soldier who pulled the star-spangled banner over the iconic statue of saddam hussein speaks to a decade after the fall of baghdad. ordinary iraqis struggled to cope with sectarian violence political instability economic woes and the aftermath of the weapons unleashed by the u.s. military also. the president. and he controls the controls the future of wiki leaks publishes over one point seven million u.s. diplomatic records from the kissinger era revealing washington's past involvement with dictatorships and showing its present day policies and unite. if you just joined us kevin owen here live with you at eight pm moscow time from r.t. and first off deadly suicide bombings and political uncertainty now the realities of everyday life for millions of iraqis but it's something few of them imagined when they were cheering the symbolic toppling of saddam hussein's statue in baghdad a decade ago. met the u.s. soldier who played a key part in that historic moment he says the reasons for invading iraq don't justify the lives lost. exactly ten years ago a u.s. marine from new york city made inter

a sunny like saddam hussein my driver hell it is. he didn't know or didn't want to know the terrible truth. look i'll show you the house where i was born yeah here on this hill where we're a city is like a memorial to the village as it was before the tragedy it was here that the villagers came together every evening to talk to play backgammon and listen to the radio. i leave a comment to commemorate his loved one. we continue towards the east and kirkuk the former capital of kurdistan today on iraqi territory. so what if that is going to be praised i'm not scared of when the region was under american control i was afraid about it but as soon as the iraqi police and army took over things got much better if the americans didn't know the region they were afraid and trigger happy and they didn't hesitate to fire anyone who approached them like the passenger foreigner anyone with. this road has seen a lot of drama how many times did the american shoot down iraqis here for no reason gotta go. through the windscreen the first iraqi checkpoi

the main prayer takes place in hussein most. the him i'm sermons a political resonance and a broadcast throughout iraq and the shia world and. the shias today are imposing their numbers and their power. and. the prayers always end with cries to the glory of the prophet hussein the son of ali allegedly designated by mohammed to be his only successor you know that there. was. many on the underside a million shias were detained and many of them were assassinated then thrown into a mass graves and it's not much of a center i myself your servant you know. spent twelve years in iraqi jails my family only received news of me one or two years after i was released. i was even afraid of my own brother i thought he was an officer who come to interrogate me all of us we suffered and the prisons were filled with shias oh me. leaving kabbalah is like crossing a graveyard. everywhere are portrayed shia month has fallen for the glory of the prophet hussain mohammed their. little bit of the. possible. on the baghdad bass run highway in the middl

long time dominated by baghdad and saddam hussein kurdistan dreams of achieving autonomy. the first customer the first passenger on our trip is a member of the new kurdish parliament. that's the. biggest you know with in iraq we can say that oil has always been a curse. but today in kurdistan that's changing. foreign oil companies are coming here to work with. the revenues are finally being used for reconstruction and what negative it's a huge difference for us as in saddam's times we never benefited from the oil money or would he had any of this that. he went so it's quite simple we are kurds before we're iraqis and where the maoists i think they're very rapidly as soon as we have been able to create a stable basis for building a country ninety nine percent of people will vote for independence because that but you. know what the what the people want their own country a country called could stand looking at it as that they want their own passport but there's no kurdish one i suppose you could stand. a land of shepherd's kurdistan is discovering well through its oil a night

the main prayer takes place in the hussein most. the him i'm sermons a political resonance and a broadcast throughout iraq and the shia world and. the shias today are imposing their numbers and their power. and. the prayers always end with cries to the glory of the prophet hussein the son of ali allegedly designated by mohammed to be his only successor you never heard them . but many on under saddam a million years were detained and many of them were assassinated and thrown into mass graves and. i myself your servant spent twelve years in iraqi jails my family only received news of me one or two years after i was released. i was even afraid of my own brother i thought he was an officer who come to interrogate me about yes we suffered and the prisons were filled with shias only when the abbey. lincoln boller is like crossing a graveyard. everywhere all portraits of she amount has fallen for the glory of the prophet hussain mohammed saffi. that. possible. on the baghdad bass run highway in the middle of the desert our faithful old tax

