are in reality one part of corporate and those who attempt to punk this. breathless universe up to be designed to push through the teeth and exploitation of the field a little more up for so far to the margins of society including by a public broadcasting system that has sold its soul for corporate money that we might as well be mice squeaking against an avalanche but squeak we must. long.

oh i'm tom hartman in washington d.c. and here's what's coming up tonight on the big picture is our increasingly deadly war against isis feeling another generation of terrorists last medea benjamin in just a moment and as americans lose faith in washington d.c. in our institutions is our democracy in danger we'll examine that was sam daly harrison marianne williamson later on in the program. donald trump's amped up bombing campaign against isis is killing a staggering number of innocent people according to a new report from air wars in the daily beast as of july thirteenth more than two thousand two hundred civilians appear to have been killed by coalition raids since trump was inaugurated upwards of three hundred sixty per month by comparison air wars estimates estimates that coalition strikes in the fight against isis killed twenty three hundred civilians to. in the entire obama presidency joining me now

for more on the story is medea benjamin co-founder of global exchange and code pink author of the new book kingdom of the unjust behind the u.s. saudi connection medea welcome back thank you good to be with you thanks so much for joining us so what's going on here is this just the result of isis the war moving into more top populated territories cranked up and i guess the larger question all of these civilian casualty numbers seem just frankly surprisingly low to me for a week or that's been going on with this kind of ferocity well let's take that piece by piece i think the tremendous increase in the number of civilian casualties is due to a number of factors one yes the war has ramped up as the fighting got into heavily populated zones in the case of iraq in syria and mosul in iraq but i think there's other factors involved in a big one is that donald trump has basically said to the pentagon do what you want

and you don't have to check with anybody else just decide where you want to bomb when you want to bomb who you want to bomb and the result of that has been the use of big bombs it's become normal now to use five hundred thousand pound bombs in residential neighborhoods that was the case might seventeenth you remember that bomb when they were trying to take out two snipers and used five hundred pound bomb that killed over one hundred people because the whole building exploded going after a fly with a ten gauge shotgun that's right and there's no investigation afterwards no accountability no sense that the u.s. has to acknowledge these casualties in fact the u.s. has stopped giving an accounting of the casualties and just thrown it into this umbrella of the coalition casualties and of course the majority of the airstrikes are done by the. united states in the case of syria it's ninety five percent the

case of iraqi sixty eight percent so i think it's a combination of things but it's very important to recognize that even with the fighting in more populated areas had there been more attention and if there were now in the case of iraq a more attention to civilian casualties it would mean many many many lives that would say we're saved in you're saying the numbers are not big numbers i think you have to put it in context of the larger picture of civilians being. harmed and that so many more people are dying not directly perhaps from an airstrike but from the lack of medical facilities the lack of food fleeing the kind of desperation that people face when they are refugees so there are a lot more people being killed as a result of this war it's just not being identified in those numbers so we're not

counting them were there is not a you know how do you know that this kid's cholera came as a result of that bombing took out the infrastructure that was put in a clearing in the water no that's right in colorado let's talk about the case of yemen where they talk about ten thousand civilian casualties and i say that's ridiculous to talk about ten thousand civilian casualties because there's three hundred thousand cases of cholera because there's. a famine going on so i think whether it's iraq or syria or yemen or anywhere where these wars are going on we really have to have a much broader. understanding of how people die during mourners and more and more it's not from the direct result of of attacks by munitions or other weapons it's more the wreck the destruction of the infrastructure whether it's the water the sewage system the health care facilities the schools those. things from from the video the pictures that i've seen it looks

like we're just you know bombing people back to the stone age to use an old phrase but but arguably a literal you know i mean just you know there's nothing works anymore and everything's gone and these cities are just devastated if that happens if i was a kid growing up in lansing michigan back in the day and canada came in and just bombed the crap out of lansing michigan and took out everybody's house around. i would forgive them i mean i would probably spend the rest of my life trying to do something about that are we creating a new generation of terrorists as a consequence of this i think there's a lot of people in both iraq and syria especially in mosul iraq are saying you know what kind of liberation is this when our lives are destroyed whether it's killing people wounding them because we haven't talked about how many people have been wounded by this war forcing them to flee their homes with nowhere to go and so what

kind of liberation is it and yes i think in the process we and we haven't seen the end of it yet because even if you talk about mosul being quote liberated not only do we have to question what is left but we also have to say who's going to take over and that's particularly true in the case of syria because already you have the conflicts going on about who is going to take control once isis is removed and that will bring back a new conflict with different players trying to determine who gets control so the wars are not over by any means once isis is gone it's just a new stage of the ongoing wars and ironically there's been virtually no coverage of this in the american media well because it's all trumped all the time and even when there has been some. major changes for example just recently trump

