ah, 20 years since preparations for the u. s. war on afghanistan began in the wake of the 911 terrorist attacks and bought 2 will be speaking to the man who is chief of staff to george w bush's secretary of state colin powell. but 1st to one of the greatest chroniclers of the united states empire, a filmmaker explored both the horror of 911 and the planning of us imperialist was before and after 9112001, and joined. now, by all of a stone oscar winning director and writer films like salvador j, f, k, world trade center, nixon, wolf, street, and platoon of a thanks so much for coming back on a happy birthday. that's what i got to say to you. first of all, i mean the commentators are all talking about how your films are one way to cope with 911 the 20 year anniversary. can you see why $75.00 is very young and you should be pulling out at least 2 or 3 feature films a year now. my father lived to about 75. exactly. so i think, i think, you know, modern times had been good to us. prosperity has been good to us and allowed us to

live longer. so i'm grateful. and i hope i stay young and making films as tough. but i've been working really hard on these 2 documentaries that are coming out of j of k one. we talked about it con, that's coming out in november 22 birth the date of his murder. and the other one will be coming out early next year. the clean energy, what, which i, we done a lot of work on now was in paris. a scoring it with the composer of angeles, the greek composer who i worked with before and he's wonderful is great, great score. and i noted about documentaries, feature films are much tougher to make. yeah, i mean, but i was thinking, bryan diploma, who directed scarface, which he wrote, i mean, he's getting on, he's older than you. he's putting out film feature films out. i mean, and we can you see why your fan certainly would think as the war on terra so

cooled enters new phases and they need you more than ever. keep in mind the way i see it is what feature film could be as important as climate change. and this, when you see this film i did, which is called star power, you'll understand that it's very important. it's something that will change people's perception of what's going on and may help the world enormously to adapt. and that's, that's why i did it. so my purpose, it's about purpose and there's no nobler purpose in my opinion, than to deuce and to serve mankind. so a film is fine, but it's so hard to have impact around the world with something like this. i mean, we want you to come back on to talk about that feel when, when it's out. of course, i actually saw well trade center theoretically as your nora film, i suppose, a disaster movie. ah, but then i thought again about it thinking it was

a class movie, some people i think you yourself said, you know, you save the politics for w about george w bush and his response. but do you think that it, well trade center and why you like the film is because there's something about the american working class there in it. it was a pure film for me. it was something that i did it because i thought there was so much and it was 4 years after the event and there was resistance to making it even then because it was close to and we shot some of it in new york city. so we had a lot of opposition from political groups. we had to negotiate a tight rope there to get close to the world trade center and to do it. but the point of it was that these men existed these 2 men, that's their story and their families, and the rescuers who came to save them. they were the night 18th and 18th and 19th survivors out of 20 survivors out of the world trade center. 18 and 19. they were

under their under there for about 30 hours 36 hours. and the rescuers took their took great risks to get down into the rubble. it was such a mess and the real rescuers play themselves. most of them they were, i had about 80 people who were in that movie who actually had been there. what i thought was interesting about the movie was it, it kept it down to earth, was simple. the plot, it was about what really happened that day as opposed to all the hysteria in the air. if you remember about who did this, what happened the horror or the tragedy? a lot of it was a lot of it was exaggerated high to go to war by bush in his group. and i think most of the media joined in on that i was kind of turned off by it because i think heroism is simple. it's not elaborated on it's not cold attention to it's done. and that's what those guys represented to me. they were the real warriors,

instead of going off and fight horn afghanistan, or iraq, you know, trying to get revenge. now, concentrate on here on helping people here. and that's what that movie was about. very simple, very humble. and those 2 guys, mclaughlin and well, he may know they are true, true wars of spirit they survived, and they're still humble. and i think that's why emergency services obviously are always respect that even when they don't get their pay rises that austerity demands of them. arguably, you did then tackle that big a geopolitical angle, as well as the personal, a upper class angle of george w bush and his response. and, and you, you firmly believe that in the u. s. response was, was based on imperialism, emotionalism and imperialism. yes. very emotional. that revenge oriented, we got to get, we got to get them for those whose them we didn't even know them were, you know,

