this week we celebrated the war that threw off the shackles of english rule but many in military service wish we spent a little more time searching for truth rather than celebrating the destruction earlier we spoke with west point graduate an instructor speaker and author of ghost writers of baghdad soldiers civilians and the method the third major danny session about the war on terror and the future and our past. thank you so much for coming on today and i know that you want to preface this by saying that you're not here speaking for the u.s. military this is your own views your own opinions and all of that and so that's exactly what i want to get with this first question is are your west point graduate your your soldier suv numbers too is a dirty duty you're right or you're speaker what do you think the most important

thing americans and even the world needs to know about the u.s. war on terror i think the most important things to keep in mind is that it's been an ongoing war for seventeen years that is unprecedented in american history. fifteen sixteen year old kids are going to be joining the military in a year or two who were born after nine eleven so when we talk about the war on terror which is really a misnomer i mean how do you fight a war against a tactic terrorism is a tactic but what it really has been in my opinion is a war for basic many in the middle east some of it may be backed up by humanitarian impulses i don't suspect that the government necessarily fights just for oil or whatever the difference here is there is i think there's a lot of money interests who. are in the business of keeping these wars going and the american people quite frankly are disjointed from it there is no longer a draft this is a war fought by professional soldiers professional volunteers who do tour after

tour after tour while the american people go to the. all which is what george bush told them to do don't go to disneyland check out the mall we don't pay taxes we don't increase our taxes for the war and put all the credit card and we don't ask the people to really serve in any sense so the war on terror as far as i see it is potentially perpetual there's no end in sight i knew and you served directly in the war on terror from nine eleven on that's why i went to west point on july second of two thousand and one i thought that what i could expect was maybe a tour of kosovo maybe a little time in bosnia get to go to germany i never expected to serve in a war we hadn't fought very many wars since vietnam at least not long wars the towers came down in september i was in new york or i was certainly emotionally invested in in that attack and i was excited about going to the war quite frankly i was afraid that the war would end like many of us were before i could serve and then i served and then i saw what this was really about and what it appears to be

is endless. and yes i served in reconnaissance units mostly calvary scout units in iraq in two thousand and six and seven and then in afghanistan in two thousand and eleven twelve in fact both of the times i served were the surges i was in bush's surge in iraq and then obama's surge in afghanistan which i would argue in my book argues neither of which were effective while at the numbers in another part in your writing is that you sir you said you served in iraq and what you've talked about a little bit your writing is this idea that the same people you were your mortal enemy is that you fought against those same groups are now being put into power in political political power in places like iraq you're essentially saying this whole thing come apart and in a piece you were wrote for truth take earlier this year you said fracture a society it seems that the most nefarious and well armed actors often rise to the top militia men criminal elements islamism sociopath's of various stripes. are

there are let me ask you this are the ways the need of regime building worth yet so i'm of the opinion that they're not of the opinion that american regime change is actually destabilize the middle east and put many of those same nefarious and sometimes sociopathic actors in charge. this is what happens when a revolution in the more civil wars and least which is what happens when you topple the regime now suddenly there's no structure in charge of the society has to be rebuilt and of course the united states always wants to rebuild it in our own image of course which it doesn't work what there are so many unintended consequences of regime change it's almost it's almost difficult to predict anything and so what we saw was taught all solder in the recent alack iraqi elections he got the majority or he got the plurality his party did a vote and it taught all solder was a militiamen who armed financed and led militias that killed about a thousand american soldiers including two of my own soldiers on generates with the

twenty fifth two thousand and seven so does that mean that solder doesn't have any right to be involved in politics i'm not saying that he's a nationalist obviously but what it shows you is. america does not control the outcome once we destabilize a society and there are more unintended consequences than there are intended ones and i would even say that if you look at history too when you see revolutions throughout history usually the ones that actually hold that actually do the most good in the long run for any country in the world are the ones that happen internally without the real help of outside it wasn't another country coming in toppling the government and then said here run with it you know like we've been it's usually something that happens internally maybe a little bit of help or support from other entities but other than that that change takes place there in that you know in history is one of the most important elements i think of of a society is the teaching of history the learning of history so you can make better informed decisions in the future yet it seems that we aren't even considering the sins of the past as our politicians planned years decades of war and you know now

pointing us and direction and possibly war with iran or north korea what historical lesson do you think needs to be read taught or really learned or top of the first time before we step into another conflict i think we have to be honest about the some successes and mostly failures of our recent wars in iraq and afghanistan and you know it's not just iraq and afghanistan while president obama was present this is not a partisan issue we were bombing six or eight countries and we're talking about libya we're talking about somalia yemen. these wars aren't really even. talked about by most people i mean there was this great photo of a press conference the department of the pentagon was giving about the war in afghanistan and our new strategy we thought about twelve new strategies and there was this great shot there's four reporters in the room and about fifty empty seats and so i think until we learn and teach the kind of messy history of the war in

