another day another drone it turns out the u.s. is hiding one in saudi arabia and news outlets have been keeping the military secret for over a year so when do military missions overrule the public's right to know will question more. under fire president obama's pick for a cia director is on the hill. ben's on everything from the kill list to drone strikes coming up a critical look at john brennan's record. like father like son rand paul might have followed in his father's footsteps by becoming a lawmaker but what about his stances and a look at what paul preaches when it comes to foreign policy. thursday february seventh four pm here in washington d.c.

i'm liz wahl and you're watching our t.v. . live again today taking a look at drones in the role they play in achieving u.s. foreign policy goals it's an issue we've covered extensively here at r t and finally making its way into the mainstream conversation on order to operate operate these unmanned aircraft the u.s. needs military bases relatively close to the plan targets well it turns out the u.s. has had one such base in saudi arabia for over two years where in saudi arabia well that is still a mystery but chances are you had no idea it existed and that's because it's been somewhat of a secret apparently many media outlets knew all about the base but didn't report it it's now coming to light that american media did not report on the base because of an agreement with the obama administration this according to the washington post and times who are now coming forward with what they've known all this time for more i'm joined now by rest baker editor in chief of who what why dot com russ welcome

to you live so u.s. drone base apparently has been a big secret among major press for a couple years now does this come as a surprise to you. not really it's very common practice among american mainstream news organizations to receive requests from the u.s. government to withhold information and they seem to make decisions on a case by case basis what's very disturbing about this is that you see these deals being cut basically between a few of these organizations typically the washington post the new york times perhaps the associated press and not the rest of the media we don't really know on what basis state decided that the american people should not be provided information it gets into will whole raft of different issues ethics issues journalism issues that i find perplexing and very very important now want to go

into the justification that they're providing their reasoning behind this the washington post decided to break the silence when it found out the new york times was about to do the same here is what the washington post said the washington post has are afraid from disclosing the location at the request of the administration which cited concern that exposing the facility would undermine operations against an al qaeda affiliate regarded as the network's most potent threat to the united states as well as a potentially as well as potentially damage counterterrorism collaboration with saudi arabia so reza what do you think about this reasoning a is the secrecy justified well let's go back first of all and look at the original phrasing when the new york times originally wrote about the drone program back in two thousand and eleven they actually said that the drones had been operating from an unnamed

state now that's a very sneaky thing because when you think about state you think about a state as in it's one of the fifty states in the united states rather than state meaning a foreign country so that was the. key to begin with they don't acknowledge that they were that sticky but that's what they were but another issue would be this they say that they withheld the information because of al qaeda and because of a threat to american security but in fact there has not been substantial evidence in an awfully long time al-qaeda presenting any kind of an imminent danger to the united states itself and you need to look at the second half of the statement that relates to saudi arabia and i believe that it is actually having much more to do with propping up the royal family regime in saudi arabia than it does with actually protecting the united states itself. yeah when the proliferation of iranians do you think that we can expect to see similar kinds of bases pop up we know that it's

plans in the works to build a base in and they share there's already won and jim building do you expect more morally and well this is an unseen battle that's raging behind the scenes at our website who what why dot com we've just begun digging into it and will be doing quite a few more stories and happy to come on to talk about it one of the things we're seeing is a new memos we've released wiki leaks in cooperation with wiki leaks regarding conversations that general petraeus was having with yemen back several years ago before he was cia director about a turf battle between the cia and the joint special operations command of the pentagon over whether or not drone policy in yemen was even a good idea and whether they were not in fact creating more militants than doing anything else the the cia's drone program came out of nowhere and post nine eleven has grown and grown and grown there are more than two thousand people working in

its counterterrorism operations it's become a vast vast new part and justification of the actually reason for the cia even to exist and as the new york times pointed out i believe. it was yesterday they went out with that drone strike trying to get. people in yemen and they ended up actually killing a. rather cleric who was actually giving speeches against al qaeda so it's a very very dangerous a very risky thing we don't know nearly enough about it we need to know much much more not less guy as you said we see that the drone campaign is is playing a bigger and increasingly larger role in achieving u.s. foreign policy goals but at the same time it's a very secretive program and that is expected to be discussed and john brennan's hearing for cia director that is going on right now i want to bring this another