they were saudi arabian and saudi arabian, mostly saudi arabian terrorists. but they were land really by chic muhammad. and the more you investigated his story, the more you realized that he organized the whole things in his brain. he was the guy put it together from, from, from scratch. he knew people from the 93 bombing and he went back there and he travel the organize it. he only made one or 2 trips to see osama bin laden, it took who blessed, blessed it, but not really participated in the planning of it. all the key work, the leg work was done in places like hamburg and in malaysia. san diego sandy is isaac. yeah, inside the united states of course said he had no mongers knows. it was we never, we lost focus at that moment. we were terrified by horrified, exaggerated, but we didn't really look at what happened. among other things we should've looked at was why, why did they do it?

you know, bush famously said they, they envy our freedoms. that was nonsense. they, they did it because of 2 reasons. and osama stated very clearly, one was our invasion. those are putting land troops on, you know, in the holy land in saudi arabia. george bush had done that in 1991 to when he went to the war in kuwait. that was a misunderstanding of their culture. and the 2nd reason, of course, was america support for israel, which had intensified over those years and become more and more one sided. those are the 2 reasons that were given. people just kinda lost track of that in the, in this need to get revenge against who saint santa hussein and iraq. frankly, if you followed the events closely and i did, i knew one of the people who actually was involved in the c. i went over there and led that horse back charges across afghanistan. they worked the see. i actually

succeeded in that in that operation was one of the few times they have succeeded. and they drove out the tama with them in, with the warlords and the northern alliance. it was over, the thing was over in december, january of the name of that year. and instead of disengaging at that point and negotiating, we sent in huge amount of troops. and they had nothing to do basically except occupied places where people didn't know they were and what they weren't. they didn't understand the landscape customs. and they went out in on patrols into these villages. and they, as we did in vietnam, they antagonized people by just being there. and because we're well get on to vietnam. and in part 2 and of course, palestine has been bombed in the past few days. and continues to be inspire groups, the israeli bombing of gauze of this week, i should just quickly ask you though, is it true that you and david fincher and john singleton were as to speak to the u

. s. military about disaster scenario planning? some of the u. s military thought that film directors would know about it or is that a myth? i don't remember that i am sorry, but they were, i was involved in a pentagon in a government array, arranged a seminar with a bunch of filmmakers. and we were consulted as to what, what was going on in what our thoughts were. but it had no meaning. it was just to reach out, reach out to another group, spending money was what they were doing. the government spent a fortune doing all this stuff, and as you know, it was wasted money as it was in afghanistan. yeah, if they taken their advice, your advice know that there wouldn't have been the war and iraq, for instance, i mean on the withdrawal from afghanistan, larry wilkerson, i mean, he's been to, is going to dallas in, but do we're going to ask him and he's been talking about this, i mean, do you think it's possible that the pentagon had a interest in it being

a chaotic withdrawal because there are voices in the military industrial complex. i didn't want him to withdraw from afghanistan because a lot of profits to be made out of a continued war there. ok, asian, i don't see it that way at all. or perhaps i mean minority, but frankly in terms of withdrawal, i think it was pretty good. i mean it's, it's never easy to get out of a country under that situation after 20 years or, and after we had so many allies and we created so many, so many people worked with us. it wasn't easy. i didn't think it was a bad girl at all. i think it was hit made more so made more hysterical by our media talking about, you know, we have one person point off an airplane, a few people are killed here and they are. it's, you know, that's the price of war. i don't know what they're talking about. it wasn't bad. saigon was in a sense, the same rush to get out. right. and of course, it was very messy. and it was unplanned for that way. but that's the nature of withdraw. it's not it. when napoleon left moscow,

he got wiped down on the way back. if you remember, his army was decimated by the time he got to the borders of poland. the old. no, no, it was wrong was not easy. so i hate to define it handled there. well, i think he was not hysterical. he stayed firm and he did it because most american presidents would fold and go and go, well i change my, my, we're going to stay, you know, because of the poles. you know, the poles are always tough on presidents who are decisive in doing something. and i applaud by him for that and i like him, i liked him for that because i like him. i like the fact that he's older. i like the fact that may because i'm 75, but i appreciate a man who isn't rushing to judgment like bush was or trump would be a man who thinks about things and is deliberate and his cool. when when the criticism comm. yeah. but he got to do what your hero he got, he got to do what you're here. a jaffe k. couldn't do when it came to viet now.

