that didn't have a strong line about iraq what happened early spring of two thousand and two israeli american media mogul haim salon moved in carved out this of bond center at brookings by paying thirty million dollars and suddenly martin in the and all of the people that unit war on the war path for going into iraq and so a person like o'hanlon who's been flip flopping about was that god was the best he no longer has much of a track record to even talk about the current problems because he was part of creating this current problem so i'm really not surprised that he bailed out it took a lot of manipulation to get the united states into what i call iraq scam and the brookings institution and o'hanlon were part of that so no longer he doesn't want to defend it kelly you know. one of the we i wish michael had stayed because i want to talk a little bit about syria right now and we're repeating the same mistakes i think it's pretty obvious yes. do you mean like in terms of what the u.s. policy is moving forward yeah i mean like to turn against possible intervention or are mean looking for governm

that didn't have a strong line about iraq what happened early spring of two thousand and two israeli american media mogul haim so bond moved in carved out this a bond center at brookings by paying thirty million dollars and suddenly martin in the uk and all of the people that unit war on the war path for going into iraq and so a person like o'hanlon who's been flip flopping about was that good was it bad he no longer has much of a track record to even talk about the current problems because he was part of creating this current problem so i'm really not surprised that he bailed out it took a lot of manipulation to get the united states into what i call iraq scam and the brookings institution o'hanlon or part of that so no longer he doesn't want to defend it kelly you know. one of the i wish michael had stayed because i want to talk a little bit about syria right now and we're repeating the same mistakes i think it's pretty obvious yes. do you mean like in terms of what the u.s. policy is moving forward yeah i really like interrogating possible intervention or are mean looking for governments a

that didn't have a strong line about iraq what happened early spring of two thousand and two israeli american media mogul haim so bond moved in carved out this a bond center at brookings by paying thirty million dollars and suddenly martin and and all of the people that unit war on the warpath for go. to get the united states into what i call iraq scam and the brookings institution or handle part of this a longer list of want to defend it kelly. one of the really i wish michael had stayed because i want to talk a little bit about syria right now are we repeating the same mistakes i think it's pretty obvious yes. do you mean like in terms of what the u.s. policy is moving forward yeah i mean like you turn against possible intervention or are mean looking for governments after the fact you know all of these things. well you know i'm going to you know i might differ from what that what you're thinking i think that the obama administration seems to be a little bit more skittish about intervention i don't know how i don't know if that's having a good or a bad effect in terms of what the long term

diplomats, as well as the bulk of the israeli security community, are completely interested in what these alarmist views. they don't think that iran constitutes a threat to americanand israeli politicians say. and they understand the complete and utter suicidal folly of going to war with iran. fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, we have been engaged into major middle eastern what can one which is not meant the transfer of the worst in afghanistan. and the american public and its enormous wisdom as early as 2004 just when the time of the elections terms against one of us, the iraq war. i'm not saying right wrong. i'm saying americans don't want these wars. they don't want i'm sure a war with iran. and i think that, therefore, the likelihood of it is 30 small but i think that's a good thing. on the other hand, you have a problem, potential for proliferation, how that we cannot i do know. i think it has to be seen as a regional problem because to the extent to which iran was closer to getting a nuclear military capability, to that extent will the middle east become an uncontrolled region of nuclear proliferation and that would not be a good thing. it's already ha

for lebanon's hezbollah now the first officials to go on record saying that that strike was israeli were americanofficials and then on saturday israeli officials speaking on the condition of anonymity said that israeli aircraft were responsible but unless like to no official israeli government response what is important is that what we've seen is that this conflict is becoming much more than just a syria all regional conflict but it does have international ramifications his below is a militant organization it is based in lebanon it is allied with the syrian government in damascus israel has repeatedly said in the past that it will stop any kind of game changer weapons from getting into the hands of this organization listen on to has lodged a complaint with the international community complaining that israel has violated airspace has flown over lebanese airspace is one in recent days has taken widely reported steps as i'm outlining to neutralize threats that are immolating from within syria and while strikes from liberty's is there is this weekend or not for to have been on chemical weapons caches

that didn't have a strong line about iraq what happened early spring of two thousand and two israeli american media mogul haim so bond moved in carved out this a bond center at brookings by paying thirty million dollars and suddenly martin in the and all of the people at that unit war on the war path for going into iraq and so a person like o'hanlon who's been flip flopping about was that good was it bad he no longer has much of a track record to even talk about the current problems because he was part of creating this current problem so i'm really not surprise.

