invaded iraq. ar wou go on to destabilize the middle easast ad continues today. the invasion's will be felt for generations. iraqeaeaeaeaeaeaeaeaeaeaeaeaeaer veteran turned peace actctivist and a sociologist who studied the impact of the war on iraqi women. thenicicicicicicicicicicicicicid houston. faced rampantavee -- >> no. there are lots of people who don't say anything. they are afraid of stirring things up. amy: a new report by the intercept documents how two houston day laborers fought back without pay for a major disaster recovery firm. we'll also look at fema's response to immigrants in houston with u.s.-born children. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. a new channel 4 news investigation has revealed executives from the company cambridge analytica boasting about entrapping politicians and launching fake news campaigns in order to sway elections around the world. the revelations come only days analytica harves

iraq safe. unfortunately, the iraraqi peope are paying a heavy price. -- peacemaker team workingo [indiscernible] factions, regardless if tyy are shia, muslims, or christians. right now [indiscernible] the project is called english for reconciliation. six months ago, trying to bring [indiscernible] according to the american mainstream media. to break bread together. that they'rend out nothing but brothers and sistery ,stablishing lasting friendship mutual understanding, and trust. amy: sami, we a little trouble understanding you, but i want to thank you for being with us from iraq. sami rasouli was an institution in minneapolis growth on the cover of minneapolis magazine. veve everything to return to his country at the height of the war to be with his countrymen and women and family. sami rasouli am a founder of muslimwawawawawawawawawawawawawe anniversary of the u.s. invasion. when we come back, we will continue with professor zahra ali and matt howard,d,d,d,d,d,d. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

military spokesman in iraq after the invasion fifteen years on from the invasion and occupation of iraq by the u.s. and its allies do you have any regrets you have anything you want to apologize for you think the u.s. should apologize for or don't think so i was on the record as apologizing for the abu ghraib problem the opera group situation obviously some of our soldiers had screwed up their the embarrass the nation the embarrass their credibility inside of iraq i apologize for that but i think by and large there is nothing to apologize for nothing to apologize for so when the u.s. invaded iraq in two thousand and three in defiance of international law no w m d's found no al qaeda connections terror threat to the us increased thousands of people tortured hundreds of thousands killed millions displaced from their homes iran's influence increased in the region eisel born in iraq several trillion dollars burned through in the process you know that requires any kind of you know well we got some things wrong well we certainly did get some things wrong but that's what happens unlike being i

call the invasion of iraq a blunder should we call it what it really is a crime. talking about fifteen years on i'm joined by my guest ken o'keefe in calgary he is a political analyst and an ex u.s. marine who were announced u.s. citizenship. in washington we have. he is a former army military police sergeant iraq war veteran and contributor to the hill and into iran we have mohammad marandi he's an associate professor at the university of toronto right jim across the rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want and i always appreciate before we get started here i'd like to refresh everybody's memory of what happened fifteen years ago preceding the war and also because the mainstream media is largely ignoring this fifteen year. because it's certainly not an anniversary here let me read a few things here i believe demolishing hussein's military power and liberating iraq would be a cakewalk that whiskey adelman the conflict could last six days six weeks i doubt six months donald rumsfeld. we will be greeted as liberators dick cheney a year from now i

and iraq continues to grapple with that fateful decision many call the invasion of iraq a blunder should we call it what it really is a crime. about your sudden passing i've only just learnt you were yourself and taken your last term. caught up to you as we all knew it would i tell you i'm sorry i could so i write these last words in hopes to put to rest these things that i never got off my chest. i remember when we first met my life turned on each other. but then my feelings started to change you talked about more like it was again still some more fun to view those that didn't like to question our arc and i secretly promised to never be like it said one does not leave a funeral the same as one enters the mind it's consumed with this one to. speak to us there are no other takers. claimed that mainstream media has met its maker. the utter. dr j. dilla berto served in the united states marine corps in operation enduring freedom and operation iraqi freedom he is a fellow at the center for international policy and co-founder of veterans for rethinking afghanistan whose mission is reducing tr

changed iran still has over fifty militias in iraq the u.s. is still lagging in iraq said the regime syrian regime is surviving because if the iranians i don't know what is that i don't really know how to reason you're going to want to make is that a reason to go to war with iran is this is i'm serious ok really with iran ok let me go to let me go to russia it's not in the u.s. interest to go always never in its interest to go and that is not in america's interest ultimately go ahead because one of the elements here we go back to mr bolton here i mean he could be the ambassador you could be israel's ambassador to the united states and in the way the trumpet ministration i think slavish lee and shamelessly is kissing up to the saudis here this is a very bad toxic mixture go ahead rush on in london. there's a new axis of evil saudi arabia israel and the united states that is the true axis of evil and obviously saudi arabia would be willing to fight iran to the last american or israeli soldier but that's not going to happen because israel knows t

