coming up on r t o o canada our neighbors to the north now find themselves involved in a spy scandal it appears a canadian intel agency is accused of collecting mete data on its own its citizens which is a violation of the constitution that story just ahead. inside get though the detention facility in cuba is shielded away from the public and the media but r.t. has gained access to get for a rare look inside our reports coming up. and a friend or foe president obama meets with the prime minister of pakistan and washington will the meeting focus on drone attacks and trying to ease the rising tensions between the nations that story later in the show.

it's wednesday october twenty third eight pm in washington d.c. and i neg and lopez and you are watching r t well in the wake of edward snowden's leaks revealing the dark and secret world of n.s.a. surveillance the agency might be the most involved spy organization in the world but it isn't the only one one of canada's top spy agencies known as communications security establishment canada is facing a lawsuit for violating privacy rights of citizens the lawsuit was filed by b.c. civil liberties association and the open media organization who argue that the broad and unchecked surveillance of canadians directly violates the country's constitution steve anderson is the executive director at open media and he joined me earlier he filled me in on how the lawsuit came about. yeah well it's been revealed that. the community. communications establishment.

canada. has the power to monitor any canadian at any time without a warrant and not only that we're being asked to foot the bill for this expensive online spying and that's why thankfully the d.c. civil liberties association has filed this lawsuit arguing that this activity is unconstitutional on media we're really happy to support them and you know similar to the us here in canada citizens are very upset there's a pledge on our web site open media dot ca and thousands of people just since yesterday have signed up to pledge their support for the b.c. civil liberties season and you know i'm hopeful that the government will listen but so far the they they haven't said much on this and there's very little accountability or transparency with this issue so is it you have any idea after collecting the content of the phone calls or collecting that

a data are they collecting e-mails anything like that. yeah well they're definitely collecting method data and that could pinpoint you know where someone is you know who who people are meeting with that sort of thing and if you're communicating with someone outside of canada which is pretty much most canadians then that information could be collected and we could be talking about listening to phone calls or e-mails that sort of thing but even what's worse is that we don't know what information is being shared between the n.s.a. and cia so for example the n.s.a. has definitely has the ability to sweep up our information and then canadian officials can then get we think and then get access to that and and you know that sort of thing is really why canadians want to know how many canadians law abiding canadians are being swept up with this activity and what information of ours is being stored and collected in these giant databases absolutely i'm sure

a lot of people would want to know the answers to those questions on so let's talk about this lawsuit what are they suing for and what are we hoping to achieve here. yeah the c.e.o. is arguing that storing canadians law abiding collecting and storing and monitoring the ins is unconstitutional under our charter and the hope is we'll have some parliamentary oversight because right now even our own parliament doesn't know what's going on and you know if you look in the u.s. there is some move some measures being put forward where there would be some sort of oversight here in canada there's virtually no oversight and you know the government's own commissioners must be looking into this has said that he does not know how many canadians you know what information is being stored so the hope is they'll be some sort of legal measures adopted by the government in response to the revelation that what is happening is unconstitutional so. there's more oversight

and how was it i'm covered i know here in the u.s. obviously we had the edward snowden leaks how was this a mass surveillance program uncovered. more or less it was uncovered by the release of this well there's been for example it's been in the news recently because it was revealed. it's really becoming out of control and is actually engaging in show us you know with our allies in brazil and so those sorts of revelations and others. have come out and i think that's why the b.c.l. a has gotten involved and engaged i mean if you look at the u.s. there's a rally this saturday that we're actually involved there in washington d.c. with the stop watching us coalition and people are really upset with you know the revelations that have come up from snowden i think it's very similar up here in canada where the more canadians learn about this the more they learn about their privacy being invaded the more they learn about how seasick is is kind of secretive

