coming up on r t while the crisis in syria deepens a u.s. senator is pushing a bill to arm syrian rebels how likely is this bill to pass and what its effect on the conflict we'll talk about that in just a moment a secret government report on the u.s. torture program is being kept out of the public's hands critics say that that's because the obama administration is trying to protect its bruised reputation so when will these secrets come to light that's ahead the bradley manning case has entered a new a level of secrecy a military judge has ordered a closed hearing to decide how much of the trial will remain secret in order to protect national security a look at this unprecedented move ahead. it's

tuesday may seventh five pm in washington d.c. i make a lopez and you are watching our t.v. now before we get to today's top stories let me explain about the ribbon that i am wearing today along with all of my other colleagues this week marks the anniversary of nazi germany surrendering to the soviet union officially marking the end of world war two in europe so that is why we wear it to commemorate the enormous sacrifices humanity made to overcome oppression to mind ourselves about the millions of people and how they stared at genocide in the face and to celebrate the fact that nations around the world came together to triumph over tyranny now let's get to the news. we begin this afternoon with the latest information coming out of syria president bashar al assad now says that the israeli air strikes on syria over the weekend amount to a declaration of war he also warns that options are on the table for retaliation

this opens up the possibility for violence raging in syria to actually cross the borders and transition into a regional conflict yesterday the white house commented on the israeli air strikes on syria saying weapons transfers to hezbollah are of concern they went on to say that israel has a right to respond in quote their own asylum for an interest meanwhile the senate foreign relations committee chairman robert menendez has introduced legislation that would arm a syrian opposition groups but the bill goes further than that it would also provide military training as well as non-lethal aid to rebel groups that have been vetted and senator menendez is not alone in his demands for action senator john mccain and numerous republicans are calling for an american response as well this proposed legislation to back of rebels comes at an interesting time during this conflict and that is because a leading member of the united nations' independent commission on inquiry on syria actually told swiss t.v.

on monday that there's evidence suggesting that rebel forces are not president assad's army might have been the ones in using chemical weapons the un itself distance itself from those remarks saying that they have not yet reached conclusive evidence on the use of chemical weapons in syria so obviously there are a lot of information unfolding about the country right now to help me break it all down our to correspondent stasia charkha hi there ana stasia let's start off with the most recent developments secretary of state john kerry is visiting with sergey lavrov his russian counterpart in moscow today what came of these talks. well that may get us certainly what came out of the talks was quite unexpected in the sense because while the war drums are beating here in the united states with certain lawmakers proposing bills that would indicate following steps of u.s. heavy involvement in syria we did hear a more lighter talk come out of these negotiations in moscow earlier today basically what we heard was that. john kerry has said that the u.s.

and russia have similar positions on the syrian crisis and that they both believe the two countries that sold the syrian crisis everybody needs to stick to the geneva communiqué roadmap for creating a transitional government in syria which was outlined in june last year and both russia and the united states according to carry a lot of rob believe that this is still the most tangible way of trying to come up with a solution in syria and they're both of basically are saying that the opposition and the syrian government need to create a transitional government that would manage affairs on the ground and this hopefully according to them only negotiations would put a solution to events unraveling there now obviously both the u.s. and russia have to look at this situation being the most powerful countries that have influence over in syria and really consider what they can do in terms of an international response to this crisis was there any indication of other than

negotiations of what could possibly happen to be happening and it was there any indication of secretary kerry getting russian on the same page as at the as the u.s. at this point. no i make i'm certainly at this point are all we have outlined at least at this meeting in moscow that's all they've come out to see that they do believe that negotiations are the only way to dealing with this crisis certainly the u.s. and russia do remain split on whether or not there should. should occur on the ground of course the united states believes that to be the case russia doesn't but from what we heard today they still believe that this road map the existing one of a transition government is the key to achieving success on the ground now obviously secretary kerry is in moscow right now and talking about all these different aspects of the crisis in syria back here at home as i had mentioned senator robert menendez actually made this proposal legislation to possibly armed rebel troops on the ground that have been vetted can you talk about the timing of this proposed

