the u.s. to invade iraq was the defense of visual and the road to peace. if we defeat this regime then somehow we will be able to put in, and he'll be pro-israel. you have pipelines going from iraq. so i think -- it wasn't the main reason why the u.s. went to war with iraq. 9/11 provide a perfect pretext. in defense of israel's come in terms of israel's position in the region was one of america's main motives for what it does in the middle east. unfortunately. so certainly that was a factor in the war in iraq. so it's hard for me to think how iraq has affected the conflict with israel. do you have any ideas? i feel like there must be something. [inaudible] >> i think is so separate. i've seen the american activation and how incompetent it was. they did have american officers visiting israel in 2004 to see how the american israelis occupied and have a controlled popular areas. but even in the west bank, is just awesome in an evil sense when you see the level of population and control, and choose the fear that you can crush the spirit. every town surrounded b

the americans fear them. but in iraq this is the only social movement, the only grass-roots movement so those seven little sympathy as a result of that. and they initially were not that secretary and were violent thanks to the occupation on the tax pushed them more and more into that direction. i think that it is a welcome development that they would be part of the states as long as we went to the minister of interior or the army security forces. everybody knows the would be a horrible idea. >> in your book you talk about the middle east to specifically talk about afghanistan and the spillover effect of what is going on that and iraq and afghanistan. what about the lebanon and parts of the middle east. >> a start the book with this fear that iraq will be lebanonized and leads to competition and conflict between the various groups but it's enshrined in law. in iraq it's not enshrined in law lead the we their resources go for the secretary in group unfortunately. so, we did see increased secretarianism in the militia which

the worst is over. in iraq sunnis were crushed. they were told their new place and were forced to accept it. you now have a new order. especially impossible to reverse it. resistance was dominated by the minority 20% of the population. afghanistan the taliban are dominated -- 40% of the population, largest of the book and spreading into other areas. the taliban don't feel they are losing. they have momentum to control 80% of the country and spreading more and more. no reason for them to feel the seated. you could in theory crush the pest in population or you would be genocidal. with the israelis do that kind of thing. and americans aren't that approval. the only successful counterinsurgency in modern times is a model of americans -- what they did was take the chinese who were the source of the rebels and move them into concentration camps so that works. then you move them into concentration camps or bomb them but you have to be genocidal to do that and americans are not that brutal. there is no way to crush this population. iraq was

what about the decision to invade iraq? obviously that was a more controversial decision on the bush of ministration decision to go into afghanistan. you are very critical in this book about the invasion of iraq. you even go so far as to say buy any rational standard the country didn't pose a real threat to the united states. i agree with a lot of your criticism although i think you are certainly on the money in terms of lack of preparation for the postinvasion phase and the way that the bush administration took off afghanistan and focus on iraq. i think that is all true, but i can't help thinking you're going a little bit far here when you say there's any rational standard iraq couldn't have posed a threat to the united states when this was a country we previously thought before there was a country and indeed it to its neighbors, iran and kuwait, a country that is to dominate the world's supply of oil. clearly it had been and continues to be a strategic threat to the united states, otherwise we wouldn't have a no-fly zone o

the iraq war expanded that group of people just in absolute numbers and. we look at the jihadis terrorist attacks around the world before and after the iraq war and they went 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

rates among the population is extremely different. iraqfairly moderate, afghanistan hardly anybody there is literate. in fact, a lot of my buddies when they're over there, the only person who is letter is the translator. everyone else they meet, not literate. so you've got a very uneducated populace which really necessitates you having to interact with them. and explain yourself to them. because we speak english and they don't. it's very tough. that's what afghanistan poses its own challenges. the taliban, taliban used to will afghanistan. think about taliban and iraq. they never ruled iraq. they were viewed as outsiders by most iraqis. the taliban don't have that problem. they have ruled in a place for quite a while. so they are already kind of dug in. there's different challenges. you can't just say what we did in iraq, we will do in afghanistan. but think about the principles of the conflict and understand the needs of the people, that's when you can apply to both. what else? >> the dynamics when you brought these scouts back to the mar

the grocery store here. it's not... it's not like that. it was iraq, you know. it's kind of like acceptable to see that there and not... not really care about it. it got to the point, really, it was like seeing a dead dog or a dead cat laying on... it just got to that point. >> narrator: the surge was a strategic success, but for the young soldiers of third platoon, there was a psychological cost. >> they were more exposed to the elements and to the bad guys and to the horrors of the battlefield for longer periods of time without a break. that did have an impact. there's no... clearly, no doubt about it. is that a reason not to do the surge? no, the surge worked. we needed to do the surge. war is a dangerous thing, and there is going to be repercussions from... from the actions, whether they're successful or not. and some of those are going to be us dealing with troops that have psychological problems that they bring back with them. i don't know if there's any way around that. you got to do what you have to do. >> in iraq, you've got to be numb. there was this on

