Video Infoblog: “America Exists Today to Make War”: Lawrence Wilkerson on Endless War & American Empire
Transcript
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this is democracy now I'm Amy Goodman as
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we continue to look at US policy in the
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Middle East with retired United States
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Army Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson who
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serves as chief of staff to Secretary of
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State Colin Powell from 2002 to 2005
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Wilkerson witnessed and participated in
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the effort by President George W Bush
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vice president Dick Cheney and others to
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promote lies to justify the disastrous
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illegal invasion of Iraq in 2003 Colonel
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Wilkerson helped Secretary of State
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Powell prepare his infamous February 5th
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2003 speech before the United Nations
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Security Council where Powell falsely
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claimed Iraq was hiding weapons of mass
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destruction Wilkerson and Powell would
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later say the CIA lied to them I talked
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to Colonel Wilkerson last week and asked
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him about the parallels between the
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escalation of in the u.s. and Iran today
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and the 2003 run-up to war with Iraq
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ever since 9/11 the beasts of the
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national security state the Beast of
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endless wars the Beast of the alligator
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that came out of the swamp for example
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and bit Donald Trump just a few days ago
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is alive and well America exists today
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to make war how else do we interpret 19
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straight years of war and no end in
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sight it's part of who we are it's part
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of what the American Empire is we are
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going to lie cheat and steal as Pompeo
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is doing right now as Trump is doing
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right now as Esper is doing right now as
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Lindsey Graham is doing right now as Tom
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cotton is doing right now and host of
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other members of my political party the
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Republicans are doing right now we're
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going to cheat and steal to do whatever
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it is we have to do to continue this war
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complex that's the truth of it and
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that's the agony of it what we saw
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President Trump do was not in president
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Trump's character really those boys and
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girls who were getting on those planes
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at Fort Bragg to augment forces in Iraq
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if you look at their faces and even more
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importantly if you looked at the faces
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of the families a symbol along the line
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that they were traversing to get onto
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the airplanes you saw a lot of Donald
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Trump's base
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that base voted for Donald Trump because
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he promised to end these endless wars he
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promised to drain the swamp well as I
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said an alligator from that swamp jumped
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out and bit him and when he ordered the
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killing of Kasim sulemani he was a
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member of the national security state
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and good standing and all that state
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knows how to do is make war I want to
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turn to President Trump we took action
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last night to stop a war we did not take
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action just start a war George W Bush
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had the opportunity to assassinate
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sulemani President Obama had the
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opportunity to assassinate sulemani they
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didn't Trump did and you had dealings
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with sulamani you were just explaining
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in part one of our discussion what he
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did in Afghanistan and how vice
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president Pence was lying when he talked
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about him being involved in the 9/11
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attacks here you have one of the most
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egregious things of what we did and one
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of the biggest reasons that neither of
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the two previous presidents decided to
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do what Donald Trump did we have just as
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we did with torture from 2002 to 2007
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2008 as we substantiated for the world
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that torture was okay we have now okayed
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the killing of recognized members of
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other states government that's what
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sulemani was no matter how heinous we
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may paint him he was a member of an
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established States government and we
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assassinated him that is a very
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dangerous precedent to have said you may
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have heard the members of the Russian
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Duma Vladimir Putin himself and others
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in Russia talking about this dangerous
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precedent had it been the Israelis who
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did this Amy they would have done it and
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sent flowers to Tehran it would have
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been completely covert there were been
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no boasting no public slumping of the
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chest and so forth that's the narcissist
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in the White House that caused that to
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happen but even if you were doing it
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that way you would have to think about
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this consideration that eventually it
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would become public that you had done it
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and you by doing it had sanctioned the
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killing of other state actors now what
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we're looking at here for example let's
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just put the shoe on the other foot
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we're looking at someone coming in to
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Washington and assassinating one of our
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leaders whether it be a congressman or
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remember the executive branch or someone
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else we have just sanctioned that we
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have become the law of the jungle rather
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than as we have been since 1945 the
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greatest supporter of international law
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and the rule of law in general across
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the face of the globe with torture and
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with killing other state recognized
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individuals of their government we have
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become the tiger the lion the bear the
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alligator in that jungle it's not a very
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very good precedent to have set as the
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Russians indicated the Chinese have said
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similar things
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it's a terrible precedent to have set
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and now we have to steel ourselves for
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what the reaction might be and as I said
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earlier the strategic initiative is now
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in Tehran's hands they can decide now
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whether or not it's a major escalation
