[000:00:00;00] ah ah staging. hassan washington for shooting down what it's called a chinese weather balloon and drifted over the u. s. and despite new miss assurances that it didn't, i was a threat. also, i had this our less than a teaspoon of dry hand to write 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 called the top claim. the life of hundreds of thousands of innocent iraqis, 20 years on cynthia, post the invasion of iraq, the un,

we kept the legacy of the devastating war. perform a chief, un weapons inspector to iraq, questions washington's really. 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 can disarming. iraq. the more threat we posed to the american policy under the iraqi journalist to 3 issues that then president george w bush became a symbol of protest against us invasions across the world. the thought of his message to the man responsible for the innocent iraqi, that 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 with sunday and that means it's the weekly here on the international moneys. peter scott

and here the top stories from the we just start off with beijing which has condemned the us attack on a chinese balloon that had been drifting over the country for several days and a half despite its previous claims that the balloon was not capable of surveillance and didn't pose a threat. china is strongly dissatisfied with the u. s. attack on the chinese on monday ship invoices it's protest. we have repeatedly informed the u. s. side that the balloon is 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 us foreign to jets of short time, what they claim is a chinese spy balloon 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 jan this

earlier. the successfully took it down. and i want to comment on our aviators who did it, and we'll have more to report on a little later. thank you. by the way, a recommendation from you was funding. that's why your whole been through the down or wednesday. i was like the recommended to me, let's wait to look, take this place to do it some already asking questions over the timing of the incident. it came just ahead of a time visit by the u. s. equity estate, the blink and to china. now that was subsequently cancelled or was he says, indefinitely postpone but by genius. that 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 has never violated 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 on 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? and why did we know about it? 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 that any country can do. it is a core function of government. we see that the biden administration knew about this sir balloon days ago. and it seems that there was an opportunity when it was coming over islands in alaska that we could have taken it down now, cause china denies that 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, the, 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, which m beijing said was in breach of the one china policy, which of course is supported by washington, which has also flooded the island with billions 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 continue to say, oh, battle ships down the south china sea. and is it cues 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

wong, who's the vice chairman of the shanghai center for impact, an international studies. and he says, the china doesn't need any balloons to spawn america. they say 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 you call it, is from china. and china fails 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 pollutants, 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, leaders and about diplomats, but now put to test ah, no move in on. russia says that it's still been denied access to the sides of last year's north stream pipeline bombings, which moscow blamed on the u. k and london denied any involvement in, however, germany's prosecutor general doesn't seem to be investigating any western involvement in the attack while admitting that there's nothing to implicate russia . at the moment, there is no evidence the investigation ongoing. we're currently evaluating all of this forensically. what i can say is that the suspicion that this was a foreign sabotage action has not yet been substantiated. according to some reports, berlin seems to be open to theories that the western states could have carried out the gnawed stream bombings with the aim of blame. it's all on russia, the latest statement from the german prosecutor generally some of the odds with what some other european officials have said about the incident. sweden,

for example, was quick to state that the underwater bombing was clearly a deliberate attack without gardening details. despite the fact that this is gassed from the main stakeholder of the pipelines, european states have refused to let russian representatives take part in the investigation. some years officials had previously threatened to take down the russian gas pipelines to germany. if russia invade ukraine, one way or another nord stream to will not move forward, there will be no longer a nor stream to we will bring it into these pipelines. that is more stream orders from 2 are we're not pumping gas into europe at this time. more stream to never became operational knew that offers tremendous strategic opportunity for, for the years to come. let's go live now to rough niemeyer, chairman of the german opposition group for german sovereignty unconstitutional. ok, thanks very much for joining us today. now what's your take on this, sir?

finding no evidence yet of russian. some thought of the nod stream, pipe guns, understand the investigation is still ongoing. one has to ask actually, what kind of investigation do they really want to find out the truth or not? we do know for sure that the swedish have started in the investigation that led some to some findings that they probably did share with the german government as well. but the german government put a cap on information and district got now several button to member of the leftist in the german stock department, had written to economic and energy minister homage the vice chancellor of germany and requested detailed information what they knew or what they had been told by those part, the countries that were investigating the pipeline incident, the tax on that which we call,

and tara attack actually. and mr. habits office as well as also the minister of justice office in germany had told her that the findings they had so far that secret that they could not even tell her as a member of parliament. and also not in a secured atmosphere, they have in the talk where they lay out secret documents, for instance, for members of firemen. well bound not to speak about them. so they said to her, essentially we do know something, but we are not going to tell you as a member of parliamentary was bound to control the government and the executive branch of the government, but to seek red. we cannot tell you because it would violate security interest of partner countries. we can only speculate here who they are. the plot thickens. i mean, talking of speculation, who do you think would have most to gain from these pipelines? been blown up?

