juan: what about that, jeremy scahill, a more efficient way to do things? mr. ahill: erik prince said if you wanted package to arrive, you do not send it through the u.s. post office, you use fedex, and he himself provides fedex services that are not delivering taxes, -- packages that are actually lethal. ofwould be the provision essentially mercenaries that you do not have to count as you are fallen, or you do not have to own if they commit misconduct you wanted them to commit. the issue ofs also accountability because it is no longer a government operation. it is private outfits as well. mr. scahill: soldiers are subject to the code of military justice, and until recently, these private military contractors existed in a total gray zone where it was unclear -- should they be prosecuted under the ucmj, or do they go under civilian courts, and that is why you saw so few prosecuted for anything. erik prince subsequently to a super pac. he said as a private organization they could have solved the boots on the ground issue. matthew cole, respond to that, and then th

former somali foreign minister told jeremy scahill. the root causes are not security, the root causes are political and economic. pentagon study conducted during the bush administration -- the bush administration's pentagon -- concluded muslims do not hate our freedom; but, rather, they hate our policies. it identified -- this is the pentagon study under bush -- american direct intervention in the muslim world through the united states' one-sided support in favor of israel. support for islamic tyrannical regimes in egypt and saudi arabia and primarily the american occupation of iraq and afghanistan. these policies, which are rationalized to stop terrorism, paradoxically elevate the stature of and support for islamic radicals. becker and shane sounded an alarm about the ramification of drone strikes on the future of u.s. relations with muslim countries. they noted: obama's focus on strikes has made it impossible to important, for now -- to forge, for now, the new relationship with the muslim world that he had envisioned. both pakistan a

we'll have more on this story with journalist and intercept co-founder jeremy scahill friday on democracy now! facing -- isis in facing increreasing questions about the u.s. troop presence in iraq, following the death of staff sergeant louis cardin and the revelations of a newly disclosed u.s. base in northern iraq. unnamed pentagon officials told the "washington post" that there are currently about 5000 u.s. soldiers in iraq, a far higher number than previously reported. the u.s. troop level in iraq is suppososed to be officially capd at 3870. but u.s. military spokesman colonel steve warren said -- "people come through on a temporary basis and go above and beyond the force cap all the time." the house foreign affairs committee held hearings wednesday on the obama administration's plans to close guantanamo. the scheduled hearing came only onone day afafter the attatacksn brussels. during the hearings, paul lewis, the defense department special envoy for guantanamo closure, said u.s. allies have repeatatey called closing the military prison the "greatest single action the u u.s. can take