you tell me that it was for you was that mass destruction saul's lives lost as does not work in the u.s. soldier who pulled the star-spangled banner over the iconic statue of saddam hussein speaks to r.t. a decade now after the fall of baghdad. iraqi struggle to cope with sectarian violence political instability economic woes and the aftermath of the weapons unleashed by the u.s. military also. the president. passed and he controls the past controls the future wiki leaks publishes over one point seven million u.s. diplomatic records from the kissinger era revealing washington's past involvement with dictatorships and showing it present day policies then in a new light. good

evening ten pm here in moscow now it's kevin owen at the news channel with you tonight and first deadly suicide bombings and political uncertainty and now the realities of everyday life for millions of iraqis but it's something few of them imagined when they were cheering the symbolic toppling of saddam hussein's statue in baghdad what is now a decade ago. met one u.s. soldier who played a key part in that historic moment he says the reasons for invading iraq don't justify the lives lost. exactly ten years ago a u.s. marine from new york city made international headlines for his actions in baghdad edward chen tied a large noose around a massive statue of saddam hussein wrapped the face of that statue of an american flag before that monument was eventually toppled right now i am joined by mr chen for a one on one conversation on thank you for speaking with archie today oh you're welcome

ten years have passed since that that that moment where you essentially became a symbol for the u.s. occupation and invasion in iraq you were twenty three at the time when you climb that statue what you know about the iraq war now that you know that all army when i know dollars does not turn years longer than we expected. to still struggling to rebuild their country to have a stable government climb that statue of saddam hussein and wrap the face of the statue in an american flag looking back on your actions do you think that it was the propre thing to do us as a foreigner coming in invading a country climbing the statue of a man who was the leader of that country and wrapping the face an american flag. maybe you know iraqi civil war suit as a symbol on. you know what you know my reasons are the reason why we didn't know it

was for us we would have been in iraq for all of them all. the fire got to bury the holding that we were going to rule them all to go home to found and i was with one of those who have seen our to fly for so long the reason we do just to show any kind of sense of want to push on a country just want to spur them on what you know about us foreign policy now to know that you know not to be told she told people this because times are hard or something. because you just come outside of the publishing world you're going to war. to be able to control the oil in the region of course nothing is going to come out and end how many people are going to sign up to risk their lives exactly we're military here we do what we're told you know. we hold you know this you know this right says i mean you know it's we're going wasn't there you know we're going to

find on but he thinks the war was for him i personally think it was for. us to you know had been a foothold here to see it was a region you know i don't believe. you tell me that it was for you know was that mass destruction saw was lives lost and stuff and i worked. out today there was still no weapons to be found you know it will be worth it it was to. free a country of a dictator yes but if there was more reason than this one out of dictators in the world that used to be taken out to it was one of the reason i look for the right reason is because i how can i not know what. it would be to say. to resist now we're justified. thank you very much for your time. range figurative swords ten years on is now well after crippling the infrastructure of iraq during the invasion the u.s. went on to spend tens of billions of dollars on reconstruction efforts but today

life for iraqis is a daily struggle in washington admits that it cannot account for a large share of the rebuilding funds meantime the scars left by america's tools of destruction are clear to see the list of missions includes cluster bombs which scatter hundreds of small deadly bomb swim detonated the use of depleted uranium in american shells that incendiary white phosphorous bombs dropped on from lugar in two thousand and four were among the most controversial talk to omaha basis is the use of such weapons left severe and lasting effects you may find some of the images coming upset. it's clear that though the u.s. spoke of their help provided to iraq after the invasion notably reconstruction of education in investments their so-called help resulted in the use of weapons banned by article fifty three of the geneva convention it prohibits any kind of weapon which if used where there is war can affect areas environment climate and water resources things that occurred in one thousand nine hundred one and then in two

thousand and three are true catastrophe and all types of munitions were used in dispenser weapons prospers ammunitions depleted uranium and chemical weapons all these types of weapons were used intentionally and on a mass scale in iraq and this testing out of weapons had disastrous of facts in terms of environmental contamination not to be compared even with hiroshima. this is by no means an exaggeration this is not my opinion you can look up human rights watch in world health organization reports on the internet radiological monitoring held on the international level radioactive contamination of southern central in the northern areas of iraq and despite repeated calls to reports published by iraqi scientists the us turned a blind eye on the issue. will ask another firsthand account of the time we've got right war veteran michael president on the line these and other michael thanks play

