we're going to play out well there's a supposition that iran this is something more than it is iran is actually a very backward place it's struggling to survive its oil and gas industries it ruins and it's investing in a nuclear weapon at least as much because of iranian nationalism is because they want to ensure that we can intervene in their country if we choose to do so and i remember that israel which is sitting not very far away from both iran and turkey in the rest of the region has three hundred nuclear weapons so if you're sitting in tehran right now you can come up with lots of reasons to try and build a nuclear weapon what's astonishing to me is that after all these years they have done it they must be monumentally incompetent to be blunt as that with macgregor retired u.s. army colonel and author now all of this talk of beverage spending of military cuts may come as the u.s. could lose its ability to borrow money at a low rate it hasn't happened yet but that could be the result of the u.s. this credit downgrade but just to get this power to downgrade we want to look at th

again against international law that they will bomb iran and bomb iran's nuclear facilities the iranians if there were if there were no american threats to its sovereignty and to its independence the iranians had no reason to even take these facilities into any underground facility in the first place so it's basically to protect the people who work there the workers the scientists and the ordinary people who are involved with the program and also to prevent the united states from making or the zionist regime for making a stupid decision to attack iran so it to preventive measure as well as a preventive measure here iran would move nuclear facilities by road deep into a mountain because of threats as you were saying by israel and america but given the international anxiety over iran's nuclear program i mean how do you think this could affect relations with the international community could it could it could it seem devious in some form or another suddenly washington might be prone to think such a thing. well the united states and the western european countries and governments are not the

iran does not have air force that can come here. they don't -- they can't even make enough gasoline for theps service. here we are building this case up, they are building up this case, just like we did in iraq. bill up the war propaganda. there was no al-qaeda in iraq. they had nuclear weapons and we had to go in. i'm sure you supported that war as well. it is time we quit this. it is trillions we are spending on these wars! [ applause ] >> when we come back, we'll try to get ahold of6j[1g thin/%÷ social issues that should be fun. and the most pressing issues right now, getting america back to work, after this break. copd makes it hard to breathe, so i wasn't playing much of a role in my own life, but with advair, i'm breathing better so now i can take the lead on a science adventure. advair is clinically proven to help significantly improve lung function. unlike most copd medications, advair contains both an anti-inflammatory and a long-acting bronchodilator, workintogether to help improve ur lung function all day. advair won't re

iran does not have air force that can come here. they don't -- they can't even make enough gasoline for theps service. here we are building this case up, they are building up this case, just like we did in iraq. bill up the war propaganda. there was no al-qaeda in iraq. they had nuclear weapons and we had to go in. i'm sure you supported that war as well. it is time we quit this. it is trillions we are spending on these wars! [ applause ] >> when we come back, we'll try to get ahold of6j[1g thin/%÷ social issues that should be fun. and the most pressing issues right now, getting america back to work, after this break. [ male announcer imagine all of your missed opportunities in one place. ♪ the front-row tickets you never bought. the lucrative investment you never made. the exotic vacation you never took. but there's one opportunity that's too good to miss. the lexus golden opportunity sales event, with exceptional values on the lexus rx. but only until september 6th. see your lexus dealer. is this the year you make a commute that's

has moved some of its nuclear facilities to this mountain bunker put iran says it's ready to resume the international go to negotiations on its disputed nuclear program are they ready to make some concessions to the u.n. because it seems like a bit of a sudden one eighty if they're now suing russia for not supplying this mobile this three hundred missile system basically believe that the whole issue is about the situation inside iran so all these story around nuclear program as three hundred turned international community here like it's not like like it's like a militia camp telling planting to mildred camp is the great way to control their all relation we know that islamic republic faces great challenges from the young people who want to better relations with more than europe united states russia in this case. promoting peace agenda of being an armed camp surrounded by enemies and protecting ourselves is a great protection of the raises possible protected by force but that. as you were saying there's been months of on arrest across the middle east region are shift in a certain isla

that iran is the biggest threat to the us that iran might get nukes that's the big concern is better think as i was just speaking with a colonel a retired colonel who is a decorated combat veteran who had a very similar reaction about iran and now says that iran as long called so my question to you is what was the reaction specifically to ron paul the wrong comment in the audience were people receptive or was where they shot well i guess i wasn't in the actual audience where the debate was taking place because there was sponsored by fox the most the other media without i was in here with every single media outlet i mean there must have been five hundred other you know media people in here so you can't really judge the feeling of the country based on how the media particularly the mainstream media is reacting to some of those comments but certainly a lot of people you know and again when you talk about iran it's such an easy way to scare people it's an easy way to get people to jump on the bandwagon because they're scared of something and so i think that out of all of ron paul's polic

