one of the motivating factors to invade iraq was defense of israel. the road to peace and israel goes to baghdad. if we defeat this regime we will be able to put in a puppet and who will be pro is real and enough pipeline from iraq, so i think it wasn't the main reason the u.s. went to war with iraq. everyone has a reason. 9/11 provided the pretext. the defense of israel's position in the region is one of america's main motives for what it does in the middle east. certainly that was the factor in the water on iraq but it was hard for me to think about how iraq is affected by the conflict with israel. do you have any ideas? there must be something. [inaudible] >> it is so separate. the american occupation, how incompetent it was but they had american officers visiting israel in 2004 and lessons learned to see how the israelis occupy and control a populated area but even have the west bank, it is awesome in an evil sense when you see the level of population control, just defeated and crushed spirit of the palestinians in the west bank. every town surroun

of course the party was majority shiite. iraq was much more complicated than the way the americans had sidestepped. they opposed to the secretary of geographical -- secretary and regions see you at the sunni triangle, the shia south and they were forcing iraqi is to think about themselves in ways they previously had and. racism and secretarianism and identity in this culture we see in america more and more these days as effect on latinos and on muslims. people who look like me these days are her best on the streets as well, but obviously racism between blacks and whites certainly excess. blacks still remain very bitter about the prejudice they feel, but you don't see militia warfare. you don't see the races and the grievance in the u.s. turning into violent activities. likewise, in iraq before the war, identity was very complex. you had urban and rural besides, middle class and poor and wealthy people in the government come out of the government, north and south. people who were religious and people who were secular. so how you f

none of these factors has helped reduce violence in iraq. from the terrible elza 2006, 2007 to the really, really bad levels of 2010 today. none of those factors exist in afghanistan. totally different situation where they sometimes implement the same tactics because the americans believe that it was the surge in general petraeus with his brilliant new tactics that won the war in iraq. if you can call that a victory at the price of close to 1 million civilians and millions of people displaced from their homes, and tens of thousands of families spending years in american or iraqi prisons. so this is the kind of victory you want to impose on afghanistan. you still have more iraqi civilians dying today than of afghan civilians. it's still kind of muddled and afghans which should if he knew what the americans are trying to bring to them. but iraq at least is better today than it was. the worst is over. in iraq, like i said, sunnis were crushed. they were told their new place and they eventually were forced to accept it. sunnis realized they had l

manageable solution in iraq over the last couple of years can't hide the fact that the initial decision to invade iraq has proven extremely detrimental to america's image, its moral standing and the lives of countless iraqis. >> malou, how about you? do you think that the war has contributed to making americans safer or not? >> i would completely agree with marc. i don't think they've actually contributed to making america safer and i think that when you weigh the economic, political and moral costs, particularly in the invasion of iraq, that they outweigh any discernible benefit to u.s. national security. and i think the more important question we sort of need to begin asking ourselves as a nation is, uh, sort of, what important lessons can we draw from both of these conflicts? in the case of iraq, it should be that armed intervention should be undertaken only when absolutely critical to u.s. national security. and i think going forward, we sort of, we need to remember that it's easy to wage a war but much more difficult to govern a c

is absolutely improper is leading an elegy before the invasion of iraq beginning around october, 2002, so maybe five months or so before the actual invasion and the bush administration began to flow lines like iraq will be like germany and japan after the war but we can turn this horrendous authoritarian brutal dictatorship into a peaceful, prosperous allies to ourselves and model for the middle east. at that time loads of the people, the military was doing their own studies of occupations in occupied areas japan and germany were special cases. incidentally, not a single jihadi was killed in the occupation of germany or the occupation of japan by hostile germans were germany, not one. we look back on that and it's just unbelievable. we said at the time, look, people like myself but many of these people in the government committee to terrific work iraq is not japan and what you see is it's not western, it's not christian. everything that made the occupation a success in japan is absent in iraq. the occupation will not be legitimate, there will be no exist

