and time and again i saw the stories and the people that i met in baghdad in the. this is an up or you know war you see the best and worst of human being and i consider myself lucky being able to see all the most things happening before my eyes the things that i can photograph exists so i am able to show others all those people see blissful ones what reality is like down there these used to be normal people. but because of the war they have turned into monsters. even today in iraq people who leave their homes to get work don't really know if they will return safely to. their lives are threatened any time anywhere by the suicide attacks of al qaeda or other terrorist groups. cohen. but even for those who survive life is not the same anymore. in iraq we die a hundred times every day we die in various circumstances in the strait gatherings but in crowded places when explosions go off when blind attacks take place mostly by religious groups our profession faces constant danger and death every where death is more than a possibility in this job. since april two thousand

army in baghdad. during that time i was receiving mortar rounds to try to make the bridge collapse so when i'm sitting down here and i got all these fires coming from all directions i don't think it could tell me is that somebody is looking for somebody else and then when i seen the individual standing up on about what a pair of binoculars. and they were talking and he was pointing. i did not immediately engage that individual i did not do that i called it up and told him what i've seen. and it took about ten minutes later for them to call back as a. firearm and that's what i did. every moment of the moment of the attack at deafening sound is that. we don't in sort of the i can't hear anything or hear the whole i feel is in internal we sang. less in the last two a superpowerful that i felt like i was breaking inside the building nothing of my first thought was that i had some sort of internal bleeding him a couple grafter about ten seconds i saw the smoke rising from the upper floors of the palestine

saluja west of baghdad. the rebels bastion seems to be awakening the day after an earthquake. eight years after the war its inhabitants are still living among the ruins. it flew to hospital doctors are fighting another war. today as every day the maternity unit is on alert a deformed baby has just been born the fifth this week. this newborn is suffering from serious malformations the doctors think he will survive but he may never be able to walk. on the other side. and he needs an operation at the moment he's much too weak for us to move forward with surgery so we have him on observation so we have seen many other types of deformities he's not alone some are more severe than others we have something is born with that skulls without organs and sometimes with their legs totally twisted hard look at this little lax the mother of this baby is in shock this woman has had three children before this one all born without any health problems this deformed baby is the first such case in her family. but there's a dramatic rise in such phenomena in fallujah one birth and five now exhibits

those include areas outside of baghdad in what was called the baghdad belt which was traditionally an al qaeda stronghold and a life line for al qaeda for attacks in the capital. others were in kirkuk part of the disputed territory. what they really seem to be doing is taking advantage of the chaos that still exists in a lot of places in iraq. >> warner: what are its aims, its objectives? >> it aims to launch, to create an islamic state. the center of the... and one of the capitals would be in baghdad. it repeats that again in the latest statement that we've heard. it also wants to take advantage of this sectarian tension that still exists. while iraq is nowhere near the sectarian violence that it was a few years ago, it's really evolved quite a lot since then. there still is tension there. it wants to foster civil war again. the targets have been predominantly shia targets apart from the security forces. they do aim at shias. they aim at pilgrims. they're hoping to restart the sectarian violence by provoking shia militias to colonel out and fight them against in the streets. the same

baghdad pups, as far as we can tell, they don't do that at all. the montreal spca, canadian charity that helps abandoned cats and dogged received $13 million in donations over three years, but they ended up in the hole more than $4.5 million. now, all of these charities have one thing in common. they all have connections to a fund-raising company called quadriga art. they get paid to build mailing lists for the charity groups and that's where the money trail took drew. following the trail was one thing, getting answers was another. >> hi, how are you? >> we're not going to be doing anything on camera. >> so the bottom line is you're not going to give me an interview? where is the money going? i'm trying to reach mr. shoeloff. oh, he's not in. so here is the question raised over three years and none of the money has gone to any veterans, ma'am? >> you think if the money was going where they said it was going, everything was on the up and up, you would think they would want to be completely transparent, right? drew has been investigating this for ye