absolute symbol of power a statue of saddam hussein. on april ninth two thousand and three it was torn to the ground of the united states believed to have won the will . nine years have passed the square is empty and the city appears to be in a state of siege. oh is that our passenger alley theater director back from exile in paris waited for a long time to see his enemy fall and return to his native city. where i was thrown in prison and when i got out i was given five days to leave baghdad and iraq that gave me to. what folly the combat continues. and it's through theater that he hopes to win it is methodist to re-invest the public with a sense of resistance and a taste for life. i know that out. today i see a country filled with weapons the overriding color in the city is khaki the color of soldiers. i see young people with no future men and women deprived of any feeling of citizenship figure on people have forgotten their rights and their duties. as if they were lost but they're not completely lost. not. more fun to be doing your sh

of the iraqi republic saddam hussein in one nine hundred eighty eight inaugurated the restored city of babylon first built by nebuchadnezzar between six o four and five sixty two b.c. . at the height of his power like the ancient kings before him. built his palace in the heart of the legendary city. his tower of babel crashed down around him and the dust of pride and ambition. his memory has been left to the ravages of time and the insults of his survivors. wealthy british style. markets why now. can't. find out what's really happening to the global economy with max cons are there are no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into kaiser report on r g. liz. liz liz please. please please liz liz . you know how sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else you hear or see some other part of it and realize everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm tom harkin welcome to the big picture. the new cover international airport in the very heart of moscow. at the end of the road lies come the mecca of vatic

there in a saddam hussein. regime really knows for our market the market speaking of american interests that american democracy. why not statue of saddam hussein and wrap the face of the statue in an american flag looking back on your actions do you think it was the propre thing to do us as a foreigner coming in invading a country climbing the statue of a man who was the leader of that country and wrapping the face an american flag. maybe. no iraqi civilians want to see that as a simple walk. you know but you know my reasons are the reason why we didn't know it was for us we would have been in iraq for. over a month. and the fire got to baghdad and we were hoping that it would be the market under the rule of law to go home to a family that was or isn't going to us who have seen america fly for so long the reason we do just to show any kind of something want to push on a country is just a way to spur the moment what you know about us foreign policy now that we didn't know that we're now going to be told she will

there's no deal rid of saddam hussein is. really knows for our market democracy speaking of american interests that american democracy. why not statue of saddam hussein and wrap the face of the statue in an american flag looking back on your actions do you think that was the pro-create thing to do as as a foreigner coming in and invading a country climbing the statue of a man who was the leader of that country and wrapping the face an american flag. no iraqi civil war soon as possible want to. know what you know my reasons or the reasons why we didn't know it was for us we would have been in iraq for. over a month. and the fire got to baghdad and we were hoping that it would be the market under the rule of law to go home to a family and i was one of those who have seen our to fly for so long as i went out to attach to a chain around the backs of people such as now. so you know when i want to go up there he was like oh but you know when you get out there you know sort of bores the callers and i was ok you know. but the walk to

the main prayer takes place in the hussein most. the him i'm sermons a political resonance and a broadcast throughout iraq and the shia world and. the shias today are imposing their numbers and their power. and. the prayers always end with cries to the glory of the prophet hussein the son of ali allegedly designated by mohammed to be his only successor. never care. but many on the underside a million shias were detained and many of them were assassinated then thrown into mass graves and center i myself your servant spent twelve years in iraqi jails my family only received news of me one or two years after i was released. i was even afraid of my own brother i thought he was an officer who come to interrogate me yes we suffered and the prisons were filled with shias for me when they be. leaving kabbalah is like crossing a graveyard. everywhere all portraits of she amount has fallen for the glory of the prophet hussain mohammed there. was that. possible. on the baghdad and basra highway in the middle of the desert our faithful old taxi

soldier who pulled the star-spangled banner over the hour on a guess that he'll saddam hussein speaks to our a decade after the fall of baghdad . made wallowed in there iraqis a struggle to cope with sectarian violence political instability economic woes and they optimised off the weapons unleashed by the woods military also. controls the present controls. and he shows the controls the future of wiki leaks the publishers over one point seven million u.s. diplomatic records are from the kissinger arrow revealing washington's past involvement with former dictatorships and showing its present day policies of a new light. as five pm here in the russian capital you're watching our live with me on with a deadly suicide bombings and political uncertainty and now the realities of everyday life for millions of iraqis but it's something few of them imagined when they were cheering the symbolic toppling of saddam hussein's statue in baghdad a decade ago i just learned about my own caught up with the u.s. soldier who played a key part in the historic moment he says are the reasons for invading ir

