economic downturns in the final months belong to the old sang i and the rest because i became ill baby every week. speak your language. programs and documentaries in arabic in school here on. reporting from the world talks about six of the r.p. interviews intriguing story for you. in trying. to find out more visit our big. dog called.

this. american life the american exceptional american exceptionalism testimony to america's exceptionalism american exceptionalism the united states is indeed exception america is exceptional what makes us accept this except. some may disagree. but i believe america is exceptional. and part because we have shown a willingness through the sacrifice of blood and treasure to stand up not only for

our own merits self-interest but for the interests of all. i agree america is exceptional but what's exceptional about my country is that. we do exceptionally bad things we do it well. we do it often. we do it and no one else can. taking action and doing things without accountability that other nations cannot get away with. the standard of international norms when we ourselves do not adhere to that same standards it's something many of us take pride in your self appointed right to dominate destroy. and take control. only that's not what it's called here it's called american exceptionalism and it's been around for a long time. the original meaning of it of course comes from the u.s.

communist party which in one thousand twenty seven was telling stalin that they were having trouble trying to get american workers to make revolution against capitalism because of american exceptionalism nope. even further back to the beginning the true american exceptionalism i think was during the founding generations when they wanted a limited government that didn't interfere in other people's business so the phrase has been completely turned around. so what exactly is american exceptionalism today well remember this yes we can yes we can yes we can yes. yes. that's it yes we can do whatever we want you should do what we want. and if you don't. will make you. president after president this idea of exceptionalism dominated the white house was

an alawite hawk fighting in the name of the war on terror a strong republican line with democrats like clinton and obama it's our duty as americans to help a humanitarian crisis through of course military intervention. how else do you get what you want. this is why the little bit so they can steal the oil. to stop. the to. terms of profits. destruction. it gives us something to rebuild improve fix even if it isn't broken. the term american exceptionalism is really nothing more or less since world war two than

a cold warder euphemism for the military lobby and the powerful faction in the east coast establishment to justify wars and coup d'etat is around the world using the name of god democracy free enterprise the american way of life to justify that. that america is some kind of city on the hill for decades our government has found a reason to go to war. we call it spreading democracy. the idea that the united states is somehow above and beyond other countries that it is if you will i suppose many would argue ordained by god to carry out some sort of an ideal. that's right it was our god given right to invade vietnam and iraq. belgrade. destroyed gadhafi. and now we have to help the syrians even

if it means helping al qaeda the president told us and have been telling us for years let us be proud of the two and a half million young americans who served in vietnam who served with honor and distinction and one of the most better prizes in the history of missions the american people have a genius for splendid and unselfish action. and into the hands of america god has placed the destinies of afflicted humanity america has a responsibility to stand with our allies when they are trying to save innocent lives and preserve peace freedom and stability in europe. that is what we are doing in kosovo the qualities the courage and compassion that we strive for in america also determine our conduct abroad. the american flag stands for more than our power and our interests. ultimately this is not about who occupies this

office at any given time it's about who we are as a country. so . we as a country invaded iraq in two thousand and three we were looking for weapons of mass destruction that didn't even exist a little white lie to the un never heard anyone. my fellow citizens at this hour american and coalition forces are in the early

stages of military operations to disarm iraq to free its people and to defend the world from grave danger. on my orders coalition forces have begun striking selected targets of military importance to undermine saddam hussein's ability to wage war. these are opening stages of what will be a broad and concerted campaign. our president was looking to get rid of evil saddam so iraqis could enjoy the kind of democracy we enjoy in america oh by the way speaking of democracy that president wasn't really elected president another guy actually won the election but this guy became president just think of it as another exceptional quality of the us of a. bush was also trying to defeat the terrorists behind september eleventh in iraq only they were in a different country we occupied two years earlier afghanistan we carry out as

all empires to kind of savage brutality. that is. covered by this language of being exceptional in and of being because we are exceptional of being handed the right to walk into other people's countries and demand that they conform according to some estimates over a million iraqi civilians died in ten years of war we are still fighting in afghanistan and have spent over a trillion dollars on both since two thousand and one we pay our levon million dollars a day in taxes to support our government's wars after world war two america had built up a powerful war machine but had nothing to do with it and so the wars began korea vietnam iraq the list goes on today the us defense budget is more than the next time are just the fence in the world put together why put all that away. we have

the budget we have the bombs it only makes sense to get the booty. in the twenty first century you can't simply tell the people that you're going to go in occupy another place in order to steal their oil or in order to take their gold or whatever you have to find a pretext and what we in the united states one of the most effective ways to do that is to convince the population that what is being done is moral it is ethical it is righteous and it is just.

