ten years after the war in iraq began a veteran sends a letter to george bush and dick cheney bashing them for the needless war that is now in the hospital and hospice and dying coming up we'll speak with thomas young about his letter that has gone viral and big brother is keeping an eye on you while drones are used most often by the u.s. for warfare overseas more and more police departments here at home are using them to spy on citizens this week lawmakers heard concerns about the growing practice we'll tell you about that hearing in just a bit. plus five million people have been stopped and frisked by n.y.p.d. police officers the vast majority of them were minorities but thanks to some whistleblowers we now know more about this controversial program and the police officers that and how they are missing implementing it will look at the stop and frisk program in just a bit. it's

friday march twenty second eight pm in washington d.c. i'm meghan lopez and you're watching. we've spent a lot of time this week talking about the iraq war and taking a critical look at it the misconceptions that led us into the conflict the ensuing years of strife the lives that were affected and the thousands that were killed and now ten years later the truth about the weapons of mass destruction or lack thereof today we are going to introduce you to yet another face of this war thirty three year old thomas young an iraq war veteran who was injured in the early days of the conflict and who is now preparing to die thomas was shot in the spine and has been paralyzed from the chest down ever since he now suffers from a number of other ailments and is choosing to stop taking all nourishment and life extending medication he says he simply six of being sick but before this veterans

life and he wanted to speak out about the iraq war and the deceptions the american people were told he wrote a letter to president bush and dick cheney expressing his feelings and thomas young joined me earlier today to talk about that letter as well as his decision to stop accepting care here's part of that interview. this summer and then good and do that for. bear probably dig. through while i got to the point why my so jane close is one of those. and. live being the normal lying but. may have go wait a while in the area. of blood. and.

that. are going to get to my brain. mbali gas i should be dead. was. where they. they took care of the bug. then go on board a and when they came out there were long term bags i live a lot of. bog springs might be significantly. and. in july of last year my stomach hurt so i go to a and they refuse the gaming our gov't payment occasion because of the low down the government will not allow me to bass pool.

why they wouldn't give me. the boehm negation no matter how much there was day and pain that if i were in truly all will pain that i i wouldn't scream my ass off. that the only people who really are. advertised the most sure know how for you traded when you are right back from iraq with those injuries where you were received as a hero. i was. i wonder if the as the euro or not of the euro and. i was just treated like a regular guy. but. it was strong on the war when i

can well. lost it when i got help when i joined a group called the ivy a. and began active. somewhat fighting for an end to this war did my duty i got. sure now you have chosen to to go on hospice care you are choosing to to end your life and before you decided to do that you wrote a letter to to george bush and to dick cheney and i'd like to report of that letter and kind of get your explanation as to why you wrote this part he said quote i would not be writing this letter if i had been wounded fighting in afghanistan against those forces that carried out the attacks of nine eleven had i been wounded there i would be still miserable because of my physical deterioration and imminent death but i would at least have some comfort of knowing that my injuries were

a consequence of my own decision to defend a country that i love so you sure you're talking about the difference between going to iraq and going to afghanistan what do you hope that president bush and dick cheney get out of this letter what would you like to see. i would like them to. variously. call the eyes of mary. or dropping them. on the piano. in. a rash. and i want them to. build a huge blunder in a terrible line from the american people. do you think that these men should be

prosecuted i know that the statute of limitations on president bush's if it if you could call the war crimes. the statue of limitations to prosecute president bush under the office of war crimes isn't expiring do you think that they should be prosecuted under those charges as. the run of the dont we. they're afraid. down and. they will be over. and finally. i want to ask you about. your last days what message are you trying to send what are your last words that you want american people and the people around the world to know wow. the first one to the job in and them of

their. children that was on the jury service service can be good for some be very damp when my brother was very well and before we signed up in them. but after we came out of the. persian you with north. more focused than so overall the war can be. i didn't jive with. the very well. and them of the good bad. and to make sure they years son or daughter understand that

they don't get the sigh when or where they go to war is rich predominantly white men in the house and then. then have the power then. of their parents but not their own children. off to die or be injured in. war and i was like during fall of the division. you make sure that. only. in one of them have you or. or being young men and women are.