we left iraq. the iraqis i was with last year said, we are not happy you came here and broke our country, but you broke it. you were fixing it. and you left too soon. that is what gave rise to isis. we want you around, but it must visible ways and we want you to help us. anyone in our state department can take that simple formula -- that is what they ask, to build simple capacities within the countries to take care of civil problems within their own quarters. a great question. we have 10 minutes to take a few more questions. they will still be available afterwards. mary callahan. how to start this question, but i don't know how to complete it. iraq is a country. is iraq a country? our vocabulary is about countries. are we fighting a country? are we fighting a warlord? how do we build a country out of something that wasn't a country before? that is always confusing, these areas where long ago, your ancestors drew lines -- but they don't feel that. you have to go way beyond putting buildings back up

we left iraq. and the iraqis i was with last year said, hey, we're not happy you came here and broke our country, but you broke it, you were fixing it, and then you left too soon. and that's what gave rise to isis. we want you around but in less visible ways and help us. and if anybody in our pentagon and state department can take that simple formula, that's what they ask. we want to build the capacity within those countries to take care of problems within their own borders, but we have to have the dim it matic ability to be invited there. -- diplomatic ability to be invited there. great question. ross: 10 more minutes to take questions. they'll be available afterwards. >> mary callahan. i know how to start this question but i don't know how to complete it. a lot of this we always say iraq is a country. is iraq a country? i mean? we talk -- our vocabulary is about countries. we fight this as a country. but are we fighting a country? are we fighting a warlord? and how do we know how to build a count

iraq." i -- embedded in speakers included victor blue, a photojournalist and michael utterback, a retired lieutenant colonel who became a war reporter covering conflict and disaster. this is an hour and a half. >> hi, everybody. it is good to see you all. my name is ross i'm appreciate -- i appreciate you coming out here. we are grateful. this is i never know what the attendance will be. i really appreciate your interest in such a topic. we are really fortunate to have some really talented people some -- talented people who have covered some of the most intense situations one can imagine. i have spent some time in conflict zones, but not nearly to the degree these two have. they had my deep respect. i am one of the two faculty fellows for the center of western civilization policy. i'm excited to be a part of this. i teach in the journalism school in the college of media information. i should start by saying that it is my insecurity that some of you might be saying, is he missing part of a fr

let's stick to iraq. the u.s. government will only engage with the legitimate decide thatuntil we we are going to do something to change it. goodthink that is a very point. i also think that pride in flags is something that does cross the sectarian divide in iraq, but i also think -- i hear your frustration in trying to understand a very complicated and very complex dynamic, right. the one that you described, the drawing of the postcolonial ines wherewing the l europe had to colonize, however while they were doing it, assuring onto a new phase. it demands of us the kind of mental flexibility where we are willing to try to engage with, there is no easy answer, you are right, it is not clear. that is the case in many countries in africa, the middle east, the case in south asia, like with afghanistan. so these are complex issues, and again i just kind of, i think it is important to be savvy citizens of the world and news consumers and understand that this is how it is, but there is no easy answer is we will hope it g

defeated al qaeda in iraq?gen. votel: we saw the rise of isis with the ability of the security forces to effectively address it as it was growing. >> general, according to the worldwide threat assessment , director coats from the intelligence community assesses from the popular mobilization of shia to remain the primary threat to u.s. personnel. do you agree with that assessment? gen. votel: i do think they could pose a threat to our forces on the ground. this is something we are very vigilant and are paying close attention. we have not seen that at this particular point but it is something we are cognizant of. rep. hice: how is centcom working with the iraqi government and other partners to address this? certainly the iraqi government to address the paramilitary force what we are doing as part of the broader security sector reform the support to the government of iraq, encourage them to take the steps with the right leadership and those that are beholden to the government of iraq. the principal way that we wil

war in iraq. after first approaching "the new york times" and "washington post," manning decided to leak a trove of documents about the iraq war to wikileaks. she also leaked diplomatic cables, as well as information on guantanamo and the u.s. war in afghahanistan. it would become the largest leak of classified data in u.s. history. over the next year, wikileaks wowould team up p with majoror s organizations to break countless stories based on manning's leaks. the documents exposed how u.s.-backed forces were involved in torture, summary executions, and war crimes in iraq. but manning was soon caught. on may 27, 2010, manning was arrested at forward operating base hammer outside baghdad. she was initially held in a cage in kuwait. then she was moved to quantico in virginia where she was held in a tiny cell in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day. the united nations said her prison conditions violated the u.n. convention against torture. on august 21, 2013 manning was sentenced to 35 years in pr

