universities in the us. coming up on r t the united states wants a nuclear free north korea the question is how to get there will discuss the options. and donald trump loosened shipping restrictions on aid going to puerto rico after days of criticism but is it too little too late. then tragic said to six the report finds veterans twenty per cent more likely to commit suicide than non-veterans the details later in the show.

it's thursday september twenty eighth four pm here in washington d.c. i'm ashley banks and you're watching our team america we begin today with the latest on how the u.s. is a working toward a nuclear free north korea up the senate banking committee heard from the treasury and state departments today but didn't get any resulting results so far on the economic sanctions tactic the thing that's important to remember is we've been down this road with north korea several times already and that they have continually undermined cheated and disregarded the agreements that we've entered into with them in an attempt to do what we are also attempting to do obviously with iran which is which is stop freeze and rollback in illegal nuclear programs for more on the u.s. tactics to disarm a nuclear north korea we go now to professor paul atwood from the university of massive cuts and a war and pyar of the american way of life thank you so much for joining us paul

professor out of what i first want to start with the what's your reaction to that statement considering that the u.s. has no official treaty with north korea. well it certainly doesn't have an official treaty but it has had an armistice since one nine hundred fifty three nine hundred fifty four which of course the u.s. violated but nobody ever pays any attention to that the assertion that. that that north korea can't be trusted to negotiate is simply false and to assert that is either. blind ignorance or a deliberate misrepresentation of the truth. for example during the clinton administration. the north koreans stood down on their nuclear program but then the bush administration came along called them the axis of evil and put an end to north korea's faith that the u.s. would keep its side of the bargain. you know. and this is not well known at

all. at the when when the original armistice was signed in one nine hundred fifty three nine hundred fifty four. there were certain items that the united states was to. agree to and one of them was that it would not introduce new weapons into the south to threaten the north but in one nine hundred fifty eight it did so and it brought nuclear weapons onto the peninsula for the first time and overtly threatened north korea with the with the presence of those nuclear weapons which also seriously threaten china and that's why both north korea and china have nuclear weapons today because they fear the nukes of the united states is as simple as that i want to now take a look at north korea's latest statement it said to the u.s. it was the at war with them on this was dismissed by the u.s.

government and the u.s. media but in light of recent threats made by president trump at the you when do you think north korea is justified in claiming the u.s. has declared war on. well the u.s. says it really declared war on anyone since nineteen forty one but it certainly has waged a lot of wars against people including the north career itself and also as a result of that. ravage south korea our allies the people who were supposed to be aiding very similar in vietnam. you know it's just be prosperous to think that the that the united states is innocent in all of this. you know a typical state of war still exists the armistice is just that a tech a cease fire it's not a peace treaty so technically speaking the united states is still at war with north korea and given that you know the u.s.

asserts that there are no nukes in south korea today but there are plenty of them on submarines off. in the pacific and certainly there are bombers in guam and so on and so you know the threat. that north korea feels from the united states nuclear weapons is always present and you know given what has happened to libya to iraq and others you know north korea believes that it's its security really it will have to rely on its own nuclear weapons unfortunately and. to the detriment of international security really large. professor there's been talks of the u.s. pulling out of the iran d.l. eye does that undermine u.s. credibility and what math edge does that send to north korea and terms of agreeing to a peace treaty with the u.s. . well i think what the u.s. is really doing and has been doing all along is that it's asserting its credibility . as the would be dominant power on planet earth and

it certainly asserted that in iraq there was no legal basis for the or invasion of iraq and the. destruction really over iraq. and. just it's just forgive me i get so frustrated with all of this. you know certainly the north koreans feel that they are justified in. keeping you know and developing nuclear weapons and asserting that the use them and let's not forget that they will use them. if the united states attacks the north. the i'm quite certain i think most analysts of a certain career would use its nuclear weapons and not only in career but against japan and you know is is this can john or has been saying all along he could he