bill with the israeli airstrikes this past weekend and also that u.n. inquiry that we've been talking about saying that those chemical weapons might have been used by syrian rebels and not the syrian government. megan the timing is very curious in the sense that there are so many different positions existing on the on the situation right now we have lavrov and kerry talking about negotiations we have u.s. lawmakers suggesting you know getting involved more heavily on the ground we do know that there's been a ton of finger pointing surrounding whether or not it was the syrian government that had used chemical weapons in the crisis whether it was the opposition that had used chemical weapons certainly a lot of finger pointing certainly the situation is at a boiling point and this particular bill what it does is kind of pushes for further u.s. involvement specifically it suggests that a two hundred fifty million dollar fund be created for the transition process to speed up the transition process on the ground but also calls for us to provide arms

and military training and non-lethal aid in syria to the opposition groups as well as would basically if it were to come through and be approved become a law that washington would have the right to impose sanctions on individuals providing oil and arms to the syrian government but this is only the first stage of this has to go through the committee itself and then this is the senate and the house of representatives to be signed by obama so we're going to have to wait and see if that happens and that would mean a new push a unilateral push from the u.s. an honest a lot of the critics of this bill and of the idea of intervention in syria actually have said that there is first of all no way to be able to vet these rebels and figure out which ones are actually going to send that money that fund money to al qaida we know some of them are actually linked with al qaeda so there's a lot of questions but let me ask you this there is also a number of safety nets for the syrian country for the u.s. not to be involved there's the u.n.

for instance in the security council there's also the arab league so can you talk about the safety nets and also possibly talk about the fact that the u.s. is the one that is saying we might need to step up. well that's the u.s. and its kind of western allies definitely trying to kind of push more action at this point. you know we still have to keep in mind that it's very split opinions it's lawmakers it's people who are actually dealing with the syrian crisis directly and certainly their safety nets in the u.n. has been a major one leg in this particular scenario because of russia and china blocking u.s. attempts to intervene in syria more heavily this is not been the case and it seems like this is a position that's going to stick around so while the united nations exists united nations security council the u.s. is not going to be able to just plow through any international collaboration without getting others involved are to correspondent on a softie a check on a reporting from new york. well her new criticism of the cia as long as the obama administration is coming out this week now that's because both are dragging their

feet on impending releases of this six thousand page review of the u.s. torture program their view was ordered back during the days when george w. bush was still president and was finally completed last year six million documents were reviewed and many of them indicate a single very disturbing fact that torture tactics did not produce the intelligence that led american forces to osama bin laden the report also reveals the fact that the bush administration was intimately involved in counterterrorism operations on the findings suggest that the cia lied numerous times about its covert activities and this information isn't even scratching the surface folks but once again a lawmakers and the public are playing the waiting game and to supporting the day when the full length report will come to light so what will it take to get this report out and what's taking so long to answer that i was joined earlier by investigative reporter with empty will marcy wheeler marcy's latest article was on

the it was featured in someone called why is obama withholding secret torture report from americans and i began by asking her just what we know so far about the six thousand page document. i think that the three important points are one contrary to claims torture did not lead to osama bin laden to torture really didn't provide us much useful intelligence generally and three the last one that cia was misrepresenting what was going on to congress choose the department of justice and even to the white house so you know a lot of the claims a lot of the claims that say d.o.j. approval were based on were in fact false and i think that's a really important point not just for the torture program but for cia oversight generally now marci in my beginning i have talked about the fact that it is taking forever to release this report what is taking it so long well if it was approved in

december and originally as the cia was supposed to kind of come back to the senate intelligence committee on february fifteenth to. complain or give any complete concerns i had about declassifying it at precisely that time where john brennan was being confirmed to be director of cia and he didn't read it before the confirmation hearings he just read the introductory volume. he afterwards has been saying well i need to read it and i need to read it there are indications that cia is going back to wants to go back to the senate intelligence report committee and say you did it wrong you shouldn't have followed the cables the cia's own documents about what happened with torture you should have instead interviewed the torturers and asked them what they thought. and and also the white house is conducting a review of apparently so basically i think it's it's stalling in the review