i was one of those who opposed the iraq war in the beginning. and today it is now broadly acknowledged that the war, that war, was a foreign-policy blunder of enormous magnitude. that were created a cascade of instability around the region that we are still dealing with today in syria and elsewhere, and will be for many years to come. indeed, had it not been for the war in iraq, isis would almost certainly not exist. that war deepened hostilities between sunni and shia communities in iraq and elsewhere. it exacerbated a regional conflict for power between saudi arabia and iran, and their proxies in places like syria, lebanon and yemen, and it undermined american diplomatic efforts to resolve the israeli-palestinian conflict. the devastation experienced by iraqi civilians was enormous, recent academic study by u.s., canadian and iraqi researchers foundha that over 400,000 iraqis civilians, nearly half a million people, were killed directly or indirectly as a consequence of that war. that war led to the displacement of nearly 5 million people, bot

and it fact that iraq was for iraqis. while they live in a difficult neighborhood with difficult neighbors and they have to live with that they're concerned. >> right now we're playing the enemy of our enemy is our friend. if the iranians are the major power players with weapons and our training and gear right now, the iraqis can reach out all they want to. is that not where the power lies? in your opinion. >> there's influence here. there's no doubt about that. but again i do see within the iraqi leadership a very strong sense of independence and desire to protect iraq. these are things we have to continue to build on. >> let me lay it out one last time. you're confident that in the next ten years we're not going to see an iranian controlled line where the iranians that can go from tehran through syria down to israel on a high speed road with tanks we have trained them on. you do not see that happening? >> congressman, i wouldn't speculate in that regard. i would tell you i think our best opportunity is to stay engaged.

we tried it in iraq, failed. we tried it in afghanistan, failed. when we recognize that that is the case, we're gonna have to do something to enhance our statecraft. - [narrator] political movements themselves gravitate toward different uses of military force. - neoconservatives have the most robust sense of the value of american hard power. neoconservatives do not hesitate to act unilaterally. neoconservatives are unwilling to be bound by other international institutions, whether the un or anybody else. neoconservatives would argue that the aggressive use of military power is needed to promote democracy, and safeguard human rights. - there are a lot of similarities between liberal interventionism and neoconservativism. i think one of the key differences, however, is the faith, or the belief in, international institutions as a, shall we say, a forced multiplier for american military power. they would prefer that that power be exercised with some sort of international legitimacy, or imprimatur, whether it's the united nations, or a multilateral orga

and so this one stands outside looking back towards the nineveh ancient iraq two hundred twenty miles north of baghdad is in modern day mosul and almost to the day one year ago it was the usa again killing civilians near the site of ancient nineveh has conjectured even by us disney own to mainstream media and this morning those accusations of the airstrikes may have killed hundreds of iraqi civilians in mosul if confirmed this could be one of the deadliest instances of unintended civilian deaths since the war began when the u.s. became involved in iraq yes some of the deadliest nato backed killings in the bush blair war that killed wounded or displaced tens of millions just one year ago as for that catastrophic walk at sea of the british labor party here is donald trump's new nominated national security adviser trying to persuade britain to war because of iraq e w m d it could fabricate a nuclear weapon within one year. it has rebuild its civilian chemical infrastructure and renewed production of chemical warfare agents probably including mustard sarin and v.x. it actively maintains a

indeed had it not been for the war ins iraq isis would almost certainly not exist. that war deepened hostilities between sunni and shiite communities in iraq and elsewhere and it exacerbated a regional conflict of power betweenar saudi arabia and iran and their proxies in places like syria, lebanon and yemen and it undermined american diplomatic efforts to resolve the israeli-palestinian conflict. the devastation experienced by iraqi civilians was enormous and the reason academic study by us canadian and iraq research has found that over 400,000 iraqi civilians, nearly half million people were killed directly or indirectly as a consequence of that war. that war led to the displacement of nearly 5 million people, both inside and outside iraq putting great stress on the ability of surrounding countries to deal with these refugee flows. we have also seen this more recently in europe as the large numbers of people fleeing the syrian war has generated a backlash in european countries giving rise to anti- muslim and anti- immigrant sentiments. the war in iraq led to the d