there was some suspicion that the original leak -- there was a second one about thehe virus e israelis and americansced into the iranian nuclr system. a huge story, the front page of the new york times. but ask yourself, isn't this going to help the enemy? you wonder if that was done make obama look in control, youhing up against iraran. have e these leaks, did they he anybody under oath? >> we had a court ruling about prior restraint. >> i w will say this, what you have right now is a classic example in washington of secrecy being used to cover any and all transgressions. that happens to every administstration and it is happening here to the administration that came in th vowing just the opposite. i not think there is any defense that could be given. the net result is very straightforward. anybody with information going to anybody on this panel or with a press badge to tell them something wrong that is going on in the government. >> the law is not clear. there is no shield for the press. in practice they have not done it because they realize it can go down a bad robut the law >>>> w keepy anything.

assuming these they're israeli airstrike and it looks like they are we're now hearing from israeli or american source through the new york other works that this is an israeli airstrike no. president assad has it any. again. are they whether legal on the other half is really claiming that syria has been smuggling weapons for all lebanese border but none of that if it's been made that you know well certainly with an ongoing civil conflict there and a civil war as many are calling it it's very difficult to get confirmation on all the different stories flying around when it comes to though this israeli air strike the latest one american officials were the first to confirm israel launching its warplanes over syria where does washington stand on all this. well this attack was right at the center of the map the largest military facility in syria so washington would at. least if it rained and allowed israel for the dust. so as something closer and closer to arrest all the obama administration very hesitant falls in yet another war in the middle east . so the. act and there is a. very bold and frankly

of course the story broke when american officials came forward and said that the israelis had launched such a strike late on tuesday now if in fact we do receive and we expect to receive confirmation about the strike in the coming hours this will be the second time this year that israel has carried out a strike inside syria you remember the first was back in january when israeli fighter jets targeted a sophisticated convoy of cars and missiles that israel believes were on the way to has been that now on the topic of the chemical weapons here you have so we have a consistent thing has said that it does not have chemical weapons and if in fact it had them it would not use them against its own population the would be the problem with this is that you have following that first is dr back in january the tensions between both israel and syria on the increase you have fingers being pointed in the international community justifying using the whole argument of chemical weaponry as as an excuse for countries such as israel the united states getting sort of in boiled in the syrian conflict israel

whether they launched missiles from the israeli side it's also not clear whether or not the israelis alerted the americans before they carried out such the attack such an attack and white house officials have referred. to the israeli regime which as i say at this stage is keeping mum on the topic the second time this year that israel conducted its strikes into syria back in january israeli fighter jets attacked a convoy of sophisticated anti aircraft missiles that were believed to be on their way to hizbollah the syrian government is allied with lebanon's hezbollah and israel has said repeatedly in the past that it is committed to making sure syria doesn't supply any game changing weapons to hezbollah so essentially you have a situation where israeli warplanes violate anybody's airspace on a regular basis and his below recently going on record saying that it had intervened in the syrian conflict to help its allies in damascus as far as the chemical weapons issue goes syria recently said and this was after the u.s. claimed that it had intelligence pointing to the recent use of chemical weapons by damascus

minister, and in the past, with other presidents and prime ministers where there has been american concern about israeli military action. there have been efforts 20 stop american weapons from being used, which they were used in this instance. in this case the president goes on telemundo and says we koord with the israelis. he says israel has a right to defend itself. i have never seen a closer connection post strike than in this instance between the u.s. and israel. >> well this isn't the first time that president obama has said that israel has a right to defend itself. >> but in this context coming right after the strikes. >> yeah. >> but in this context in which there is a common interest in preventing these weapons from getting into the hands of hezbollah, there's a common interest in insuring that the chemical weapons don't go into the hands of hezbollah or the al qaeda forces. in some ways the israelis is serving the american interest. and better i think from the white house's point of view that israel do it than the united states do it. at least at this stage. it's easy for the president to be sup

the missiles were taken out by american-made israeli f-16s, untouched by syrian air defenses. rebels tell nbc news syrian army headquarters were also attacked. assad's crack fourth division, the revolutionary guard. [ speaking in a foreign language ] a blatant act of aggression, said syria. self-defense, said the white house. >> the israelis justifiably have to guard against the transfer of advanced weaponry to terrorist organizations like hezbollah. >> reporter: israel was on alert today, deploying anti-missile batteries and tanks near the syrian and lebanese borders. is israel trying to topple assad? it says no. it only wants to stop hezbollah from getting more weapons. but it is becoming difficult to know where the assad regime ends and hezbollah begins. last summer in syria, we traveled with rebels who attacked a government base. they discovered hezbollah flags and other paraphernalia, proof they said that hezbollah and syria were working together. [ speaking in a foreign language ] now they are even closer and hezbollah says it won't let assad fall. a reminder that the wa

