the case now only talks about is and the laugh, murder that has long grabbed international attention, has locals fight with israeli authorities over the hamlet survival. the legal battle began in 2009 after reg, athena, petition. we come here and not knowing what to expect. several times israel's high court, ruled the village to be raised. and every time the state asked to postpone the move hon anatomy be a tiny palestinian village on the outskirts of jerusalem with a couple hundreds residents live and with no proper sewage or electricity. 10 so ramshackle structure is called homes under constant threat to be evacuated for years. but a strategic significance cannot be underestimated. experts from both sides say if this posting an enclave is evacuated, it would basically cut off the north and the south or the west bank. creating a contiguous palestinian state part of a 2 state solution plan would be impossible, but that's not why the residence despite being offered alternative locations.

choose to stay here. i know what is a thorn and a high at their home. i was present here before the p a and before even israel, the p a or any other authority cannot tell me to sit here or move to any other place. and i was here before i go, boom, as well before these settlements. where did they come here? to build a bo hi mrs. family era. bedouins moved here in the early fifties after they were kicked out from the nag of desert due to ease rose creation, while the right tween rag a beam claims the palestinian autonomy. slowly taking over airy sea to have it all for palestinians with no jews on the left, my residence, voice. tit for tat accusations. never delgado beserra. they didn't want better in the desert. and now don't want better in, in jerusalem, what no better ins and no palistine. and so they don't want muslims or christians here up until the dead sea. there is not a single village that belongs to palestinians. israel wants to get rid of us to

build more jewish settlements to cut us from the west bank. besides, seemed to be irreconcilable and this year's long battle for the land and for the future seems to lack the mere ground for any dialog, brief notion or r t from israel and the palestinian autonomy. the russian olympic committee has spoken out against harsh new conditions imposed against his athletes. why international authorities describing them? i've unreasonable, unlawful and excessive. this isn't based international limping committee. have issued the terms the 3 without making a final decision about whether russia and bella, russian athletes can actually complete or compete as individuals under a neutral flag. any athlete who has publicly supported the roster. murphy operation in ukraine would be unable to participate as with any one who has served as a soldier in the russian or bella,

russian military's russian skiing champion. veronica stepan over, has condemned the international olympic committee for what she says is unjustifiable treatments. won't you go to hell with all your conditions and recommendations to your ios? see, i will not let any international commission analyze my views and beliefs and decide whether to let me go to the world cock. gov and raise yourselves then, and i can just repeat what i've been saying for this whole year. we will overcome all difficulties, certainly, and without a doubt. so as i media, i would as cash ross as, as a nose, useful restricting athletes for political reasons. this is abolish the doors of human rights. these are not normal times. we live in extraordinary extraordinary period in history, where the world is divided. the western powers and the united states are very much set against russia's participation in swore, and they will possibly under, we're

a long way away from the person who i know them. but i think it's conceivable that sure thomas park pursued this and allow russian athletes in any kind of her presence at the olympics. then there will be boycotts from other nations. for example, poland, the u. k. germany, united states. and of course, then the whole game would be suitable. if the i was city does eventually admit individual russian athletes that there will be a ripple effect. this is a large scale, perhaps the most influential school to relation to the low by lab next, the whistleblowers and the will be back of the top of the hour with more international news. mm hm. mm hm. and sometimes governments commit such

a grievous act of waste, fraud, abuse, or illegality that multiple whistle blowers come forward to complain. sometimes those government acts even constitute war crimes or crimes against humanity. we'll talk about one of those cases. one where the facts are clear, but the ending might upset you. i'm john kerry arco and you're watching the whistleblowers. 2 2 2 2 hello and welcome to the whistleblowers. i'm john kerry arco, the u. s. military base at guantanamo has been described by some former detainees there as hell on earth. hundreds and hundreds of innocent people scooped up by the u. s. military and the cia and afghan to stand pakistan and elsewhere have been held there sometimes for decades. despite the fact that the vast majority of them had never committed a crime. we all know that on many occasions,

over the past 20 plus years, military and intelligence interrogators have gone too far in confronting prisoners at guantanamo. much of that immoral, unethical and illegal behavior was documented in the senate intelligence committees, torture report. today we're going to speak with a guest who served at guantanamo for the u. s. military. he witnessed crimes committed against detainees, and then he went public. he risked everything his career, his finances, even his family. but in the end, all these years later, almost nothing has changed. dozens of prisoners are still being held incommunicado at guantanamo. in many cases, they aren't even allowed access to their own attorneys. and almost none have ever been charged for the crime. is the still torturing people at guantanamo. we don't know. the ca says the torture program ended years ago and we're just going to have to take their word for it. i for one will not our guest tonight is joseph hickman.

