ask. the pentagon officially confirms that it has carried out a strike in baghdad killing top iranian revolutionary guard commander. turkey's parliament approves a bill to deploy troops to libya in order to back the embattled government in tripoli we looked into the ramifications. the top u.n. rights experts says the united states whistleblower chelsea manning for refusing to testify against wiki leaks founder julian assange is amounts to torture.

by broadcasting live from our studios in moscow this is our team international i'm sean thomas certainly glad to have you with us we have to start with some fast moving developments in the middle east of this hour at the pentagon confirms the u.s. has struck iran linked targets near baghdad international airport now it has also confirmed that high profile iranian general solo money was killed in that strike along with an iraqi militia commander donald trump tweeted a u.s. flag after the announcement of solar moneys death now iraqi forces are said to be surrounding the green zone in baghdad where the u.s. embassy is located there is no information yet on the reason for those troop movements artie's cable mop and reports. it appears that washington is confirming that it did indeed carry out air strikes against iran linked forces in iraq now at this point we're hearing that 2 vehicles were hit outside the airport in

baghdad and 5 members of the popular mobilisation forces were hit as well as 2 additional guests and that among those killed was qassam a solomonic the leader of the could force of the islamic revolutionary guard corps a very prominent figure in iran that he apparently has been killed in this strike that took place outside of the baghdad airport this comes it's important to note in the aftermath of an announcement from mark asper the u.s. secretary of defense that the united states was planning action against iranian forces in the region and that the u.s. say it believed that iran was planning a strike against the united states this is what we heard from mark as for hours beforehand through some indications so good that they may be planning additional attacks if that happens and by the way we get word to the taxes some type of

indication will take preemptive action as will to protect american forces to protect american lives now on tuesday a crowd of protesters stormed the u.s. embassy in baghdad in response to the usa said it would deploy $750.00 more u.s. troops to the middle east furthermore $100.00 u.s. marines were moved from kuwait to protect the embassy in a show of force we had the united states helicopters flying over the compound firing flares as kind of a warning of protesters the embassy on rest came in the aftermath of a u.s. strike against forces in iraq in syria they say have ties to iran 25 people were killed dozens were injured in the aftermath of this strike we had protests at the u.s. embassy. in baghdad. was. a good god however we have donald trump on twitter iran will be held fully

responsible for the lives lost or damaging if any of our facilities they will pay a very big price this is not a warning it is a threat happy new year as tensions escalate in the middle east the united states continues to blame iran for incidents and say that it will respond to this pattern of tension between the united states and iran tension that has been asking lading seems to be continuing now that we enter the new year. or now let's cross live to contributor for mideast a new side monitor ali risk thanks for being with us here on our to international. this is big news the pentagon has confirmed it carried out the strike that killed so many putting this into perspective for us if you could. well or i think a basically now that they trump an instruction or so can the escalation with iran to ole new level you know there's

a strange is that wargame completely trump previously had resorted to what he termed as a maximum pressure campaign which was based on economic sanctions trying to choke iran economically and that policy appeared to have failed and now i believe that trump has resorted to a new policy which is that targeted assassinations now such a policy is extremely doing for us and especially a stronger suited for reelection because it could ignite the whole region in flames you know this actually could be considered as an act of war and we don't know. what the possibilities might be the why there regional level i would consider this to be renewable and not just something which is tied to we're only us here only we're ceroc it's more a very regional event and incidentally what is interesting is that the one of the members of the popular mobilization units that said that this was the result of

american israeli action so when iraqi officials were also calling up to possible israeli level and so the retaliation which could include could target israel itself and again you know what huge a huge development to sleep in this situation to one whole new level and the big question i think is how will really iran respond because never has iran been subject to where an assistant nation of such a man that you are so that's the big issue what would you want to the iranian response be to this very very dangerous front president of development one thing i read on twitter was that this is a ken some people have been saying this is akin to getting bin laden but other people say it's more like the united states actually killing a vice president of another guy. it's that big donald trump has tweeted the u.s. flag after confirmation of saw the money's death could u.s.