now all of that was afghanistan and iraq, but even when you take these out of the equations they went up in europe and other places, so the iraq war was st was intelligence agency said in the national intelligence estimate in 2007. so, it put the oil on the fire and gave them live in a new lease on life, but al qaeda, which is only learning organization, made mistakes that in iraq over time didn't end, not only in iraq but in a wider war. >> host: let me ask you a question if i could, sort of shifting to osama bin laden's officious because in the book you describe what he's doing largely to his beef with american foreign policy, the rule but we played in the middle east in particular and crushing of these regimes that he loathes to read in the tens of thousands of was in london has uttered he was largely silent of freedoms and values, which was a book that president bush went on and on about our freedoms. but you say he doesn't seem to care about the release on the quote on quote crusaders. his focus was invariably on american foreign policy in the middle east. my question to you this

up sevenfold and a lot of that was afghanistan and iraq but even when you take these out of the equation the wind up in europe and other places, so the iraq war was caused as the national intelligence estimate in 2007. so it put the wheel on the fire and gave bin laden late new lease on life, but al qaeda which is not a learning organization made mistakes in iraq that over time did it moly in iraq in the wider war. >> host: let me ask a question if i could to the osama bin laden motivation because in the book you describe large what he's doing towards the american foreign policy, the role of the plan in particular in these regimes, and you say that in all of the tens of thousands of ford's bin laden has ordered his largely silent about american freedoms and values which was a point that president bush went on and on about the freedoms, but tuesday he doesn't seem to care but the belief of the quote on quote crusaders and the focus was invariably on the foreign policies in the middle east. my question to you that is how do you explain this letter that you released addressed to the america

in the summer of 2005, after a year in iraq, third platoon came back to the united states. their new home was fort carson, on the outskirts of colorado springs. since the start of the iraq war, this city has experienced an unprecedented murder spree. in the last six years, 15 fort carson soldiers have been charged or convicted in 14 murders and manslaughters. on friday nights, downtown is full of soldiers from fort carson-- some trying to forget what they've experienced, others celebrating their homecoming. ( music playing ) ( siren wailing ) >> narrator: the soldiers of third platoon hit the bars of colorado springs as soon as they got home. >> in the first six months, you know, you're just happy to be home. and then, after that six months, i just... problems started-- depression, anxiety, paranoia. getting the feeling that you're in iraq all over again. seeing people that you know died in iraq in crowds. constantly checking the rooftops as you're walking down the street. ( chuckles ) oh, man. >> narrator: between 2002 and 2009, the number of fort carson soldiers diagnosed

into haifa so i think this is one of the main reasons why the u.s. went to war with iraq. everyone has their own reasons and 9/11 provided a pretext but the defense of israel securing israel's position in the region is one of america's main motives for what it does in the middle east unfortunately, so certainly that was a factor in the war on iraq that it is hard for me to think of how iraq has affected the conflict with israel. do you have any ideas? i feel like there must be something. i think it is separate. i've seen the american occupation and how incompetent when it was. they actually did have an -- visiting in 2004 to see how the israelis occupy and how they control a populated area. even at the west bank it is just awesome in an evil since when you see the level of population control and just defeated and crushed the spirit of the palestinians in the west bank. every town surrounded by walls that are much bigger than the walls i saw in iraq. just impenetrable. if you lift your head in defiance it is going to get crushed and not just by the israelis but crushed by

all the lot in terms of his position on iraq. but obama showed great confidence in biden by giving him the assignment of monitoring the american involvement in iraq and, ultimately, the withdrawal of american forces. and hen as we saw last year -- then as we saw last year in the long and torturous debate within the administration about what to do in afghanistan, biden was a, was an influential force with obama be -- pushing back against the generals. eventually, when obama agreed to put 30,000 more troops into afghanistan, biden was widely cast as a loser in that argument. although he did, he did persuade obama to focus more in afghanistan on the old pursuit, the original pursuit of getting osama bin laden and al-qaeda. because of the criticism of biden, i took the occasion this submitting -- in submitting written questions to obama how he felt about the allegation that biden had been the loser. and i'd just like to read to you what obama's response was. here's what he said. i don't think anyone who was party to that, to the very,