all nuclear activities in iran are monitored by the i.a.e.a. there will be no documents against iran from the agency it's just a claim by the us that we are after nuclear weapons. did you ever consider it possible that the united states could make air strike against you could launch military action against your country does it worry you. they want to do it but they know. they know that we would give them a very decisive response. when you say a decisive response what do you mean. we would give them a crushing response that's a normal reaction we have a saying if someone throws a small stone you reply with a bigger one we will defend ourselves to our full capability but i hope that will never come there's no reason for war why should they attack us. this regards israel and yes there's no reason ever to go to war with them there's no reason to make a first strike a preemptive strike against would you have. the case of the zionist regime is different it was created for the purpose of threats and aggression it was created to secure the interest of

they are surrounded iran and the same forces say iran is interfering in the internal affairs of the region which is what should we say. it's still better for me than about another neighbor of yours a rack of some referred to as your backyard iran's backyard and of course our backyard is sitting off a lot of action over the last eight years now the americans are pulling out how would you gauge the last eight years and what you think of that comment that iraq is your backyard. be done that you know he'll always. have a special relationship with egypt we have a common history. is there wasn't going to our people to marry each other we have never used one on our c.n.n. hero in the little board in iraq and many iraqis were born in iran so let me you know one of us which is one hundred years of every year there is a lot of tourism going on between the two countries. there is a profound historical relationship between our two nations. for example. with the iraqi president the prime minister she ministers she ordered some news corps in the parliament told friends and they are also our frien

next our exclusive interview with iran's president mahmoud abbas with. president mahmoud ahmadinejad thank you so much for taking the time out of your busy show jewel to be on r.t. and to answer a number of questions that i'd like to put to you and get your latest thoughts on domestic issues and international issues and i'll start if i may with the story that made all the news headlines for the past six months that unfolded in north africa in the middle east that's been the arab spring what are your views on the arab spring and we've spoken about it before but i just wanted to hear your latest thoughts do you think it's a popular uprising for the better to bring democracy or you think it's something maybe that's been orchestrated from abroad over to you. so we've seen very important developments in our region and in north africa it's not only about the people in the region today justice and dignity are among the requirements of all human beings africa has the same aspirations and i think our region has the ability to run our own countries and they have t

iran does not have air force that can come here. they don't -- they can't even make enough gasoline for theps service. here we are building this case up, they are building up this case, just like we did in iraq. bill up the war propaganda. there was no al-qaeda in iraq. they had nuclear weapons and we had to go in. i'm sure you supported that war as well. it is time we quit this. it is trillions we are spending on these wars! [ applause ] >> when we come back, we'll try to get ahold of6j[1g thin/%÷ social issues that should be fun. and the most pressing issues right now, getting america back to work, after this break. [ applause ] >> bret: welcome back. now to byron york from the washington examiner. >> we are going to talk about social issues. we start with speaker gingrich. you said you would impose a loyalty test for muslims to serve in your administration. you said, we did this in dealing with the nazis. and we did this in dealing with the communists. are you comparing american muslims to nazis and what specific loyalty test wou

and iran files a lawsuit against russia over its refusal to supply that's three hundred missiles saying they don't fall under a un resolution preventing a weapons imports. just after six pm here in moscow this is r.t. with me roll recent shame rebels now control colonel gadhafi fortress in central tripoli but violent clashes continue throughout the capital however in the u.s. the pentagon says it has another concern for security of sites and to contain stockpiles of chemical weapons including out of uranium dust james corporate from the center for research and globalization wonders why libya as a new government is not being trusted to deal with. perhaps it presupposes the idea that the stockpiles are unsafe in the hands of the rebel forces and would be safer in the hands of the nato forces whereas the people who have so far been involved in siege in tripoli and killing tripoli the civilians in tripoli have been you've been you know side so i think the question is really who are the people to be concerned about having access to those weapons i would imagine that that if there was any dan