domestic politics be playing a role is he trying to. hate to say it but is this a distraction from the impeachment process at home. that might be part of it so i don't think that's the major reason no lie you know you know you don't distract you don't turn attention away from the midst of politics by carrying out such an attack and huge latitude i think domestically speaking trump has been accused or many here in the united states have been saying basically that his maximum pressure campaign against iran has not worked or others have accused him of being a weakling in front of iran you know but the fact that in response for example of when the iranians shot down an american unmanned drone if you recall that incident or the attacks on iran. emerge from water didn't respond to their so trump as i said has been accused domestically and being rather weak on iran now it could be the trump is trying to say trying to make

a point by just particular you know what aeration trying to make a point that he is not recall iran and that he is and he does intend to take it to iran now adult began with the attack on the. possible war group if you remember the recent attack which literally dozens of 25 year rockier here in iraq across no looks good at what is going to consider to be one of the close european allies of iran and now due course to how common a to with this operation targeting are still in many and also the corner they don't really have a beagle and what was actually units almost the old wonders now i can't help but see here the trump who's going more and more in the israeli direction because it's the israelis which over time and again say are you shouldn't focus on al qaida and on my system the real danger lies in iran and its allies and some of my carrying out this operation trump is basically full in the wishes of the israelis you know i

can't help but believe this and regard you mention it not to assume a. during saloni to bin laden i don't think you can compare course insulin any to learn and watch for that matter to get over you because you're talking about don't mistake in situation here but here we're looking at the really rich regards its commanders at their war part of the state apparatus in iran so it's like you're killing the joint you. or any country or war or military official of any country that's why i do so want president to and still are doing and that's why we wait and see in iraq for example might take if you want to look at it let's now do if you would we have the right to target american military commanders as well so that's why at certain groups indeed now you touched on this a little bit before i want to go back to it. what reaction do you expect from iran i mean as you mentioned this could be considered an act of war it is such

a big unprecedented event could iran's allies china and russia respond somehow as well i mean is this going to escalate into something. beyond regional and possibly even a global. i'm not sure about the global i think that the bush russia and china do have an interest in. you know going to preventing such incidents from happening in the future because as i said it's very dangerous when you have a president where they target military officials of not a certain country you know america later on but say we have the right to target for example russian or russian or chinese military officials so it's very important to the larger major powers in the world not on this issue parts now with the same time when you talk about iran's response iran has numerous options. it is or was involved as some are saying what could has blood do for example says one level what

actually could they take against for example you also have iranian allies in countries like afghanistan where you have american military crew presence you have american military presence in iraq itself and you have many uranian allies in iraq so iran has numerous options up its sleeve that one universe options available for itself to respond the question is you know how will it respond i don't think that iran will retaliate lightly i think will be quite a strong response because as i said this is something which has it was unprecedented in iran basically what you say when you've seen news an attacking one of the highest if not the highest iranian. official and numerous state with sovereignty would take such an issue lightly oer and so have a television is something which is clear and certain i think the question is how in what form what world this response comment could come outside americans but not so

inside iran what is it could come. it could come in iraq and it could come and elsewhere in other head lice and we also have to remind israel because it just it israel has some. one of involvement. going to ask you to go down the rabbit hole with me just a little bit because any attack on a nato ally nato responds in kind but this is kind of a provocation from the u.s. side what reaction do you expect from nato and other regional u.s. allies will they back this action or do they have to back this action. no i don't think so i don't think that any of the member members will lose. will congratulate will give their blessings for this operation maybe with the exception of britain under the new prime minister boris johnson but if you say. oh i think all are made european countries would be against such an escalation after all the

iran general so many. forces in iraq and they all played a pivotal role in fighting and dirt defeating isis whether it be in iraq or in syria and why just what was it that made a major threat so it's only you suppose it's not those protests and threat to europe but so i think the europeans will basically be very disappointed and very dismayed that by this act the only powers which i think will be welcoming this particular operation would be his will and certainly arab countries in the persian gulf like saudi arabia working there will be the early parties which will welcome such a little so we've seen it in you touched on this before but i want to go back to the timing of all of this this is coming just a couple of days after protesters tried to storm the u.s. embassy in baghdad that in turn was in response to u.s. air strikes in iraq and syria. this is

a quick escalation talk to me a little bit about that. yeah i think that trump basically he tried dirt where he didn't to be honest he did try to worm a large extent jerks to be no new to prevent himself from being drawn into this and he iranian escalation up until now trumps and here in iraq policy has focused on sanctions and the kind of tough critter. we don't not only non-action now what we're seeing is a trump is following through with some action on the ground that's what i think is what distinguishes this space that's why i believe it's within that into a new level now taking action on the ground begun with those threats which you mentioned that mr x. on and he has a lot brigades which happened recently which looked a little 25 percent iraqi personal and that's when the shift in american policy began that's when her chance policy shifted from sanctions and rhetoric to actual.

