Into slavery around 1818. He died in 1895. A fact President Donald Trump might have missed. Pres. Trump i am very proud know that we have a museum on the National Mall where people ,an learn about reverend king so many other things, Frederick Douglass is an example of somebody who has done an amazing job and is being recognized more and more i noticed. Amy does donald trump think Frederick Douglass is still alive . We will set the record straight great,uglassgreat, great grandson Kenneth Morris jr. Growing questions about the first counterterrorism operation approved by President Donald Trump. Authorities say it was a success, but human Rights Groups say 24 civilians were killed including a newborn baby and an american eightyearold girl, the daughter of u. S. Born cleric Anwar Alawlaki, who was killed in yemen by a u. S. Drone strike in 2011. It is hard to ever call something a complete success when you have the loss of life. Or people injured. We look at the totality of what was gained to prevent the future loss of life here in america and against our people and institutions and probably throughout the world in terms of what some of these individuals could have done, i think it is a Successful Operation by all standards. Amy we will speak with a human rights advocate who has talked to residents of the village that was raided and with the intercepts Jeremy Scahill. Then i changed and reporter at the public radios show rid of show wrote a blog post and found himself out of a job. All of that and more coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. In a rare move on capitol hill, Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell scheduled an unusual early vote this morning as 6 30 a. M. To advance the unit or to theevos nomination full senate. The Early MorningStraight Party vote dealt with a Key Senate Hurdle required to advance her nomination to the senate floor. The full senate is slated to vote as early as monday. Devos is facing opposition from lawmakers and education advocates. She is a longtime backer of Charter Schools and vouchers for private and religious schools. She and her husband have invested in the student Debt Collection agency that does business with the education department. On thursday, parents and teachers flooded the senate phone system, calling lawmakers to demand they oppose her confirmation. Around 1 00 p. M. , dean heller tweeted this week, two republican lawmakers, Susan Collins and lisa murkowski, announced plans to vote against betsy devos, leaving Senate Republicans one vote short of confirming her. If the senate vote is 50 happen 50, Vice President mike pence would cast the deciding vote. If only one more republican senator decides to vote against betsy devos, her confirmation will be rejected. This means the full senate will not move forward on Jeff Sessions quest feet attorney general vote, because if he is confirmed, he will no longer be a senator, which would mean one less vote for betsy devos. Counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway is facing widespread criticism after she attempted to justify President Trumps executive order banning people from seven majority muslim countries from entering the u. S. She invented a terrorist attack that never by inventing iteris attack that never happened. This is conway speaking to msnbcs chris matthews. I bet it is brandnew information of people that president obama had a sixmonth ban on the iraqi Refugee Program after two that iraqis can hear to this country, were radicalized, and masterminds behind the Bowling Green massacre. Most people dont know that because it did not get covered. Amy the Washington Post reports, there was no terrorist attack carried out in Bowling Green, kentucky, by iraqis, or anyone else. There were two iraqi men who were arrested in 2011 on charges of having attempted to send money and weapons to alqaeda in iraq. The Washington Post also reports the Obama Administration never imposed a ban on iraqi resettlement, contrary to conways claims. The Obama Administration did, however, implement a more extensive screening procedure for iraqi refugees after the 2011 arrestss. White House Press Secretary sean spicer falsely claimed thursday that iran attacked u. S. Naval vessel, which, if it were true, would constitute an act of war. Spicer was referring to a who the rebel attack against a saudi ship off the coast of yemen on monday. This is white House Press Secretary sean spicer. I think general flynn was clear yesterday that iran has violated the joint resolution, that karens additional hostile actions are ones that we are very clear are not going to sit by and take. Amy this false claim comes after National Security visor irans flynn condemned recent Ballistic Missile test launch and said the u. S. Is putting iran on notice. This moaning, president this morning, President Trump tweeted many experts, as well as irans foreign ministry, say the missile test does not violate the terms of the 2015 Un Security Council resolution. The test also does not violate the terms of the landmark 2015 nuclear deal the between iran, u. S. , in other countries. The white house is expected to impose additional sanctions against others against the missile test. Reuters reports the u. S. Treasury department has eased sanctions against russian intelligence agency. The sanctions were imposed by president obama over the alleged russian hacking of the u. S. Election in order to help donald trump win. Defense secretary James Mad Dog Mattis is visiting south korea and japan today. Speaking in seoul, he