all members are iran muslim majority.estors have returned to the streets in very large numbers. attacks on suny shopkeepers. iran reporting that one officer was killed and several wounded. this is a developing situation. let me stress again, our continuing concern is about the situation in saudi arabia and in the eastern province. there is a possibility of instability. our state department has been on the ground. they have security under control. that is almost a sign they don't. i do think we need to be worried and keep a watchful eye. i think the heart of the president's messages and what you just read. i think the heart of the president -- >> this is the processing capacity at that refinery. >> so until it has been fully prepared, it will be 5 million barrels per day compared to the normal capacity of 7 million barrels. >> my point here is that the most calming message the president can get is an attack took place, and damage was done, but it did not affect the majority of saudi production. give the facts and give the

be taking economic queues from iran? maybe. i'll explain. >>> next, an inside look at intelligence and the war on terror are john miller who has just resigned as one of the nation's top spooks. >>> finally, a last look at how not to be a spy. >>> first, here is my take. i wrote a blog post for our gps website, cnn.com/gps that has gotten a great deal of reaction. let me talk about it for a moment. it all started because i read a website that pointed out after the s&p downgrade of the united states, no country with a presidential system of government had a aaa rating from all three rating agencies. only countries with parliamentary systems have that honor with the possible exception of france which could be characterized as having a parliament, a prime minister, as well as a president. this brought to mind my years in political science grad school and an essay by a famous yale scholar, juan linz who said parliamentary systems are superior to presidential systems because they allow for greater stability and purposeful action. in

you think iran needs to liberalize do you think you should introduce more political reforms to maybe head off something similar happening in this country as well at some point in the future does it worry you at all. i think the entire world needs more freedom and more than everybody else in the world the europeans and the americans need freedom in europe is there freedom really is there real freedom in the united states they are beating people in the streets do you think of the dissenting voices in your country of which there are some are listening to you do you give any heed to what they have to say to you. i think we have more freedom in iran than other countries on the voices are heard more than in other countries i am among the people and i am in close contact with the people we have media we have pre-press and they criticize the government but if you think i need to say we have an ideal situation where in the world can you find a fully ideal country iran is among the best countries in the world in this respect we've never said we are perfect should be a comparison let's look now

union and alliance with iran iran to them is the big problem they see the spread of iran. traditionally arab the arab world and iran has scored heavily not only in iraq but also in love and on and. iran has made it very clear that it's going to support assad and they have helped solidify that arrangement by. in recent weeks with a multi-billion dollar. energy agreement which brings together both iraq and syria and iran. and in effect helps solidify iran's western flank and allows iran thereby to have more influence in the middle east i guess syria of course. doesn't so i guess i goes on to explain that michael you know why the u.n. security council is set to meet later today for the session on syria the other not doing a similar thing about the problems that are going on in yemen for example other things seem to be on the radar of the internet the international community does it for those reasons you talked about i guess yeah. well syria is a far different animal than either yemen or even libya there is a lot more at stake. with syria and. given given iran's relationship a

>>> breaking news from iran. the uc berkeley graduates imprisoned learn their prison sentences overnight. a person is killed in richmond in a hit-and-run. what was discovered near the scene that may be tied to the investigation. and after a week of dramatic swings, why more volatility is expected on wall street in the week ahead. >>> good morning. welcome to mornings on 2. it's saturday, august 20th. thank you for waking up with us. let's go to rosemary for a look at the weekend forecast. rosemary. >> good morning to you! a similar start to the day, but for the afternoon our highs are expected to slip once again. we have a trough right off our coastline that is bringing in a little bit of a thicker marine layer this morning. clouds and fog, even a little drizzle along the coastline this morning. and for the afternoon, temperatures will fall once again from 3 to 6 degrees. we'll look at what we can expect coming up in just a few moments. >>> we have breaking news this morning. just about 30 minutes ago, we learned

president of iran thank you so much for taking the time to be with r.t. international and preciousness very much appreciated. this is a table from the u.s. embassy in colombo to talk about here it apparent june seventh incident of extrajudicial executions the military ordered to us that they held nine guerrillas desiccation by constricts your own kind of you know and therefore strongly suggest however that the nine were executed by the army and then dressed in military fatigues. slate how you know this kind of phenomenon where bodies are dressed up as guerrillas and presented as killed in action and this and just the idea that you need to produce actually encouraged paramilitary collaboration is the cia document central intelligence agency they knew about these activities they knew they were happening knew about links to paramilitary groups and yet. usaid continued to try. it's. the a. move is just so. most seem to. come up. wealthy british style scientists sometimes expires. the. market finiteness come the. find out what's really happening to the global