with us ten years on this a lot of time to reflect a lot going on in your life what led you to change your mind so substantially about what happened ten years ago. yes well i think i'll start by saying that i was someone who went to the iraq war fully believing that it was a good thing volunteering to be in the invasion of iraq willing to die or lose limbs for a cause that i really trusted that this government was telling the truth about and that changed very quickly as the many months went on in iraq and the real things that did it for me i was witnessing all of the lies told by the bush administration really crumble in front of our faces and the main thing being interactions with the iraqi people who we were told we were liberating we were told i would be happy that we were coming into their country and seeing what was being done to them and how

they opposed our presence there and also realizing that the people that we were told were our enemies people we were told we should be fighting were exactly like my friends and family and neighbors here at home and that i had so much in common with them you know i was being told by the multimillionaire politicians that we are the enemy and that we have to fight them and so like so many other people who went to iraq and afghanistan was our first hand experiences on the ground that made all of the lies and distortions put out by the u.s. media and by the politicians really just fall apart. as your fellow soldier is suffering such a profound realization of the truth as well oh did i just get on with it. well you know it's not something that was very openly talked about while i was there but in speaking to people afterwards and even while we were there we couldn't really come up with a reason why we had to be there especially after saddam hussein was captured and after george w. bush did that dramatic photo op and announced the end of combat operations i was in

country when those significant events happened yet we were told that we had to continue staying and to continue occupying it to continue arresting people and interrogating them and carrying out raids and so forth and so when i was there there was really no one i would talk to if they weren't here because this is an important mission and we know what our duty is and we know why we're here predominantly we couldn't explain it we just had to say well we're here and we have no choice we just have to stick it out. you have to i gather i guess. i shouldn't say what's the worst thing you have to do there are. others doing this . oh yes well interrogations that i witnessed and took part in were truly terrifying and humiliating experiences for the iraqis who were detained but i will say that everything that i took part in and witnessed was completely within the guidelines of the geneva convention and with the u.s.

army standards for interrogations none of it was so-called illegal according to national and international guidelines but what was the reality of that is that any amount of torture is a crime when you're doing it to innocent people in my experience working in interrogations is that ninety nine percent of the people that we anteroom gated and terrorized and humiliated in those cells had done absolutely nothing wrong were picked up at random and did not deserve to be in jail and even if people weren't involved in groups attacking us for a sense i came to see them as as being justified and so they don't deserve to be detained either but the number one thing i took away from that is all the people who have done absolutely nothing who are purpose through these horrible experiences what are you biggest regret soon experience in iraq when. well my biggest regret is that you know going into the war i was still i was a little bit questioning i didn't totally trust george w.

bush i didn't trust this idea of weapons of mass destruction and even though i was questioning i've did what i was told and follow the orders to just not think and unquestionably follow the orders that i was given by the politicians and by our military commanders and i ended up because i refused to really ask the hard questions being a part of the greatest atrocity of the modern era i mean over a million people dead and millions millions more whose lives were destroyed and that's something that myself and many others will have to live with as our role in not catastrophe when there is the option for soldiers to think about what's happening and to actually refuse and resist those orders that they're being given in hindsight if i can turn the clock back i would have refused to take part in that invasion ten years oh no you know any clue why he went in there absolutely and of course i was not there and i believe the lives of the bush administration but we

can see very very clearly now that the only reason that the u.s. wants an invasion and occupation of iraq is because of her x. nationalized oil because it was an independent country that would not bow down to the dictates of the u.s. government and not establishing a base of u.s. interests in the region could allow the banks and corporations in the united states to exert dominance over the anti region which is very profitable for a very small group of people the war in iraq was a war for the rich at the expense of millions of people in the united states and millions of people in iraq but it was the bottom line briefly last thirty seconds could a kind of running out of the iraqi prime minister this is the painful they're all better off now than when they were on the saddam hussein true or false. well i would say the prime minister is better off now than under saddam hussein but for millions of iraqis the country is a complete catastrophe of the effects of war is a complete catastrophe and that you're looking at today the services that are available the corruption in the government all of the things that the u.s. demonized saddam hussein government for you can find it's ten times worse now in

post-war iraq and so iraq has a lot of work to do but iraq will rise from the ashes and will stand strong again one michael prisoner life in the u.s. the. veteran of the peace talks with thank you for your time the city of kirkuk has become a hotbed of instability in post saddam iraq lucy cuffe now from ports next some locals say the fear of the late big has been replaced by a greater fear of the. iraq war is supposed to be over but these pictures tell a different story chaos and confusion the aftermath of yet another deadly blast here in kirkuk. this oil rich city has been described as a. symbol of the country's most intractable escalating violence the conflict among