that was iraq war veteran thomas young. well a senate judiciary committee met on capitol hill yesterday to listen to arguments about the use of domestic drones law enforcement officials and privacy advocates spoke about the increased demand of you avi's and the laws used to govern them the current privacy protections from area vehicles are based on court a court decision from the one nine hundred eighty s. protections that privacy advocates say are antiquated earlier i was joined by a mr part of it she is the director of domestic surveillance project at epic i asked her if lawmakers were receptive to her suggestions they actually seem very receptive and we think it's a very positive development that the senate is considering the topic we think it's very important there are already two bills circulating in the house so the senate is the next step for legislation to be introduced so we do and we are very. kind of happy about the direction that this is moving and i do want to play a part of that hearing this is benjamin miller she is the colorado sheriff from

mesa county who is actually testifying on behalf of drone use and police departments so let's let's listen to that one of the things that we've positioned our program for the concept is that we've really invented. a new ability to collect information and you know the camera has done that for us it's done that for us for decades and you know in the past. and so there's case law out there that speaks to the direction of which we take when we consider putting a camera in there. so what direction are we taking i think it's it's not necessarily. it is the next step forward in surveillance but it's a huge leap forward because this is and it's a point that was made in the hearing drones are so cheap to buy and to operate and they really lower the cost of surveillance which means in correlation they increase

how much surveillance takes place so while it's just another tool it's an incredibly invasive tool drones are designed to conduct surveillance that's really why they came into existence as a surveillance mechanism and they're just an exponential leap forward from anything that we've had in the past and some of the things that we're trying to determine is whether these things should be able to take pictures of people through windows whether they should be able to have facial recognition technology what kinds of legislation is there when i was trying to advocate for what would be the solution here oh more we're looking at about three different uses so we for law enforcement and government use of drones would like some data minimisation and data retention limits on information collected and a warrant requirement for law enforcement to use drones to collect evidence so that drones just don't just become kind of robotic police officers walking around or flying around the streets when it comes to commercial entities we'd like to see

a lot more transparency and accountability for what information they collect right now it's very difficult to find out what energies have a license to operate a drone so we'd like to see more transparency in that angle and we'd really like to see some of the states and maybe at the federal level re-evaluate their peeping tom laws and kind of the laws that prevent individuals from spying on one another because of the availability that this technology is going to have to increase it. as a very easy technology to get your hands on and as you mention it's a very cost effective way now there's a lot of criticism about using drones and abroad. as well as back home former vice chairman of the joint chiefs of staff general james cartwright is one of those people who has actually gone on the record expressing his concerns about this program he said quote if you are trying to kill your way to a solution no matter how precise you are you're going to upset people even if they're not targeted so of course he's talking about targets of broad but do you think it could have similar impacts at home could we create essentially enemies

because of what these programs offer possible and one of the things that we're looking at and it was a point that was made over and over again at that hearing is you have to involve the public now and address the address these issues you can't rule out the technology and expect that they're going to kind of come to a resolution on their own we have a chance here and it's something we don't get very often with technology to really dive into the issues and make sure that we have robust protections put into place and make sure that people know what's going on and are kept aware of what's going on and i think that's really necessary right now and finally i mean we what we heard in the hearings was kind of two things really we heard that one that this is a huge step forward in terms of technology and you've even said yourself that this could be a good thing but on the other hand we're hearing there needs to be some type of regulation some type of legislation done so of almost everyone can agree on these two things why is nothing being done. we are starting to see some things being done

especially at the state level we have thirty states that have introduced legislation and we would like to see a lot more and i think it's all about approach people are trying to figure out the correct angle to come at this from however like i said we're very very optimistic about the fact that we're going to see something move forward and i think that everybody should keep their eyes open should keep in contact with their senators at the federal level and at the state local level all of their lawmakers and make sure that their voices are being heard and it's just a matter of time before we start seeing real changes i missed the part of its director of domestic surveillance project at epic thank you so much for joining us . still ahead here on our t.v. over five million people have been stopped and frisked by n.y.p.d. police officers the vast majority of them were minorities but thanks to some whistleblowers we now more know more about the controversial program and the ways police police officers are implementing it more on that after the break.

look pretty much in the field that well you won't find it here if you're looking for relevant stories unique perspective sometimes my scans. let me let me which one will let me ask you a question. on this network is what we're having the thing we have are enough. to do this little space thing there is again the story would be an ideal way to talk about surveillance.