. >> on march 5th, 2007, a car bomb was exploded on mutanabbi street in baghdad. mutanabbi street is a mixed shia-suni area. more than 30 people were killed and more than 100 were wounded. this locale is the historic center of baghdad book selling, a winding street filled with bookstores and outdoor book stalls. named after the famous 10th century classic poet, al-mutanabbi, this is an old and established street for book selling and has been for hundreds of years. mutanabbi street also holds cafes, stationary shops, and even tea and tobacco shops. it has been the heart and soul of the baghdad literary and intellectual community. this tragedy is part of a wider and continuing tragedy, but one that we want to isolate and address, not only for the loss of lives but also for the implications underlying the destruction of a street where books were sold. book selling on mutanabbi street is no different from book selling here. we traffic in memory, ideas and dreams. in that sense, we feel that mutanabbi street starts at the front door of all of our book shops. mutanabbi

it's called baghdad pups. they've raised millions of dollars to reunite military members with abandoned dogs they served with overseas. but they don't really do that at all. once again, here's drew griffin. >> in montreal, the needs of the local spca were great. abandoned dogs and cats needed help, and the money to help them ran out. so in 2005, what seemed like a great opportunity came knocking. a private fundraising company called quadriga art proposed an expansion. montreal's spca would become cat canadian spca, and quadriga art would send fund-raising mailers across canada. the money started rolling in, but there was a big problem. practically every dollar that came in, according to montreal's new spca director was going directly into the coffers of quadriga art. the fundraising bill so large that after three years, the montreal spca, despite receiving about $13 million in donations, was in the hole more than 4.5 million. >> how do you get in debt to a fund-raiser? >> by incurring expenses and not having a

. >>> violence in eastern baghdad, a car exploded on monday morning. the blast wound 31. several explosions occurred in the northern province a group fired kills 14 soldiers. attacks appeared to have been coordinated as they all happened during a short period on monday morning. security in iraq has been deteriorating. j from january to june attacks killed 20,0 thou2000 people. >> on july 23rd, 2011, one

palestine and sheraton hotels, home to western journalists and one of the most fortified compounds in baghdad. it's also where carl was heading for a meeting. >> there was a car that was behind us. and the car that was behind us swerved from behind us and kept going down that road and headed straight for that checkpoint. and that was the second suicide bomber. and we were actually about to drive right into that. >> seconds later, the car that passes them explodes. >> it felt like the bomb came from underneath the floorboards. i said to myself, i can't believe we're about to die. i said, i -- i was just angry, and i was just incredulous, so to speak. and the tree that we were underneath was on fire. >> but the attack isn't over. and the biggest explosion is yet to come. manning a machine gun at the checkpoint is specialist darrell green. >> at that time, they -- the cement mixer was trying to come through our perimeter. >> a huge cement mixer filled with explosives tries to sneak through the breach made by the first blast and drive up to the hotels. >> their main goal with the first two explos

the group is baghdad pups, they raised millions of dollars to raise military dogs with u.s.s and others they serve overseas. that's the idea. as far as we can tell, they don't do that at all. once again here is drew griffin. >> reporter: in montreal, like every big city, the needs at the local aspc are great, dogs and cats need help and the money to help them is running out. in 2005, what seemed like a great opportunity came knocking. a private fund-raising company called quadriga arts proposed a major expansion. montreal's spca would become the canadian spca and kaud rileag q would send fund-raising mailers all across canada. the money started rolling in but there was a big problem. practically every dollar that came in, according to the new executive director, was going into the coffers of quadriga arts. the fund-raising bills so large that after three years, the montreal spca, despite receiving about $13 million in donations, was in the hole more than $4.5 million. how do you get in debt to a fund-raiser? >> by incurring expenses and not having a plan for getting out of i

