coming up on r t two thousand and thirteen has been the deadliest for iraq since two thousand and eight but the wave of terrorist bombings now the u.s. is sending hellfire missiles and drones to help the iraqi government battle extremists the latest on that just up ahead. and here in d.c. the capitol building is literally crumbling is about to undergo the first round of renovations since nine hundred sixty this while americans lose faith in a congress that's bitterly divided throughout the year we'll take a deeper look at where the cracks form. and even with cuts to the military budget one american veteran gets the sendoff he deserves and important part of world war two pilot the funeral took place thanks to the help of a civilian or on that later in the show.

it's thursday december twenty sixth five pm in washington d.c. i'm sam sacks and you're watching our team and we begin today in iraq a nation that's experienced a very bloody two thousand and thirteen and now it's receiving a fresh shipment of american drones and missiles last week the united states ships seventy five hell fire missiles to the iraqi government to help deal with the increasing extremist violence that has crippled the nation this year and led to the deaths of more than eight thousand iraqis in the coming months the u.s. will also send ten scan eagle reconnaissance drones to iraq unlike the deadly predator drones the u.s. previously flew over that mission the zero will be used to locate targets for iraqi security forces to attack as of right now u.s. government officials say there have been no requests from the iraqi government for

u.s. operated lethal drone strikes in the country. due to the unrest in. syria al-qaeda linked extremists have flooded into iraq this year carrying out hundreds of suicide bombings against the maliki government the violence has been so severe that last month the iraqi prime minister maliki came to the white house to lobby for more military assistance after the november first meeting a joint statement released by the u.s. and iraqi delegations read both sides emphasized on an urgent basis the need for additional equipment for iraqi forces to conduct ongoing operations in remote areas where terrorist camps are located. but this latest shipment of military equipment is just the tip of the iceberg for what iraq is set to receive in the coming year including the four dozen more reconnaissance drones and some f. sixteen fighter jets and also if the senate approves of the deal six apache attack helicopters could have to iraq sometime next year. now on to another u.s.

military hot spot afghanistan specifically bob graham prison which is indefinitely detained thousands of individuals arrested by u.s. and afghanistan forces during the now twelve year war still raging in that country where the u.s. handed off control of the vast majority of bagram prisoners to afghan security forces earlier this year the u.s. still controls those prisoners add bhangra who are foreign nationals non afghans picked up outside the country and detained at bagram three of those foreign nationals filed a hate b.s. corpus petition to challenge their indefinite detention in u.s. courts but on christmas eve three judges on the u.s. appeals court here in washington d.c. rejected the petition arguing that prisoners do not have access to constitutional rights mainly because it's impractical in a war zone as the judges ruled united states in afghanistan is not involved merely in an minister in occupied territory in containing scattered grill grill of

fighters but rather in quelling a large scale insurgency against the government of the original allied orders issued by judges thousands of miles away would undercut the commanders authority of the white house pushes for a two thousand and fourteen afghan withdrawal date it's likely u.s. forces will still maintain control over the non afghan prisoners at bagram indefinitely until those individuals can be settled elsewhere which as we've learned at guantanamo takes years. speaking of america's most notorious prison the detention facility at guantanamo bay has take taken recent steps toward closing its. yours will be a very very small steps first in recent weeks the obama administration has quietly released eight detainees the first transfers out of the prison in a year second when congress passed the national defense authorization act this month for the first time restrictions on guantanamo transfers were actually eased

instead of tightened the law which the transfer ban on detainees who have never been charged with a crime and have been cleared to be released so the summer of hunger striking may be responsible for a winter of releases at the prison we now go to our correspondent ana stasia churkin who takes a closer look at some things you might not know about. despite misconceptions get mole is not just a geo to be or not to be shot it's also a forty five square mile military base with no plans of going anywhere. full of signs of the stablished american life it is a navy base and we just happened to have the camps in here home to the only mcdonald's on cuban soil a subway sandwich shop a starbucks and a taco bell you got busted vested financial interests there you go it's a good starbucks and. all of these other places that help to set up. in the just tickle support for the troops that are all over the there are about five and a half thousand people living and working on the base roughly half serve the actual