particularly given the cia in which they're you know they're using it as an opportunity to dispute the findings and as you had mentioned the cia a stalling it and also people said that the obama administration is working to slow it down or less they're certainly not helping to speed the process up more quickly you contend in your salon case that the white house is trying to protect itself rather than the cia how so well people often forget that the torture program actually was based on presidential authorization it goes back to september two thousand and one when george bush signed what's called a finding and a memorandum of notification authorizing the torture program so for at least four months after we started torturing there was no approval from d.o.j. it was just the president's ok and that's when a lot of the illegal stuff went on and i think that the obama administration has actually gone out of their way to protect the evidence that the white house was actually behind the torture program and it's clearly this report is either going to

show that the white house didn't know what they had ordered up with the torture program or it's going to show that the white house actually directly authorized. torture which was a legal and you know i think at the very least i mean he may be protecting obama excuse me he may be protecting bush but he also may be protecting his ties to sion of the presidency and its ability to continue to authorize these covert program or with inadequate oversight should we really be all that surprised that the president isn't quick to have this purport released i mean after all this is making him talking about the previous administration's potential illegal activities shortly after his election. right i mean you know obama came in and said i'm going to end torture but what he's not going to end is the authority of the president to order these covert operations torture is act the authorization for torture is actually the same authorization that obama used and probably is still using for targeted

killings for the drone program so he doesn't want to lose that that authority to to engage in these covert operations with with inadequate oversight now and back in two thousand and nine president obama talked about looking forward as opposed to looking backward let's play that obviously we're going to be looking at past practices and i don't believe that anybody has put the law on the other hand i also have a belief that we need to look forward as lost as opposed to looking looking backwards marci my question to you is is it possible to look forward without examining what happened in the past well you know i think that's what obama really wants to do but eventually the international community is going to look backward if we don't hear and we're going to lose credibility in refusing to hold torturers accountable here is there any rely on idea of what future consequences this release could have you

know the obama administration. pretended or investigated some of the torturers they investigated two of the deaths due to torture they investigated the cover up of torture with the torture tape destruction and they chose not to to charge anyone but again i mean one of the only cases where a cia person has been charged in assault cases going back to afghanistan in two thousand and three that d.o.j. wouldn't permit that person a guy by the name of david passaro to have all of the documents that show torture was approved from the president on down there are going to let me not sort of what they're hiding there are still a lot of questions we're going to have to wait for this docking to come out but who knows when that will be marcy wheeler investigative reporter at mt we'll dot net thanks well the british royal air force has reached new heights this week the u.k. conducted its first ever drone strike from british soil that's to say they controlled a drone from

a drone center actually in wedding ten before all drone operations were mostly control from an american base in nevada the british forces and tonight reaper drone to support its troops in afghanistan helmand province r.t. international correspondent sara firth has more. well the world's military drones used to be directed from a small u.s. base in the volatile but no more after the carried out its first joint strike in afghanistan launched from u.k. soil and an area based in lincolnshire not many official details have been released about the drone strike and nor are many likely to be given the level of secrecy surrounding the ministry of defense have confirmed that one of their reproduction is controlled by pilots from thirteen squadron an area affording to in lincolnshire fired a weapon supporting u.k. treats only ground in afghanistan now this is cause huge concern amongst and

campaign is at a recent protest here in the cave the organizers had said that they see this is a sign that there will be further civilian casualties as a result of drone use and also the politicians would make it easier for them to be able to carry out military intervention now certainly many have seen this is a sign that this control of advanced train technology has now spread far beyond the u.s. indeed person alone has invested more than three billion dollars that's about the billion pounds enjoying developments and there are plans to further expand its training arsenal now the control to see surrounding these civilians is highlighted again at the beginning of this year when the u.n. launched an investigation looking at the extent civilian casualties but also the legality surrounding drone yeasts now research team for the london university are assisting them in that investigation and their findings are going to be presented

