the pentagon says it's impossible to know how many civilians died in last year's liberation at the syrian city of russia as after honesty international slams the u.s. led coalition in a new report alleging possible war crimes during the battle for the city. and there's fury in germany after the new u.s. ambassador is accused of lending support to far right groups in europe. maybe he needs to be a little bit more careful this just in. the e.u. is crossing swords with the u.s. over a new leader imposed trade tyrants promising counter measures for next month and calling the move by washington illegal. and u.s.

senators consider a bill which would greatly expand the president's war powers even as constitutional experts testify about the dangers of the new legislation. a very warm welcome this is r.t. international with meaning aaron good to have you with us this hour now our top story it's been a year since the start of the operation to liberate the syrian city of rocket from meisel but the human cost of the operation still remains unclear according to the u.s. led coalition the number of civilians killed in the battle for rocket will never be known as far as how do we know how many civilians were killed i'm just being honest no one will ever know anyone who claims they all know is lying. it comes as honesty international releases a report accusing the u.s.

led coalition of relentless air and artillery strikes jury in the battle for rocker the report even suggests the coalition may have committed war crimes as r.t. for trying to explains. getting to the bottom of what was really happening in iraq as the americans and allies were freeing it who will be bothered to do that or it will take ages the prose of war behind these walls may have thought but scrutiny was inevitable coalition claims that its precision and campaigns allowed it to bomb islamic states house of rocca well causing very few civilian casualties do not stand up to scrutiny based on information from amnesty international's field investigation and public reporting coalition air and artillery strikes killed hundreds of civilians

and injured many more open amnesty's report and you'll find words like this proportionate and discriminate bombing the use of white phosphorus claims which could turn into a reputational disaster if proven things that amount to war crimes the u.s. led coalition mission to free rocka went on for more than four months from june sixth took tobar twelfth last year and the pentagon proudly told the world they'd fired thirty five thousand artillery rounds while they were at it that fired more rounds and rockets syria than any other marine that tillery battalion any marine battalion since the vietnam war yet we kept hearing from those whose orders matter how cautious they war there has been no military in the world's history that is paid more attention to the limited food bill you know we should just administer and john the battlefield and the coalition military we're not perfect guys we can make

a mistake and this kind of warfare will happen but we are the good guys and munitions people on a battlefield know the difference you can't help wondering how the. any innocent locals general mattis has actually met i'm sure you can find many of those who are genuinely grateful to the coalition for kicking myself out but just compare his words to some of the witness accounts our team heard while in iraq that was the second version of the we were directly targeted by the coalition after the reconnaissance craft filmed us it was a low altitude it was very clear there were no terrorists in the area but there were kids playing in the streets and we were collecting water and i knew that i thought i knew that if the aircraft bomb using phosphorus targets everyone it is not hidden i still the coalition is boman randomly if you're sitting at home a bomb may come down and you there are houses that collapsed on their residence and they could not get out all this happened because of the aircraft it will plane

comes in strikes for instance a five story building i said would be on the second floor while civilians on the third and fourth floors how comes the plane still strikes then most civilians died the ones all terrorists and we weren't alone in hearing those worrying calls from that devastated syrian city humanitarian groups on high alert had to many more whores to share with us and the rest of the world there are worries about how this operation will affect civilians we're concerned about the safety and protection of more than four hundred thousand people in iraq as these operations commence to struggle to get it was. not a year in coalition authority so you actually believe that the actual number reimport about who is under if you thought any of that led to a change of tactics by the coalition or at least an apology i have to tell you they

feel that themselves from scrutiny with monthly casualty reports we've been largely focusing on the fate of rock of civilians in our coverage and nationals now weighed in with some serious work it could be high time we hear something new from the u.s. pros of war. we have requested comment from a number of humanitarian organizations the international committee for the red cross replied saying it repeatedly expressed concern for the safety of radko civilians during the city's liberation while the un agency for children said it has no information on the matter we spoke to george she would landis directed at the center of middle east studies at the university of oklahoma who believes the u.s. was in a hurry and therefore refused to enter into negotiations i don't doubt that the united states has used efforts great efforts not to kill people but in the end there and they were at the u.n.