i think. it's a controversial practice that has ordinary citizens squaring off with the n.y.p.d. on a daily basis opposition to the stop and frisk program has swelled in recent days and weeks several police officers themselves have blown the whistle on the program saying that the department. it is forcing them to meet quotas to provoke and to provoke innocent civilians now up until this point there have been a lot of allegations and little evidence of wrongdoing until now two recordings have made their way into the spotlight each telling a different narrative about the program the first is an audio from the officer where his superior told him who to target he says quote i have no problem telling

you this male blacks and i told you this at roll call and i have no problem to tell you this male blacks fourteen to twenty one in age now the second is a recording of a young man's encounter with police officers it's the first recording of its type we're going to jail for sure. if you're going to bust a fool would be you know. two tapes that leave two very big holes in the credibility of this program the stepfather of the young man featured in the second tape joins me now to talk about the n.y.p.d. stop and frisk program. organizer against stop and frisk heather haas a so let's first of all talk about your stepsons encounter with the police what were your initial thoughts when he showed you this recording of the officers harassing him to be as. i was infuriated me his mother was so traumatized by what happened i mean lulu just so pissed off and it was confusing because we have

a young. son. who was an explorer of the twenty fifth precinct and then to you know a young man they want to be a cup i'm so good to get treated like does it was traumatizing and left the whole family and everybody the how he was told to how he was treated was you know was confusing traumatized over the whole situation and we just we just didn't believe it really happened and i can imagine that alvin was pretty shaken up as well. well i mean after that happened we used to drive around and he used to be so nervous and back of the car if police was behind those he was like so nervous because he thought police was i don't know he thought it was either the looking for him or trying to find them he felt a real threat because he was always nervous in a car when polies was either you know saying to my left to my right when i was driving or behind and you know it started you know started affecting us as well because we didn't like to see him like that so you know we spend

a lot of time talking to him and letting him know that you know they you know he needs not to be afraid and has he ever been stopped and first before i have any of his friends. well the level of really started he came here told me the police keeps oracene him so you know our kind of you know your says you're always walking around with guy for want to download this recording at which he did and he downloaded the app and told him you know whatever you do you have the right to continue to ask questions to not stop asking the question because the minute you start asking the question you know our fear that that will be the means the minute it we that take more advantage and more larkham about all of your stand your ground and keep asking questions like why you didn't start you have the right to do that i didn't know he was going to know he did a great deed did what no one expected him to do he's still a question we're just getting food that it didn't turn out to be something else

something no worries and we know that both mayor bloomberg as well as our police commissioner ray kelly have a ton of this program is a good thing the whole point of this program mr reduce crime rates but there is a certain amount of blowback critics say that these young men that are being stopped or are not going to be comfortable going to police when they really do need help what are what are your thoughts on this. you know after they have them my stepson and after i started noticing it happening to my nephew and other kids in the neighborhood i started to really see that it was becoming a big problem i really didn't pay too much mind to it because as marceau happened to me so many times growing up that i thought it was normal was part of my culture but you know it was a start affecting when i was see it happen to other people i realize that it was a big problem so i decided to find some type of group that i could get involved with. and you know when i found that group there was fighting against stop and frisk i decided to get involved and you know fight against it from you know from

you know from over twenty four hours all the way to now nonstop somewhere and i think that you know and that you know. it has made the community very unsafe because no one especially the youth they do not trust the police they are more afraid of the police and they're afraid of anything that might be happening in a neighborhood that is negative so police had been and they were put a lot of fear in these kids i mean even ray kelly made a statement he said that he was disc is that when they leave their home he was them to be a free they're going to be stop question and frisk here is saying that there are more afraid of the place officers than they are of any harm that could befall them on their journey to wherever they're going now meanwhile some of the police officers have actually turned into whistle blowers as i mentioned earlier saying that they are forced to essentially have these kind of quotas although quotas are the term quotas for place officers is banned in new york city so do you think that

