Transcripts For KCSM Democracy Now 20141024

Now the United States is investing tens of billions of dollars in modernizing and rebuilding its Nuclear Arsenal. Ahead of a major conference on the humanitarian impact of Nuclear Weapons here in vienna, well speak with elena sokova, with the Vienna Center for disarmament and nonproliferation. Then, negotiators here hope to break an impasse in talks to limit Irans Nuclear program in exchange for easing western sanctions. The remaining time for reaching an agreement is extremely short. Progress that has been witnessed in the last few days has been extremely slow. As western diplomats cite an unverified report that iran is refusing to share details of alleged nuclear experiments, well speak robert kelley, a former member of the International Atomic Energy Agency Iraq Action Team who remains skeptical. He was on the Team Investigating weapons of mass destruction in iraq before the u. S. Invaded. He says hes speaking out because he learned firsthand how withholding the facts can lead to bloodshed. And as the movie citizenfour about National Security Agency Whistleblower Edward Snowden opens in theaters today, we look at the impact snowdens leaks have had on the debate over Online Privacy in europe. All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now, democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. We are broadcasting from vienna, austria. New york city has reported its first case of ebola. Dr. Craig spencer tested positive after returning last week from guinea where he was treating ebola patients with doctors without borders. New york city mayor bill de blasio said spencer is in isolation at Bellevue Hospital in manhattan. The patient in question is a doctor who is worked with ebola patients in west africa. And when his symptoms emerged, he was taken by workers who followed all transport protocols to bellevue. The patient is now in isolation. The Health Department has a team of disease detectives who have been a work tracing all of the patients contacts and we are prepared to quarantine contacts as necessary. Mali also reported its first case of ebola on thursday. The patient is a twoyearold girl who was brought from neighboring guinea. Her father died of ebola. African countries are pledging to ramp up their response to the record outbreak of ebola, which has officially killed nearly 5,000 people in west africa, although the toll is likely much higher. The African Union said Member States have promised to deploy more than 1,600 health workers. Canada is vowing to fasttrack the expansion of surveillance and detention powers after a shooting in the capital ottawa. Prime minister Steven Harper spoke before the house of commons one day after a gunman killed a soldier and opened fire inside parliament. Last week, our government proposed in the midst of legislation under which the canadian intelligence and security and Intelligence Service operates. As you know, mr. Speaker, in recent weeks i have been saying our laws and Police Powers need to be strengthened in the area of surveillance and arrest. They need to be much strengthened. I assure you, that work which is arnie underway, will be expedited. The shooting suspect michael zehafbibeau, was shot dead inside parliament by the sergeant at arms. Police say he was not on a watchlist of 90 highrisk travelers. He had applied for a passport and was being subjected to an enhanced investigation over his application, which police say may have figured prominently in his motive. Police are also investigating how he obtained a gun despite his criminal record. They say they found no connection between wednesdays attack and a second one tuesdays earlier were a man drove his car into two soldiers, killing one of them. On thursday, White House Press secretary josh earnest said the Obama Administration is working closely with canada in the wake of the attacks. We offer canada any assistance necessary in responding to these attacks. Our teams are coordinating today. , including again as the president said yesterday, when it comes to dealing with terrorist activities, it is clear canada and the u. S. Have to be entirely in sync. We have been in the past and we will continue to be in the future. The shooting in canada came one day after six canadian fighter jets departed to join the usled war against the Islamic State in iraq. Islamic state militants have seized a village in the western iraqi province of anbar after overcoming resistance from members of the albu nimr tribe. The militant group has also strengthened its assault on yazidi minorities in northern iraq, reportedly killing a yazidi commander. U. S. Officials say it could be months before iraqi forces are able to launch a sustained offensive against the militants on the ground. A federal judge has ordered the Obama Administration to outline in detail its reasons for concealing as many as 2100 photographs. In 2009, obama agreed to release the photos but later changed his mind, saying they would inflame antiamerican opinion and put our troops in danger. As part of a decadelong transparency case brought by the aclu, the judge ordered the government to delineate, for each photograph, its reasons for keeping the images from the public. The photographs are reportedly more disturbing than the famous images of torture by u. S. Forces at abu ghraib in iraq. In mexico, the governor of the Southern State where 43 students disappeared following a Police