i asked them multiple times to give a break so that civilians could get out they didn't want to negotiate with us they said we're going to kill them on the battlefield they didn't want them as prisoners in another guantanamo since the gulf war. one nine hundred ninety the first gulf war the united states constitution says that it didn't care about the enemy it didn't know how many were killed and it wasn't going to try to find out later on there were some investigations but by and large that has been the protocol of the u.s. which is not to count the enemy and to try to keep it secret really. angela merkel is under pressure amid calls to expel the u.s. ambassador to germany and it comes after richard grinnell who's been in the job for just a month said he's working to strengthen right wing movements across europe artie's peter all of a look into the story. at the beginning of the last century then american president

theodore roosevelt said the u.s. diplomat should speak softly and carry a big stick while the current u.s. ambassador to germany he's opted more for shouting loudly and using that stick to smash diplomatic norms have a look at what he had to say to the right wing news site breitbart the right lot of conservatives throughout europe who have contacted me to say they're feeling there is a resurgence going on i absolutely want to empower other conservative throughout europe other leaders while i'm but for the good now is announced himself as the all right cheerleader in chief in europe some people in berlin on top be that such a senior diplomatic figure is involving himself in the day to day running of european politics hiring king officials from me from me united states and maybe needs to be a little bit more careful i cannot imagine that i never never ever but i'm fifty years now and never ever had heard something similar over the last decades and this

is still casting this person should be so not of our country we don't do this in the us and they did do we shouldn't do that. this is horrible and the u.s. government this is a shame sorry for that but that's my opinion. he should have been more diplomatic and i believe that the right wing is not the right way to be pushing but you know that's i wouldn't call this incident and then john affairs but as a diplomat who should be more neutral politicians on the left say the ambassador who's only been in the job for a month should but he's bags and go home and basset is a representative of their stays and not her political movements u.s. ambassador now however does not behave like a diplomat but more like a far right colonial officer we won't tolerate such behavior it's nice to have her hand here it is not only a breach etiquette of. that it is also a violation of the vienna convention on diplomatic relations there is an article

forty one in which it is very clearly stated that ambassadors shall not interfere in internal affairs he has to go because he has broken too much porcelain in germany he has become a real hate figure and that is not a good platform for a us ambassador this isn't the first scandal that mr goodell's been involved in just a few days into his tenure the opes german businesses with these comments after washington pulled out of the iran nuclear deal as little trump said u.s. sanctions will target critical saxes of iran's economy german companies doing business in iran should wind mediately ambassador grinnell's brush shoot from the hip style certainly seems to be from the same playbook as president donald trump but he may well find out the hard way that envoys are expected to act and behave in a certain way whether they're at home in d.c. or here in the german capital peter all of a. former u.k.

ambassador to syria and bahrain peter ford fails ambassador when else comments crossed the line. very forthright being a good diplomat. sure. advocate one by political work these guys get there and i know the. protocol might hold. not become the standard of proof in practice and by good and important european countries it is really quite exceptional for an american ambassador in germany germany which is what the good life of the united states. but there were no. this new york by ambassador he's only been an ambassador for one month. the rules of the game. he used about to embark on a trade war with the u.s.

with the block and now think plans to retaliate that comes after washington slapped tariffs on steel and aluminum imports earlier this month the new duties start applying in july it isn't measured in proportionate response to the unilateral in the legal decision taken by the united states to impose status on the european steel and i'll mean the exports which we get after he used measures will effect such american staples as harley davidson motorcycles jeans and peanut butter they will also target steel and a range of agricultural products they are backlash against the u.s. started even before the terrorists terrorists controversy as off the u.s. left the iran deal and promised to sanction companies doing business with iran but as daniel bushell explains for some players money may be worth more than principles

. e.u. solidarity and nothing but a house of cards of the europe giants from energy behemoths to the makers of persia and c toy in a bit this scrapping billion euro iran projects to brute the european investment bank owned by yes the twenty eight members of the e.u. of insists it supports the e.u. but ignoring sanctions is incompatible with its status of course and it gets worse brussels is painful new u.s. tariffs on europe's metal however some see all this as a calming plan business these days especially european union in american business is whether they have bangs automobile companies i t. companies any other business they're so interconnected that america will continue to use that leverage to try to penalize some of their european companies who may

be doing business with iran charmer tehran again breaking up the transatlantic marriage e.u. ministers write an angry open letter demanding america exempts them from iran's sanctions as close allies we expect that the extraterritorial effects of u.s. secondary sanctions will not be enforced on a u. entities and individuals and the united states will thus respect our political decision and the good faith of our economic operators within the e.u. legal territory. and while we await washington's reaction there's the small matter of friday's g seven or is that g six plus one it will be a g six plus one the united states have decided to raise dettori sums to me ume that decision is unjustified this is very unfortunate it is unfortunate because it will. cause a lot of damage to our steel and aluminum industry it is unfortunate because this