it is a cultural problem within the n.y.p.d. or an individual officer problem. well i think the whole department i mean even if you are an officer that is beautiful is to do it you know you have the right not to do something that has no morals something to it bothers you cohen you know that bothers your conses and that's what some of these officers do in is psychologically bothering them you know to be a force to do this and they know was wrong so that's why you know i was happy that there is some of them come in now and speak and goes and there's others they're afraid because they owned a lot of pressure you know i mean they have families to feed they've got children to take care so they owned a lot of pressure so you know how on the stand still there's no justification to go into into any community and harass people who or target people just because you try to make you know make quotas or make a certain amount of because i mean just to the hood on trial they have something to

you know the off the you know no two and twenty you know go out there and get to a rest day and get twenty some a city i mean they really you know it's really a lot of pressure. and certainly this videotape that your stepson made is shedding light on like we've ever seen before on this program will have to see how his case plays out in the courts or say it last fall a organizer against stop and frisk and stepfather of alvin the boy that you saw in that video thank you for joining us thank you thank you for inviting me well congress is supposed to be of the people by the people and for the people and entire entity around the people but it appears that lobbyists are the ones that are most likely to have the ears of congress at times the legislation that results from these lobbying is helps people but many other times they're geared toward special interests but love it or hate it lobbying is quite a lucrative career are to correspondent r t is the president tells us more.

body such a dirty dirty word in american politics right lobbyist someone who badgers bribes or bend over to our elected officials to try to get them to do their corporate baby instead of the elected official doing what we the people they supposedly represent want what dirty business so which industry do you think is the dirtiest do you think is spending the most dollars in an effort to buy washington's politicians many of us might immediately think boy oh gotta be oil what with their constant raping of the environment plundering of other countries and seemingly maniacal

quest to monopolize the world's energy supply big oil have to be the biggest lobbyist but nope it's not them then it must be the financial industry right how else can we possibly explain our government and with bailouts to regulations and flat out refusals to prosecute financial lawbreakers it must be wall street nope not them either it's freaking pharmaceutical drugs well legal drugs and h.m.o.'s and other health care interests how weird is that according to a database kept by open secret the total lobby dollars spent by health care lobbyists from the one nine hundred ninety eight to twenty twelve was five point three billion dollars oil and gas only spent one point four billion and securities and investment only spent a nice round billion chump change compared to the doctor's lobby bill other interesting industries in the lobbying mix are the t.v. movies. and music industry which spent one point one billion on lobbying between

one thousand nine hundred twenty twelve the computers and internet industries spend one point four billion and electric utilities spent one point that in billions in twenty two alone the total of all lobbying spending was three point three billion dollars and the total number of lobbyists twelve thousand three hundred ninety that's an army of them that's more than double the bobby lation of brady taxes what's worse is that many of the lobbyists are x. congress members themselves seventy nine percent of the members of congress who left office since one thousand nine hundred eight have worked as a lobbyist it's all one big branch happy exclusive club and here you are with your door of a little white house petition and your parade didn't fit in protest and your no dollars then he anyone in washington is going to listen to you the reality is until

we seriously reform a lobby in the us you might as well forget the petition and go get a prescription from your doctor for a drug to help alleviate that colossal headache you're bound to have from banging your head against a wall or you know start a petition against lobbyist tonight let's talk about that by following me on twitter at the read. and that's going to do it for the news for this week but be sure to tune in next week we're working on a whole new lineup of stories for you first up a new report from organ seismic researchers claims that the u.s. is well overdue for a massive earthquake how bad could it be how about one big enough to cause billions of dollars of damages and even kill thousands of people next week on our team who will tell you about a report that will make you quake. and apple has a new security measure to protect accounts from being hijacked but it turns out

that this new system is two steps away from being exploited it seems that all you need is a birth date and e-mail address in order to have one of these things will tell you more about how being secure is no longer a sure thing and add a special wall street j.p. morgan chase one the highly coveted best crisis management award what was the crisis that handles the billions of dollars in losses from its london whale scandal over derivatives next week a look at a bank that can pull off a win after losing so much those are just a few of the stories we have in store for you next week along with more news and in-depth interviews so keep it tuned in right here to our t.v. and that's going to do it for me for that tonight for more on the stories we covered go to youtube dot com slash r.t. america and for the latest and greatest information on the stories we covered in a few that we just didn't have time to get to check out our web site r c dot com slash usa and you can also follow me on twitter at meghan underscore lopez have a great new.