interesting development when it comes to drone the iranian state media last night showed alleged footage of a u.s. drone in the hands of iran the u.s. claims that the drone disappeared over afghanistan before they said that the drone that the drone wasn't missing if this flight age which the authenticity of it has not been verified but if it is indeed a u.s. drone does this cast a special on what the pentagon has been saying it certainly does and i think that was damage control it's very embarrassing for them to admit that a country that supposedly so primitive in many respects iran was capable of basically hijacking that drone and then as it seems to be the case with iran it's claimed that they reverse engineered it they now are claiming that they have built their own line of drones that they're assembling them and i think that makes the whole sort of power equation quite a bit more complicated very very interesting obviously it is

a subject of great alarm in washington yeah i mean it seems like there is more quiet seems like when it comes to drones there's always more questions than answers of course with this new development iran and iran. iran saying one thing the u.s. is saying another a whole lot of questions of course the issue of drones is finally in the spotlight now it's supposed to be a focal point of john brennan's confirmation hearing to be the head of the cia do you expect that there will be more transparency on the drone campaign especially now that at least we're seeing some more dialogue it's possible we saw the leak the recently of that justice department paper giving some hint about the internal justifications for targeting american citizens with drones as they did with anwar locky an american in yemen and so you know certainly there's a battle going on right now civil liberties groups are saying it's actually

imperative that we get more of a handle on it i think the larger picture is that we need to understand much more about who drives policy in the u.s. government who is really in the driver's seat and what interests really are being served there are a lot of other factors in here there's a very profitable thing called the oil business very concerned about what's happening in yemen concerned about stability in saudi arabia iran is not just a so-called threat it is actually a power player in that region where there are shiite who are sympathetic with iran living in many of those countries and so there's quite a bit more going on that we don't tend to hear about in the analyses. resting thank you so much for weighing in that was addressed baker editor in chief who what why dot com. well speaking of drones president obama's pick for head of the cia is being grilled on the issue as we speak a couple days ago

a memo leaked detailing the legal justification for targeted for the targeted killings of americans abroad that was leaked and now a group of senators wants the obama administration to make public a document called the white paper and this is the official legal opinion that details when the targeted killing of american citizens is allowed by law bratton happens to be the architect of president obama's so-called kill list and the drone campaign and artie's justin underhill is at the capitol now to bring us the latest from brennan's confirmation hearing hi there just so with drones are a hot topic and this hearing got off to a very rough start earlier we saw the here and go into recess due to protesters how is it all playing out over there. between the hot air from some politicians on the hot tempers from some protesters things got quite lively during

the hearing i actually asked her about five interruptions from protesters dianne feinstein who's the head of the committee and up kicking everybody out of the room so all the media and in the general public ended up having to leave the hearing and they resumed the hearing while the members of the media and the public were outside and we do have that clip and we saw you and confusion going on during that. all right that we do have that clip we just want to let's just play let's got quite chaotic wanted to play this clip how it got off to a start. they apply my as. her . writing her. was the way we're. all right i think we're. obviously drones are very controversial

a lot of heated opinions when it comes to the drone campaign just and i want to ask you john brennan he is described as being the architect of the drone campaign what is the extent of his involvement what is his record when it comes to drones. well his nomination today is quite controversial so it was four years ago that he was obama's first considered him for the cia but he withdrew his consideration because of his association with the bush administration and and torture policies and now today he's been a close adviser to obama for the past four years who's counterterrorism adviser and with that he's been closely associated with the drone campaign that's happened over the past four years and as this debate goes on an interesting public poll just came out that i want to bring up when it comes to public opinion on drones it seems the majority of people in the united states support their use seventy five percent

approve of military drone attacks on people and other targets deemed a threat to the u.s. only thirteen percent disapprove so just and i also want to point out the approval rating goes down when we're talking about american citizens of broad drone seem to be one of the few issues that gets bipartisan support so with this in mind can we expect senators to ask brennan tough questions when it comes to the drone campaign . all this is certainly been a bipartisan issue as for the poll that you just mentioned you see time and time again when americans feel threatened or afraid they're willing to give up civil liberties and to me time again with t.s.a. and all sorts of other issues as. sort of a mixed bag where senators democratic senators want to make sure that he was confirmed but they're also concerned about civil liberties and you see the republicans wanting to poke at the obama administration and lastly just state and

we're seeing that he's being poked as you say is there a sense that brennan senate confirmation could be at risk or is this more of a show of concern and an opportunity to ask these questions. all of this is certainly a time for senators to question the policies under obama's administration for the war on terror but as we know the senate is controlled by by democrats so it would be quite shocking if if he wasn't indeed confirmed right just saying thanks for keeping an eye on how that hearing important hearing is going over there on capitol hill that was our t.v. producer justin underhill we're not too far into president obama's second term and already there's talk of who's running in two thousand and sixteen among the possible contenders senator rand paul and with his father now out of the political

