but the military themselves knew that these burn pits were reporting that soldiers i have copies of memos that were just completely buried and soldiers were never informed of the hazard of toxins that they were being exposed to so they knew about this they knew the potential for harm and they did nothing about it what was the cost benefit analysis not that you know you were walking in their shoes but what was their justification what was the cost benefit analysis of like oh well we know this is harmful but it was just just kind of keep it quiet and just keep dumping and burning and dumping and burning what was their justification if any in all honesty it's a money thing in the military years ago they'd be they cut and cut the military so much that the soldier and the airman the sailor the marine all they could do is fight the war as far as logistics all that went to a contractor and it was one contractor they didn't have to beat anybody he just he was the big fish in the pot and he won everything and it was a money thing i'll give you one example small example i was there in two thousand

and four during that summer the incinerators were sitting on the loading dock they were there american taxpayers bought paid from ready to go. contractors didn't install them they were fighting over money to install them while i went back in two thousand and seven and eight they were still sitting in the same spot covered with dirt so these incinerators which you could have put all the trash in which could have cut down on the entire issue whatsoever of inhaling you know the toxics in your lungs never to use simply because it was all kind of a body and white with contractors yes another thing i think that's important to remember is that there are also very little legal consequences k.b.r. which was responsible for managing some of these burn pits a subsidiary of halliburton they received an indemnification from the u.s. government meaning if they act in any way that is harmful to a soldier or even an iraqi national they will not be held liable so there's a lawsuit going on now it's been going on. for about eight or ten years the outcome

is kind of pointless because even if they are found guilty you know in a court of law it's not going to be k.b.r. who pays for it it's going to be you it's going to be your viewers it's going to be the american citizen taxpayer that has to foot the bill so there's no consequences so there's really matter how they act is that is that really the issue the all of this springs from at the end of the day is our reliance our sudden brand new warfare reliance on contractors over soldiers you know over men and women have joined up and said ok i are going to serve in the military i'm going to you know make the food i'm going to do all the different parts of the military or soldiers used to do that are now contracted out as of really this is kind of the ugly result of yes absolutely it seems odd i mean if. any you know any book you read about warfare you know before this century mercenaries are looked down upon they're not trusted they're not that's considered sort of inappropriate in sort of

national wars or in wars like this and i i think it's odd that we sort of comfortably went into this idea of mercenaries just paid people to do things and they have no consequences that's a really difficult it's of it's a very difficult job as well especially as a citizen or your taxpayers when very tax money went into all of this. at the age of seventy six stephen william hawking passed on from this time space this week on the anniversary of fame physicist albert einstein's birthday and the honoring of the mathematical constant known as pie and all special day for the person who fought a last a degenerative disease you valiantly battled for over fifty years people from around the world made their way to cambridge university to pay respects with a line stretching out the chapel door for a chance to leave notes of condolence for the famed physicist thomas reiter former astronaut and european space agency official was also inspired by hawkins love and fascination for the space beyond our humble. pos he was very fond of

human spaceflight in fact it's not too long ago that you mentioned that it is important for human kind to move out and not try to stay on this planet forever the motivation behind that by stephen hawking was slightly different one because he said we will manage maybe sometimes to destroy this planet. stephen hawking made us strive farther than we thought possible may we honor his work in memory far into the future and beyond most definitely most awfully rest in peace. you know i saw a beautiful interesting human being dynamic life and maybe just think and hopefully inspire others to think of the end of the. stephen hawking's life and move. wherever journey is on now we're going to hear about it all right. remember

everyone in this world we are not told that we love to tell you all of you i am tired old winter and i'm top of the. hawks out there and have a great day and night everybody. stay here because it will become all your lordship getting it toward you as well but i guess it was a year. nine hundred fifty added steel official line is that idea does not exist so i will study is in the us occupied territory to be may be a right source what should. probably develop nukes and if that happens.

to get not all this have a lot to develop. it appears and highly likely these are the words used by u.k. prime minister to resume pinning blame on russia for the poison attack on a former russian intelligence officer turned to british false claims are made and threats long course without incident. in the heart of the swiss alps this is a place probably more secretive than the pentagon more mysterious than the cia and better guarded than for knox swiss customs are here permanently and all the site is controlled by them and they impose the opening times. opposite it is from his office the procedures in place of the strictest in all europe masterpieces by artists like pecan so and modigliani i can't boards and sold inside this warehouse

that's where the report comes in it covers up deals which are naturally discreet commercially discreet step but also discreet because they concern fraud of some of those paintings are linked to dark secrets nobody knows how many of these secrets a kept inside the geneva freeport system you'll never obtain an inventory of all the works in the freeport who knows how many there are three hundred three thousand three hundred thousand is it a matter of confidentiality only is it the world's black box of the art business. britain accuses russia that breaching the convention on chemical weapons at an emergency meeting of the un security council while russia protests as it being

