me to discuss the shootings and the international reaction to them is author and journalist max blumenthal max always a pleasure to have you on i incredible what happened last friday and over the weekend i want to ask you know the israeli military is a justifying their actions by essentially you know claiming that their border was under assault by hamas posing you know using this protest as an excuse to launch soldiers i don't know through the.

max blumenthal max always a pleasure to have you on my incredible what happened last friday and over the weekend i want to ask you know the israeli military is a justifying their actions by essentially you know claiming that their border was under assault on friday is there any water to that argument was there any justification for those shootings yeah it's very clear that hamas launched an armed protesters into israeli both you know i mean this is a really clear case of israel committing a massacre in broad daylight against palestinians who are following the you know on your part until reported on one of those villages for our brutality from israeli soldiers for following gandhian tactics of on protest israel doesn't do ghandi very well and now the gaza strip which has been demonized throughout the world as a hotbed of terror has embraced this tactic on mass and we have to be truthful about it hamas did consent to this unarmed protest they supported it and were involved in it so hamas is involved in an armed protest should they be connect commended for that and. no they're demonized as well in the western media has taken this both sides approach now before we get into the specifics i think one thing that we need to discuss is whether this really is a border and why that border is there in one nine hundred forty eight seven hundred fifty thousand palestinians were forced from their homes in their land in order to establish the state of israel with a jewish majority they out in order to maintain to maintain that majority in other words the ethnic purity of israel is contingent on one point eight million palestinians eighty percent of whom are refugees remaining in an open where human warehouse in the gaza strip an open air prison and when they approach that border what israel was doing with one hundred snipers with tank shells with tear gas drones experimental tear gas runs what they were doing is defending the ethnic purity of israel against a population that's considered a demographic threat just imagine if donald trump went out and justified his border policy on that basis that these people are not white and therefore we have to build a wall to keep the non-whites out many ways that might be what he's thinking but this is the essence of what israel as a supposedly jewish and democratic state is and these are the consequences of maintaining an exclusively jewish state in the middle east and that's the interesting point you bring up because of a lot of people may see these videos are saying or why why would you do this why would you you know allow this to happen i mean at the most we've only heard you know the protests as well through a couple rocks rolled a couple tires of you know nothing that constitutes you know rifle fire back at them let alone someone getting shot in the back as we've seen videos as well because ultimately in situations like these and you know for the rest of the world it doesn't follow israel and palestine the way you have them there isn't worse it's all about all of optics it's what it's what are we seeing you know just as i'm turning my channel i'm seeing and when you see a kid get shot in the back or young man get shot in about getting shot in the back is not someone getting shot in the chest is coming out you have someone running away. a from you and that looks even more brutal and thuggish than than you could possibly won that battle of optics on saturday it's interesting the i.d.f. put out a many many tweets which said and one of them stated quote yesterday we saw thirty thousand people we arrive prepared with precise reinforcements nothing was carried out uncontrolled everything was accurate and measured and we knew where every bullet landed that's a bold statement they later took down this tweet that disappeared but that's a bold statement. does this combined with the rest of kind of netanyahu and israel's official stance in reaction to this shooting a sensually you know what does that tell us about their attitude about this that they just feel they're not going to be held responsible for this and that they did no wrong yeah i mean you mentioned this video of a nineteen year old who's running. and running from the away from the fire away from the fence and he shot in the back possibly killed paralyzed i don't know what happened to him and then israel's the israeli army i don't know if i'd call them a defense force they come out and tweet that we know where each bullet landed so they're taking credit for that bullet landing in that young man's back as he was running away during the massacre that's very telling you also at the top quoted avigdor lieberman the defense minister delivering a commendation to the israeli snipers who killed fifteen and wounded some seven hundred ninety people with live fire bullets were used which are bullets that actually explode once they penetrate the skin and break bones internally and then we saw israel root sheva israel national news which is a right wing website that's very close to the israeli education minister enough tally bennett declare that the palestinians have been seeking lots of dead bodies and for once we should give it to them so this is playing out openly in the israeli media celebration of the violence to mars and byrd who is a legislator from the left of center merits party the left wing merits party actually led a protest in tel aviv against the killings and in support of people in gaza to have an end to this eleven year old sides and the amount of incitement that she has received in mainstream israeli publications is amazing i mean she's now called a jew hater and a nazi and so forth and so you know any israeli who wants to actually express outrage about what they saw they're going to self censor because the society has just gone so far to the. and then beyond that you look at the international coverage of the new york times or furrowing to palestinians just kind of dying on having after they have lost their homes like they couldn't find him after another tweeted the same robotic statement we are saddened and deeply concerned by the losses that we witnessed and call for an investigation it's like they're on sinclair broadcasting and they're getting the same script the same so i mean this again just gives israel complete impunity to carry out massacres in broad daylight of unarmed protests this week and we saw u.n. secretary general i'm told her you know call for an independent investigation but then we saw what you know the u.n. security council meeting out of state it's kind of saying to them in the language no one home can have anything like this do you think we're going to see any kind of official inquiry into this from an international level we saw neo-con marionette nikki haley the u.n. ambassador u.s. ambassador to the u.n. actually work to prevent an inquiry this is the same nikki haley that stood up in the middle of the security council and bandied about pictures of children who had allegedly been killed by sarin gas in the held town of hunch a coon in syria obviously palestinians and their deaths are interfering with western and u.s. foreign policy imperatives they have been killed by a u.s. ally there unworthy victims if we put this and many other contacts let's say it was you know the the villains that we hear about like assad or russia or china or north korea of a boy you know basically shot thirty you know shot out of. we are who in lockstep expel without any evidence accused russia and the kremlin of directing a chemical attack and of no each other on british soil without any evidence they demand no inquiry there and simply fall in lock step and demand total crushing sanctions against russia but here we have pretty clear evidence of a massacre in broad daylight and they say we need to wait for the un to investigate and then nikki haley comes out and prevents the investigation from even taking place. wash rinse and repeat the. little bit of time of march thirtieth was the beginning of what palestinian activists are calling the great return march oh yeah first day it's planned to go six weeks and on may fifteenth after the anniversary of nine hundred forty eight the bit you were talking about earlier israel's independence may fifteenth is also the bit that the white house is moving the embassy to jerusalem is the precipice of another long i've got i hate to see it but are we at the precipice of another long kind of battlefield summer quickly and anything can happen you know i don't i don't know if the population in gaza is i mean i think what this march indicates is that they're willing to try other tactics besides the militarized tactics which hamas and other factions are capable of but we have to remember that conditions in gaza i was just there are worse than they've been probably ever i mean you're talking that four hours of electricity a day just constant blackouts lack of access to water and the economy is in ruins so people can't afford food if it's there so there is a desperation anything can happen and benjamin netanyahu is under a lot of domestic political pressure wars always been a ventilation mechanism for him great insight today max thank you so much for coming on always a pleasure here i thank you for having me i think you are right as we go to break court watchers don't forget to let us know what you think of the topics we've covered on facebook and twitter see our poll shows that are to dot com coming up we keep the order of discussion going but we move around the world to the us mexico border as we welcome political analyst author invent just south of moscow at the end of the hawk's nest to talk about from dhaka and building the wall stay tuned to watching the hawks. as politicians play partisan brinksmanship with immigration reform and the future of trump's border wall for all the politicians think tank pundits and paid consultants the real consequences of these decisions may ultimately be trivial in the grand scheme of things what immigration policies really mean to these people a minor change in talking points slightly different campaign tactics but for many the stakes are much more real and while most of

speak out against the white helmets and the e-mails that we've just seen he provided them to max blumenthal and max blumenthal is in our contributor. speak to the man who broke the story author and journalist my explanations of thanks for joining us so good to have you on the program today obviously we know that these two e-mails came out that showed this attempted lobbying of the waters the co-founder of pink floyd why do you think you felt compelled to make this this statement in public i mean do we have any more details on how exactly this story came about. well first of all i've known roger waters for several several years because we're both active in the global palestine solidarity movement he's a very outspoken supporter of the rights of palestinians and so and he's excessive all to people who participate in this movement so i've known him and i reached out to him. after this incident in barcelona where he denounced the white house myths and he said that he had just grown so frustrated watching the white helmets footage in duma being cited by the us government and the u.k. government pretty m

speak out against the white helmets and the e-mails that we've just seen he provided them to max blumenthal and max blumenthal is an r.t. contributor so he can pick up the story from here. for the first time a mainstream figure on an international stage on the eve of war has validated what we've been reporting how this western funded organization funded by western and gulf governments has basically been an instrument of encouraging regime change and it's not just a group of average volunteer rescue workers it's an international influence organization whose representatives show up in congress to lobby for no fly zones and shift sanctions on syria as well as parliaments across europe while they're operating on the ground alongside al qaida and their allies if this was an enormously rousing speech by roger waters that has legitimize the journalism that we've been so mercilessly attacked for publishing and it's forced those who have attacked us and accuse us of being conspiracist to actually look at what we've reported look at the facts and they really have nothing to say back to us they can't simply d

max blumenthal blumenthal now max international investigators have arrived in duma to probe the alleged site of the chemical attack yet washington officials say they don't need to wait for the results at least according to the u.s. state department let's listen to a quick video here but we have our own intelligence and we have our own talents the o.p.c. of you is something that we back strongly but it can also take quite a bit of time for the o.p.c. tough you to gather its information and compile a report so i would ask. q should the united states and her allies wait around for bashar al assad to use more chemical substances honest people should we wait around for that formal investigation that could take months and months so there you have it we have our own intelligence what do you make of such a stance. well this is exactly what defense secretary jim matta said at a briefing several days ago where he didn't have solid intelligence on any chemical attack in duma what he did have were social media reports people saying stuff on the internet and who were those people the same people that state department spokes person heather now what's referring to there the syrian white helmets which has been funded to the tune of at least twenty three million dollars by the state department along with fifty five million dollars from the british foreign office along with the syrian american medical society also funded by the state department to the tune of about six million dollars a year so basically the state department's intelligence and the trump administration's intelligence is coming from sources that it funds sources who happen to function as to civil society arm of jaish al islam the sellafield jihadi insurgent group that was operating in doing. so this is you know actually scandalous that the u.s. has launched a strike based on insurgent tide social media sources that it funds rather than actual concrete evidence of course congress isn't going to debate this but it should be the stuff of a national scandal at the same time o.p.c. w. inspectors have already examined to suppose that chemical sites bombed by the coalition and they failed to find any point in the substance is there what do you make of that. yes seventy eight of the one hundred five missiles launched by the u.s. and its miniature coalition were launched at the bars a research facility on february twenty third of this year the organization for the prevention of chemical weapons issued a report based on its inspection of that site in november of last year and it determined that no chemical samples were found at the site in other words no sara no nerve gas no chlorine nothing it was determined to be a legitimate research scientific research facility under o.p.c. w. auspices and you know this really reminds me of the march one thousand nine hundred eight strike that president bill clinton carried out against al schieffer a pharmaceutical facility in sudan which he claimed falsely was a production center of nerve gas for osama bin laden it turned out it was making veterinary medicine which serviced over fifty percent of sudan and the destruction of that medicine supply lead to the spread of parasites to the rural population particularly children i suspect we could be finding something out similar in this case now the u.s. envoy to the u.n. warns that the pentagon is quote locked and loaded to strike syria again in case of chemical attacks do you think that we might see more reports of chemical attacks merging and do you think the u.s. will follow through with that threat. well you know there's enormous pressure here in washington on the trump administration to strike again to strike harder to strike assad's command and control facilities you know i hope this doesn't mean pressure to strike russian iranian installations because that would lead to a massive escalation that i think no one wants to see but the pressure is really there in washington in the beltway press corps in the think tank world and you know i'm not saying that this chemical attack or alleged attack in duma was a false flag but if it were the administration is sent a green light to the insurgents that any time they want to stage some sort of provocation the u.s. will follow suit and bomb and that's really the only way the insurgents can hope to find their way out of defeat so it's a very dangerous scenario in a dangerous signal that the u.s. is sending here quite a few questions still in there of what actually happened on saturday in syria journalist and author max blumenthal thank you so much for finding time to join us thanks for having me in the wake of the alleged chemical attack the trumpet ministration repeatedly promised to punish syria's ally russia with new sanctions however on monday it said they've been put on hold and he says that he has more in moscow's reaction to the latest developments. kremen spokesperson dimitri peskov has spoken out on the fresh set of sanctions set to be imposed on russia the president some bastard to the un nikki haley sent a strong message after the trumpet ministration repeatedly said it will play sanctions on russian companies thought to be assisting syria's chemical weapons program but president trump has shifted course and rejected for now the fresh set of sanctions dimitri peskov has said that he's not been surprised at such measures imposed on russia but this commented saying that these foreign policy practices russia simply can't agree with. the only legitimate sanctions implemented by the security c

