rushing forward once again in, in this region and saw that it was one of the limit i've water. is it, is it possible with china slam with us for shooting down? what's it called a weather balloon that drifted over the u. s. despite numerous assurances that it didn't pose a threat, also, i had less than a teaspoon of dry anthrax. a little bit about this amount. this is just about the amount of a teaspoon. we have 1st hand descriptions of biological weapons, factories on wheels and on rails. all thoughts that have claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of innocent iraqis. 20 is the us push the invasion of iraq of you and we continue off special coverage of the legacy left by the devastating war

. a former chief, un weapons inspector to iraq. questions, washington, the like united states government had no intention allowing the inspectors to do their job. the united states was going to go to war with iraq regard. regardless, it doesn't matter what the truth was. and the more successful we inspectors became in disarming iraq. the more threat we posed to the american policy and an iraqi journalist, 3 through that then president of george w bush, became a symbol of protest against us invasion around the globe. he told us his message to the man responsible for thousands of deaths to the rocky. i mean, i wish to say to form a u. s. president inflation that i wish to see you in prison before you die. and if that does not happen, i wish before i die to see you face real condemnation with sunday, i mean the weekly here on, on the international my,

he just got on here with some of the top stories from last week, begging has condemned the u. s. attack on a chinese balloon that had been drifting over the u. s. for several days. despite these previous claims that the balloon was not capable of surveillance and didn't pose a threat. china is strongly dissatisfied with the us attack on a chinese, on mondays ship and voices. it's protest. we have repeatedly informed the us side that the balloons designed purely for civilian use, an accidentally across the u. s. borders. in such circumstances, the u. s. use of force is an obvious overreaction and a violation of international practice. finally, after days of deliberation and u. s. foreign to jets of short time, what they claim is a chinese spy bloom by aging, of course, denies this. it says that it was a web, whether observation balloon, although there is some confusion over whose recommendation it was to, to shoot down the balloon and listen to what us president joe biden told journalists earlier. the successfully took it down and i want to complement our

graders who did it, and we'll have more to report on as a little later. thank you. what they say by the same a recommendation from you was funny and that's like a whole that is through the down or wednesday. i was like the recommended to me. let's wait to look take this place to do it. some are already asking questions over the timing of the incident. it came just ahead of a time visit by the us to stay on the blink and to churn. and now that was subsequently cancelled, or was he says, indefinitely postponed, but by aging said now is the time for co heads and it continues to insist on diplomacy. some politicians and media in the us have hiked it up to attack in smith, china. the chinese side is firmly opposed to that. one of the tasks, of a diplomatic teams on both sides is to properly manage bilateral relations, particularly to manage some on expected situations in a cool headed and prudent manner. well, i think just in another statement since by a blink and cancel his visit page in his head,

china is never violate to the territory and space of another sovereign country. but of course, the u. s. and western media has wasted no time in ratcheting up the anti china rhetoric and the supposed threat posed by beijing in a twist. now, the pentagon is now claiming that chinese spy balloons flew over u. s. territory, or at least 3 occasion occasions under the trump administration. now, our former u. s. defense sexy more casper said he was surprised by this statement from the pentagon and he said he was never informed of such incidents during his time in, in office. but we now have a form of u. s. defense and military officials have described the latest incident as embarrassing, especially given that the u. s. is the world's leading military power and opposition. republican party members have now they've got on the offensive, and they've accused biden of not acting decisively enough. and they say that he's fail to protect american national security. let's have a listen to what they've said. i friend robert o'brien,

former national security adviser. why aren't we taking action to deal with this in widen? we know a bad at robert o'brien, larry, this is one of those embarrassing things i've ever seen. and in american diplomacy, we sped trillions and trillions of dollars on hardware and soldiers on airmen, on sailors. and we can't do anything about it. why was this allowed to go clear across the country for so many days? if you look at this, national security is one of these things at any country can do. it is a core function of government. we see that the by the administration knew about this sir balloon days ago. and it seems that there was an opportunity when i was coming over islands in alaska that we could have taken it down now, cause china denies at the balloon, was carrying out term surveillance. and the u. s. navy is currently searching for the wreckage of the balloon. we can expect to hear more from that over the coming coming hours. but the are the, the claims of the threat posed by china or something of double standards. let's not