rates among the population is extremely different. iraq is fairly modern. afghanistan, hardly anybody there is literate. in fact, a lot of my buddies over there, the only person literate is the translator. everybody else they meet is not literate, so it's a very uneducated populous which shows you need to interact with them and explain yourself to them because we speak english, and they don't so it's very tough which is why afghanistan poses so many challenges. taliban used to rule afghanistan. they about al-qaeda in iraq, they never ruled it, but viewed as outsiders. taliban doesn't have that problem. they ruled that place for awhile. they are already dug in. there's different challenges. what we did in iraq you can't say we'll do in afghanistan, but if you think about the needs of the people, that's what you can transcend and apply to both. what else? yes, sir? >> describe the dynamics when you brought the scouts back to the marines that were at one moment gunning them down, and now they are supposed to work with them? >> yeah, so back -

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'

and the invasion of iraq in particular helped to fuel that. then, you spoke before about the pockets of, of, uh, of affiliate groups in and across the arab world and in... >> africa, yemen, >> africa, yemen... those are all in a very real way the product of america's response to 9-11. >> umm... >> go ahead malou. >> umm, yeah, i mean, i just, uh, another lesson that we must take away is the coercive occupation of states where terrorists operate is profoundly flawed. uh, the 9-11 masterminds, they actually operated in the united states and germany and pakistan so there is no one central base that al qaeda or other groups need to really operate. and that's going forward as far as a stance is concerned, we need to understand that, umm, while 9-11 did originate from this region, uh, the, the terrorists don't necessarily need afghanistan to launch future op...operations. >> they can go elsewhere to do it. >> absolutely. >> we haven't talked about nuclear, uh, the nuclear threat up to this point and i want to make sure that we turn to that. uh, peopl

what about the decision to invade our iraq? that was a more controversial decision than to go into afghanistan and you are very critical about the invasion of iraq to say by any rational standard, the country did not pose a threat to the united states. i agree and i think you're on the money in terms of a lack of preparation and the way they focused on iraq is true but i cannot think that with any rational standards it could not impose a threat when this was a country we had previously thought before with you -- iran into a dominating the supply of oil and it continued to be a strategic threat or we would not have a no-fly zone or other restrictions trying to bring in sadam hussain. do you feel confident there was no rationale out all to topple saddam hussein's? >> guest: that is also wrong. weapons of mass destruction nido do with that because it has been elsewhere but i do get into the notion that al qaeda and sadam hussain were linked. reason that is important is a dumb would be a threat to the united states to have to say se

the fact is she is there, iraq was on an upward path. it was in later times that we got into the difficulties. there's a lot of debate about -- you will have heard a lot of evidence on that. i did not get the impression he was refusing to discuss with the british. we had working along the side -- >> why did he write to you on the seventh of april and said colleagues focus strongly that the u.s. must not be allowed to take this for granted otherwise, sharing responsibility, to influence them. >> absolutely right which is why we would be pushing the whole time but that is a struggle you expect to have. you will be in a situation where you are working alongside the u.s.. i would imagine that -- i imagine the same thing would happen in afghanistan. passing on to me from colleagues, get on to your partner bush and say we have to be properly involved in this. after i came back from iraq on the 20 ninth i made sure i met president bush, gave a pretty clear situation of what was happening -- >> a number have, at from the issues. were you confiden

when defending its record in the iraq war the u.s. is quick to point to the tens of billions of dollars it spending on reconstruction between the rampant corruption and gross inefficiency poverty stricken iraq. little sign of improvement to the daily lives that means many are forced to do whatever they can to scrape by sebastian my reports. 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 center the 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 her reward for carting forty pounds of trash around two dollars and fifty cents behind me says 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 a

