from rhodes to. brooklyn. it's nine pm here in moscow the top stories from our team tonight the threat of an imminent western attack on syria seems to be receding britain's lawmakers are wrestling currently with the prime minister's attack plans while president obama is under pressure to get congress' approval. although washington accuses president assad of using chemicals on civilians our t.v. looks at america's own murky past from deadly agent orange to vietnam in vietnam to depleted uranium in iraq that's coming up this hour. in other news good bye to guantanamo to algerians or of patrick aged from the infamous prison facility we asked what's going to happen to many more who were cleared for release long ago . and up to dozens of convicted sex offenders in britain get themselves taken off

the police watch list start talks to one child abuse victim who fears now for the public safety. hello and good evening my name is kevin irwin this is our t. coming to live from moscow our top story tonight the u.s. and british strive to launch a military operation against syria's come up against new hurdles both at home and abroad in westminster parliament's debate been debating for hours now with the prime minister up again skeptical employees david cameron told them it's highly likely that the assad regime is behind the attack but there's not one hundred percent proof he also refused to make the case that a strike would stop or reduce the bloodshed in syria artie's laura smith reports from london. the prime minister's had to backtrack quite significantly during the

course of the last twenty four thirty six hours the motion that was going to be debated the softening was originally on military action but cameron knew that he wasn't going to get the votes on that he knew that labor m.p.'s that opposition m.p.'s would not back him and he also knew that seventy of his own members of parliament weren't going to back the motion either so now this motion is about a strong humanitarian response it's significantly watered down but it still includes of course a clause on military intervention in principle so that may be what gives a lot of m.p.'s pause for thought even on this new motion opposition m.p.'s the labor party has already indicated that it's not going to back the prime minister cameron also has agreed in the last thirty six hours that he will wait for the results of this un report on the lead to do so chemical weapons and he will also go back to the un security council to see if he can get a mandate for intervening in syria but then again the prime minister's office says that it would be legal under humanitarian doctrine to launch

a strike on syria even without the agreement of the un security council in the last day we've had military former military chiefs literally queuing up to talk about their reservations to express their concerns about military strikes in syria we heard from the former head of the british army general lord down that he was very instrumental in iraq and afghanistan he says that even the use of chemical weapons doesn't constitute an invitation to the international community to intervene in the country's internal affairs and we've also heard here on our t.v. from lord west who's a former minister and first the lord he says we must put diplomacy before military action just because you go in intending to do one thing doesn't mean that it actually works out like that let's hear what he had to say the danger with saying we're going to use a limited surgical strike is all my experience of wars is to find that you. have a lot of unintended consequences you think you're just going to do one little thing

but actually things then happen and expounds are we not at all convinced that attack would actually help the condition of the people within within syria and then we had from former senior naval officers rear admiral chris parry he says instead of real crease missiles we should be sending diplomatic cruise missiles and also there's a problem of legitimacy we need to carry the un including russia and china along with any action that they're going to take and if you're thinking of going to war you have to be absolutely sure of the legitimacy and even so there's no guarantee that it's going to work let's hear that worst case scenario military force is used it doesn't have any effect on the situation whatsoever and we have an escalation both within the country and within the region wants the military are misused in these circumstances politicians tend to lose control of the situation and then spend the next few years catching up and of course military chiefs aren't the only ones to express reservations there's been a couple of polls done of ordinary people one in the daily telegraph that said that

just nine percent of people in the u.k. want to see any kind of military action in syria and the other one saying that twenty five percent of people would be behind military strikes not not a not a positive picture in terms of military intervention in syria here in the u k. ok that's the picture from london in the us a growing number of american lawmakers are now urging barack obama to get congressional approval and to explain the objectives of any planned attack the u.s. leader squarely blames last week's chemical assault on regime forces says a strike will send a strong warning to president assad meantime russia urges the u.n. to investigate several more incidents of alleged chemicals use which the syrian government claims the rebels are behind in neighboring israel the prospect of an attack on syria is causing a stir the government is bolstering its defense systems and partially calling up army reservists and case of a spillover more reaction to that says syria's other neighbors are increasingly are