invasion of iraq gave bin laden sort of second lease of life. al qaeda in iraq which didn't exist under saddam hussein inflicted a tremendous amount of damage on iraq but itself suffered a strategic defeat there. but overall, we haven't been attacked again in any serious manner since 9-11. al qaeda has taken a lot of hits. and al qaeda and its allies more importantly are also losing the war of ideas in the muslim world. most muslims around the world recognize that these groups which position themselves as defenders of true islam in fact kill a lot of muslim civilians and don't offer them anything positive. and most muslims don't want to live in some taliban style utopia which is what bin laden and allied groups are offering. tavis: and a quick 30 seconds, peter, you mentioned his name, does it matter, does it mean anything, all these years later, as this longest war continues, that bin laden still runs free, what should the american people make of that? >> we spent half a trillion dollars on our intelligence since 9-11. bin laden's going to celeb

elements of the 15th bring expedition her unit are sent in to iraq. it's spread across three cities. it's kind of necessity by an intelligence assessment by a marine colonel that said anbar province was not winnable. he saw the situation degenerated for the near future and that success was unlikely. however, with the city of ramallah from november through march of 2007 the city went from averaging 31 attacks a day to less than one. such a pretty significant change in the rage company will tell you about what happened. why that is, how it occurred and kind of give you the idea, how does that tie into tribal warfare at its core. so before we get into too much about the book give you some about myself and my father was a career marine for 20 years. i grew up as a military brat and go into military bases but i never spent more than three years in any one place that i went into the marine corps straight from the rotc program in college. my career progression was that of an artillery officer. went to my first two years were training. after spending about six

after thousands of deaths of troops and civilians, president obama announced the end of combat operations in iraq and the intention to begin withdrawing from afghanistan. economic crises dominated much of the end of the decade as recession, unemployment and foreclosures took a toll on faith-based groups and the people they serve. religious institutions were forced to slash their budgets and lay off staff even as they were asked to do more to help needy people. ♪ religion continued to be a potent force in politics. in 2000 and 2004, president bush rallied religious conservatives. he set up a new white house office to expand government partnerships with faith-based social service organizations. analysts spoke of a god gap, with voters seeing the democratic party as unfriendly toward religion. ♪ in the run-up to the 2008 elections, democrats and the obama campaign developed an unprecedented outreach to compete for religious votes. many in that faith coalition were disappointed the democrats didn't build on the momentum in the 2010 midterm elections. meanwhile, religious conservatives were energized

of 2003. when we were in there, up to the conflict, we are in iraq. we were not going to be relying on the ground. what became very apparent very quickly, made about a stake of the iraqi was not correct. on >> on the nineteenth of february, tumwater breakdown, what were the likely consequences going to be? >> you can pick out these things, i should think -- the intelligence that al qaeda sent into iraq. it was a rather different from what we came to but this was the benefit of hindsight. the overall impression of bits of information this wasn't my conclusion -- both ours and the americans and, the same conclusions reached by the un -- a collapsed government. i want to emphasize it would have been a problem -- >> let me look briefly in to the insurgency, to you -- let me ask about the -- what we anticipated. the meetings with the chiefs of staff on the fifteenth of january in 2003 two months before -- the risk of serious violence, two particular phrases, between the share of populations that were irretrievably fractured. can you tell us what you did to

