what movies playing out in real life. coming up on our c 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 iraqi government battle extremists the latest on that just ahead. and on both sides of the pacific the fishing industry is facing economic shocks china has banned shellfish imports from the state's maybe american fishers in the lurch while japan's seafood industry is still taking hits in the fukushima nuclear plant disaster more on these developments coming up. then here in d.c. the capitol building is literally crumbling is about to undergo its first round of renovations since one 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. it's thursday december twenty sixth eight pm in washington d.c. i'm sam sax and you're watching our team. then we begin tonight it's an 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 hellfire 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 and 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 the nation these drones will be used to locate targets for iraqi security forces to attack now 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 violence has been so severe that last month iraqi prime minister maliki came to the white house to lobby for more military assistance and after that 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 four dozen more reconnaissance drones plus some f. sixteen fighter jets and if the senate approves of the deal six apache attack

helicopters could head to iraq sometime next year. now into another u.s. military hot spot afghanistan specifically bob graham prison which has indefinitely detained thousands of individuals arrested by u.s. and afghan forces during the now twelve year war still raging in that country while the u.s. handed off control of the vast majority of prisoners to afghan security forces earlier this year the u.s. still controls those prisoners at bagram who are foreign nationals non afghans picked up outside the country and detained. three of those foreign nationals filed a hideous 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 mostly because it's impractical in a war zone as the judges ruled the united states in afghanistan is not involved

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

the first time restrictions on one tunnel most transfers were actually eased instead of tightened the law lifts the transfer ban on the taney as you've never been charged with a crime and have been cleared to be released so a summer of hunger striking may be responsible for a winter of releases at the prison we now go to our t. correspondent ana stasi turkana who takes a closer look at some things you might not know about. despite misconceptions good lol 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 mcdonalds on cuban soil a subway sandwich shop a starbucks and a taco bell the vested financial interests that you go to starbucks and. all these other places that help to set up. a logistical support for the troops 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 us government has been leasing this territory since 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 when 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 and certainly have if it's a web friendly or like rank system when you're allowed to you know there's the don't tell an open air movie theater playing all the hottest hollywood blockbusters and

it ticky 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 like a tsunami and we go to. our activities for m.w. our stands for morale welfare and recreation. almost every sport known to man is available to team get 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 abundance to do. being in a remote location doesn't even have to affect eating habits and all you can eat lunch cost just under five bucks and breakfast is half that price a downside though information or lack thereof. are due to 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 ikhwan is somewhat ironic at a place marred by human rights scandals 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. these here are 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 prison or 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. r t one ton of cuba and then update 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 flashcards and another christmas eve ruling the third circuit u.s. court of appeals ruled in favor of the t.s.a. and the f.b.i. which blocks a lawsuit brought by. george claiming his constitutional rights were violated 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 that carrying arabic language flashcards is suspicious behavior the flashcards had vocab words on them like bomb and terrorist as well as words like fat and 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 mckee disagreed and said the agents were justified in their actions writing on behalf of the three judge panel mickey argued that it's not reasonable to require agents just to turn a blind eye to arabic words like bomb and terrorism on flashcards he says 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 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 are they saying that he needed those flash cards to try to hijack the plane in arabic george's legal team is now considering an appeal. the pacific northwest of the united states is feeling economic crunch as china has banned all shellfish imports from that region after finding two toxic clams earlier this month the chinese put the band in place which has now led to the state of washington losing roughly six hundred thousand dollars a week and putting numerous fishermen at risk of losing their livelihoods one type of shellfish on the bad list is called gooey duck which you can see here the chinese have paid up to one hundred fifty dollars a pound for that gooey duck it's a delicacy that's not the end of january for the chinese new year but no nation is having as many problems exporting its seafood as japan which is struggling to assure the world its food is safe more than two years after the nuclear disaster at

fukushima artie's alexy or rush. as the report. work doesn't stop in the port of saumur despite being just a few kilometers from areas still ravaged by the twenty eleven tsunami and still contaminated by radiation seafood of all shapes and sizes lands here several times a day not only fish has traditionally been the integral part of the japanese culture but also one of its prized acts boards last year alone the exporting companies pocketed more than two billion u.s. dollars however there are serious concerns now this particular couch was made in the waters of the bush team on nuclear bombs station after it became known that he drawling system at the fukushima nuclear power plant was severely radiated fears grew that the contamination could be spreading into the pacific there are significant contamination in the bottle sediment especially in the paul and the

rebirth system so we can find a very very high concentration of the right. fish factories around the fukushima prefecture now have to take radiation measurements but despite lab workers assuring us the fish was free of any harmful particles were taken samples from every cage we make and if we ever find even the slightest trace of radiation will destroy the whole couch so far there has been none safe and even the nuclear plant operator tepco standing firm that the nearby waters are clear of radiation this is pretty much on the control we've built fan says not to let polluted groundwater as a leak into the ocean we were surprised to learn that most of the seafood we saw at the port of soma will never make it to the shelves of fish markets all restaurant tables. most of the fish caught within the thirty kilometer radius is thrown into the garbage because it is radiated and tepco is paying local fishermen for it so