considered guilty until proven innocent. we've known for years that for you in order to determine the guilty party no investigation is needed today the best kind of proof is suspicion. that comes as the prime minister expels twenty three russian diplomats from britain in retaliation for the kremlin's alleged involvement in the poisoning of a former russian intelligence agent and his daughter that is despite police having declared no suspects. and human rights advocates call on the u.s. congress to reject donald trump's new pick for cia director over her involvement in the intelligence agency's torture program. broadcasting live from our studios in moscow this is our international and john

thomas certainly glad to have you with us now the british government has accused russia of breaching the international chemical weapons convention and that came at an emergency meeting of the u.n. security council called by london over russian double agents poisoning in britain. mr president for more of this we can conclude that russia is in serious breach of the chemical weapons convention through its failure to decline even though the short program this fact alone means you should discount any arguments you hear about the possibility of of a countries having inherited this technology after we heard the words from the u.k. ambassador who had called this emergency meeting of the fifteen member body that leads the united nations we then heard from the u.s. ambassador nikki haley now in her remarks as she emphasized the special relationship between the united states and the united kingdom and from there she went on to fit the allegations against russia in with the broader narrative she

talked about syria and she talked about north korea she talked about the previous security council meetings and it was rather heated words we heard not just from the u.k. ambassador but then from nikki haley representing the united states a growing concern and all of this dangerous and destabilizing activity is russia. russia failed to ensure syria destroyed is chemical weapons program russia killed the joint investigative mechanism when it found the side liable for chemical attacks russia used its veto to shield assad five times last year it has also provided cover for syria in the hague at the organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons in response to the heated words from the united states and the united kingdom we heard from the russian ambassador and he responded on a number of levels one of his points that he made was he pointed out that russia has

actually given up its chemical weapons and that the o.p.c. w. has confirmed that russia no longer possesses chemical weapons from there he invoked the memory of when call in powell representing united states in dressed that very body the u.n. security council holding the vials of powder that he said were. chemical weapons from iraq he reminded the council and pointed out that it at this point now we have the united kingdom coming was simply a letter and that there seems to be a history of rather unsubstantiated allegations against different countries regarding chemical weapons and weapons of mass destruction from the united states and the u.k. this is the russian representative responding to the words from the u.s. and the u.k. was even when we were living in a very special time in front of our eyes incredible things are happening the process of replacing the presumption of innocence with the presumption of guilt is taking place this criminal law principle is being transferred into international

relations envoy halley as an experienced chemist has talked about crimes committed by russia we've known for years that for you in order to determine the guilty party no investigation is needed today the best kind of proof is suspicion that it is no longer necessary to show to the council why to us with an unknown white substance in it it's enough to send a letter displaying an egregious attitude towards a sovereign state from there the russian ambassador went on to call for a thorough investigation of the incident and determine exactly who is to blame of what happened and he called for this to be done through the existing international mechanisms to find out who is absolutely responsible and he reassured the security council that russia was more than happy to cooperate with this proper investigation to determine who is responsible for the attack however he was very clear that he did not approve of the heated words and allegations from the u.k. and the united states before the council and that russia just like other countries

wants to get to the bottom of what exactly happened in salisbury. earlier we asked some of our experts to comment on the accusations western powers have leveled at moscow hague does have. you know the capability to investigate this incident whereas the un security council really does not nor do they even have the authority to do so it does beg the question why the u.k. wants to skip over to the hague and end up in a potential investigation and by the way under the you know international chemical weapons convention russia would have a right to participate in any investigation again i think the u.k. is not interested in that governments in general do things that i tend not to understand or agree with so i've no idea what their motivation might be but again to me the critical point is this why would you possibly make such

a huge international incident without a trial without evidence without knowing what's actually going on and that doesn't make any sense when you see people who are that quick to jump to war to a very aggressive foreign policy when you see people with that quick to overreact it means that they're looking for something to react to it's not a normal scale reaction to the given circumstances earlier u.k. prime minister theresa may announce to britain would expel twenty three russian diplomats and suspend all scheduled bilateral meetings with russia artie's an associate you're going to has details now from london. well the british prime minister has said that russia is culpable of attempted murder and among the measures that the u.k. is now taking is the expulsion of twenty three russian diplomats they are suspending high level contacts between the two countries the russian foreign minister's visit to the u.k. has been cancelled and no british officials including members of the world family

will be present at the world cup in russia taking place this summer may has said that russia's response to the deadline that was given by midnight last night was a distain given the gravity of that unravelled mr speaker it was right tool for russia the opportunity to provide an explanation but their response has demonstrated complete disdain for the gravity of these events. they have provided no credible explanation that they could suggests they lost control of the owners agent no explanation as to how this agent came to be used in the united kingdom no explanation as to why russia has an undeclared chemical weapons program in contravention of international.