i want to wake up and start talking about the real cause is. coming up on our team iraq faces a crisis as violence grows baghdad experience a suicide bombing while another city falls under the control of radical militants a latest on the fighting and what it means for u.s. foreign policy in the region ahead. and a new turn in the syrian conflict syrian rebels have abandoned the city of homs but the war torn nation's future remains unclear an inside look at homes coming up. and in d.c. space x. is the latest spacecraft is on display the dragon v two is designed to carry u.s. astronauts to earth orbit and beyond we'll give you an up close look at the future of space travel later in the show.

it's wednesday june eleventh five pm in washington d.c. and i'm your i david and you're watching r.t. america. we begin today with the latest in iraq a suicide bomber has blown himself up missed a gathering of people in baghdad shiite slum of sadr city killing at least fifteen people meanwhile islamist insurgents have seized to create a city that's situated one hundred fifty miles north of the capital this is a major game for as long as rebels who just yesterday captured the city of mosul to create which has a population of about two hundred sixty thousand people is the hometown of former iraqi leader saddam hussein the insurgents represent a group known as isis or the islamic state of iraq and a lot to talk about the security situation along with the very latest foreign affairs stories making headlines i was joined earlier by retired marine jake

deliver tow he is also a political researcher at the university of birmingham in the u.k. i first asked him about the people who make up isis and the extent of their control in iraq and neighboring countries. isis is primarily a group of domestic iraqis and syrians but however a huge contingency of foreign fighters as well they have penetrated local groups local armed groups and manipulated them to be a part of their cause which is the disintegration of the modern iraq in the modern syrian state the toppling of the assad regime getting rid of the maliki government and installing some sort of extremist pseudo taliban ask type state they are nefarious they have they do not they're not favored by many iraqis in fact recent polls indicate that iraqis do not support isis however what's interesting is about insurgencies in general is that they're able to gain power and they're able

to manipulate local societies if the government is weak in that territory so what we've seen over the last twenty four hours as isis has taken over mosul and tikrit is that the government is weak the government's military is backing down from this fight and the people generally speaking don't in those neighborhoods don't support the government either not that they support isis but however the government's weak and it can't protect the people and this is an offshoot of al qaeda this is this al qaeda in iraq this was a. bizarre cowley's organization in two thousand and two that was basically united states was navigating while it's doing its counterinsurgency with petraeus that organization has manipulated and molded through different branding and arguments internally but isis is the new al qaeda in iraq more or less ok and this week we've seen two different twenty fourteen for the country and a lot of people have attributed this turmoil to the election you know obviously we've got this political upheaval i mean do you think in politics that all we're

going to start to see the violence draw back or you think it might just know or know the violence is going to continue it's on the up prices down the decline the couple in reasons that we know that the first thing is going. a few years the maliki government isolated continued alienated the sunni population which the former the partnership between the sa which was the awakening from two thousand to two thousand and nine the government had a part of general partnership political partnership there that ensured iraqi security and ensured a sort of partnership generally between the shia and the sunni through a series of political brash and brazen decisions the maliki government and the isolated cities even more going back to saddam days and just to quote i'm a total solder he said that essentially al qaeda is everywhere in the streets if it's not for the sa they. would rip the country apart and it knocked us out i said then twenty thirteen now we are twenty fourteen the savoie is pulling back not

protecting the people the government is weak now you're seeing al qaeda or isis run rampant throughout the city throughout the countryside and it's only going to continue to get worse and now we see maliki likely about to secure a third term is there anything the united states can do you know or are they sort of do they have to resign to basically working with him the united states really is impaired in any sort of malleable tangible efforts that can do so can give some money it can give some training give some weapons but in terms of assisting the government and pushing off these rebels and government reform the united states is really impaired number one because we obviously we didn't have the sofa to keep our troops in the post two thousand and eleven and on top of that we don't have the political stature within the middle east to remember hundreds of thousands of iraqis suffered under the occupation not merely because of what we did but it's because of what we didn't do and so the iraqis remember that they're not going to support us presence again so unless there's some sort of other magical event you know. a third party intervention from saudi arabia or something it's highly

unlikely that the united states can do anything tangible to stop the violence and to support the government seems to be a pretty near gridlock i want to translate transition to some other iraq. related news after nearly seven years of legal limbo a federal court is finally taking a look at whether four americans are criminally responsible for the deaths of fourteen iraqis and the blackwater incident of course are you surprised that it's taken this long to really work itself through the courts and finally be heard by a federal court and decide once and for all now the blackwater case is interesting because they were armed soldiers or are there armed contractors operating as soldiers in a conflict zone in which the law was very gray at the time it took a series of rulings the series of arguments on behalf of the government on behalf of press political pressure from the iraqi government and on behalf of. obviously political officials succumbing to certain pressures so i'm surprised that we're