willing to support plans for intervention is what jordan says the u.s. has an air base there it says it will not be a launch pad for any military action against against syria iraq saying this also saying it will not provide its airspace for an attack on a neighboring country lebanon's foreign minister meantime spoken out against military action echoing what others have to say that its airspace will be available and this is what egypt's got to say issued a strong warning against foreign intervention in syria. ok well let's talk more now about last week's chemical attack which to britain gordons a former commander of the british military chemical defense regiment now c.e.o. and secured by a limited a company specializing in how to tackle chemical attacks are delighted to have you on the program one of the main difficulties that the u.n. inspectors are facing on the ground at the moment you think talk about the. well first of all that the situation on the ground for there it's it's an area of

conflict still we know that it's still force over there sort of quasar a cease fire or in effect what the inspectors have got to do is they set up a sort of crime scene and pick through it of the hands and knees so so that's a huge challenge we are now seven days after the event you know it's very strong indications that a nerve agent sunlight sarin is used as an old possessed an agent so the the evidence of such is evaporating so so that's a challenge so the other key thing of course the u.n. inspectors are only there to identify if and what chemical weapon was used i think the key bit of information or intelligence this missing is clarification of exactly who is responsible although they are going to have to find out who did. well this is our this is why i think you've got to piece together all the intelligence available very much in the favor that that the permanent five perhaps should form

a team of experts not just chemical but military as well who could look at all the evidence that's on the ground in syria and also the intelligence that's been gathered by those intelligence services and put it together that they're not only the chance to come up with a ninety to ninety five guaranteed. who is responsible i must say firmly looks like the op but they don't like the regime at the moment and there doesn't seem another plausible. explanation but at the moment the level of of confirmation is is probably only in the seventy's percent bracket which i think is why u.k. and u.s. of reining back slightly on the military option amish we all saw those terrible pictures of course sol's last week. the u.n. and arab envoy to syria lakhdar brahimi says the team though hasn't yet established what they were suffering from what chemical was used there why is it so difficult to diagnose what happened if you like. well again you've got to be

there at the time and they've come in four or five days afterwards all the video footage that's been seen around the world shows the sort of symptoms but are until they've got the definitive evidence by sampling of from soil of the day on the ground and also of course taking blood and hair samples off to provide that definitive alts and until they've done that they'll be no doubt doing some analysis and testing on the ground but i expect they'll be removing stuff to labs to say that but all the evidence we've seen at the moment very much points towards some sort of nerve agent but i think we're absolutely right to wait until the u.n. to give us a definitive answer which they've got the capability experience and equipment to do course if we rewind the clock but this is going on for two and a half years and it wasn't that long ago we heard warnings even for america that

there was a worry that there wasn't enough guards security around the chemical weapons stockpiles in syria that they could fall into terrorist hands i don't quite know the situation there maybe you know better than me i mean what how much of an issue could that be that some of this stuff somehow or other escaped the custody of the regime and has got into the wrong hands that had been a report of it before. i absolutely play for ration of chemical weapons or biological weapons out of syria or into terrorist groups and see this is must be the worst case scenario here there have been reports on corroborated that some terrorist groups have again some of the stocks. of the syrian stockpile yet to be confirmed but that of course is is a possibility in future and you know all world nations want to guard against the thought of sarin of on an airliner or in a big city like moscow or london is absolutely horrific and very difficult to guard

against which i think why it's imperative that that the world acts now first of all in response to this massacre last week but also to prevent proliferation out of syria and spreading the chemical menace further than the borders of syria itself you said again trying to pin down who did this you said in an interview before the evidence about the delivery of gas could point to who is behind the attack isn't in there. well i think first of all this appeared to be a very well planned attack pretty bombardment of conventional weapons to destroy windows and doors and then the bombardment of chemical weapons. this was a sophisticated bombardment of the scale of a larger at nine hundred eighty eight so that gassed the kurds and killed five thousand in one day and subsequently tell thousand died this is not