the u.s. invasion of iraq. now when the u.s. nvasion of iraq took place 18 months after 9/11 in march, 2003, we had a colossal failure of intelligence on the part of the united states and a colossal failure of imagination on the part of the united states so if you come back to the u.s. perspective you say there was an incredible intelligence of imagination fill your and 1941 there was another in 2001 and in stead of that getting us to think about who is this adversary we get even into more disastrous war in the case of iraq where the intelligence failure is colossal and that involves an inability to imagine the other side and it is not to sympathize with the other side. that's not the point. you can imagine the other side and to imagine the nature of their grievances. and of course the argument after 9/11 is the hate us for our grievances cute, they have no grievances. the argument was beyond iraqis are under a brutal dictatorship. they will lead us as liberators to leave overworking the nature of that society and the fact nobody

of the lack of the blame for the spread of an extremist threat. report from iraq where people driven from their houses by the war make landfill sites their home library. this is r t it's nine pm now here in moscow welcome if you just joined us you're watching our news review of the week with me kevin owen and first extreme weather is hampering attempts to rescue two ships stranded for over a week now in freezing waters off russia's far east coast a second icebreaker is now less than ten miles away from the first one which was unable to free the vessels by itself more than three hundred people are on board the two boats of the sarah firth is following the rescue mission. this maritime john they're continuing to play out today and you've really got a feel for the queen on both days remaining t. shirts the eleventh day now hatefully the end possibly now in sight as the ice breaker crosses in. that position not just to recap what's been happening eight of the poles we saw these three original ships calling for rescue in december thirtieth and then at the beginning of

now sticking with the iraq war and a reporter who helped push the weapons of mass destruction story leading up to the invasion judith miller she used to be a reporter at the new york times she's now working at newsmax and goes by judy miller and over the weekend she was on a fox news panel discussing stories from two thousand and ten and she was asked about wiki leaks and its founder julian assange listen to her response when asked if sites like wiki leaks are the newest forms of journalism and her views on a staunch and general. billion the signage may be a vadra analyst but he is a journalist a better analyst because he didn't care at all about attempting to verify the information that he was putting out or determine whether. it would hurt a heavy if i learned look you're so judith miller is really calling out julia signs for not checking his facts critics of miller obviously jumped on this statement many still follow her new york times reporting on the run up to the iraq war for helping push that myth that iraq had w m d's now when it was revealed that there were no w m d's after the us

the u.k.'s preparations for our role in iraq. we shall also look at what happened after 2003 and in particular, the increase in violence which has resulted in the loss of so many lives. we ask mr. blair to provide a statement addressing a number of issues in advance of the hearing. our request and mr. blair's statements are being published now. we are also publishing a number of documents or extracts from documents relevant to this morning's hearing. mr. blair's statement covers a great deal of ground and refers to many documents. we shall not be going through it line by line this morning, but shall, of course, follow up on further points if we wish. there are other matters important for which we do not need to address in the hearings this morning. we shall not, for example, plan to go over again the intelligence about saddam hussein's armor programs and the government's knowledge and understanding of those nor how that information was put into the public domain. as mr. blare's statement makes clear, he wishes to add a short summa

you would live in a shack made from garbage people who threw the chain so we could see that iraq is still a wonderful place at least by god the old regime is gone and we have a new government but look at her situation much reliving in shocks america spending fifty three billion dollars on the reconstruction effort in iraq but the residents of our jet haven't seen a dime of it what they have seen though is the sectarian violence the drove them from their home five years ago. we used to live in abu ghraib you know then america came the war increased in iraq people started killing each other and so we fled because we were freed in two thousand and five names family moved to the landfill and has been living there ever since too afraid and too poor to return home and not only the american occupation turned iraq into a battlefield as well as sowing the seeds of political corruption how can americans stand back and watch without intervening in this situation everybody knows about the failure of the iraq economy this is having a terrible impact on the ground zero. socially and economical

of poor planning, and then in 2006 you had the bombing, al-qaeda and iraq blue up the shrine north the baghdad and all hell broke lease and civil war started and iraq was falling apart until david petraeus arrived and saved the day, the new american hero, and now he's going to save the world in afghanistan using the same tactics, but that's wrong. the civil war did not begin in 2006, but in 2003 when the americans won the war, they basically lost the war. they dispatched the iraqi army. they didn't even fight. leaving aside whether the occupation was right or wrong or whether the decision to go to war was right or wrong, which it was wrong. if you're going to be an occupier or invade a country, do it crftly. we couldn't do that. the military planners knew from experience in kosovo, other conflicts in the world, that you node a significant number of troops for the post war face because you're not going to have a state. they were requesting 5,000 as many troops as they were given the they were not granting the troops this is a very easily-like war. we came in with 150,000 troops and crea