max blumenthal who is an author and journalist max thanks for being with us here on r.t. international great to be on so if you help me wrap my mind around this whole situation if you will back in two thousand and seventeen this group helped shape the public image of the chemical attack in the syrian city of qom shakoor on and served as the source of samples for the o.p.c. w which was a violation of vera rules so now we see them as a source for the alleged attack as well. interesting coincidence what does this say to you. well what's remarkable is that this group the syrian american medical society is cited by a who's who of western media organizations as a credible source when it's anything but this organization which is funded to the tune of some close to six million dollars or more by usa id a wing of the state department which actually emerged out of the cia to encourage regime change and what the u.s. considers enemy states this organization is directed by operatives name sahar so who is actually a lobbyist who's been lobbying the u.s. government since the obama administration for a war of regime change and this organization operates hospitals exclusively in territory controlled by al qaeda syrian affiliate and its allies so this is a you know to me to see it should be a national scandal that u.s. taxpayers are basically paying for the civil society wing of al qaeda and its soil if you just jihadi allies. like jaish al islam which is just evacuated eastern goods and we're simply talking in us media about this organization as if they're just a bunch of syrian field doctors this is an international law being an influence organization dedicated to stimulating regime change and so we absolutely have to be skeptical when they make these allegations of a chemical attack because that advances their agenda and they have every motive to deceive the west about it well as you just touched on there sam's claims to be nonpolitical and a nonprofit yet it is funded by u.s. aid which is part of the u.s. government. in some levels that seems like it would be a conflict of interest. well you know it should seem like that if they're running an influence operation inside washington in the united states and they boast in their print their promotional materials that when sam's is on capitol hill congress listens they testified on capitol hill and made allegations of hundreds of chemical attacks i've seldom seen them provide any evidence and they've met their they had one a capitol hill briefing i'm sorry a u.n. security council testimony by this organization which was planned by samantha power the u.s. ambassador to the u.n. so again i mean we're really really have to see this organization as an arm of the u.s. soft power beyond that i spoke to a former member of the syrian matter merican medical society this group was not founded in two thousand and eleven when the syrian conflict began it was founded in one nine hundred ninety eight but there was a takeover of its board according to this member by operatives who embrace a strong sympathy for the muslim brotherhood she referred to it as a mash unit in syria and said there was a mass exodus of secular and christian members when this takeover occurred and since the takeover occurred we've seen this organizations budget increase from almost nothing to something like six million dollars a year specifically to stimulate regime change and as you mentioned earlier sean one year ago in hunch a coon it was the syrian american medical society that handled the blood samples the ground samples and provided them to the o.p.c. w o p c w explicitly violated its protocol on chain of custody and allowed the secretary and u.s. funded program change organization to carry the samples so again we can't trust any finding or conclusion that involves the syrian american medical society certainly is interesting to see how this is all going to play out because it's a lot of he said she said right now with a lot of people claiming evidence but not really being able to put anything forward maxim women fall thanks for being with us and help us get a bigger picture on this one thanks. all right now hundreds are injured following another day of clashes on the israel gaza border more on that after a short break to watch actually to national stay with us. competing like the. industry why four thousand dollars a year protected against all these medical emergencies that take place in my car therefore we know that the price of having medical insurance would be a thousand dollars a year not thirty thousand dollars. thousand dollars. oligarchs american oligarchs. something happens in this case it was the chemical attack on syria the public in the media are waiting for the response and i think it's very clear now that if president trump said that there is going to be a response then it will be i just think that our expectations and this american response will be so severe that it will be a game changer i think this is not the case it will begin very careful calculation by the americans not to deteriorate into a clash direct confrontation with russia. welcome back this is our t. international now violence has again erupted along the israeli border in gaza where i.d.f. soldiers have been using live fire and tear gas to disperse protesters health ministry says one person has been killed and hundreds injured including paramedics over the past two weeks thousands of palestinians have been campaigning against what's widely seen as israel's occupation of gaza and demanding the right of return to israel for palestinian refugees and their. you know. this is one of the weapons the israelis have been using and this is tear gas canisters from the drone that the israelis have been using since the morning to throw to god the tear gas canisters on the protesters it's running very high tensions are running high as you see the ambulances are still here medics are in the fia trying to get through to all the palestinians that are getting injured there's another injury we're just right now from the fence and you can see the injuries and leg call. that medics are trying to to to treat the other injuries in the field so they would be able to do and it's going to be easier on the palestinians had it had that spirit has minister because that as you saw spittle and all the other hospitals are crowded with patients and injuries from the past two fridays. here is another to get. the. hospital. what's happening now is the israeli army are using add that you guys got mr strong desire to just got his start on days really on the to sit in protesters it's so dangerous now for everyone for every palestinian yet at the. for every palestinian who are just coming here to prove does i did the right of return. so this is journalist this is just nothing to do you just got mr. last week the israeli snipers directly shot yes it much does and yet another journalist that is being injured just right now. it's very obvious that just by listening journalists we're hearing a press junket. the palestinians attending the rallies including children have been taking precautions to protect themselves against of the tear gas some arrive with homemade masks filled with perfume and cotton others were more inventive using fruits and vegetables and meanwhile an israeli soldier who shot a palestinian on the gaza border during a protest in december has been cleared of any wrongdoing by military inquiry video emerged of him firing shots alongside other snipers who cheered and laughed at the injuries they inflict. so. why. then should the border. just go on in that the woods will find out that the biggest of them did. what. they did that. was i did nothing i was just a demonstration i went to my friends to help them and before i reached the place they shot me the soldier knew that i was going to help them and that's why i was shocked. relations between the u.k. and russia might be at an all time low but that does not stop british football fans from travelling to moscow for the e.u. a four year old by you league head of the moscow arsenal game on thursday media outlets ran threatening articles about blood and death for english supporters artie's i saw he met up with one arsenal fan to see if the headlines were true. just so my way to consider you a very prominent hostile fan going to be all seeing him when he travels to moscow does he have any fear is regarding the political tension between the u.k. and russia is he worried about things like hooliganism. follow him throughout his trip how do you feel charged in there in this context you know. in the noda there's been a lot going on between the governments waffling between the governments and i'm a person this is football we're going for football you know if you listen to people around you in the u.k. a lot some people are coming up to me and say robbie don't go there you'd be mad in an oil some of you've been to russia and i say well no i haven't gone at all but i can i get advice of someone who has been there have also been concerns with regard to safety so for example hooliganism and also racism you know you've seen fings about russia and things of happened in russia that's not going to be a problem up in qana encouraged because of a lot received e-mails from groups over there in russia saying to me that lisa ruby snot nearly as bad as what it's made out to be. those on the plane about to head out to russia. were looking forward to it. it's a place i never before. to a thousand also supports is come over to watch the game many of them have been advised by the foreign and commonwealth office as well saying they could be an uptake of anti british sentiment amongst some russians due to the heightened tension between the two countries at the moment well i mean you must go already. so we're very worried about coming here and that was injured back to me so it's all right there's no taking certain bits where you can also. sponsors for example the traditions go. you know we don't want to look around most go see our motor news show will be noisy he's game how we're going to do so he's already got a feeling that would you woke up to the goods we love the russia we love the russian people the friendship that we create. the relations and yes i'm really good at the politics up on the titians i like it still going to life and i was a bit skeptical when i first called because of all that what was going on and what not but when you commit yourself and you see that has no purpose and haven't seen any. sentiment of russia's been at most it's been incredible it's just incredible set against everyone is friendly enough the russians are lovely i mean to say what happens between governments a lot happens between people are totally different and that does it for me i will be back to top the hour with the full of each news stay with us. the swarms of them so. the good news was before. those who heard something of you lou. nirmal north we go we're going to. move. move. move show you the snook beautiful warble i mean it's going to look. more muslim also these girls will give you a good girl. the british also look but look the same you know you can sure it's toward the door you should go. to starts to do. it with the little girl must needs to look it is it's. just best not to test this new it's the mashed old. destructive president on please control this project until. the your petitions to god knows where to snip to come up on your because that is the girls with you for your supporters to your she walks through she shouldn't for you should cook door for one was your business. when lawmakers manufactured to santa instead of public wealth. when the ruling classes project themselves. on the financial merry go round of lives only the one percent. of the time doing or middle of the room signals. mean real news for the world. for a world cup twenty eight team coverage we've signed one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time but there was one more quick. and by the way it's going to be our coach . guys i know you are nervous he's a huge star and a huge amount of pressure come out you'll have to blow me eight percent of the beach to tell me and do it solo the great game the great game you are the rock at the back nobody gets past you we need you to get the ball going let's go. a low as i want to you know and i'm really happy to join us today and for the two thousand and ten world cup in russia. the special one i was also a patient needs to just say to review the aussie team's latest edition to make up the big seventy but to just say look. they sweep the sun calling will show has come to the city of lights on beautiful paris we're going to be chatting to frank went out with the french national team in ninety nine but this week's episode much more serious fatless the more general secretary of faith talking about the upcoming woke up in russia rice and any issues for faith to deal with paul paul what was it like for a young man get into a semifinal with england in ninety nine say how the chinese law is going to be talking to him about rice about coaching and. the world cup this year join us on calling most young. thank you very much for joining. the first woman the first black woman the first. well as you rightly mentioned it has been a very busy for me i've been appointed defense secretary general after the. mexico. and the mere fact of having a woman president. governing body after more than one hundred. and how the would. so now my job is to make sure. that. implementing a diverse. hundred eleven member association i have reason to think that. only have. not only. the world of you. important. represents. across the. to me investing in. definitely the best way for. you know to develop the game and to make it accessible to. journalistic colleagues . around the world. we have been implementing. and it's resulted in having more women to presentation it resulted in having more transparency in the way. let's say invest. the money flow in and now it has been really. where the money we are receiving from our. money that. eleven member station we have really a way to track everything. and she will bring a fresh when. somebody from outside. because we have to be when we say. we have more. people involved in football fever has just completed. think found well really we invite. to give an insight on. some serious question. well. you know we should give these people an opportunity to get things right so you must be happy with. important from a different part. of business life. professional and x. professional football is involved in the i have given. what i think if we have one thing. today after one year after eighteen months. is definitely that we are giving back to. active players by having them. we have bob i. player from my deputy in charge of football he's also the one behind for example referee program we have. everybody. being also. because he's having technical division. goal. twenty three in the world it's the highest ranking for quite some. we interviewed in london famously said twenty thirty years ago it will be when. i guess really. perfect. general at the top of the. game for an african nation might be. to do really well in this world cup and it would be important for the continent of africa while i think we have a fire team being the president did. african continent. as you remember. you know one. two went up to the quarter finals i think that they can only do better. were at liverpool in liverpool i mean that generation of players in two thousand. in his love of the game so i guess again from an african perspective it's important for all of those nations to inspire the next generation of african football is within. europe and best in many african players so. no matter when they come back home to play for their country that they did what they had the same level of commitment and. with a country so i have no doubt. and i really hope that that will be the case that african teams that will be really going very far in this competition how important is it for russian sport for the host nation to have a good tournament while i think what we experienced during this. twenty seventeen. configuration. very strong on what. by russia could be i really was fascinated by the level of. readiness and more importantly by the woman well what pleased you the most from the russian welcoming in the some of the confederations cup because i was here and one of my roles i believe. to speak honestly about. six or seven times now i'm not a fantastic people don't look at me differently on the street people don't treat me differently. which is again some of the stereotypes that we are presented with. so tell us what what pleasantly surprised you about the confederations cup. what you just described when i came for the first time in russia it was in july. one month after. definitely like. i was just feeling to be treated differently and i was ready to. think differently about africa and africans but. i haven't any. wherever i go to explain what. i have received a warm welcome. during the confederation the people from even different. to be muslim receive a very. where we have. and they were sending me a message. telling me five. please know that. what you think about russia reality and to live the reality. they have to. experience. very seriously. implemented. in the host cities you would be discovering a country that has. diversity you can experience a many different or so. often most interesting things in cars and in particular as you might well say and you have two of the best in the world coming here and the wood will be stopping for one month towards the one cup so don't miss the opportunity to discover a new lifestyle and also a country that is really warm welcoming and fans around the woods secretary-general has been absolute pleasure. and a goal we can be friends afterwards you know. very much for joining. thank you so much. jake had to take matters into its own hands to provide its own security and securing the border now this is a very vivid image of a cause i live with who are the french to be there who are the americans to be there who are the british to be. cranking gave americans a lot of new job opportunities and i needed to come up here to make some money i could make twenty five thousand dollars as a teacher or i could make fifty thousand dollars a year for trucks so i chose to drive trucks people rush to a small town in north dakota was an unemployment rate of zero percent it was like gold rush is very very similar to gold. but this beautiful story ended with pollution and of a station a lot of people have left here i don't know too many people here anymore slow down too much they lost their jobs that laid off the american dream is changing that's not what it used to be. and it's a tough reality to deal with. so what we've got to do is identify the threats that we have it's crazy confrontation let it be an arms race move his arms off and spearing dramatic development only closely i'm going to resist i don't see how that strategy will be successful very critical of god i'm timed to sit down and talk. for a man or sitting in a car when the fifth gets shot in the head. all four different versions of what happened one of them is on the death row there's no way you could have done it there's no possible way because the us did not shoot around a corner. delighted to be joined by the premier league international as