expensive endeavor to control the more people are demanding oversight and accountability and we have a little bit less than a minute left but i have to ask you what can the american public take away from this lesson from this lawsuit in particular about how canadians are reacting and handling it. yeah i think. people in the us can take away that canadians are basically with them and being very upset about the spying that's going on i'm really happy that people in the us are calling for the n.s.a. to be reined in because we're swept up in not surveillance too and i think people up here as well are trying to do our part to make sure that our spy agency is reined in and there's more accountability because really americans could be swept up their data could be left out of able to cyber criminals you know leaks to others and so hopefully people on both sides of the border continue to speak out on these

issues will rein in the spying on both sides steve anderson executive director of open media thank you so much. thanks for having me. president obama you have some explaining to do that's the message german chancellor angela merkel is probably saying to the president at the moment after finding out that the u.s. might have tapped her personal cell phone it appears not even world leaders private conversations are safe from the watchful eye of the n.s.a. according to the associated press and der spiegel nuckle reportedly called president obama personally to say that this behavior is unacceptable the u.s. government responded by saying quote the president assured the chancellor that the united states is not monitoring and will not monitor the communications of chancellor merkel notes that the statement did not say that the united states had monitored merkel's communications in the past and would not specify that door spiegel now this isn't the first time in recent months that germany has taken on

the n.s.a. for its overarching collection techniques the edward snowden leaks were revealed a long list of countries that the n.s.a. was keeping a close eye on and the german public was no exception in fact that many internet users are flocking to german service providers in an attempt to keep big brother's nose out of their business but again it appears not even on the love merkel of who is a close u.s. ally can keep her data out of american hands. well since its inception the guantanamo bay detention facility has been shrouded in secrecy over the years a piece of information would come out here or a name would come out there but the fact is that the world still has a very limited understanding of what really happens within those compound walls even journalists that travel there have a hard time finding the truth in this part of her special investigation or to correspondent on the stasi a chore going to tells us about the struggles that she faced while on assignment.

transparency is a word repeated by u.s. officials working at guantanamo like a mantra by those few who are comfortable speaking on camera you see the conditions under which the detainees live you get to talk to the people who are responsible for garnham we make it is transparent as possible and those preferring to remain on identifiable like the majority of officials we were permitted to speak to every week we get media like yourself international media local media whatever and a welcome to come you know we tell them what we have any journalists workflow at guantanamo starts with a mandatory introduction to media rules the so-called operation security briefing material that you guys are gathering to make sure that it advised by our policy here even though transparency is a word brought up by all the personnel we talked to on the ground we as journalists access to detainees aside are asked to be very careful about the shots we filmed all the backdrops and at the end of each day videos are reviewed and any shots

deemed unacceptable are deleted this one will be ok because palm trees are not too controversial remind you of any frowned upon seaward like censorship it's a series of programs established to are. going out with regulations sorry old video and audio recordings and even sketches are carefully studied cell phones are banned from camps we're not supposed to put anything on facebook or anything like that or you know are even wary about talking about it over the you know anything over the phone the said purpose of these ground rules to protect the safety and security of getting the operations the detainees you know make it their mission so we try to photograph them down we are warned violations of media ground rules may result in restricted access denial of future visits and or remove all from guantanamo bay. people just kind of mislabeled it and have a call to go for bia just not leading. giving the true picture i mean the only

people who knows what goes on get more is os i'm good at denny's and getting the detainee's side of what goes on at get most apparently just couldn't be done after an extensive explanation of how exactly we are to film the prisoners the amount of detainee face time we get a total of one minute and five seconds short dark glass window the reason we're given out of respect for them and and not using them is as you know. you know. making them some kind of curiosity on film the thing like that we don't want to do that despite our requests to not even film but at least witness more real prison or life a high ranking guantanamo admiral convinces us that we actually have a lot more access than we think you're seeing what there is to to see you know. given the amount of time that you have here to to see if we are as transparent as possible after one minute glimpse at one detainee our schedule is in fact all