saddam hussein is long gone, but his influence lives on.the way they operate, in the fear that some people still feel. even the desire for revenge. >> now there are different things to fear, including the almost constant threat of bombings. the iraqi museum, looted in 2003, the bullet holes have been repaired and the artifacts have been returned, but 10 years later the most valuable pieces are not here, they are in the central bank. there is not enough security to open the museum to the public. outside baghdad it continues. >> perhaps we have big pieces missing or going out of the country. >> a lot of iraqis believe that the looting is from the government as well. this young artist drew an eye aimed at the green zone to tell iraqi politicians that people are watching them. of art tothis piece send a message to parliament. to say -- shame on you, we are aware. we can see you. i drew this to tell them that we could see them, even though they could not see us. >> this process lasted four days before it was taken down. it is an immensely

had terrorist connections talking about ties with al qaeda george bush said that president saddam hussein had sent his envoys to meet with this summer bin laden but he never mentioned what the result of that meeting was we had connections with the muslim brotherhood in syria they had connections with some of bin laden who was in sudan at the time we got permission to establish that contact through the syrian muslim brotherhood message to some of bin laden was we all were against the american presence in saudi arabia we had the same enemy therefore we could work together undermining the saudi regime and pressuring it to remove americans from the arabian peninsula then we got a reply from bin laden he said the baath regime in iraq was a pos eight and that it was because of the iraq regime that the americans came to the middle east therefore he couldn't have any contacts with this regime that there were other attempts to establish a connection but a sum of bin laden's position never changed americans also contacted bin laden they were the ones who transferred him to afghanistan to fight agai

time dominated by baghdad and saddam hussein kurdistan dreams of achieving autonomy. the first customer the first passenger on our trip is a member of the new kurdish parliament. but just you know in iraq we can say that oil has always been a curse. but today in kurdistan that's changing. foreign oil companies are coming here to work with. the revenues are finally being used for reconstruction and what negative it's a huge difference for us as in saddam's times we never benefited from the oil money or would he had any put this that. he went so it's quite simple we could spend for we're iraqis and where i think they're very rapidly as soon as we have been able to create a stable basis for building a country ninety nine percent of people will vote for independence because that back east you. know what do what the people want their own country a country called could you stand looking at it as that they want their own passport but there's no kurdish one i suppose you could stand. a land of shepherd's good astonished discovering well through its oil a nightmare for baghdad

a lot of pictures of the role that is to be taken out to a decade since saddam hussein's regime collapsed in iraq we speak to the u.s. soldier who carried out the symbolic toppling of the dictator's statue. but he still feels remote with escalating sectarian violence and fighting for resources we report from cool one of iraq's most dangerous places where people live in constant fear of attack. and wiki leaks publishes over a million u.s. diplomatic cables from the kissinger era in whistleblower julian the sound his latest project to open up global geopolitics. i welcome you watching r.t. life from moscow. now ranks marking ten years since the i would throw saddam hussein when baghdad fell to the u.s. led invasion a decade on and the country remains unstable more than two hundred civilians have been killed and over eight hundred wounded in the past month alone the situation that many a tribute to america's presence in the country after a massive loss of life and no weapons of mass destruction found what it all worth it artie's miniport i spoke to one man who had very different hopes on the

a sunny like saddam hussein my driver hell it is. he didn't know or didn't want to know the terrible truth. look i'll show you the house where i was born yeah here on this hill where we're a city is like a memorial to the village as it was before the tragedy it was here that the villagers came together every evening to talk to play backgammon and listen to the radio. i leave a comment to mourn and commemorate his loved ones. we continue towards the east and kirkuk the former capital of kurdistan today on iraqi territory. but so what if that god be praised i'm not scared when the region was under american control i was afraid about it but as soon as the iraqi police and army took over things got much better if the americans didn't know the region they were afraid and trigger happy and they didn't hesitate to fire at anyone who approached them passenger foreign or anyone with. this road has seen a lot of drama how many times did the american shoot down iraqis here for no reason . through the windscreen the first iraqi checkpoint appear