well back year in. year. italian. an iconic football tournament your relative rookie. england scoring only four or five caps before being called. the ropes and at first we had been on a was the future ply pick your country. and it was the biggest thing ever for me because i grew up wanting to play for a bigger tame as possible and that was a little bit of the spurs fan and then played an f.a. cup final to play for england and if i was to go to now it's always now with kids is to plan a champions league when you say it's one of their playing for england and want to play champions league but maybe the same thing year time span is about playing as high as you can mourn anythings to represent the country and that's what i wanted to do not fortunate enough to do it. for english players will put a club and champions league before their country i think the managers are telling them the most important thing for them is their place and when it's a plan of champions lake and. the majority manages our foreign they don't really care about a national same song and the plaza got that in their heads in this a believe the champions league is what's put him out there so they are there for him to for now to plan a chance leg not to play for their country because they really are not they limit the criticism they're getting to represent their country and to be honest represent your country is a challenge and when you actually have a challenge you're willing to take a. good and i had the goods but you have to take the bad as well i'm very very fortunate because of what happened to may who represent my country and then i was just a poor power play for queens park rangers and no one of a sudden i come back. who played well cup semifinal playing for queens park rangers yes that lifted my status immensely that morning if it was q.p.r. fans haven't forgotten it from a it has lifted me to a level which i never knew before in my life growing up in the itas there's a lot of racial abuse remember vomitous in the first black player. got death threats lexus boy just being the first black player it's where in england shirts so when you get into england squad you money at four or five caps with. but drop of racism still in the gang still in the stands was it more of a challenge for a black man to represent england than it was tough from him again when was in when was in italy we have training session and training session and there was quite a few who have come in and watched the groups and i mean i think probably also know we made a massive mistake having an open session because major on bones and. got a very very legend very very badly a look at the point of. me and gas that's gone ply not in the fridge and england big i'm in iceland and it must have been about monist twenty five it was absolutely freeze and i remember telling to ray go hypothermia. couldn't play he was too cold we played a game and i would go abuse playing in the big time and it was like a gang of these neo nazis who turned up just to abuse me did you feel you have to prove yourself going into the world. majlis belief in that was the outcome there and always a little bit content to be you know to be there for when gary stevens going because bobby robson was so loyal to those players during that periods but when you mention a bad challenger spent the whole of my pedometer the start of mockery and times in it that she believed in because almost black novel was being brought up and that when it was said to me. many years ago no no it wasn't me that was in for inside the mob we want to be cousins. you know black and white if you do you could never be in a coup to a white man you have to be better than him to stand a chance of sebastian and if you recall there was going to go for a white man and that's the way it was that was my mentality i was that's to be better and do a job to give myself the opportunity to play germany a world cup semifinal the first welcome summary farnell since nineteen sixty six we relaxed because the germans were overwhelming favorite snow. before nothing trying to tow the bit i think we're really suddenly cold. things that. you know for. years prior i was playing in the third division with. the world cup semifinal with england was in that sound of war and i was just looking at all these germans doesn't matter how tall they were or how small they were they were absolutely immaculate there was some there was like there was eleven mannequins there was just everything there was muscles in the right place. there was stomachs and not around it all around there are sleeping. secrets wardo on the sea in all different body shapes of us english there was you know there was there's me i think if i was standing on the bench in my colombia you see all the british or the bellies in store for this is the germans it was really great and be honest i could have been the worst and i could've been the worst team in the world if we judged certainly judging appearances the front cover and they were absolutely immaculate oh i think i wanted to be one of a moment just to look small and but then you get on the pitch and the way we started going was it was incredible to show what you're all wrong because you're involved in two goals is to quit the second one. free kick germany have to say are you sure that go somewhere leave me because he saw me as the quickest to get them close down. one job. change the united direction a boy or think challenge to different course it went the same lock it flatlines. was off is low and we can question should be a goalie but in the die like chinese the movement of the ball that went in the first three or four bat was. as maybe nine to cost england the world cup that happened you just know that on the pitch. and then the positive happens in the run so i don't mean forward as you always do. long right all right so left to the senses there's the ice in your books which is essential structure is perfect because this chaos at that point you just want somebody to say the past you saw the past gary lineker capitalizes on some panic. did you feel redemption oh yeah and it was just it was just a minute i want to say for you i couldn't do anything because i'm home boy. so from a. i'm sane again is that's not an area the park was generally always in always open prata i was always in the middle i was never no can impose an area you know what i am and i quote a percentage past has an opportunity to try and put a bow in behind and that's what i've done and it is it was the percentage once i think the first set off didn't deal with it very well and gary being gary's in there on his own and he picked up the pieces and that's what gary was great and that was gary lineker that was his strength drew at the end of the game and it go. to penalties did you feel nervous excited because you were on one side step away from getting to the world cup final but you're also one kick a woman so why for a glorious failure we fail in the penalty box panel so i was just co-op and i was like i was like a fan just looking at that why not but not even thinking i was going to take when i was watching and i'm well where i am and that's how i was but did i think the pace was going to miss a penalty not in a million years because he was another one you'd almost put your house in him scoring goals he scored so many for forest penalties you never believe that stuart pearce was evidence of this a penalty you mentioned about chris waddle how good were you when he missed his penalty when everyone was chris chris was loved by everybody and he's not one you'd believe he was going to score but everyone was disappointed i think it was and he was obviously more in the manner in which he missed it stuart pearce was very very upset but no one was trying to help comfort. left him in his own space to get in. chris was a little bit down chelsea was telling himself he went away every single time and chris chris someone who reminded him that maybe shouldn't die five minutes live anymore i got there how did you feel finally when you landed at luton airport and there were. three full five hundred thousand people white for the team did that shock you did it surprise you did it make you think crikey what if would have won this it did but i did wonder if some kind of ban was on the plane beyond or something like that because you thought it was a big an attendant maybe debate was it got back together somehow because it was absolutely crazy manic trying to drive home to an e m one and it was scary stand driving around because people were going past the car coming from heads out toilets pictures i think some people followed me all the way back i was living in woken him then and i think some people from i'm not i'm from i lived anywhere near there so they follow me almost to drive around a little bit just to lose them as i didn't know where i lived and then went on when i arrive home. live in a place state called woods hill and welcome and as i driving silly cul de sac there's a big banner up welcoming home another big straight part for me i think after about an hour i have to go i think the occasion got to me at two or three drinks i went into the house and a question i've been living around and then for over a year not really even stopped in the street. if people said to me do i know you all said. yeah but no one knew me for us and after that it was just something. too strange really. really appreciate you joining us great to see you and thank you very much you're welcome thank you very much that. this is says holland kentucky. the oldest moved the employees to go green street. a co money city with almost no coal mines left. the jobs are gone all the coal was said. that it was a laugh to see these people the survivors of disappearing before their eyes. i remember thinking when i was younger that if anything ever happened to the coal mines here that it would become a ghost town but i never thought in the million years i would see that and it's happened it's happened. for competing like the auto insurance industry why four thousand dollars a year can i be protected against all these medical emergencies that take place in my car therefore we know that the price of having medical insurance or be a thousand dollars a year about thirty thousand dollars a year they're overcharging about forty five thousand dollars. we're going is going to oligarchs american oligarchs. and. you never know what's around the corner you never know what's in the pub you can walk into excitement it's that not knowing that's where the adrenaline in much comes from. and your needs are moved by definition and the extremes who will supply. the violence is a pug and it's almost a schizophrenia gang culture where you can do all these things and behave badly. they're going to be full of horse colorful it all for thirty plus plus more so for the last. one this man infirmed their role on policy in the start. i would roll the way enough i figure out i really did a poll down down went up a little bit. of meaning in these images that at least if you don't win the involves it's constantly evolving in the. global war hawks sell you on the idea that dropping bombs brings peace to the chicken hawks forcing you to fight the battles to stop. the new socks credit so you can separate gossip the public by itself will support the. other off the bad guys and tell me you are not full enough and let's fight. these are the hawks that we and all that are worth watching. something happens in this case it was the chemical attack on civilians in syria and then the public in the media are waiting for the response and i think it's very clear now that if president trump said that there is going to be a response then it will be i just think that our expectations in a way that this american response will be so severe that it will be a game changer i think this is not the case it will again be misadjusted very careful calculation by the americans not to deteriorate into a clash a direct confrontation with russia. but if you look. at. the. side. effects the next. witness is it to the aftermath of the alleged chemical attack in the syrian city of duma say in video released by russia's defense ministry that those hospitalized were not showing symptoms consistent with exposure to a chemical agents. also russia calls it a security council meeting on the situation in syria with moscow and washington exchanging fiery remarks. one protester was killed and hundreds are injured in gaza. as israeli troops use live fire and tear gas to disperse anti occupation demonstrations along the border . and arsenal football fans receive a warm welcome in russia before their teams match with moscow despite their concerns about russian who could. really get the feeling that would be world cup so we could see when you come if you so often you see that it's no problem the russians are lovely i mean to say what happens between governments a lot happens between people a totally different. five broadcasting live from our studios in moscow this is our team international incheon thomas certainly glad to have you with us now russia's defense ministry has released a video in which witnesses to the aftermath of an alleged chemical attack in syria's duma say that there was no indication that those rushed to the hospital had been exposed to a chemical agent it is thought to my name is. a medical student i work in the e.r. department of dumas central hospital on april eighth a building in the city was bombed the upper floors were destroyed and the bottom floors caught fire all the injured from that building were brought to our hospital . then the residents from the upper floors were suffering from smoke inhalation all right we're going to break in right now so that we can hear from president trump who speaking right now let's take a listen chemical weapons capabilities of syrian dictator bashar al assad. a combined operation with the armed forces of france and the united kingdom. is now underway we thank them both tonight i want to speak with you about why we have taken this section one year ago. assad launched a savage chemical weapons attack against his own innocent people the united states responded with fifty eight missile strikes that destroyed twenty percent of the syrian air force last saturday the assad regime again deployed chemical weapons to slaughter innocent civilians this time in the town of dorma near the syrian capital of damascus this massacre and was a significant escalation in a pattern of chemical weapons use by that very terrible regime the evil and the despicable attacked left mothers and fathers infants and children thrashing in pain and gasping for air these are not the actions of a man they are crimes of a monster instead following the horrors of world war want to century ago civilized nations join together to ban chemical warfare chemical weapons are uniquely dangerous not only because they inflict gruesome suffering but because even small amounts can unleash widespread devastation. the purpose of our actions tonight is to establish a strong deterrent against the production spread and use of chemical weapons establishing this deterrent is a vital national security interest of the united states that combined american british and french response to these atrocities will integrate all instruments of our national power military economic and diplomatic we are prepared to sustain this response until the syrian regime stops its use of prohibited chemical agents i also have a message tonight for the two governments most responsible for supporting equipping and financing the criminal assad regime to iran and to russia i ask what kind of a nation wants to be associated with the mass murder of innocent men women and children the nations of the world can be judged by the friends they keep no nation can succeed in the long run by promoting rogue states brutal tyrants and murderous dictators in two thousand and thirteen president putin and his government promised the world that they would guarantee the elimination of syria's chemical weapons assad's recent attack. and today's response are the direct result of russia's failure to keep that promise russia must decide if it will continue down this dark path or if it will join with civilized nations as a force for stability and peace hopefully some day we'll get along with russia and maybe even iran but maybe not i will say this the united states has a lot to offer with the greatest and most powerful economy in the history of the world in syria the united states with but a small force being used to eliminate what is left of isis is doing what is necessary to protect the american people over the last year nearly one hundred percent of the territory once controlled by the so-called isis caliphate in syria and iraq has been liberated and eliminated the united states has also rebuilt our friendships across the middle east we have asked our partners to take greater responsibility for securing their home region including contributing large amounts of money for the resources a quip and and all of the isis effort. increased engagement from our friends including saudi arabia the united arab emirates qatar egypt and others can ensure that iran does not profit from the eradication of isis america does not seek an indefinite presence in syria under no circumstances as other nations step up their contributions we look forward to the day when we can bring our warriors home and great warriors they are looking around a very troubled world americans have no illusions we cannot purge the world of evil or act everywhere there is tyranny no amount of american blood or treasure can produce lasting peace and security in the middle east it's a troubled place we will try to make it better but it is a troubled place the united states will be a partner in a friend but the fate of the region lies in the hands of its own people in the last century we look straight into the darkest places of the human soul we saw the anguish that can be unleashed and the evil that can take hold by the end of world war one more than one million people had been killed or injured by chemical weapons we never want to see that ghastly specter returned so today the nations of britain france and the united states of america have martial their righteous power against barbarism and brutality. tonight i ask all americans to say a prayer for our noble warriors and their allies as they carry out their missions we pray that god will bring comfort to those suffering in syria we pray that god will guide the whole region toward a future of dignity and of peace and we pray that god will continue to watch over and bless the united states of america thank you and good night thank you. donald pup president of the united states addressing the nation there and in there he announced that the united states the u.k. and france are engaged in military