to the un general assembly in the also and based on what they find they could then recommend that further action be taken as we're seeing this increase going usage with the u.k. having launched its first strike is proving ever more important to many campaign is that the legality and the question is a video. nice and now it just profanity in a clear apron arena that was r t international correspondent sara firth. well ever since the christmas day bomber plot was hatched in yemen americans have been aware of the country as a focal point for u.s. anti terror efforts but america was keenly interested in yemen well before that the first u.s. drone strike to hit the country was back in two thousand and three these operations have been highly classified and the american public is only beginning to recently understand the effects of these drones and what these strikes might actually do to the public here's what we do know about drone strikes in yemen courtesy of the

bureau of investigative journalism which has some of the most comprehensive data on strikes in this region between forty four and fifty four people are confirmed the strikes actually happened in yemen between two hundred thirty two and three hundred thirty three people have been killed dozens of them were civilians and two of them were children but as you can tell even the most comprehensive data still leaves a lot of questions to be answered the obama administration promised that these drone strikes were only meant to go after high level al qaeda members however as the data we just showed you proves civilians are often contant the crossfire as more of these instances are brought to light even mainstream now let's like bloomberg are beginning to question the strategy of these strikes might actually have because they have potential to radicalize the very population that the u.s. is attempting to help so our drone strikes are actually helping al qaeda out for a look at the bigger picture j.l. are from is

a veteran and writer and he joins me now kind of jail as american citizens when we first learned about these drones we were told as i had mentioned that they were only to target high level al qaeda members is this still the case. no of course not i mean that's the the the law that's being put forward that these strikes are signature in nature and that they only purportedly kill the very people that the target they're targeted but missiles don't don't don't know who the terrorists are shrapnels are flying when when there's an explosion don't care if the people around them are innocent women and children on one of the first you know even during the bush administration one of the worst strikes the the there was conducted under him killed sixty two children and now for obama to two or to put on this this and the obama administration to put on this basically propagate the pretense that missiles from a drone can't tell the difference between

a terrorist or not terrorist it's just a law now yemeni activist faria almost leni actually recently testified on the hill about the aftereffects of the u.s. drone strike in yemen so this is what he said no however when they think of america they think of that that they feel from the drones that hoover over their heads that the two fired missiles at any time what the violent militants had to brief us liefeld to achieve one drone strike accomplished in and distant it is now and can sound good against americans. this is not an isolated and in assistance the drone strikes of the face of america too many images so is it possible that these drone strikes are actually helping out the insurgent. yes of course i mean the way he said this is mostly nice i said that's true that the drones are now the face of america there was

a protest in the middle east somewhere i don't know whether it was yemen but they weren't burning effigies of obama during burning effigies of bush they were burning effigies of a predator drone so for many of these people have never never heard of nine eleven who have never heard of world of the world trade center you know the global war on terror we are the reasons why the global war on terror is being conducted in their countries. what the associate with america is not a hollywood it's not obama but a killer robot now in your opinion how a secrecy surrounding the program actually affecting the way that americans view that program and how about the people in the middle east and in particularly in yemen. the way effects americans have because of this the sick or sees that there is no empathy for for of for the people of the victims of these drone strikes

it's very hard to to to. identify and empathize with people who have to live you know have to live their lives oh you know when when when their family can be can be targeted by killer robots i mean that's nuts you know we as americans you cannot cannot basically begin to comprehend what that's like to live under a constant buzzing of just flying around you over your head and finally i just read an interesting article that came out of the guardian it was written by dan roberts and it argued that president obama is using drone strikes as an an excuse to not put people in guantanamo bay we do know that he is very critical and want on a mobile bay what's your response to this very quickly oh my god it's nuts for first of all you know at least it's nuts to think that that goodwill has become