ethnic and religious groups and the fight over iraq's resources. getting there was our first challenge a group of kurdish soldiers had agreed to take a sin both baghdad and the kurds lay claim to care coop and are sparring over control aside from the danger those entering from the kurdish side need special permission to get past the iraqi checkpoints we inhabit. roadblocks and concrete barriers defined the new iraq checkpoints like this one are a dominant feature of life and they are everywhere aside from the household but also frequent target of attacks for us it was a blatant visual reminder of a country still very much at war. inside your kook we drive quickly to avoid danger we're told to look out for black b.m.w. apparently they've become a favorite for iraq's insurgents who didn't pick the best day to come to roadside bombs exploded here earlier that morning around the same time that baghdad was rocked by a series of deadly blasts but kirkuk has been

a flashpoint for years now and in the city center it's clear that life doesn't stop just because of the threats we were expecting empty streets but people continued to go about their business as normal vendors seemed busy families did their shopping but beneath the surface there are scars today there could continues to be an incredibly dangerous place. after the city without the help of a military escort residents here say that attacks have happened at any time in any place in fact it's not really safe to stay here for too long so let's get inside. we need car want to his family there kurds who say they're happy that saddam is gone but their fear of political repression has been replaced by fear of the unknown. you know. we don't know who the enemy is where women next bomb will go off but it's a daily fears we've got used to it you know i do small things to feel safer like driving with all the car windows down that way if there's a blast at least the glass won't hurt us. such precautions didn't help sixty year

old mahmoud who says that a decade of war has ruined iraq he happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time a bomb blast went off injuring his leg for him daily life has become a painful struggle or so by the end of the movie i was what benefit did the work bring democracy only explosions shootings and kidnap people should feel free to go out and come back safely where is that i can leave but there's no guarantee i'll come back a lot of the soldiers. no it's not about the sectarian differences unfortunately it's book the black the oil and behind this oil is the hidden interests of politicians pawns in a political game playing with their livelihoods and lives for conflicts not of their own making the iraqis we met didn't hate their neighbors or care about who controls the oil just like they simply want the peace of mind of knowing they can

go out and return to their loved ones alive. r.t. kirkuk iraq. still ahead for this hour some social history lesson for the world's top whistle blower we delve into the nearly two million diplomatic cables published by julie his songs which put america's foreign policy of past years right under the spotlight. the political and economic strain in italy prompts a solution young people to turn the radical far right groups disregarding the history of the movement. world with. its technology innovation all the developments around russia we've got the future covered.

the news about international landlords in the very heart of moscow. again trapped in their court or an embassy for over nine months now but still fighting to blow the lid on global politics julian assange has released over one point seven million u.s. diplomatic cables from the one nine hundred seventy s. which he's dubbed the most significant geo political publication ever. london's

been examining wiki leaks biggest release to date them. according to julian the sun the us administration can't be trusted with controlling its own history so he's had to come along and do this he controls the present controls past and he controls the past controls the future and that is because of the vital role that history place in deciding our interpretation of what is happening in the world the period of the one nine hundred seventy s. in diplomacy is referred to as the big bang this is when the international order came to beat the most incriminating cables are likely to be the ones that reveal the relationships that the us administration had with some very dictatorial regimes back in the one nine hundred seventy s. we've got franco's spain pinochet's chile the jointer ruled greece they're all known to have committed appalling crimes with the support of the american

administration and perhaps the most illustrative quotation within this huge release of cables comes from henry kissinger himself now he's quoted as saying the illegal we do immediately the unconstitutional takes a little longer in a conversation with attackers from a separate official now so many critics that's one line that will speak volumes about u.s. foreign policy and we've already seen reports actually that site wiki leaks saying that the vatican may have collaborated with the u.s. in supporting the pinochet coup in chile which we all know saw a very bloody regime come to power there's already a scandal in. piece of the new cables as the late prime minister rajiv gandhi may have been a middleman for a swedish company trying to sell weapons to india there are also unconfirmed reports that cables are going to reveal that under cia orders the swedish secret

police was spying on its left leaning citizens these reports are yet to be confirmed and there's another very big scandal where there are unconfirmed reports that unreleased cables are going to reveal that call built the current foreign minister for sweden was in fact an informer for just cia from the nineteen seventies for many people the way in which they revealed the giufà let's see of us foreign policy will be very illustrative of the way that u.s. foreign policy may be functioning today so on the outside we've got a lot of talk about human rights and democracy but behind closed doors and in these private cables it looks to be like a much more complicated and often darker situation seems to be there's no police they will critics of. going soft through the kissinger cables saying the dated