invasion of iraq. his talk at rice university in houston, texas lasts about an hour and 15 minutes. >> my book, half of it deals with iraq, how the civil war began, how it came to an end, and what iraq looks like today. the other half, though, deals with iraq's impact on the region, increased fighting in lebanon, refugees, and increasingly unstable middle east and how iraq came to afghanistan, and by that i mean, the u.s. began to implement many of the same tactics which are used in afghanistan and we -- i'm sorry, tactics using in iraq, implementing them in afghanistan, and we saw suicide bombings, ied's, things we associated with iraq, coming to afghanistan. these days, iraq is a forgotten subject in the media. nobody cares about it. it's hard to get people interested, and i'm grateful to see a large crowd here. afghanistan, because there's more americans there. when americans are dying, a country is in the news a little bit more. i maintain we can't understand what's happening in afghanistan or the a

he talks about the possibility of taking the mound site iraq. evertheless, despite remaining shortcomings, interviews are useful. since we started requesting interviews, 38 individuals were asked to private interviews, of which can accept our terms, seven of these during the last week. so it is not the case that there was a complete blank on interviews. they were happening and they were happening -- and he again told us in evidence to us under the conditions that unmovic wished for. >> well, by march 7th it is absolutely correct the iraqi is working more forthcoming than they had ever been earlier, not surprising since we had approximately 300,000 troops down there, but if you actually track the development of this -- by the way, the three-point your meeting, sir lawrence is the reason i have tried to come to the benchmarks. so i will come to that in a moment. if we actually go through it from interviews without minders is turned down on a january 17th. on the 536, blix comes to see me and again says he is worried about the interviews. by the way

iraq, the occupation of iraq, iraq is no longer a country to become a regional power. the only one left is iran. iran remains in the crosshairs. it's very much a threat to u.s. hegemony in the region because it has the potential to be an independent power. suddenly without oil for money, turkey has risen with an extraordinary policy of wanting to have no enemies among its neighbors, which is an amazing thing to think about as the basis for a foreign policy. and it suddenly has the 17th largest economy in the world. without oil, based on tourism and, unfortunately, a lot of sweatshop labor but it's an economy that's growing enormously. it has a government that has much wider popular support than the earlier militarily based governments ever did. and it is engaged in a creative set of new foreign policies led by an extraordinarily quite brilliant foreign minister who is working to make relations with both europe -- it still wants to join the european union an important priority but not the only priority. it also wants to remain an important part of the middle east. so it

bush. >> a year before the invasion of iraq, tony blair said frequent in private letters to george bush, setting out his determination to stand shoulder to shoulder with the americans. last month, the chairman of the iraq inquiry wrote to the cabinet secretary seeking permission to published extracts from his letters. he wrote "the material requested provide important and often unique insights into the thinking and commitment seem made that are not reflected. it cannot publish it. today, he expressed the committee's frustration. but they are disappointed that he is not willing to exceed 2 the request. in means that and an important area they may not be able to publish as fully as they would wish the evidential basis for some of its common and conclusion. >> the most part possible servants decided that the letters cannot be published. he said it harmed the international relations. downing street was quick to say it was nothing to do it the coalition government. before the election, nick clegg spoke out against documents being withheld. today it is the former leader that called it to be r

have a suicide bombing to take control of an area larger than doing clint but at the end of the day, a guide and iraq was devastated. what is the impact? there is a mythology that led that the united states was a day paper tiger or recourse if you kill a couple of americans they go home. that did not happen. we would double down and i say to a large extent to neutralize sakai and iraq. what is the impact on the jihadist site the? >> guest: one way to calibrate osama bin laden during the iraq war at its height would release tapes celebrating the success of the insurgents and he has gone completely silent on this issue because it was a defeat and a strategic defeat. it was a big deal. interesting way, we are not seen all lot of foreigners streaming into the afghan war. suicide bombers. it did not have been in afghanistan. i am not quite sure why that is the case. al qaeda and i iraq, is strategic defeat would remain a problem and it would be a terrorist problem. and what i say in the book is a the strategic defeat was four al qaeda losing the war of ideas, not so much of the jaunty movement movement --