up its role in assisting assad's government, to prevent the country from falling in, quote, american or israeli hands. hezbollah has long been suspected of supporting rebels across the border in syria. nearly 500,000 refugees have come to lebanon. and some 8,000 refugees a day are streaming into jordan. and that number is expected to approach a total of 1.2 million by year's end. to give that number perspective, jordan's total population is only 6.5 million. >>> president obama faced questions about the state of revolt at the prison at guantanamo bay. where 100 of 166 inmates are on a hunger strike. president obama says the prison is less important than ever, with the fwhars afghanistan coming to a close. >> guantanamo is not necessary to keep america safe. it is expensive. it is inefficient. it hurts us, in terms of our international standing. it lessens cooperation with our allies. it is a recruitment tool for extremists. it needs to be closed. i don't want these individuals to die. obviously, the pentagon is trying to manage the situation as best as they can. but i think all of us should ref

people aren't preyed upon socio economically but whether it's refusing service in the israeli military or the american military there are a million dead iraqi people five and a half million refugees birth defects or a five hundred percent and that is real life you know just because it's not boston or newtown and we refused to look at it doesn't mean that the mass graves aren't as deep doesn't mean the devastation that was brought to innocent people's doorsteps is any less devastating so i think that you know you have a rock that's against the war you have other groups that are challenging that are refusing and if we have a problem with the status quo we have to challenge it right there's a role for the artist for the individual for the soldier for all of these people to take action because if we only and this is kind of harkening on what howard zinn has said about the role of the individual the historian artist if we leave it up to the governments it's only going to reaffirm oppression and we have to take action ourselves and also throwing your bodies in the gears of the machine and what better machin

but i think what is missing and what today's israeli raids show is that there is an american national security interest. and that is to be against iran, syrian government and hezbollah. the reason the president praised the israeli raids is because this alliance of hezbollah, iran and the syrian government has damaged american interests, threatens america's friends. and when this thing explodes even further, we've sent troops to iraq for obviously the wrong reasons. but we've expended enormous blood and treasure in that country. that country risks coming apart as well. they have their own civil war. sunnis against shiites. that could be affected by the syrian situation. only the united states has the power, the leverage, the influence, and the capabilities to effect this terrible conflict. no boots on the ground, that is not serious. and one caveat here. i heard on the show last week. everybody was saying you know, we're going to own this problem. and they compared it to iraq. >> that is just -- really wrong-headed. we owned iraq. because george bush reached 7,000 miles across the worl

implementing the legitimate international resolutions the argument however from the israeli side as well as the american side is that a nuclear arms food zone in the middle east chemically a reality until there is a broader arab israeli peace plan in place and iran could see its nuclear program the meeting currently underway in geneva is aimed at reviewing progress in implementing the nine hundred seventy nonproliferation treaty which is designed to prevent the spread of nuclear arms across the world were calls for washington and brussels to step in british m.p. jeremy corbyn who's also from the campaign for nuclear disarmament says i was the regional consequences not be devastating. well israel depends very heavily on trade with the european union and military aid from the united states we need action urgently by those two key players in the situation because the most enormous pressure on on israel either through sanctions or withdrawing or lift or lifting the trade agreement which also has a human rights clause within israel we know has nuclear weapons and has the land based system over them and could

quoting implementing legitimate international resolutions the argument however from the israeli side as well as the american side is that a nuclear arms free zone in the middle east cannot be a reality until there is a broader arab israeli peace plan in place and iran could see its nuclear program the meeting currently underway in geneva is aimed at reviewing progress in implementing the nine hundred seventy nonproliferation treaty which is designed to prevent the spread of nuclear arms across the world. for so discuss the ramifications of all this what it could be with bruce gardner on the form the global network against weapons nuclear power and space he joins us live from the u.s. thanks for joining us here on r.t. today or caro walked out as we've said of the nonproliferation talks saying that a nuclear free middle east can't happen really when one country presumably israel has not even signed the treaty do you think the message will be heard. well sadly it appears that israel and the united states. using to really be honest about number one is most all the weapons of mass destruction to the united stat

quoting implementing legitimate international resolutions the argument however from the israeli side as well as the american side is that a nuclear arms easily in the middle east chemically a reality until there is a broader arab israeli peace plan in place and iran could see its nuclear program the meeting currently underway in geneva is aimed at reviewing progress in implementing the nine hundred seventy nonproliferation treaty which is designed to prevent the spread of nuclear arms across the world the middle east correspondent more troops will come from the talks the u.s. and israel so the nuclear free zone in the middle east could not be realized unless the run curbs atomic ambitions of nuclear campaign abuse going on around serves only to destruct people of what israel is up to. it's easier to shift shift attention away from israel by blaming iran and that seems to be the strategy of both israel and the us a very coordinated strategy it's interesting the united states complains about iran or north korea but it helps india it helps israel it helps certain countries develop nuclear weapons so it's reall