picture ron paul's followers hope that his son rand will carry the torch of his libertarian legacy around spoke yesterday at the heritage foundation he talked about the importance of keeping foreign policy aligned with the constitution when foreign policy has become so monolithic so lacking in debate that republicans and democrats routinely pass foreign policy statements without debating without votes where are the calls for moderation the calls for restraint anyone who questions the bipartisan consensus is immediately castigated rebuked and their patriotism challenged sounded a little like his father there are others though are weary of the younger paul in question just how closely his beliefs resemble that of his father to discuss i'm joined now by matt welch editor in chief for reason welcome mat. so has red been able to appeal to a conservative base that his father repulsed. yes already in the very fact that we

were the heritage foundation in february of two thousand and thirteen or just two years of heritage banging the drums for more funding and a more robust. sense there was about one month before the november point kind of election to the tea party and ram all this off as the heritage presidents and as owner of heroes of sirius pieces with american enterprise institute head and also bill kristol of the weekly standard basically saying hate the party kids don't get cocky and don't their. well ron paul went in there saying he's going to cut military can advocate military. and that establishment has railed against them not out of thousands is inviting him on to their territory and after you can begin talks so he's already making headway he spoke at the republican national convention which is father's certainly was not invited and he's getting a fair hearing on some similar ideas in very different packaging than what his

father and i want to read a piece of here right up here on this issue you say quote by insinuating himself successfully into the heart of the g.o.p. rand paul is doing more than mainstreaming libertarian flavored foreign policy he is forcing the purest and therefore theoretical instincts of his father's coalition to come into contact with the messy business of broad political persuasion so how exactly is he able to achieve that how does he make an anti interventionist message more palatable to conservatives well he doesn't talk about blowback in the way that his father does he doesn't say that the basic cause of people a fact is being over there he says that contributes to it but that's not vicious the union speech yesterday tried to create kind of a false choice situation between you know super neoconservative interventionist and

total. and he pauses that there's a third way you see what he's getting at is kind of exaggerating both sides for back but he's trying to speak in the language of the constitution of the school responsibility and he's not looking for every opportunity to kind of. be shockingly abrasive was a lot of people. wrong all those in a good way in a bad way people who hate ron paul this can abide by some of the things that he says and those people tend to say rand paul seriously as both a senator and as a contender for the presidency now at the same time it seems that rand has prevent a contrast his father in some areas particularly when it comes to israel so how much is he really like his father in terms of foreign policy if not his father i mean you said this vote yesterday in both speech and in a phone conversation that he had reporters afterwards one of the purposes of the speech in his mind creates a separation between him and his father he doesn't want to for the next four to six

eight years answering for everything that his father says or does whereas his father acts on principle in theory and that's what makes a great track which a lot of people a lot of young people people like this year sure this will principle rand paul will say well we need a robust a friend's radical islam is not going away even if we in the world morrow and he sort of couch you more in a language for his real he made a very foolish i think on that last week or recently saying attack on israel would be attacking the united states now that might well be our official on stated policy for several decades but it's not something that you need to say as a senator let alone the president you know he is also telling israel that in the rand paul presidency he would ornate israel. right. it's in like that the way you just said it about his view on israel that makes people think that you know maybe he isn't so much like his father. matt i want to ask you to what extent you

expect these ideas to gain traction and make their way into the mainstream dialogue . no question i mean a lot of the tea party people are with rand paul on these questions and a lot of them seem to be much more aggressive than interventionists or all of them like ted cruz for example who was beating the drum to get a go so it's definitely the faction is growing there are more people than just people maybe all who are on capitol hill talking about cutting military and being less interventionist broady of just a mosh map you have a growing faction it's still a minority faction and we will learn a lot in the coming weeks with a reaction to the drone program sas nation program and also with the sequester defense how serious this actually is i still think they're outnumbered but it's definitely on the road and we are seeing certainly rand is able to appeal to this

bath a lot more than his father did in terms of you know this conservative base and of course rand is being i as a possible contender for two thousand and sixteen so what do you think do you think he will continue to have this this measured approach or will this brand of libertaria libertarianism. will make its way into the conservative mainstream do you expect his views to evolve more so it to be more palatable with the you know the establishment republicans what do you think sure i think i mean he's already gaining traction and you already see among the the short list of people who are clubs about in terms of the twenty's it seems the nomination they tend to be more serious about fiscal conservatism that we've seen a generation people like bobby jindal all paul ryan who is not that serious about i want to fly the president and marco rubio and they're more humble about foreign policy i wouldn't call them nonintervention