Ambush has resigned. Governor Angel Aguirre rivero is from the same Political Party as the mayor of iguala, who is accused of ordering the attack on the students. Aguirre has been a target of ongoing protests for allowing corruption of officials in the state to go unchecked. A lawyer for haitians impacted by a deadly outbreak of cholera has asked a u. S. Judge to let their lawsuit against the United Nations move forward. The outbreak, which killed over 8,500 people, has been traced to u. N. Peacekeepers who responded to haitis 2010 earthquake. At thursdays hearing, an attorney from the Justice Department appeared in court to argue the u. N. Should be immune from such legal action. But beatrice lindstrom, attorney for the plaintiffs, said the United Nations should be held accountable. We argued today the United Nations cannot enjoy immunity in the suit when the u. N. Is responsible for the deaths of over 8500 people and over 700,000 people who have been injured. United nations has clearly law obligations under their own treaty to provide remedies for people who have been harmed ive United Nations and that is uncontested by the u. S. Itself. In pennsylvania, the republican governor tom corbett has signed into law a bill critics say will trample the free speech rights of prisoners. Dubbed the mumia bill, the measure was introduced after imprisoned journalist and former black Panther Mumia Abu Jamal gave a pretaped commencement address at vermonts goddard college. His speech was opposed by pennsylvania officials and the widow of daniel faulkner, the Police Officer whom abujamal was convicted of killing. The new law authorizes the censoring of public addresses of prisoners or former offenders if judges agree that allowing them to speak would cause mental anguish to the victim. Speaking to democracy now from prison this week, Mumia Abu Jamal said that by signing the law, governor corbett had violated the constitution. As a governor and as an attorney, and a member of the bar, he had to take a sworn oath for both offices. And that was to protect and defend the constitutions of the commonwealth of pennsylvania and the constitution of the United States of america. By signing that bill into law, he is violated both of his books as governor and an attorney. To hear our full our interview with Mumia Abu Jamal you can go to our website democracynow. Org later today. A private autopsy shows an 18yearold killed by a Police Officer in st. Louis, missouri was shot eight times, six of them from behind. Attorneys for the family of Vonderrit Myers say the results suggest myers was running away. Police say ballistic evidence shows myers opened fire first. The officer, who has not been named, was offduty and working for a private Security Company at the time. His attorney said the Bullet Wounds in myers legs occurred because myers wound up lying on his side, with both his gun and his legs pointed at the officer. The death of Vonderrit Myers has fueled ongoing protests over the shooting of Michael Brown by officer Darren Wilson in nearby ferguson. In upstate new york, residents formed a human blockade at a natural gas facility to protest a planned expansion of Natural Gas Storage in the finger lakes region. The texasbased company crestwd midstream is due to begin construction today as part of a plan to store natural gas in abandoned salt caverns on the shores of seneca lake. The lake provides Drinking Water to 100,000 people. Protesters, including the biologist, author and cancer survivor sandra steingraber, say the plan poses major health and safety risks. Even though outstanding questions have been raised by the scientists and public alike about the inherent instability of these caverns and possible fault lines and accidents that can happen here, a lot of that data are hidden away from us. Yet, we are being compelled to assume the risks without being able to offer our informed consent. Residents plan to rally again today. Earlier this month an investigation revealed the administration of new York Governor Andrew Cuomo edited and delayed a federal study that revealed risks associated with fracking. According to capital new york, the edited version of the report removed a reference to the risks of storing gas underground. In southwestern germany, an exposed gas pipe at a construction site caused a massive explosion that killed a worker and injured 11 people. The explosion shattered nearby windows and sent flames shooting 650 feet into the air, while the heat melted licenses plates on nearby vehicles. A small city in florida has voted for the states southern counties to secede due to inaction by state leaders on Climate Change. Citing the risks posed by rising sea levels, city commissioners in south miami called the creation of a new state a necessity for the very survival of the entire Southern Region of the current state of florida. Florida governor rick scott has refused to acknowledge Climate Change is manmade. He is running a tight race for reelection against former governor charlie crist. Another prominent woman is facing Online Harassment after speaking out about sexism in the video game community. Gamers and selfdescribed felicia day posted in online statement saying she previously have been afraid to address the issue of harassment of members of the socalled gamergay community. She said she was terrified her personal information will be posted online if she spoke out. Just minutes later, an anonymous