issued a warning to north korea. Any attack on the United States were on our allies will be defeated, and any use of Nuclear Weapons would be met with a response that would be effective and overwhelming. Amy Trump Administration issued an unexpected statement thursday to the Israeli Government following the announcement that israel plans to build the first entirely new jewish only settlements in the occupied west bank in 20 years. In response, the white house said while we do not believe the existence of settlements is an impediment to peace, the construction of new settlements or the expansion of existing settlements beyond their current borders they not be help full in achieving that goal. Trumps pick for u. S. Ambassador to israel, david friedman, is a longtime supporter of israels settlements. For years, ds served as friends, of american which has raised millions of dollars to support jewish settlements in the occupied west bank. Arizona senator john mccain called Austral University are thursday in efforts to smooth over elections with australia after President Trump insulted australias Prime Minister and hung up on him over the weekend. On saturday, trump complained to Prime MinisterMalcolm Turnbull about the terms of her refugee deal between the u. S. And australia and told him that the conversation was the worst call life are that he had had with a foreign leader that day. The United States have pledged to exact and resettle over 1200 refugees from a Detention Center in australia under president obama. President trump has selected june a hassle to be the new deck of the director of the cia. She was responsible for running a secret eia black site in thailand where prisoners were waterboarded and tortured. The intercept also reports she played a role in the 2005 destruction of to interrogation videotapes that depicted the torture of prisoners. The wall street journal has reported President Trump is slated to roll back the dodd frank financial reform bill enacted after the 2008 financial crisis. Mayjournal reports trump signed an executive action to dismantle the financial regulations as early as today. President trump spoke at a National Prayer breakfast thursday which he vowed to destroy the Johnson Amendment, a 1954 provision that prohibits taxexempt religious or charitable organizations from directly or indirectly participating in or intervening in any Political Campaign on behalf of or in opposition to any candidate for elective public office. The provision does not prohibit political activity by churches or religious organizations, but places some limits. What evangelical protestants have long pushed for the mm it to be repealed will stop this is President Trump. Trump to among those freedoms is the right to worship according to our own beliefs. That is why i will get rid of and totally destroy the Johnson Amendment and allow our representatives of faith to speak freely and without fear of retribution. I will do that. Remember. Amy in new york city, more than 1000 yemeni american owned bodegas went on strike thursday to protest President Trumps executive order banning people from yemen and six other majority countries from entering the United States. Thousands of these bodega owners and workers as well as their family members rallied thursday evening. Store. Rk in a grocery we closed to come out here. It is our duty to come so donald about. An see what we are this is wrong what he is doing. It is wrong. Amy after widespread protests, uber ceo travis callan it has stepped down from trumps Economic Advisory council over the last week, thousands of people deleted the uber app from their phones after the company turned off search pricing it jfk airport friday in a move many saw as an attempt to break the new York Taxi Workers Alliance strike on picking up travelers from jfk airport in solidarity with the massive protests that had erupted there over trumps immigration ban. Activistsation day, chained themselves together to shut down the headquarters of uber in san francisco. Magazines have pulled out of white house Correspondents Dinner parties amongst president s proclaimed war with the media. Yorker has canceled its a no caps off party, while vanity fair has it will not cosponsor the dennis exclusive after party. Comedian samantha bee has announced she will hold in an alternative event is a not as the april dinner. In 2011, President Trump, then a reality tv star, was eviscerated by comedian seth meyers during the Correspondents Dinner. Then of course there is donald trump. Donald trump has been saying he will run for president as a republican, which is surprising, since i just assumed he was running as a joke. [applause] donald trump often appears on fox, which is ironic, because a fox often appears on Donald Trumps head. He is arump said greater relationship with the blacks, the less the blacks are family of white people, i bet he is mistaken. Amy and those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. We begin today with the good news that President Donald Trump opened black History Month by mentioning the renowned abolitionist Frederick Douglass. The bad news is, he doesnt seem to realize that he is dead. This is donald trump speaking at the black History Month event at the white house on wednesday. Pres. Trump i am very proud now that we have a museum on the National Mall where people can learn about reverend king, so many other things, for douglas is an example Frederick Douglass is an example of somebody who is done an amazing job and is being recognized more and more i