troops still remain in iraq where america's embassy looms large and control over iraq's oil sector is perceived to be ultimate truth because in this eight year war at the very least in order to deny china or any other perceived intentional rival control of valuable resources the idea. ingrained in the thinking of these new strength. just see washington d.c. we're still very much an hour is that we must control the middle east be closed. experts say the u.s. wants to remain in the region to keep an eye on syria and continue right of the development in syria go to the extent that there is and follow the regime we don't know what kind of regime or maybe that could be brought us really maybe it will be something even worse you cannot withdraw at this juncture you cannot leave the vacuum iran will just take advantage of it but from the perception of american interests meanwhile the perception of america as democracy remains somewhat distorted has it been used as a tool to achieve a geo political gains in financial interests for all washington in the end listen to the voice of the people we

i was calling with a question for the man in power for iraq. i have not been deployed in a while. i'm trying to see if we are where the u.s. wants it. what advice do you have four servicemen looking to deploy in a zone such as iraq? guest: well, one thing that has changed over the last eight years is that our military has looked increasingly at both the national guard and reserve as an operational reserve rather than a strategic reserve. in other words, in order to enable all the active forces to operate, we have to work together on one team with our brothers and sisters. it is required for us to be able to conduct operations, but at the same time, that ensures a higher manning level, a higher equipping rate with modernized equipment for our reserve forces. what i would say is there is plenty of opportunity to deploy if that in fact is what you're looking for. the need, whether it is here in iraq or in afghanistan, or in other environments to include those that are supporting humanitarian assistant missions throughout the world, even for example in africa. the need is out there. s

major combat operations in iraq have ended in the battle of iraq the united states and around. half prevailed. now as we all know that was not the end of the war in iraq in fact that war is still going on today the u.s. didn't begin pulling forces out of iraq into last fall when they said that major combat operations were finally over but even still we have about fifty thousand troops left there some seven years after bush declared mission accomplished so maybe andrew card keep his mouth shut when it comes to talking about chest pounding and that's why he's tonight's bull's-eye minor. and now we told you many times on this program about the increased use of g.p.s. devices to track and surveil american citizens now there is one environmental activist who stepped forward to wired magazine after she found a g.p.s. which had been placed under her car courtesy of the feds according to wired dot com this method is becoming a very common way for feds to track anyone they deem suspicious or potential threat to our country depending on if you actually consider environmental activists of

the democratic game is of america's policy in the middle east has distorted pi's continued presence in iraq despite promises all through. a very warm welcome to you this is live from moscow russia is marking victory day sixty six years since nazi germany was defeated in world war two events of commemoration is the liberation happened taking place across the country caps by the traditional ground village sheep raised on a red square in last year's bringing you special coverage throughout the day. all the main parade on red square to pace amid spectacular scenes of military pomp and pageantry and watching it for us was. it was absolutely stunning to be here in these iconic location on red square the heart of brush on this very important day the ninth of may which this year marks the sixty sixth anniversary of the defeat of nazi germany and a victory in the great paciorek war as these holy days known in russia were still thousands of troops marching through red square here and companies over one hundred pieces of military hard hardware the pride of russia's armed forces some of the new stump m

and america's aims under scrutiny of the ongoing military intervention in iraq speculation grows that the u.s. presence there could stretch beyond the withdrawal deadline. we're going to even you're watching r t it's ten pm monday night and first of all in the spring sunshine it's been a day of remembrance and thanksgiving here in russia victory day now as night falls fireworks of just this last minute started in moscow to mark sixty six years since the defeat of nazi germany let's head across the street to the river to see this and now is going to talk us through it really is a great show piece every year and people expecting a good display tonight as well you know. yes indeed this is the culmination of this celebration this you can probably see behind me hundreds of people have made their way through what's red square onto this bridge just outside the kremlin hundreds if not thousands are gathered watching at the culmination of commemorates. in the russian capital with this grand fireworks display i'll be quiet and let you tackle . just to give you an idea of how grand this display