forget that was just last summer that the us house of representatives speak. and nancy pelosi inflamed tensions with a provocative visit to taiwan witcher, beijing said was in breach of the one china policy, which of course is supported by washington, which has also flooded the island with millions of dollars in arms. i think reco spending levels and bite and himself has threatened military action to defend taiwan from china. and the u. s. has continued to say, oh battleships down the south china sea and is accused itself of undermining regional stability with the signing of the all because packed with the security packed with britain, australia, when 2021 which is containing china's military power. but of course, this latest incident is a new blow to the already tense us china relations. earlier we spoke with nelson, long vice chairman of the shanghai center for impact and international studies. and

he says that china doesn't the balloons to spawn america. this is apparently not a pleasant incident, but i don't believe it is. why is for anybody to make a big fuss up there because the chinese government has confirmed in the 1st place that this below all this ship or exactly what have you call it, is from china. and china feels regret for its intended entry into u. s. s. space china has enough satellites already in china, wants to do any surveillance. why should they use the balloons, which are so big and so obvious. now, i don't think this connection makes any sense. so let's see. i mean, we're all have to watch and see. but whatever the case, i think the wisdom of both countries lead us and i've all depressed

and now put his test now it's been 20 years since the us invasion of iraq can't hear it r c. we are continuing our special coverage of that's anniversary examining the devastation and destabilization the war coals throughout the middle east. at this hour, american and coalition forces are in the early stages of military operations to disarm iraq, to free its people, and to defend the world from great. hm . with it and sleep

with they also marked 20 years since the then u. s. secretary of states pushed military action in iraq at the un security council, an episode well known for his display of a vile. and that was an attempt to prove allegations of the existence of weapons of mass destruction in iraq. not claim. obviously, it later proved to be false. one of the most worrisome things that emerges from the thick intelligence file we have on racks. biological weapons is the existence of mobile production facilities used to make biological agents. we have 1st hand descriptions of biological weapons. factories on wheels and on rails, it felt like justifying an invasion of iraq to the world. mattered that much to the u. s. though, after all, then president george w bush already had plans to invade the sovereign middle eastern nation claims that

baghdad was stock piling, illegal weapons and developing its nuclear program war plenty, and the catch fear, phrase, weapons of mass destruction had already been popularized. evidence, however, was either lacking or in powells case, fabricated like the vile of white powder he so confidently waved in the world's face. as he accused saddam hussein of having a mast titanic reserves of chemical weapons when a rack finally admitted. having these weapons in 1995, the quantities were vast. less than a teaspoon of dry anthrax, a little bit about this amount. this is just about the amount of a teaspoon. less than a teaspoonful of dry anthrax in an envelope shut down the united states senate in the fall of 2001. this forced several 100 people to undergo emergency medical treatment and killed 2 postal workers. powell pointed the finger at faulty

intelligence after it became clear that there was no merits to america's accusations. he said he was very disappointed. i'm very concerned when i made that presentation in february 2003. it was based on the best information that the central intelligence agency made available to me. but it turned out that the sourcing was inaccurate in wrong and in some cases, deliberately misleading. and for that i am disappointed and i regret it. oh, how quickly the u. s. is closest ally jumped into the blood bath at washington's command, but when all was said and done, former british prime minister tony blair said it was all in good faith since the west needed to bring down evil saddam. after trying to deflect blame. though blair also said he was very sorry, i did not mislead this country. i made the decision in good faith on the information i had at the time. and i believe that it is better that we took that decision and a nation whose people we wanted to set free and secure from the evil of sedan,

