detainees desperation more than one hundred guantanamo bay prisoners reportedly hunger striking for more than forty days with some claiming it's a do or die protest and prison officials insisting reports are exaggerated. protests. clashes in tear gas in cairo in another episode of unrest as proud as protest against muslim brotherhood members attacking journalists plus. you are very lucky to be. in first and remember it is that something you probably won't see again r.t. speaks exclusively with the president of valorous alexander lukashenko who says all he wants for his country is a normal life as a european state. eight

am in moscow i met très a good to have you with us here on r t our top story the u.s. is downplaying them as hunger strike at guantanamo bay detention center more than one hundred detainees reportedly fasting for more than forty days now in an act of defiance sparked by the confiscation of personal items and the desecration they say of their qur'an the prison officials though insist the reports are an outright falsehood saying there is only a handful of prisoners refusing food here's how the camp spokesperson captain robert duran described the situation in good mo in response to our eighty eight reads their mission is their mission providing safe legal humane and transparent care and custody of detainees adding that the joint task force guantanamo takes its role very seriously and seeks to ensure it stays true to the highest standards my colleague bill dodd spoke to a former guantanamo guard brandon neely earlier and asked him how the detainees were being treated in his opinion during his time at the facility.

you know we were told before we actually got swan's on a model that the geneva convention would not be held. on the detainees when they first arrived there when he will now go walk around in their cells or cages as i call mom did they were allowed to pray they were allowed to do nothing when the international red cross came off so some constraints you know loosened up and they were able to talk and stuff but you know that they were treated horrible you know they were they were abused by you know by us guards when it came to the inter reaction force team into it was just mistreated all around especially at the beginning do you think the detainees are treated any differently today as just to remind you as you were that over ten years ago has anything changed. i think from the outside look at it in a strange as far as the p.r. the way the government tries to spin it because the facility is a lot better but speak guards' of been there over the last few years all the dream inside as far as the internal reaction force team and the way the koran is treated in a stuff like that not much has changed maybe the outside is changed but the inside hasn't changed too much are going sixty sixty taney being held at the moment eighty

six of whom have been cleared for release since two thousand and nine but unable to be sent home because of transfer a stretch and the guantanamo bay camp has been operating for more than eleven years now despite president obama's pledge to close it or he's a republican all of takes a look back at attempts to shut down the facility. the story around the closure of guantanamo bay prison has stuck to president obama ever since the brahmas to shut it down and here are some of the key dates on the way in january two thousand and nine when obama was inaugurated he ordered the facility to be closed within a year and banned certain into rig asian methods after the us government admitted torturing some of the detainees but in me the same year the u.s. senate refused to fund the closure until the president provided more detail as to what he would do with the prisoners in mid october appear the situation changed as congress allowed some detainees to be moved to the united states for prosecution but at the end of two thousand and ten congress approved the defense spending bill

which prevented u.s. based trials for guantanamo detainees and in january two thousand and eleven hopes a bomb would keep his campaign promise dimmed further when he signed the defense of the relation bill which ruled out shutting one tunnel be down and prevented the transfer of prisoners from the camp in march obama also signed an executive order resuming military trials for guantanamo detainees a move seen by many as a complete reversal of its previous policy while in december of two thousand and eleven the president failed to veto the national defense bill leaving the way for prisoners to be held indefinitely and without charge and extending the ban on moving them from the prison finally in july last year the pentagon announced its plans to aliyev forty million dollar fiberoptic cable from guantanamo bay to the u.s. mainland not exactly a sign of washington is planning to wrap up its operations in the controversial detention center a lack of information and secrecy surrounding guantanamo are only making the

situation more difficult as london based human rights activist are you sure mine are explains her group aims to uncover what really goes on at the camp and she says the mainstream media and u.s. officials have done their best to contain scandals there. there's a lot of things that go officially deny the half the night guantanamo bay for example last year when. the t. one of the prisoners died in any strange circumstances it took time for the truth to actually come up he actually died we still don't know exactly what the circumstances were in which he did die and then it was made impossible for there to be an independent autopsy because some of his organs when they returned to his family months later. had to generated so much that it would be impossible to know what the actual cause of death was so there's a lot of secrecy surrounding what happens at guantanamo bay if there are requests for information they get covered up by national security issues and also there's just a lack of general interest in that she wanted to happen at guantanamo bay one of the curious things that has come out over the last couple of weeks is that one of

the deterioration of the prisoners complained about. is that in january the bullets were fired out of prisoners during a protest that they had held and this happened this was corroborated by the pentagon and again it's just it's incredibly curious this has been admitted a couple of months down the line but there has hardly been any outcry in some of the mall trying to suppress it there's been some coverage in the mainstream media it's managed to get a couple of pieces but it's not actually being considered as a news worthy item. we're following the situation in guantanamo on our web site as well head on to our t. dot com for more opinion and analysis there you can find out the lawyers of the hunger strikers expressing their grave concern over what they say is the worsening health of their clients while detainees claim most inmates are now involved in the fast. also more comments from activists psychologists and a former detainee who claims he saw boys young as nine being beaten by guards at