they're all military widow who's lost their loved ones in iraq and afghanistan. terron davis was just 21 when she lost her soul mate michael in iraq a month after he surprised her at home. >> we had two weeks of r & r and they were perfect. on april 9th, he had to go back. so i took him to the airport trying not to cry because i promised him i wouldn't. finally he said i have to go, baby. he looked down at me. he said why do we fit so good together? i always said because we were made for each other. >> reporter: a month later, she received that dreaded knock on the door. her husband was killed by a roadside bomb. >> the last thing i said to him was i love you more than life itself. >> reporter: living without michael is an every day

you need to know this even though bin laden is dead the wars in afghanistan and iraq continue on rather rapid down draw of troop drawdown of troops in afghanistan in july as many as hopeful or at hope for u.s. officials are now saying that the president will likely only a lot about five of the one hundred thousand soldiers there another five thousand troops may be sent home by the end of the year a small dent in our massive force so our war in afghanistan is likely to continue on with no clear mission at least three twenty. fourteen or about our war in iraq a war with an equally unclear mission for bush left office he pushed through an agreement between the u.s. and iraq promising that all troops would be out of that country by december thirty first of this year so now the pentagon is sending we could be there a little longer secretary defense robert gates and the united states military will stay in iraq past the deadline if the iraqi government requests more help filling holes in their security forces pentagon spokesperson elizabeth robbins said we are willing to entertain a request fo

war on terror now in the decade since nine eleven attacks the united states has fought other wars in iraq yemen pakistan somalia libya some openly some secretly in that same decade we spent over one trillion u.s. dollars on military operations bases foreign aid veterans' health the list goes on and the year after year we nudge the death toll for u.s. troops higher and higher not to mention the hundreds of thousands who perished by means of u.s. collateral damage and bin laden is dead but what remains in his wake and could the two bullets to the skull of an american enemy actually change america's foreign policy now earlier i pose that question to matthew hoh he's a former marine corps captain and state department officer who became the highest level diplomatic official to quit over the war in afghanistan here's what he had to sing. here in the united states bin laden's death brings closure or at least some degree of closure to nine eleven and so hopefully that closure the american public may feel now let me turn into a political movement that may force members of congress to push for a ch

backed mission like not being able to pack it as expected america is planning to keep troops in iraq beyond the third line set for later this year and as artists we're in a port now explains there's more to it than a drive for democracy. she is the country clothed in stars and stripes accessorized with the nobel peace prize winning president pioneering the big d. around the world let us be clear the united states of america stands with the people of tunisia and supports the democratic aspirations of all people continue. to egypt to libya. washington has said the will of the people must determine the fate of their country. but in iraq where america claims to be transplanting democracy our renewed sense of nationalism has united thousands against the us we're not supporting the democratic aspirations of people in iraq we haven't been for it for eight years now i mean iraqi people have wanted us out and we stay there for their own good that's not democracy. anger over u.s. occupation dates back to the presidency of george w. bush upon his exodus in two thousand a washington drafted an ag

and america's aims under scrutiny in the ongoing military intervention in iraq speculation grows that the u.s. presence there could stretch beyond the withdrawal deadline. you're watching r t welcome it's eleven pm monday evening my name is kevin irwin and in the spring sunshine it's been a day of remembrance today and thanksgiving in russia victory day but as night fell the ground fireworks to moscow closed the commemorations to mark sixty six years since the defeat of nazi germany in this analogy what's the spectacular in the center of moscow. this is the culmination of the celebrations the super probably see behind me hundreds of people have made their way through what's red square onto this bridge just outside the kremlin hundreds if not thousands are gathered watching the culmination of commemorations in the russian capital with this grand firework display just to give you an idea of how grand this display is some thirty salvos from almost one hundred launchers and guns are lighting the sky above moscow as we speak they can be seen it for almost any point we're here on red square

democratic in a job america's actions in the middle east are distorted by its continued presence in iraq despite promises over through. the area watching our t.v. broadcasting live from moscow welcome to the program. is marking victory day sixty six years since nazi germany was defeated in world war two but events of commemoration and celebration will be taking place across the country including a traditional ground military parade on red square you can watch it all unfold here on our team real special coverage throughout the day. of the war claimed the lives of around twenty seven million russians leaving a lasting scar across the entire country. reports now from the colluder region. and killed thousands. include go one hundred and fifty kilometers southwest of most k the city an important strategic point in the german forces attempts to conquer most in the great patriotic war and as he remembers who fought and died in the war we remember also the devastating number of civilians he's suffered at the hands of german occupying forces and the sometimes for right efforts to fight back again

