iraqi lawmakers passed a resolution calling for the removal of foreign troops from the country including a u.s. led. coalition. in the vote follows america's assassination of iran's most powerful general strike on baghdad international airport on friday hundreds of thousands lined the streets as the body of general. is returned. to in the stories that shaped this week wiki leaks founder julian assange claims he slowly dying in a u.k. prison saying he's being. subjected to 23 hours a day of solitary confinement he made the allegations to

a christmas for. me because he the spend christmas with me and my family in 2010 but you know what time it. all he said to me but i'm slowly dying. with the biggest stories of the past 7 days and right up to the moment developments as well welcome to the weekly r t international my name's union o'neil we begin with breaking news the iraqi parliament house passed a resolution calling on the government to expel all foreign forces and to formally terminate its request for assistance from the u.s. led coalition the vote follows the united states assassination of iran's most powerful general in our rate on baghdad international airport on friday iraqi official it's the scribe the strike as

a violation of their country. sovereignty or trying to live by r.t.c. course at dulles who's been following developments and there's been quite a few developments to follow 1st of all this vote tell us more well to some some long story it is a huge geopolitical victory for iran this is the bottom line but this vote hasn't been smooth sailing this vote has been a very close call because they barely scrape together enough members of the parliament for the vote to be seen as legitimate there's a minimum threshold of about half of the m.p.'s they have to be president about half of them please have to be present for the vote to have a go and there was just about that there was just about half of all the rocky m.p.'s present to vote on the matter and the reason for that is that washington has been putting various political groups in iraq under tremendous pressure to the boy court. the whole vote for instance the kurds they just officially had said that

they were not taking part in today's ballot and interestingly enough the rocky prime minister he put forward 2 options as to what the government could do 1st moderate one generally just review the conditions under which foreign militaries operate on the rocky soil that was option one option 2 was the option to just expel all 4 and powers and so on and this is what the parliament opted for and it is an interesting choice because now the resolution looks like essentially a iraq will be filing a complaint to the united nations to they will be withdrawing a request for assistance from the international coalition that is that means the anti eisel coalition and 3 expelling all foreign forces from its soil and banning them from using iraq's both land and space so this is big and as the vote was going on as the as the m.p.'s were debating this resolution people swarmed the streets

they took to the streets to let the m.p.'s know that they are sick and tired of finding themselves between the rock and the hard place. i want to start with the conflict taking place between america and iran inside iraq is unacceptable we will not be the fuel for your wars your problems must be solved away from iraq. we are opposed to recent events we reject them and there is fear in iraqi society because of this conflict we are against any regional conflicts but harm our country's interests. because the conflict between america and iran should be solved outside iraq and if they also have a military conflict it must be resolved outside iraq this is what we hope for from the struggling government what these protesters have been saying is essentially that they are sick and tired of a situation when 2 foreign countries like the united states and iran for instance a jew can get out between themselves but most of the punches or just

a lot of the punches they are falling on the heads of the rockies and the fallout from that what does this mean for iraq where if you can look a little bit into the future and to the wider region the middle east well the iraqi prime minister was one angry man during today's session and in fact he spilled the beans about something very interesting as to why general because general seems really money was in baghdad in the 1st place here's what he said. i was about. 30 on friday in the morning and he was carrying a message to me from the iranians. that we have 2 of the iranians in old during sort of agreement regarding. the reserves so the general had an appointment with the iraqi prime minister and he

was delivering a message apparently according to the iraqi prime minister outgoing but still a prime minister and he was delivering a message of diplomatic message to him from the saudis and from the rain ians so effectively this puts general casinos really money into position he was acting in the capacity of a diplomatic envoy and so the fact that the united states decided to bomb him at that particular moment could mean that essentially they bombed a diplomatic animal which is a big big no no on the internet and to the international law so this could be staying the united states won't be wiping off that easily off its reputation perhaps an answer as to why he was targeted then he may have had less security if it was a diplomatic measures traveling he was traveling through a regular line civilian airline so we didn't believe he was feeling pretty safe because just new cars as well being used what about washington then have they reacted what's what's coming out of the u.n. world so far nothing on the party on this particular decision by the iraqi