detention center the u.s. government has been leasing this territory since one thousand nine hundred three for just over forty five hundred dollars curiously that is still the price today but it's said that the cuban government has been refusing to accept this money for decades the castro government said you know we don't want this lease anymore in the united states' position was that it's a binding lease and in the lease it actually says that it can't be broken unless both sides both countries agree to that that strikes me as a very odd contract so one territory that the u.s. has occupied against cuba's wishes since one thousand fifty nine most officers come here for short term of up to nine months or longer deployment of two to three. years far from home life isn't put on hold and. certain people certainly have efforts away from your. rank system. there's the don't tell an open air movie theater playing all the hottest hollywood blockbusters and

a ticket bar to let loose after a hard day's work even though most say schedules aren't that intense anyway we actually get quite a bit of time off. from m.w. our stands for morale welfare and recreation. almost every sport known to man is available to get well on state of the art facilities i love it it's a lot of people think there's not much to do but there's definitely an abundant to do. being in a remote location doesn't even have to affect eating habits and all you can eat lunch just under five hots and breakfast is half that price a downside though information or lack thereof. is a lot of the t.v. programs broadcasting here are army focused. and internet is almost nonexistent the base dubbed no stream a stand by some soldiers even so we're told those serving here are banned from looking at websites like wiki leaks for example once classified always classified.

even if the information has long been made public there are other strict regulations in place to fun fact about guantanamo apparently a life of an costs here a little more than a life of a detainee if you run one of these babies over the fine is ten thousand dollars. there's a very strict speed limit in guantanamo and it's a very slow speed limit and people say that that's that's all about the quantised somewhat ironic at a place marred by human rights candles officials make a point of showing journalists how well prisoners too are kept and thirteen here were now in a typical cell for a compliant detainee at guantanamo they would be allowed to eat books have a two piece here some head and shoulders shampoo the less compliant ones have to wear the orange uniforms and get only two books at a time i was going to the other side so you can see the books detainees can't come in here but the prisoner library lovingly displays the best of their art for t.v.

crews to see a lot of pre-selected books to avoid certain topics violence sexual milicz and religious stuff controversy shelves packed with magazines d.v.d.'s and video games plenty of ways for legit prisoners of war to pass the indefinite time they're kept here without charges and party one ton of cuba then up to a story we've been covering the case of nicholas george a former college student who was detained for hours at the philadelphia international airport for carrying educational arabic language flash cards. in a nother christmas eve ruling the third circuit u.s. court of appeals ruled in favor of the t.s.a. and the f.b.i. blocking a lawsuit. george claiming his constitutional rights were violated he george was studying arabic for a study abroad program but was detained questioned and even handcuffed for several hours after t.s.a.

agents concluded carrying arabic language flashcards is suspicious behavior the flashcards had words on them like bomb and terrorist vocabulary words like that in cheap eventually george was released but claimed his free speech rights were stepped on by the agents and that he was subject to an improper search and arrest however chief judge theodore mchugh disagreed and said the agents were justified in their actions ready on behalf of the three judge panel mickey argued that it's not reasonable to require agents to turn a blind eye to arabic words like bomb and terrorism on flashcards he goes on to say in a world where air passenger safety must contend with such nuanced threats as attempts to convert underwear into bombs and shoes into incendiary devices we think that the brief detention that have followed the initial administrative search of george was reasonable benjamin winsor an attorney for the a.c.l.u. representing george criticized the ruling saying where they saying that he needed

those flash cards to try to hijack the plane in arabic george's legal team is considering an appeal now a disturbing story coming from the washington d.c. metro police department. keith temper own a twenty three year veteran of the force who was named detective of the year in two thousand and twelve has now pled guilty to charges that he was secretly videotaping his adult stepdaughter in her bedroom and her bathroom according to court records to brown was found to be spying on his step daughter at least fifty times over the course of nine months in two thousand and eleven in two thousand and twelve he was sentenced to five years in prison but that sentence could be waived after he first served five years of probation to brown will not be forced to register as a sex offender this is just the latest scandal hitting the washington d.c. police force where one officer was arrested this month for child prostitution and another officer was also arrested this month for child pornography that officer