joe hickman spent most of his life in the military 1st as a marine. and then as a soldier in both the army and in the national guard, he's deployed on several military operations around the world. sometimes attached to foreign militaries, the recipient of more than 20 commendations and metals. hickman was awarded the army achievement metal and the army commendation metal. while he was stationed at one tunnel, jo, welcome to the show. john. thanks for joining us, joe. i want to cut directly to the revelations that you made, joe, the events leading up to it are somewhat typical of national security whistleblowers in that you were just the guy doing his job. and then one night, something terrible happened. it involves the deaths of 3 prisoners, all on the same night at guantanamo. tell us what happened. well then i was your 9 to 6. i was on sergeant,

the guard sergeant charges watch a different operation. those in camp america give american one time. now, how is the genes? that's the camp where you're at on this specific camp. in one time though, it was here for you. so give america where i witnessed i was in a tower and i wouldn't miss the patty where you call it where you are. the great where the transport backed up to camp for taken prisoner out of camp. more petty when you drive out of the gate and i watched the tower make a turn by they were meeting the base at that time i was suspicious. they came right back and picked up another to do the same thing. by this time i was really curious, where were the points on friday night?

sometimes they were taking the medical hospital or something like that, but this was there. so they came back for a 3rd details. when you did, i went to the post where the entry post to see where the, where the them was actually going goes into camp a mirror, which they had the past one wrote whenever not the room and the 3rd town, i watched them go about 200 yards and then make a left, right. and also at that time, i knew it was only about 2 places at the time that led to the lead to the beach or led to facility that i knew was ca we call it can no, no, it's not there. it's right here, right?

so i knew they were getting the teams to the church for they were going to care for sure. so then later on at night i see the patty right and come back after we can go right to the medical clinic. there's a tv medical clinic inside and they backed up and they were unloading something like that. they were moving. but at that point, they 15 minutes later, all the lights came on in a whole year. cyrus was a huge seam and i went to the medical range where we got there and saw for science. we're happy to try to have these children stop behind you.

and i knew right then this did because i had eyes on what i had one. no one was saw the one, the only people that suspicious was 3 days left. when the patty wagon backed up to so are you right that true? remember, kill was on my watch in the room. bother be 3 years because i was not. you went to the media to make your revelation. because after fully expecting the naval criminal investigative service to interview you, they never did. you saw a general on cnn say something about the events of that evening and you knew that he was lying. there was a cover up saying, here's what happens then your name is out there. i know the military tried to discredit you. did they come after you then?

yeah, 1st what happened is i saw admiral on once you're in the same day saying it was a measurable work on themselves. terrorist acts on ange, stay me or more. i got home, i was the i g sector general complaint about it didn't go anywhere at all. so i took it to i got an attorney and i was to the justice and the f. b i show. busy are just part attorney showed up and they interviewed me for about 3 hours if you really interested or in my time he was present and they yes, if i had any other collaborating witnesses and i did, i had 9 people. we just need them stand by another soldiers. wow. you said no one

so they can they interviewed all of them and 10 months later they didn't hear. i was i'm actually in the military 10 months later they didn't hear anything. so my attorney called just harvard and they said their exact words, the just the my story was true was you're not going to charge you. wow, wow. joe, like other national security whistleblowers. you did not back down. you saw this legality take place and you went public and when there was no follow up, you gave a long interview to scott horton in 2010 for harper's bazaar magazine. and then you wrote a book about your experiences called murder at camp delta, a staff sergeant, pursuit of the truth at guantanamo bay. the military criticize the article harshly,