a little bit of sarin or nerve agent that's been used this is a large amount that's been put together and delivered in an effective means that at the moment we're looking at rocketry and one hundred forty millimeter rocketry what the u.n. are looking at and that delivery means at this stage points very much was the regime as we know that we have that they have that capability i don't not aware of the opposition doesn't certainly not aware of the opposition if they have any chemical weapons have it on that scale or starting from this the other worry we heard of burma say last night that intervention would be a rough across the knuckles. a short punishment if you like to whoever did it in syria to say don't do this again the worry is that of course that as some sort of retaliation more chemical weapons could be used and there could be more death if there's an intervention there. i think i think that is a concern of i know that the statement coming out of parliament in the u.k.

is carefully worded protection of civilians what one of the things i've been advocating is is we should protect the civilians by giving them advice and training of what to do in these chemical attacks it would appear that a lot of people died by diving into their cellars which was quite natural in an air raid in a bog bargeman exactly what happened in a larger actually rather can't ensure simply the best thing to do is to get to high ground upwind i know the british government are also talking about providing basic protective equipment and again i think that would be very effective in protecting the civilian population it might make the use of chemical weapons in syria less likely because they'll be less effective and i think as important it will allow the international community to develop its intelligence understanding of this to confirm exactly what has happened and then take steps and i think you know i think absolutely we should break down the chemical weapon arsenal that the regime have in

its biological arsenal performance but perhaps using the u.n. to do that under some sort of cease fire arrangement would be more effective dropping bombs and tomahawk missiles of some of these chemical sites appreciate the term memories to britain gordon the former commander indeed of the british military is chemical defense regiment also c.e.o. know as you are of secure by a limited thank you for your time. while the british parliament stands divided over whether to strike could syria washington claims there's a moral reason to attack but as an artist what important are reports the use of chemical weapons was of no concern was that the u.s. were used in the past as you may find some of the images coming up here upsetting. wagging its finger of moral authority the u.s. began laying the groundwork for syrian intervention on monday let me be clear the indiscriminate slaughter of civilians the killing of women and children and innocent bystanders by chemical weapons is a moral obscenity the obscenity of chemical weapons is something u.s.

secretary of state john kerry a vietnam veteran is very familiar with five decades ago america used agent orange during the vietnam war reportedly spraying more than twenty million gallons of the chemical weapon and other herbicides over parts of southern vietnam and along the borders of neighboring laos and cambodia it had the side effects of being terribly you know toxic and it caused lots of birth defects and terrible terrible effects of the genetic nature. exposed to it the herbicides were reportedly contaminated with dioxin a deadly compound that remains toxic for decades and causes birth defects cancer and other illnesses the vietnam red cross estimates that agent orange has affected three million people spanning three generations including at least one hundred fifty thousand children born with severe birth defects since the war ended in one nine hundred seventy five the u.s. often and its foreign policy particularly is quick to blame others for things that

it itself and does and this is known around the world as there the double standard of the united states the moral and political hypocrisy of washington in iraq america's chemical weapons legacy will be remembered for generations to come since the two thousand and three invasion experts say the number of iraqi children born with birth defects has skyrocketed some babies born without eyes others without limbs in fallujah researchers can't provide statistics saying there's too many cases to report scientists link the epidemic to citizens exposure to white phosphorus and depleted uranium toxic. weapons reportedly used by u.s. soldiers who invaded the country all of the genetic damage effects that we see in iraq in my opinion were caused by uranium weapons depleted uranium weapons. and depleted uranium weapons of a new toy and these a really terrible weapons these are all weapons which of absolutely destroyed the