well, actually the driver and government, and then i negotiated with mr. miller did, gosh pro chairman and mr. pest golf and also mr. lab, rough and bloody, was stuck in september that would not stream to pipeline if the german opposition was going to make it to the government and put pressure on the german government under mr. charles, to do so immediately for the sake of all industries and the population. and i went to the lovers with that proposal and i sent to him either you sign it or i will sign it and then you re sign. and that was the pressure that he was under, that was on the 15th of september 2022. and a week later, just a bit more than a week later on the 26 of september, the 20 to the pipelines got bombed or whatever blown up

over to germany. and lots of you are definitely still being formed. the, the, the reduced gust supplies they're receiving over this winter. but do you think this latest development could push germany or the european countries to change the attitude towards rushing gas in the use of russian gas? it's really to say, yeah, well, we do have enough gas for this season. that is for sure. but only because we bought off of all available energy, which was less economic and less equal logic also, as we all know, be bought up at the highest price in the world markets. that's why we have our tanks full enough for this reason. but april is coming and that was the season that we would have to start collecting gas again for the next season. the next winter season. coming for sure. and maybe it's not as mileage as this one. it was. so the german industries and of course,

a lot of as an ease are relying on energy from russia. and if you can't replace it and we don't see where we could replaces significantly at an economic phase of the price that we are lost. we have doomed with our industries b, c a, d r, just relation wave sweeping through germany producing indeed, coal plants bin fide, if i'm not mistaken. now what are your thoughts on russia and gulf promises? obviously, the largest stakeholder in those part one's not been allowed to investigate the incidence while they probably want to prevent them from asking serious questions, which they, as the owners would probably understand best. how to put these questions to the investigators because they understand the technical implications. what i, as for my journalist could find out is that it is not that easy to bomb pipelines, underwater. you need to put maybe 20 or 30 devices to have successful explosions

and 4 strings of the 2 pipelines. that is why not stream to be so to speak is still active. one could still use it this unharmed, only 3 detonated. so, but they put many more devices and i believe it is that they don't want to have the russians get knowledge about who exactly did it, but might take on it. as for the political logic, in that it was probably shots or mr. how back rang up and washington and said, we got a problem. yeah, and that's the intro said mystified and clearly said that the beginning of the year to mr. short a, we have ways to stop. and so probably they did. and there's one, not a hint that we have in this regard as a member of the european parliament from the green party, mister hub party, who said in washing. and she was greeted and applauded by the polish colleagues up to europe, parliament. after the bombing of the pipeline, and she said, well mister,

how they managed to stop not street to what that means. certainly the intrigue continues that we may never find out. he was behind those incidence. that's rough, the mayor chairman of the general position group for german sovereignty and constitution. thanks so much for your thoughts with us today. thank you for having me. i've been 20 years since the us invasion of iraq. i'm here thought. see, we continue our special coverage of the anniversary and we examine the devastation on the destabilization of the war course 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 with him and fleeting with the de also marked 20 years since the newer secretary of state pushed military action in iraq of 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 the country. that claim, of course, 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. 9 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 amassed 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 tried to deflect blame. though blair also said he was very sorry, i did not mislead this country. i made

a 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. so them became instead victim to sectarian terrorism. for all of this, i express more sorrow, regret, and apology, that you may have no will complete the other world leaders sense something foul from the get go, which is why powell thought fit to give his speech. in the 1st place, france, germany and russia all decided they would vote against the u. s. s hawkish initiative that the united nations tell us, what is your storms, no matter what the circumstances will vote no. because we consider at this time that there is no place for going to work to achieve the object of that. we all want at the moment, which is

a disarmament of iraq approach. if you're at the military action against iraq is a huge political mistake. i already sat above the humanitarian side of the issue. on top of that, the un former chief weapons inspector to iraq, scott ritter said, racks capability to weapons of mass destruction had been eliminated by december of 998. it's no wonder writer, saw pals, accusations against baghdad, as relying only on circumstantial evidence. pal, just keep hitting you with circumstantial evidence and he confuses people and he lied. he lied the people. he misled people. fabricating evidence, lying killing, hundreds of thousands of people. another stark reminder of the length washington is willing to go to the success of its foreign policy agenda. is that state? well, 20 years on we asked scott ritter what was behind pulse claims of the un security council. the former chief un weapons inspector to iraq believes that washington never had any intention to let the experts do the jobs of iraq disarmament was.

apparently the last thing us wanted. i was brought in 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 i. rec, 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 addressed the iraqi parliament. they gave a speech that wasn't pre screened. and as a speech, a 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 some sans, going to let weapons inspectors back. and i, one i succeeded. and so when it came out is the exact opposite. feels like

inspectors are going to be allowed back in. 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 rec 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. well,

5 years after the beginning of the iraqi occupation by us forces, then president george w bush probably visited by dud. but residents of the wall its own country didn't give him the welcome. he apparently counted on, as the former president had to dodge shoes on his direction. ah a fun. 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. and 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, then 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, when ah, smiled to live. in louisa, they separated the body from the soul, removing the skin from the flesh and the flesh from the bone. they have other methods like electrocution, beating, flogging and breaking bones from what i went through may be less than what others have been through in iraqi 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 anyone. with a key we woke up at dawn when the bombs began falling on baghdad. it was a shock and off 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 and detained us. they were either very aggressive to justify their existence on your land, or very shy, trying not to look at you all 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,

wo. 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 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 america itself. 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 ah

minute. doing this, do you in 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, 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 and iraq have ended in the battle of iraq. the united states and our allies have prevailed ah, with 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. oh, those are just some of the stories from the decades long conflicts of coal, sort of bringing in more for the next 2 months in our special coverage. the 20th