became instead victim to sectarian terrorism. for all of this, i express more sorrow, regret, and apology, that you may have no will complete. other world leaders sensed something foul from the get go, which is why powell sought fit to give his speech. in the 1st place, france, germany and russia all decided they would vote against the u. s. as hawkish initiatives at the united nations david m for robin bonus creek. the world is close to war by my question was and still as he does, is the threat coming from the iraqi dictator, justify war to all the war, which will kill thousands of children, women and men 1000. and my answer is none on campus whether civil stars let no matter what the circumstances won't know because we consider at this time that there is no police forewarned, a warranted ship. the object of all one moment them,

which as the disarmament of the rotted unit is ryan the accept route eureka military action against morocco was a she, i school mistake here, already sat above the humanitarian side of the shadows. this gazelle on top of that, the u. n's, former chief weapons inspectors who iraq, scott ritter said racks capability to have weapons of mass destruction had been eliminated by december of 1998. it's no wonder writer, saw paolo's, accusations against baghdad, as relying only on circumstantial evidence how just keeps hitting you with circumstantial evidence and he confuses people and he lied. he lied to people. he misled people. fabricating evidence, lying killing, hundreds of thousands of people and other stark reminder of the lengths washington is willing to go to the success of its foreign policy agenda is at stake. will 20 years on we asked scott ritter what was behind paul's claims of the un security council. a former chief, un weapons inspector to iraq,

please. the washington never had any intention, so that the exposed to the jobs xerox to solomon's was apparently, the last thing us wanted. i was running to help create an intelligence organization that would assist the special commission and evaluating the accuracy of the iraqi declarations about what weapons of mass destruction they had. you see, i thought that the mission of the special commission was to disarm iraq. and, and we worked in a very assiduous manner to carry out that mission. but it turned out that the disarmament of iraq was the last thing the united states wanted. the united states was going to go to war with iraq, regardless. regardless, it doesn't matter what the truth was. so i dressed the iraqi parliament. i gave a speech that wasn't pre screened. and as a speech to said, if you don't let weapons inspectors back in your country will be destroyed, you have to let them back in without any pre conditions. said, something's going to let weapons inspectors back in. i one i succeeded. and so when

it came out is the exact opposite, feels like inspectors are going to be la back. and i said, yes, you can't talk about going to war with iraq unless you allow the inspectors to complete their job. if i rec, kicks inspectors out again. if a wreck doesn't cooperate, then you have justification to accuse a rack of bad stuff, but you must let the inspectors do their job. maybe i was a little naive. maybe the iraqis were because the united states government had no intention allowing the inspectors to do their job. the bottom line is, america's policy wasn't disarmament. but regime change and the more successful we inspectors became in disarming iraq. the more threat we posed to the american policy of regime change and so when weapons inspection teams left iraq in $1098.00, the world was blind. which means that when colin powell gave his presentation to the united nations security council in february of 2003, it wasn't just misleading. it was deliberately misleading. he knew what he was saying was false. and as a result, we went to war

a 5 years after the beginning of the iraq occupation by us forces. then president george w bush, probably visited baghdad. residents of the waltz on country did not given the welcome, he apparently expect said, as the former president had to dodge shoes thrown in his direction. ah ah a fun. and if you looked at his face yellow and twitching, you could see the embarrassment he was so scared from. so i don't think his smile was normal as for the shoes, i demanded them when i was with the investigating judge. i told him you can do

whatever you want with me, but i want my shoes. the next day he told me that the shoes had been destroyed in case they contained explosives. but when i was transferred to court for my trial, ordered by an iraqi army division, the divisions commander sat beside me. he asked me, do you know why they destroyed the shoes? i told him i heard they did so because they feared they contained explosives. he said, no, i was there as a security guard for the president, and they said that they were destroyed so that they would not turn into a symbol. everyone who participated in the occupation of iraq and supported the occupation of iraq shared the fate of george bush in this makes me happy. a group of beneficiaries of the american occupation said that the shoot throwing incident shows us as undeveloped people. but on the 2nd day, there was a rally outside the white house, with people carrying shoes and hitting pictures of the former president bush. later it was the prime minister of australia, john howard,