for the first time in almost thirty years safety and security concerns have resulted in iraq playing all their home matches in world cup and asian cup qualifying in neutral countries fifa will be voting on whether to lift the ban at a meeting in colombia later this friday the country hasn't played full internationals on home soil since the nineteen ninety invasion of kuwait there why not world cup appearance came four years before that in one thousand nine hundred six despite the disruption iraq's biggest success came in two thousand and seven when the team won the asian cup iraq is now allowed to host international friendlies in three the news. and kerbala last month saudi arabia played in iraq for the first time in almost four decades let's talk now to rock football writer house and he joins us live from london house and how difficult has it been for the team to have to put all their important games away from home. it's been very difficult of course for the fans especially you know football's basically kind of final beacon of hope it's a huge sport iraq is the main sport for us to

the first tea m iraq's special forces. the first team into mosul. we'rejust iraq's special forces.irst team into mosul. we're just getting ready to set up a base, and suddenly we being fired upon by isis. these are the men who reunited iraq and liberated mosul. but at what cost? these are the soldiers of iraq's elite counter—terrorism service. spirits were high. to them, mosul was just another battle. and one they were going to win. this major is a gold division of the site, leading the ground offensive towards mosul. the operation deliberate mosul is about to begin for these men. but their primary target is a string of villages on the outside of mosul. but as we set off, almost read away, the team discovered a series of roadside bombs? isis have been using improvised explicit devices in unprecedented numbers. —— explosive. they've had two years to mind the entry to the city and the villages surrounding it. so even on this off—road track, we have inched to a crawl, as technicians go ahead slowly to find them and blow them up in control these potions. —— controlled explosions. as we

this was once the pride of iraq but that central station. home to the realm that what the once reached far and wide across iraq to syria and connecting on to turkey as recently as two thousand and two iraqi railways began in one thousand twelve taking over a small local weren't built eight hundred sixty nine. the invasion by u.s. troops in two thousand and three and then the occupation and the war against eisel since have all taken a toll. a touch of faded glamour remains but we just two services a week to the southern iraqi city of it's a shadow of its former self. in two thousand and ten foreign investors came in the iraqis bought twelve new chinese trains but i still is a tax put paid to that reinvestment and rebuilding plan. that what happened after i still took control over the three major sunni provinces in iraq back then is the deliberate sabotage against the vital railways in the neveh salaheddine and the size destroying the trains and freight trains including the stations and associated workshops and buildings we are aiming to rebui

presence and troops in both iraq and syria still supposedly to fight isis. that's an interesting question the justification for fighting or for staying in syria has been changing regularly it was initially to fight isis then it became more a question of of supporting the shall we say revolutionaries or rebels who are against the al assad regime with the justification be that al assad was quote killing his own people and more recently it has become i think a push for the united states to have rebel relevancy in the peace talks that will eventually decide what syria is going to look like and of course it will also include regime change and getting rid of al assad so the the the just because you keep shifting and we have nikki haley at the u.n. saying horrific things like we don't care what the rest of the world says but we have a right as americans to do whatever we want in syria i mean that's a ridiculous faves. yes syria reminds me a mixture it's a mixture of vietnam and afghanistan where on one hand you have the u.s. advisers that are on the ground as the e

offensive biological weapons program and in terms of its support for terrorism we have established that iraq has permitted al qaeda to operate within its territory but of course there was no al qaeda saddam hussein sworn enemy in iraq just as there was no nuclear program no biological weapons program and no chemical warfare program no v.x. nerve gas even the doubly of the soldiers down by the usa was no longer extend in iraq which means bolton may find it hard to persuade u.s. allies of the necessity to start new wars against north korea iran china and russia while the world waits for an arguably more muscular response from moscow for monday's tit for tat diplomat expulsions it may be amazing to some that bolton didn't use novacek w m d as an argument for war against iraq in twenty zero three the war that arguably his new boss poses they lie ok said there were weapons of mass destruction there was none and they knew there were none there were no weapons of mass ok now of course today o.p.c. w. weapons of mass destruction inspectors are in england investigating whether w m d justifies a new w

and that is where we've failed in iraq and afghanistan. said that 70% of the territory of the nation is now operationally open to the taliban, the american are ramping up their presecne, there is question over whether the british should follow and support in the ramping up of operations. would do you think? i think we should, we have become very comfortable in this country, we have almost become isolationist. you only have to look at syria to see how badly wrong you can get it when you don't intervene. intervention is not pretty, we have this idea in our head that war and conflict is just binary, and it's absolutely not. it is being sold as a lie to the british people, it is a messy business, but i do not think standing on the sidelines and letting these things happen like they are in afghanistan is the right answer. you say that, and the corollary of that is that more men go into the danger zone and face the very real prospect of not coming back. and yet you say it, when you clearly feel that today, there is something deeply dysfunctional