strikes against syria and the assad regime he was using as his. reasoning one year ago alleged chemical attacks and again alleged chemical attacks recently in the city of duma there in syria assad allegedly using chemical weapons against his own people he says that the u.s. u.k. and france will use all of their power military economical and diplomatic to resolve the situation there in syria he also spoke to iran and russia directly saying why would these two countries want to be associated with a murderous regime russia must decide if it wants to join the civilized nations he also said that someday hopefully that russia in the united states would get along he also added maybe not and he then concluded by saying that the u.k. france and the u.s. are using all of their power marshalled their righteous power in fact against barbarism as they announce military strikes in syria of course our news team is going to be following this story and we're going to be bringing you all of the latest updates as we get them in obviously very important information coming in here to international. all right now earlier in london an anti-war activist staged a protest in front of the prime minister's residence they demanded to theresa may not involve the u.k. in any potential military operation in syria obviously that has not changed. there are. protesters were carrying banners reading don't bomb syria and not in our name directed not only towards a truce in may but towards president trump as well demonstrators also called on politicians to halt their war rhetoric and think about the suffering of the people in syria and protest against military escalation also occurred in greece on friday hundreds of people gathered in front of the u.s. embassy in athens they held and nato banners and burned the u.s. flag demonstrators said that they did not want syria to become a repetition of the two thousand and three invasion in iraq. and bastards of the un has reacted to the accusations from the russian military by calling them grotesque and a blatant lie however the video featuring the medic who dismissed the chemical attack claims has been taken seriously in shown by a number of media outlets for the questions are also hanging over the west's narrative due to the dubious reputations of the groups that initially made those allegations are of house commentary. reports of a chemical attack first appeared strange enough for it's almost the precise moment the battle had ended when the syrian government and rebels were negotiating on how to evacuate the latter reports first appeared on social media twitter facebook and spread like wildfire while my colleague kendall anian and i have learned today that the u.s. now has blood and here in samples from some of the victims of this attack in syria last weekend and that those samples according to u.s. officials tested positive for chemicals sources the usuals why the helmets who service rescuers islamists and syrian rebels also the somewhat less known syrian american medical society saddam's together with the white helmets they were cited by the washington post the new york times c.n.n. virtually every western media outlets reporting on this chemical attack saturday april seventh amidst continuous bombardment of residential neighborhoods in the city of duma more than five hundred cases the majority of whom are women and children were brought to local medical centers with symptoms indicative of exposure to a chemical agent sams itself is funded by u.s. aid six million in two thousand and fifteen usaid is widely believed to be an arm of the state department and is banned in multiple countries accused of interfering in domestic policies and promoting regime change it even has an office of transition initiatives the management at sams also believe it or not former usaid stuff was was saddam's who reportedly provided the u.p.c. w. with samples of the alleged sarin gas that was used in hunchy houla site of a chemical attack last year after which. donald trump sent fifty seven cruise missiles at the syrian airbase o.p.c. w. is on its way to duma to investigate we've contacted various groups including the world health organization they've cited saddam's but have refused to go into any details become not rule out the possibility that someone from within the region wants to see the syrian state weakened or even toppled might stage something and what we know as well is that j. should islam the army of islam the militant group that was just ousted from duma they have a position of chlorine gas they used it and they acknowledged its usage two years ago in aleppo against kurdish militia they issued a statement saying you know we've done it what comes next no one can say whether the u.s. will go ahead with a preemptive strike or whether cooler heads will prevail. earlier we spoke to lord allen west a retired admiral of the royal navy who said finding evidence of a chemical attack by assad is needed prior to any military response but i think what's very important is that we get unequivocal evidence that there was a chemical attack by assad's forces and and if we're not sure of that then i think it would be rather foolhardy to make a response if we find unequivocally that he has used chemical weapons against his own people that is a clear breach of the chemical weapons convention and i does that mean he deserves the slack but at the moment i have not i personally have not seen definitive evidence probably i wouldn't see it but i'm not at all sure or that that definitive evidence is there so speaking as a military man i find it extraordinary that assad's military are stupid enough to use chemical weapons in an area that they're just about to take charge of anyway i'm very nervous at the moment and would like to be sure absolutely that assad has done this before any action is taken. by whether or not evidence exists or not action has been taken and it appears though that that lack of evidence of the alleged chemical attacks is a concern for a number of journalists as well one of those is boss split from belgium who traveled to syria to judge it all for himself around two years ago i started to discover that i wasn't really told the truth about the war in syria and i started to learn more and more. and i've led me to decided to go see for myself you know it's people should. journalists should if you travel to syria it's such a different picture and then what is being beamed in the media unfortunately yes but we have a long way to go but i think with the rise of internet you know it's the reason i like what. the control is slipping away from from the dinosaur mass media. our violence has again erupted along the israeli border in gaza where i.d.f. soldiers have been using live firing tear gas to disperse protesters gaza's health ministry says one person has been killed and hundreds injured including paramedics over the past two weeks thousands of palestinians have been campaigning against what's widely seen as israel's occupation of gaza and demanding the right of return to israel for palestinian refugees and their descendants. you know. this is one of the weapons the israelis have been using and this is tear gas canisters from the drone that the israelis have been using since the morning to throw to god the tear gas canisters on the protesters it's running very high tensions are running high as you see the ambulances are still here medics are in the fia trying to get through to all the palestinians that are getting injured here's another injury we're just right now from the fence and you can see the injuries and the leg call. that medics are trying to to to treat the other injuries that in the field so they would be able to do and it's going to be easier on the palestinians had it and it's great to have minister because that as he fought battle and all the other hospitals are crowded with patients and injuries from the past two fridays. it's another to get. what's happening now is the israeli army are using add the two guys canisters drawn to a desire to just got mr burns on and they started on the pa to sit in protesters it's so dangerous now for everyone for every palestinian you decide. for every palestinian who are coming here to protest i did the right of return. so this is journalist this is just enough to get you guys got mr. last week the israeli snipers directly shot yes it might does and yes another journalist that is being injured just right now. it's very obvious that just palestinian journalists wearing a press jackets. are palestinians attending the rallies including children have been taking precautions to protect themselves against the tear gas some arrived with homemade masks filled with perfume and cotton others were were invented using fruits and vegetables as well meanwhile an israeli soldier who shot a palestinian on the gaza border during a protest in december has been cleared of any wrongdoing by military inquiry video emerged of him firing shots alongside other snipers who cheered and laughed at the injuries that they inflicted. but that. group of them are addicts and. then sort of. right you just go on in that that was one of the biggest of them did. well. on. what. i did. was i did nothing i was just a demonstration i went to my friends to help them and before i reached the place they shot me the soldier knew that i was going to help them and that's why i was shocked. but let's go back to our breaking news story this hour president trump has announced that the u.s. france and the u.k. are launching strikes against syria short time ago i ordered the united states armed forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of syrian dictator bashar al assad. a combined operation with the armed forces of france and the united kingdom. is now underway by the us defense secretary said on thursday that any perceived threat to american military personnel in syria would justify a preemptive strike on the assad government james madison minute however that washington has no real evidence that a chemical weapons attack were actually used in duma last weekend. i believe there was a chemical attack and we're looking for the actual evidence the the o.p.c. w this jorgen ization for the chemical weapons convention we're trying to get those inspectors in if we get them and we will not know who did it they can only say that they found evidence or did not inspectors from the international chemical weapons watchdog are due to start work in duma on saturday but as you got a ton of explains regardless of their findings concerns are growing and washington appears to be scrambling for a pretext for intervention. we're looking very very seriously very closely that whole situation and. we'll see what happens folks will see what happens with the drum of war is beginning to bang in washington and the beat is for syria the u.s. is again accusing president assad over using chemical weapons on his own people but the basis for this conviction appears to be lacking one crucial aspect we're not engaged on in the ground on the ground there so i cannot tell you that we had evidence well something is better than nothing but right now it's just a feeling behind a possible military attack is it enough to risk ask elating into a war with syria's allies and even a nuclear standoff apparently yes protection of our forces i don't think we have to wait until they are under chemical attack when the weapons are used in the same theater we're operating in the rocky invasion played out along suspiciously similar lines we must take the battle to the enemy we will take every step necessary to make sure our country is secure and we will prevail the iraqi regime has in fact been very busy in answering its capabilities in the field of chemical and biological agents one difference that jumps out is that with the rug the u.s. had that infamous bottle of anthrax as reason to call on its forces in hindsight it was a completely false pretext and with syria they don't even have that the o.p.c. w the u.n. chemical watchdog the height of judgment when it comes to such cases already vouched two years ago that syria's stockpiles were no more wrong to twenty seeing and their words seems to matter a little for washington there is another similarity with the iraq invasion and one must keep in mind the history of u.n. inspection teams in iraq. even as they were conducting the most. system of arms control industry inspectors missed a great deal in my last attempt to enlarge the membership of all of the organisation was convincing iraq and libya for example to join in and that when i am no system member states it was a shock to the americans i believe. because the plans are ready to take some action military action against iraq the bottom line is the pentagon is hardly keeping its lack of evidence on whether the attack even happened a big secret never mind the perpetrator behind it all that matters is sticking to the tried and trusted path the problem is that the united states believes and i thought it would be as it is. any any law they believe that they have their own rules and it is not the case the threat to use force in our union other action the goals against the united nations charter and also we are concerned about the possibility of this coalition that this could go out of control and we might end up with why there a conflict that done the one that's already been suffer in syria it will not be an attack against syria but also an attack against the whole united nations system. now we're joined live by former u.s. diplomat jim jarvis jim. here we go again it seems what do you think about donald trump's decision was it unexpected. you know one this this whole of it let's be honest false flag this whole drama hoax first came up i expected and almost immediate response the way president trump did last year he held off for a few days there were some indication that heads were cooling maybe we would wait for the o.p.c. w. inspectors to get to do. some people who have been following this very critically even seem to think we're out of the woods and i keep thinking we weren't you know what i think it was clear he was going to do something and i think it's unfortunately a either a function of just how misled he is by all the really bad people he's put around him which by the way he has to take the blame for because he avoided them or how scared he is how boxed in he is by all of the various scandals that they've been have been aimed at him by the very same deep state whose agenda he is now implementing with this strike let's be honest if you're al qaeda and there are various offshoots in syria you've got to be very happy tonight. jim while we are speaking we've got a split screen with you and then we also have some images live from cyprus where where seeing airplanes taking off from the cyprus air base to syria. which is i guess we can say as part of this ongoing attack ongoing strikes. but if we go back to the situation in duma there is still no evidence of a chemical attack in duma that we've seen or compelling evidence that would necessitate a strike on this scale why do you think he decided to take military action at this time. oh i think preventing a real investigation duma was one of the reasons for it look let's be clear even if the accusation of what happened in duma and was the work of the syrian government were absolutely true this action still got be justified in my opinion it's certainly would not be legal and it certainly would not be time urgent so what exactly is the big hurry here the big hurry in my opinion is that you've got the inspectors on the ground in damascus now ready to go to the scene and confirm what i am morally convince is the case is that there was no attack and even if there by some chance the word i don't think there was it certainly was not the work of the syrian government just as we saw with last year i think this timing was directly involved to directly. timed to make sure that inspection could not take place especially after the russians pointed the thing here and i think truthfully at the british and because we know that m i six supports the white helmets m i six was behind the steel desk m i six was b. i was implicated in the scriptural poisoning and solsbury there are a lot of very dirty british freak of prince here and i wouldn't be at all surprised of theresa may was very very keen on pushing donald trump to move ahead on this is fast as possible now in his remarks he donald trump deviated from his prepared remarks we have a transcript of what he was supposed to have said but he deviated from that a little bit directing his comments directly to iran and russia asking why they wanted to be associated with a murderous regime also saying that hopefully someday the united states and russia would get along but then maybe not he also said that these three countries the u.s. the u.k. and france have marshaled of their righteous power against barbarism where do you think this decision could lead do you think that it could possibly spire world towards a military conflict directly with russia. yes of course it could and that's what we would need to see in the next day or so how long this attack lasts what exactly gets here are russians killed according to the reports i've seen you know this is not just a nice way to hit on an airbase somewhere this is in damascus who does in what are there parts of the country who else is going to be the target of these strikes i don't know what the russians will do in response it's not up to me to say what they should do in response to this is far as what he said about russia he had indicated something like this in a tweet the other day that we could do so much to help russia where their economy somehow suggesting to them that if they walk away from this evil evil. bashar also we are going to help them with their economic development and there's so many things wrong with that to start with or are we going to walk away from our dictatorial saudi friends are destroying yemen i don't see anybody threatening anybody over that and i think you also have to put that into context of the expulsion of russian diplomats on the on the script a hoax the sanctions that were recently thrown at russia by united states britain and several other countries that that. number of people are interpreted as aimed at regime change or an open invitation for all the guards to get together and stage a coup in russia i don't think anybody in russia and their right mind would take what mr trump said as anything really put a threat you do what we say or we will destroy your economy well if you do we say maybe we will help you then i don't think anybody should believe that now jim we're getting reports from reuters that there are already explosions heard in damascus also reuters saying that the bars a district in damascus has been hit by u.s. attacks specifically