genetic integrity of the population of iraq depleted uranium is a radioactive element that engineers say increases the penetration capacity of shells it's believed to have a shelf life of some four billion years and is otherwise known as the silent murderer that never stops killing there is a clear reason that the world has banned entirely the use of chemical weapons there is a reason the international community has set a clear standard and why many countries have taken major steps to eradicate these weapons while washington continues lecturing damascus a team of u.n. investigators is in syria trying to verify if chemical weapons were used if so what kind in the meantime if the u.s. does launch a unilateral military strike against syria without u.n. approval then the country policing the world will be in clear violation of international law reporting from new york bring up or not artsy. coming up saying

goodbye to get mo today to nice have finally been transferred from the notorious facility that still isn't being close we've got a report on that right after this break. well. it's technology innovations all the developments around russia we've got the future covered. 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 that everything you thought you knew. i'm tom harpur welcome to the big picture.

speak your language. news programs and documentaries in spanish what matters to you breaking news a little turn a tip angles keep these stories. so you hear. the spanish find out more visit. but again two inmates from guantanamo bay prison have been returned home to algeria one was cleared for transfer from the infamous facility as far back as two thousand and six the other in twenty ted meantime the hunger strike at the prison over indefinite detention still ongoing with thirty six inmates still refusing food he's going to teach you can report. we were transferred to all geria this is the first transfer of detainees in nearly

a year and the hunger strike that the detainees had subjected themselves to certainly build up the momentum for action because before the hunger strike the administration had shut down the office of the state department that was working on the transfers there was really no hope for these men even for those who'd been cleared for release by the u.s. government a long time ago like these two all jury and men both of them had been held at guantanamo for at least eleven years both were cleared for release years ago one in two thousand and six and the other twenty ten both went on hunger strike to protest their own lawful detention one of them was systematically force fed not quite clear at the moment whether the men were released in their homeland upon upon return and algerian press service reports said their cases would be handled by competent courts the lawyer for one of. those released said algerians return from the prison camps are typically held for up to twelve days before for questioning their release

certainly gives hope to other inmates who were held in guantanamo indefinitely and never charged with the crime the number of hunger strikers went down from more than one hundred people to thirty six as we learned from the updates that we're getting from guantanamo socials out of one hundred sixty four detainees now in guantanamo eighty four people have been cleared for release just like those old jury and men but we don't know how soon they may leave the prison then you have a handful of people all a little a little more than a dozen who are considered to be high value detainees but then there are there is a list of forty six at least forty six men that have not been cleared for release but who the u.s. government indicates that they will continue to hold. those people without charge according to the u.s. government these men are too dangerous to be released and the lawyers of many of

them disagree and they're trying to argue against it but they cannot be tried either in military or civilian court because of inadequate or tainted evidence against them that made many of these men were tortured which would make evidence against them inadmissible in court with the administration is now trying to do is to lift the ban on transfers to the united states so that maybe they can close the prison but still hold the man behind bars now some argue that even if congress lift the ban on transfers to the e.u. was that could mean just a change of address not a not a solution to the problem a few different potential. actually she can and will use and bring the egyptian police have arrested a senior muslim brotherhood official a bit of widely crack down on the movement's leadership. the head of the brotherhood's freedom and justice party is accused of inciting violence and terrorism. on the run after security forces volatile dispersed the cairo sit ins where protesters demanded reinstatement of ousted president morsi. hundreds of

rallies in western argentina in protest against government plans for shale gas exploration campaign has pointed to the harm the drilling could do to the environment in july president fernandez announced a one point five billion dollars deal between the state old company and the us energy giant shed wrong to exploit argentina's shale gas reserves. one of the biggest unions in greece the civil service confederation has staged a nationwide strike against public layoffs the government's play to axe thousands of state jobs to meet their sturdy requirements of its international lenders more rallies and strikes are expected to take place over the coming days the country's finance ministers said this week the greece may need get another bailout. thanks for your company tonight i'll be back with more news in just about forty minutes time but between now and then exam the boy who looks at global campaigns for workers' rights examiners say that after this next break.