i have a responsibility as president the you with problems such as this before they do permanent harm to our national interests. in one thousand nine hundred nine we decided it was just to bomb. hit cities journalist bridges even ones that had small children playing on them. small villages passenger trains and embassies became collateral damage to bring down one man because he wasn't doing what we wanted once in the hague i went to talk with most of it he had trouble understanding really why the united states was so hostile to serbia and he said to me well you know we represented too much of a socialist ideal and there's some truth to that i think but he was a convenient target. some of our targets were previously our friends we took out one market. for a little no reason in libya as well that's

a reason. example it started out that we were just providing this air cover to prevent. threat against people that he had made but of course then it became let's take out take out leaders.

libya was another humanitarian projects you know a fight for democracy human rights. stand in the show an iraqi or a palestinian and you realize how empty this rhetoric of exceptionalism is and human rights we were tacitly supporting saddam hussein when he was gassing kurds. over one hundred forty thousand people killed when we provided satellite imagery so he could drop poison gas on iranian troops not to mention the depleted uranium that we've left all over the place. coupled with. sprayed all over. and then you know let's go all the way back to world war two.

secret laboratory. was able to build the world's most sophisticated robots. mission to teach me. to care about humans. this is why you should. only.

another exception we are the only country to ever use nuclear weapons on another country twice. the most prominent examples of american exceptionalism i can think of is the rhetoric of weapons of mass destruction around the world using not as a precursor to actually invade other nations when the us historically has been the greatest aggressor and user of chemical and nuclear weapons. we also work very hard to make sure the rest of the world doesn't have that. especially in the middle east while for one very close friend we've made an exception they are allowed but don't have to tell anyone. in syria we demand the government give up its chemical weapons and don't want to hear about possible rebel use of deadly toxic warfare.

and this exceptionalism is all based upon picking and choosing what is in our national interest at the time when it's and i would say it's not a it's not a a major clarion. policy that we maintain across the board toward everybody it's me and. you know we make exceptions for reference. and our interests. aside following egypt back in the hands of the military and a softer iran all in our interest but it usually sounds more like this from the president. i believe that the people's representatives must be invested in what america does abroad and that is the time to show the world that america keeps our commitments we do what we say and we lead with the belief that right makes might. the other way around. take world war two number one take the first

world war even and go all the way up to the history of almost continuous regional wars that the us has played a medal in hand in since the beginning of the cold war so right up until the present with syria and that that is all justified internally under the name of american exceptionalism.

human rights in bahrain and qatar drones killing civilians in yemen and women in saudi arabia not exceptionalism they're simply exceptions. saudi arabia has nothing in common with the mock recy has nothing in common with human rights has nothing in common with equal rights especially for women they still can't drive and then when you hear about this latest case of a woman who was gang raped and then given two hundred lashes even though she was the victim there's something. fundamentally sick about that and us and this administration the obama administration hasn't said one word we cannot and must not and we will not obama is busy we don't have health care for everyone we have a national poverty rate of fifteen percent and we have more of our population into . prison and the rest of the world. the us is an exceptional country but not in the

way that most people think about it the us is exceptionally dysfunctional and if we compare the united states with advanced democracies around the world the us is in a category all by itself nothing really works here. the us government is set up into branches to ensure no one body too much power one of them is congress but most of the time the two main parties are bickering blocking each other and sometimes shutting down the government altogether in fact the last time the us government came together in an official declaration of war was