committed suicide. still ahead here on r t public opinion on the u.s. congress isn't the only thing crumbling the capitol building will have to structure work not seen for decades but the cracks between party lines won't be so easy to repair and in-depth look after the break. dramas that can't be ignored to the. stories there is a few sunoco. places changing the world right now. to take your those days these days on t.v. and from around the globe. don't get me. i've got a quote for you. that's pretty tough. stay with substory. let's

get this guy like that would smear that guy stead of working for the people most issues in the mainstream media were pretty much on the bribery position but. it's. a good read it won't. but i think. everybody go to do is go did you know the price is the only industry specifically mention in the constitution and i think that's because a free and open press is critical to our democracy shred calibers. in fact the single biggest threat facing our nation today is the corporate takeover of our government and our press semi-colon we've been hijacked why handful of transnational corporations will profit by destroying what our founding fathers one simple task i'm job market and on this show we reveal the big picture of what's

actually going on in the world to go beyond identify the problem to try to fix a rational debate in a real discussion critical issues facing and that if i ever feel ready to join the movement then welcome to it. perhaps no institution is more happy to see two thousand and thirteen go away than the united states congress it's been a rough year under the dome and many are calling for fundamental repairs to our nation's primary lawmaking bought it and those repairs are actually coming next

year just not in the way you might think or correspondent liz wall as this report. it's an architectural marvel in the nation's capital that has come to represent democracy and enjoy this i while you can because the council dome is about to look much different well come spring that iconic film will be covered in scaffolding transforming the skyline of the region for at least two years the dome was built from cast iron one hundred fifty years ago and last repaired in one thousand nine hundred sixty topped off with the statue of freedom the dome stands two hundred eighty eight feet tall inside intricate architecture and classic painting seems to be in prime shape but a closer look shows a damaged though over thirteen hundred cracks and other deficiencies according to the architect of the capitol we have to have formal. teaching will be. closed. here's

a sketch of what the dome will look like when it's in cased in scaffolding as it undergoes the sixty million dollar repair tourists will have to view the landmark through the construction i wouldn't want to be the tourists coming here when that happened it's not the only d.c. landmark being fixed for months the washington monument has been covered in scaffolding giving it a modern look at the washington monument has scaffolding on it right now it doesn't spoil my trip from the national cathedral and site scattered throughout the city repairs are being made for some it's symbolic of accountable and congress in dire need of repair just in the last year a historic government shutdown a glitchy rollout of the obamacare website and extreme partisan gridlock this is a terrible deal. and i urge my colleagues here to oppose it divisive language on both sides but under president obama cabinet nominees have faced unprecedented

structural and significant delays in some of their positions now many think washington is broken and november approval of congress saying to a record low of nine percent it's really frustrating for the american people and for myself to see you know our government be so inefficient as for the dome that's scheduled to be fully restored in two years the hope that amended congress will be able to function under it in washington liz wall r.t. . earlier i spoke with archie's liz wall just back from counting the cracks on the capitol dome and i first asked her about the metaphor she drew between the crumbling capitol and are ineffective congress over the past year. yeah certainly a lot of people think that congress is broken and one poll after another reaffirms that there's of very strong disapproval of the work in the way that things have been playing out inside of that capitol building and nine percent that is a historical low hopefully can't get much lower than that and that is not the only

record low sam you take a look so far there have been fifty seven bills and acted into law in the one hundred thirteenth legislature that is the least productive in history so a lot of records were set is. not good ones this year but at the end of the year just a few weeks ago we did get a budget deal we haven't had a budget passed in several years is that a sign that things might be improving where you know you had to give him props for that right that that was that's an accomplishment that's showing some kind of a sign of being able to work together on something even if it's at the kind of the tail end of the year here but we should mention that it's by no means. there is it leaves people out and there's definitely some work that needs to be done on issues that were not addressed in that bill for example just touching on some of