kind of armed humanitarianism was the scene of the way of getting out of the mess we've gotten into in iraq. >> how was it an nationbuilding became a political term for george w. bush in 2000 had, we don't nationbuilding. >> were barack obama in december of 2009 saying that he wanted to send more troops to afghanistan. with the caveat, the nation he wanted to do, the nation he wanted to build with their own. nation building in some circles is kind of a dirty word. you know, it's not what the military is supposed to be doing. you're supposed to be trained for the high-end force on force conflict, kind of conflict in a lot of ways but equips around in a lot of ways pines for an away because it is a simple direct. your opponent wears the uniform. they've got formations that you can count. this is a lot more difficult and involves navigating tricky cultural differences with the barriers and try to get these problems has proven a lot harder in this than it is in theory. >> so what has been the reaction of the pentagon to its new role? >> interesting if you see some of the more recent remarks by

iraq and the one it found. no i don't think it is profoundly unstable and of course it still takes tens of thousands of u.s. troops to hold the puppet government in place we're still as the arab spring has unfolded and how does it impact on iraq the green demonstrations for great democracy and for a change of direction for enter corruption in iraq itself and this government the government which the u.s. occupation keeps in place has been shooting down its own people so i don't see quite the progress that the british and american leaders are claiming is taking place on another point now do you think the timing of this apparent withdrawal owes more to what's right for iraq or what's right for the u.k. you know with its campaign in libya in afghanistan struggling to win public support . yes i think you have to take this final withdrawal. of troops from iraq. with the. policy of drawing from afghanistan and by the time of the next election i think david cameron has no stomach for going into the next election with british troops fighting unpopular wars he didn't do his two predecessors any good i think he rightly calculates it won't do him any good an

the democratic image of america's policy in the middle east is distorted boss continued presence in iraq is not promises from the floor. and online you're watching our table straight to our top story now russia is marking victory day sixty six years since nazi germany was defeated in world war two events of commemoration celebration are taking place across the country including a traditional ground military grade on red square law to bring you our special coverage throughout the day. back to that's cross now to r.t.c. covering the great show but who's in the red square for us now where can you hear us so you see charlie treasuring or richard day's also one of the main one of these in russia where you are in the middle of the it's a war of the military parade. ok we it was absolutely stunning to be here in this iconic location on red square the heart of russia on this very important day the ninth of may which this year marks the sixty sixth anniversary of the defeat of nazi germany and the victory in the great posho to war as these holidays are known in russia still thousands of troops ma

here in washington at the pentagon didn't understand the cultural situation the political situation in iraq what specifically was the connection i think you had. what we had is we had this doctrine of counterinsurgency that had more or less united states military had performed in central in latin america in earlier parts this year performed in vietnam and in resurrect it in iraq however what happened was we did the surge in iraq beginning to intercept it at the same time because of other events many of them political such as the sunni awakening or the solder side of the army's cease fire. stability started coming back and violence dropped quite a bit we took that as a validation of our doctrine and so what we brought over to afghanistan to win the war was this structure of counterinsurgency that we're going to show up that we're going to add more troops we're going to do things differently when the power of the government all those good tens of connect the population to the government however we misread the conflict there this is the civil war the war that predated us me and we entered into

i was calling with a question for the man in power for iraq. i have not been deployed in a while. i'm trying to see if we are where the u.s. wants it. what advice do you have four servicemen looking to deploy in a zone such as iraq? guest: well, one thing that has changed over the last eight years is that our military has looked increasingly at both the national guard and reserve as an operational reserve rather than a strategic reserve. in other words, in order to enable all the active forces to operate, we have to work together on one team with our brothers and sisters. it is required for us to be able to conduct operations, but at the same time, that ensures a higher manning level, a higher equipping rate with modernized equipment for our reserve forces. what i would say is there is plenty of opportunity to deploy if that in fact is what you're looking for. the need, whether it is here in iraq or in afghanistan, or in other environments to include those that are supporting humanitarian assistant missions throughout the world, even for example in africa. the need is out there. s