action on the ground to these operations house and nations on the bronx basically what we're seeing is that the american administration is taking the escalation to the highest possible level without going actually tool which is something that once a president the one i want to glee by taking this particular step trump may have actually dragged the us into war because if they run respond and then america will be forced to respond and then trump will one of us and find him sold in the drug into a war which he from the beginning wanted to prevent but which other players in the region wanted to happen you know how again i referred need to where israel and other know countries like saudi arabia well so i think that's basically the stage we we've reached right now that trump is basically now down to the pressures and has been forced if you would like to going into taking concrete action against

iraq. certainly it is going to be an interesting situation to watch and as it plays out we hope we can come back to you over the going to seem like days at least weeks possibly as this does play out contributor to monitor i rest factor with us here on r.t. international. sticking with the broader region president from thinks that foreign interference could complicate the situation in libya he raised those concerns during a call with president of turkey both leaders agreed to maintain diplomatic cooperation in the conflict this comes after the turkish parliament voted on thursday to back the un recognized government in libya giving a green light to troop deployment there and libya has been in a state of war since protests in 2011 and the ousting of the country's leader moammar gadhafi in recent months the u.s. backed government of national accord has been losing ground to the rival

administration of general. who leads the libyan national army now general house our forces currently control most of libya's territory including crucial oil and gas resources the un backed government meanwhile formally requested military aid from last month the arab league believes the deployment of turkish troops will further escalate the conflict in libya neighboring egypt has also strongly condemned the decision saying it would hold turkey fully responsible for any negative repercussions such as policy or as more. we know that this emergency session took place this afternoon in ankara we did see opposition from the main opposition party and their major concern is really that of all tensions in libya and that is a concern that's been expressed here across the region that number one we could see the libyan situation becoming more and more inflated and at the same time tensions trickling over elsewhere into the region now the initial mandate we understand is that troops will be sent for

a period of one year of course and chris saying that this deployment is vital for turkey for her interests in libya and also her interests in the eastern mediterranean last month an agreement was signed between and libya and according to the turkish president in that agreement he was requested by the tripoli prime minister fires to send such troops the government has been embroiled in both her fighting with the military command of tar and his libya national army now they've been unable to reach the city center of tripoli but there has been particularly in recent weeks a lot of fighting around the capital. turkish political analyst yousif aram told us feels it has exhausted military options. turkey doesn't want defeat or at least turkey's not going there to combat at least not initially i expect a very immediate deployment of $200.00 marines there to serve as

a stopgap at least raise the cost of hopped hours of pensive on tripoli knowing that there is a turkish presence knowing that if any of them are harmed there would be a much greater retaliation from making the star and his felony think twice before bombing bombing tripoli president add one has tried to reach out to his nato allies especially his e.u. allies multiple times this is basically a last resort right now when diplomacy doesn't work unfortunately there comes a time where you have to flex your hard power and there is an important saying what happens on the military field the diplomatic table we're seeing turkey become more and more now the major player in not only libya in the north africa and the east and the middle east turkey is showing that it's not going to shy away and president add one is willing to use his military muscle to get the results he wants at the diplomatic table as well. the senior u.n.

official has launched a scathing attack on the united states over its ongoing detention of whistleblower chelsea manning saying her treatment amounts to torture a special report to nils meltzer made the claim in a letter to the u.s. government which was written in november but has only now just come to light. the practice of coercive diprivan of liberty for civil contempt involves the intentional infliction of progressively severe mental and emotional suffering for the purposes of coercion and intimidation at the order of judicial authorities such deprivation of liberty does not constitute a circumscribed sanction for a specific offense but an open ended progressively severe measure of coercion for filling all the constitutive elements of torture or other cruel inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. chelsea manning was a u.s. military intelligence analyst but was arrested in 2010 for supplying classified information to wiki leaks if he was convicted in 2013 and sentenced to 35 years in

prison president obama commuted her sentence just before he left office but she was arrested again last year for declining to testify against wiki leaks publisher julian assange lawyer and activist kevin zeese explained to us how the law is being used to coerce manning. in a grand jury which is a secret process before someone is indicted or you before it prosecutions occurring to determine whether someone should be prosecuted this is a power of the court to coerce someone into testifying now this law it can all allow a person in the united states to be held for the length of the grand jury in order to coerce them to testify before the grand jury and no longer serves the purpose it was intended to serve it's now become a weapon of prosecutors it was initially designed to protect people who are being investigated the reason they're kept secret because it trying to protect people

being investigated before they're indicted so you don't know that they're being investigated but in the longer serves our purpose and now serves the purpose of being a tool for prosecutors that's abused and i think chelsea manning is a victim of that abuse the report by niels meltzer does give an additional air of legitimacy to the case of manning to really back up all of the things that manning's supporters that a staunch supporters have been saying now for over 6 months this is unjust that this is unfair they're trying to create something new this is the whole point of coerced trying to coerce manning to come up with something that the o.j. can use to make a real case against the sunday shows you how flimsy this is this is the degrade degradation of the justice system in the united states and also in the u.k. as well in the case of the songes more like more resembles a banana republic style facade of