actually had a court case now. i think it's more than likely that they're going to come out is guilty and i think there's some sort of problems that are going to occur in terms of sentencing because how is it how do we have precedent for a situation like this because it is it's a new precedent of course and lastly i only have about forty five seconds left but i want to get your take on the prisoner swap of the five get mo detainees with bergdahl senator or excuse me not senator defense secretary chuck hagel appeared before the house armed services committee today let's take a listen to him being challenged for not informing congress thirty days prior to the deal. did you or did you not notify congress within the thirty day timeframe yes or no no ok what i was yes or no all right no that's the administration intended violate the notice requirements of section ten thirty five of the india a and section eight eighty one eleven of the d.o.d. appropriation act in future transfers. not unless. it is not

unless there is an extraordinary set of circumstances like this one so he is of course defending the last minute deal a lot of lawmakers are angered over what happened do you think our aid share is overhyped a little bit or are warranted we just need to careful about criticizing the president or support him in a situation like this for the sake of not buying into political grandstanding which is occurring on both sides generally speaking the president's decision is legally arguable for one major reason is because the proper authorities and congress had been notified of an ongoing dialogue about this for some time this didn't something happen overnight magically oh we didn't know about it that's not what occurred there was an ongoing debate there's an ongoing discussion congress did know about it and as a result when the president sort of pulled the trigger he's legally covered in this regard the big concern here about the exchange is what does the what does one the united states gain out of this and what does it set for precedent for future

political negotiations insurgencies and islamic and our movements our current cross the world they're only on the rise around a decline what's the say the next our movement captures another person sets up another awkward situation i'd say to set to negotiate for one person over five thugs this is precedent set this is a bad sign for our a political standing in the world and also it gives other armed groups fuel for capture and negotiations all right jake delivered a retired marine and political researcher at the university of birmingham thank you you thank. these talks between the syrian government and the opposition could take place as early as this week this comes just after opposition fighters were forced out of their last stronghold and humps a city that's been ravaged by years of war our t.v. maria maria for notion is on the ground in homes with more. these a new sound the tank over the city of home is the place in the shallows a bomb have to dialogue with the government the rebels left what they considered

their capital and clashes stopped holmes's old town the militants last stronghold it's from here that they withdrew following they groom and with their sources and this is what's left after months of fierce clashes after months of their resistance and more sc shops someone's home everything is destroyed everything in the ruins but those who were forced to flee and no slowly returning for the first time luis is relatively safe here and people want to be in the place they still class as their final letter i just came back from the market where good their god does become possible up to high ranking military and civil figures accepted their bonuses from the very people who have been targeting them. as the best word to describe the situation in which the rebels initiated tossing the syrian police major was among the negotiators of the war but just a year ago he was hit by

a bullet fired from the rebel side it left him disabled and doctors say he may never fully recover but he still calls for forgiveness. most of them are young people who get influenced by fanatic shakes and islamic clerics who have the extremist ideology that is alien to syrian society they motivate them by money that came from the gulf countries mostly and all this was supported by western and israeli intelligence we need to help our guys who became victims of all this we speak with a major in what's become a kind of rehab center for its militants around twelve hundred of them were brought to the school after they surrendered university teachers and religious leaders whose families suffered in war now talk to former military is helping them reintegrate. most of them saying they were forced to take up arms all of them are denied of a killing anyone that they were it's are impossible to verify. he has to give us

lessons to explain to us that the regime is in for jobs that the regime is attacking muslims and we have to fight. we visit comes just days after syria's first presidential elections in decades this man tells us he voted for son the person who he was fighting against just weeks ago. syrian reconciliation is assets initiative he wants to rebuild our piece an ad. homs or who may have once targeted people in syrian army uniform could soon be wearing it himself as part of the rehab program the twenty two year old could be sentenced to serve in the country's army and flies no way that i will kill any of my brothers my religion and my work killed my former brothers in arms of the i do not want to kill or hurt anybody it's certain that those behind this reconsideration initiative say the important thing is to encourage other militants still resisting and there are many of them to lay

down their arms and what remains the only district in the city of holmes is still held by the rebels the officials say they are not less than three thousand and the army is here nearby and also surrounding the area and they're ready for an operation any moment but the rest of violence there too. in three villages around homes some other syrian provinces the situation is similar. in the way to go before peace is returned here the total high today that syria is a pleased having the right track. from homes in syria. an unusual collaboration the cia and georgetown university have teamed up to host their first joint public conference on national security the conference which featured a host of scholars and national security experts looked at the role of intelligence in the twenty first century artie's gynae check dan has more. cia director john brennan was upset with how as he said distorted the narrative is with regard to the