world war two and back then we were fighting another exceptionally. worse. terrorist for the. weeks past. just destroying the german constitution when it came to white people to lose them and support this program before being able to seal beach the whole thing. so well at home there is much work to do abroad there is even more. our domestic political dysfunction helps to explain the ease with which we go abroad to mess around with other people's lives it's much easier for the political establishment in washington to say ok let's go. bombed serbia let's go invade iraq i thought most americans don't exactly see it that way. american

politics and american foreign policy is that we're americans we can do whatever we want we're not subject to any international law or international rules that apply to other countries. we can spy on other countries governments and even allies but most of all our own people americans. an exceptional man named edward snowden told the world this but not too many countries and most americans don't seem to mind. the american

population is you know the government is very effective at propaganda so you know president obama called for this independent review of n.s.a. activities. but the director. of the board that's doing this independent investigation is james clapper the defense national intelligence. the five people on this board all have relationships with obama. so americans are ok with being exceptional at least most of them when you go through public school when when you go through universities you're taught certain perspectives about the united states that somehow set it apart from the rest of the world not that the united states is simply one nation among many nations on the planet but that the united states is somehow better. we all pledged allegiance to the flag in school every child every day. gratefully to the.

united states and. in to me that building the only chance to you through those. with everyone listening. to you feeling exceptional just like you. except. i can't answer that i work for the government old age. or figment. are you feeling exceptional today. and i think the lives of the things i think i think that i think united states if you make love there will be a bit of a country to go with the money for one of the big the full burden. diversity. respecting it minorities right to freedom freedom freedom mercy freedom one world. exceptional stand out from other countries. the i would say part

of the problem solving ability and a liar every man can work together to do so. and i feel like we're more hiring they do you think make the united states. in other countries. like the place for instance. it. just worked out that. there. were three and. the thing for our south koreans. are you feeling exceptional today. are you feeling exceptional today. what do you think makes us exceptional nothing. some americans do not think we're exceptional they question more it would. mean shelburne of the empire and i think when you have the establishment being so

arrogant and blind to what these policies do to the rest of the world you have the entire populace being bred into this exceptional mindset where we're just completely ignorant of what our policies do and we're completely removed and attached to them which is extremely dangerous american exceptionalism has been at the center of our nation's experience for nearly four hundred years what makes america unique politically culturally in science and industry what is the source of our countries. and has forgotten why america is an exceptional nation in the. british the french. this is us exceptional this is we. know why. those of us who know we are not exceptional we are the exception.

wealthy british scientists. tirelessly. led markets. it's going to find out what's really happening to the global economy with mike stronger for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines two kinds

a report on our. place it was a. very hard to take a look again long here is a place that has that would that hurt their feelings. about calling. the first stimulus plan. the first split of the people.

real damage and complexity of this oil spill was not something you can grasp just by looking at dirty birds we have between four to five million people in this directly affected area of the coast and it's pretty clear why it's not being reported because b.p. can't afford to have a reported all along the gulf coast are clean they are safe and they're open for business if b.p. is the single largest oil contributor to the pentagon the us war machine is heavily reliant upon b.p. and their oil this is a huge step backwards for the marker see it's a step forward for oligarchy carex it is toxic is a look a lot like spraying in vietnam it was it was not a picture that either the government or b.p. really wanted to have out there i don't want dispersants to be the agent on which

all of this bill's. pool salaries are gonna. child all our legal rights. and even. more. paying for the young girls camel for the future hunter. between two and three hundred million guns in united states so you can act like they're not here and keep kids away from them. the pass' out is they large you know i mean this teaches them a lot of rough spots ability and simply come to think through the eyes of children if we can't do it for our children for our future what is the country home.

the n.s.a. surveillance council's farson exodus from the dot com domain and global push to shield sensitive data from government spies also. you know you are furious businesses are enraged and the world economy is held hostage but for lawmakers in washington it's career over country less than forty eight hours remain for the united states to and the dead log and avoid defaulting on its seventeen trillion dollar debt. and an easy celebration in moscow as over one hundred thousand muslims gather for one of his long holiest days this fall sunday's violent ethnic rioting provo by the fatal stabbing over.