so the historic and for many americans tragic ruling in the bradley manning case just got a lot weirder because he has declared that he wants to live the rest of his life as a woman named chelsea well i'm glad his lawyer got him to keep this revelation to himself until the end of the trial but sadly he really should have pushed for him. keep quiet about this just a bit longer why you ask because if there is one thing i know about the mainstream media is that the second sex is involved everything else instantly becomes a distant second case in point what is the legacy of bill clinton is it the job murderer who are sure to nafta no is it a violent foreign policy throughout the world somewhat similar to bush's and

obama's of locations like haiti somalia in the balkans etc no his legacy is based on the least important sin he committed as a president cheating on his wife for the years couldn't wasn't office the lewinsky scandal just smothered everything else i am pretty sure that if i know the mainstream media they are going to use manning as gender confusion to overshadow and drown out everything else involved in the case but that's just my opinion.

hello and welcome to worlds apart around two hundred million people around the globe war and that number is set to increase in the coming here and while politicians and policymakers out welcoming the animists and do something the fruits of their labor have failed to materialize just yet how much force will it get before it gets any better well to discuss that i'm now enjoying by gaia right there at the director general of the international labor organisation thank you very much for your time mr i that's now your organization forecast. global unemployment is set to increase to around two hundred million by two thousand and fifteen and as far as i understand this figure is based on forecast we have been revised downwards before so it doesn't look like this period of labor doom and gloom any time soon well you're right the situation is bad and it's getting worse there's no doubt

about that and of course the future is not inevitable the future depends on what policymakers do the bad news as you've indicated is the most recent forecasts for economic growth is that the world economy is going to grow less quickly than we previously thought it would and if that is the case then i'm afraid the unemployment figures are going to go up even more strongly than the figures are to mention and you just said that it all depends on the actions of politicians and back in two thousand and eight they scale of this crisis became apparent and when people started losing their jobs and bulk many world leaders were very adamant and speaking in favor of a new paradigm that we're talking about the new set of rules and trade and financial markets but it doesn't look like those. bold statements have been put into practice seems like a long time ago doesn't it the world leaders were saying that they had to be

fundamental changes in globalization that the world economy had to be fairer more sustainable and you're right the g twenty in two thousand and nine the leaders said we have to put the creation of quality job at the center of recovery from the crisis but four years later sitting in moscow at the g. twenty labor ministers meeting we have to conclude that that commitment hasn't really been carried out i think. many people is that while there hasn't been too much action in terms of trying to how ordinary. bailing out ordinary people and trying to curb the blow for them there was quite a lot of action to how big corporations and bailing out big companies who later laid out workers and thousands would you agree with me that demand for this major change has actually been missed and this misery that shocked many people back in

two thousand and eight is now essentially treated like a new normal i think people do recognize that the crisis meant that an enormous effort was going to have to be made to get back on our feet again but they want to sing is they want policy is which work ok we make a sacrifice but we want to see a result the reality is so far people have made the sacrifice but up until now they don't feel the results of that the second thing is a natural human reflex people want policies which affair if i make an effort somebody should make an effort and those who have more capacity who are richer should make a bigger effort and i think the feeling is that the load is not being fairly this is about social justice let me pick up on that or you just mentioned social justice obviously we're having this conversation in a country where i'm working class proletariat used to be a commanding force. the labor movement was part of the state ideology obviously

that ideology failed for a number of reasons that are beyond the scope of this conversation but such concepts like social justice solar darity social protections i find them to be sainted by the association of the socialist ideas in certain countries like the united states for example you know such concept as social justice is now treated as a bit of a dirty war it may be something and dignified reserved for slackers in moochers rather than active people trying to do something for their society and i understand what you're saying but i have to say. my organization has the objective of social justice as its primary obligation as an organization which is nearly one hundred years old we work for social justice and what i find despite the this sort of connotation that you're right exists i find that people are talking more and more and more about the need.