could target the militant american military base in guam as well professor we're going to have to leave it there thank you so much for your insight paul atwood a professor of american studies at the university of massachusetts think you again . you're welcome thank you let's go now to afghanistan according to a report by the defense department inspector general an estimated seven million dollars in m u nation for afghan forces when unaccounted for between twenty fifteen and twenty six team the combined security transition command for afghanistan reportedly claimed to have been prohibited from conducting critical oversight functions to validate ammunition reports due to understaffing and other security issues the unit found afghan ministries fail to meet commitments on thirty six of fifty five total assessments however just one penalty was forced on the afghan government for its

failure to abide by these commitments furthermore our united nations monitoring team found quote significant quantities of sophisticated foreign weaponry ended up in the hands of the taliban and the so called isis fighters the united states has spent more than seventy billion dollars since two thousand and two to rebuild to rebuild afghan forces. now over to syria where the battle continues to retake the city of vieira zora from. the u.s. coalition and rebel militias they support halted their operation in iraq which was a stronghold of eisel and threw their forces behind trying to push the syrian army out of dairies or as if the americans were competing with the syrian government over control of there is or instead of fighting ice and rock. there are many terrorist endears there are now surrounded by both the syrian army and u.s. backed her dish force says r.t. correspondent arad ghaziabad is in the city. the scene may have been lifted but

it's not over yet isis holds out in parts of that as sort of not for a long. day and night battles rage around the city the jihad ists are throwing everything they have into the fight now every day there is. heavy weapons from range although trying to infiltrate in the middle of the night for the attack with suicide vests and car bombs the battle goes on every day but the tables have turned it is isis now that is surrounded and slowly being squeezed out. whereas a syrian artillery position overlooking the industrial city the industrial corridor of their resort for supporting troops that are staging the offensive down there an offensive that began earlier this morning with. air strikes but the battle is

said to be fierce with isis giving no quarter from here syrian spotters watch for isis fighters from above this is why height is so important in war better advantage and they say. this range contrie really miss a lot with hillary. hits a verified and confirmed in real time which was at this exact spot as nest that a russian lieutenant general advised syrian offices fifteen minutes before his death he was killed several days ago by an isis shell just a few hundred meters from here. isis fired back as we filmed shells began falling all around.

we ran but the syrian batteries kept firing. the city of durham will be liberated in a week of the most and will free some of the suburbs to. the cost will undoubtedly be high it's a challenging battleground from dense urban areas to lush river banks and even trenches. the euphrates is both a blessing and because isis still uses the waterways to move men. and even launch surprise attacks. this bunker is manned during the night. it's because the tower across the river belongs to eisele for three long years captain he bring in the squad has bled and died in the trenches along the euphrates sacrifice not enough to break the long stalemate that's now everything changed now.

from day to syria. i'll be right back after this break. in case. this. is. confirmation from washington washington. voters elected is not run this country business equals. must it's not business as usual it's business like it's never been done before. what politicians do such things to. put themselves on the line. to get accepted or rejected. so when you want to be president. for something i want to.

get to the right to be close it's like the three of the people that i'm interested in the audience and look at. all the feeling of freedom in. every in the world should experience. and you'll get it on the you'll. according to just. come along. and i'm john martin and i'll give you what the mainstream media can't tell the big picture. especially i.

am going to question find what you're looking for to see the. dog. will go deeper investigate and debate all so you can get the big picture. now on to puerto rico where president trump is finally lifting shipping restrictions for the hurricane ravaged island amid mounting pressure the white house says a temporary ten day waiver on the jones act has been issued to speed up deliveries of food fuel and other critical supplies to puerto rico for more we go live to our team in a poor night and my ammi i'm marina the trumpet ministration has faced fierce backlash for not immediately lifting the jones act for puerto rico after issued a two week waiver for both texas and florida following hurricane tardy and irma so

how does suspending the law help puerto rico. well waiving the century old jones act allows for international ships to carry supplies directly to the us territory increasing the speed access and quantity of aid being received in puerto rico the jones act of one nine hundred twenty essentially protects the interests of domestic shipping or that industry under the law all goods shipped between u.s. points must be transported by american made and operated vessels operating costs of american flag vessels are nearly three times higher than foreign competitors and this forces puerto rico to pay more for shipping from the mainland the cost of goods rises and essentially the cost also rises for americans living on the island now president trump has suspended the jones act in puerto rico for just ten days however some are questioning how much good it will do considering tons of aid