not based on the fact that kuwait had been invaded and that iraq had violated international law. and when i watched that happen, one of the things i was looking at was how the united states was using the u.n. itself as an instrument, as a tool in its own foreign policy. and i started writing about that. i wrote one of the pieces in "beyond the storm," the anthology that we did about the gulf war. and that was, i think, my first major piece on the role of the united nations. and then as i started to investigate further i thought, you know, this is kind of important stuff. i never knew it, and i think most other people that i work with don't know it either. so i decided to write a book about it, and that's what led to "calling the shots: how washington dominates today's u.n. " and i did several different updated versions of that. the first one came out in '95 or '96, and then there was another one in 2000 and another in 2004 that was a british edition. that's one that's been translated into, i don't know, five or six different languages, published in different countries pause i thin

through the sanctioning iraq. so the negotiation is sometimes doesn't exist because we don't want it to. but even when we do negotiate or we are willing to negotiate some times we consistently confuse negotiation with conflict resolution, or to put a different way a more generous way people haven't learned yet washington with the conflict resolution is. that is in sitting down at a table with a gun under the table instead of on top of the table and bargaining from strength. it's analyzing the problem that brought the conflict about so that you can do something about that you can eliminate the causes of conflict. it has been used in northern ireland and throughout eastern europe but it was used in macedonia and is being used with the turks and armenians of the moment and georgia and south a city get. it's being used all over the place. but we in bayh include barack obama, have not yet learned that negotiation, if the negotiation is just bargaining it is just another use of strength. but if negotiations is an analysi

the guy? those are all mountains. iraq doesn't have any mountains, so we kind of took those out of the photo. i was actually -- i didn't know who this gentleman on the cover of the book was. even after the book had come out, i didn't know who it was. so i flipped open the dust jacket one day because i'd gotten a question about, hey, who is that on the cover? is i decided, you know what? stop being lazy, figure this out. the photographer's name is there, ed derek. i looked him up, got his e-mail address, sent him a note saying, hey, your photo's on the cover of my book, could you tell me who this guy is? he sent me this note back about him and mike became really good friends in afghanistan, how he got to know him very well, got to know his fiancee and their child, and then he informed me that mike went back to iraq and that he was killed. and that he knew his family, and so that was really moving for me because this book is about what the marines in anbar province sacrificed their lives for. and i really think this photo of

the institutionalized. and approaching iraq with this notion that the cities of the bad guys, the ones who were loyal to saddam, led the american military to be much more aggressive when they were in suny areas like felicia creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. if a loser is a good example. before the war it was a port lower middle-class industrial town. nobody had really heard of it. when you were going to a picnic you might stop to get some kebabs, but it wasn't any more unique than anywhere else. the first two weeks after the fall of iraq to the american forces for loser was quiet. the americans did not even go in. local officials to go for the administration peacefully. the americans came and took over a school in the center of town. on april 28 there was a demonstration. the americans claim they heard shots fired. they killed 17 people. they killed a bunch more. the following day another demonstration. it began to turn the people against the americans. i'm going to skip to the first year of iraq and the growing insurgency j

former british prime minister tony blair is due to testify before the iraq war in korea later today the hearing caught up with a british m.p. an anti-war activist jeremy corbyn who was with the labor party when it was in power under blair stay with us. we are here as tony blair appears before the chilcote inquiry for the second time jeremy cotton thanks very much for talking to r.t. now this as i've said is not the first time that blair is appearing before the iraq inquiry can you just remind us what happened last time will he was very nervous to begin with came into the room and was asked some questions of a moderately robust way about the evidence leading up to his decision to recommend to parliament that we know very few to rock and then the latter part of the year it turned into a sort of tony blair lecture in defense of his policies on what he calls humanitarian intervention and then went on to warn the whole world about what he perceived to be the danger from iran and i thought the whole thing was a travesty because this is meant to be an inquiry looking into the absolute final de

the bottom. billion dollar rebuilding. iraq is forcing them to make junk yards. and the holy day has come to russia. with family. life from moscow for the millions of immigrants the dream of a better life in america the green card symbolizes entrance to a land of opportunity but winning the right to work is not always all it seems qualified doctors and teachers often end up driving cabs or cleaning floors if they're lucky to reports. in the united states and here in new york every year countless people play the lottery. entering for a chance to win. a mega million dollar fantasy believing a few dollars and a dream could buy them so for the life of a ticket that could change their lives every year more than ten million people also play a different kind of lottery and fifty thousand when i meet one of them my name is owen and her husband teenage son and seven year old daughter you see here. are immigrants from nepal they entered and won the united states diversity visa lottery this lottery is a congressional mandate it's supposed to be an opportunity for people to c