up next, marine captain thomas daly talks about his experience in the first 6 months of the serge in iraq. he presents his book at barnes & noble in washington, d.c.. this is just over 30 minutes. >> i've got a couple things i want to go over with you guys. first of ail, thank you for coming. i know you take times out of your days and schedules to come here and listen to one marine's speech, so i really do appreciate it. before we begin, i'll give you an idea of the actual agenda i'm talking about. the specific topics. i'll give you an idea of what a rage company? what is the book about? where does it take place? what's the situation? i'll give you a piece about the author, about myself, tell you about the city of the capitol of the province in iraq. the book is separated into different books. there's the first half and second half. once we're into it, you'll understand what i'm talking about. it'll drive us into why i wrote the book. i'll go into the importance of rage company, and we'll do a questions and answers and a book signing after that. okay. it's an bar province in 2006 and 2007

lot in terms of positions in iraq. but obama showed great confidence in biden by giving him the assignment of monitoring and the american involvement in iraq and ultimately the withdrawal of american forces. and then as we saw last year, in the long torturous debate with the administration about what to do in afghanistan, biden was an influential force with obama, pushing back against the generals, against the surge. eventually when obama agreed to put 30,000 more troops into afghanistan, biden was widely cast as a loser in that argument although he did -- he did persuade obama to focus more in afghanistan on the pursuit of getting osama bin laden and al qaeda. because of the criticism of biden, i took the occasion and submitted written questions to obama how he felt about that allegation biden had been a loser. i would like to read to you what obama's response was. here's what he said. i don't think anyone who is party to that very exhaustive discussion we had would say that that biden was the loser. he was uncomfortab

neighbors back home but until that is possible until american reconstruction dollars reach the quarter of iraq's population that lives in poverty children like fatima will continue to collect trash in order to survive sebastian meyer or a t. in baghdad. the site of the world's biggest a civilian nuclear disaster at chernobyl as largely being a no go zone for most twenty five years but now ukraine is planning to make use of the land there which is still fertile despite years of radiation by using it for agriculture the shock proposals have led to a clash between experts over the safety implications as r.t. alexy reports these berries may look ripe and delicious but they're definitely not part of a healthy diet the bush is inside a thirty kilometer chernobyl exclusion zone in ukraine and radiation levels are off the scale people do not live here anymore but same cannot be said about flora and fauna some say it is the absence of anthropogenic harm in the church nor will exclusion zone which made nature develop here rapidly. after the nine hundred eighty six fallout in chernobyl the environment suff

is pumping billions of dollars into regenerating iraq but with thousands they're still living below the poverty line many have yet to see any proof and living standards. have reports forced to live in dumping ground scavenging through waste just a few dollars. at seven am every morning fatima crouch is outside her house and along with her sister and cousins begins to sort through garbage displaced from southern iraq that miss family is too poor to send her to school and so she works eight hours a day sorting through baghdad's landfill collecting plastic and metal that will be shipped abroad for recycling a reward for carting forty pounds of trash around two dollars and fifty cents behind me six acres of back that's trash to many this is just waste but for the families here this is not only their livelihood but also their homes over two thousand people live on baghdad's landfill. making their homes out of the garbage that the rest of the city throws away there's no running water or electricity and certainly no access to medical treatment if someone gets sick they have to be taken to hosp

telling to rest sparks accusations that lacks checks are to blame for the spread of an extremist threat. and we report from iraq where people driven from the house as part of war make the landfill sites their home and their livelihood. this is r t it's eight pm now you're a moscow welcome if you choose georgia she watching our news review of the week with me kevin zero in first extreme weather is hampering attempts to rescue two ships stranded in freezing waters off russia's far east coast for the past week a second ice breaker is now less than ten miles away from the first break in which was unable to free the vessels by itself more than three hundred people on board the two boats tonight are sort of firth is calling the rescue mission for us now live sarah very good evening to you this rescue is into its eleventh day now is no problems seem to keep cropping up how is the operation progressing tonight one of those saying. well this maritime john they're continuing to play out today and you've really got a feel for the queen on board days remaining t. shirts. the eleventh day now hopefully the end possibly now