administration announcing that they would no longer through the cia be supporting rebel groups in syria i mean this is a major major change in u.s. policy and yet it is barely covered in the u.s. media so i think the obsession with russia the obsession with every tweet of the puts out is really keeping the media from covering some very important aspects of the war in the middle east who's winning who's losing what is the role of saudi arabia what's the role of iran what does it mean for the u.s. to say it's no longer going to be supporting rebel groups that have been trying to overthrow assad these are things that the media should definitely be talking about well into that last point i mean you're one of the most insightful observers and you're familiar with your you've been there many times what does it mean that we don't want to supporting the rebels against assad well first of all it doesn't mean

that the u.s. is not involved in the war is anywhere because the pentagon is still involved in the war against isis but it does mean that there has been a deal that has been brokered with russia and with other countries in the region to recognize that assad is not going away and something the media barely talked about which was fascinating was when trump went to france and met with mccrone and mccrone basically said we're not going to go after assad anymore that's a recognition that assad is strong with the support of russia and iran and that the reaal politic is that we have to broker an end to the conflict with assad and that is something that the trumpets and ministration has recognized as well was that was there an element of ok we took out. you know we took we in libya we took out gadhafi in iraq we took out saddam hussein that you know do.

really work out well doing that so this is a change in policy from the obama policy in the early trump policy. recognition one that the policy isn't working that since. the intervention of russia and iran has been so powerful in terms of giving assad the backing that he needed that taking out assad is very unlikely right now and the other is a look around at what comes afterwards and i think in understanding that now we have to broker what comes afterwards now rather then thinking we can overthrow assad and then figure out who and. it seems to me crazy for us to be in a proxy war with russia and it seems crazy for me to mean for us to be antagonizing iran at a time you know their major regional player. or in my off on no you're

absolutely right and unfortunately with the moment that we're in terms of the tremendous antagonism that the press and the democratic party have against russian interference in u.s. elections or involvement with the trumpet ministration the working with the russians is not seen by many as a positive thing but it has to be done and there are cease fire agreements that have worked been worked out between the u.s. russia and jordan that is actually working right now in one small sliver of syria that's supposed to be extended to three other areas so i think that it is important to recognize this shifting of power within the region and how syria and how iran is a major player right now and the trump administration is all over the place because while on the one hand they are making a remittance with russia on the other hand you know the. trump himself is still in

namrud with saudi arabia and has basically given the green light to the crisis with qatar in the other gulf neighbors so it's sending some very very mixed and strains messages especially when the secretary of state tillerson has a very different message from trump himself and meanwhile there was really had put in an amendment to the military appropriations that are going through to to do away with the authorization to use military force. under which trump is currently operating in the minute or so we have left what paul ryan pointed out what's going on with this well it's a terrible thing something that was a major achievement with both parties consenting by voice vote that is to put that on the agenda and people very excited about now we're going to force congress to really talk about whether we should continue in these wars and paul ryan has pulled it might not be the end of the story because there may be other ways to get that

back in again but not a very democratic move on behalf of paul ryan to say the very least small d. as in small did not a very republican move small or republican either this is you know you would think when both parties agree on something then the speaker of the house is has the responsibility for making that happen after seventeen years of continuous war is that the american people are tired of yeah in a u m f that had to do with nine eleven and none of this has to do with nine eleven none of it's crazy medea benjamin thank you so much thank you for having us coming up with trust in our democratic institutions declining now can we the people reclaim what's right fully ours as marianne williamson and sam daly hear us right after the break. you're watching. question more.

what politicians do something to. put themselves on the line. to get accepted or rejected. so when you want to be president. or some want to be preached. to the right to be prosperous like that before three in the morning can't be good. i'm interested always in the waters in the. west sydney. the mission of news with it is to go to the people tell their side of the story our stories are well sourced we don't hide anything from the public and i don't think the mainstream media in this country can say that i think the average viewer knows that r.t. america has

a different perspective so that we're not hearing one echo chamber that mainstream media is constantly spewing. we're not beholden to any corporate sponsor no one tells us what the cover how long the coverage or how to say it that's the beauty of archie america. we give both sides we hear from both sides and we question more that it's. not getting anything get in your way to bring it home to the american people. by. their. clothes. not followed like you're. a liar you. know.