supplies are sitting idle in shipping containers at the port of san juan acting homeland security secretary elaine duke says food water and fuel shortages on the island are the fault of the hurricane not the administration and then she proceeded to acknowledge a distribution problem plans to finally visit puerto rico next week there's a report the white house is restricting a group of lawmakers from visiting the island tomorrow what do you know about that . that's right at least ten members of the house and senate were reportedly organizing a trip to puerto rico tomorrow according to the washington post permission to use military aircraft to make the trips has been denied by the white house and pentagon who say the need for resources is being prioritized for rescue and recovery on the island to lawmakers and the governor of new york cover any visited the u.s. territory while restrictions are suddenly being imposed on u.s.

lawmakers the trump administration is reportedly making some hurricane victims pay for evacuations u.s. citizens evacuated from st maarten following hurricane irma are reportedly being billed by the state department for the transportation costs according to the u.s. evacuee manifest and promissory note failure to repay for the emergency evacuation can result in passport suspension rejection or i'm sorry passport suspension or rejection to renew so this is clearly quite a shock given that we're seeing you know so many entertainers donating to puerto rico that jennifer lopez gave a million dollars all the entertainers donated his jets to evacuate cancer patients from the from puerto rico and yet we have another island like san martin that was hit americans there they were evacuated but they're being sent a bill by the u.s. government wow thank you for this report marina that was our to correspond marina

for niamh reporting and my ammi. let's go to guantanamo bay we're a new federal lawsuit claims u.s. officials deliberately withheld medical care from a prisoner defense lawyers are asking a federal judge to intervene after fifty six year old abdul al had the also known as nash one l. to me air was required to get two operations on his spine and less than a month of pretrial hearing and his case had to be cancelled because of his operations according to a petition filed on september twenty first d. was required to undergo emergency surgery at a us navy hospital or run the risk of being paralyzed the ten page corpus petition as the first request of its kind and argues that his treatment constitutes cruel and unusual punishment and violation of the eighth amendment how to use lawyers or requesting an independent medical expert to supervise his care in the facility.

that you know better ends were twenty percent more likely to commit suicide the non-veteran so well according to a veterans affairs press release that is the case if the release also states the suicide rate for female veterans as two hundred and fifty percent higher than for female non-veterans was even more alarming as the report says suicide rates are highest among males that are in between the ages of eighteen and twenty nine joining me now to discuss this further is harming united states who are better and for peace and world beyond war and center for international policy matthew hoh thanks for joining us matthew first i want to start with the fact that you are a veteran can you talk about your experience battling depression and suicidal thoughts you know thank you for having me on and really really pleased you all are discussing this topic in this is not a topic that's journal maine to the american military veterans but also to all veterans or all people who have taken are in war and in the killing process if

he were in the mahdi background you know this is in the literature of shakespeare it really richer of homer we know the romans had to sillett were salute to convalesce after battles and after war and after campaigns to recover into trying to get better from their mental health problems and this is an issue that through medical research we see not as documented this this suicide and issues of mental health in veterans not just in the american military but the research we've seen in people who fought in the balkans in the ninety's as well as the israeli military has done a number of studies that shows that this is consistent across countries and across wars but in my case i certainly did i had i struggled and i probably will struggle for of my life with issues of suicide ality based upon the guilt of my involvement in the wars the guilt of taking part in the killing of the wars and there has been

nearly two dozen medical studies that. demonstrate that that show that there is a significant relationship between suicide in veterans and their experiences in combat with regards to killing. earlier i mentioned in the report other that suicide rates were highest among veterans between the ages of eighteen and twenty nine now what have you come across as it pertains to studies linking combat to suicide i know you touched on of that but if you can guess expound on it if a couple years ago the national center for veterans studies at the university of utah did a mete and alice's be available medical literature research available on the relationship between combat and suicide and what they found in the studies i believe there are twenty three and one of the studies that dismissed so a lot of the twenty two studies all those studies all twenty two studies showed a significant relationship