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that they perpetrate or just something
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that sort of fritters away over time and
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doesn't cause the u.s. to execute a
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bombing package against the targets for
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example that Donald Trump has suggested
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I don't want to be in that world but
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that's where we are
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al-sistani said it best in Iraq I'm also
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standing by the way was a big help to us
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in 2003 in 2004 when the insurgency was
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developing that Donald himself of course
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said wasn't there
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al Sistani helped and his statement the
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other day that he did not want Iraq to
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be the battleground of settling scores
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was a perfect description of what is
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happening Donald Trump is trying to
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settle a score and it's everything from
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he doesn't want to do what Obama did to
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he thinks his maximum tension campaign
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is working when it's not that's all it's
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about
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and incidentally we have another failure
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in diplomacy perpetrated by Donald Trump
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developing right now in the Korean
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Peninsula so wait until you see what the
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strategic results are of Kim Jong Un's
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posturing on the peninsula and Iran's at
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the same time we used to have a saying
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in the Pentagon when we were doing
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war planning we hope that the North
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Koreans and the Iraqis at that time now
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the Iranians don't decide to collude and
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attack at the same time well Donald
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Trump has set that kind of strategic
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situation up now with two major
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diplomatic failures mostly because of
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the narcissism and the lack of
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confidence that he himself is exhibited
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but also because of the national
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security state and its desire to keep
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these wars going can you elaborate on
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what sulemani did back when you were in
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the bush administration you were working
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with him
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well what we had in the first days of
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our reaction in Afghanistan was not
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really a military action it was a CIA
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action Donald Rumsfeld actually got
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furious with the army because he
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couldn't get into Afghanistan fast
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enough if you look at a map you will see
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why I couldn't get into Afghanistan fast
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enough of course we had to go over to
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Pakistan it was Becca Stein and asked
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them for old flight rights and for
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logistics rights and so forth in order
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to even get in Afghanistan but what you
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had was you had essentially a war
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between the Taliban mullah omar and his
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group what was left of al Qaeda and the
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Northern Alliance which the CIA had been
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supporting all along they had killed
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Massoud the Lion of Panjshir the guy who
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was really leading the Northern Alliance
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to al-qaeda had killed him about the
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same time they did the 9/11 attacks so
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it was really chaotic when we did get
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some special operators in and we got a
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lot of aircraft in with of course
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precision guided munitions then we began
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to turn the tide and we began to get to
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a situation where I can tell you we were
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all almost apoplectic at the time we
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didn't know who was going to invest
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Kabul we didn't know that we hadn't just
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turned Kabul over to the Northern
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Alliance and bus to a continuation of
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the last 30 years of warfare so we were
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very anxious to make sure everything
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worked the way we wanted it to after
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that so-called victory and one of the
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people one of the groups that helped us
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the most as you might imagine we're the
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Iranians because the Iranians looked at
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the Taliban as their enemy - you may
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recall that the Taliban had killed some
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Iranian diplomats and others in the
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months prior so the Iranians were
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all four are eliminating the Taliban as
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the legitimate government of Afghanistan
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and so pitched in to help as I said once
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President Bush had given his speech
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about the axis of evil and included Iran
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in that but their desire to help was not
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quite as ardent as it was before but
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they nonetheless realizing as Iran
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almost always does I hate these people
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who say they're irrational they're far
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more rational than we are let me say
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that again the leadership in Tehran is
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far more rational than the leadership in
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Washington so they decided they would
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continue to help us because after all
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the any of my enemy you know all that
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old good business about the enemy of my
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enemy is my friend
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and and they did in fact continue to
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help us all the way through the Bonn
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conference and sulemani was part of that
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at the time you just said Esper pence
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Pompeyo Trump explain what they're lying
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about right now as we hear them talk
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about he was just about to engage in
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another attack on US personnel well the
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first thing they're lying about is a
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military professional and I know I know
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cold no general especially not one at
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the level that sulemani was operating no
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general reaches out and kill someone nor
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does he reach out to a team and say kill
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someone nor does he reach out to a squad
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or a platoon or a company and say kill
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someone he gives orders at the top set
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strategic purposes and principles and
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general guidelines and boosts morale and
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he travels around and he talks to the
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teams and so exactly what sulemani was
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so good at so to say that sulemani
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himself personally was an imminent
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threat is as I said before laughable and
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the fact that Esper and Pompeyo who have
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some manner of expertise in military