commentor posted her address and email. Earlier this month, feminist and videogame critic was forced to cancel a talk in utah over threats of a shooting massacre at the event. To see our interview, go to democracynow. Org. Frank mankiewicz, who served as press secretary for senator Robert Kennedy and directed the 1972 president ial campaign of antiwar candidate senator george mcgovern, has died at the age of 90. Mcgovern ran on an antivietnam war platform against Richard Nixon in 1972. Mankiewicz reflected mcgoverns candidacy in the documentary one bright and shining moment the forgotten summer of george mcgovern. All this talk about being a softy was preposterous. The man is an authentic american hero. We just lost an election. None of us went to jail. Frank mankiewicz also served as president of National Public radio for six years. He died thursday of Heart Failure in washington, dc. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now, democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Historic city of vienna, capital of austria, in the heart of europe. It was five years ago that obama was in the neighboring country, the Czech Republic, for a major address in prague, where he called for a nuclear free world. So today, i state clearly and with conviction, americas commitment to seek the peace and security of a World Without Nuclear Weapons. [applause] states willnited take concrete steps toward a World Without Nuclear Weapons. To put an end to cold war thinking, we will reduce the role of Nuclear Weapons in our National Security strategy and urge others to do the same. Make no mistake. As long as these weapons exist, the United States will maintain a safe, secure arsenal to deter any adversary, and guarantee that defense to our allies, including the Czech Republic. Begin the work of reducing our arsenal. To reduce our warheads and stockpiles. We will negotiate a new strategic arms reduction treaty with the russians this year. [applause] to achieve a global ban on Nuclear Testing, my administration will immediately and aggressively pursue u. S. Ratification of the conference of test ban treaty. After more than five decades of thes, it is time for testing of Nuclear Weapons to finally be bond. That was april 2009. Later that year president obamas disarmament efforts were cited when he won the nobel peace prize. Since then, the United States has failed to meet its new clip promises. In fact, a recent New York Times investigation found the United States is on pace to spend as much as 1 trillion over the next three decades to modernize its Nuclear Arsenal and facilities. As of 2013, the federation of american scientists estimates russia has about a stockpile of about 8,000 nuclear warheads, while the u. S. Has about 7,300. Meanwhile, this week more than 150 countries at the United Nations signed a joint statement on the humanitarian consequences of Nuclear Weapons nearly 80 of the bodys Member States. It cited the catastrophic effects of a Nuclear Weapon detonation, whether by accident or design, and said the only way to guarantee that Nuclear Weapons will never be used again is through their total elimination. The statement also called on Nuclear Powers to attend the third conference on the humanitarian impact of Nuclear Weapons scheduled this december in vienna. The United States has yet to attend one of the meetings. Well for more, we are joined here in vienna by elena sokova, executive director of the Vienna Center for disarmament and nonproliferation. Welcome to democracy now thank you for inviting me. There is not a tremendous amount of attention, Nuclear Weapons. Theres a great deal of attention on the threat of isis and syria and iraq, but behind the scenes i mean, this expose in the New York Times was quite stunning. The difference between what president obama was saying just next door here in the Czech Republic in 2009 about a nuclearfree world and what is actually happening. You are right. The promises and the announcements made in 2009 in progress really alleviated hopes of people around the world elevated hopes of people around the world and we are approaching and dealing with the Nuclear Weapons and the reductions. Fromhe recent Requests Congress the president obama has yet to decide upon, project the u. S. Arsenal upgrades and modernizations into 40, 50 years from now. Is that the wrong message to send if youre going down the goal of global zero elimination of weapons . Trillionot spending 1 into upgrading your Nuclear Arsenal. No one says that Nuclear Weapons should be completely abandoned and not kept safe and secure, but nevertheless, there are a number of these weapons that are obsolete. Military doesnt like them. They have no real purpose. Some of them are, for example, nuclear bombs, gravity bombs, that used by heavy bombers as delivery systems. They havent been really factored into many of the even military scenarios. What global zero is. It is the goal of getting down to zero Nuclear Weapons. Of course, even the president in his speech, that is a long road expectedious road and many bumps on this road. But if we are not working toward that goal, if we are not pushing , not agreeing on concrete steps to first reducing Nuclear Weapons significantly and then eliminating them, then how do we reach that global zero goal . And speaking here from europe, some of these modernizations and upgrades really dont make sense. The only weapons that you have that the u. S. Has