." >> tony blair is called for questioning about the iraq war. this time he says he has regrets. >> of course i regret profoundly the loss of life from our own armed forces and those of other nations, civilians and iraqis themselves. >> three-night in albania in protests against -- 3 die in albania in protests against the government. welcome to "bbc world news," broadcast on pbs in america and around the globe. coming up later, footage of television, a teenage boy who has been tied to a wall in a psychiatric unit for three years. goodbye to the gas guzzler. one man's mission to turn the gulf region free. >> great britain's former prime minister tony blair is facing his toughest question of yeah -- question yet about the idea to go to iraq. he admitted ignoring advice from his senior legal adviser that it might be legal. he pledged to support the u.s. one year before the invasion. he said he deeply and profoundly regretted the loss of life in iraq. >> there was no slipping in through a side door. tony blair walked in through the main entrance. it w

now this as i've said is not the first time that blair is appearing before the iraq inquiry can you just remind us of what happened last time while he was very nervous to begin with came into the room and was asked some questions of a moderately robust way about the evidence leading up to his decision to recommend to parliament but we know very few to rock and then the latter part of the year it turned into a sort of tony blair lecture in defense of his policies on what he calls humanitarian intervention and then went on to warn the whole world about what he perceived to be the danger from iran and i thought the whole thing was a travesty because this is meant to be an inquiry looking into the absolute finite details of the decision to go to war with iraq and it turned into tony put it of course and i'm quite pleased that he's been recalled to the inquiry and i hope this time the inquiry shows its mettle goes through again with tony blair. the legal advice he was given why he sort of second u.n. resolution if he thought the first one was efficient to authorize an invasion and why he then

the red zone is the rest of iraq. and to them it is a foreign place, place they can see sometimes when they go inside the green zone and they can look at the rest of iraq bug it is a scary place for them so it is really -- over the last eight years the way americans view iraq and the rest of that debt is a scary place where things are going to get you. i don't really think that is true. i think the kidnapping is much lower and iraqi nightlife right now is actually very active and bars are open and brothels and there is a curfew of at midnight but until then throughout the city the streets are packed with people shopping and, which is a good sign that people feel much more comfortable about their security and even the liquor shops -- american journalist and to celebrate articles whenever they see muslims are drinking liquor. they are civilized. but what it means is that iraqis are afraid of religious extremist militias blowing up the liquor shop so it is that you never have militia activity of the kind you had really fr

but us is pumping billions of dollars into the region. rating iraq but with thousands still living under the poverty line many say they're just yet to see a difference in the standards of living and as artie's sebastian mayor reports some are forced to live in dumping grounds scavenging through waste just to earn a daily wage. 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 are. making their homes out of the garbage that the rest of the city throws away there's no running water o

we used to live in abu ghraib you know then america came the war increased in iraq people started killing each other and so we fled because we were freed in two thousand and five names family moved to the landfill and has been living there ever since too afraid in too poor to return home you know the american occupation turned iraq into a battlefield as well as sowing the seeds of political corruption how can americans stand back and watch without intervening in this situation everybody knows about the failure of the iraq economy this is having a terrible impact on the ground zero. socially and economically. experts worry about the children who grow up too poor to go to school without an education and they're easily preyed on by criminal gangs and terrorist organizations who lure them with money and promises of a brighter future. how can i fulfill a dream will even fear i can't accomplish anything nothing good security if you every want to go back home if there is no work we only need security that's it iraq remains a very dangerous place where kidnappings and murders are part of daily li

lessons between -- letters between tony blair and george bush will not be testified into the iraq war in korea. whiskey that has been buried in the south pole for more than 100 years. >> prosecutors in haiti have charged the former leader jean- claude duvalier for misappropriation of funds during his 15-year-old that ended in 1986. he is also known as baby doc. he was detained and charged. they have to decide if the case will go ahead. >> he is known as baby doc. jean-claude duvalier is no longer a young man. he is a reminder of a dark past. they wear occurs student accused of torturing political opponents urging they were accused of torturing political opponents. he may finally face justice. he has been formally charged with corruption comment that, and other crimes. it is a move that will be applauded by human-rights groups across the world. why have they returned now? hon>> it is adds to the birdmen. >> he has arrived at a sensitive time. the dictators say he is there to the people of haiti. >> the chinese president has been attending a private dinner with president obama. it is th