the guantanamo facility. lisa fired tear gas and clash with crowds protesting against an assault of journalists in cairo marti's arabic channel was among those who was attacked by the brotherhood members while filming graffiti artist painting near the muslim brotherhood headquarters true is following the spiraling unrest in egypt. we've had reports that tens have been arrested including one journalists as fierce clashes that continue between anti-government protesters and security forces outside the

most modern headquarters here in the capital the police have over forty been firing birdshot but it's tear gas hundreds who gathered to protest against an attack as they said happened against journalists by muslim brotherhood members groups with it it's the rising at the area outside they said main headquarters of the mission brotherhood arriving with sticks and knives on the journalist tempted to film anti-government protesters spraying anti brotherhood slogans on this main headquarters knew the elected said journalists and they could had one who said this was another example of a crackdown on freedom of speech by the most brotherhood's he called on the supreme guide which is the leading spiritual figure of the regime but they had to apologize to the brotherhood for their part say that this skirmishes occurred after groups attempted to break into the building it's still not clear how the story's going to end we're seeing significant unrest and loss of brotherhood sentiment across the country this protest happening almost on a daily basis and

a lot of skirmishes even here in the capital by to her square on the banks of the nile we seeing a daily fights between the youth of a protesters and security forces the president is fighting many different problems at the same time in addition the parliamentary elections have been suspended after the admission of courts said there was a problem with the electoral law putting the future of the political shadow costing in doubt this economic problems a major economic problems the president is trying to secure an unpopular four point eight billion dollar loan from the i.m.f. which could see subsidies cuts and tax hikes that people have been protesting against because you have a situation of poor saeed's and here the capital over this very contentious verdict in the poolside football trial which saw several people die in the last few weeks so what we're seeing really is continual protests continue on to government sentiments and with not any solutions on the horizon. also ahead for you cyprus had braced with panic over the rescue bailout offer from the european union

has a controversial offer of assistance has huge implications with people losing large chunks of their savings. and israel's attempts to bulldoze over a better when the settlement are failing as one village in the running for the guinness book of world records as the one destroyed the most amount of times where it's happening is vowing never to back down all that coming up after a break. they've been living these ways since two seventeenth century. strict. their communities on the ceiling. they clearly distinguish between their old.

and guard their families and things in the trash. so. a clear image of the rock to inflation. twenty day taxi trip through the country. the road full of danger. clear evidence from north to. the root of iraqi tragedy. after the war waiting for peace. taxi on our t.v. . when their own country can't offer them a living loving mothers sometimes have to leave their children behind. i don't like to work just a bed longer. is the dream of millions of migrants the children might choose their own motherland.

i want my children to win over moscow. russia has become this stepmother land. migrants working hard to find a way home. science technology innovation all the least of elements from around russia we've got the future covered. thanks for staying with us here on r t twelve minutes past the hour now looking for its place in the sun and wanting to live as a normal civilized european state that's how the president of belarus has lined out the future of goals for his country in an exclusive interview with r t he's the man many media outlets love to hate and i'm more than happy to slap with a tag when europe's last dictator but look says he takes it on the chin because he

knows it's just not true in fact the interview he points out that when eventually steps that we just want to be replaced by someone ruling to the extreme and simply continuing what he calls his steady course the former president of the former soviet republic has been repeatedly criticized by the western states for violating human rights and oppressing the opposition. back saying democracy at home is just as good as that found in europe or the us take a listen. i can prove it right here right now that there is no dictatorship in belarus. very simply in just a few words this is the argument i used to convince my western partners in order to be. in one has to have the resources resources of paramount's you need to understand that i have any nuclear weapons yeah exactly i do not do i have as much oil as hugo venezuela snow so i have as much not to gas as russia number two

and so. do i have so many people is joining with us dick one point five billion people would know dicta words in order to be a dictator in dictate one's will one has to have the resources. relation and we have none and i am being objective about it i am telling you just a little we have no claims of global importance. what we want to do is find no place in the sun. as an average civilized european state. so. i say to them that you're very lucky to meet. in person remembering something i'd probably want to see again. oh the full exclusive interview with the bellary sion president alexander

lukashenko coming your way in about a half hour here on r.t. . and head of the tenth anniversary of the start of the iraq war two car bomb attacks have hit the country killing at least ten people overall the war as claimed thousands of lives and cost billions of dollars but still a decade later arguments continue over one of the most controversial u.s. policy decisions artie's guided she takes a look. there's no point in posting and then shatter human lives the u.s. invasion into iraq resulted in the deaths of almost two hundred thousand iraqis according to various estimates the deadly metals released by bombs and bullets continue to kill in fallujah more than half of all babies who were conceived after the start of the war were born with birth defects the infant mortality rate there is disturbing. on the u.s. side the war took the lives of four thousand four hundred eighty six soldiers when you talk a country the size of iraq everyone knows someone that was killed and in the states