i think we have more freedom in iran than other countries on the voices are heard more than in other countries i am among the people and i am in close contact with the people we have mass media we have free press and they criticize the government but if you think i'm going to say we have an ideal situation where in the world can you find a fully ideal country iran is among the best countries in the world in this respect we've never said we are perfect should be a comparison that's look now at your neighbors no relationship with some of your nearest neighbors or thinking bahrain yemen lebanon iraq. some of those countries have been complaining you're meddling in their internal affairs do they have a point. you have we done a bad thing that we said that people should not be killed in bahrain what bad thing did we do do you call it interference who is using military force in bahrain are we doing that who is interfering in the internal affairs of the region show me one place or one location in the world where iranian military forces are present there is no such place that the british for

iran is among the best countries in the world in this respect. we have more never said we are perfect. that there should be a comparison ok i take in everything you say the vets look now at your neighbors new relationship with so you all nearest neighbors when you bahrain yemen lebanon iraq palestine some of those countries have been complaining you are meddling in their internal affairs do they have a point. who are those some countries or so when they marched in march of this year bahrain you may recall recalled its ambassador to this country after reining in foreign ministry spokesman said it was unacceptable of there was a presence of foreign troops in bahrain also in april gulf states saudi arabia united arab emirates qatar kuwait bahrain a man voice deep concern over what they called a radio interference in their affairs after you objected again to that despite your saudi troops in far a. more credible you say the question have we done a bad thing that we said people should not be killed in bahrain about the did we do with the bad think. do

everywhere around iran and those same forces say iran is interfering in the internal affairs of the region say to that. only recently iran announced that you've stepped up production of new centrifuges faster better sense if you choose to make better higher quality. the question mark is why i know you've said all the long line rand does not want nuclear weapons run as a peaceful country but of course a lot of people in the west don't believe that they do feel that there's not enough transparency do you think this country you should be doing more to make it more transparent. we don't like that some countries have nuclear weapons if we're going to be against nuclear weapons we must rise in opposition to current nuclear arsenals their own oil many nuclear arsenals and belgium and germany and other european countries. and let me just get this straight are you saying that at some point in the future you may want to acquire a nuclear deterrent a nuclear weapon. never never we do not want nuclear weapons we do not seek nuclear weapons this is only inhuman when our religion says it is prohibited a

facing eight more years in iran tonight. monty francis has reaction from their friends at uc berkeley, first, nbc's ali arusi has the latest from iran. >> reporter: the sentences were announced by iran's state run media. shane bauer and josh fattal each received eight years. the two and their friend sarah shourd were arrested two years ago along the iran/iraq border. they denied they were spies. sarah shourd was released on bail last september. >> this could be the final -- >> she recently spoke with lester holt expressing hopes that her friends would soon be released. >> reporter: before today's sentencing, many thought bauer and fatale would be freed with time served. now friends were concerned about the toll a long prison term would take. the case is highlighted differences among the ruling elite in iran. while the judiciary has taken a hardline, it was only two weeks ago, that iran's foreign minister said he hoped bauer and fatale would be free. after the sentences were announced the u.s. state department issued a statem

iran. we'll have the latest court ruling. it is breaking news out of iran at this hour. >>> also, rebel fighters are closing in on libya's capitol of tripo tripoli. is its leader, moammar gadhafi, going to stay and fight or could he possibly leave? >>> and we've just gotten this dramatic video showing armed rioters shooting at police in the british city of birmingham. so what's the latest in that investigation? we'll have a live report. >>> let's get right to the breaking news of iran. iranian state television is reporting that two americans accused of spying have been sentenced to eight years in prison. shane bauer and josh fattal were arrested after crossing into iran during a 2009 hiking trip from iraq. a third hiker, sarah shourd, was also arrested, but she was later released last fall for medical reasons. let's turn to our very own susan candiotti, who also joins us by phone from new york city. she's been in touch with the families of these two men. she joins us now by phone. susan, i