most of that is located in and around baghdad. we are confident that if we're smart about it and we work with teh rso that we can do our job. it is an extraordinary expense to be there, so we're going to change our footprint. going to provide substantial oversight. >> in terms of the deployments of 6000 private contractors there. is this all dyn corp? when is the makeup of that security force? >> there are not all dying court. it is under the world wide protective services contract at the state. the department manages. the guards themselves are a third country nationals, as i have observed. then there are a variety of other companies that are working their. there are those that are running the convoys themselves better doing the driving or the shooters in the suburban. they are american contractors. it >> what is the security? we have several sites there. you mentioned the difficulty. give me the worst situations that we have their right now for our facilities. you're talking about this as well. what is the worst situation we have

embassy in baghdad.oining us now to discuss what's going on is the republican congressman from utah, jason chafe its, chairs the house subcommittee on national security, homeland defense and foreign operations. recently held a congressional hearing addressing these very issues. and i was alerted by walter pink is about that hearing you had last week. so here's the first question, why is the united states -- why are u.s. taxpayers still shelling out a billion dollars a year in economic and military aid to the iraqis when their oil exports surplus is enormous? >> well, that's the big question, wolf. if oil is more than $70 a barrel, you see a tremendous surplus in the funds going to iraq. which is great. we want them to thrive. and we want them to do well. but at the same time the degree in which our assets are being treated is horrible. everything from police stations to other things, other assets that we're turning over to or have turned over to iraq, and yet when we try to go through checkpoints and try

she said the program, called baghdad pups, and her charity were all about helping the troops. >> spca international is, you know, certainly going to do everything we can to continue to support the military. hopefully the wars will come to an end and we won't be doing anything as dramatic as this. you know, we've become real attached to the fact that military personnel love their animals and we want to do everything we can to keep them together. >> sounds great. it's a noble thing to do, right? if, in fact, that is what terry crisp is doing. instead, keeping them honest tonight, cnn's drew griffin has discovered only a slim fraction of the $26 million that woman raised could even possibly have gone towards rescuing dogs. the charity watchdog group has slim doubts how that slim fraction was spent. as they put it, the numbers don't seem to add up. the appear, reuniting dogs and troops, powerful. just as it was 6 1/2 years ago during hurricane katrina when crisp was running an organization and the appeal was reuniting pets and survivors. >> terry crisp joins me. good to see you. >> good t

many of the victims were caught up in a car bombing to the south of baghdad. there were also blasts in the capital. rami ruhayem has been following the developments. >> they seem to be targeting primarily security forces, army, as well as police checkpoints, a convoy and even some police officers were targeted in their homes. also, a number of incidents involving civilians in public places, especially in baghdad. a huge casualty toll. some are reporting 80. some are reporting 90. in any case, it is a very bloody day in iraq. >> hundreds of people in colorado have taken part in an outdoor service of remembrance for the victims of last week's shooting at a packed cinema in aurora near denver. earlier, president obama spoke to survivors and relatives of victims. beijing has been hit by the heaviest rain in almost six decades. authorities say 37 people died after 170 mm of rain fell in the city. downpours have also hit the southwest provinces, causing landslides and flooding. arab league foreign ministers have called on the syrian president, president bashar al- a

. >> this was the scene in a town north of baghdad. it was the site of the day's worst attack. at least 24 people were killed here alone. dozens more were wounded, most of them shiite civilians. >> if we had had weapons, we would have defended ourselves when the car bomber approached to attack the area. >> witnesses said two car bombs exploded. then a suicide bomber blew himself up as people responded to the scene. in solder city, another shiite- dominated suburb of baghdad, two bombs exploded. -- in sadr city. a texted + at least 13 iraqi towns and cities. they appear to be coordinated with the beginning of ramadan. the wave of attacks left police and emergency crews across the country stretched then. -- thin. northern iraq was also hit hard. at least four car bombs hit the city of kirkuk, killing six people and wounding 17 more. the attacks have left many iraqis angry at the government's inability to maintain security. >> we are the nash -- where are the national guard? how long is this destruction going to go on? even during ramadan. the authorities say everything is under c