jumping to no. 8 up from 17 last year. >> iraq has jumped specifically because of the inteional targeting of the christian community of extremist of the factionsof iraq. al-qaeda indicated on its websites, christians were quote, legitimate targets for their holy warriors. >> just before christmas, muslim waged attas including a massacre at a baghdad church. >> we are labelling it religiouside, they want to exterminate all christians from the country of iraq. >> the obama administration is condemning e attacks. state department is deeply concerned about what appears to be a rising number of attacks on christians in middle east and africa. ephram aham the cbn news. >>> christians in egypare cryinout. egyptian officials blame al-qaeda. egypt christians say the government does nothing to protect them. heather sells has more. >> reporter: they are trying to determine if home grown islamic radicals were responsible killing 21 worshippers and wounding nearly 100 and if al-qaeda outsiders sneaked into egypt to commit or coordinate the bombing. paul marshal for at the insti

former british prime minister tony blair has expressed his deep and profound regret over the victims of the iraqar. he made the statement at the end of four and a half hours of testimony before the iraq war inquiry in london. in a written statement, he acknowledged he had discounted advice from his attorney general in 2003 that the invion of iraq may not legal without the backing of the u.n.. the former prime minister said he viewed that advice as provisional. so berlin is hopping. fashion week in green week. >> double the amount of visitors expected for the world's biggest food fair. i do not know the two go hand- in-hand. but i would not mind eating my way through this. food prices have been one topic that consumers are concerned about. dioxin has been another. the gornment has made ves t make sur the dioxin scandal does not occur again. producers of announced plans to introduce controls. high levels of cancer causing dioxin found in northern germany, prompting some consumers to steer clear of eggs and pork. many have started buying organic food instead. it is a boon for the organic farmers, b

i think we should be upping in gauge with iran rather than the sanctions policy and the isolation of iraq engagement is likely to bring about improvements in human rights engagement is likely to bring about the prospects of iran working with the rest of the world and engagement would actually strengthen the hands of civil society in iran as well. thank you very much you're very welcome thank you. for sure is that so much simpler to teach music on the mark when it didn't seem to have inspired similar demonstrations elsewhere in the region often just fine with. wealthy british style. markets why not. find out what's really happening to the global economy with mike stronger or a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines kaiser reports. from soccer team. has been to the stranger to the land developed by cossacks in ancient times. now wattie goes to the center of russian defense production. with christianity and shamanism existed side by side for centuries. people in remote villages a cut off from the basics we take for granted most complete routine republic russia close up on r.t

of weeks. there was a raucous welcome in iraq today for shi-ite cleric moqtada al-sadr. he's been living in exile in iran for four years, but returned home to najaf on wednesday. today, hundreds of supporters rallied near sadr's compound and waited to catch a glimpse of him. he made no public appearances, but issued a statement urging followers to show discipline. sadr's militia once battled u.s. and iraqi troops. now, his political movement is part of iraq's new government. in pakistan, the government bowed to political pressure and agreed to repeal a 9% hike in fuel prices. the increase took effect a week ago, and within days, a major political party quit the governing coalition in protest. pakistan imposed the fuel increase in a bid to cut its deficit and to qualify for continued loans from the international monetary fund.] fresh rainstorms rolled across the flood zone in queensland, australia today. despite the new rain, the overflowing fitzroy river in rockhampton began to recede. thousands of flood victims were anxious to get home, as officials warned it could take

i think we should be upping in gauge with iran rather than the sanctions policy and the isolation of iraqengagement is likely to bring about improvements in human rights engagement is likely to bring about the prospect of iran working with the rest of the world and engagement would actually strengthen the hands of civil society in iran as well. thank you very much you very welcome thank you. for such a team has been to the employee. of the land developed by cossacks in ancient times . now watty goes to the center of russian defense production. with christianity and shamanism existed side by side for centuries. people in remote villages across all from the basics we take for granted. like russia close up on r.t. .