noticed. Amy Frederick Douglass was born into slavery around 1818 and died in 1895. Trumps comments about him lead to followup questions from reporters. It is about Frederick Douglass being recognized more and more. Do you know specifically what he was referring to . Was to highlight the contributions he has made and are a lot of the actions and statements he is going to make, i think the contributions of Frederick Douglass will become more and more. Amy in a minute, we will set the record straight when we are joined by the great, great, great grandson of Frederick Douglass. First, the words of douglas himself. On july 5, 1852 in rochester, new york, douglass gave one of his most famous speeches, the meaning of july 4 for the negro. He was addressing the rochester ladies antislavery society. This is a neck served of James Earl Jones reading the historic address during a performance of howard zinns voices of a peoples history of the United States. It is not light that is needed, but fire. It is not the gentle shower, but under. We need the storm, the whirlwind, the earthquake, the feeling of the nation must be quickened. The constants of the nation must be aroused. The propriety of the nation must be startled. The hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed and the crimes against god and man must be proclaimed and denounced. A makeover more, were joined by the great, great, great grandson of Frederick Douglass, Kenneth Morris, junior, also the great, great grandson of booker t. Washington the founder and president of the Frederick Douglass family initiatives. He joins us from irvine, california. Welcome to democracy now your thoughts on Donald Trumps words, the president of the United States, about your great, great, greatgrandfather. Well, im in california come so when i woke up and my phone was ringing off the hook and i heard what he had said, my first reaction was, wow, the gift of Frederick Douglass has been given again on the first day of black History Month. Last year on black History Month, february 1, google honored Frederick Douglass with its Google Doodle of the day. That act introduced the legacy of Frederick Douglass and his life and contributions to the country and to the world, to millions of people. Then when i heard that donald trump said that Frederick Douglass has done an amazing job i thought, ok, well, this gives us an opportunity to be able to introduce and talk about his legacy and his life to a wider audience. Amy amazingly, frederick at some was trending point on thursday. He was as popular on social media as beyonce and her pregnancy announcement. I have two young daughters. They were very proud that Frederick Douglass was number one over beyonce. Amy this is an incredible education moment. Can you talk about Frederick Douglasss life and what people around the world should know about him . Both of my ancestors, Frederick Douglass and booker t. Washington, were born into slavery. They were born into the most horrific conditions at a human being could be subjected to. But yet through the power of education, both of my ancestors understood from a very young age that education equals freedom. And for Frederick Douglass at the age of nine years old, he was sent from Eastern Shore of maryland where he was born on a plantation to go to baltimore to be the house servant for his masters brother. When he got there, his leg mistress had never had slaves before, and she did not know it was illegal to teach them to read and write. She began to teach Young Frederick his abcs. When his master found out about it, he got angry and he forbade it. He looked at frederick looked at his wife sophia and said, you cannot teach a slave how to read and write because if you do, it him to be a slave. Frederick heard that message loud and clear and he understood right then and there that education would be his pathway to freedom. At the age of 20 in 1838, he would have the courage to run away from slavery. He would eventually settle in new bedford, massachusetts. Instead of saying, i am free now, i will start a family and get a job. He looked back and saw the was an institution of legalized slavery that needed to be dismantled and he along with the other abolitionist got to work and worked on ending slavery. He became an advisor to president Abraham Lincoln and that a statesman, the first africanamerican to be nominated for Vice President. He was counsel general to haiti and his contributions really tell us that he was a true american hero. Responded toily Donald Trumps words by coming up with, what, a list of 15 douglassat you feel has done a great job at as President Trump put it. Yes, absolutely. We wanted to look at and highlighting some point that would be relevant today. You know, you play the fourth of july is each in the opening piece. When you listen to Frederick Douglass words, they are as relevant today as they were when he wrote them 150, 170 years ago. The work that we do at our organization is about teaching the next generation of leaders about his life. Because when you look at where he came from and what he was able to overcome, it becomes a tangible example to a young person he was able to overcome slavery, and it doesnt get any worse than that. Theres nothing in their lives that they cannot do when they face challenges and obstacles. We have been working for the past eight years at our organization to bring the legacies of booker t. Washington and Frederick Douglass into the classroom and working on human rights issues, issues of human trafficking, labor trafficking, child