reserve there's a lot of pictures of the role that used to be took about two decades since a saddam hussein's regime collapse in iraq we speak to the you will soldier who carried out the symbolic public property take the statue. of peace still feels remarried with escalating sectarian violence and fighting for resources report from pope who want to be rights most dangerous places where people live in constant fear of attacks. publisher publishes over a million u.s. diplomatic cables from the kissinger era in our whistleblowers a jillion us on the latest project to open up global geopolitics. it's two pm here in moscow you live with us on our team with me to bomb with their let's take a look at the international news this hour iraq is marking ten years or since the overthrow of saddam hussein when baghdad fell to the u.s. led invasion a decade on and the country remains unstable more than two hundred civilians have been killed and over eight hundred wounded in the past month alone a situation that many attribute it to america's presence in the country after a massive loss of lives and no weapo

soldier who pulled the star spangled banner over the iconic statue of saddam hussein speaks to our decade after the fall of baghdad. meanwhile ordinary iraqis a struggle to cope with sectarian violence of political instability economic woes and the obscene mouth of the weapons unleashed by the e.u. with the military. goals the president controls. and essential. controls the future. and the publishers a one point seven million u.s. diplomatic record of of the kissinger era revealing washington's pulse involvement with former dictatorships and showing its present day policies in a new line. you're watching live all from moscow with me to bomb with their let's take a look at this hour as the international news that leaves suicide bombings and political uncertainty are now the realities of everyday life for millions of iraqis but it's something feels i mean imagine when they were cheering the symbolic toppling of saddam hussein's statue in baghdad a decade ago archie's marine aboard my own caught up with the u.s. soldier who played a key pawn in the historic moment he says the reasons for inv

not work in the us a soldier who pulled the star-spangled banner over the iconic statue of saddam hussein speaks to our t. a decade after the fall of baghdad. meanwhile ordinary iraqis a struggle to cope with sick terror and violence political instability economic woes and the aftermath of the weapons unleashed by the u.s. military also coming up. in the polls the president controls the past and he's controls the past controls the future week he leaves a publishers' over one point seven million u.s. diplomatic records from the kissinger era really washington's past involvement with dictatorships and this showing its present day policies in a new light. you're watching already see it live from the russian a capital with me to bomb would say it's good to have you company with us this evening. deadly suicide bombings and political uncertainty and the realities of everyday life for millions of iraqis but it's something few of them imagined when they were cheering the symbolic toppling of saddam hussein's statue in baghdad a decade ago arches worrying about my i met the u.s. soldier who played

soldier who pulled the star-spangled banner over the iconic statue of saddam hussein is. a decade after the fall of baghdad. meanwhile ordinary iraqis a struggle to cope with sectarian violence political instability economic woes and often mob aapl weapons unleashed by the u.s. military also ahead. the president controls passed easily shows the past controls the future wiki leaks publishers over one point seven million u.s. diplomatic records are from the kissinger air revealing washington's positive involvement with former dictatorships and showing its present day policies in a new light. international news a commentary and analysis and reports of this is r.t. deadly suicide bombings and political uncertainty are now the realities of everyday life for millions of iraqis but it's something feel of them imagined when they were chairing the symbolic toppling of saddam hussein's statue in baghdad a decade ago artie's marina part and i caught up with a u.s. soldier who played a key part in the historic moment he says the reason for invading iraq don't justify the lives lost.