they're happy and keep silent some of it makes it to stools but only locally seafood firms here are on the. threat there are five reflectors possibly affected by contamination in the sea accounting for almost forty thousand tonnes of fish but a year but things may get even worse as the third anniversary of the fukushima disaster approaches south korea has become the first country to bear a japanese species and seafood boards and. reporting from japan is perhaps no institution happier to see two thousand and thirteen go away in 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 body and those repairs are actually coming next year not in the way you might think r t 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 want you can because the capitol dome is about to look much

different well come spring that iconic dome 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 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 seem to be in prime shape but a closer look shows a damaged joe over thirteen hundred cracks and other deficiencies according to the architect of the capitol we have to have before we have built to reach stitching. the ceiling closure. here's a sketch of what the dilma looked 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

happens 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 the washington monument has a scaffolding on it right now that doesn't spoil my trip i took from the national cathedral and site scattered throughout the city repairs are being made for some it's symbolic of a capital 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 are faced unprecedented destruction 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 wahl r.t. there earlier i spoke with artie's liz wahl just back from counting the crux of the capitol dome and i first asked her about the metaphor she drew between the crumbling topical and artifact of congress over the past year. yes there are only 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 and 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 if 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. not good ones this year but at the end of the year just a few weeks ago we did a budget deal we haven't had a budget. in several years is that a sign that things might be improving you know you had to give him props for that right 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 the 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 don needs to work on getting addressing that issue

because a lot of people are going to be out so 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 about it but you wonder why you wonder why unemployed people don't exactly command as much weight around here just 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. chance that seeing their home base here remodeled might inspire a sort of remodelling within congress and home or lee would be there and 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 the debt ceiling that's 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 and 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 congress and let's go and fix that hopefully it's a it's a it will be a transformation on many levels this is well i think it brings 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 those veterans who will see their benefits cut as liz wahl just mentioned

as a result of the latest budget deal and then there's the story of one highly decorated air force pilot whose posthumous owners were delayed due to a lack of resources at the air force artie's period born tells us more. lieutenant urban drew was a fighter pilot extraordinary he shut down not the u.s. 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 the p. fifty one d. mustang he was even given the second highest award in the air force he was a c. 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 two 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 the year we tended to families that it was well worth the wait is a beautiful back as one of the most decorated war two pilots his friends and family felt it was essential to have a fly over there's no higher alert 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 start of the united states therefore it was unable to support the supply or. from either an active duty or for free there are national guard resorts 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 the time or crew that civilian pilot to fly his own airplane into arlington a flight restricted zone as the owner of a refurbished were two fighter bomber and you mckenna was able to add something to . ceremony that the air force would not. 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 world war two with precise coordination between air combat command aerial control team and arlington cemetery the pilot took off from the nasa regional airport into with a restricted air space he flew over arlington just as the case on honor guard and band were assembled i have to add that when andrew flew over and me in the p. fifty one mustang gave us a way that was pretty special my father. and would have liked to have done that flight himself. the ceremony also included

a firing party and the perishing 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 platoon a casket team a firing party and bugler fortunately for lieutenant drew his you know also included a fly over of a p. fifty one mustang neurontin virginia perry and boring archie over the years food waste has become a problem in the us reports have shown how billions of dollars in food just as up in the dumpster but the cause of this problem is more than just avoiding peas on a dinner plate residents laurie harshness with more on the.

this story comes just in time as we've all just finished eating our fattening 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 magically of buy those days obviously that's not what happens the whole labeling system has no oversight on the federal level and 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 pool is spoiled the dates they used by or best before and

those are just meant as suggestions to indicate when the food might be at its peak quality sell by is 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 but 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. before we go don't forget to tune in to nine pm per politics with larry king tonight larry goes on a tour of the newseum here in washington d.c. it should be a great look at a museum devoted to the world of journalism here's a snippet of what's to come where larry visits the museum's nine eleven dollars and a look back to when the twin towers fell. this incredible exhibit well this exhibit really tells the story of the reporters who were first responders who you like firemen and cops ran toward danger when others were running away that day that's what reporters do that's what you do and this is the story as told through hundreds of newspapers around the gallery the story that they told on nine twelve and through artifacts like this which is the top part of the broadcast intended that stood on the top of the world trade center and which toppled when the towers fell

there were broadcast engineers working in this area and they of course perished with thousands of others on that day and all the newspaper headlines yeah so we've got nearly two hundred newspapers up here that were printed on nine twelve there were nearly two hundred extra editions printed that day that was still in the era when we printed extras when we were in on the internet twenty four seven and the hunger for news was so large the new york times sold four hundred thousand extra copies the next day of its paper alone so check that out that does it for now for more on the stories we covered go to youtube dot com slash archie america check out our website. you can follow me on twitter at sam sachs for now to get it.