a standard of justice compared to the drone strike because the rule was being abrogated in incomplete to destroy you you have for americans now killed and this president and he needs to stop all right that was jay. romney is a writer for the young americans for liberty. thank you so much pretrial hearings for private first class bradley manning the accused wiki leaks are responsible for the biggest document drop in american history actually continues this week in an unprecedented move defense attorney david coombs requested a closed hearing a dry run of sorts the point is to try to decide out how to approach classified information during the trial supporters of this decision say that it will make for fewer delays when the official trial actually begins opponents claim that this is a dress rehearsal for a struggle that's actually shrunk bit in secrecy now one of those opponents is just

the right actor and she works with the government accountability project she joined me just a short time ago and i asked her why this unprecedented private hearing is so groundbreaking. well normally in the military you can have closed hearings in a court martial but normally there is limited there has been an extraordinary number of close proceedings here i am not personally against the fact that they want to have a closed hearing tomorrow to try to hammer this out what. i'm having trouble with here is that for example the judge asked the prosecution how much of the trial do you envision closing and the prosecution answered oh very little but then when she'd drill down on that it turns out the prosecution said that they wanted to close thirty percent and that is really unprecedented so we're dealing with an unprecedented level of secrecy even poor court martial and one of the reasons that they do want to close thirty percent of the trial is because the government has one

hundred forty one witnesses who can testify about half of those people will be testifying about classified information meaning that they would have to close thirty percent of the trial in public and also we do know that one of the people that will actually be testifying is somebody that was possibly involved in the osama bin ladin raid the information that came out of there and they actually talked about disguising him to actually make that so that it would be even more secret but obviously you have to have some disagreements with private first class manning a lawyer david coombs and his decision to actually ask for this dry run of sorts why do you think he made this decision i'm only guessing but i think he made this decision because he wanted to see how this very unorthodox procedure would work in reality in terms of having a witness that he may not be able to cross-examine the way you normally would a witness who has already been granted the ability to be examined in an undisclosed

location in disguise and i i oh i think it was the right move for him to ask for that there's been so much that has been secret of. already in this trial leading up i mean there have been no transcripts of court rulings of what happened in the courtroom of motions that are submitted and finally when facing a lawsuit finally the government released eighty four documents but again that's out of four hundred documents so it's already a case that's been riddled with secrecy and a lot of people say like your such as yourself say that this is just another example of the fact that they are planning on conducting a secret trial at the same time though as i mentioned earlier opponent proponents for the say that it will actually help speed up the trial when the official trial begins because it will make for fewer interruptions what is their response to the you know i've heard that i've heard that argument but the way to have fewer

interruptions is to hammer this stuff out ahead of time which would be what normally happens in a civilian trial you would agree ahead of time on information that is sensitive being used with substitutions with redactions with summaries sometimes with code words you would figure all of that out ahead of time well in advance of trial and right now we are a few weeks away from june third when trial begins and this is again the military asking for my understanding is an unprecedented level of secrecy even for a court martial now when private first class bradley manning first addressed the court his testimony was classified but a recording was actually leaked to the freedom of press foundation what was the justification for that that testimony in particular being classified in the first place and were there any negative consequences of having a leaked. well i think. i don't know why it was classified in the first place

because i know documentarian alexa o'brien has been making transcripts of what happened she is a regular citizen you know even the military has referred people in the press oh go ask brian if you need a transcript in terms of the consequences i think the judge was quite displeased with that and said that it was not a right but a privilege that the cross be allowed to know what's going on even for this hearing today and the one tomorrow press credentials were not initially permitted the public affairs office was not going to issue any press credentials and i guess they relented on that decision jesselyn radack from the government accountability project thank you for weighing in. all right and that's going to do it for now for more on the stories we covered go to youtube dot com slash r t america or r t dot com slash usa follow me on twitter at meghan underscore lopez.

a story that's so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else. and realize that everything you. are is a big.