scientific research facilities located in that area donald trump has said that he is targeting. damascus his ability to create chemical weapons how extensive do you think that the bombings will be there in damascus and in syria. i don't know because let's be clear about it i don't think the i don't think syria has chemical weapons i think that the russian effort to get them out of there after what happened in goods in two thousand and thirteen was genuine it was certified as genuine by the o p c w this notion that these strikes are actually hitting chemical weapons facilities i think is a conscious transparent lie and that beast targets are being trucked chosen for other reasons now what those other reasons are i don't know are they be capitation strikes are they trying to murder bashar al assad are they trying to decimate the syrian government i don't know but what we can say is once again we find ourselves acting as the air force of all these jihad is terrorist al qaeda isis jaish al islam are all shot it it's it is or it is really morally reprehensible now we're also getting word that the united states is allegedly using. tomahawk missiles to target several targets in syria one thing that i'm interested in and definitely interested in your take and i can kind of gauge where we might go with this but saturday the o.p.c. w. experts were supposed to start their work in syria now why do you think they decided to strike just one day before their work was supposed to begin i mean if the investigation is supposed to start on saturday don't you think that they should give that investigation some time to get going before they decide to do this military intervention well of course they should if they were interested in the truth at all you think they would be demanding that they would want those inspectors to go and in fact it would say we would like any independent teams or any countries to come in and inspect this and to get as much information as possible you notice that you heard vicky haley saying the americans the french the british of all independently come to the same conclusion first of all i don't believe a word of that and secondly if they had such information why won't they make it public a way they can because the source is a. that's of course this is the same transparent lie we got about weapons of mass destruction in iraq it's the same lie about khadafi being ready to massacre is own people in tripoli it's the same lies we got about the marketplace bombings in sarajevo or about the rock massacre in kosovo the trouble with false flags is they work especially when you have a compliant media that just relays like a bulletin board everything that gets churned out by the deep state and you noticed that at the same time we have this this tightening of the screws on any independent sources of information r t was just taken off the cable system here in washington about two weeks ago we had they did twitter and google and facebook and other social media taking off things that are considered propaganda which means they don't match the official narrative the damage that's being done here is not just the threat of a u.s. russia war in syria which is obviously a terribly deadly consequences for everybody but in terms of the strangling of freedom here at home to facilitate this kind of a gresham i think should be terrifying to all americans. i should also point out jim right now we're getting word from syrian state t.v. that they're aired a fist air defense systems are in fact working to counter u.s. strikes of course this is where you know they say the first casualty of any sort of a conflict when it comes to war is the truth so we have to be filtering all of this through this lens if you will. but you know in the past when we talk about you know the cold war and we talk about things that have happened in the past with vietnam and with korea these were all thought of as proxy wars whereas you had the capitalist side versus the communist side never directly was there u.s. versus soviet confrontation right now. there are boots on the ground with russians very in syria. if the united states is striking against russia i mean it seems like this is a lot bigger than things that we've seen in the past or have the potential to be that's right or let's let's be clear the political war being waged against russia in the last few years i would say this goes back at least ten years ever since we lost control of russia after after yeltsin left office is that it is much more vicious than anything that was ever directed against the soviet union what what soviet leader was ever demonized in the western media the way vladimir putin has been not even stalin was ever demonized in the western media and that was largely in my opinion because a lot of western liberals of self-styled progressives actually sympathize with communism is an ideology they thought it was a good ideology well of course being russians they make a bad job of it but the ideology and its intentions are rather good but since russia has recovered itself as russia is a relatively conservative country and certainly no european context christianity is a very strong moral pillar of russian society and of even of the russian state and i think these people really really do not like that in their kind of anti traditional post-modern approach to i would say almost like an anti civilization that they are promoting i almost have the sense sometimes that we and the soviet union ideologically have sort of switched roles where the of the godless revolutionary howard russia's a conservative national power and i think that's one reason there is such a hatred for russia and especially for president putin among the leading classes in the united states and western europe and i think they they are there's a certain recklessness attached to it that back during the cold war we were careful that you know my father's a retired fighter pilot he can tell you how careful we were during the cold war to make sure there was no direct confrontation between the u.s. and soviet forces. here there's almost a kind of a glee that we might confront the russians regular kill a bunch of russians as you'll hear on american television all the time regarding that incident a few weeks ago back in the euphrates where evidently we killed an unknown number of russian contractors and i think there are people here who are eager to kill russians. jim if you don't mind i'm going to ask you to go down the rabbit hole with me a little bit. simple question who benefits from all of this. nobody been in libya let me back up obviously regionally israel and saudi arabia think they're going to benefit from this but if this turns into a major regional conflagration their calculations may turn out very badly so i think there are among the attended beneficiaries whether they will benefit from it or not certainly the deep state and all the be of the liberal interventionist and the neo conservatives in the republican party a lot of never trumpeters by the way who have been from day one trying to subvert the result of the election the last election they they have won because they now own him he dances to their tune he's jumping up and down like a monkey on a string they own him so they have been victorious in this and of course behind them is the deep state and again that term is going to be much overused from having been virtually unknown a couple of years ago but when we talk about the resistance which is center in the in the cia and the n.s.a. and the f.b.i. and department of justice and let's not forget on the other side of the pond m i six in d.c. age q they're all extremely happy i think it was john kirby the former state department spokesman said the other day regarding the explosion of the diplomats this is very reassuring because it tells our friends in europe that donald trump is doc all in the shots with the professionals with whom they're in contact every day are making the decisions and unfortunately i think that's true all right former u.s. diplomat jim josh of course when situations like this happen you're one of the people that we want to talk to you're someone who i want to talk to when i heard that donald trump was going to be speaking even before i heard him speak i'm sure that this won't be the last time we discuss the situation here on our take actual i hope all right now in the past taking military action abroad has often increased support for u.s. presidents at home take a look. but he ran the flag effect and increased popular support of the president during war accompanied by reduced criticism of governmental policies and. any nuclear missile launched from cuba against any nation in the western hemisphere as an attack by the soviet union on the united states. progress is now being made towards the restoration of peace in the caribbean. the use of terrorism and its holding hostages. who seek to continue along with other nations and with the. resolution of the crisis. i have therefore directed to reject the iraqi army from kuwait. its president i can report to the nation aggression is defeated the war is over. american and coalition forces are in the early stages of military operations to disarm iraq to free its people and to defend the world from grave danger. to the united states and around. have prevailed. but i ordered a targeted military strike for airfields. i think. became president of the united states i think this was actually a big moment. all right so again our top story the united states u.k. france have intervened militarily in syria strikes right now happening currently underway president trying to address the. the united states nation just a bit ago for more on this we can cross live to dan kovalchuk who is a human rights and labor rights lawyer dan thanks for being with us here on r.t. international we were discussing it during the sound check the tragedy the situation but what do you think about donald trump's decision was it unexpected or is there more to it than we know. i mean i think it was expected he certainly signaled it over twitter so i'm not surprised in obviously the it seemed to me most of the western press wanted him to do something and again i asked myself by teaching rights at law school it's for and i asked myself over and over when was it that. it was decided that we're going to promote human rights through bombing people in it just. to me makes no sense but and so i'm not surprised but. i'm very sad what's happening dan we the united states specifically and the u.k. going back to the magna carta and everything has per they've prided themselves on due process of law you're a lawyer you appreciate the the need for due process it seems like there hasn't been any sort of due process in duma specifically no evidence of a chemical attack that has been convincing on a large scale or at least enough to justify this why do you think that these three countries decided to work together to take military action. well look i think there's a bigger agenda happening in syria that has nothing to do with chemical weapons first of all it's you know cut to the chase we don't know whether there is an attack if there was we don't know who did it but it also come on i mean do you know what it states has used chemical weapons multiple times including in the a rocky theater recently. including famously in vietnam and korea the idea that somehow you know this is a red line it's been crossed when the united states has crossed it so many times. i just think people are out to lunch. on that and again this has everything to do geopolitics and nothing to do with human rights nothing to do with concern about humanitarian or chemical weapons use so you know we have troops on the ground in syria syria the syrian russia i mean has troops on the ground in syria they've been invited by the syrian government to be there. on some levels with the united states attacking a government where russia has been invited to be involved very almost attacking russia directly do you think that this could lead to a further military conflict flipped between the u.k. france and the united states with russia on the other side. of course of course that's the great risk and that's why this is so dangerous you know we're looking at possible world war three and everyone knows that it's being discussed openly sadly there's some seems to be some people that want it. and you know but for most the vast majority of the people in the world we have to resist it i mean we have been pushed into these types of wars over and over based on lines. in misrepresentations and i think this is another case where that's happening. but yes the risk of world war three. is there and i think that as we recognize. according to reuters we're hearing explosions already heard in damascus we've also heard from mortars that specific areas where. research facilities are located are being targeted. how extensive do you think these strikes will be we've heard already from donald trump that they are prepared to. extend these strikes as long as they're needed so how long will that be. well we don't know but you know every every indication that i've heard including on n.p.r. this evening was that the view was that the strikes would be extensive certainly more extensive than last year went from. shot fifty nine tomahawk missiles against syria it's. you know look last week trump's said he told the military to prepare to leave syria and then run into this alleged chemical attack air. you know it's very clear to me that the point is to keep the military of the united states there this is all part of their plan and i'm afraid we're going to get deeper deeper in ball militarily syria. also we should point out right now the breaking news from reuters shadow missiles used against military facility fifteen miles west of homes believed to be the site of a chemical weapon precursors we also have heard the tomahawk missiles are being used just keeping our viewers up to date of what's happening we're speaking with dan kovalchuk who is helping us wrap our heads around this situation right now. earlier we talked about due process i can go back to that idea second on saturday the o.p.c. w which is the chemical weapons watchdog those experts were ready to start their work in syria why do you think they chose to strike one day before that words actually i mean it's already saturday in syria right now why would they choose to strike before any investigation could take place. well again i think because the facts probably are out there i mean let's face it a number of these alleged chemical taxes syria turned out to be bogus and. you know i think this is a war in search of a reason and they've found the reason here and they don't want to just prove it by anyone and so that's why they attacked first they shoot first and ask questions later that appears to be. frankly the modus operandi of the of the west in these cases now where do you think this could lead from here on out i mean we have a possible world war three we discussed that possibility are you know i don't want to say that that's what we're saying here on r t but this is something that is being openly discussed. is it too late for diplomacy at this point i mean is it possible for all sides to get together and have some sort of conversation that can end this it's never too late for diplomacy. i believe russia wants to see i believe iran wants to bomb see. the thing that worries me is are not sure the united states wants diplomacy or that it's even equipped to engage in diplomacy you know the fact that trump just nominated. my cousin payroll who is the head of the cia to the to be secretary of state. is very revealing you know you put someone in the highest diplomatic position in the united states who has no diplomatic experience the u.s. to me seems like it's given up on diplomacy a long time ago it's a power with nothing else but military might and you know when you're a hammer everything looks like a nail and right now there are other things series of big man and that's what upsets upsets me but i think you know if you look at the objective really of course there's time for diplomacy and of course that's what we need right now we need diplomacy we need discussions between nations and we need to find a peaceful solution or this problem all right interesting to her thoughts thanks for being with us here in our international. under trying conditions of course dan vala cumin right and labor rights lawyer with us mike on art international thank you thank you very much. all right at a white house press conference president trump announced that the u.s. france and u.k. are launching strikes against syria trump says that the attacks will continue until the syrian government stops using chemical weapons he also called on russia to take responsibility for not preventing the chemical attack in syria according to several media reports there were explosions in damascus heard right after the u.s. president's speech u.k. prime minister theresa may said that there were no alternatives to striking syria since all diplomatic means had been exhausted and these are the latest pictures from cyprus fighter jets were seen taking off from an r.a.f. british base there their destination was not stated officially but it is believed that they are flying to take part in strikes on syria and the jets took off from a teary military base ahead of u.s. president donald trump's announcement that the u.s. france and britain together launch military strikes on syria and some of america's key partners have already expressed a lack of willingness to participate in strikes against syria germany italy the netherlands and canada have all said that there needs to be a thorough investigation first are cheaper all over has more. well if there is going to be any coalition it does seem that a lot of leaders in europe as well as further afield are going to need some more convincing we've heard of angola merkel here in berlin saying that although a clear message needs to be sent that using chemical weapons will not be tolerated she isn't prepared to commit the blunders fair to strikes in syria just yet the german military won't be involved as it stands similar message coming out of rome is well worth. italy will. existing deals when it comes to logistics but they won't be sending any combat troops all aircraft will listen to those two leaders right now. begin with the we must say as we tell you and so always half that if we need a long term solution to the syrian crisis we have to lead to respond to crimes but first of all work towards peace and drum and it will not lie to. you i want to make it clear again there are no decisions but we see this everything is being done to send a signal that this use of chemical weapons is not acceptable to say. one of the loudest voices in support of donald trump has