afghanistan in iraq we are apt to repeat it whether it's in iran whether it's in west africa american soldiers are dying in countries americans can't pronounce they can't find on a map and part of the problem and part of the reason for that is they're not really educated on this and nor do they need to be educated because they don't have to serve unless they choose to now of course sometimes there's a back door draft that it's economic theories that mean a lot of people join our military from the lower strata especially rural areas but the average american is untouched by the war on terror we need to be taught in schools we have honest conversations like this and be unafraid to be critical i love the united states of america i'd love the united states army but someone has to speak and give their opinion and be critical and take a hard look at these wars as the greatest form preacher tism is because you know question you you know question you know him being critical of the government. and that brings me to another thing about you know being in the military and how the public sort of perceives that and how it gets used against them and it's

a way to put it it's hard for people to love the military when they hate war that's always the being anti-war but loving the military soldiers and some people have a real problem with that with things like the n.f.l. kneeling arise and there is this idea that the military is being used shoes shut down a conversation that's about something else or this idea that the military is a monolith that you all and honestly as a as a feminist i get that same think it's like well you all do well you know you all must be offended by this by this kneeling why is it important that we don't drag our server. yes men and women into into political social debates like the n.f.l. kneeling controversy which had nothing to do with the military and in no way was meant as a flight in any way to the military why is it important to keep things what we've found is that soldiers have become political pawns for all parties democrats

republicans all different constituencies we we're not meant to be tools in every debate and we're also not meant to be political shields and that's how we're used because if people wrap themselves in the flag or they wrap themselves around the soldiers then they must be correct and we actually put soldiers on a pedestal that i think is inappropriate and if you look at polls from you know any one of the last twenty years the congress low low approval presidency low approval supreme court no one has any faith in any public institutions except soldiers but that's damaging for a republic i'm not saying we should respect soldiers of course we should but we can't hide behind those soldiers and we can't use them as political pawns so often they're used in that way if you choose to neal because you think that you know there is still racism in america and police brutality that has nothing to do with soldiers saying that those kneeling n.f.l. players are somehow dishonoring need or dishonoring my soldiers who lived and some who died it's ludicrous it's intellectually dishonest and i think it's really

damaging for an ostensible republic let me ask you this. while you were a soldier serving in those tours and survived to two thousand and twelve to you know what it what is it like from the inside looking out like how much of. you know whether it be those protesting the wars or you know the controversy surrounding the different presidents and why that i mean does that politics filter into you know the groups of guys in there and lead you or is it a bubble that you just you know you don't get exposed to i mean it's almost impossible to keep. the noise out the political noise when i was in iraq that was the exact period when the democrats won a landslide mid-term election there was a lot of debate about the surge we all got extended for three extra months. most soldiers really it's a platitude but they fight for each other most soldiers are actually not all that political much more outspoken to political them than most officers or soldiers but

they do have questions like i had soldiers asking me and i was a twenty three year old lieutenant what did i know they were saying how come we have to serve three more months how can we have to stay here for fifteen months why isn't there a draft why aren't we asking more the american people is this iraqi government even worth our time and energy because they don't appear to have much of it was he so yeah as an officer especially field those questions for the most part the soldiers are incredibly professional they do their duty they really don't question their duty because they have to do it is just part of the day to day but there are some tough questions it is i will tell you this for me a turning point in my life that got me into writing they got me to speaking was the moment that i felt i couldn't look a mother in the eye or a widow in an and explain precisely what her son loved one husband died for had to have that conversation way too many times it's damaging for me personally and i think when you stop having a ready answer for that it's time to speak out it's time to think this one be

honest critic of what's going on for the sake of the country. i thank you so much thank you so much for talking to us about this today and really helping i think people to understand that you know soldiers are not all of this you know call of duty mind theories and they're not bad you know political they do all that they're real people and that how we do things politically and facts soldiers men and women on the battlefield not to take my that's you. you fight for that freedom so that so that we can help fight for you and i'm happy to be here to talk about it because that's the tool that i have left is to is to try to highlight the service of my guys and also asked of what tough questions because the best way to honor veterans and as a lesson i say let's create less of them perverts looking for dancer thank you so much for coming on thank you very much was a pleasure. this week oct watchers we lost we here at r

t and r t america lost our colleague and friend ed schultz ad was the consummate journalist a newsman he he fought for and reported the news for the working men and women both here in the united states and around the world it was an honor to work with that he was always quick to offer advice on the many challenges one faces in this business and he never betrayed his integrity and moral character in the course of working at a job he truly loved with all of his heart and soul we truly have lost a great great journalist this week and had the heart of a true midwesterner stoic and rational but full of love for those less fortunate he cared about those people who are easily forgotten the workers the underdogs he fought for the middle and spoke up when things were wrong without a care in the world of how he was perceived he showed us all the strength it takes

to be an ethical journalist at pushed us always to be better than the best in the business he was a true patriot a soldier for the working class and fairly example of what it means to truly give voice to the voiceless remember everyone in this world we are not told we are loved enough so i tell you all. i love you i am tired. and on top of us keep on watching those hawks and i'm a great thing and. people criticize us or they question us and they want to know why we're not more books for nickel of russia and the real question is how come we're not tooting russia's horn

more because they are been genius during this crisis but that would be i think a little bit you know over the top to simply point out all the good things that they're constantly doing so we just try to take a more balanced middle of the road approach that's you know the fact is that they're making all these other economies look stupid by comparison. they're primly and confirms president putin hull's oficial you received an invitation from washington to meet with donald trump for his second major so much later this year. also ahead in the program facebook is more for so-called.