

a great team to work with i've been so happy and i'm really looking forward to co moderating the debate with them tomorrow evening starts at eight pm central time eight to nine thirty pm. a lot of americans though as we know christine they're unfamiliar with some of these candidates from other parties even by calling these debates you know quote unquote third party it sort of hints at the other four candidates all sort of being lumped into the same group are there major differences between the four candidates participating in tomorrow night's debate. well there are some differences but i think there are a lot more similarities these candidates are coming together to unite against a spectrum i guess is two party stranglehold of the system they all agrees that we should in the federal reserve there should be no patriot act there should be no sofa no indeed no drug war maybe even no war so we're bringing together this discussion and in shining a light on the money in politics the money and media and the need to open the debates and we're doing that here three nico election so you don't expect you know

as we saw it with debate number two between romney and obama got a little contentious people were joking that it looked like certain parts of that night that that one one of the two when it was about to throw a punch i mean you don't expect to see. such contentious such a contentious nature tomorrow night. no i mean the commission on presidential debates is committing a front person voters for quite some time as i mentioned in a previous interview and. the league of voters that is says that as well as well srini collections you know when you have a debate like the commission of fish presidential debates run by the former chair of the republican and democratic party you look at the money the sponsors behind it are tied in to buffet you know general motors and a c.n.c. i mean these aren't these are just it's not a real to face them here in equal room here to open it up not only was in the united states but worldwide and we're so happy thank you artie america for covering this debate live worldwide tomorrow at eight thirty at the hilton chicago really

great to be moderated by larry king well the bottom line is that you know most states forty eight states in this country will have other candidates in addition to just romney and obama it's a little bit surprising that this is not has gotten such little attention but almost no attention and yet you know third party candidates you know they're often called spoilers ralph nader back in two thousand ross perot in one thousand nine hundred two but you know they weren't invited to these main debates even in the primaries leading up to picking romney as the republican nominee talk a little bit about that process. that's because the system is greg again the creation of the australian ballot the ballot access varies so difficult for candidates to get on the ballot the days of it debates are close we have that voting method we need to implement proportional representation so these are sort of things that we help to inspire people as they see these candidates yesterday gary johnson from the libertarian party will be jill stein from the green party rocky

anderson from the justice party and virgil goode from the constitution party know all these four candidates i see for me i personally see them as individuals i don't even think the party system works because the origins of the constitution our forefathers it doesn't even mention parties in the constitution so i look forward to seeing the ideas discussed in seeing that common denominator and i see a huge peaceful movement arising in two thousand and thirteen and lots of kids people wanting to run for office in the two thousand and fourteen elections and i proceeded back to this notion of third party candidates being called spoilers as i mentioned interaction virgil goode who a lot of people haven't heard of you know but he served in the u.s. congress he served the state senate in virginia the romney campaign is very worried about having his name on the ballot that that help you know take away votes from mommy talk about this notion that third party candidates are spoilers especially in close elections well the system was so concerned the two parties that they were so

concerned about a spoiler set and they should come out in support of proportional representation instead rocketing these sort of things would get rid they would squash the spoiler back but it really isn't a spoiler effect anything it's a two party system spoiling america so what we need to do virgil he's been in office for over thirty five years rocky anderson was the justice party former mayor of utah and wound gary johnson out new mexico former two term governor just signed amazing woman you know we have really great people coming together to point out the corruption again we have all these problems today because of the money in politics that these men are the the like. any to get special interest social back all connected to the federal reserve and wondered of brains that break that strangle hold of the huge peaceful movement of free nickel elections working again with honest media like you've got another oh and we just found out just five minutes ago this will be aired on television nationwide throughout the united states through c.-span yeah and we will be airing it as well of course we're going to keep our

viewers you mention the time and we'll get we'll give it at the end but we're going to be giving coverage before the debate and then airing the debate here live in just a couple of the questions for you that christina talk a little bit about the extent to which you think these third party candidates could affect the upcoming election i think that they're going to be more of a factor in the two thousand and fourteen races the two thousand and twelve races reguly look we saw with a republican party said to ron paul for example they would rather crash the party than let ron paul take over well who knows who the democratic party would do the republican party if it came to that in the november election but in any case as congressman ron paul said himself around nader you know the congressional the local races the two thousand and fourteen races those are key to breaking our system so again once we get through november we're here to stay green eagle is the beginning and we love our team america was actually there last i think there's

a pride in what my staff everybody has their you guys really radiate and well i'm so while you had a good time i know if but you and i spoke last week really quick christina i know a lot of these candidates we mentioned all for them my name still fighting to get on the ballot in more states than there on any updates on the. sure it's just another reason why the system is rigged those ballots are very slow created by the two parties and so i was the national ballot access. two thousand name i would have worked for ron paul it doesn't matter the prospect of an ogre saw getting over half a million signatures not only did i manage all of us but i was on the ground gathering signatures core being hundreds of circulated simultaneously stacked. and dealing with all these bogus laws that well they're going to find another reason for the two party it's a waste their money to keep them from being able to raise money for their campaign because they aren't on the ballot so i like to drive a stake through the heart

a system so all those kin and they're going to run in thirteen there are going to be far better about our barriers like maybe a violent beat that's something by a hundred bucks to go on about colorado louisiana we're here to let the people decide all right certainly should be interesting christina tobin founder of the free and equal elections and of course a reminder r.t. america will be airing the debate live tomorrow night our coverage begins at eight pm eastern with the debate itself kicking off at nine o'clock all right everyone that's going to do it for us for now but did you miss any part of the show today don't worry we've got you covered you post all of our interviews online insult you can find them on our web site youtube dot com slash r t america and for the very latest on the stories we covered here and quite a few that we didn't have time to get to you can go to our t.v. dot com slash usa now we want to hear from you don't remember to leave us your comments your feedback and your story suggestions we're listening and of course you can follow me on twitter at christine for breaking the set with host abby martin

that's coming up at the top of the hour and then the big picture with host tom hartman is on at seven pm and i of course we're back here at eight pm eastern with more news and in-depth interviews. this presidential election is not just about obama and romney there are also third party candidates on the ticket and they will influence its outcome see a debate among this nation's major third party candidates right here on our t.v. on october twenty third. i will fight. that i also promised that i'd ever see.