booked up i mean they were taken to the detention camp kitchen to witness how well things were on their motions were not really being allowed to close to the detainees this might be the closest glimpse of their life we might be getting today we're being told the that these are the meals that they're offered on a daily basis. we're also taken to the only local radio station all made up like zombies in the audience military personnel serving at the base do you do any news related to the time to teach him. to public media because. you know there's enough journalists over there covering their music sports and talk radio pure infotainment brains here. and so we learned there were not the only ones simply being treated to a show and party. well let's turn now to developing news coming from. syria an explosion near the international airport in damascus caused the capital

and much of the southern part of syria to go dark according to state media the power was content after rebel artillery allegedly hit a gas pipeline the syrian observatory for human rights said that the rebel shelling was aimed at the town of lulu in an attempt to push toward syria's capital and president bashar al assad artie's polis leader is in tel aviv and brings us more. well the mask is has been hit by a power cuts this coming shortly after an explosion near damascus international airport the result of that explosion is the capital city and almost all of southern syria is in a black ounce now the attack happened at a gas pipeline that supplies power stations in the south of the country the pipeline is near damascus it's also near the international airport so the airport itself and some twenty kilometers from the capital says he a huge fire has broken out there's a fierce battle taking place in the district of the airport damascus is covered

with the smoke and shell explosions are being heard it is still not immediately clear how extensive is the black al-tamimi provinces exactly on effect of the syrian electricity ministry minister has however said that maintenance crews are working to restore power and he has placed the blame for me on the shoulders of what he calls terrorists a church has also been bombed in the suburb of dumas now we are being told there are casualties in that bombing and this happens while fighting is taking place in the suburbs this is certainly not the first time that damascus and southern syria have been hit but how often just they have been struck in the past well there are many who are saying that this is a coordinated attack it's a long planned operation and the government is hitting back with shelling in this world and we can go with what was posted online by a syrian rebel fighters that they would rain down mortar shells on to damascus and i was in damascus a few days ago and certainly one noticed after that on line three eight in walked

increase in the number of mortar shells that were fired at the cut city the number of car bombs and also the apprehension and nervousness amongst the regular population earlier on wednesday to the main squares in damascus were also struck that is all my live and others see in the square now at least two people were killed and four injured in that attack a military checkpoint in a western suburbs of damascus. this is also of course multiple casualties among security forces most of damascus is in the hands of the syrian president bashar assad's forces that the army has the pricing on to crush rebel positions on the city's outskirts that was artie's policy are reporting. president obama met with pakistani prime minister nawaz sharif today to talk about relations between the two nations prime minister sheriff is calling for a fresh partnership with the u.s. but is simultaneously demanding and into drone strikes in his country r.t. correspondent liz wahl tells us more about this high stakes meeting at the white

house. pakistan prime minister nawaz sharif's meeting with president obama aims to ease tensions between the two countries we believe that if pakistan is secure peaceful prosperous that's not only good for pakistan it's good for the region and it's good for the world the meeting comes just a day after amnesty international releases this report detailing how u.s. drone strikes in the north waziristan region have resulted in the deaths of hundreds of innocent civilians staring anti american sentiment and emboldening militants have to basically in the control the impunity that human rights abuses have in that region be they the us of the cia bob is funny forces all the taliban and al qaida sharif brought these concerns to president obama i also brought up the issue of girls at a meeting and for sizing the need for an end to such strikes the obama

administration has maintained that drone strikes target terrorists with precision while aiming to minimize threats to civilians but amnesty international's reports suggest some of the strikes have violated international law the human rights group is calling for an investigation it depends on public aid this goes in what happened in these cases who was behind it which institutions which individuals ties between the u.s. and pakistan weekend after the navy seal raid in pakistan that led to the death of osama bin laden pakistani officials complain that the obama administration didn't warn the country before swooping in the u.s. claims they didn't trust factions of pakistani intelligence with the information aside amending relations the state department has announced the u.s. will resume one point six billion dollars in aid to pakistan in tuesday's speech sure we've highlighted the two countries common interest of a stable afghanistan a nation with an uncertain future as the u.s. winds down troops prime minister and i both agree that it is. the american bar the