work that the cia is doing all these reports about drone strikes edward snowden's revelations about the u.s. government trampling on civil liberties all of this is not john brennan's liking his mission is to restore the public's trust and not only of the american public but also of the public globally foreign governments are becoming embarrassed of their cooperation with the. because of the bad perceptions that are out there and that worries john brennan they have been dismayed. seems to be skewed. mentioning. the narrative may have been skewed. after nine eleven a lot of trust was put in then as the director said it the way he obviously did not focus on how the agency managed to squander that trust by providing flawed intelligence on weapons of mass destruction in iraq may be due to the drone operations which reportedly kill more civilians than terrorists or due to how the

agency managed to miss the boston marathon bombers even though they had the warning but it was not there to talk. but they don't want to create an impression that the agency listens to the public and here's what he said about the balance between secrecy and openness. president obama already has taken a number of steps to provide greater accountability and insight into the work of our community these measures largely address the operations of our colleagues the national security agency but there's to be clear direction for all of the community . community charting a way forward in the president's words secures the life of your nation or preserving the liberties that make our nation worth fighting for journalists were not allowed to ask questions only the participants of the conference and those were scholars georgetown foreign service students intelligence professionals the questions that john brennan received were of very general character and this was

the first cia conference on national security by the way they were not allowed to film anybody in the audience the cia has just launched this twitter account and all of this is a result of john brennan deciding to engage in more public appearances to fix the tarnished image of the agency this was an all day conference among speakers that was the house intelligence chairman mike rogers and all of them it seemed try to help the agency improve its image. and now to arizona where a lawsuit accusing the state of neglecting inmates health needs has gone the green light to proceed as a class action case that means the outcome of the case could potentially affect the conditions for the state's thirty thousand prisoners a lawsuit which was filed back in two thousand and twelve by a.c.l.u. and a california law office is seeking significant overhaul in the way the state's state's department of corrections confines inmates and treats their health and mental

health care problems the suit alleges this neglect has led to high suicide rates arizona republic has reported that from two thousand and eleven to two thousand and thirteen the state prison system had a suicide rate sixty percent higher than the national average more than half of them were prisoners held in solitary confinement even though they only accounted for nine percent of the prison population to discuss where the case goes from here i was joined earlier by civil rights attorney michael bean i first asked him to describe the conditions that inmates in arizona are subjected to. my understanding from reading the decisions in the case. are that the arizona prisoners are suffering from very serious unconstitutional conditions both in the juvenile adequate medical and mental health and dental care but also in the use of solitary confinement and isolation. so it's very very terrible conditions in arizona and over a two year period arizona's prison system had

a suicide rate sixty percent higher than the national average which is incredible is it clear that there is a direct link between suicide and the next neglect of prisoners health and. well i think that while not every suicide can be prevented. many suicides when we analyze them and we've been involved in analysis of suicides for decades in california prisons many suicides reflect failures in the delivery of care and failures in custodial practices that could have prevented the suicides so many of these suicides are unfortunate i understand that the rate in arizona was thirty eight prisoners perhaps hundred thousand in twenty a lemon and that the national rate in prisons is sixteen so that's. more than double the national rate in that year two thousand and eleven that's an

astronomically high rate even higher than the very high rates we've had here in california which the united states supreme court found were evidence of unconstitutional conditions and overcrowding so suicide rates are correlated with unconstitutional conditions and that is one of the indicators that any good. medical or mental health system uses to see whether or not it's delivering appropriate minimally adequate care right and as i understand it arizona also different from most other states by not screening out mentally ill prisoners from solitary confinement how do those experiencing mental illness fare in solitary confinement. well solitary confinement is an extremely dangerous place for any human being but but prisoners of mental illness do very very poorly in solitary confinement. so you know the studies have shown again and again and again that

putting a prisoner with mental illness in solitary confinement. dramatically increases the risk of harming cluing could in suicide but also exacerbates existing mental health conditions and i think any one of us. would not find that surprising. solitary confinement isolation. reduces opportunities for programming for exercise for stimulation for contact with other human beings the arizona solitary confinement system as i understand it from reading these court decisions. is is particularly harsh and cruel in that it also includes as an element constant illumination of the cells so there's an interference with the ability to sleep and of confusion as to what time of day it is when you consciously have lights on in the cell also a deprivation of nutrition there's a reduced caloric intake only two cold meals

a day for prisoners in solitary confinement so this. is a particularly harsh and cruel solitary confinement but any solitary confinement system has been shown to be dangerous for the mentally ill and and. the ongoing trend at least we're hoping it's a trend is to exclude or limit the amount of time that any mentally ill prisoner can be in solitary confinement due to the extreme danger. that was constitutional and civil rights lawyer michael being. space travelers get ready for a new ride has revealed his latest space adventure the dragon the company behind the magic space x. has been in the private space exploration business for twelve years however the dragon is the company's first spacecraft capable of bringing humans to the international space station than taking them back to earth the new space capsule