than the prime minister of spain, who participated in the war, berlusconi, et cetera. and then it became a symbol of protest in the face of every tiring anyone who wants to colonize, ah ah, margin levin looked as they separated the body from the sold, removing the skin from the flesh and the flesh from the bone. they have other methods like electrocution, beating, flogging and breaking bones. but what i went through may be less than what others have been through in the rocky detention facilities after the invasion. the hardest memory was when i was with other detainees, because i saw the inequality, the innocent people, and victims of the secret informants in the american occupation. the imprisonment of those who resisted this is a painful and disturbing memory for any we

woke up at dawn when the funds began falling. in fact, it was a shock and awe strategy. there was actually shock. what could we do initially? i thought about my family. my studies and everything else, it remains a bad memory with more memories coming after the american soldier does not defend his land and fights in a land that has thousands of miles away from his country. therefore, they know for sure that they are wrong. we see it in their eyes when they interrogated, entertained us. they were either very aggressive to justify their existence on your land, or very shy, trying not to look at you while saying they are wrong, many occupants, when we told them you are occupying our country, couldn't respond. they just shook their heads as if to say, what can we do?

ah, whoa. once an american journalist asked me a question, was in saddam hussein's dictatorship, tough, but based on logic and common sense, one can say that vicious dictatorships worldwide do do justify occupation. even if there is a dictator, the earth is full of dictatorships and oppressors. did america invade iraq for the benefit of iraq or to topple saddam hussein. and to whom will america hand over power to the marines? are a group of corrupt people brought in by american south. many iraqis did not welcome the americans, even though at the time to be honest, there was injustice, fear and dictatorial authoritarian system that was trying to control everything. yet the situation doesn't give us the right to rejoice about the occupation. at least some had said that the occupation, as well as regime at the time was and just mm.

limit doing view and security council. the united nations are too weak to play, their real role, even the european union, which america views as a poor, old man on the verge of falling. who dares to hold america accountable? since 2009, i had the idea of establishing an organization in geneva to provide relief to the victims of the occupation and hold iraq's killers accountable. imagine even the tv channel where i worked for terminated my contract and the owner said he was afraid they will freeze his money in europe for being supported by me or supporting i returned to iraq trying my best. it was my dream to collect the signatures of all iraqis who are affected by the invasion in order to file a lawsuit against the vice president in his team. i hope that the stream will one day be fulfilled. ah.

my fellow americans major combat operations in iraq and ended in the battle of iraq. the united states and our allies have prevailed. ah, the hurtful fact is that bush ended up a victor like caesar. he walked past his soldiers to hide the signs of the invasion . he committed that the mission was accomplished, but at that moment the mission of destroying iraq began the mission. bringing your act back to the middle ages began. we know very well that he is a liar and continues to life because his mission iraq has not yet been completed. i wish to say to former u. s. president bush, that i wish to see you in prison before you die. and if that does not happen, i wish before i die to see you face real condemnation. well, those are just some of the stories from the decades long conflicts. and of course,

we will be bringing you more throughout the next 2 months in our special coverage of the 20th anniversary of one of america's longest wars. ah. in other news, ukraine agreed to the minister colds in part to bide time to rearm with us the admission by ex ukrainian presidents plots of polish jenko in an interview with the bbc. do you know what the success of the miss grimace ish in the russia has not fulfilled any of their points? this document gave ukraine 8 years to build an army and economy and the global pro ukrainian onside putin called ation. the last of the agreements called minsk too was signed back in february 2015, and that was following nearly a year of bloody conflicts in the dom bus. the initial agreements involved more