as soon as we arrive on the outskirts of tikrit saddam hussein's former stronghold where arrested by the police i have the feeling we were expected. after a few hours of questioning were put under house arrest in a hotel and forbidden from going out. and the situation eases the following afternoon when we're granted two hours of freedom but we're still under close surveillance. the next man who joins us in the taxi is in mourning his name's feel he's a journalist and he lost his best friends just two days ago. but god will save iraq . sorry. he had to do it they want to make iraq a wretched country at the nice be. a glow in the assassinate the best among us the terrorist who kills a journalist like my colleague at the news channel or who kills a religious man behind an academic or teacher certainly doesn't do it for religious reasons it's obvious he does it mostly for money because our religion does not tolerate all these crimes the only motive for these crimes is money and they're ordered from outside to kill our best people that any of us. in the city center the mosque still bears

the name of the man who built it was saddam hussein. idealist come to pay a final homage to his murdered friend. on april second two thousand and twelve. a holiday in a journalist for a local t.v. station was killed instantly when his car exploded. until. a relaxing evening along the banks of the tigris overseen by the palace of the local hero sadam. saddam was always surrounded by members of his own tribe and many here miss the man who built a sunni state much to their advantage. they can injure the americans didn't come here to look for weapons of mass destruction nor to hunt down certain are saying they came to rob us and to kill us ation iraq it was a unified country but at the moment when they arrived at the americans that triggered divisions by creating ethnic conflicts just you know this very well. they destroyed everything and then they left but i don't know if they'll be done reality they're still here they make people think they've gone but they're still present their aim is to create discord in iraq that all my life that is a

>> nothing, except for it's part of -- and nobody ever suggested in this administration saddam hussein ordered the attack. iraq was a -- the lesson of september 11 was taped to us before it fully materialized. chris: of course, major effort to tie a prague meeting together with intelligence forces of saddam hussein administration and al qaeda. that went often and on. >> and dick cheney, vice president would advance that agenda, long after everybody else in the b abandonned it. deep down they were thinking something different. the world changed. there were a series of threats that were not state tied, that could come together at any moment and cause great harm to people not between governments or countries or just actors and they are trying to figure out how to stop that. >> i agree with you. we just saw bush say iraq had nothing to do with this. ok, but it had a lot to do with their thinking and mindset, which after 9/11 they know what they missed. they know all of the clues that were there in the summer of 2001, that quiet summer and in their minds it was never again on our watch. no

takes place in hussein most.he interim sermons a political resonance and a broadcast throughout iraq in the shia world and. the shias today are imposing their numbers and their power. in the prayers always end with cries to the glory of the prophet hussein the son of ali allegedly designated by mohammed to be his only successor you never heard them . but many on under saddam a million years were detained and many of them were assassinated and thrown into mass graves and center i myself your servant spent twelve years in iraqi jails my family only received news of me one or two years after i was released. i was even afraid of my own brother i thought he was an officer who come to interrogate me yes we suffered and the prisons were filled with shias for me when you be. leaving kabbalah is like crossing a graveyard. everywhere all portraits of she amount has fallen for the glory of the prophet hussain mohammed there. that. must have. been. on the baghdad best run highway in the middle of the desert a fateful taxi fo

invasion of iraq was the toppling of the statue of saddam hussein in firdos square in central baghdad with an american flag draped is >> my captain comes over and has got like this package. he hands it to me tells me there is an american flag in there, y he is like show the boys the colors. >> after the showing of the colors, the statue was toppled. at the base of the statue, helping to pull it down, was iraqi blacksmith kazem al jabouri. al jabouri on that day was angry because the draped flag was not an iraq one. today he no longer lives in iraq but in beirut, lebanon, because baghdad is dangerous. and al jabouri's views on the war have radically changed. >> saddam hussein, he said, maybe held us 100 years back. but now we are pushed back almost 300 years. >> al jabouri now says if the statue of saddam still existed, he would re-erect it. >> chin understands why iraqis feel hopeless over the war. >> there would probably be a lot of questions from them. why did we do it? you know, what were we there for? and it would very hard for me to answer those questions too. >> reporter: u.s. c

invaded iran and western countries again sorry but pathologically producer provided saddam hussein with chemical weapons to gas iranians killing many thousands even people who are dying as we speak i'm a victim of chemical weapons the iranians defended their country and prevented saddam hussein from taking any part of the country because it was an issue of sovereignty western countries have to come to some sort of agreement with iran and in fact in the talks that just took place recently the iranians were willing to make significant strides forward to reach some sort of agreement either a step by step agreement or otherwise and western countries the five plus one people who were there simply did not have the authority and they said we have to go back and speak to our governments so and iran has been waiting for weeks right now so when the iranians go to the negotiating table they go there with authority and western countries their representatives don't have that authority to do that go ahead. well i have no idea whether or not but negotiators claim they did or didn't have authority i th