quoting implementing legitimate international resolutions the argument however from the israeli side as well as the american side is that a nuclear arms freezone in the middle east chemically a reality until there is a broader arab israeli peace plan in place and iran could see its nuclear program the meeting currently underway in geneva is aimed at reviewing progress in implementing the nine hundred seventy nonproliferation treaty which is designed to prevent the spread of nuclear arms across the world while we spoke to british member of parliament german corben who is also vice chairman of the campaign for nuclear disarmament and he says that a nuclear free middle east will remain elusive unless washington and brussels pressure israel to stop its atomic activities. well israel depends very heavily on trade with the european union and military aid from the united states we need action urgently by those two key players in the situation because the most enormous pressure on on israel either through sanctions or drawing a or lift a lifting the trade agreement which also has a human rights clause within israel

american, israelis, saudis, all together against us shia. the stakes in this conflict are so high and that's why there is no major defection and that's why the shiites are so concerned there's no future for them and they would be slaughtered. and this photo confirmed that. >> let me explain this in terms of the dynamics. two major strains of islam, sunni and shia. there are basically three pillars of shia power in the region. hezbollah, the militia in lebanon, the assad regime which is a small sect of shia and the iranian regime. those three are now together allies, right? >> i would add iraq, absolutely. >> those are now allies fighting against the sunni -- the largely sunni -- so it is being understood in the region and is in the region a sectarian war. and john mccain standing there saying i am posing with a guy who is a sunni who kidnapped possibly religious pilgrims who were just on a bus going to a shrine. that is a signal. matt, this is what i want to hear from you, okay. we in the liberal media, we love to talk about republican civil

will it lead to israeli and/or american involvement and of course comments about the last airstrikes and where does that lead? >> guest: they were misdirected and for israel to say that we mean no harm after killing 42 soldiers it didn't wash right. it's best for them to keep out of that right now but it is best for the u.s. to deliver on this u.s.-russian agreement to have a geneva conference aimed at not just solving the problem of creating a regional security framework that wouldn't go beyond syria. with regard to iran and its nuclear program, we came awfully close during the midpoint in the first obama administration when turkey and brazil had gotten an agreement from here on that wasn't half bad. it blew up because they preempted the president's decision by passing a tough sanctions measure and it made it impossible for that to move forward. iran wants to have this program for bragging rights. they are never going to use it. since we committed to the atrocities of using them, no one has used them and no one will use them because there isn't just mutual deterrence, there is mutua

american, israeli, saudis, all together, they want to take us out, no matter what. the stakes in this conflict are so high, and that's why there's no major defection, and that's why the shiites are so concerned that there's no future for them in post-assad era. and this photo confirmed that. >> let me explain this in terms of the dynamics. two major strains of islam, sunni and shia. sunni is majority, shia minority, throughout the region. but there are basically three pillars of shia power in the region. hezbollah, the militia in lebanon, the assad regime, which is a small sect of shia, and the iranian regime. those three are now, together, allies, right -- >> i would add iraq. >> iraq, increasing. those are now allies, fighting against the sunni, the largely sunni -- so it is being understood in the region, and is in the region, a sectarian war, increasingly, between the two dominant strains and john mccain standing there saying, i am posing with a guy who is a sunni who kidnapped, possibly, religious pilgrims, who were just on a bus going to a shrine. matt, this i

some extent on american support and therefore they don't want to alienate the americans they're dependent to some extent on israeli i don't know what you want to call it. the israelis not stepping all over them and so they're afraid to antagonize the israelis or or they are presumably willing to go along with this raid that's been going on for decades now of a so-called peace process in my view those are mistakes. how has the so-called arab spring affected this this negotiation this peace process do you think it's had any effect on it do you think it's deadly the peace process do you think it's had the major powers including the u.s. slowdown when it comes to israel and palestine negotiations happening there rethink any kind of negotiations or tentative agreement what kind of effect has the arab spring i think it has not that much of an effect or not though i think that the situation of the arab world and the unwillingness of the mostly undemocratic governments throughout the arab world has measurably increased the complicated don't put it differently has made this problem harder to resolve because the arab govern

the brains behind the iron dome the israeli but the funding is mostly american born there are no guns assistance it solves the discussion and offered their assistance they have washington recently pledged an additional six hundred eighty million dollars for the point intercept a system that advocates claim has a success rate of more than eighty percent you know the numbers i've seen the results and are you and those of them completely even obama has gotten in on the act his first stop at a recent trip to israel was to an iron dome battery where he told soldiers they're doing an amazing job because so much money has been spent on this defense missile system it now needs to be marketed and sold otherwise how do you justify something that has already cost the american taxpayer millions of dollars but for all its high fee high end dome which is designed to intercept and destroy short range rockets aimed at populated areas is not foolproof i have a lot of question marks questions that include the system's effectiveness weapons experts lee united states and even in israel say the i.d.f. has