sex trafficking. So it really was an opportunity for us to lift those bullet points of some really great things that he did for our country and for the world. Amy Kenneth Morris, the property in maryland where Frederick Douglass was tortured and beaten, mount misery, because he was considered a troublesome slave, was bought right around the beginning of the iraq war by the time, defense secretary donald rumsfeld. Fled, wentouglass refugewent into took in the Printing Press building here in new york city of a free black man born in connecticut named david ruggles. He had his Printing Press and your great great great when father Frederick Douglass founded the north star newspaper. Can you talk more about that . Why these men saw media as their form of liberation . When Frederick Douglass escape from slavery around the age of 22 years old, he saw this new emerging technology of photography would be something that would help him make his arguments for liberation and equality in the same way that his writing and speeches would. He is someone who saw from a young age that you could use the communication tools you have at your disposal to build communicate a message to a wider audience. When he started the north star newspaper, it became the leading abolitionist voice and was where he could talk about the inhumanity of slavery. He could tell the world, tell the country, about what he went through on mount misery when the slave breaker edward covey tried to break his spirit and tried to break them down so he would be at the level of a brute. But he did not allow that to happen. He had the spirit arose up inside of him. He and covey, they had an epic twohour battle in which frederick struck his own blow for his own liberation. So the north star newspaper was a place where he could go, and many other abolitionists, to talk about slavery and really shape the public consciousness on what slavery was really about. Because those that were proslavery in the federal government who made it illegal to teach a slave how to read and write put it out there that these were africans, that they were savages, that savages they were better off in slavery and at least they were getting some level of care. Frederick douglass, when it came out and when he wrote, he shattered that notion, shattered the notion of the public consciousness that slavery was not something that was a good thing for enslaved africans. Amy can you talk about Frederick Douglass relationship with Abraham Lincoln . They met on at least three occasions. The occasion that i like to talk about most when were talking to young people, talking to students, was the third visit to the white house, which was right after lincolns inauguration. Frederick douglass was front and center when lincoln delivered his inaugural address. After that speech, douglass was invited to the white house for the gala, or as my daughters would say, the after party. When he got there, they would not let him in. They would not let him in because he was black. He did not matter that he had written three bestselling autobiographies, that he was the leader of the abolitionist movement. None of that mattered. When word got back to president lincoln he was outside he said, oh, no, let him in. As theyre walking toward each other and Frederick Douglass was very tall, as was lincoln, as you can imagine these imposing figures tag ring towering over the guests, and president clinton says, here comes my friend Frederick Douglass. There is no more opinion that i value more than yours. Douglass said it was a sacred effort. Amy you are leading up to the bicentennial of your great, great grandfather frederick. Ouglass birth in february you have written to the white house, to the Trump Administration to somehow be involved, is that right . To theave not written white house yet, but were working on a project called one million abolitionists and were going to publish a special edition for the bicentennial. Brian stevenson, whom i know you have had on the show before, wrote an introduction. What he is doing is connecting Frederick Douglass work and writings and making that direct connection through jim crow, all the way up to mass incarceration. We want to inspire one million young people with douglas words so were going to give away that book and put it in the hands of him people everywhere. Leading up to 2018 and that bicentennial, were going to offer social Service Projects so our young people can get socially active, get in their communities, and work on these issues that they are most passionate about. We are talking about issues of systemic racism. We want, in the same way that douglass or,erick we want to unfit young people to be oppressed, to look at how media shapes the consciousness and how these us systemic issues affect them, lack of opportunity and lack of education and the we want to inspire and lift up one million Frederick Douglasses. Amy Frederick Douglass is famous for saying in 1857, if there is no struggle, there is no progress. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. If Frederick Douglass were alive today, which the president may well think he is, what would he say to President Trump . Douglassw frederick always spoke the truth. I imagine if you are here today, he would be railing against injustice. He would be railing against inequality. Us he would hold all of accountable, but especially the administration, to make sure the poor and the oppressed and people of color and every american is lifted up. Booker t. Washington said, if you want to lift up yourself, lift up someone else. I know Frederick Douglass would be talking to donald trump in the way that Frederick Douglass talked. Amy i want to thank you so much for sharing some history lessons with us, Kenneth Morris jr. Founder and president of the , Frederick Douglass family initiatives. He is the greatgreatgreat grandson of Frederick Douglass and the greatgreat grandson of booker t. Washington. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. When we come back, we find out what happened in yemen. Stay with us. [music break] amy the late great paul robeson. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. We turn now to yemen, growing questions were the first covert counterterrorism action approved by donald trump. The pentagon now acknowledges civilians were killed sunday when members of the Navys Seal Team Six and commandos from the United Arab Emirates raided a yemeni village where members of al qaeda were said to live. Initially the pentagon said , there were no civilian casualties but according to the , British Human Rights Group reprieve, up to 24 civilians died. The dead included a newborn baby and an american eightyearold girl, nawar alawlaki, the daughter of the u. S. Born cleric Anwar Alawlaki who was killed in yemen by a u. S. Drone strike in 2011. She is the second child of Anwar Alawlaki to be killed by the United States in yemen, after her brother, 16yearold american citizen abdulrahman alawlaki, was killed in a u. S. Drone strike in 2011. The u. S. Suffered one fatality, william ryan owens, a veteran member of Seal Team Six. Several other navy seals were injured in a fierce firefight. Over a dozen members of al qaeda reportedly died as well. The u. S. Also lost a 75 million mv22 osprey which crashed during landing. Plans for the raid began months ago under president obama. Reuters reports u. S. Military officials are saying trump approved the mission without sufficient intelligence, Ground Support or adequate backup , another official said almost everything went wrong. Sean spicer claimed the raid is a success. This was a very, very well thought out and executed effort. Where was the president the night of the raid . Do you still stand by your characterization it was successful . The president was kept in touch with his National Security staff here at the residence. They kept him uptodate on the rate and the death of chief owens as well as the four other individuals that were injured. He was kept a prized of the situation throughout the evening. Again, i think i would go back to what i said yesterday. It is hard ever call something a complete success when you have a loss of life. Were people injured. I think we look at the totality of what was gained to prevent the future loss of life here in america, and against our people and institutions are probably throughout the world in terms of what some of these individuals could have done, i think it is a Successful Operation by all standards. Amy this comes as thousands of yemeni americans and his supporters rallied thursday berkman to protest trumps executive order banning entry to travelers from yemen and six other muslim majority nations. For more we are joined by three guests. In london baraa shiban is the , yemen project coordinator and case worker with reprieve. York, Pardiss Kebriaei, senior staff attorney with center for constitutional rights. Represents current and former one, prisoners. And be a video stream, Jeremy Scahill, cofounder of the intercept and host of the new weekly podcast, intercepted. He is the author of the assassination complex inside the governments secret drone warfare program. His most recent article former , senior fbi counterterrorism agent slams trump on torture and muslim ban. We welcome you all to democracy now jeremy, you have been to yemen several times and you know the family. Can you talk about what you understand to place . Cooks first of all, lets begin with what we understand about how trump signed off on this covert mission. We understand in addition to some of the military officials to conferring with general james mattis, that trump made the decision to greenlight this navy seal raid over dinner with people like steve bannon, his white supremacist top adviser, and jared kushner, his soninlaw who has absolutely no experience with these kinds of activities. What is interesting, before we get to the details of the raid, sean spicer in the Trump Administration tried to imply the Obama Administration in a president obama himself had green lit this operation before leaving office and that they were just waiting for a moonlit night so they could have the cover of darkness moonless night so they could have a cover of darkness. But an official in the Obama Administration is saying that is false and that the president the former president obama had not actually signed off on this specific raid, but they had signed off on some of the parameters that the department of defense was going to operate under if this raid went ahead. And at the Obama Administration viewed this potential raid as an escalation of u. S. War in yemen, and that they wanted to defer to the incoming administration, the Trump Administration. Lets take that with the grain of salt. The Obama Administration mercilessly pounded yemen with bombs since 2000 and they launched a cluster bomb attack that killed three dozen women and children, then repeatedly drone struck yemen, and more recently, provided the saudis with cluster bombs another munitions, aircraft, to engage in their total destruction scorched campaign inside of yemen, and also