a real relationship between people who have been in combat and a susceptibility or an action towards suicide in later years regardless of how old they were this is not something other studies have shown as well this is not something that goes away with time and that's why we see just as as you noted the youngest veterans are the ones who have the highest suicide rates and for the young men bet young male veterans of iraq and afghanistan from the u.s. military who are aged eighteen to twenty nine they are killing themselves at a rate nearly six times higher than their civilian p. or so other young men their same age in the united states if you're a veteran of iraq or afghanistan iraq combat you have six you're rate of suicide is six times greater than those who didn't go to war who didn't go to iraq and afghanistan but we also see as to any old is veterans the rate of suicide

prevention or ins who fought in world war two is equally high it is at levels three or four times greater than their peers and the only reason why the entire. veterans data is not so rowsley. explosive in terms of the rates of suicide is because we have had periods where hundreds or thousands of american veterans doing go to war so if you look at the data that's a bit of v.a. has put out you'll see that among veterans who are in their fifty's and sixty's which corresponds to the time that america was not in vietnam and not in the persian gulf fighting and killing millions of people. you will see that the suicide rate is much lower but for the periods of time that people served in war whether it be world war two or career or vietnam or iraq or afghanistan the suicide rate for those who participated in that killing in this will comes down to suicide what the

suicide about it's a moral it's a moral crisis it's a moral injury it's about the guilt is much much greater than it is among the civilian peers matthew that have to leave it there thank you so much obviously the statistics are very alarming we greatly appreciate having you on that was former united states marine corps veteran to peace and world beyond war and center for international policy matthew hoh thank you so much again thank you. well that does it for now for more on the stories we covered go to you tube dot com slash r.t. america also check out our web site r t v dot com for its latin america you can also follow me on twitter at actually banks underscore r t and don't forget the question. larry you're watching our. first during the war.

a trial that we have spent countless hours for and through documents that tell the story. corporate media are using it to talk about. i'm not a pretty clear picture about how disturbing i'll. put. these are stories that no one know it's. hard to hold very. big news organizations have lots of people who work there and they all present different information in different ways in other words it's not really fair to make a blanket statement against a news outlet for one piece of content by one person since others at the outlet might not agree with that content either i myself have been struggling with that

lately i've been trying really hard not to make blanket statements against news organizations based on one person's content but the new york times is really challenging me on that this week because they just ran an op ed in titled why i admire anthony weiner as the guy who was just sentenced to prison for twenty one months for sexting a fifteen year old child the new york. and actually just ran a piece written by one person sally's to tell things she admires anthony wiener the husband of whom arguably contributed to the rise of president and now a convicted child sex offender the actual charge pled guilty to was transferring obscene material to a minor which is a nice way to say he sent nasty pictures of himself with his kid to another child after repeatedly sending gross pictures to women who aren't as wife this is the guy to tell admirers the reason she says she admires him is because he stood tearfully

before the judge and acknowledged several truths that he was responsible that he accepts the consequences and that he needs help i guess to tell miss the part where we already did that publicly when you get caught the first time. now addiction is rough and i admire anyone who is genuinely trying to work through their stuff sincerely but come on that you went. after he repeatedly sex and not only women but now a child's you can say wow sounds like he's going through a rough time or something but admire her even the guys in prison with wiener know there is nothing worse than messing with children the guys in prison with them won't be admiring him that's for sure but here's the new york times going right ahead and admiring this child sex offender or rather this morning writer is that my ring him but by actually having the nerve to publish that the times is really challenging my new initiative of not blaming an entire news outlet for one person's

contribution because they'd meiring someone for being convicted of messing with kids will really challenge only one sense of decency even when it's new so me. eh i play. it's called the feeling of freedom and. everyone in the world should experience flamingo lead and you'll get the old. the old according

to just. look up the modern world come along for the. length of a trial where i've spent countless hours poring through documents to tell the story about the ugly side of quilting the. corporate media everything uses to talk about these and connor news coming i'm going to paint a clear picture about how disturbing council blood corporate conduct is because a mom these are stories that you no one else can turn on my pepto host of americans with a push to. lead . i'm john harshman i'll give you what the mainstream media can't tell the big picture.