crossed into iran by mistake. sarah shourd flew back to the u.s. and never returned to iran to face trial. she recently spoke with lester holt expressing hopes that her friends would soon be released. >> that's what we're praying for. we pray that the time for compassion has finally come. they hope that they will be freed with time served. now friends were concerned about the long prison term would take. >> you are a pawn in a game that it is unclear what that game is. it has to be very tough. >> reporter: the case has highlighted differences among the ruling elite in iran, while the judiciary has taken a hard line it was only two weeks ago that the foreign minister said he hoped butter and fattal would be freed. the u.s. state department issued a statement saying we continue to express our hope that the iranian authorities will exercise a humanitarian option of releasing these two young men. observers believe the obama administration will continue its backdoor diplomacy to pressure tehran to free butter and fatta

moscow and our teams come through as our allies following talks at the foreign ministry catherine iran currently under four sets of u.n. sanctions what's russia are proposing to ease the situation. or sure of course has always been against this approach to the iranian nuclear agenda saying that the only way out is a diplomatic one and that if forcing further sanctions on iran would only worsen the situation and its proposal is a step by step plan which has been deemed acceptable by the iranian side and also cautiously welcomed by the united nations security council and that plan proposes a greater openness and in return all the reigning officials to the negotiation table in return for a gradual removal of all of the un imposed sanctions against iran of the iranian side as such be very satisfied with the russians proposal of the step by step program and said that it is prepared to open its doors to international observers. make sure that. representatives from the international atomic energy agency from the united nations security council can see that iran is not interested in creating n

now to put it lightly some members of the international community suspect iran of developing nuclear weapons what's what's tehran doing to try and disprove those claims which of course for years it's been saying are not true. well to iran maintains its position that it is not attempting to create nuclear weapons it's simply wants to have peaceful nuclear energy for the country and of course skeptics specifically in the united nations security council have frequently doubted that and that was of course the reason for imposing those sanctions and that led to a sort of a lockdown because tehran buckled down and refused to admit international observers in return the united nations imposed more sanctions so it was kind of a dead end situation for a while but iran is now saying that if the step by step plan is implemented it will be more than happy to allow international observers to come and visit the country to visit the only so far existing nuclear power plant in iran that's the bush era nuclear power plant built by russia to make sure and reassure everyone that it is only interested in

media has no problems iran's president mahmoud ahmadinejad says the u.n. should have helped libya reach a peaceful solution instead of resorting to minute reaction he also said iran is never going to attain nuclear weapons as they have no place in the twenty first century he spoke exclusively to archie's kevin. president not who don't thank you so much for taking the time out of your busy show and you'll to be on r.t. international tonight for the next hour or so to answer a number of questions that like to put to get your latest thoughts on domestic issues and international issues and i'll start if i may with the story that made all the news headlines for the past six months that's unfolded in north africa in the middle east it's been the arab spring what are your views on the arab spring and we've spoken about it before but i just wanted to hear your latest thoughts do you think it's a popular uprising for the better to bring democracy or you think it's something maybe there's been all chris traded from abroad over three years that this will be in the na

and iran of course has reacted very angrily to this proposal by russia seems to be well received by all of the sighs involved in these negotiations and the iranian side is said to be very happy with the proposal and is willing to take participation in the plan so what does that mean in terms of a breakthrough how much those this mean for the progress of negotiations. or thoroughly of course to say whether it is a breakthrough or not just at this moment but it is definitely a big step forward according to russian foreign minister the sanctions that the united nations security council gets imposing on iran were leading to a dead end in the problem in the negotiations that the only way out was a diplomatic one to get iran. back in cooperation with the united nations security council and it seems that russia has managed to achieve that there step by step program is getting everybody back to the table and of course iran said that it is prepared to let more international inspectors in to open its nuclear program to further inspection has said also. that it will not tolerate any more press

and iran is the villain and we are ought to be refocusing our pressure on iran.the thematic we should be doing. >> no sanction should be effected if it's only the u.s. >> right. >> as i mentioned in our first meeting, having first the g7 finance minister so we get the major industrial democracies to make sure, steve, that we take coordinated stimulus action and second, broadening it very quickly to the g20, both with respect to the economic impact but also with respect to iran so that we have a forum as sue mentioned where we can deal with the venezuela -- venezuela, even if we get china to help on the import of gasoline, venezuela could also back-fill the needs and we need to make sure they don't. >> right, right. >> so we have to internationalize this. >> let me just quickly hear from the secretary of defense before we move on, in the next piece of this. can we put some pressure on iran kind of the old-fashioned way? what kind of options do we have? >> the military hanging over iran for several years has to do with that nuclear program and we have never taken o