good luck checks of the blame for the spread of an extremist threat . and we report from iraq where people. make the hill side and lively. we are running down the week's top stories here on r.t. a very warm welcome to you but first more than three hundred people are still awaiting rescue stranded on board a ship in the freezing waters off russia's far eastern coast it's the last of five vessels that became trapped in the ice more than a week ago. and is following the mission. the operation is now in its final stages or at least approaching them there are two ice breakers currently trying to get ready to tow out the last of these ships on december thirtieth the first ships became stuck there in the ice at the height of the drama there were five ships stuck in the ice two of those managed to get free themselves two of them were towed away and now we're left with just one the largest of the ships with three hundred people on board and it's required these two ice breakers to come together to try and move it the last ship stuck in the ice is a supply ship used to resupply the ships

i think we should be upping in gauge with iran rather than the sanctions policy on the isolation of iraq engagement is likely to bring about improvements in human rights engagement is light bring about the prospects of iran working with the rest of the world and the gauge would actually strengthen the hands of civil society in iran as well. thank you very much you're very welcome thank you. wealthy british style. market why not. find out what's really happening to the global economy with much stronger for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines kaiser reports. is he. if. so which brightened. about soon from funds to the pressure inside. these fund starts on t.v. dot com. we'll. bring you the latest in science and technology from around russia. we've done a few jerks covered. a town in eastern ukraine is that the state all feel off to a double explosion on identified terrorism threatened as dental problems the multi-million dollar ransom is paid to. pressure falls from wiki leaks revealed a positional turns to the u.s. but help if we can leave get the cold shoulder from w

of the ships could be removed from the ice momentarily. ok let's hope so tom barton reporting there thanks for now. live from moscow this is r.t. and later in the program we report from iraq. snow means the privilege to scavenge for the junk yards untouched by the billions of dollars we pumped into the country's reconstruction. a series of mysterious deaths around the baffling scientists and staring speculation the first incident to be nativist was went backwards because for them from the sky the american state of arkansas unions leave flocks of sweden and it's really what it is but it is a fish from brazil to new zealand triggered some far fetched online guess what. the calls range from pollution to signaling the beginning of the end but filmmaker and blogger danny schechter says media sensationalism is taking the focus away from finding the real scientific causes behind the mysteries. when one set of incidents happens followed by another set followed by a third set suddenly it becomes a trend then it becomes a much bigger story in the media but it's still sort of a mystery it may be that each example is actually specific to a particular local set of circumstances we don

neighbors back home but until that is possible until american reconstruction dollars reach the quarter of iraq's population lives in poverty children like fatima will continue to collect trash in order to survive sebastian meyer party in baghdad. coming to you live from moscow this is r.t. and a christmas celebrations are underway across russia. and the west christmas day for. today russia is celebrating. the wife of alleged russian arms dealer viktor boot says that she and her family were detained for hours and questioned on arrival in the u.s. it's family came to join him in new york where he's being held in custody r.t. spoke to outside j.f.k. airport after she was released. most learned through travel. they've clearly been waiting for us that we have spent two hours in some strange premises they turned our luggage upside down and took away all the personal things from my bag they told me just switched off my cell phone and didn't allow me to get in touch with the russian consul in till this interrogation or question in session whatever you call it was a that there was a person that who intro

i think we should be upping in gauge with iran rather than the sanctions policy and the isolation of iraqngagement is likely to bring about improvements in human rights in gauge what is likely to bring about the prospect of iran working with the rest of the world and engagement would actually strengthen the hands of civil society in iran as well. thank you very much you're very welcome thank you. you. turn to. this history still keeps its secrets but now it's time to reveal that in the soviet files house on the embankment and. download the official t. application. called touch from the top still. watch on t.v. lights on the go. video on demand. gold coast's and already says feeds now in the palm of your. question on the. very first verses of the bible that all human beings are created but sentimental came in god's image and it doesn't say just jews or knowledge is. sixty to seventy percent of what i did as a combat soldier territories was to do with the turds doing what we call making our presence felt to go out should some so they hear a knock on some doors run to the other corner invade