be hisan example would stance on iraq, going along with that scam. as for pompeo, pompeo has taken more money, as a congressman from kansas, then any other congressmen. he has taken more money from the koch brothers. is who hase that been influencing the republican party. 30, 35 years. host: is there a sense of outside influence on future decisions in foreign-policy? guest: i am not quite as filmy layer -- familiar with campaign finance. but he brings up a good point that john bolton cannot be iraq war.from the there is widespread consensus that the iraq war was a mistake now, and john bolton was widely seen as one of the key architects for that. what is important to know is the national security adviser, and incredibly important position, does not require confirmation. so while he may have seen more waves of opposition when it comes to senate confirmation, both from democrats and some republicans concerned about it, trump can just appoint him and does not have to work out behind-the-scenes his concerns with the senate. host: and john bolton was on a

in iraq finish.ghter] >> yeah. >> and the european culture is completely different, the climate is somewhat different. >> right. >> and they don't have any discernible skills, talk about leaving the cia and not being able to get a job. being displaced to slovakia, you're basically doing manual labor. it's not an easy life. you told some of them this life may actually be harder than the one you're leaving. >> we actually said this, joseph and i said this numerous times to them, please understand that it might be more difficult for you to integrate into this new country than it is to deal with isis. and they looked at us like we were nuts, but then a couple months into slovakia they were like, we don't know if we can do this, we want to go home no matter what that threat is. i really try to express to people who want to support refugees, they're going through such trauma. they've already been through such trauma, and now the trauma of trying to start a new life in a place, you know, imagine suddenly be

the the modus the modus operandi the of the basically the mother motivation for invading iraq so what was the british game there. well britain certainly has a long history in iraq and it dates back really to the eighteen twenty s when british when armed british trading ships were sailing the tigris and euphrates rivers as geographers at the time put it we were going to bring civilisation to the sons of lawlessness in their words typical imperial mentality and of course with the dependence on oil and iraq as i think the second largest resources in the region then iraq became an ultimate prize as the foreign office as the british foreign office called it they said it's vital for any country that wants to dominate the world these were secret files which have been declassified and hardly reported anywhere you know mark curtis story in these documents the part from that you can hardly find any information about it and so coming up to the president two thousand and three with tony blair and george bush they concocted all sorts of. all sorts of ways of luring. saddam hussein one idea for exa

has a mind of a bygone era iraq tries to get its rail system back on track. by the springtime flowering of a mountain leak. to the first snowfall on a winter's day. i want to play psycho science of spring breaking for across northern parts of europe now but down towards the southeast still very cold we're seeing some heavy snow fall coming in just ahead of this system here we're pulling in the warm southerly winds has been purchasing that says hot of dust across places such as greece recently as warm winds bumping into the cold air but to sing copious amounts of snow fall in ukraine for example me seeing some big problems here these poor old stalks have been struggling to cope with the cold weather that we have still very much in place so the locals have been out putting down straw to help them cope and cussing out fish as you can see just to help them get through the next few days if not weeks we have got so the coldest air in place two celsius the top temperature in kiev still some snow in the forecast you know it is just around garia into rumania adult ten

the the modus the modus operandi the of the basically the mother motivation for invading iraq so what was the british game there. well britain certainly has a long history in iraq and it dates back really to the eighteen twenty s when british when armed british trading ships were sailing the tigris and euphrates rivers as geographers at the time put it we were going to bring civilisation to the sons of lawlessness in their words typical imperial mentality and of course with the dependence on oil and iraq as i think the second largest resources in the region then iraq became an ultimate prize as the foreign office as the british foreign office called it they said it's vital for any country that wants to dominate the world these were secret files which have been declassified and hardly reported anywhere you know mark curtis story in these documents the part from that you can hardly find any information about it and so coming up to the president two thousand and three with tony blair and george bush they concocted all sorts of. all sorts of ways of luring. saddam hussein one idea for exa

i was one of those who opposed the iraq war in the beginning. and today it is now broadly acknowledged that the war -- that war was a foreign policy blunder of enormous magnitude. that war created a cascade of instability around the region that we are still dealing with today in syria and elsewhere and will be for many years to come. indeed, had it not been for the war in iraq, isis would almost certainly not exist. that war deepened hostilities between sunni and shia communities in iraq and elsewhere. it exacerbated a regional conflict for power between saudi arabia and iran and their proxies in places like syria, lebanon, and yemen. and it undermined american diplomatic efforts to resolve the israeli-palestinian conflict. the devastation experienced by iraq's civilians was enormous. a recent academic study by u.s., canadian, and iraqi researchers found that over 400,000 iraqi civilians, nearly half a million people, were killed directly or indirectly as a consequence of that war. that war led to the displacement of nearly 5 million people, bot