parliament but well you could say that donald trump has been very vocal about how he wants to bring back american boys and girls home from overseas operations. we want to bring our troops back home and i got elected on that if you go back and look at our speeches i would say we want to bring our troops back home from these endless wars i will say look i said i want to get out of these endless wars i campaigned on that i want to get out i haven't allowed. the white house except to go to iraq for a version of time where i had a great experience or actually some great people some great generals we have great ideas having to do with syria it's working out very well in the hell out of isis and we're bringing our folks back home well i guess you could say this vote is the perfect opportunity for trump to bring back some 5000 amount of american boys and girls home from iraq from the 12 bases where they were stationed there in that

country but that's of course that's done in cheek but still again it is a huge victory for iran because if again this vote is a non-binding one but that has to be signed by the government into action it is viewed as a formality mostly i mean iraq is very weak right now politically because the prime minister is outgoing it has like a caretaker government so far but still it is viewed as a formality but comes with a lot of buts and housed for instance how you rock is going to facilitate and enforce the departure of u.s. forces from its soil not just american forces but international forces as a whole so a lot of a lot of questions still in the end will really stay true to its word a lot of questions thanks for answering some of the sit down off for now thanks well let's turn to iran itself now where lawmakers have been fiercely condemning the assassination of general sort of money chanting death to america take

a look. odd general solmonese body has been repatriated to iran where he'll be buried to choose they there's been a huge outpouring of grief in the country with hundreds of thousands of mourners paying tribute to the slain commander drives also throng the streets of the iraqi capital on saturday for a funeral procession around has responded with fury to friday's deadly u.s. or raid vowing to have been so among his dead at all trump in turn tar threatened to target dozens of locations including some quote important to iran undermining culture now if those were cultural heritage sites it would amount to a war on its. lead this serve as a warning that if iran strikes any americans or american acids we have targeted 52 iranian sides some is

a very high level and important to iran and the iranian culture and those targets and iran itself will be hit very fast and very hard the use a once no more threats. around the us responded to that warning saying the u.s. doesn't have the courage for a full blown military confrontation now the latest exchange of threats comes after several rocket attacks took place in iraq on saturday evening close to both the american embassy in baghdad i'm going to err base north of the capital iraqi security forces say no one was hurt so far no one has claimed responsibility either . so money to suss nation when it really has polarized opinion worldwide including within the u.s. our senior correspondent takes a closer look now at the killings consequences you can imagine how trump agreed to it then he was playing golf and up comes an agent smith holding a folder he says mr president you remember when we killed baghdad yes the eyes the

sky yes the media did love it how how would you like to do it again oh yeah. the rocky television has just confirmed that it seems sort of mani former general in iran's revolutionary guard the commander of the kurds force as we killed in a rocket attack apparently issued by the united states. the sort of the u.s. at our allies on alert at the magic attack iran's top military commander. salim 80 has been perpetrating acts of terror to destabilize the middle east for the last 20 years one gets the impression that the agent that came up to trump didn't exactly brief the president and potential consequences of killing the 2nd

most powerful man in iran general. commander of iran's quds force we took action last night just stop a war. we did not take action to start a war then you probably shouldn't have killed him general sunni money was considered an icon in iran and iraq a man who helped prevent isis takeover of iraq and syria who inspired and mobilized tens of thousands of people multiple countries to fight the blight that is isis while qaida you know enough the americans are not aware what a great mistake they've committed they will face the consequences of this criminal act not only today but also in coming years there is no doubt that the u.s. is now more hated among iranians in iraqis hundreds of thousands have joined the funeral processions and protests condemning his murder rage is in the air

iran has promised revenge american civilians are being evacuated from the entire region u.s. embassies and bases in this slew of countries are knocked out troops have been put in combat readiness and now now middle east in the red lert they claim that they only want peace that was the time to take this action so that we could disrupt this plot deter further aggression from qassam salami in the iranian regime as well as to attempt to deescalate the situation trump asked no one europe woke up to a world that was a heck of a lot more dangerous than when they went to sleep germany claimed tensions that only god up stating the obvious the british called for everyone to come down from doesn't last for permission frankly the europeans haven't been as helpful as i wish that they could be the brits the french the germans all need to understand that

what we did what the americans did saved lives in europe as well at best he's right chances are he's wrong and at worst what america did is going to. hill a heck of a lot more people than would have died otherwise which they may have thought of if they had asked anyone but they didn't trump told no one not even his own federal government not the house of representatives and not the senate this action may well have brought our nation closer to another endless war exactly the kind of endless war the president promised he would not drag us into or rather he did tell someone apparently what trump kept from his own nation from his own people he told the israelis our assessment is that the united states informed israel about this operation in iraq apparently a few days ago the murder of a mani was an act of war by any measure by any book on law and social media world