been a money with the french president however there are voices within his own government that are saying although mr marquand claims that there is proof of a chemical attack they're going to need to see that proof before they commit to any type of military action similar words coming out of the hague the netherlands saying they want to see while they want to see concrete evidence before they commit troops to any strikes in from canada across the atlantic there we're hearing the words coming out of that they're not looking to be present in syria counted or in the past have taken part in bombing campaigns against isis in iraq but they were all stopped back in twenty fifteen when justin trudeau took over as the leader of the country there now perhaps the most go to our ally that the u.s. has is the united kingdom and we've heard on for. a day after a cabinet meeting in london that the british cabinet says there is a need for action after the alleged chemical attack in syria however when speaking to people on the streets in the united kingdom there certainly isn't an appetite amongst the british public to join in with donald trump who thinks military strikes in syria will help so anything no i don't miss the moment when i was very anxious about any kind of essentially what would she achieved i really disagree with military action against anything having to miss syria there's already enough fighting going on that. there's a real danger of war escalating way beyond what we expect. and the way to target it to send any more the signal you. push up to. mention that outset i think we have five back to you where these countries have these problems have these civil wars and we try to go to fix it but we are all when the americans had their civil war nobody went and bought us we got this side we have now they need to go through this on their. well that we has we hear there from the united kingdom there is a lot coming out from all european countries that if they going to be a part of a coalition they're going to need confirmation that this chemical attack did take place and at the moment there are a lot of people quite skeptical as to what the right response is at the moment and marcus frohnmayer from a german is alternative for germany party you told us why he thinks his country is not eager for military action against assad's government. i guess to people against conflicts or to continue to conflict in syria because you cannot explain the truman mother why you are for example truman soldier who is dying for american interests in syria we have no interest to continue this confrontation in syria i guess. they will continue to conflict in syria that would mean that a lot of cheese would continue to come to term in the. you know to the people in sherman just suffer because of the situation it's not easy for us to handle it we're close to have social conflicts because of that. right you're watching international and again just in case you're joining us united states u.k. and france are intervening militarily in syria we'll have more on this developing a breaking story come back in just a bit watching our international stay with us. if something happens in this case it was the chemical attack on civilians in syria and then the public in the media are waiting for the response and i think it's very clear now that if president trump said that there is going to be a response then it will be i just think that our expectations in a way that this american response will be so severe that it will be a game changer i think this is not the case it will again be messages and very careful calculation by the americans not to deteriorate into a clash a direct confrontation with russia. a fight for many flips over the years so i know the game inside out it's. football isn't only about what happens on the pitch for the final school it's about the passion from the fans it's the age of the superman each kill the narrowness and spending shouldn't twenty million album fly a. book it's an experience like nothing else on it because i want to share what i think what i know about the beautiful guy my great so we'll all chance for. peace this minute. all right live from moscow this is r t international i'm sean thomas let's go right back to our breaking news story this hour president trump has announced that the u.s. france and u.k. have begun launching military strikes against syria we are expecting briefing from the pentagon we will bring you details from that if we get that in across our desk we're going to go to that right now. good evening ladies and gentlemen as the world knows the syrian people have suffered terribly under the prolonging brutality of the assad regime on april seventh the regime decided to again defy the norms of civilized people showing callous disregard for international law by using chemical weapons to murder women children and other innocent we and our allies find these atrocities inexcusable as our commander in chief the president has the authority under article two of the constitution to use military force overseas to defend important united states' national interests the united states had a vital national interest in averting a worsening catastrophe in syria and specifically deterring the use proliferation of chemical weapons last year in response to a chemical weapons attack against civilians and to signal the regime to cease chemical weapons use we targeted the military base from which the weapons were delivered earlier today president trump directed the u.s. military to conduct operations and continents with our allies to destroy the syrian regime chemical weapons research development and production capability. tonight france the united kingdom and the united states took decisive action to strike the syrian chemical weapons infrastructure clearly the assad regime did not get the message last year this time our allies and we have struck harder together we have sent a clear message to assad and his murderous lieutenants that they should not perpetrate another chemical weapons attack for which they will be held accountable the seventy nations in the defeat isis coalition remain committed to defeating isis in syria the strike tonight separately demonstrates international resolve to prevent chemical weapons from being used on anyone under any circumstance in contravention of international law i want to emphasize that these strikes are directed at the syrian regime and conducting these strikes we have gone to great lengths to avoid civilian and foreign casualties but it is a time for all civilized nations to urgently unite in ending this sid syrian civil war by supporting the united nations back to an even peace process in accordance with the chemical weapons convention prohibiting the use of such weapons we urge responsible nations to condemn the assad regime and to join us in our firm resolve to prevent chemical weapons from being used again general dunford will provide a military update. we do you know i'm joined by our friend to brigadier general montague in our british. voice marshall given part for secretary mabus is just on the policy and legal framework for tonight's strike in syria i will address the strike from them all right that was the pentagon briefing a with the secretary of defense to james madison saying that the united states was using their powers under article two of the constitution to protect national interests and he also said that there are vital national interests of the united states in syria he said that they have targeted the chemical weapons infrastructure there and they have demonstrated international resolve to prevent proliferation of chemical weapons in the future so now from a new york joins us live with details caleb tell us more about the situation that's unveiling right now what we heard earlier from u.s. president donald trump and he used the word strong deterrent to describe the intentions behind these strikes against syria being conducted in coordination with the u.k. and france now furthermore we did hear other rhetoric from donald trump saying that this was a response to the use of chemical weapons and this is trump explaining what took place short time ago i ordered the united states armed forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of syrian dictator. a combined operation with the armed forces of france and the united kingdom. is now underway. now we understand at this point explosions have been heard in the densely populated area near damascus now damascus is where a number of people in syria who have fled people that are fleeing to government controlled territories are living and it's very very densely populated and at this point we understand that explosions have been heard in damascus in eastern parts of damascus and other parts of damascus now we haven't heard any specifics about casualties or what not now we also understand that this point british aircraft that are involved in the strikes taking place against the syrian arab republic right now that they are taking off from cyprus that is the location the base that's being used for british aircraft that have been participating in the strikes now the language we just heard seems to indicate that the strikes have already taken place and are finished and are not ongoing but that's not exactly clear where we're waiting for information now we did hear statements made to the effect of the areas that were being targeted were areas that they were associated with with production of chemical weapons with the ability to stockpile or maintain chemical weapons it's not exactly clear if that exactly aligns with what the o.p.c. w. has said about syria and government controlled territories they seem to have inspected any areas in government controlled territories and where there would be chemical weapons or where they could be stored so it's not exactly clear where the information about about these chemical weapons and and how they are striking chemical facilities is adding up we're still waiting for information but we do know that there have been at this point explosions heard in the densely populated area of damascus where many many severe syrian civilians have fled to be remaining under government controlled territory you know much of syria is in the hands of terrorists and extremists that want to bring down the syrian government but damascus the area that seems to be struck is where a lot of civilians have fled in order to find protection. all right our tease came up and they're following the situation from new york we know that as the story develops you're going to be staying on top of it from the u.s. side of things thanks for being with us now we're joined live by jennifer braden who is an international criminal law attorney jennifer. wait we have another briefing from the pentagon we're going to go to that right now are going to that were assigned to united states central command those operations are complete. and total comfort and also secretary that is could you talk a little bit more about your concerns that you've expressed earlier in the week up now russian escalation down for were you able to talk to your russian counterpart general karasu what are your concerns about escalation and permitted to ask your british counterpart a question i would like to know you this sense of your government about whether you the situation with the disco balls and the russian involvement in that how that russian involvement played a role in your decision to enter this coalition the safety board let me let me address the last point first to shay's was kind enough to join us this evening they're not going to get out in front of their president and prime minister respectively so that it will be the national messages will be provided from the capital city very soon but with regard to the russian concerns we specifically. identify these targets to mitigate the risk of russian forces being involved and we used our normal the conflicts in channels those are active this week to work through the airspace issues and so forth we did not do any coordination with the russians on the strikes nor did we print pretty notify them. separately which is a couple of days ago that you said you are still assessing the intelligence on the chemical weapons attack suspected attack so it does point you know what the chemical was used in that attack was it sarin was there chlorine and also what is your evidence that was actually delivered by the syrian regime. say the last part again talk your evidence that was delivered by the syrian regime are you quite clear what i am confident the syrian regime conducted a chemical attack on innocent people. in this last last week yes absolutely confident of it. and we have the intelligence level of competence that we needed to conduct the attack it's restores the actual chemical used you know what it was was a nerve agent it was a chlorine give us a sense of what it was. we are very much aware one of the agents there may be have been more than one agent used we are not clear on that yet we know at least one chemical agent was used. i just sort of clarify on the decomposition of my you notify the russians head of time before the operation began what you were going to do and what targets you were going to go to be clear the only the only communications that took place pacifically associated with this operation before the targets were struck was a normal d confliction of the airspace the procedures that are in place for all of our operations in syria. no wonder you mentioned the russian or the syrian air defenses had engaged the syrian state t.v. saying they shot down thirteen tomahawk missiles can you refute that jennifer i can't tell you the results we literally as you know the time on target was about an hour ago and we came straight up here to give you the best information we have right now to morrow morning the secretary talk about a minute we'll give you that more detail the operational update and some of the details but those details are available to us right now but they're strikes is over this wave of air strikes is over that's why we're out here speaking to you know. a second time i just want to follow up on what you said about the legal basis for the strike could you talk a little bit more about that because in your testimony the other day it sounded like you were saying that this is a potential strike with somehow be linked to self-defense i mean that the presence of american forces in syria can you say a little bit more about that and also what are you whether or not there will be future action additional strikes. you said it would depend upon whether or not the outside government conducts future. attacks by. explaining a little bit more about what would be the threshold for that because there were repeated chemical attacks between april twenty twenty seventeen attack and today and would you consider a small scale chlorine attack sufficient to lodge additional strikes right now i would just tell you are in close consultation with our allies we review all the evidence all the time it is difficult as you know to get evidence out of syria but right now we have no additional attacks planned but as far as the legal authority under the article two of the constitution we believe the president has every reason to defend vital american interests and that is what he did here tonight under about authority. a couple questions for general time for what were some of the targeting considerations or difficulties involved of going after chemical facilities how long did the operation take to plan. and. the last two strikes you described as proportional moderate. how would you describe the. contras if only we we chose these particular targets to mitigate the risk of civilian casualties number one we chose these targets because they were specifically associated with the chemical program the syrian chemical program and obviously when we take a look at target planning and so forth we look at the location relative to other proper weight in areas collateral damage proportionality so these targets were carefully selected with proportionality discrimination and being specifically associated with the chemical program and of weapons or any of the manned aircraft we're going to we're going to we're going to there were there were manned aircraft involved i won't give you any of the details operation until tomorrow morning but we will do that at that time and still think your single biggest. get a question to secretary matt it's so up until yesterday and i'm going to quote you here you said i cannot tell you that we. you have evidence so when did you become confident that the chemical attack happened and the second one yesterday yesterday you have two you said that yes the second you talk about getting chemical weapons infrastructure for that said if there were actually any chemical weapons or agents in those facilities that you targeted i assume they would create a health hazard in the region or not. we don't but we did very close analysis as the chairman pointed out we did everything we could in our intelligence assessment in our planning to minimize to the maximum degree possible any chance of civilian casualties we were very much aware this is difficult to do in a situation like this especially when the. poison gas that assad assured the world he had gotten rid of obviously still exists so it is a challenge enough problem set and we had the right military officers dealing with it firm there's going to be no leak into the air force and we'll do our best. in fact when the surface to air defenses engaged do they become a target and this airpower or other assets take out those targets i'm not aware of any response that we took right now again will gather overnight as you can imagine we tried to leave united states central command alone here tonight they were quite busy will through the night gather the operational details we'll be back to morrow morning to provide that to you. yesterday about a search term a number that had last time last year you changed the force protection levels for the syrian troops there were u.s. troops there in syria there are two thousand u.s. troops in syria have you changed border protection levels based on potential responses from russia as you can imagine the commander always takes prudent measures specially in an environment that the. and tonight so they did make adjustments just to be clear on the confliction line you told them that you're going to be operating in airspace but you didn't tell them the russians what the what the targets were it isn't it is absolutely correct we used a normal d. confliction channels to two d. conflict the airspace that we were using we did not coordinate targets or or any planning with the russians or the response or we pat but that information was passed at the operational link from the combined air operations