a state judicial apparatus this is all part of the campaign for a interim reframes ruling so on and with the leaks as it is from a journalist and a publication to being a cyber criminal and a hostile foreign intelligence agency the entire case all the indictments against dishonor are based on that we frame in principle. and they are trying to get chelsea manning to give them something a key to actually make that narrative work and she's not she's not volunteering anything and this is frustrating the u.s. system tremendously. julian assange is not fairing much better he is also behind bars in a british prison after being dragged out of the ecuadorian embassy in london where he had spent the previous 7 years taylor comments. few buildings in the walls have come under as much scrutiny as this one here at the door and. in those 4 walls for 7 long years possibly the most famous was a pro who time to get

a sandwich was hold up until 8 port 2019 the 48 year old was sensationally dragged out which should start to ease. the work for the wiki leaks founder this was a huge betrayal by the latin american country that had sheltered him since 2012 aquittal said the relations had soured with the songe and his bad behavior triggered them opening the door to the police and revoking his asylum but it's worth noting that just a bit acquittals bank account got an almighty boost with a $4200000000.00 loan from the i.m.f. where the u.s. has huge voting rights a staunch is currently sitting in belmarsh prison in the country's capital sucking up to meet sentence but jumping bail in 2012 but many are saying that what he's

been handed is a death sentence because over 60 doctors wrote an open letter to the u.k. government saying that he might die in prison britain for its part denies any wrongdoing the allegations mr sun she was subjected to torture and found it and hold false the u.k. is committed to upholding the rule of law and ensuring that no one is ever above it but long to its defense rings hollow in light of reports by many organizations including the new web which claimed that as a scientist health continues to deteriorate authorities are simply standing idly by the blatant and sustained arbitrariness shown by both the judiciary and the government in this case suggest an alarming departure from the u.k.'s commitment to human. rights and the rule of law unless the u.k. urgently changes course under alleviates the inhuman situation mr songes continued exposure to arbitrariness and abuse may soon end up costing him his life but as

sanchez but also his well being is not only fight on his hands ever since wiki leaks exposed gross misconduct by the us government washington has been pushing for his extradition on espionage charges giving him a helping hand the british government despite international outcry the u.k. home secretary signed a us extradition request putting us on that one step closer towards being charged for publishing classified information and conspiring to hack the government computer 18 charges that washington has put forward could carry a maximum sentence of 175 years behind bars the reaction all over the wild people are crying foul they say that this is not a case about punishing a crime but of silencing avoids surely in their singled out for special treatment for one reason only here's the truth he's such an innocent important man is

because he is a freedom fighter however much you dislike. his case is the most important for me give you freedom this is just. miss rule of law and operation. washington's bid to get asylum stateside was also helped by not the european country sweden the scandinavian nation was investigating a rape allegation against the whistleblower and would have been within its rights to request his extradition to face trial since that case predated the u.s. request london would have been obliged to send a songe to stockholm fast but sweden has now closed that investigation conveniently removing the. final obstacle for the americans funny how it all wiped out a song just extradition hearing is set for factory 2020 but in light of these recent talents of the band's peers grabbing the does little charts of play this

close to sure i mean what and so of course what the united nations pressure up to and tortures. corrupts and in stress that the entire system in the u.k. including the judiciary and the media has to call in when it comes to julian. you know before you call course earlier this year and this was a confirmation that what neil smelters said seems to be true that julian was. just a lot of what journalists fear trial into while one always hopes that lead to justice will prevail u.s. authorities a rabs bad a kind wired for a start so it might well turn out that when a country is to secrets risk of being exposed justice is what that's up for interpretation so as to tailor our team. our let's go back to recap of our

breaking news story this hour from iraq where the u.s. has assassinated one of your brand's top generals the money in a drone strike reaction has just come in from iran one politician has vowed to avenge the death of the general and we will bring you all of the developments on this major story at the top of the hour you are watching r.t. international being assured that our newsroom is staying atop of it. free speech in america by guest dennis prager says it's under attack and eroding daily what's behind his claims on this edition of politic.

welcome to politicking i'm larry king a thought provoking new documentary no safe spaces claims the 1st amendment is being eroded on american college campuses closing minds and putting free speech at risk dennis prager radio host best selling author is a key figure in the film he joins us here in los angeles what led. to this this whole document well hit show yeah and so the reason it's important is safe space is what colleges have created i don't even know if you know this larry because it amiss i know you will i will see because liberals and conservatives both treasure free speech that's one thing we have and one thing that separates us from the world exactly you know and that no no that suggests why we got the statue of

liberty and nobody else did and the bill of rights yes.