outside of its border are in europe. These are the same be 61 gravity bombs that are aided in five countries in europe, literally, nextdoor. Equally, germany, belgium, the netherlands, and turkey. Realombs that have no emission here in europe or the u. S. In 2012, three peace activists infiltrated a u. S. Nuclear facility that holds more than 400 tons of highly enriched uranium, enough to fuel more than 10,000 nuclear warheads. It was a house painter, a vietnam vet and an 82yearold nun who broke into the y12 Nuclear Facility in oak ridge, tennessee, and cut holes in the fence to paint peace slogans and threw blood on the wall. This is sister megan rice speaking about the action in an interview with the tennessean. The appropriate thing was to bring the truth, express the truth in a way that we could do as quickly as we could and as clearly. So we used symbols. We also brought the sacred element or symbol of human blood, because so much blood has been shed or would be shed by any of the weapons that would be either refurbished or refined ,ur continued to be built hopefully, never to be used, but as a stark reminder. Sister rice received a nearly 3 year sentence for her actions, and the other two activists involved were sentenced to five years in prison. Their actions prompted the facility to be shut down for 2 weeks and led to congressional hearings about vulnerability of nuclear material. Recent reports show the price tag for renovations to buildings that process uranium at the oak ridge facility has soared from 6. 5 billion to 19 billion. Elena sokova, what about these kinds of actions and what they show . These actions and the fact that three activists could break into the socalled fort knox of the u. S. That houses highly the materialium, that goes into the Nuclear Weapons, demonstrates that there are risks and vulnerabilities. And the only way to eliminate these risks is to go down the. Oad and eliminate the weapons that is a bigger goal. Even if the u. S. Has problems with securing some of these topsecret facilities housing them, what is about the rest of the world . I want to turn to eric schlosser, author of command and control Nuclear Weapons, the damascus accident, and the illusion of safety. During an interview on democracy now he described one of several nuclear near misses on american soil. One of the most significant near misses occurred just three days after john f. Kennedy was inaugurated. The b52 bomber broke apart in the sky over north carolina. As it did so, the central focal forces affecting the plane pulled a lanyard in the cockpit, which released one of the Hydrogen Bombs that it was caring. And the weapon behaved as though it had been released over the soviet union, over an enemy target deliberately. And it went through all of its arming stages, except one. And there was one switch that prevented it from detonating in north carolina. And thats switch later was found to be defective and would never be put into a plane today. Stray electricity in the bombers as it was disintegrate in could have detonated the bomb. Eric schlosser also noted that in 2010, 50 u. S. Nuclear missiles suddenly went offline, and were unable to communicate with Launch Control centers for about an hour due to a computer malfunction. Elena sokova, if you could comment . What he described in his book is not the only case when we almost had near misses or Nuclear Weapons were almost launched because Something Else was mistaken for the incoming nuclear missile. There was a recent study published in london that describes additional cases. What it demonstrates, that there are vulnerabilities and risks and risk is more than zero and how we can afford not dealing with this problem of Nuclear Weapons in the reductions and illuminations. If this risk exists, and it is larger than we thought. It demonstrates we dont know about it and we were really fortunate not to have these incidents happen. Sometimes it is just a human decision that said, i cant believe the data on the radar, a better not do a false alarm. As humankind, how we can rely on these decisions. That is why the conferences that will be held in vienna here in december on december 8 and a cymer nine on the human impact of Nuclear Weapons, will not look only at what are the impacts, short and longterm of the weapons, on the health, environment, through security, on the Climate Change, but most importantly, it will also look at what the risks are. How vulnerable we are and how we can deal with that risk and what, if indeed, an accident happens or even premeditated. Responseno adequate that we can have. The International Red cross conducted studies a couple of years ago where they say even limited, one Nuclear Weapon detonation, would prove severe stress on the whole response system, on medical personnel, on how do you even go and help individuals who have been under radiation and burns suffering because you cannot even move in . Your infrastructure is shattered. And the editorial in the New York Times that a company get a big expose on how president inma, despite his promises 2009, the Czech Republic, has now spent invested tens of billions of dollars in rebuilding americas Nuclear Arsenal. Yet, they say, after Good Progress in making nuclear raw material more secure around the world, obama has reduced his budget request for the priority. The significance of this, both increasing the money that is going into developing Nuclear Weapons, but then