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affairs are saying these things makes
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them even more egregious Liars than
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otherwise if John Kerry got up there and
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said something like that or if Warren
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Christopher got up there and said
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something about Kerry even with his
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Vietnam experience you could you could
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give them a little bit of leeway but
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these guys are super
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to be experts in the very fields that
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they're talking about they're anything
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but experts they are war mongers they
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are war mongers par excellence Mike
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Pompeo and vice-president pence they
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both long for the rapture for the end
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times for Jesus coming down to the earth
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and killing all the unbelievers with his
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flaming sword this is what they are all
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about this is why they allowed the
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embassy to move to Jerusalem go back and
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check the remarks that were made at that
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time the prayers that were given and so
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forth this is in a word a very different
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US administration but in the same hands
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of the military-industrial complex of
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the national security state of all the
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people who want warfare to be the raison
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d'etre of this Empire at the same time
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so you're you're looking at an
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incompetent leadership coupled with a
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leadership that's ruthless and brutal
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and knows where it wants to go and with
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Iran its regime change period and if
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they have to go to war that's what they
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want and now they've got it to the point
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where it's going to be extremely
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difficult I'd put the chances at 50/50
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for us to extricate ourselves from this
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march to war and this war will put Iraq
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to shame in terms of its consequences in
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blood and treasure so I want to go to
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the reasons for it and I know you have
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to leave so we'll do this quickly 2020
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presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren
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was speaking on CNN's State of the Union
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with Jake Tapper next week the President
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of the United States could be facing an
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impeachment trial in the Senate we know
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he's deeply upset about that and I think
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people are reasonably asking why this
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moment why does he pick now to take this
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highly inflammatory highly dangerous
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action that moves us closer to war we've
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been at war for 20 years in the middle
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east we need to stop the war in the
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Middle East not expansion are you
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suggesting the president Trump pulled
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the trigger and had Qasem Soleimani
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killed as a distraction from his from
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impeachment look I think people are
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reasoning
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asking about the timing and why it is
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that the administration seems to have
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all kinds of different answers
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so that's presidential candidate senator
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Elizabeth Warren last week right after
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the assassination the oscar-winning
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filmmaker Michael Moore tweeted the New
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York Times front page from December 17
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1998 the front page banner headline red
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impeachment vote in house delayed as
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Clinton launches Iraq airstrike citing
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military need to move swiftly Colonel
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Wilkerson can you respond for 15 years
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Amy I've taught this to over 400
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students on two campuses national
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security decision-making is what it's
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called one of the influences I emphasize
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is domestic politics I would be a
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traitor to the academic curriculum which
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I teach I would be a traitor to the
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truth if I didn't say of course that had
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something to do with it and watch out
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because there will be more because there
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will be more impeachment any final words
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Colonel Wilkerson as we move into this
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very critical period with President
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Trump saying if Iran responds to the
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u.s. assassination of one of their
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leaders
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that the US will hit 52 sites including
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cultural institutions which is by the
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way considered a war crime 52 for the 52
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hostages
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Iran took more than 40 years ago if that
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were the case and we actually executed
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such a package we would solidify 80
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million people in a way that for the
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next 30 years would cost the lives of
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countless Americans businesspeople
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tourists and so forth throughout the
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region and perhaps throughout the world
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I know what the packages look like for
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bombing Iran I worked to work on the
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Soviets as they invaded Afghanistan and
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we thought they were going to
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drive south to Chava Horeb under a bus
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to warm water ports in Iran so I did
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some of the battle planning for fighting
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the Soviets in Iran I know the territory
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I know the strategic depth I know the
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mountains and so forth I can tell you
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right now that the bombing packages that
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we have that will call on out your deed
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and multi-carrier operations in the
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northern sea of Oman and Khalif in Saudi
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Arabia
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Incirlik perhaps in Turkey and so forth
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are not designed to do that so if they
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are designed to do that in other words
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modified and if they do that we will
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have started a catastrophe in the Middle
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East that will make as I said Iraq
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looked like child's play retired United
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States Army Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson
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who serves as chief of staff to
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Secretary of State Colin Powell during
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the invasion of Iraq to see part one of
16:24
the interview go to democracynow.org
16:26
coming up next about a hundred fifty
16:28
people were arrested Friday at the
16:30
climate protests in Washington we'll
16:33
hear from Jane Fonda Naomi Klein Bill
16:34
McKibben Ariel Doran Shea Tara Houska
16:37
and Joaquin Phoenix he was arrested too
16:39
and he was just nominated for an Oscar
16:42
stay with us
16:50
you