well, he would, he would have, as you make fair in your documentary match, build it, you know, and i'm sure there was a lot of opposition and we went into that last time. i just want to reiterate to you, there's no, no, no, the conclusion of that is that we've got our history wrong. they keep saying that lyndon johnson fulfilled the policies of kennedy in vietnam and various other places. he didn't, he 180 degrees opposite. kennedy was withdrawing from vietnam and issued orders to such mcnamara and bundy both confirmed it in books. and so have several other people. it's just our historians have not caught up to that yet. all right, i'll stop you there more from oliver stone up to this break as well as the man who is chief of staff to colin powell, george w bush's secretary of state, played by jeffrey wright in oliver stone's w. welcome

back. i'm still here with the iconic director of such films as wall street, w and platoon oliver stone. given it's your birthday, i must also ask about the film you did so much work on it never came to pass. sy hersh has been on the show numerous times. will we ever get to see the my lai massacre film? is it? we never going to see it. i wish we'd be able to make it. that was a loss of will on the part of the investors and the produce the producing company that united artists. and also i have to say, bruce willis did withdraw and that didn't make things easier. although nic cage was willing to step in and do it. but the point was that it was a had a lot to do with a 2008 crash merrill lynch was supporting the film financially part of it. and when they were hit very hard in that crash, the crash. let's get to the crash because i don't know whether you know this,

but your birthday is the same day as the lodge, as you, as bankruptcy and history. lehman brothers, you probably remember it. i remember very when i said there was your but they, when they went buy a lot, that was pretty scary. that whole period there, i would say for real, it was a real there was of tremendous danger in the air of bankruptcy and, you know, that money markets would was frozen and all that stuff. and so much i, you know, i'm, i'm not an economic expert, but i can say to you that, that was made into films about it now, but i would like to point out that wall street originally was, was the motivated by what i saw is, is green than on wall street in $1000.00 eighty's or so people were suddenly my age were making big money, were making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. and i was kind of shocked by because i love the kids that i'd worked grown up with were not that bright, but they were making big money. and this,

when on the wall street phenomenon went on through the knees, which surprised me and continued to through the 2000 and by 2008, you have to realize that the people that the character who played jacko, who was abandoned and now become the banks are banks are investment banks were doing the same kind of stuff that gail was doing in 19065. and that's what led to the course of mortgage and the credit union. the credit disasters lead to this collapse in 2008. so in other words, we're dealing with billions of dollars now instead of millions. and that was a big shock to many people including me. i'm surprised by i was surprised by it. and i still can't believe we're still going on and now we're getting to a bigger and bigger numbers are only everybody. maybe that's why it needs a sequel to have money. money news. after that, i don't want to make it a shed so many ideas out there. i'm giving you

a well i you know who i gillian independence day is this saturday. we been covering that on 911 and i know we spoke to you. people can watch that interview about the 1st volume of your to biography, where you talk about how you smuggle in the lataya assassination of the i n day diplomat in washington into scarface. you know, i mean, i did, they know, did hollywood know that you are smuggling in a scene that relates to it and they, they would, they, it was, it was not i certainly they didn't want anything to political and certainly the producer at that time worked against it, i mean he was trying to tone down any political suggestions, but if you saw it look closely at the film, you would see the ca, involvement, with the people who are trying to kill the diplomat in new york. and those people ended up being the enemy of scarf, of tony montana, who abruptly cancel the plan by shooting the assassin and turning the whole thing