records there for much of a leak but as london contributor i should return as he explains makes the publication could have a major impact. these are incredibly relevant cables they weren't able to be searched and the mainstream media doesn't like what wiki leaks is doing which is dedicated as far as. anyone interested in journalism i think would say is the powerless against the powerful one doesn't have to doubt why the united states doesn't want these cables because they detail very clearly a horrific time in u.s. foreign policy these are stories that reverberate even today and if we have to do is look at egypt for instance because the ramadan that is seventy three years and years rule in trying to spark that off to try and destroy arab unity and we're living with those consequences today project a is hardly going to cause is it a reaction like the outcry that sparked the collateral murder video showing the

u.s. helicopter attacking civilians in iraq i would actually just greatly that we can't tell whether it'll have the same impact as the so-called collateral murder video because there will be research as to who is unemployed journalists out there will be able to find out stories and correlate the facts that come out in these cable releases with other facts to reveal other elements of u.s. foreign policy that you do we didn't know. well that's what i should return see things what you think about these so-called kissinger falls r.t. dot com is the place where you can tell us let's bring our graph and see what you say in this thanks for voting if you have so far well as you can see there sixty three percent down just a tad from last i think it's going to expose more u.s. duty linin as you put it. twenty three percent say it's proof that everyone has got dark secrets nine percent out of proportion attention grabbing again you say just five percent think it's an attempt to deceive the public fakes you can read it for yourself thank you for taking party dot com still a chance to have your say or write also on air as well online for some unwelcome

predictions for air travel as scientists say passengers should brace themselves for a sharp increase in flight but it's why i will tell you online and on. online social networking could get tax evaders in trouble now the u.s. internal revenue service is taking a look it's probably the web in search of clues left by tax cheats. there's no escape party dot com. we speak your language. use programs and documentaries in spanish what matters to you breaking news the alternative angles stories. for you here. in troy or t. spanish find out more visit. in italy fascism seems to be experiencing a resurgence these days decades after the end of the second world war now far right

groups are once again looking for a part of the country's decision making process its situation has been aggravated by the country's ongoing political and economic crisis of course. explains. this is the house of italy's modern day fascists and imposing building in rome it stood empty until ten years ago members of the cousin pound movement barged through the doors put up their flag and became squatters after a decade of fruitless attempts neither the police nor the country's judicial system have managed to push the fascist movement out if anything members of cars abound say they are growing ever stronger. when fascism is mentioned it stirs memory and conjures images of a bleak past dissociation that comes to mind is mostly me world war two but one of the fascists in italy refused to have any association with the macabre past. she's more foremost fascism is

a way to govern the economy and the country so we cannot be responsible for what was happening some seventy years ago i can't judge events of the past since i wasn't alive back then so i can't be judged for things that happened that far back . recent research by the open society foundation looked more closely at members of cars abound their results showed that unlike similar going to zation zones where in europe most supporters of the movement cite the economy corruption and unemployment as the main reasons for joining the party because about the moment they'll get the main idea italy's sovereignty we're against pan-european tendencies we're against a dictatorial europe because for example we don't want the production of italian goods to move to other countries historians aren't surprised by such developments yet some believe the trend isn't as worrying or as widespread as some would like to believe. as a historian i can say such movements gain popularity during

a crisis but i want to say because a pound is incredibly popular their percentage during the elections was not even one percent but today's low numbers aren't discouraging the movement's leaders who believe. most italians secretly support their goals and share their ideals but they're simply too afraid to voice such views turn into serious shit there's been a growing interest in the last few years as a far right policy and we didn't get many votes during the election but we now have a chance to make t.v. appearances so more people can find out about our ideas and what we have to offer. a far right resurgence of a country with a troubling fascist history it's now up to these political leaders to ask whether they are the ones pushing people towards extremist ideas not out of rebellion or ignorance but out of desperation it is. grown. dark clouds gathering the most in rome in italy dog clubs to for the brics nations

attaches to the business if you listen to start of the pause that is no course there's criticism about this a brics as a group is dead there's a bit of earth so grapes might very well it seems that way the timing you know certainly raises a lot of questions because just last month the developing nations met and agreed to create their own ratings agency to sidestep the likes of the syrians but as you say the timing is slightly exiting and experts say it's nothing but an attempt to retaliate all the details. you know i always try to stay clear of falling into the trap of fake outrage on this program people love to come on t.v. and be angry over this and angry over that just to fill air time but trust.