but it won a national book award one of the highest literary prizes in the united states. clearly the military's propaganda against you wasn't working. so what happens next? well, just to back up a little bit, i 1st went to bryan boss. bryan ross is very addressing story. and he, he was going to run it. and i said, you have to run this if you're going to do these interviews, you have to write, i'm still in the military. yeah, the pentagon, after you ask the questions about this, and i'm nothing supporting. and he said he would. and then one of his, one of the people working for him when he talk money's worth. so my questions just hang on. nothing grand. and then our last day there was a lot of problems in the met,

very big problems there. and i didn't take a shot weren't serious. harper, something serious. you read the story before you around story the the justice department asked him not to run story and it all went all the way to the top is and the person not the wrong stories that he's been around. and they've said sharply criticized. you still want to rush magazine order and there was no way of you criticize something, but you were and you know, the old saying the truth is the best defense and that you had behind you joe. you and i went on to write a book together about the i was a beta case i wrote about the hunt for, i was a beta and his capture and torture. and then you wrote about his further torture

and his treatment at guantanamo. i was of a to, we believed at the c. i was the number 3 and kinda he wasn't. but a lot of people, particularly at my former, my former or his asian as the i did not like that book, not even a little bit. but then you went further and wrote an important book about the us. military's use of toxic, burn pits in places like kosovo and iraq. what kind of challenges do you now face as a whistleblower? who has the focus for years on waste fraud abuse and ill account illegalities, specifically in the us military? what i, i say is people loving the job. you have work too because you can't for the whistleblower, you want to use your position, you love that you want to make things better and that's what i want to see better.

it's not job whistle blowing is trying to make your organization better in respect to me. that's what it is. yeah. and then for you personally, have things got easier as the years have, have gone by. i know, in my own case, in the ca turned its attention 1st to add snowden and then to julian assange. and they sort of left me alone after a while. what's it been like for you with the military? have they finally moved on, or are you dealing with the fall out from your whistle blowing? no, they, they moved on pretty much alone for now. yeah. and then when you continue to write books, have you encountered any further difficulties? no, you know what's funny about the forgot to mention is that the 1st review that come out amazon still there was by guy need crabtree was out for a half hour and i just, i read this but he wrote

a chair. were you how much of a trader i was out here? will the person i was coming down? dr. crabtree is the public relations officer at one time. oh my god. oh yeah, that says a lot my goodness, he didn't even have the presence of mind to use a made up name. you can use it may have a name on, on amazon when you do a book review. jason, the whole car right away from the media circle, but they've pretty much like that feedback from the burglar to try to see all they try to be fired back from the john burns as well. so there's always been, you know, that go against them and they really had to have report back. and it was kind of interesting because they are whose j

t f to mander one more time january night. and he was telling them how long i was a person i told the reporter i'm not going over here . and they said, but you know, how did you say all this is true? what happy suicide when it would take such a big cover all these people, you know? i said well, you know, not too long ago, a professional football player was killed by fracture side, good point and you took a 152 people. why, on the way to $152.00 people live, you would take much less to cover this up and such as trip. so very

much you are, you were involved and they said, well, but you know, everybody is cartoon. how do you know everybody is 23? you don't know that you can't make that question. lot. definitely not. well, joe hickman, please stay with us. we're going to take a short break and we're going to come right back with more. you are watching the whistleblowers stay tuned. 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 ah ah

ah welcome back to the whistle blowers. i'm john kerry our group, we're speaking with u. s. military was the blower, joe hickman. joe, good to have you back. as i mentioned, you and i wrote a book together on the capture torture and imprisonment of ob zabeda. but you went on to write this highly acclaimed book on the u. s. military's use of burn pitts

drilling down a little bit. what led you to this issue and what kind of reception did you get specifically from the military? once you began documenting the case against the bern, pitts. well, let me get yours booked. my 1st bill came out about that. that's a lot of soldiers were reaching out to at that time saying great for them. one soldier, one a one time really thank you. great. so told her story and then you start hacking, just popping away and she's there to watch your case that i'm sorry i brought her back from you. i tell me what happened. he told me, he said, this is a story you should say. and you gave me a couple of names of people and then i took a couple of their names and the couple there i read about 1400. it just blew up