war 3 was the top trend people are genuinely afraid the us football team has cancel plans to train and cathal ahead of the world cup out of security concerns and judging by means being spread appropriate or otherwise no one in particular is enthusiastic to go to war all black humor aside any escalation would be disastrous for all of us human lives 1st and economy 2nd a 5th of the world's oil passes by iran every day in the event of war that would stop. we don't yet know how much of a blunder sulaimani is murder was what we do know is that the world now is a more dangerous place millions will hate america for this and that hate will last for generations just remarkable isn't it how many people more and more keep having

to die so trump and the pentagon can feel safe. from allotted to welcome onto the program today former pentagon official michael maloof michael good to see you michael just perhaps firstly on the mechanics of iraq's parliamentary vote it's a non-binding resolution what do you think the significance of it is because the government now has to actually carry out what the government has said and has been tasked with removing the troops will they actually do it. well that's going to be the challenge i do know that prior to the assassination of general saw the money there was dissension within the ranks and that's why you had no decision because for months there has been discussion of doing just this possibly mean removing foreign troops namely the u.s. particularly to avoid the very problem we're having now i think that the. i think

it was assessed that the popular mobilization forces along with the iraqi security forces were sufficient to be able to deal with any future isis threat or even al qaeda threat because they are so. disk i'm boggled now they don't have a caliphate any longer and so that then raised the question well why do we still lean u.s. troops in in the country they've done their job so i think that this is going to bring about a much greater. push 8 and already i understand that. has called for. closing down the u.s. embassy in baghdad i don't know if that represents a potential for suspending or even cutting diplomatic relations and i think it's too early to tell about. what is going to ask about the consequences michel of the u.s. forces leaving iraq that's going to be one of the. well yeah it's certainly would

be under these conditions it isn't like a mission accomplished we've done our job thank you very much we're basically being booted out now if this if this resolution is carried out and if you know and obviously the prime minister advocated for it i think he was one of those on the reluctant side until the assassination of a gentleman in fact generous soul of money openly was line in baghdad to meet with him it's my understanding to discuss the proposal that the saudis had made probably to try to bring about a detente in the region and now we have a condition with his assess a nation that we're all on the brink of war out there and that this is a terrible development if we go back to 27 not was when iraq said the battle against islamic state had been won and you know you looking at it is iraq able to maintain stability with i.q.'s coalition forces. i think so simply because simply

because the the the popular mobilization forces which did not exist in 2003 certainly or subsequent to that in 2014 when isis attacked they are there they are strong they are iraq they are iraqi nationals they happen to be some shia and they in the in many in many ways are very. aligned with with iran some are not but nevertheless they are shia and they are a fighting force they actually report under the iraqi military and then civil to the to the iraq iraqi prime minister so they are a major force they supplementing the iraqi security services so i think that that given that and the fact that they can train and receive that kind of

a training and assistance. obviates the need any longer for u.s. forces to be there which you know now the question is if ordered out will the u.s. forces leave and that will be the question and and i i will be waiting to see what happens because if they do not then they become an occupying force once again this situation very much one of flux rapidly developing but how likely michael is this crisis do you think to shift the geo political mop in the region i would suggest in favor of iran i do not know but is this potential withdrawal a victory in death for carson solo money. it's i think it has the potential to escalate now i've been i've been in touch with a few folks this mornin and they're demanding an apology from the president and in order to try and camp down. the fear of the escalation i don't think that's going to be forthcoming. and already we're seeing that the military advisor to the

supreme leader of iran is basically threatening all $35.00 bases that we have in that region so we're we're due for and i'm told that this is going to happen unless trump apologizes and i don't think that will be forthcoming ok appreciate your time this sunday thanks for coming on the program former pentagon official michael maloof. all right let's move on to more world news this hour wiki leaks founder julian assange claims he's slowly dying in the british jail he's incarcerated in one of the ages he's trying and kept in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day this is one of our big stories of the week he made the disturbing claims in a phone call to his friend vaughan smith on christmas eve spoke to us. all 4 and it was very upsetting to head him the idea of him being sedated has come from several people who visited him who clearly being told and the british government