center in qatar so it wasn't on the line but we that that kind of information just to put it in perspective is pass routinely every day and every night so they may they may not have found anything unusual about that particular airspace deconstruction. thanks so much that team and some of the financial times can you talk a little bit about any iran targets that you initially involved says he told us that you initially considered and why you may have not gone to them under control colleagues explain exactly the sort of contribution that you've made to tonight's operation. and our allied officers are here out of respect for the fact that they were part of the mission from planning all the way through to the political decision taken and once their heads of state speak tomorrow and that'll be the initial statement from most capitals but as far as any other targets we looked at target specifically designed to address the chemical weapons threat that we have seen manifested the whole world is watched in horror these weapons being used those are the only targets that we were examining for prosecution. the secretary and general dunford he didn't mention three target areas that were struck how can you be sure that from now on these are all of the target areas or all of the involved production facilities for chemical weapons that the syrians have are using and you believe that there are additional locations where. where they are producing such materials and this is a great question we had a number of targets to select from and again we did not select those that had a high risk of collateral damage and specifically a high risk of civilian casualties and so the weapon airing you know back to the earlier question the weapon hearing was the modeling was done to make sure that we mitigated the risk of any chemicals that were in those facilities and mitigate the risk of civilian casualties so were there other targets that we looked at their war we selected these specific targets both based on the significance to the chemical weapons weapons program as well as the location and the layout. i think. it seems like this strike tonight was pretty limited not too dissimilar from last year and i was to be the targets this time instead of one but it seems a little bit more targeted more specific than what i think a lot of people were expecting can you walk us through your decision. to be concerned about escalation with russia thank your decision to keep this more targeted and moving from there how much assurance can you give us that this is going to do with the strike last year didn't do which is basically to stop president assad from using chemical weapons but nothing is certain in these kinds of matters however we used a little over double the number of weapons this year and we used last year. it was done on targets that we believed were selective. to hurt the chemical weapons program we can find it through the chemical weapon type targets we were not out to expand this we were very precise and proportionate but at the same time it was a heavy strike. mr secretary prior to the attack porton was it to get the support from the allies not only from an intelligence point of view but also just. from the from the countries themselves. it's always important that we act internationally in a unified way over something especially that is that is such an atrocity as this. that we've observed going on in syria but i would also tell you that these allies the americans the french the british we have operated together through thick and thin through good times and bad and this is a very very well integrated teen wherever we operate we do show with complete trust in each other the professionalism but more than that the belief that one another all be there when the chips are down so it's important and it's it's a statement about the level of trust between our nations. to let us know whether the syrians were able to hide a lot of these number of weapons the last several days since there's been so much talk about a possible strike that gives the syrians time to try to move some of these weapons off limits off limits and then secretary and that is just taken for earlier when you were saying you had information about one of the chemicals but we're also seeing that these people are worried that you had information confirming chlorine but not necessarily sarah and you just clarify that you feel the first question i'm not aware of any specific actions that the syrians took to move chemical weapons in the last couple of days. we are very confident that that chlorine was used we are not ruling out there and right now you. sound like off a little question about targets that you first began and then. down the street tonight it sounds like you want to still be and not the actual weapons that you cater earlier to minimize accidental risk the civilians in the targets that remain if you characterize perhaps the ability to proceed to ramp up again and again have chemical weapons. i think it's too early to make that assessment it's too early to make that assessment. right general dunford did any russian defenses engage u.s. british or french ships or missiles and six train matus were any of the strikes tonight intended to go bust are all assad the only the only reaction that i'm aware of at this time was syrian surface to air missiles going to be not a national command military command center and was aware of that activity i'm not aware of any russian activity i'm not aware of the full scope of the syrian regime response at this time again those would be details we'll pull together for you in the morning. the targets tonight again were specifically designed to degrade the syrian war machines ability to create chemical weapons and do that back right now there were no attempts to broaden or expand that target set and made german thank you for coming in this evening based on recent experience we fully expect a significant dissent from asian campaign over the coming days by those who have aligned themselves with the assad regime and in an effort to maintain cranch barents sea and accuracy my assistant for public affairs minister in a white and lieutenant general mackenzie the director of the joint staff here in washington will provide a brief of known details tomorrow morning and we anticipate about nine o'clock in this same same location but thank you again for coming in this evening ladies and gentlemen. are you watching r t international and we've just been watching a pentagon briefing with secretary of defense james mattis and general dunford in that they said that the united states has authorization to attack syria under article two of the constitution to protect national interests saying that there are vital national interests in syria also saying that they had targeted the chemical weapons infrastructure and that it also demonstrates international resolve to prevent the proliferation of chemical weapons they also said general james jones said that the strikes sought to minimize the risk of russian and civilian casualties and the targets were carefully selected they said that this was a one time shot against the syrian president but they were prepared to have further attacks if more chemical weapons were to be used right now i'm joined by jacqueline who is going to be joining us on our continuing coverage of this here on our international right now let's go to jennifer breeden who is an international law attorney jennifer thanks for being with us and thanks for being patient as we went through that and we started to go to you there a little bit before and then all of a sudden we went to this pentagon briefing briefing thanks for being with us and staying with us through this so. we just heard mattis say that there are no additional tanks planned and it's difficult to get evidence out of syria what do you expect now. i mean because i mean we were expecting an investigation to take place starting today in syria with the o.p.c. w. what happens now. well what happens now is i guess we're going to we're going to wait to see what the response is obviously from from russia some from some of the others that have been in syria from the surprise the shock of this happening you know at nighttime over and over night and just to see how we go forward whether we can go forward without further escalation of any violence or conflict and whether any more chemical weapons will supposedly be used i think also there's going to be more questions that will come out as to what the evidence was that led the united states u.k. and france to engage in these strikes i mean they said that there was evidence that was found they haven't given any details on that they know that chlorine was used but they said general mattis just now as we saw said that they're sure that corey was using that it was the assad government that it was the assad regime so it we are going to see more and more days people wanting to know either what that evidence was whether they're going to be more strikes and whether more of this will be used and so that's kind of what we're going to expect whether this escalates it is going to be up to the countries specifically between russia and the united states but it was typically russia who's had a much stronger presence in syria than the united states has specially over the last five years jennifer this is jacqueline also here in the studio i want to ask you we had mattis there saying that these strikes were targeting to hurt assad's alleged chemical weapons program and he was was asked if there was a health hazard in striking these chemical weapons facilities now general dunford said that they were trying to minimize civilian casualties how realistic is that though in the situation. it's really not and they were very careful in their words and so you know it's going to depend on how the weapons are being built but i think one of the things that they stated that was it was pretty telling to me was the fact that they didn't target the chemical weapons themselves they targeted research facilities research facilities is basically a word for wherever these things are made wherever the chemicals are broad and are made and that's usually what that what they call them i mean all countries that might have some sort of chemicals of this sort so they'll make them or they'll draft them miller figured out and that's where the materials are to create them if you're going to bake a cake it's where the eggs the flour and all that is kept rather than destroying the cake or the bombs themselves the bombs themselves being destroyed would admit a lot of very dangerous and poisonous gases the civilian populations the ingredients and cells before they're set up would not so i think that's what they were trying to imply the strikes were targeted at the amount of sleuthing that this is a one time strike for now they're prepared to carry out further starts in the future if need be how likely do you see that as a possibility. i think it's very possible i think that's one thing the president has been trying to trying to portray especially on the global stage and specifically following in the footsteps of obama who said a lot of red lines he didn't keep them it is going to be a dangerous or a very interesting game to play you know we want to see we would do want to seek ordination with with with russia specifically because they've been in syria much longer with a much higher presence so we do want there to be coordination we do want to see diplomatic efforts i think the united states was very careful tonight to state many times especially as we just saw in general mattis of the the entourage and defense department staining that you know these were targeted attacks they were not targeted very specific to say that russia was not a target in this and that they did not want to hurt any sort of russian military military or combatants or russia combatants or russian civilians for foreign civilians things like that so you know we're going to see we're probably not going to see a lot more a lot more action on this part we're going to want to see what the response is from the russian counterpart in syria and and whether this doesn't have to escalate how we can really get to the bottom of any investigation but hopefully where general mattis was right on the money that this is going to be a one time target strike he did say that any more strikes will be because of the use of chemical weapons against civilians so hopefully we hope not to see that specifically as we've seen videos coming out of how that is but again we are still going to be waiting to see what the evidence was that led to the attacks. jennifer we have stronger who is actually on the ground there who can give us some insight into the situation do you mind hanging around for just a bit we know that you've been around for a while but we'd like to come back to you after we get some insight on the ground there and sure sure absolutely you know we can cross a lot of to of course. who is a local journalist from damascus could you please tell us more about the situation in syria's capital. this is a shawn thomas in moscow with jacqueline vogel can you hear us. yet yes i can hear you ok could you get to the question please yes definitely this is shawn thomas and jacqueline vulgate moscow we were wondering if you could tell us about the situation on the ground there in syria. well just a minute ago. we had i think the launching of a myside or it could be. a jet flying very close to the ground we can tell actually because we've been hearing for the past hour and a half a lot of noises. it's i live in but is that which is very close to the center of research that has been bombarded the syrian news agency just said that this was a target we don't know how much. that part of it was destroyed because. i think a bit touchy to move around but we've seen the smoke and we've heard that around four am that is like an hour and a half ago. the sound which was very loud and probably it was the first part of it said at least in the mosque it because it was the first sound. as you already know the operation the aggression has stopped and for so it's been it's now been more quiet or. we don't know how how the syrian army reacted to that that shot a lot of. silent anti aircraft. missiles as well but they said that they managed to hit. that has been launched from probably from doing that anyone. around damascus and also around the city of hummus in the center of the country. can you hear there on the ground can you give us an idea of what the feeling is like we know that the tensions must be running high that the people must be worried especially as the run up to this we've been hearing there might be a strike now that strike has actually been confirmed and is taking place what's the situation what do people feel like what are they saying. but we're expecting everyone was expecting this aggression we didn't know if it was going to happen sooner or later what we know is that it was going to happen especially with that and also president like president trump something that you would imagine he would he would carry on but the of course it is always a surprise to you we were sleeping it was four am and people just some people ran to the streets some people went to the basements of buildings and some people just turned on the t.v.'s and you know watched it's been seven years now and already. in terms of watching you know. fear with what you would really used to it so it's not so it's not something that hasn't happened before where we haven't felt before. people began and most of the people i know began chatting on what's up groups and telling each other what they've heard and what they've seen and what they're expecting and some people are joking about something like that has been you know in the air for a week or so and people were expecting it so in a way. we're glad it has passed but we don't know if there were casualties syrian soldiers or maybe from other nationalities. that are fighting with the syrian army we still it is still not clear right now. ziad this is jack and also in the studio here where sean you said that you could hear some of these strikes happening was there any indication coming from the sound where in the city they were happening. you know we know that it's coming from a size our i mean this did that the the the strong sound is comes from the air and then once it hits the ground and the explosion happens we know that one hour and a half ago the biggest one or the largest one was very close to where i live it is in the center of research in the area of birthday i think this probably was the first started to be hit at four am and after it there was a lot of anti-aircraft and to my side sounds as well as we i think we've heard some jets flying close by but i'm not sure if it's launching of rockets or jets flying by because it's truly difficult to to. distinguish between the two but it's been a bit it's been a bit. that i've been many noises going on so syria difficult to know what exactly is that you know even with the experience that we have right now but now it's quite it's very quiet and. and the light it's already late in the day has started so we'll see how destructive this strike was. all right ziad thank you for being with us here on our to international and giving us an idea of what is happening on the ground there in syria. you know all right now just to recap our breaking news speaking from the white house president donald trump has announced that the u.s. france and the u.k. are launching strikes against syria trump says if you tax will continue until the syrian government stops using chemical weapons he also called on russia to take responsibility for not preventing the chemical attack in syria according to several media reports there were explosions damascus heard right after the u.s. president's speech arabic media said that six powerful explosions occurred in the syrian capital barzee district where scientific centers are located and london u.k. prime minister theresa may said that there were no alternatives to striking syria since all diplomatic means had been exhausted sources report that the targets include a research center the airport and special units barracks so far the syrian army claims it has intercepted more than twenty missiles speaking at the pentagon u.s. secretary of defense jim mattis and general joseph dunford said no additional attacks are planned at this time he also said it is difficult to get evidence of chemical weapons attacks out of syria no inspectors from the international chemical weapons wash dog are due to start work in duma on saturday the announcement on this appeared on thursday just days after the suspected chemical attack organizations on the ground such as the white house helmets and sams have reported the deaths of more than forty people and