second of all, what we were toed to vote on in iraq was force saddam hussein to accept our course of inspection regime -- except our course of inspection regime. do that or face military action. the un unanimously asked exactly that course of inspection -- that coercive inspections regime and the bush administration invaded anyway. it any much ignored the precept, which is to make sure where saddam hussein was with weapons of mass destruction. he went in anyway. assad headbanging cooperating with anyone and wars already -- assad has not been cooperating with anyone in war is already going on. of "usa today." >> on to come back to intelligence because it is a critical issue. first of all, you mentioned possibly limited use, maybe by the armed forces. this information sounds fairly sketchy at this point. >> i am not sitting down with the direct intelligence community and getting information. i'm quite confident that they have far more and specifics at their disposal than i have. it is sketchy from what i have heard. so i want to make sure that distinction is clear. >> so what is your b

invaded iran and western countries again sorry but pathologically producer provided saddam hussein with chemical weapons to gas iranians killing many thousands even people are dying as we speak i'm a victim of chemical weapons the iranians defended their country and prevented saddam hussein from taking any part of the country because it was an issue of sovereignty western countries have to come to some sort of agreement with iran and in fact in the talks or just took place recently the iranians were willing to make significant strides forward to reach some sort of agreement either a step by step agreement or otherwise and western countries the five plus one people who were there simply did not have the authority and they said we have to go back and speak to our governments so and iran has been waiting for weeks right now so when the iranians go to the negotiating table they go there with authority and western countries their representatives don't have that authority. to reply to that go ahead. well i have no idea whether or not but negotiators claimed they did or did already i think rig

they're still struggling to rebuild their country to have a stable government not statue of saddam hussein and wrap the face of the statue in an american flag looking back on your actions do you think that was the propre thing to do as as a foreigner coming in invading a country climbing the statue. was the leader of that country drafting the peace in america. the iraqi civil war in sudan. as a simple walk. no but you know my reasons are the reason why we didn't know it was for us we would have been in iraq for. over a month. and only five got to baghdad and we were hoping that it would be more going to the rule of law to go home to a family and i was of course was i would have seen america fly for so long it was not something we did just to show any kind of sounds like a person in the country just the way a spur of the moment what you know about us foreign policy now that didn't know that we're not we're not going to tell the truth but what happens because time is going to harvard suck and all because you just come out so the public will go to war. to you know be able to control the oil w

here once to the absolute symbol of power a statue of saddam hussein. on april ninth two thousand and three it was torn to the ground of the united states believed to have wonderful. nine years have passed the square is empty and the city appears to be in a state of siege. oh is that our passenger alley theater director back from exile in paris waited for a long time to see his enemy fall and return to his native city. where i was thrown in prison and when i got out i was given five days to leave baghdad and iraq. but folly the combat continues. and is through theater that he hopes to win it is methodist to reinvest the public with a sense of resistance and a taste for life. i know that out. today i see a country filled with weapons the overriding color in the city is khaki the color of soldiers. i see young people with no future men and women deprived of any feeling of citizenship the grown people have forgotten their rights and their duties. as if they were lost but they're not completely lost. not. more than a beginner shoulda been more than that. in

in baghdad now we've all seen the pictures the ones of the statue of saddam hussein being brought tothe ground as a symbolic gesture to in the dictator's twenty four year reign marine corporal edwin edwards chin was one of the men who actually helped tear that statue down r t international correspondent maria port and i actually had a chance to sit down with chen this week and reflect on the significance of this event as well as look forward to the future of iraq here's part of that interview. exactly ten years ago a u.s. marine from new york city made international headlines for his actions in baghdad edward chen tied a large news around a massive statue of saddam hussein wrapped the face of that statue of an american flag before that monument was eventually toppled right now i am joined by mr chen for what i want to receive on thank you for speaking with archie's about. ten years have passed since that. moment where you essentially became a symbol for the u.s. occupation and invasion in iraq you were twenty three at the time when you climb that statue what you know about the iraq w