is for the weakening the transatlantic relations the european union want to avoid this situation you wouldn't want to be a jew or a credit right now in the ranks as your top firms betray the party line or the world dodging bullets from the trump administration. a group of constitutional experts have appeared in front of the us senate to give their view on whether the president should have additional powers to wage war so american has the details the mass for the authorization for use of military force has always been a subject of controversy given that the constitution requires congress to declare war but the new a u m f would officially transfer those powers to the president but with all this talk about limiting presidents a war powers senator rand paul who chaired the subcommittee hearing said that the new proposal would actually expand

a presidential authority to wage war before still at war seventeen years from now it came corker passes that there are no limits on war let it be known that there were least some of us who warrant thank you considering that it authorizes war against at least eight groups that operate in over twenty different countries and then one of the panelists said that the new version would allow the president to declare war on any group or country including the u.s. but present at the subcommittee hearing were both democrats and republicans and even one independent senator who are all unified in bashing the proposal. arguing that it wouldn't limit trump's authority to wage war but expand it let's check out what else the panelists had to say or do i want my sixteen year old going to war against al shabaab in somalia my son probably can't find them out and probably very few people even in this room know who all shabaab is it's going to be very hard to get a veto proof majority to take the name of an accused terrorist group or nation off

their list and so it's going to be virtually impossible to do that but that we're having this kind of a conversation about whether the president could kill americans in america or whether the president can engage in perpetual war in a matter how noble he believes the cause is speaks volumes about how low we have sunk and believe it or not there wasn't really any blind partisanship at this hearing they criticized both democratic and republican administrations for abusing presidential war powers but senator sanders made a special appearance at the hearing and he made a very convincing argument bringing up the three different instances when the u.s. intervened without congressional authorization to emphasize the need to limit presidential authority number one the nine hundred fifty three overthrow iran's a democratically elected leader a number two vietnam and three of course iraq sander said that these travesties happened because the american people and the u.s.

congress was misled by those administration saying that congress should be asking tougher questions about the wars the us is involved with not just debating the legality of the wars but the proposal was authored by senator corker who's been braided by his own party for criticizing trump and it was also authored by senator tim kaine a hillary clinton's running mate during the twenty sixteen election so these are two of trump's fiercest critics on foreign policy but a senator kaine has for years pushed to limit press. central authority to wage war so it's a little bit confusing as to why he authored one to expand presidential war powers and some have mockingly asked if senator cain had even read his own bill but both corker and cain have never stopped short of criticizing trump so it's difficult to determine if their intention was to actually prevent war or if it was just another way to resist but the underlying question is this while the legality of these war should be discussed will the premise of these wars also be discussed like senator

rand paul recommended. don't you mcadams executive director at the wrong paul institute says the new law would effectively put congress out of a job this is much much worse than the president's current authority it grants what judge andrew napolitano of called unconstitutional mishmash to allow the president to declare war over wars without congress' involvement whatsoever is a huge disconnect in washington congress loves the wars war is what washington is made of war is washington's number one export congress officially throwing up its arms you know what we give up it's all over we're just going to sit. there in front of the camera collect our paychecks and do nothing. meanwhile the u.s. secretary of state has raised some eyebrows with a tweet taste sent marking the seventy four years since the d.-day in world war two

it was then that u.s. and allied troops landed in normandy to liberate western europe from nazi forces the secretary's message on the edge to fight off the allies against nazi tyranny but made a cryptic reference to modern tyranny without a lab orating exactly what he meant and u.s. state department spokesperson has a new it also appeared to make a gaffe when she brought up the d.-day landings while emphasizing washington's warm relations with belin. but when you talk about germany we have a very strong relationship with the government of germany very strong relationship looking back in the history books today is the seventy first anniversary of the speech that now announced the marshall plan tomorrow is the anniversary of the d.-day invasion. we obviously have a very long history with the government of germany. discuss this further we can cross

live to gregory copley editor of defense and foreign affairs magazine now welcome to the program mr copley it's good to have you with us i think many people are wondering what country or countries might pompei i was alluding to when you mentioned america's fight against a modern day terror in a what are your thoughts well it could be any of a range of countries the united states is engaged in wars the middle east for example if. it's for years been fighting a war against terrorism it isn't correct fighting a very heavy cold war and increasing war against the people's republic of china so take your pick of the reality of the united states has been in. combat activities for the past twenty years so certainly the middle level attacks and does see itself as engaged in a war against people who are trying to overthrow what it sees as those