hundreds injured with multiple narratives circulating around the alleged gas attack the main focus is now on the investigation of what actually happened in duma o.p.c. w inspectors are gathered are expected to gather samples from people who could have been affected and from the surrounding area the inspectors reportedly will also interview doctors patients and other witnesses now we've got the latest pictures from our video agency ruptly here these are live pictures i'm getting we can see. the situation on the ground in damascus. earlier several media reported that there were explosions in damascus heard right after the u.s. president's speech arabic media said six powerful explosions occurred in the syrian capital. and that the targets include a research center the airport and special units bear. we are now joined live by medea benjamin code pink activists. for joining us this is jacqueline and shawn here in the studio matta said that there are no additional attacks planned and it's of course difficult to get evidence out of syria but what do you expect to happen next at this point. i think president trance wants to keep attacking syria and mattis is probably the moderating factor knowing that he doesn't want to escalate this to become a direct conflict with the russia or e run so i think there's divisions within the u.s. government right now as to how to proceed it really doesn't make any sense from what president trump is saying that he wants to stop the use of chemical weapons well how would you know with one attack how would you ever know and as general mattis has been reported to have said earlier he didn't understand what the president trance strategy was and all of this if indeed the strategy is to get rid of assad certainly that's going to be a much much wider war so it's unclear what this is all about probably just. the pentagon having to respond to trounce desire to show that he is tough this does not help the syrian people this does not deescalate the conflict which is what is needed this only creates a more dangerous path to widening the tragic word that has killed way too many people and i also want to say that we should not only be concerned about the horrific deaths due to chemicals but the hundreds of thousands of people are being killed in seven years of fighting and i want my government to stop bombing and to start putting all of its energies into finding a solution to this crisis now the o.p.c. w with only scheduled to get to hear it today of course it's unclear if that's going to happen or not at this point but why do you think that action was taken before that investigation even had a chance to get off the ground. well this is very similar to what we saw in the case of iraq the u.s. doesn't want the concrete evidence and certainly general mattis has the evidence he wasn't willing to share it with the american public and he just said a day ago that he didn't have that evidence so why wouldn't they wait until the inspectors were in and why does it matter to wait a couple of days certainly the syrian government was not about to use chemical weapons again with all the global attention on it so i think this they obviously wanted to do it before the inspectors were there and they wanted to do it with it with out the international law on their side and certainly it doesn't have the u.s. law on its side either and i'm glad that there are a number of members of congress who have been speaking out and saying that the president does not have the right to go in without consulting congress or media sean thomas here. i want to read you a statement real quick from the ambassador of russia to the usa anatolian off he said the worst apprehensions have come true are warnings have been left on heard. in the past we've seen proxy wars between the soviet union and the united states and this is back in the cold war days of course vietnam comes to mind the korean war comes to mind but. there are actually troops on the ground that have been invited by the syrian government in. to russia into syria. can we expect further conflict between russia and the united states actual direct war possibly. well certainly we hope not but this is in it very impetuous present that we have who is attacked on all sides for all kind of scandals that he is involved in and this helps to take the attention away from those scandals i think people in the pentagon have much a clear understanding about how this could escalate out of control and trying to dampen the impulses but let's remember that we now have john bolton who is the national security advisor who has the ear of the president and he would like a wider war he would like to escalate this to have a direct confrontation i think with the iranian forces that are on the ground in potentially with russian as well he came into this in ministration as somebody who's known for having been involved in the decision to invade iraq a decision he has never stepped back around and he is somebody who is in a very dangerous position right now who i think from the inside is pushing the pentagon to do what they don't want to do which is not to make this a one off set of strikes but to continue this in a way that could very well career out of out of control. medea benjamin who is a code pink activist thanks for being with us here on r.t.e. international thank you we can now show you the latest pictures from our video agency ruptly here you can see what appears to be projectiles in the sky over damascus earlier several media reported that there were explosions in damascus heard right after the u.s. presence speech or at arabic media said six powerful blast occurred in the syrian capital targeted by the blast or probably include a research center at the airport and especially in a spare. or once again if you're joining us live speaking from the white house president obama trump announced that the u.s. france and the u.k. are launching strikes against syria our correspondent for the mop and joins us live now from new york with details. been an interesting one to follow could you please give us the latest. yes now we heard from u.s. president donald trump and he talked about attacking the syrian arab republic taking action against them in coordination with the united kingdom and france and that he used the language of calling it a strong deterrence to the syrian government in response to this allegation that they have used chemical weapons and hope that this action he argued would would deter them from doing things such things in the future now in his remarks tonight he specifically criticized iran and russia for being aligned with the syrian government using language saying what kind of nation let's take a listen to some of what donald trump said when announcing that military action was being taken against the syrian government short time ago i ordered the united states armed forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of syrian dictator. a combined operation with the armed forces of france and the united kingdom. is now underway. now furthermore it's important to note that following donald trump's remarks we then heard a pentagon briefing an update from the u.s. military on the actions it included u.s. secretary of defense james mattis as well as general dunford from the pentagon now when james mattis spoke he said that this was a one time action and furthermore he said that double the number of weapons were used in this current strike taking place against the syrian government or that took place earlier double the number of weapons than were used previously when there was another bombing carried out by u.s. drone tromp against the air airbase last year in response to other allegations of chemical weapons so double the number of weapons now furthermore it's important to know that on thursday the pentagon did say that it had received proof that these chemical allegations against the syrian government were true thursday we had the pentagon coming out and saying they have proof that it was done now there's been quite a bit of contention at the u.n. security council russia has sent its inspectors to the site of the alleged chemical attack in duma they have not found any traces of chemicals they have not found any victims they have not found any even eyewitnesses to the attack and they simply cannot confirm that the attack happened however nikki haley the representative of the united states to the u.n. security council seemed adamant despite very little and almost no investigation taking place seemed very adamant in the words she gave to the u.n. security council that the attack had been carried out by the government that it had taken place this is some of the rhetoric we heard from nikki haley in the lead up to donald trump strike on the syrian arab republic. did a chemical weapons attack happen yes the u.s. has analyzed yes it has happened the u.k. has analyzed it jest it has happened france has vandalized yes it has happened three separate analysis all coming back with the same thing there is proof that this happened. now it's also important to note that the u.n. security council meetings over the course of this week have gotten rather intense we had russian representatives calling in putting forward a resolution that would have mandated that the o.p.c. w. inspectors actually visit the site where the alleged chemical attack happened in order to make their determination and then we saw the united states veto that resolution and block it essential saying they they did not want to mandate that the inspectors actually go to the site we heard other countries speaking up china took to the floor of the u.n. security council and urged the international community to respect to the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the syrian arab republic now we know that in the aftermath of trump announcing that these strikes were taking place in that he was striking the syrian government we know that explosions were heard in damascus now damascus is a very densely populated area of syria it's one of the areas under the control of the syrian government and syrians from all across the country who have seen their or their homes taken over by terrorists and extremists that want to overthrow the syrian government have fled to damascus and that protecting damascus where so many civilians have been concentrated has been one of the main military efforts of the syrian government in recent months so as of yet we haven't had any confirmation or heard exactly what is going on in damascus we have heard that there have been explosions that there have been attacks we're waiting for more information but the pentagon is saying at this point that it is a one time strike and that they're hoping it is a strong deterrent that will prevent the syrian government from carrying out future chemical attacks even though the evidence that they actually carried out a chemical attack even though that evidence has not been gathered in the o.p.c. w. and the organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons and people on the ground have not confirmed that the alleged chemical attack even took place and are . there for us in new york saying across the story we know that as the situation develops you'll be getting more information for us thanks for being with us. meanwhile russia's defense ministry has released a video in which witnesses to the aftermath of the alleged chemical attack in syria's duma say there was no indication that those rushed to the hospital had been exposed to a chemical agent. my name is. i am a medical student i work in the e.r. department of dumas central hospital on april eighth a building in the city was bombed the upper floors were destroyed and the bottom floors caught fire all the injured from that building were brought to our hospital . the residents from the upper floors were suffering from smoke inhalation and that is what we treated them for based on the symptoms they exhibited but this is a bit of a dominating headlines over the past few days that incident in duma whatever took place is attracted very different versions of events from the russian side the syrian side and the u.s. u.k. and france something did happen in do on the seventh of april with the western nations on the white helmets group on the ground in syria claiming it was a chemical attack by the damascus government on civilians killing and injuring dozens the russian side the mask is saying this was a setup now today we've got that evidence allegedly from the russian mody saying they have identified an individual in the video you can see just being played bad that video was used as part of the evidence by helmets and western nations to prove that there was a chemical attack in duma as those rebels and civilians were being evacuated you can see the man highlighted the witness there on the video just for our viewers they claim they've identified him subsequently asked exactly what happened in that incident on the seventh of april in dubai let's take a listen to what exactly had to say about what took place in the hospital. during treatment some person came in i don't know who that was and said that it was a chemical attack. when the. people got scared a fight broke out the. relatives of the victims started pouring water on one another. then others began to give inhalers for asthma the children. even though these people were not medical professionals we did not see any patients exhibiting symptoms of chemical poisoning. this video amongst others of course quite shocking disturbing images of civilian casualties was circulated online all social media and cited by the information and organizations countries as evidence of that chemical attack and evidence of course is the key word here is the real crux of the issue of what o.p.c. w team heading over to do more on the way that they should be there over the next twenty four forty eight hours or so believe they have arrived in syria their findings will be key to establishing what really happened in duma whether there was some sort of chemical incident by the damascus government by as the western nations are saying or as we heard from the russian. the russian military has gathered evidence that indicates the direct involvement of great britain organizing the provocation in eastern ukraine we know for a fact that london pressured the so-called white helmets to carry out their plans provocation as soon as possible they were told that from the third to the sixth of april rebels would carry out a series of heavy showings of damascus and that this would lead to a reaction from the government forces which the white helmets should use for their provocation and to allege the use of chemical weapons so these are obviously quite strong allegations from the russian ministry of defense or other counter allegations us to this alleged chemical incident in do something they will have to obviously provide evidence for specifically for for britain's involvement in this the key bit of evidence that as we said before is the arrival of the o.p.c. team with the u.n. and that he would instructions on the ground to get those soil samples get those examined any victims if there are any and find out if any chemicals were used that's the key thing to prove what exactly happened and to give gravitas and credibility to either of these two versions will find that out of course in the next twenty four to forty eight hours. and the u.k.'s ambassador to the un has reacted to the accusations from the russian military by calling them grotesque and a blatant lie however the video featuring the medic who dismissed the chemical attack claims has been taken seriously and shown by a number of media outlets are the questions are also hanging over the west's narrative due to the dubious reputations of the groups that initially made the allegation tease gazi of comments. reports of a chemical attack first period strangely enough for almost the precise moment the battle had ended when the syrian government that rebels were negotiating on how to evacuate the latter reports first appeared on social media twitter facebook and spread like wildfire while my colleague kendall anian and i have learned today that the u.s. now has blood and a year in samples from some of the victims of this attack in syria last weekend and that those samples according to u.s. officials tested positive for chemicals sources the usuals why the helmets who service rescue is islamists and syrian rebels also the somewhat less known syrian american medical society savin's together with the white helmets they were cited by the washington post the new york times and then virtually every western media outlets reporting on this chemical attack saturday april seventh amidst continuous bombardment of residential neighborhoods in the city of duma more than five hundred cases the majority of whom are women and children were brought to local medical centers with symptoms indicative of exposure to a chemical agent sams that self is funded by u.s. aid six million in two thousand and fifteen usaid is widely believed to be an arm of the state department is banned in multiple countries accused of interfering in the. policies and promoting regime change even has an office of transition initiatives the management at sams also believe it or not former usaid starforce was saddam's who reportedly provided the u.p.c. w. with samples of the alleged sarin gas that was used in hunchy houla site of a chemical attack last year after which donald trump sent fifty seven cruise missiles at the syrian airbase o.p.c. w is on its way to duma to investigate we've contacted various groups including the world health organization they've cited sam's but have refused to go into any details what comes next no one can say whether the u.s. will go ahead with a preemptive strike or where the cooler heads will prevail. author and journalist max blumenthal believe people should be skeptical about the role of one group in particular in syria. well what's remarkable is that this group the syrian american medical society is cited by a who's who of western media organizations as a credible source when it's anything but this organization which is funded to the tune of some close to six million dollars or more by usa id a wing of the state department which actually emerged out of the cia to encourage regime change and what the u.s. considers enemy states this organization is directed by operatives name sahar so little is actually a lobbyist who's been lobbying the u.s. government since the obama administration for a war of regime change and this organization operates hospitals exclusively in territory controlled by al qaeda syrian affiliates and its allies so this is a you know to me to see it should be a national scandal that u.s. taxpayers are basically paying for the civil society wing of al qaeda and its jihadi allies and we're