and democratic image on america's policy in the middle east is distorted by its continued presence in iraq despite promises on the pool. room welcome to you this is our scene live from moscow now russia is marking victory day sixty six years since nazi germany was defeated in world war two events of commemoration and celebration have been taking place across the country capped by the traditional ground parades on red square a little earlier last year is bringing you special coverage throughout the day. we begin right here in central moscow a from where the speech on the joins us live he said hello good to see you can you rounds up for us now what you've seen today in the significance behind it. but we're really at the middle part of the day celebrations this is where we've seen a lot of families just wandering around looking at it has been sort of been going on i'm here at victory park just in the center of moscow where there's lots of people enjoying the summer sunshine the start of summer sunshine here and we also see many many veterans of world war two walking around with their medals s

whether from iran in its coreligioususes in iraq in lebanon be the vicious marshall anti-christian, anti-jewish and antiwestern brand of islam theology exported under saudi arabia's official impromater or the other sunni islamists lead and incite. and i also argue the united stateses government under both parties is fighting an islamist enemy that does not exist and, therefore, it is employing policies that run to america's traditions and so its best interests. the islamic enemy is stuff of farce, they shia, sunni. they are an band of fanatic neolists and ready to sacrifice my lives because my daughters go to university, iowans hold presidential primaries every four years and because i, may god forgive, have one or more sam adams after work. with such an enemy existed for he would be at most a lethal nuisance and not the national security threat today to lesser or greater degree by iran, the saudi islamic imperialism and the movement symbolized and inspired by osama bin laden. this farcical view of american islamic enemy is, unfortunately, endemic in u.s. political parties much of the u.s. and

the democratic image of america's policy in the middle east is distorted by its continued presence in iraq despite promises to withdraw from. around the world and around the clock you're watching r.t. uncharacteristically russia is marking victory day sixty six years since nazi germany was defeated in world war two vets of commemoration and celebration taking place across the country by the traditional ground military parade on red square the area without any more special coverage throughout the day. or that main parade on red square took place and then a spectacular scenes of pomp and pageantry washing it for us was our government control. it was absolutely stunning to be here in this site corney location on the red square of the heart of russia on this very important day the ninth of may which this year marks the sixty sixth anniversary of the defeat of nazi germany and the victory in the great potshot it war as these holy days known in russia will thousands of troops marching through red square here and they accompanies over one hundred pieces of military hardware the pride of russia's

she served as deputy assistant secretary of defense in 2006 and 2007 and also had two tours in iraq as a civilian advisor. she's now at the university of texas in austin. and greg jaffe, military correspondent for "washington post." greg, let's start with you. you spent time with general dempsey, interviewed him a number of times. what should we know about him and his experience. >> he spent a tremendous amount of time in iraq both as the commander of the first armed division in baghdad where he was leading troops in 2003 and 2004. as the insurgency was really gathering steam. he did a good job. he had an army that really wasn't prepared for the kind of fight that it was taking on. i don't think he had personally prepared to fight an insurgency. >> brown: that was a particularly difficult time. >> it was a particularly difficult time. i think he proved he had the ability to learn and adjust on the fly which is an important skill in a military officer. >> brown: what would you add to that? is he a man whose views on policy are known? >> well, jeff, thank you for having me. it's a deligh

to keep in mind that when we talk about defense spending if you if you pull the cost of the wars in iraq and can stand out of the equation we're currently spending more on the military now than we have in any point during our history since world war two and that. over the last decade military spending has gone up about forty percent adjusted for inflation so we're in a situation now where we have a much larger defense budget than we did even a decade ago and relating at the war costs as is is inappropriate so then you start thinking about what types of weapons systems that you might go after and there are some that you might want to go after the joint strike fighter engine is one you mentioned but but really what we need to be doing is not thinking about weapon systems rethinking what the role of the military out of the international security strategy i think one of the things to which you write about extensively is that it's not just the military when we think about the defense costs or what it really costs to run our wars and we hear about a defense budget bill that might be six hundre