cutting back on securing the Nuclear Weapons around the world that we have . Well, i think the message is clear that we need to follow the priorities that we announced in the priorities identified in the progress agenda were to deal with elimination of Nuclear Weapons and risk. Securing Nuclear Weapons is very to beant and they need continued to be funded. There are more places around the world that we need to still we want to make sure even the weapons that remain are kept secure. Is the u. S. Attending the december conference . That we dont know yet. We hope they will attend. Hopefully, other countries will do as well. U. S. Is probably one of the countrys that knows more than anyone else about the effects. The only country to ever use a Nuclear Weapon. Abundance of data from the Nuclear Testing and that could really contribute to the discussion. The conference, and humanitarian approaches tried to do, is look at the issue of Nuclear Weapons, not from the security, Strategic Security viewpoint, which has been on the agenda for a longtime. It is the issue from the human kind perspective of what are we dealing with . Can we cope with it . What are the risks . And white only turn around and look and why dont we turn around and look at the entire humankind, not only the countries that have Nuclear Weapons . Elena sokova, thank you for being with us, executive director of the vienna for disarmament and nonproliferation here in vienna, austria. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. As negotiations around iran and their Nuclear Facilities go on here in vienna, one former u. N. Weapons inspector, robert kelley, is raising questions about what western officials are saying about iran. Stay with us. [music break] string quintet number 4 in g minor, composed by Wolfgang Amadeus mozart. An austrian composer. This is democracy now democracy now. Org. We are broadcasting from vienna, where the six world powers leading Nuclear Negotiations with iran have set a november deadline to reach a deal to constrain Irans Nuclear program in exchange for easing western sanctions. The countries, known as the p5 1, have put forward a number of ideas that recognize tehrans expressed desire for a viable civilian Nuclear Program and that take into account that countrys scientific knowhow and economic needs. The Obama Administration has reportedly begun promoting a possible Nuclear Agreement with iran to its allies and u. S. Policymakers in an effort to garner support ahead of next months deadline. On wednesday, secretary of state john kerry told reporters that the Obama Administration plans to fully consult congress about ongoing negotiations with iran. We are completely engaged in a regular series of briefings. Ive been talking, even during the break, to the senators about our thoughts with respect to the array negotiations. And i personally believe, as does the president , that congress has an extremely Important Role to play in us and conquers will play a role in this. Last week, secretary of state john kerry and his iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad zarif held six hours of talks here in vienna in a bid to break an impasse in the talks. U. S. And iranian diplomats are reportedly still negotiating the future size of tehrans nuclearfuel Production Capacity as well as the pace of the potential lifting of western sanctions in the case of an agreement. According to reuters, a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency, or iaea, earlier this month makes clear that iran is meeting its commitments under the temporary deal. But western diplomats say iran has refused to provide information about alleged experiments on high explosives intended to produce a Nuclear Weapon. Information on the experiments is reportedly contained in an intelligence document the iaea is investigating, but the document itself remains unverified and at least one member of the iaea community has raised concerns about its authenticity. He is robert kelley. He writes i am speaking up about this now because, as a member of the iaeas Iraq Action Team in 2003, i learned firsthand how withholding the facts can lead to bloodshed. Kelley was previously based at the Los Alamos National laboratory in new mexico. He is now an associated Senior Research fellow at the Stockholm International Peace Research institute. Robert kelley joins us now here in vienna. Welcome to democracy now cooks thank you. Talked about what is being alleged right now and, well, youre certainly someone who knows about allegations, having ermn well, we use the tom loosely, but you and weapons inspector. I was in iraq in 1991 as well following up on the first war when we had some very cooperative activities in the u. S. And with other agencies in europe. It goes back a long ways. What i see is in 1995, people wasng to derail the iaea doing by producing forged documents. They were extremely good forgeries. They spent a lot of time trying to make them look like real iraqi documents. The problem being, they were forgeries. At that time the direction to my two iraq and with the iraqis help, pointed out with the problems were. You look at the documents that were being discussed now, both iaea weapons report no leaks that came out, they look just the same and looks like the same pattern of forgeries. Furthermore, in 2002, we were given forgeries on aluminum tubes or that information on aluminum tubes, forged documents that supposedly came from