according to a new a.p. poll fully three quarters of americans think that they no longer have influence in washington d.c. they also think that the rich and powerful have too much influence in our nation's capital and not only is that true but it's a sign that our democracy is fundamentally broken so how can we fix what rightfully belongs to we the people joining me now are two people who are hard at work figuring that out sam dealey harris is the c.e.o. of the center for citizens of parliament transformation c.e.o. of results the author of reclaiming our democracy healing a break between people in government marianne williamson is a lecturer and the author of eleven books including the law of divine compensation and it's great to have you both here with us thank you so much for joining me and i

want to start out with you with this this a.p. poll that says seventy five percent of americans feel like period or in washington d.c. it's actually should be ninety percent shouldn't because it seems like the bottom ninety percent doesn't get what they want legislated well i think particularly because of the occupy movement i think people really did get the message that there's a one percent. sort of dominates the reins of government and that we have really changed the social contract from the government of the people by the people for the people to government of a few of the people by a few of the people for a few of the people i kind of corporatism obviously has replaced democracy i think where people are now is figuring out who if anyone is having on their side in all this where do the republicans stand where do the democrats stand and i think people have to take some responsibility here to people feel that way but then if they feel that way why haven't they been voting i mean a seventy five percent feel that way why haven't seventy five percent voted in most of our elections so i. i think that the current crisis that we're going through is

really waking people up this is a moment of peril and possibility i think people have to think deeply about how their own disengagement in many cases contributed to getting this bad and then a kind of reengagement which sam is so good at is what's going to fix this but we have to fix it in some very fundamental way school and there's also the middle issue just to follow up on this miriam. a lot of people i think thought that they were voting for change you know donald trump you know in his in his political campaign or his campaign for president so all the bankers there are killers i'm not about to break up the big banks and you know it's these companies are something our jobs are going to stop. i believe that many people well intentioned people actually because he was running on on basically a democratic platform i'm not going to touch your social security medicare medicaid we're going to stop the crazy trade deals we're going to bring back the job in yes but he was also saying a lot of other things and i don't care how much you might have liked certain things

that he was saying there were other things that he was saying that i think would make any person or should make any person at least question his dedication to certain democratic principles so i think that part of that even has to do with the fact that we've stopped teaching our children civics in school there's a lot of there's a lot of ignorance i don't mean stupidity but ignorance among the american people about what our constitution says what our declaration of independence actually says too many people aren't really aware of any more of the basic work principles of american democracy and so don't know to be horrified when assaults to those principles our president and i do believe not just in his presidency but in his campaign. donald trump said a lot of things that i think would have made a person thinking. very deeply about some of this. question maybe they would have voted for him anyway but i don't i don't want to give the whole thing isn't. a pass

on this this didn't come out of no and the fact of the matter is he got three million fewer votes than the candidate who actually won the popular vote so you know hilary so sam you've been doing essentially the same talk with different titles one is writing checks signing petitions and protest marches is that all the risks and the second is are shouting in silence the only two options bringing bipartisanship and transformation to political activism are you rejecting resistance so i mean i'm clear that without the resistance we'd have a massively mean health care law in active right now so the resistance is critical and it's important especially for stopping bad things from happening but if we only have resistance it's not going to cut it we really need other ways to get good things to happen and so. you know we spoke a year ago i think i was mentioning a new climate solutions caucus with ten republicans and ten democrats or at the

time of the election it was down to six and six because for republicans you were tired of lost their seats after the inauguration eighteen more republicans eighteen more democrats came onboard now there are twenty four republicans twenty four democrats on this house climate solutions caucus that doesn't come that doesn't come from the shouting how is it that that never gets reported well i mean it's not noisy enough yet so. so so that's a specific that's. more of a loss terry and you're in d.c. for the results international. tell us what happened and about the session you led well as you know sam founded result and it does have to do with all the things that he's been talking about citizens actually taking. the part and our democracy going back to what you and i were talking about before too many people don't even know the basics like you know i always say to people take the phone number of the switchboard of the u.s. congress and put it on your refrigerator make

a constituent calls results they teach people how to write up too many people don't know you know don't really they know they don't have a real visceral feeling for the fact that your senator works for you your congressman works for you call them up tell them how you feel make noise so i have always supported the work of results and tomorrow i'm going to be talking in my workshop about how in order for this revitalization to occur yes we need more citizen activism but once again as we were talking about before there's been a deadening inside us we ourselves have to have to come awake again we have to we have to recognize the united states is going through a kind of dark night of the soul right now we need to get up we need to dust ourselves off we need to realize once again a lot of our own disengagement. contributed to this reengagement is the only thing that can change it but it has to be reengagement on a whole fundamental level that has not been present and that's what i want to talk about tomorrow the changes inside us you know we treat government in