refueling the planes the saudis have in using to pummel yemen while samantha power, obama ambassador to the united nations, was condemning the excesses of the saudis in yemen, the u. S. Was continuing to support the Saudi Campaign there. As it relates to the specific raid, we understand the official story is that the navy seals were being sent and to target senior al qaeda people, that they were going to snatch phones and computers and access the stable intel. Valuable intel. We have to remember that almost always the initial official responses and you can go on for days or weeks or months is either full of halftruths or outright lies. The initial statement was that it was this effort waste will were there to protect United States in our security because they obtained all of this valuable intel. In answering that question, were going to address how it was that this eight euros girl was in this compound at the same time. . Ho was nawar alawlaki she was the eightyearold daughter from Anwar Alawlaki from his third wife, the halfsister of abdulrahman alawlaki, the 16 euro american citizen who was killed in a drone strike as he had dinner with his teenage cousin and others in october 2011. Alawlaki had four wives. This was his third wife. That marriage was a privately arranged marriage between Anwar Alawlaki and an influential family. Why do i bring up this minutia that seems like it would be irrelevant . Among the people that were killed in this navy seal raid were two brothers and they were Anwar Alawlakis brotherinlaws who had helped Anwar Alawlaki escape the first known attempted assassination of Anwar Alawlaki back in 2011. And they did so by creating a dust circle in the desert with a number of vehicles, then spread out in Different Directions while alawlaki was in one of the vehicles. Alawlaki escaped. They had been on the u. S. Radar for some time, but the idea that they were senior figures within al qaeda is just a joke and a sick one at that, to anyone who actually knows about the inner workings and the structure of al qaeda and the arabian peninsula. I understand from my sources on theground in yemen who know tribal structure well, these are lowlevel foot soldiers, basically, for al qaeda in the arabian peninsula. Lets remember be a q ap has long since been capable of organizing any kind of a threat to the United States or u. S. Interests, and their primary war right now, ironically, is against the same forces that the Trump Administration claims are iranian proxies. Militia leaders. Al qaeda also fighting against the Southern Forces in yemen. Their primary goal right now is not jihad, it is against the houthis and Southern Forces in yemen. Finally, the u. S. Claims, and there is an nbc report that came out last night, that someone had tipped off al qaeda people to the fact is u. S. Raid was imminent. I find that a little bit hard to believe that someone is leaking u. S. Intelligence to al qaeda, although, under this Trump Administration, there seems to be a lot of leaks happening. But what they ended up doing was , basically, just destroying the structures where these people were housed. , thisalawlaki eightyearold girl, was there because her mother had returned to her village and to her family after Anwar Alawlaki was killed. They had been living in sanaa. They were living in the local village, as my understanding from the alawlaki family, that nawar, the eightyearold girl, was shot in the neck, but that she could have been potentially saved but was left to bleed out. Trump did say, and general Michael FlynnsNational Security advisor, they both said in kind of a despicably celebratory way that the families of terrorists are fair game and can be killed. It is not that obamas a administration did not kill children and women, it is that they would they would sort of say, oops, we did not mean to kill civilians. They did not explain why they killed abdulrahman alawlaki, but they gave the veneer of some remorse about this. Trumps people say by all standards, this is a success. It is never a success when you kids killedearold kill or infants. Navy seals inc. Sent on missions that are not really about the defense of the United States. Amy it has been rightly reported that dust widely reported that nawar was an american citizen will stop what she . To an american citizen father. Her mother was that an american citizen as far as i know. She has one parent that was an american citizen for i do not think Anwar Alawlaki would have an able to walk into an american consulate to get his daughter american citizenship. That is a question for the lawyers. She had at least one parent that an american. Amy yet a lot of context with the navy Seal Team Six. The significance of this . These are considered to be the highest soldiers, the guys sent in to do take on highvalue targets. They lead the raid on osama bin ladens compound in a pot of water. Of audubon. These seals are in camp trump. They are these pictures that have emerged lately of u. S. Military vehicles down near louisville with current u. S. Military people driving around with trump signs, trump flags on the back of the vehicles. Trump often would tell the navy seals the campaign trail more than other military units within the was military. Part of that has to do with the kind of christian crusader, religious supremacist mentality that permeates that community. For people who really want to understand the dark side of this revered force, i recommend reading my colleague Matthew Coles series at intercept. Com. Expensivethe most soldiers extensive soldiers. They