when you're here less than one percent of people participated in the war so at this point most americans have turned that off it's as though it didn't happen ten years of death and destruction and it's as though in this country we're done with that we've moved on and it's difficult if not impossible for any veterans and iraqis to move on from ten years of death and destruction iraq is still struggling to rebuild itself much of its infrastructure was destroyed. eight years of war and insurgency having bombed the country to rubble washington did not hurry to rebuild it president george w. bush asked for twenty billion dollars for this is around two thousand and three after twenty billion dollars for reconstruction. there was paul wolfowitz and then . done rumsfeld said twenty billion maybe too much because of our program because of iraqi oil. iraq will be able to pay for reconstruction itself when more of the

promises made to get still unpaid but out of almost sixty billion dollars that the u.s. did eventually spend on iraq reconstruction much was squandered the most recent study puts the total cost of the war at two trillion dollars that the u.s. the authors of the reports say the country will continue to pay and over the next four decades that cost could reach six trillion dollars yes to me accounts for both government expenses on training and compensating disabled veterans and the wars brought impact on the u.s. economy but on top of the human loss and dollars spent there's also been a political price to pay for american credibility and influence went down well iran's went up and we're still living with the consequences of this ten years later so law of unintended consequences are you know polar moment ended when i went into baghdad but we didn't know it from the berlin wall to that time we destroyed the earth like a grand colossus and after that it's all been very different colonel lawrence

wilkerson who served as chief of staff to secretary of state colin powell at the time of the invasion says you know what has changed the way the world sees the us people look at what we do they do not judge us by our rhetoric our rhetoric is high and lofty and we talk about human rights and human dignity and freedom and democracy and then what do we do we mount a war of aggression on iraq kill a couple hundred thousand people and mess it up majorly including the region. much of what is happening now is a result of what we did in the right with the world looks at them and they say oh this is not something we need in the world this kind of absolutely in the leadership and when this happens in the world of international relations the world stands up and began to balance the hedger more today many of those who cheered for the iraq war on t.v. shows and then their memoirs struggle to justify the decisions they made and the actions they took yes history will hold them responsible and render some sort of

indictment but there is no accountability for people who make grievous errors in high office in the united states were the united states of amnesia as gore but also aptly said the tendency to get into the money could prove dangerous with you war talk brewing in washington with many of the same people who pushed for the iraq war answer now pushing us to drag american to another conflict in the next street whenever you have the situation where it will you have a force mindset. as you did in the early two thousand to two thousand and three period on iraq or as you did actually in the early need to go to any judgment in history really using vietnam war you did with iran in one nine hundred seventy nine in that period when we were only getting information from the survivors and we weren't allowed to do a little bit the opposition you create an environment for the politicization of intelligence and i think we have that know with regards to the middle east a number of things fighters from the bush administration have come out and said the

desire to topple directly government trumped all other considerations at the time of the invasion there was no credible intelligence that saddam had weapons of mass destruction or ties with al qaida and yet people wanted to invade at all costs. the advisor fergus hobson thinks there are too many warring factions in iraq for a to see peace soon. the problem is that prior to the invasion there really was a difficult situation already the no fly zones in force by the british u.s. and french militaries and a very difficult sanctions meant that iraq prior to the invasion was already in a very poor state and so it's hard to say it remains in a very difficult situation one interesting point to note though is that a recent gallup survey in iraq said that the people gave the message that basically they thought the place was small secure and now when the u.s. forces were present and great a number of people should know that there are still many u.s. contractors there so it's not as though there is zero presence the united states

and many people still see that as a presence which they want to fight against also iraq already was a very divided nation you have kurds you have synergy of many different minorities who are necessarily happy with each other or with the prevailing leadership. over the weekend to cypriots rushed to a.t.m.'s in a panic over a planned tax on savings accounts as part of a european union and i have a bailout so-called rescue plan for the tiny eurozone country would see a one time levy of up to ten percent on deposits to avoid a national default in exchange the e.u.'s promised a ten billion euro belo to heal the economy under the proposed package terms people in cyprus with less than one hundred thousand euros in their accounts would have to pay a tax of around seven percent those whose savings are greater will be hit for ten percent it's the first such move where private depositors would be forced to sacrifice their money to foot the bill they allowed conditions have been deeply criticized as they are expected to hit mainly the poor people and pensioners but it