around. so scarface became the me in our system government or our cia. and they got rid of him. they got rid of him there. what, who attacked that dimension at the end. he was completely exaggerated, but the people who killed scarface were indeed people who felt that they've been betrayed by the sky. all histone happy, but they and thank you. thank you. she, you've always been, well, you know, it's been a long oh, thank you and for supporting me in the to the years. ah, well, it's 20th to the day since u. s. president george w bush made his fuss radio addressed to the nation after the 911 atrocities in new york in washington, announcing the plan for comprehensive assault on terrorism. joining me now from falls church virginia, his retired colonel, larry wilkerson former u. s. sex your state colon pal's chief of staff, and the man involved in the decision to invade iraq retired. colonel, thanks so much for coming on. let's just

a start with taking you back to the day you saw and witnessed the attacks on new york. i understand that the 1st reaction of the team there at the state department and elsewhere, and the administration may have been to, to resign for george w bush to resign. dick cheney to resign and realized that they hadn't protected the homeland. i think they were contemplating resigning. i think they were contemplating the fear that the american people would react adversely towards her administration. after all, they had no political mandate. their political mandate was a supreme court decision. they were still being questioned all across the land, and indeed is still being question today. i'm fear and re was how they made the decisions they made in the aftermath. that's not a good environment in which to make national security decisions. the fear, as i indicated, was that they would get rid of us, but then there was a quick realization really coming after the debris, pow,

and the megaphone in new york, where the president said, and the people who did this will hear from us. that is poles would skyrocket and they did. they went towards 90 per cent and beyond and that he could, his call, rose told him be assured of reelection, unlike his father and 2004 if only he played this wide. so they quickly became motivated by polite, political considerations, domestic political considerations, as well as that rate. well, clearly that's, that's democracy. the poll numbers. and so, and how quickly did the, the poll numbers after 911 mix up theoretically with a strategy involving defense companies on k street. and how this could be manipulated into a, into a money spinning idea off the bodies of those who are killed. oh, this is vice president cheney's forte here. after all, he'd been the secretary of defense who introduced halliburton to outsourcing for

the pentagon. halliburton actually did the study, they came back and said, oh, this is a marvelous idea, mr. secretary, we should do this. and of course, we proceeded to do it after that eisenhower is morning and january $960.00 about the military industrial complex was just put on steroids. the complex became desirous of endless war, endless war that would feed them like a cash cow and keep them alive and breathing and their ceo's making enormous salaries and their company. salva, i'm, that's why we expanded nato to a certain extent to which so we could bring the poles and others in to buying these equipments made by our arms merchants. so this complex was largely responsible for the military staying in afghanistan for 20 some odd years. as recently as august, you didn't believe biden would get the troops out. is that because the cia is still there, that there are still us assets in afghanistan,

a wage is completely wrong about it. i mean, you said it's just to jeer strategic as regards china's melton road for the u. s. to leave. well, i quickly became apprised by a number of methods of the fact that pentagon didn't think that way either depending on wasn't thinking jail strategically at all. it was thinking, as i just expressed it, in terms of its cash cow, i was just talking about in the past couple of weeks i was only august, you didn't believe biden was gonna withdrawal at troops. and of course, some people say that may well have been advisors to have a chaotic withdrawal to show presidents. this is what happens when you overrule those kinds of defense company pro. yes, you said it. no, no, no. do you think it's true? well, the military is already started to stabbed in the back theory. there, there shibboleth now is. oh, it was not a military. you said it was political to say they clearly failed president biden. when he did do what i said he wouldn't do. i thought this strategic necessity of

staying somewhere near pakistan's nuclear weapons and with our power and somewhere near the base road initiative and in a place that has a border which are small border but a border on a flank we never would be next to were it not for afghanistan, but that strategy, that strategic appraisal didn't whole. i mean, we've heard on this program how the initial afghanistan push was actually part of, well, it's been described as part of a desire to improve pipeline resource management of gas and unicorn. the links, of course, to people you, you served why the journalists still claim now that the 911 attacks were planned in afghanistan when they were planned by saudis in san diego and in the united states . well, that's a continuing fall. i think of the 911 commission and other efforts associated with it. i think you can lay 911 and what happened on 911 at the saudi