stones interests or. afghanistan to be stable and secure its sovereignty respected all the rhetoric has toned down a dispute between the u.s. and pakistan but there remains a deep divide between the two countries while this meeting at the white house is seen as a significant step it's unclear how much it will really lead to rebuilding relations in washington visible are. well on this day two years ago the national transitional council in libya declared the country liberated after a long time dictator colonel moammar gadhafi was found and killed by a militia however since that declaration the country has been plagued with unrest and is currently dealing with an uncertain future political commentator sam sacks brings us a look back over the past two years. i think. two years ago today with moammar gadhafi dead in tripoli and most of libya firmly in rebel hands. the national

transitional council declared libya. liberated that liberation came with a price plus two years of been a chaotic ride for the nation filled with violent clashes assassinations parliamentarian dysfunction and most recently the brief kidnapping of the prime minister of the united states which along with nato is instrumental in enforcing a no fly zone and bombing campaign that led to the ouster of gadhafi. has paid a heavy price as well and september of last year a terrorist attack the u.s. consulate in benghazi killing ambassador chris stevens and three other americans so two years into its democratic experiment there are serious questions about libya's future amnesty international released a report this week about the plight of tens of thousands of libyans who've been displaced and victimized by roaming militias seeking retribution for gadhafi era

crimes the libyan government which is dealing with fresh accusations of corruption has failed to rein in these militias across the country which are comprised of more than two hundred twenty five thousand libyans and many of these militias run entire resource rich cities in libya declaring themselves independent of the national government tensions are strained further after u.s. special forces abducted an al qaeda suspect from the streets of libya two weeks ago and militants accuse the libyan government of being complicit with the united states. doing the ongoing unrest in libya are lots and lots of weapons enormous stockpiles of weapons from gadhafi is forty year rule that flooded into the streets not just strengthening the hands of militias within libya but also cross the border helping rebels in mali and syria so remains to be seen if post gadhafi libya can succeed and if the nato operation to the bows to. he may have created more harm than good but given the onerous taking place other nations also swept up into the

arab spring like egypt which is under military rule in syria which is in a civil war libya's problems are not unique to the region and washington same sex party for more on libya i was joined earlier by david swanson journalist and author of above war is the line to discuss what it is like on the ground today i asked him what though the was the case in the u.s. what was the case for the u.s. to invade libya with those strikes back in two thousand and eleven. well of course there was not a big question put to the u.s. public or to the congress as there was with the missiles into syria and you saw the result there should have been on libya this was done outside of congress this was done with lies about a un resolution that didn't authorize overthrowing the government it was done with lies about a crisis and a humanitarian need to intervene and the idea that it was an intervention was of course a lie because western countries including the us had been arming the government of

libya right up until the point that they were arming and working with the opponents of the government of libya and the idea of course was sold as a short term intervention that would get rid of a bad government and then things would go well and of course that has not been the case it's predictably not been the case and it's not been the case with any such military intervention that i'm aware of through history so what you're saying is do you think that we learned from we learn from libya in order to act in syria have we learned that lesson. i think it helped a little bit in combination with iraq and afghanistan and the drone wars and the incredible expenditures of the past decade on weaponry and military adventures and failing economy and the distrust and the lies and things coming out like the u.s. working with foreign governments in yemen and possibly pakistan and now maybe libya on things that the those governments lie to their public about and say it was just

the u.s. whereas actually the local government cooperated possibly in that in that kidnapping . i think the level of distrust has grown and perhaps people have learned a little bit of a lesson from libya so here we are on to two year anniversary of the day that libya was reportedly free what does they. look like today. well it's worse off this is the thing i don't know that the that the oil companies and the bankers and the weapons makers think that they got a bad deal and they're worse off but the people of libya or worse off and the only people who care about that fact are people who really care about humanity which is of course not by any means everybody who clamors for humanitarian wars and so the us media is lying now primarily by avoiding the subject by not talking about it we're not hearing much about the hell that libya has become and the violence that has overflowed its borders and the fact that the ordinary person in libya tends to