a very rationalistic way people in politics treat it like it's just some machine and they going to tinker with the parts of the machine but that that lack of organic and holistic perspective isn't working for one thing and it's absolutely in the twenty first century a country is not our externals it's our people and so i want to talk about a politics that really is aligned more with who we are as people because i feel deep down democracy is aligned with the deepest yearnings of the human heart it's a democracy is not just a political imperative it's a moral imperative so i want to talk about those those those aspects of democracy that have to do with the deeper yearnings of the heart and how we have to pour back into it the deepest aspects of ourselves if we want to get it back on track at this times story and talked about. a deeper engagement and if i could just share this quote from frances moore of the pay who said our real problem is not a heating planet or rampant malnutrition you only have one real problem our own

feelings of powerlessness to manifest the solutions right in front of our noses and so to get the deeper engagement people have to link in with organizations that can dissolve that powerlessness. go for it well you know i'm in a field where i don't coddle that and people like woman so how do i find my voice you find your voice by using it on behalf of someone other than yourself you find your power by using it i mean on one hand what sam is doing giving people the tools is certainly correct but there is also a lot of i feel powerless a kind of whining about what's been happening that would lead people you know if you want to google how to get involved you find organizations like result and you know i say to people all the time you're interested in a particular in a particular subject or topic google it because there are all kinds of really marvelous organizations you can be an activist so i think we need to know what francis herself would say right now but i think we need to move and i also think

with she said that before this current era of craziness i think people are activated now we just need to find the topic find the cause get online fund organization and remember the midterms of two thousand and eighteen are closer than you might think. and speaking of organization sam you're also working with the quakers. veterans tell us about their well friends committee on national legislation f.c. you know they had no chapters two years ago in this. way and now they have sixty around the country they're focused on reducing the pentagon budget well the president's asking for fifty four billion dollar increase it's a tough assignment but they have folks all around the country getting together for a conference call. with speakers i'm writing these op eds and letters to be editor and meeting with members of congress and not doing it alone doing it with others so it can make a difference to quakers are great unsung heroes in american democracy. absolutely

and in this movement emerged from the quakers many of the leaders of the of the woman suffragette movement were quakers. profound profound influence and continue to be of and apropos of that theory and you've been one of the more outspoken articulate people arguing that we need to have some sort of an intersection between spiritual politics and certainly not a state religion or anything but bringing spiritual body into politics well i think democracy is by its very nature an intersection of spirituality and politics the founding of american democracy was not just important in terms of the political history of the world but in terms of the moral evolution of the world the idea that god created all men equal i mean that's in our declaration of independence it's an idea that we could create a society where to the best of our ability self actualization of the individual

would be possible that's really what democracy is about the possibility of self actualization that there shall be no external form of obstruction to you were being everything that you can create for yourself that god gave you as a possibility within yourself and that the government would advocate for you or for that possibility against any form any barrier to that actual ization and what has happened of course today is that the government is not only not advocating for the people against the excesses of a corporate order that would limit the capacity of people to self was but is too often a handmaidens to those to those forces that would cap the possibility of south. but other i think you know you look back to the to the abolitionist movement. you look back to the suffragette movement you look to the civil rights movement we've gotten off course before and people such as the quakers and others have risen up to get us back on course and we can do that now i think the only question is well are will

our generation went out on the job people such as you guys to perry and sam thank you both so much frank you. and that's the way it is tight and don't forget democracy is not a spectator sport get out there get active tag your. my . let. me. turn around. the field we don't need. every the world period.

you get it all the old the old. the old according to just. come. in case you're new to the game this is how it works the economy is built around. washington washington media that. voters elected the businessman to run this country business because. you must it's not business as usual it's business like it's never been done before. people have got to know whether or not fair present or support american people deserve to know the answer first at this point does it mean is to guard against the military industrial war we shall never

in the cold. war you should know that. yes we do have a. future. i think the average viewer just after watching a couple of segments understands that we're telling stories there are critics can't tell me you know why because their advertisers won't let them. in order to create change you have to be honest you have to tell the truth artie's able to do that every story is built on going after the back story to what's really happening out there to the american what's happening when a corporation makes a pharmaceutical chills people when

a company in the environmental business ends up polluting a river that causes cancer and other illnesses they put all the health risk all the dangers out to the american public those are stories that we tell every week and you know what they're working. on the news tonight president putin takes action and gives the food to over seven hundred american diplomats living in russia and north korea successfully test fires its newest i.c.b.m. as china showcases some of its latest military hardware and anthony scaramucci is out as the white house communications director and john kelly a sworn in as the new white house chief of staff. reporting tonight from washington d.c. you're watching our team america.