feet, as well as any other state in the world. perhaps more so they are the greatest a sponsor of terrorism in the world. and they still are whether or not royal's had anything to do with it. that is to say people in the actual government and re odd is another matter and a matter that should be investigated to the nth degree. you know, you said saudi intelligence was probably the, the hijackers themselves were probably agents of saudi intelligence. i don't think i ever made that director statement, but i would say after knowing turkey al fossil and others involved with saudi intelligence that it would be absolutely impossible for me to be made to believe that their intelligence didn't know about them. obviously, the saudi government completely denies they were anything to do with it. so what about biden's executive order to release these $28.00 pages from the $911.00 report

you think within the next 6 months, they will be released or just released heavily rad, redacted to protect the united states, his great great to receiver of arms to bomb yemen. if the latter, if they are released, i think it'll probably be redacted. and i look at the 6000 page senate select committee on intelligence report on torture, mainly focused on the cia and i've read the executive summary and done the inquiry myself with the north carolina commission inquiry on torture. and i've got to say that would be even more devastating than the $28.00 pages in my view. because you would have to, if you read that 6000 page report, you would have to, i think, demands from accountability or be on elected pretty shortly by the american people . i mean, i mean, to account around a deposit when you advise colin pal for that famous speech of the un security council where he lied. i presume you think he lied about the weapons of mass

destruction when you read, when you write to mark warner, the intelligence committee, about the torture allegations you're saying, what you get replies so far i haven't gotten any so far. we've tried every staffer, we know that might be sympathetic to our views, the north carolina commission, but we have not been able to get warner to even grant us leaning. and let me correct one thing you said there, i don't think colin powell lied. i think that's a, a bit of a stretch. i think what happened was the october 2002 national intelligence estimate accepted by the congress. both houses accepted by most of the government accepted by france, israel jordan, germany, the universe of other fellow intelligence agencies. accepted that is the truth and at least the reasonable i tell you, for you had previously said that the famous half a 1000000 children killed by us sanctions and british sanctions on iraq. let alone the other economic sanctions had destroyed to saddam hussein's capabilities. you

knew that why did you switch? and i didn't know that either. no, that's putting words in my mouth. again, i knew that the sanctions have been unsuccessful news actually. it's really since sanctions had been effective against saddam hussein. and specifically in terms of hurting children and women and all manner of other people, salaam had no problems whatsoever. building castle after castle and fortifications and buying things for his military and so forth. there were some validity to walk. pal said to validity that made saddam still a security problem with regard to his neighbors. and with regard to his own people, while tens of millions killed would it or displays just finally did a sama bin laden. when i mean, you've talked so eloquently about the corruption, the torture, the heroine, the relations between the cia and the i, s i in pakistan. and now the united states has lost so much. sure. so much in this world since the $911.00 attacks did he $7.00 trillion dollars counting the

cost over time to take care of the veterans weakness. they paid a lot of defense company salaries at the high board level. absolutely. to hook to that, but i mean, did he win in trying to destroy what was the origin, the idea of the american dream? i think when we're looking at osama bin laden's project strictly in that one fatwas thinker is 1998. i think he succeeded beyond his wildest dreams as he succeeded, as he thought with the soviet union, their empire ended. i think our empire is going down pretty fast right now, and i'm beginning to believe that it's unsalvageable retired colonel. very welcome and thank you. that's it. for one of your favorite shows of last season, we'll be back on wednesday, the 12th of january, but until then stay safe. and you can watch all our interviews by subscribing to our youtube channel and falling us on all our social media.

ah well this isn't an open it even to see children have been cared for at the fountains house. only yet papa blue i have come about 40 my much mamma a with a nice many goals. michelle, in the middle of the issue. ah, national man is violet. my mom is violet that dana mom of yes. today with

me. okay. allow me to book a couple hour lunch me a chicken on your bill is to me on a new discount. jump on shuster. i can redeem with i said, oh, i agree

with the port, the 100 more these keepers all right, good to tell. that's dog every single day. july the violence ranges across conflicts. we report from the country's largest city where authorities say that they have arrested 4000 people on terror charges, including foreign nationals, more peacekeepers are arriving from russia to help restore the order. meanwhile, moscow pushes back against washington, remarked that russian peacekeepers won't ever lead conflicts done with the foreign ministry pointing out the neighboring countries. the strong military alliance and traditional ties the and anger.