be less secure less well off now than before as with iraq we aren't told about these predictable and consistent results of these military adventures now the phrase the leading from behind with quaint in response to president obama's stance in libya so what does that mean and is this kind of president obama's foreign policy model for that region in general. well we now have u.s. troops supposedly completely gone from libya the cia of course was there before the intervention and all the talk of no troops on the ground excluded mention of them and their use of diplomats in benghazi as human shields and all of that disaster and now you there is talk about nato sending people in and this of course is a preference in washington to have nato do work rather than the united states but the united states is the leader in nato is still going to be calling the shots is

still going to be involved and when things blow up and get worse there will be every temptation for the u.s. to again use the only tool it thinks to turn to and that is violence so a rose by any other name is still the u.s. military. gal if this unrest in libya. neighboring countries in the region. well you have seen violence overflow into mali you've seen arms shipped out to syria and. fighters shipped out to syria and you've seen a lack of stability in libya impacting all of the nations around it and you compare that with tunisia which is not violence free and not perfect by any means but gauged in a largely nonviolent protests this is the difference between a country that overthrows a government largely nonviolently albeit inspired by

a suicide compared to where massive violence is used you can't switch it off like a light switch you can't switch the resentment off and it's going to be there for years and it is very important on this two year anniversary to really look at libya as a country right now and also look at u.s. involvement of it to kind of understand what our impact is when we go into these countries whether we put soldiers on the ground or not david swanson journalist nothin of war is a lie thank you so much thank you well have you ever had a bad day and wonder if there are any good people in this world tonight's resident explores the story of pastor carl sanders who became a local hero by stopping a robbery however what he did was exactly probably what the most american thing to do that american can do for a harshness reports that take a listen. this

just might be the quintessential american news story it starts out harmless enough a man of god walks into a store to buy himself a refreshing beverage the very picture of america and it takes place in evansville indiana local pastor carl sanders wanted to get himself a gator aid so he stopped at a dollar general store when he went inside to pick out much more than a beverage he encountered over robbery in progress twenty five year old germain to wade marshall was holding up a plastic bag wrapped around an object pointing it at one of the dollar store workers at the register demanding money when the pastor walked in and saw what was going on he pulled out his own gun he pointed it at the would be robber and held

him in the store until the police arrived the pastor is a true american hero and this is a true american story for many reasons one it takes place at a dollar store what is more american than cheap crap we love consuming stuff so much that it's cheap all the better to there was a robbery going on at the dollar store where unemployed can afford college so we're all broke and desperate plus our country constantly steals from other countries natural resources law aids data you name it we steal it there are many reasons why a robbery is classic american. three they hear all of this. was by some gator aid a beverage marketed as a sports drink to keep you healthy but gator reid has a ton of sugar and it contains more sodium than soda and can actually stay in your

teeth according to one medical study what's more american than a product that is bad for you being marketed as a product that is good for you the fourth reason why this story is so american is the hero himself he's a man of god who just happened to be packing a gun because in america we have more guns than anyone else we have so many of them that are pastors feel the need to carry them all around to protect themselves from people with guns. a robbery at a dollar store with vigilante priest packing to go if that isn't straight up america. i don't know what is tonight let's talk about that by following me on twitter at the resident. all right that does it for me for tonight's but for more on the stories we covered

go to youtube dot com slash our team america. no there are i marinate and this is boom bust here are some of the stories we're tracking for you today. first up china's jump in u.s. debt so the headlines say what are the chicken littles of the financial world getting ahead of themselves we were below the historical hysteria when it comes to foreigners buying of uncle's sam's ious as well as the real eight hundred pound gorilla sitting on the trade desperate there and thirty eight months after dodd frank was caught the bureaucrats are still battling around with the final rules rules that are supposed to keep your favorites too big to fail banks on the.