had its grand reveal here in washington d.c. last night artie's mega lopez was there and brings us the story. it's a tell tale into the future of space exploration space x. c.e.o. elon musk is heading from coast to coast showing off the dragon to capsule a state of the art spacecraft with an interior that looks more like a tesla car than something to carry astronauts into the great unknown. not going to steam ship the capsule across the country to show d.c. elites it could be possible within a few years to bring a crew to the international space station and even beyond that some members of the public were even allowed inside representative dana rohrbacher was one of a handful of congress members to visit the dragon to here's how he describes it this is always a really cool rohrbacher believes it's time for private companies to take over and

lead the way in space innovation what we have here. is an example of where government and the private sector can work together give them the goal and let them go for it in the future i see more private sector involvement seven crew members will fit inside this new improved capsule it features an aide to super draco engines that will help land the spacecraft at the exact point that it actually took off from with the perception of a helicopter so theoretically this capsule will be able to be reused the same day that it lay out musk says this feature is an absolute must if space travel is going to become more affordable in the future but it also has traditional parachutes on board in case anything goes wrong that is a twenty first century space ship should last. something else remarkable about those engines this is also what will be the first of fully printed engine so

this is a it's printed in canals for a special high strength alloy that's right printed because it was more cost effective for the space x. team to figure out a way to read the print the engine as a whole rather than create tools to build the engine by hand. another major difference between dragon to end its predecessor to the current version one makes use of be counted on that's on the space station greg version two is capable of docking were totally without the use of the or while space x. has not yet tested whether they will be able to bring the dragon to safely back to earth just last month you on musk announced that the reusable rocket that will be used to propel the dragon two out of earth's orbit made a successful soft landing in its first test off of cape cod the dragon two is expected to make its first unmanned test flight by two thousand and fifteen and launch a crew into space by twenty sixteen so it looks like the next great space race is

kicking into gear but this time instead of countries competing it's private companies that are expanding human reach into the depths of space according to safely back here on earth mega lopez r t. we've often heard tales of doctors listening to music while in the operating room but sexting problem comes as a bit of a surprise a doctor in washington state is accused of sending sexually graphic images and text messages during surgery arthur zilber seen as an anesthesiologist at swedish medical center in seattle washington state department of health says he compromised patient safety due to his preoccupation with sexual matters while and the alarm and if that's not bad enough apparently the doctor had been sexting a patient and that includes sending a selfie where he was dressed in hospital scrubs all exposing himself according to a seattle t.v. station one of those text messages read i'm hella busy with c. sections but sexting is not the doctor's only problem police say is overseen

illegally prescribe painkillers to patients one of which he's accused of having sex with at work without evaluating or diagnosing them the hospital says they are investigating the behavior and silverstein's medical license has been suspended. and that does it for now for more on the stories we covered go to youtube dot com slash our team america check out our website our dot com slash usa you can also follow me on twitter at amir david and see very back here at eight pm thanks for watching. i think.

this story is either about how people love david terrorists or about how it was leaked they are either way it's a doozy ok so a few months ago california senator levy was arrested for trying to sell rocket launchers and missiles from a radical muslim group in the philippines to an undercover f.b.i. agent in exchange for campaign phone he accepted about forty thousand dollars from federal agents and in return he was going to put them in contacts with terrorists who could get them weapons because apparently the senator joe was just how to get in touch with terrorists personally he also supposedly knows the gangster with strong ties to a chinese crime syndicate was also arrested in the sting operation so the senator

got caught by the feds trying to smuggle arms when meanwhile he's actually known for altering strong gun control legislation he's also promoted campaign finance reform from lots of podiums when he miley tried to take money from a dangerous arms deal to finance his own campaign. so while he was doing this he was also running to be california's next secretary of state as a result of his the rest he wanted to drop out of the raise but according to. l.a. times his attempt to drop out wasn't accepted because by that time he had already missed the deadline so he was still on the ballot but in california and just went to vote a few days ago eight candidates were up for secretary of state and out of those eight sen he was just federally indicted as a gun runner finished third all told two hundred eighty seven thousand five hundred ninety californians or about ten percent of all the voters voted for the guy who

was just splashed all over the local news for trying to broker a weapons deal involving foreign terrorists so what do californians just love eighty global terrorists or did they just love beauty so much that they were willing to overlook his alleged massively corrupt ways more likely they were too busy shopping or watching the real housewives to even know that there's an in there was just arrested for dealing are more likely they just saw a name they recognized on the ballot and voted for him because branding really works with half asleep. so if you want to know how awake people are and how much they're paying attention to the crap that really goes on in the world look no further than this story for your answer and that answer just might terrify you tonight let's talk about that by following me on twitter at the resident.

technology innovation all the developments around russia we go to the future covered.