niger. It all proved not to be true. Before we jump off the cliff again, i think we ought to know if this is genuine. You wrote a piece in 2012 for new garminheadlined charge against iran is no slamdunk cure cap are you seeing a pattern here . There certainly a pattern and Bad Information being provided coming from a few sources, though the thing that really bothers me this point is 2002, it was the u. S. Cheerleading to start a war and this time the iaea has signed on and they are part of this innuendo and slot the information that looks like there also advocating for war. Going back to 2002, 2003, how was pressure applied directly to you yet the what youre seeing on the ground and then what was being told to the American People . There was no connection between what we were single because we were told from the u. S. Mission the people we dealt with, that they really did not want to hear what we had to say. It was clear to us as we carried out the inspections from november until march 20022003, that nobody was listening. We were going around and saying we solved the problem with the aluminum tubes, their for rockets. We would find forgeries of uranium documents. No one was listening. What i saw been presented to the American People by Colin Powells speech to the u. N. , it was completely at odds with the truth. Did the Bush Administration officials come to the iaea . Not that im aware of. In my position, i would not have dealt with those officials. The lowerlevel people came a few times. For example, in the area of the aluminum tubes, we had lots of experts who said these are not for gas centrifuges, nothing to do with nuclear, these are small rockets. The person said, well, if you knew what i knew, then you would know i am right. We got a lot of that attitude from people who did not know what youre talking about. Than 10w it is more years later. Explain exactly what you see happening here in vienna, the significance of these talks. And what is being represented. The talks that are going on between john kerry, the people is uranium. P5 1, this is the case where the iaea is on solid ground and knows exactly what theyre doing. Theyre monitoring the facilities producing uranium. It is what they do well. If you look at the agreement that is going to be talked about, the weaponization is not even in the agreement. So when people say the iaea im sorry, iran is not been forthcoming in discussing what they are doing on weaponization, it is not part of the agreement. So this people are poorly informed. We see that all the time. What would be accomplished and misrepresenting what is happening in iran right now around nuclear or development of Nuclear Weapons . Well, there are people who believe iran is a threat to the entire region and that any evidence they can develop against them is for that purpose. I think if youre coming back to Nuclear Weapons, are they actively developing Nuclear Weapons . It is hard to say. To seymouro go hersh, very wellknown. He has often done reports on what is happening in iran. Clip going to turn to this talking to democracy now some sort of a fantasyland being built up here as it was with iraq, the same sort of no lessons learned, obviously. Look, i have been reporting about iran and i can tell you since 2004 under george bush, particularly the Vice President mr. Cheney, cheney was particularly concerned the were secret facilities for building a weapon, which are much different than the enrichment. There is enrichment. They have inspectors and cameras there, etc. Iran is a signatory to the nonproliferation treaty. No one is accusing them of cheating. The latest report also says, once again, we find no evidence iran has diverted any uranium that it is enriching. It is also enriching very low levels for peaceful purposes, so they say, 3. 8 . There is a small percentage being enriched, 20 for medical use, but that is quite small come also under cameras and inspection. Days,ou have, in those even until the end of their term in office, cheney kept on having the joint special Operations Force command, j sock, they would send teams inside iran and work with various dissident fanaticeven a very sunni opposition group, and they would do everything they could to try and find evidence of an. Ndeclared underground facility we monitored everything. We have incredible surveillance. In those days what we did then, we can even do better now. Some of the stuff is very technical and classified, but i continue theres not much you can do in iran right now without us finding out something about it. They found nothing. Nothing. No evidence of any weaponization. In other words, no evidence of a facility to build the bomb. They have facilities to enrich, but not separate so facilities for building a bomb. This is a fact. Was Seymour Hersh in 2011 pulitzer prizewinning investigative journalist at the new yorker magazine. He had just written a blog post for the new yorker website called iran and the iaea. Robert kelley, your response . He is great. I look at this rather long statement and i think you can boil it down to two things. Of thethe iaea is on top enrichment issue. The question that is really going on in vienna in the next few weeks is, how much uranium will they be allowed to make . Even at thenot table because everybody thinks they can do their job. And they will. Theyre very good. The second part is about finding facilities to build bombs and things like that. Iaea is not capable