americans still have nearly 50,000 troops in iraq and nervous of iran's growing influence they made it clear they would like to keep some of them in the country beyond the end of this year. in order for that to happen they must be invited to stay by the iraqi government and he seems determined to portray himself as the man who pushed them out. >> the allegations of corruption within fifa have taken a new twist. the president of the asian football confederation is being investigated for bribery probes has calmed on fifa to investigate their own president. the bbc obtained an email that supports allegations made against the fifa vice president. >> this is one of the men at the center of fifa's latest corruption storm. vice president jack warner has been accused of bribery. now new evidence to support claims he asked for favors in supporting england's doomed world cup bid. it is a number of claims made. >> he said the thing in his view would lift the spirits of the people was if they could see the world cup. >> according to david, warner wanted them to buy the rights to show 2010 world cu

starting wars going to george bush inflating ran on in the seventy's waiting if we're going to be in iraq is i mean this this is all i mean not. bush believes that the in a post nine eleven world the greatest threat was terrorist timed up with weapons of mass destruction iraq was a state actor that had the access to build weapons of mass destruction but there's absolutely no word about why they don't question it is no question that they really dodged the tora bora and no one's going to do that right at the moment i have a slightly military campaigns are about all the time. churchill said said the troops to the dardanelles in the last two are that people think that if you don't praise him for it i'm not for all i'm saying is that we know now based on memoirs that have been produced including by bush that there was this case where bush goes to rumsfeld and says we've got to refocus on iraq this isn't this is we're when mom is holed up in tora bora we're always fails rumsfeld then contacts general franks and says you got to freshen the invasion plan for iraq franks was in the process of deal

casualties spite in iraq. today, iraq is not so much the problem, but after so many years when afghanistan did not have any i.e.d's, they are now the major killer of troops in afghanistan. around half of americans killed or injured are victims of i.e.d's/ the there are 1300 i.e.d's discovered every month. that does not count the ones no one sees. tens of thousands of every year. some are very hard to detect. killing hundreds of american troops per year. there would be many more if we were not spending billions of dollars on these trucks. but as it stands, even the survivors suffer long-term consequences, besides the trauma injuries. and brain injuries are huge problem now. i read something like 25,000 american troops have been concussed and suffered brain injuries in afghanistan, and most of those are since the i.e.d. scourge picked up over the last three years. they are the major reason why the coalition cannot fully control even provinces close to kabul where they have the most troops. extreme difficulty caus

you were in iraq, lost both your legs in an explosion, ied explosion.y in iraq to purple heart homes. >> well, a lot of time in the military health care system, and then a year at walter reed here in d.c. and so very testing journey. i was welcomed home with open arms by my community, and it really influenced the way my recovery progressed. i didn't have time to feel down for myself, and especially being in hospital, seeing people that were hurt worse than me, i just knew i had to drive on for my wife and my two little kids and my family. >> one of the reasons that we found this story so compelling is that you didn't confine it to iraq and afghanistan. you're helping a lot of vietnam vets. >> yes. iraq and afghanistan veterans only represent about 20% or so of service-connected disabled veterans. so you have entire generations above and older than current guys who are coming home who are in need just as bad as we are. so we really began targeting that group of individuals that's in the gray area, that their needs aren't being met by the va because they

bradley manning was arrested in iraq or remind you of how he got to four leavenworth where is detained now and we'll speak to one of the most famous whistleblowers and u.s. history daniel ellsberg about how the u.s. government handles those who leak secrets then time is running out for the patriot act that is when some there is working hard to keep key provisions of this bill from being renewed and we'll tell you about a secret interpretation of the bill that the government doesn't want you to know about then it's a problem that will literally affect everyone skyrocketing global food prices but this time around how they become permanent will look into the geopolitics of food scarcity and it's got all of that i will make a toast in tonight's happy hour but up first our top story. it's a meeting of some of the most powerful leaders in the world the g. eight summit kicks off in dobell france today and as always there's a long list of items on the agenda for the summit but much of the talk it's going to circle around the arab spring and the continued uprisings around the world are t. is an