and all these people were 2nd don, you know? so i decided there was something you know, yeah. tell us a little bit about about the health and environmental impact of these burn fit, burn pits. we're talking about bulldozing literally everything into a field, spring it down with diesel fuel and then lighting on fire and i mean, equipment, medical waste, plastic food, literally anything. and then all of the sudden animal carcasses, right. and then all of a sudden people started getting these rare cancers including brain cancers, and i will add that my, my best friend from high school was, was responsible for the burn pitts in for overseen the burn pits iraq. he came back from iraq and then developed a very rare brain cancer and died at the age of 48. what did you find in this

investigation? what did i find this investigation? yes. how did you find? well, i sort of basically how, how, where is all the trash? yeah, so combat soldiers usually, you know, 90 pounds trash a day per person. wow. we had a 100 people over there. we bought these facilities reach over. and so we had all that garbage from there, you know, to, to burn. so we had, like you said, 10 of your fields. 50 tons of trash day, a day, 50 times at one point. it's just unbelievable amount. attraction and they're burning everything. but we really got me looking at it was we have the soldiers to the general population yearian villages. and i doubt that they were there. a lot of

these kids were coming. birth defects that were being born in the world is never seen before, which is the 1st time you ever seen along with people just getting rare brain cancers in the villages. well outside chance, it was truly a disaster. enormous proportion always took a back for us today. yes, yes. did the military make any changes related to the policy of using bern pitts after the book came out shortly with, with all of the reports of cancer's including these brain cancer's and brain cancer that the son of president biden developed perhaps from the burn pits. and then, and then your own research, it seems like something auto we've been done, where any policy changes implemented. there has been changes done to help them better. why i did see a standard operating procedure and set up

a base. and there still stated operations. your students and kids don't understate from large for operational nations. like a lot of things like that with the, with the 5000 or more this year. she was weren't. so i don't know i yes. if you go to war again, time will tell you or you know, high temperature incinerator trashes evolved over the years. it's not the same thing. styrofoam plastics and and you know, some people think that they were still sure not only, but trashes are much worse and you know, it's as though joe, we learn nothing from,

from the use of ne palm or burn pits in vietnam. i mean every, every school child knows you don't burn styrofoam, and you don't burn plastic and you don't live next to the garbage dump and, and to the incinerator. yet we force our, our soldiers to do exactly those things. it just makes no sense to me. when saddam saying said the fire that was like the force worse of our mental disaster, they say in the history of the world. but what about these that they ran, they burns returning much. what about these birds that we had 273 on this for 10 years. oh my god. you know, that puts it in perspective. does they the military does not they, they, they preach a good environmental programs, you know,

practice with the bridge. joe, tell us what your next project is. you become something of a cross between a whistleblower and an investigative journalist. what are you looking at next? i am looking at i'm looking. i'm the 1st one ever told the sexual and how they're being recorded and how would be fantastic. and maybe one people off, you're pretty, pretty confidential right now, but it's well without, without pressing you too far. it sounds like this is going to be something that is going to be newsworthy, like mainstream media, newsworthy. yes. happy. wow. and i hope you don't get too much push back from the military. oh, you know,

we live in that we're. yeah. we did, we did. well, i would like to thank our guest today, joseph hickman, not just for joining us, but for his heroism in standing up to wrong doing. and i mean wrong doing at great personal risk. remember, the arc of the universe is long, but it bends toward justice. those are the words of doctor martin luther king. and thanks to people like joe hickman, we can live those words. thanks for joining us for another episode of the whistleblowers. i'm john kerry. aku, we're going to see you next time the. 2 2 2 2 2 2 lou campus made it abundantly clear and cannot wage a counter offensive without more weapons and ammunition from the west, the west, particularly washington. they show no interest in the negotiated and to the

conflict. in the meantime, ukraine become smaller and smaller. a wrong for a minute. meet with his russian count, a comprehensive kid partnership. treaty between the 2 countries. also there is a grenade attached to this unmanned aerial vehicle. and right now, this roll go head towards the positions of ukrainian and military is robot, cause the red observe international volunteered with the don't they utilize drone warfare. they're fight for the town over a park. the war with russian is if you go through, you said you've got more than 2000000000.