have been asked about it and they refuse to address that matter and what they say is they're not mistreating him but clearly he's being kept in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day he sounded awful and he said to me that i'm slowly dying here please remember he served that time all the bail charge and he served his time too that he's now on remand is highly unusual to put him on prisoners in belmarsh when they're not a threat of physical violence threat to society i think we need to our answers from from the british government why are they treating him like this why can't we have some independent assessment 100 international got to those and asked to arrange a visit at least to send some representatives to check on him but that hasn't been allowed nils meltzer the un roughly on torture has been very clear about asylum just mistreatment and describes it in the most of all human terms and yet it's

claims very recently in november that the british government of completely ignored his request to see julian probably his health properly assess. was arrested in april and since then medics and un observers have warned that his physical and mental health are in decline a hearing in february will decide on there is extradition to the united states he's accused in the us of publishing classified military documents and could face a 175 year jail sentence well the british home office has refuted just claims of torture calling them find fault but it still spurred some politicians activist and other high profile figures to further draw attention to his plight. china say's its top official who dealt with relations with hong kong state media say it wing being replaced as beijing's chief lee is on there have been months of

violent antigovernment protests in hong kong which took on a renewed energy over the new year. was was. being a particular aspect of the unrest violence and brutality when perpetrated by the hong kong protesters has gone largely without comment from the west or to saskia taylor asks why hong kong has gone from being the economic power of the orient to the face of the fight for democracy and boy does that fight fire.

an amendment to a preexisting north that would allow the extradition of criminal suspects from hong kong to mainland china has brought the financial haven to its knees as a protest accent into the 7th month violence on both sides has escalated but the wild over politicians and john continue to hail the peaceful aspirations of those fighting to rest themselves from beijing all the while coming down hard on those aggressive does spots in china it's disgusting what they're doing in hong kong they're taking away basic rights trying to seem trampling the most basic human rights is increased its interventions in hong kong and engaged in actions to curtail the rights. and liberties. of its people but it seems so many incidents have managed to escape the scrutiny of western media but it was.

it. seems like that combined with the discovery of 10000 petrol bombs packed with high explosives and shrapnel make it harder to see is peaceful what appears to be a slippery slope into the territory of terrorists methods you cannot fight for freedom of speech by silencing people who disagree with you. you cannot fight for democracy by terrorizing the public to force others to support you china is treading kathleen refusing to send in troops to shut down the protests the local elections were held in which pro democracy candidates won in a landslide hong kong authorities conceded defeat the extradition built has been withdrawn but still the barricades on signing the flames according to china

washington. china urges the us to correct its mistakes and stop interfering in our internal affairs we will take further steps if necessary to uphold hong kong stability and prosperity as well as china sovereignty. some have talked down beijing's words to paranoia but let's take a look joshua wong why did he build as the face of the protest movement was snapped speaking 20 fishel at the u.s. consulate oh when i forgot to mention he's not big on compromise so there's no end game there is to infinity ward at home people are willing to engage there's also an organization funded by the u.s. congress which has been distributing money to groups it claims are preserving democratic rights then of course as the incendiary legislation washington's passed the human rights and democracy out it includes amnesty for those arrested at protests and will monitor hong kong to ensure that in the eyes of the u.s.

of course an appropriate level of autonomy from mainland china is. these 2 bills an obvious intervention of hong kong some turn north than necessary and without grounds they will also harm the relationship and interests between hong kong and the u.s. all of this on top of the protest as musts waving of the star-spangled banner have sparked concern that the u.s. might be lending more than just a supportive hand leading many to ask the question if the protest as a calling for self-determination is appealing to a foreign power to shape the future the best way to go about it especially when that foreign power might want to contain a rising star they're reaching. for and using methods that have created challenges for the united states and for the world. and we collectively all of us need to confront these challenges from the p.r.c. head on and on each of the many facets the fallout of all this has

a little impact on washington of course it's the average hong kong or who find his pocket that little bit lighter on his home that little less popular major. is. the. because. you know we nobody's coming to home call. we. told good to some rifle found by so somebody that 50 percent or more. we chose it was dropped by 50 to say as far as. rises and as prosperity fades it seems this fight for freedom is costing hong kong more daily than many could have imagined. into the snow we will learn is next for all of the most incredible annual races on the planet's hot race cold dogs begins in woman's.

best geysers but it. could take it easy this is a central plank support diet goodness i'm going to call them right now so you stop to be good. what politicians do you should. put themselves on the line to get accepted or rejected. so when you want to be president. for something i want to. let you go right to the press this is what. 3 of the people. interested in milwaukee has a. question.