of that. You need an Intelligence Network to do that, good analyst to do that. We have not seen any sign of this point that iaeas work is up to snuff. You are from the United States. What you see is the politics of the United States, though you live in vienna, the politics of the u. S. Right now and their interests around iran . Who is pushing iran policy . Which countries . I find it hard. In the case of the u. S. , you have this maybe the administration was to do one thing but Congress Wants to do another. I dont know who is pushing the politics because it is so fake. It is the same thing in iran itself. Who is on the receiving end of the u. S. Overtures does our overtures . Who is it . Really surere not these cases, how many people are talking tammany other people and where the connections are. And how important are these negotiations . P5 1 on uranium is important because it will establish what iran is allowed to do in the view of the rest of the world. If they agree they are limited to those things and they say the have the right to Peaceful Nuclear enriching, you will have an impornt agreement on uranium enrichment and the reactor they are building. Weaponization, the talks to a concern that. People who say that talks conclude that are wrong and are muddying the waters probably to try to to real the negotiations. What would you say to the u. S. Congress . I would say, going get some good information. Like iran is not cooperating and iran is cooperating fully in the area of nuclear materials. When the u. S. Asks to go to a military base or factory, iran says, wait a minute, that is not part of our agreement with you. And people are misconstruing that to say theyre not cooperating with nuclear. It is simply not true. As you look at what is happening today in iraq, more than 10 years after the invasion, you were there at the beginning. You were there before. You were there on the ground. You now say if your observations on the ground were heated, we would not have seen the bloodshed that we did. What are your thoughts today . I feel bad about what happened in 2003. It is extremely embarrassing the country ignore the people who were in iraq making the observations and did not take us into account. When the u. S. Sent this team in two months after the war or so, the leader of the team, after two months, quit. His statement was, we were all wrong. They had no weapons of mass distraction. Will we werent all wrong. The people in the field were saying, theres nothing wrong. And they left it to bureaucrats to twist that around and get it wrong. Robert kelley, associate Senior Research fellow at the Stockholm International Peace Research institute. Former director at the iaea for the Iraq Action Team. Prior to that, he was based at the Los Alamos National laboratory in new mexico. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. When we come back, we will look at the issue of privacy, especially raised by the revelations of Edward Snowden. Stay with us. [music break] this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. We are on the road in vienna, austria, broadcasting from the studios of okto tv. As the movie citizenfour about National Security Agency Whistleblower Edward Snowden opens in theaters today, we look at the impact snowdens leaks on the debate over online , privacy in europe. The austrian newspaper der standard reports that vienna, which has a cold war reputation as the spying capital of the world, may now be home to a major surveillance operation by the nsa. The paper cites documents released by snowden that suggest the nsa tapped networks run by the Company Telecom austria, and the university of vienna, in order to access nearly 70 of telecommunications in the austrian capital, which is home to thousands diplomats from around the world. Earlier this year, germany ordered the top u. S. Intelligence official in the country after leaks from snowden showed the United States was monitoring the communications of millions of germans and tapping chancellor angela markels cellphone. The German Government also ended its contract with verizon for cooperating with the nsa in spying on germans. Meanwhile in a victory for digital privacy, in april the European Court of justice struck down a rule that required Telecommunication Companies to store the Communications Data of European Union citizens for up to two years. The rung happened on the same day Edward Snowden addressed the Parliamentary Assembly of the council of europe via video link. This is a clip. Mass surveillance will place everybody under constant monitoring, or we watch communications, watch what purchases you make, with your travels are, your associations, who you love and we watch who you are. We want to develop as a person. These are not the values of western society. These are not the values of liberal societies. And i do not believe that cultureis a nation or would allow them to continue. Edward snowden addressing the European Court of justice in april on the same day a court struck down a rule requiring Telecommunication Companies to store the Communications Data of European Union citizens for up to two years. To talk more about Online Privacy rights in europe after snowden, were joined by andreas krisch, president of European Digital rights. Welcome to democracy now talk about the whole issue today. Of masse world surveillance, we have to understand that every piece of communication whether it is online or telephone