this was a town 12 miles north of baghdad. two car bombs went off. when the police arrived, another suicide bomb. in all, killing more than 40 people. it left local residents feeling unprotected. >> if we had weapons, we would have defended ourselves, says this man. >> where are the authorities? where are the security forces, asks another man. this multiple assault looks meticulously and chillingly coordinated. over 20 separate attacks in more than a dozen towns and cities. bombs, a gun attacks on checkpoints, even more to fire on an army base, apparently targetting security forces but also killing civilians. part of the plan seemed to be to spread chaos. in the northern city, there were eight separate bomb attacks. some were minutes apart. many leading the same telltale wreckage. the fear is with syria spiraling out of control, the week iraq government will fall. it is harder for the government of iraq to contain the various contenders for power in iraq. the various patrons at play -- hatereds at play when you have refugees across the board. no clai

what happened in turkish relationship with baghdad? well, first importantly was the perception of maliki. that, as the perception had been of the iraqi shiite islamists that maliki is an iranian proxy and not, in fact, an arab shia who has some autonomy in decision making. and secondly -- sorry, this is still number one. the perception of maliki as a would-be dictator, that he has been amassing power, and he's planning to stay. he's not about to, first, share power or to leave when his term is up. the second thing that changed is the arab awakening. and the syria crisis that came out of that which is reshaping all the relations in the region and leading to a total realignment of forces in the region with the sectarian task because some are pushing sectarian arguments and discourse and policies. and so there is this emergence or the perception of an emergence of a sunni alliance, of, you know, saudi arabia in particular and turkey. and that is a raid against iran and its allies who happen to be shia. so iraq, the iraqi regime, of course

syria says he has been discharged from his duties in baghdad. french police said at least six people have been killed and eight injured by an avalanche. the alert was sounded early on thursday morning after the avalanche hit a group of climbers who were roped together on the slopes. the mountain is a popular route for summer tourists heading that way. an operation has begown help the injured. aid agencies working in eastern kenya in a refugee camp are warning tens of thousands of lives are at risk. $25 million is you are intelligently needed to provide new shellters and supplies and sanitation. its population remains close to half a million people making it the biggest refugee camp in the world. >> in pakistan nine police officers and prison staff have been killed and nine others wounded after the building was stormed where they were sleeping. arrived on moter bikes in the city of la hor. >> it may have been that the policemen who have been living in this building inadvertently opened the door for their chillers. it happened in the early hours o

one hundred million dollars worth of a break strays fortified baghdad embassy despite passing a facade of its diplomatic stall. and right now all she's point to see it means a former frontrunner for the egyptian presidency asking what his things the future holds for the country. with me i have a moose a presidential candidate in egypt's recent elections and also the former head of the arab league so thank you very much for joining us here on r.t. many people were surprised that you did not make it through to the second round of the recent presidential elections why do you think you did not do as well as expected i was among those who were astonished that i didn't make it but this is the most prosy. old. that is a guarantee that never again. but i'm glad that the democratic process has started. and the elections were observed by international arab and the civil society organizations in egypt i have my own reasons for the i understand what happened. things were managed in the last few days but my concern is not this my concern is that the democratic opposition not to be. especially at th

it plans to spend around one hundred million dollars upgrading the fortified embassy compound in baghdad and the former u.s. diplomat george kennedy says this kind of spending damages america's national image while feeding taxpayer money to greet a contract is. it's approaching a billion or maybe over a billion dollars now that was spent on this compound in baghdad for no evident purpose other than perhaps to enrich the contractors. and the politicians who are being paid off but. if someone asked me what is the purpose of this facility i'd have to say well that there really isn't one is it's a symbol more of american decline than it is of american power but it's not just about iraq it's about projecting power in the region and you have to ask in the old days american embassies were relatively modest affairs they were open they tried to project the sense of american idealism of democracy and so forth now we're building these enormous fortresses that ultimately of course will be abandoned and look look back upon as a bad joke. it will be live from moscow and still ahead for you this hour f