autonomy provided for people of the daniel and new guns republics, as well as the complete of ceasefire. however, none of those conditions were destined to be implemented as both sides disagreed on the order of actions after the agreement was reached. back in february 2022, ukraine's foreign minister to mutual clever, openly stated that the implementation of the agreements was impossible under the conditions. and then the russian president, vladimir putin then said that they no longer exist. a number of leaders involved in drawing up those agreements admitted that they also intended to help you crane by time and to bolster its military to 2014 minsk agreement was an attempt to give the crane time you can use this time to become stronger as you can see today the ukraine of 20142015 is not the ukraine of to day. since 2014, ukraine has strengthened its military posture. it is the merit of the minsk agreements to have given the ukrainian army this opportunity. thus the time,

the prudent thought was an asset for him turned out to be in fact an opportunity from the ukrainians. earlier we spoke to political commentator anthony webber, the things that future piece talks may be undermined by these admissions regarding the minsk agreements. it shows also depress it, say i makes one not have confidence in future agreements are sort a good thing for the point of view of if you just half of them. so the ukraine cold, which we have got a real problem may got people aren't francois household items or i'm sure america for sort of saying very, very act she didn't have the best of intentions with the midst of agreements. and of course, we know that sun is the breaking of the beats agreement, primarily by train, which is boss about the, the current conflict. so it really means that there's only one way

forward for russia. i'm much is true to have also worked victory because they, they can't go by any so called peace agreement because it appears it. well we have, i did. and one of the problems is because of the, the media in the united kingdom in particular, is very much sure. are supporting the global as fast as in 1st point of view i. that's the one represented by the government, the public adjuster not get the full facts about what's going on and back she told lies, which is very sad indeed, but that's exactly what we had with the iraq war. and finally, nigeria foreign minister has praised the current president's anti corruption policy,

which has helped the start of repatriation of many artifacts that were stolen from the country that the president has warned of the possible sponsorship of insecurity and instability in nigeria by some foreign countries. one can clearly see how these foreign countries took on the weak part of nigeria, like chat, where we have crude oil reserves, and caused serious ma'am there with consistent attacks to actualize their devilish motives other countries president highlighted the what he called the exceptional work of these unfair, a states governor in opposing for an interference near the late charge region saying that most local governments near the lake where in the hands of terrorists when it came to power with most now been free. instability still remains though a key issue for nigeria is northern provinces. that's where the security forces are fighting a 13 year war against the hottest and criminal militias. now nigeria is facing more

security challenges. that's as he prepares for presidential elections at the end of february. one already played by militant attacks on a polling station africa, the largest poodle producer also faces a worsening shortage of petroleum products. as local you for hours for petrol, with the new national currency swap, adding to the turbulence area, we spoke with the 2023 nigerian residential candidate, a da moved up by the 2nd. and he thinks that cutting off all links with foreign interest would make the country more stable is that you would you, challenger the web facility. busy nitrogen predominantly have to do it, is that you would you in the french speaking with africa countries? so i to very important for us to take vince draw measures to protect our board. of course all of these don't is interest that may come to destabilize are going to be uncles or people. are we 1st demit election that is coming into the country? once nigeria has nor any link would foreign interest that dominates,

how do condo gas? yes. then it means that nigeria has become a most trouble, most robust impossible is going to be nigeria sticking abroad, did mitchell to drain even debriefs completely wanted to assume from you when you do you have dora. so do this is yeah, yeah, no, that was, it wasn't that is i interested in, of course it, no genetic will bring to diminish will be just that blood. so he's getting out though we have some forces that are going from devoted quality, officially the bridge that may be interested in just to block the material. so out particularly strong, brought the middle to prevent people getting into their hands. go told is, must, do, you know, as of fighting ideology. meanwhile, we loaded up on what important interests so those are some of the new stories that shaped the week a on our t international due head over to our website. our telegram channel for more on any of them might be just got already back with another. look it just over 30 minutes. ah,

a ah. with me. hello and welcome to well to part. well, most people of good will have long rejected war as a legitimate course of action that governments continue investing in new armaments and larger armies, therefore, affirming with the taxpayers money that more is still a continuation of politics or geo.