car of will take to get back to the remaining two ships in the path forged by the ice breaker through the ice closes back up quickly and this makes the risky operation even more difficult. in iraq millions are living below the poverty line despite america's billion dollar rebuilding program they often have to turn to the garbage dump as a means to survive. reports for some of those homes by sectarian violence life is literally. at seven am every morning fatima crouch is outside her house and along with her sister and cousins begins to sort through garbage displaced from southern iraq at most families too poor to send her to school and so she works eight hours a day sorting through baghdad's landfill collecting plastic and metal that will be shipped abroad for recycling a reward for carting forty pounds of trash around two dollars and fifty cents behind me sits acres of baghdad's trash to many this is just waste but for the families here this is not only their livelihood but also their homes over two thousand people live on baghdad's landfill are. making their homes out of the garbage that the rest of the city throws away there's no running water or electricity and certainly no

support in the kind of credibility inside iraq. s exactly the opposite gear we need community, the diaspora community, those outside their brand, many of you in this audience. you are credible. you are committed to. you are respected. and i'm amazed we have not reached out and not even given a 10th of the support and credibility we gave for those in iraq. dual containment made one thing on one side a we have the illusion that could be meaningful dialogue. which ishe solution and it didn't work. we now find ourselves in the zero to 60 policy mode. it's either dialogue or military action. and i believe there's something in between we need to think about more clearly. i don't believe this regime is not afraid of international pressures and sact,nlike what tnkosofheworl lees think begin internally. they fear the opposition more than anything else, more than what we could bring from the international day of. secondly, they fear regional cooperation. and here we have done a lousy job of working with the region to crate the serity ooperati

i think we should be upping in gauge with iran rather than the sanctions policy and the isolation of iraq engagement is likely to bring about improvements in human rights engagement is likely to bring about the prospects of iran working with the rest of the world and engaging would actually strengthen the hands of civil society in iran as well. thank you very much you very welcome thank you. wealthy british science. writer. margaret why not. find out what's really happening to the global economy with mike stronger for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines kaiser reports on our. news today violence is once again flared up.

of and afghanistan is even more of a tribal society than iraq. and as we look forward to the conflicts of the future for this nation and you look at the conflicts we've really struggled with dealing with, they're guerrilla warfare. and you've got to look at, you know, islamic extremism within its context. it's very, it's all guerrilla warfare. and they've picked that because that's what they're successful at. and so it's kind of necessary for us to figure out how are we going to te feet this? -- defeat this? how cowe change the middle east? how do we change the interpretations of islam so that it is a place where america can feel safe? how do you win in the war on terror? can you win the war or terror? those are all questions that have to be answered by somebody. the war's got to end at some point, right? but as you look forward into afghanistan and we define our objectives, we have to realize what are we trying to do? we're trying to influence the people of afghanistan to accept democracy, their own version of democracy. and that's very tough. bu

i'm going to skip to the first year of iraq and the growing insurgency just to say that boy in the spring of 2004 you actually had a moment of optimism. you had an uprising in flew to an dacia uprising in the south. you had sienese helping. there were fighting together against the occupation. at the time i thought maybe this would give them some kind of, narrative or struggle against the occupation and they can get over the occupation. founding or refunding themselves, but that was not to be. groups like a sucker rally or just pounding civilians counselee. they were killing on a daily basis policeman. truckdrivers are going from baghdad to jordan or syria and they were being stopped and having their heads cut off. so beginning to resent more and more for harboring these sorts of guys. so when floozy was destroyed by the americans in late 2004 he did not see them coming to the aid. in fact, you saw many feeling like they deserve it because these people were harboring some unease that were slaughtering civilians. but as a result of the destruction in 2000 for hundreds of thousands coming in