the more contentious issues there are benefits for veterans a lot of benefits have been cut. federal workers they can have to pay more for their pensions and unemployment benefits as well those are set to expire in a couple of days so congress on needs to work on getting addressing that issue because a lot of people are going to be out of her even when they come together and work together a lot of people get left out the unemployed you left out these military retirees get out they did make sure the doctors got paid which you know doctors are just if you get it but you wonder why you wonder why unemployed people don't exactly commit as much weight around here because they don't have lobbyists. members of congress or to be walking through the dome to work over the next two years is this going on . the chance that seeing their home base here remodeled might inspire a sort of remodelling within congress and home or lee would be there in ten you have the metaphor continues to work in that way when it comes to the budget that seen as hopefully a sign that things are going to turn around but there is

a lot of work that needs to be done in the year two thousand and fourteen we have a farm bill that they have to take up that's going to touch upon sensitive issues like food stamp benefits a subsidy is also with the debt ceiling bads a big one that is going to resurface come this spring the government again on the side of defaulting if they don't come on come to an agreement on that i was in the scene in the past that's been very contentious as a bargaining chip for the republicans you know they would but they're trying to get something out of it before an agreement vice versa so that's coming up also it's a it's an election year so a lot of times that's not bad that doesn't that's not can this is a lot of imagination yeah right you know i think that you always choose time times of unrest or instability to rebuild the dome that they built the dome in the one thousand six hundred sixty during the civil war they renovated during the one nine hundred sixty s. which was kind of kind of to mold united states and here we are with the worst of all the risks and let's go and fix that hopefully it's a it's it will be

a transformation on many levels this are teasley as well thank you thank them well the budget debates in washington d.c. are normally focused on numbers on a spreadsheet it's important to remember those numbers have real world consequences just as veterans who will see their benefits cut as well just mentioned as a result of the latest budget deal and then there's the story of one highly decorated air force pilot whose post here miss honors were delayed due to a lack of resources at the air force or keys period border closes for. food in an urban drool was a fighter pilot extraordinary he shut down not the use and was given one of the most prestigious ceremonies at arlington national cemetery of my father served during world war two and he was stationed in an angle and flew the mustang a p. fifty one d. mustang he was even given the second highest award in the air force he was an ace he had six aerial kills and one ground kill i think the most notable victory was

his shoot down of two german and me to six tos in a single dogfight and that was a feat for which many years later he was awarded the air force cross he passed away on april third two thousand and thirteen with applicable for a full honors military funeral at arlington however his family had to wait eight months for the service arlington national cemetery performs about a thousand year old a year we didn't use families it was well worth the wait was a beautiful day as one of the most decorated war two pilots his friends and family felt it was essential to have a fly over there is no higher allude to a pilot than a fly over from another aviator due to budget constraints the air force was not able to provide this service at the thought of the united states air force was unable to support the fly or. from either an active duty air force free there or a national guard resource however according to senator tom coburn to waste book after congress ordered the air force to purchase four hundred thirty two million

dollars worth of cargo planes that had been taken out of service the air force was then allowed to mark the ball its brand new c twenty seven days before these aircraft took a single flight with war two vets passing at a rate of almost six hundred per day there's not many so tom a crew that civilian pilot to fly his own airplane into arlington a flight restricted zone as the owner of a refurbished war two fighter bomber andrew mckenna was able to add something to the. ceremony that the air force would know and. schools be able to. be asked to do a fly over at arlington our nation's most sacred ground in the airplane that he flew in or to with precise coordination between air combat command aerial control team and arlington cemetery the pilot took off from the nasa regional airport into with the restricted air space he flew over arlington just as the key son honor guard and band were assembled i have to add that when andrew flew over and the and