a slimy stretch the imagination rubio sort of a hawk but compared to the previous generation of the twenty twelve all of two thousand and eight on ron paul the center of gravity is moving in that direction sure expect him to continue on that right i guess we're going to have to wait and see a map thanks for coming on the show that was matt welch editor in chief for reason thank you appreciate it. and now we look at a legal fight brewing between the united states and a small island nation of antigua after the united states made it even legal for its citizens to take part in and he was online gambling industry and he claims a lost a sizable chunk of its business now until it was fighting back with the help of the world trade organization and is allowed to ignore all u.s. copyright laws are to correspond on the stasi a target of once of the caribbean country to bring us the latest. a heavenly spot in the caribbean welcome to antigua and barbuda a tiny country with

a population of under nine hundred thousand people. gambling is a popular pastime here for locals and tourists alike i want says the las vegas of the caribbean because i mean i have a lot of caribbean countries that. i should stay with sometimes be a stepping stone ahead of a lot of other casinos but an even more powerful money maker here a mere decade ago was the online gaming business we once had a thriving. internet gaming industry and to get employed over four thousand people that industry has gone juta actions of the united states legally licensed internet gambling companies provided jobs for five percent of the locals and rocketed in over three billion dollars annually but with americans as the key players u.s. officials weren't happy and bad offshore gaming even though the industry is completely legal in an america the rest of the world catches the cold. from

thousands of jobs and tremendous cash inflow to an industry crumbled and those who make it up treated as criminals they were prosecution. persons who had companies operating companies and until you go on these for us and some of them were indicted and arrested and who had their property and from. the potential targets people like this online gambling operator fearful of what the u.s. can do to him because of his business legally licensed in and he wants to remain anonymous. or. stolen from. williams. the island nation has had enough and has put a fight at the world trade organization for its legal rights money and regaining a collapsed industry it's been going on for

a decade. and we think it's time to bring the plane into the w t o took the side of the tiny country in a decision that ruffled the feathers of the u.s. the world trade organization antigay has the right to basically grab the assets of the united states including in particular copyrights trademarks patents so they can sell microsoft word for a dollar each the w t o decision allows and t. get to completely ignore us copyright laws until the money loss due to the online gaming collapse is made up for but limited to twenty one million dollars a year the u.s. concern now is that the w t o has potentially laid out a welcome mat for the forthcoming pirates of the caribbean but the tiny island nations of the bullion giants we have to play first actually wiping out the second largest or somebody a team in economy i'm sure that the dispute between american men to go frightens

many moguls because of what may come next they won't talk about it on camera but for tourists the slap in the face of the u.s. is all the gossip that kind of money it isn't it's not going to hurt the u.s. economy that much as it was different in the going to be no. but. it will take some action against it as well while until going to have won a battle at the w t o there is still a long fight ahead the first time that a small country took on a war country in the world trade organization. and it was. kind of you know a bad thing that the united states is just ignoring it now the ball is now in the court of this little island while the copyright left is now an official option to cash in on and to go hopes it might be able to negotiate a deal with the u.s. that is good for all before all ships have sailed and r.t. reporting from until then barbuda in the caribbean. a little bit over giving immigrants a pathway to citizenship remains he added

a video is now going viral of anti immigration protesters in arizona and it has protesters touted being true americans a group of native americans were there to remind them who was here first. this. allows you can see native americans if they're calling out anti immigration protesters for being the real illegals the natives or mind of protesters that every single one of them are descendants of immigrants well with arizona being so close to the border the state has been a hub for anti immigration protests and policies perhaps this protest may help to put the whole immigration debate into perspective and we are going to leave it off there but you can check out our you tube channel youtube dot com slash r t america

or follow me on twitter out as well we'll be back here in a half hour. there are twelve cities in the united states in which half of the people with hiv aids lives within a year of a diagnosis of. over sixty two percent. i diagnosed with aids this is a problem that frankly is substantially preventable it was like the big elephant in the room and nobody wanted to talk about they were really good public health campaigns people were really focused on this problem you certainly should be able to hold a lot less h i feel a lot less human suffering. more news today violence is once again flared up. these are the images called world has been seeing from the streets of canada. giant corporations rule today.

let me let me i want to wouldn't let me ask you a question. here on this network as we're having the day we have our night. to bring you this right to spank steak never again you're in a situation where the united states talk about surveillance.