freedoms we have is that that some might find it quite ironic considering washington is very closely allied to many governments such as saudi arabia that have been strongly criticized by human rights groups what are your thoughts. give me a break though the reality is that russia is associated with many governments which are associated with human rights abuses to all governments of necessity make strategic choices the fact that the fact was that the pump was not about human rights abuse does it say it was about a broader strategic issue and frankly this statement he's this tweet he made was for a u.s. domestic audience and it was about making me us feel though that it had an ongoing mission that it had been on the right side of history that it had in fact in fighting against a nazi depression in world war two so did that affect the way in and compare with

making that tweak i think to make anything more than that his you know fairly. she's trying too hard. some might say that the u.s. is definition of a tyrannical country is dependent upon whether that country aligns with u.s. foreign policy do you think that's fair to say. i think it's fair to say that most governments around the world think that anybody that doesn't agree with them is either tyrannical or crazy so again to single this out as. an implication that the us feels that you're either with us or against us takes it a little too literally this was a statement of patriotism made at the time when the us. conservative movement that moved around the government being threatened by urban populist thinking which is being very anti nationalist very much against the whole sense of of american

exceptionalism and phrases i don't particularly like but the reality is if that you've got this nationalist whatever which supports the president versus an urban globalist movement which is actually and the next most and apologizes for the united states and the trump administrative and including say if you pump is is the police using to bolster the extent of patriotic boundaries the syria has to read anything more into it other that this is a feel good a remark for americans. to say going a little too. post tweet about the u.s. and its allies landing in normandy says it was a turning point in the second world war do you think that was an exaggeration since he didn't mention this soviet on these efforts. computer break again you know you go to prison do you didn't mention the fact that the canadians and the brits were there at normandy either you didn't mention the fact that the commonwealth nations

were in the war against germany from nine hundred thirty not. in fact before the soviet union was at war hold together in fact the time when the soviet union was actually allied with germany and dividing up the whole so you could say that it in a tweet or limited it with a limited number of words and characters that he should have gone on to explain world history the reality is that the normandy landings were significant strategically they did. a lot of pressure on germany and talk a lot of german forces away from the eastern front which is something that stalin had been pressing. to do to to to enter the war on the continent to take pressure off of the so you know and that was done but had stalin it sacked behaved a little more sensibly then the soviet union would not have been caught unawares by

germany would not have been drawn into the war the way in which it was and the outcome of the warrant and the subsequent peace might have been very different but we copy editor of defense thought foreign affairs magazine thank you for your time . just seven days to go before the fee for world cup kicks off the hay in russia and as the excitement builds we've been sounding out perhaps the most famous football manager out there is a marine here on how he thinks the tournament will unfold. says mr merida let's go through the group step by step whenever you're ready. i'm not ready because it's very difficult i don't want to be emotional look i have to be i will go to contradictions because i want my players to wean but i also want my

place to go on holiday so this is going to be tough but i would say to you know why this weights and we need to go. they have experienced players they have the right thing to do and i think russia has to finish second and. then the crucial match will be russia against egypt and it's fine to be to be out for testing for russia to finish second in the group well. to win the group be. a level show relate to totally portugal this book because i wanted to finish second in the world maybe down the home team russia is going to play against they were the best team speak up see us in front will draw a little finish first. the fight to finish second. and go for a surprise come on australia that's in the cycles. and in group the last thing

the little fellow will finish first. is what is going to be hard to play well for an african team. so little be brazil in the name of teach to go on holiday so switzerland who finished second i'm so in the month of us into the hole. and then in the group from germany has to win. i think mexico to finish seconds. go. well gee come on england and sing the belgian who finished second. and finally group the church for the balances on the goal to win the group. and for a long to finish second. will have so much expertise from jews i mean you don't miss it cannot see. but if you feel like put that pitch in your wits against them i

suggest a marine yo head to facebook or twitter and use the hash tag much more we know to make your own predictions. about with the headlines and half an hour see that. faced with frustration and dismay from america's allies even members of the g.o.p. donald trump is sticking to his campaign promise to recast washington's trade relations with the world the reaction has been loud in swift only on the verge of a global trade war. a fight for many clubs over the years so i know the guy even so i got. the ball isn't only about what happens on the pitch for the final school it's about the passion from the fans it's the age of the super money kill the narrowness and spending to

get to the twenty million one player. it's an experience like nothing else on here because i want to share what i think what i know about the beautiful guy a great so what chance with. the base is going to. the bad. news. the reason we call these our ships is because they're a ship to sail on the seas of tomorrow that's kind of why we call it that they're not a house a house needs power lines coming in and gas lines coming in.