or whatever, is going to be stored and rest nsae hand, the but also european intelligence agencies. This is something we need to stop. This is something we need to work to reestablish our parliament rewrites to privacy and sicker communication. The court case in luxembourg was one of the big victories we had recently. Talks what was that victory . Explained for laypeople who have trouble even on a computer. Basically, in 2006, the European Union introduced a law that required telecommunication providers, mobile phone providers, Internet Service providers, to record every ,ommunication between people who missed talking to him, not the content, but the fact whom is talking to whom, not the content, but how long it lasted. It is to be stored up to six years. We have fought it from the beginning and had been unsuccessful for some years. Finally, was introduced in this piece implement of legislation into our jurisdiction. Austria, started the Constitutional Court case on that. Together with thousands of others, made the complaint. This was referred to the European Court of justice who ruled this was a violation of of thedamental rights European Union. Therefore, the european piece of legislation was announced. The first time in history the waspean legislation announced totally and not in pieces. Following the Austrian Court rules the austrian implementation of this law is invalid and is also in violation of fundamental rights of austrian citizens. Can you talk about the significance of Edward Snowdens revelations and how they have impacted this debate . In the u. S. , the president has said, of course, Edward Snowden has been charged and wanted in the United States to face charges. But he has said this discussion would be happening without snowden. Is that true . Thingl, i think the main that Edward Snowden did to the world was provide evidence, things that were suspicious about previously we do have the facts from the organizations and therefore, we know what theyre talking about. Every piece of communication is being monitored. It needs to be addressed. How much we are willing to accept in our societies and how such thing ino democracies because it goes to the heart of democracy. If you are no longer able to communicate freely, to say what you think, and do that without having the theater of being monitored and having it being held against you. I think it is an important discussion that we need to lead. This is a huge thing that Edward Snowden did for the world and societies. Can you talk about the documents that were released around what has happened here . The austrian newspaper reporting vienna, who has reputation of being this by capital, may be the home to a major surveillance operation by the nsa. Talking about tapping networks run by the competent Telecom Austria and the university of vienna, accessing some 70 of telecommunications in the austrian capital . There is no fixed proof of that, as far as i know, but they do have the suspicion. It is clear from the nsa documents that austria plays a major role in the network of surveillance. Austria stamm the tpp partner of operations, so we do know theres something going on in the main question is, not just the role of austrian companies, but what is the role of the u. S. Companies in this . Only providedot by austrian companies, but also companies from other countries involved in networking. We need to see what the role this. What message do have as president of European Digital rights to people in the United States around this debate . I think what needs to be done, the uris and the u. S. And elsewhere, we need to stand up for our fun a mental rights of freedom of communication, freedom of expression and i think we need an informed debate about what intelligence agencies are doing now and limits to their activities are. It needs to be clear about that. As far as the relation between the u. N. And u. S. Is concerned, i think we first into agree that fundamental rights in the European Union, needs to be accepted and agreed on by the u. S. Before they can talk about any exchange of data and about any replacements or improvements of the safe harbor agreement. There is a lot of work ahead. Is really massive problems of trust in relationships now. , thank you forch being with us, president of European Digital rights. A discussion we will continue. I want to say thank you to all of the team here at okto television. I cant possibly say all of their names, or pronounce them correctly. Let them speak for themselves democracy now is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. Email your comments to outreach democracynow. Org or mail them to democracy now p. O. Box 693 new york, new york 10013. [captioning made possible by democracy now ] dundon ireland is an ancient land, steeped in traditions that stretch far back into the distant past. For 10,000 years, humans have lived on this island located off the western edge of europe, once at the edge of the known world and now a stepping stone to the new. We were building these vast temples in stone a thousand years before the egyptians built the pyramids. Our next parish is new york or boston, across the wild and deep atlantic ocean. Ireland is a land of contrasts, defined by beautiful, rolling countryside and rugged, savage cliffs. Its a country that has a profound respect for the land. Farming started here 6,000 years ago, and weve never looked back. We produce the best beef in the world,