will also affect the rich russians who are known to invest in the country and members of the british forces stationed there moreover fears are mounting over the intense cash outflow from the country people's anger is cause the parliamentary vote on the deal to be delayed until today dr helen samuel the from the leading british think tank the group thinks the tiny island state is feeling blackmailed and is uncomfortable under the e.u. umbrella they will have to try and make it go ahead because they really do desperately need the bailout money on this of course. the alternative which has actually dropped out of the euro and probably be fooled at some point which will not necessarily be the worst thing that can happen but that doesn't seem to appeal to any of the governments in question i mean we've had this problem with greece and we've had this problem with other countries that is how it's all been going on about the about the bailouts the way things have gone we say greece is that you know these these bailouts happen. to you susteren any never works and then after

a while there is another request for another bank. of whether it will actually work over the cyprus will be wrapped into riots is something we shall see in the next few days. in other world news e.u. countries continue making headlines as the constitutional amendments in hungary threaten democratic rights demonstration in downtown budapest gathered hundreds of protesters as the government is set to clamp down on election campaign rights homelessness and family values the government wants to pass constitutional amendments that will threaten democratic rights according to protesters their proposed amendments go as far as banning grand students from seeking work abroad after they graduate the ruling party controls two thirds of the parliament and has come under fire from the e.u. recently for the decisions that defied their democratic values. one in prison around one hundred strikes since july has been released by israel on the condition that he doesn't leave the gaza strip for ten years i mention warren who has

previously been held by israel was arrested for a second time last february for violating the terms of his release although no evidence against him was ever disclosed a second hunger striker went into cardiac arrest last week and is still being held as a prisoner in tel aviv hospital despite his critical condition. thousands of yemenis demonstrated in the southern city of aden yesterday against the un back national dialogue due to begin soon reconciliation talks set to start next week with regular u.s. drone strikes in the region locals say they've rejected the dialogue they say doesn't include a real representatives from the north or southern regions a general strike left the southern half of the country paralyzed as troops were deployed to protect government buildings just last wednesday two people were killed when police and protesters clashed and ate it. israel's territorial ambitions extending as far as better when burial grounds but one villager of says they're refusing to back down tel aviv's already raised it to the ground forty seven times saying they have no proof of ownership but this community claims they've been there

for more than a century and say they have no plans to surrender it artie's paul asli are reports . there's not much here but what there is within now was destroyed. part of an israeli plan to win the negev desert of its bid when residents. had if they even demolished of the thousand times i will rebuild it as long as i'm alive i will keep struggling i will not give up my living in fear all the time whenever somebody calls us and says there bulldozers in the main street we take all our stuff. and take it to the cemetery and now they are threatening to demolish the cemetery. but i will keep village has become the focal point of tel aviv's plans it started with the first demolition more than three years ago and since then most families have we located two neighboring towns but well meant that we're not the

freight we're waiting for them to come again. a steadfast few who live near the threat and symmetry wait to rebuild their homes after the bulldozers leave there is a lighter side to the story residents here have asked the guinness book of world records to enter them as the village that has been demolished the most times in history forty seven and counting. nearly half of the big one population of the negative around ninety thousand people live in forty five villages and recognized by the israeli government they don't appear on any map and have no official signs marking their existence when they're not being torn down they're being torn apart through the government's refusal to provide sewage systems roads electricity water schools or hospitals but television says it's ready to change that if the bedouins move to recognize villages it promises to provide them with basic services and compensation. they are living on alarms that belong to the state israel is

a country of law and institutions and when you claim land belongs to you should be able to prove it through legal papers the better ones don't have these papers so it's very hard to accept their claimants. but shake saya all truly disagrees he says his ancestors are buried in the cemetery where graves stayed back at least one hundred years. but we have papers from the in one thousand and five pay taxes for this land from the year one thousand twenty one until nine hundred forty seven but we have the exhibit british in one hundred twenty nine and we went out pages from the year one hundred seventy three signed by israel itself all these papers prove that the land belongs to us are. these really government is expected soon to pass a bill that will see more than twenty and recognised between villages destroyed and some fifty thousand bedouins displaced about two thirds of the land is threatened with confiscation the government is trying to organize their vigilance against

their will of the bedouins prefer to live in are going to go. what i'm going to do is the brazil way of living and to brazil of their own culture it's only a matter of time before the village gets demolished for the forty eighth time and the people living here hope more than just the guinness book of world records will take note but. i will keep village in the negev desert. after a break as promised artie's exclusive interview with belarus as president alexander lukashenko stay with us. please speak your language. programs and documentaries in arabic it's all here on all t.v. reporting from the world talks about six fifty yard p. interviews intriguing stories are you. trying.

to find out more visit arabic don't. 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 everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm tom harpur welcome to the big picture. i think some of the worst by syllable by shift with mr look at shank oh hello and thank you very much for sitting down without t.v. but you've come to st petersburg to discuss further integration of russia and belarus with the present crisis they do is you know earlier there was talk of a single currency.