the p. fifty one mustang and gave us a wave that was pretty special my father and i doubt we should that and would have liked to have done maps like himself. the ceremony also included a firing party and the perishing going to u.s. army band following the full military honors ceremony the family was invited back to manassas airport to follow up with one more pilot tradition to be able to honor him in this type of an airplane rather than the one you know a modern day frontline strike fighter i think makes it a little more impactful and introduce lieutenant drew's grandson to the cockpit a full military honors funeral at arlington includes a case on an escort petunia a casket team a firing party and bugler fortunately for lieutenant drew his funeral also included a fly over of a p. fifty one mustang in arlington virginia perry and boring archie. and here's a tip when someone says they want to sell you star trek technology don't give them

millions of dollars i got it this week fifty seven year old howard leventhal pled guilty to stealing millions of dollars from investors who he had conned into thinking that he was an inventor of a real world version of the famous star trek tricorder in the fictional t.v. show the tricorder was used to scan a patient to determine his or her illnesses and leventhal convinced investors that he had invented something similar called healthy o's mccoy home tablet and his pitch to investors leventhal forged documents to show that the canadian government was on board with this invention and in the end he took in more than twenty five million dollars from potential investors u.s. attorney loretta lynch spoke of the crime and leventhal as world the truth was cloaked by his web of lies in person ation his actions were the stuff of fantasy and science fiction valid only in another dimension next up maybe leventhal can

pitch warp drives to nascar or maybe tractor beams to the us military. well beyond over the years food waste has become a problem in the us reports have shown how billions of dollars in food just up in the dumpster but the cause of this problem is more than just avoiding peas on a dinner plate residents lawry her finest with more on. this story comes just in time as we've all just finished eating our fat meaning christmas foods and are ready to throw out tons of leftovers because you see

according to new research americans throw out about forty percent of their food throughout the year and that number grows even higher during the holidays that waste is horrible for the environment it's a gut wrenching waste of resources and it's clearly a disgusting indictment of our throwaway culture this colossal waste happens for many reasons but the dumbest one of all might be because we're all just a bunch of idiotic sheeple who blindly follow food expiration date labels a new report points to these stupid labeling systems as one of the culprits behind our maddening waste of food it's called the dating game how confusing food date labels lead to food waste in america and it describes our labeling system here in the us as convoluted confusing inconsistent ineffective disorienting ambiguous and dizzying it doesn't think much of our system in other words you see many people see

those days and think that the food producers somehow knew exactly when that food was going to spoil and that the new magically i'm by. i those days obviously the thought would happen the whole labeling system has no oversight on the federal level no i know there is very little consistency every state can come up with any old labeling system they want and despite what most people think the labels don't even communicate when the food is spoiled the dates they use by or best before and those are just meant as a suggestion to indicate when the food might be at its peak quality fell by at the manufacturer's suggestion for when the grocery store might consider no longer selling the product but not necessarily because it's gone bad by then there is zero uniform criteria for any of those terms and none of them are evidence that the food has actually gone bad but apparently we're too dumb to know when our food goes bad

for ourselves because nine out of ten americans throw away perfectly good food because of these stupid expiration date labels we rely on those labels more than we rely on what the food actually tastes or smells like. it's just another example of how we fail to ever think for ourselves so if there's anything that needs an expiration date in this story it's our practice of blindly following whatever our corporations and government tell us to do tonight to talk about that by following me on twitter at the resident. that does it for no more the stories recovered like the latest weapon shipments to iraq or the fate of detainees at guantanamo bay go to youtube dot com or to america check out our web site r t v dot com slash usa you're told me on twitter sam sachs

we'll see you back here at eight pm but for watching. welcome to the kaiser report i'm max keiser happy boxing day boxing day is traditionally the day following christmas day when servants and tradesmen would receive gifts from their bosses or employers known as a christmas box and one of the masters of our universe left us in our christmas box today oh this doesn't look very good at all not even a lump of coal seams in fact i'm afraid to say they the masters of the universe have robbed us blind to twenty six million ounces of gold for example has been drained from london gold vaults sent to china never to return again not in our lifetimes anyway and your bank account.