in one nine hundred ninety nine and subsequently very extensively in iraq on all those occasions they denied the usage of them then it only became evident afterwards they had a new so we do not have confidence in the current assurance that the eight heads deployed in libya are using depleted uranium and we know the terrible consequences for the health of the environment as a result of depleted uranium usage it's a radioactive weaponry form the raised great instance sharp increases of birth defects of cancers particularly brain cancers lymphomas and so on in in iraq and those are the places and as a result we've heard time and time again that these are strikes designed to protect civilians but even the potential use of pieces uranian gives the light actually well absolutely because depleted uranium is a weapon of indiscriminate effect because of the impact what happens is that when the share of the round hits its target is explodes and it has what's been described as a kind of aerosol effect of radioactive particles and you can't ever ensure that those particles will only affect milita

to more terror when i was in iraq i oversaw the interrogations of foreign fighters and those foreign fighters the majority of them said time and time again a reason they come to iraq to fight was because of the torture and abuse of detainees and both are great and went home ok and this is not my opinion a department offense to track these statistics and they were briefed every interrogator arrived there that said that torture abuse was arcade is number one recruiting tool and so this policy of torture and. did not make america safer what it did was it caused the deaths of hundreds or thousands of american soldiers recently in the wake of all the cheering about bin laden's death when asked about torture the cia director said. we would have gotten the same information through other approaches so i think it's always going to be an open question just a few years ago when barack obama was running for president on promises to run on a mole ones that weren't sure it was presented as a done deal but now with bin laden's death it could seem the ends justify the means the means which is many e

down and we're just kind of the loose ends and getting out what do you think of obama's strategy in iraq getting this out this far i think it's some point in time as we continue to downsize i think that iraq is going to go back into a civil war situation i don't i don't think i don't really think yes did we remove a evil dictator probably but you cannot go into these middle east countries and change their history in their culture and you just cannot do it and what about obama's policy right now is that stand well in iraq and we still have fifty thousand troops there so i i don't know the exact current numbers but that's the thing is most people this is assumed that it's gone away and yet obama's still got it least several ten thousand troops in iraq is out of hundreds of thousands of contractors possibly adam and for pulling them hold back and i would tell you the truth i have learned one thing you know ron paul's on my dearest friends in congress and i'm a firm belief that any country that wants to nation will all call that try to be. will to take their way of life around the world then

particularly president obama-- didn't want to go in big into libya partly because it had gotten burned in iraq. the idea was if you go in and you take charge in the occupation and take charge in the topple of a regime then you're stuck with rebuilding it. and that's cost a tremendous amount of money and peres teng. we're still dealing with it in iraq and afghanistan and it was because of that feeling of being gun-shy that the united states opted for a much more conciliatory approach with its nato resolution here where we'll give the rebels some air support some political cover, but they're going to have to do it themselves. so this is a new model for war. iraq was all in and to try and manage the system, afghanistan was all in neither of them went particularly well. this is a "we'll give the rebels an umbrella and see if they can do it themselves." this this succeeds we could be seeing the model for warfare in the post-global war on terrorism era. >> williams: richard, we'll see you on "nbc nightly news". thank you for joining us. >> williams: we continue with our discussion of what's been an

finally get osama but did we is the damage almost worse now ten years later considering our wars in iraq in afghanistan hundreds of thousands of civilians have died not to mention of course and thousands of u.s. troops as route. lorimer i would argue that the policies that were pursued after the bush administration launched this war on the world further endangered us made us less safe as americans created an al qaeda presence in iraq where there was none before and has had inspired a whole new generation of people to have an actual motivation to kill americans with the drone strikes that have killed civilians that night raids that have killed civilians and i think they realize that we really have to look at the ways in which the way that the bush administration responded to my lab and actually inspired more acts of terrorism around the world and more people to want to sign up to fight and kill americans and those are questions that a lot of people don't want to ask in the united states well that's exactly what we're asking here right now going to tell me do you think that we are perhaps