were authorized against lowlevel al qaeda people whose primary goal is fighting against the same people the u. S. Claims to be bombing in yemen. It is really sick. I want to bring baraa shiban in of reprieve. You have been speaking to residents of the village that was raided. Tell us what you have learned. Thank you very much. Ont we know happened is almost midnight, the navy Seal Team Six landed in a nearby location. I am not sure they said it was a compound. Theres no such thing. I have been there myself. A former drone strike happened in 2013. I went with a group of reporters and other human rights workers droneestigate that strike. It is a small village. You cannot even claim it is al qaeda headquarters or an al qaeda base. It is a small village with limited services. Then were normal villagers. They were just farmers working in their farms. What we know happened is they landed and then they did not just raid the house. They raided the whole village. If you are in the middle of the night and you raid a village, obvious look, there are going to be some gunfire. I think jeremy explained the link with nawar alawlaki, but she was not the only child killed. There are 10 children who were killed, six women and eight other villagers. Then we can claim that maybe another and his brother were militants or we could say combatants. If we exclude them, youre left with two dozen civilians who were killed in this raid. Im not sure what was the aim of this operation at this scale, especially that it was not a Senior Member of al qaeda. His main link was through his elder brother. I would imagine that al qaeda would not trust him with that label information like the Trump Administration or sean spicer seems to be suggesting in his press release. Amy and what is it that was expressed most by the people you . Poke to in this village, baraa the first time when let me go back a little bit, like in december 2013, people were outraged at the moment and very upset. Government apologized to those villagers and gave them conversation and promised it was not going to happen again. Today when i spoke to the people, they feel they are targeted. It is not a mistake as the Obama Administration claims, not at all with the Yemeni Government has been saying. They feel they have been targeted. The village was hit twice. Once the drone strike on a Wedding Party and this time a raid. No one understands what was the aim of the raid, especially when they see their women and children were being killed. The one person i spoke to said, we were very terrified. He had to close his door and told everyone in a seminot to leave the house until they realized what was happening out there. He said, two hours later can you imagine in a small village, two hours of constant shooting, he said, we went out in the bodieswords he used, everywhere. Interestingly enough, the groom who survived the drone strike on his wedding in december 2013 was killed along with his son and daughter in this raid. Im not sure how they can explain this. I know the area myself. The house that they claim was al a two room that is story house, very small. There is nothing i would say is much of value. If our to claim he was the target of the raid, maybe they were trying to get him arrested and get him a life how can you explain the death of two dozen civilians just to get one person . Amy Pardiss Kebriaei, your senior staff attorney with the center for constitutional rights. Yemens foreign minister condemned the raid in a twitter post as extrajudicial killings. What is your understanding about the legality of what just happened and your thoughts on how soon into trumps presidency this has happened . I think the strike or the raid was of questionable legality. There are clearly questions about the legality, about the intelligence, about the process, about the impact that need to be asked and answered. Aere have been calls for briefing on the held by members of congress. There have been calls by other human Rights Groups for an investigation. There must be an investigation and expiration of what happened a legal, political, and human, and security levels. To come toright now conclusion about exactly what happened because the government needs to say more with the Administration Needs to say more. There needs to be accountability now given that this was the first raid in yemen by the Trump Administration and given there are clear signs that this is an administration that wants to thelate the use of raids, use of drones, the use of warmaking in yemen and elsewhere. So there needs to be accountability and a check right now before we go further. I would also say, as jeremy pointed out, there needed to be accountability before. These are authorities that were claims by the Obama Administration network continued from the bush administration, a program of killing through drones, rates, that is been going on for years. Account ability is important not just when you have constitutional not just when you have a president like trump, but when you have a constitutional law professor by president obama as well. Accountability did not happen meaningfully under the former administration. Politically, publicly, or through the courts. We are seeing now, for example, with a muslim ban how essential the role of the courts is in checking sweeping ostensibly unlawful executive power. There were attempts at judicial account ability in the past under the Obama Administration with the drone program, and the courts failed to exercise judicial scrutiny at that point. So it is critical. Werearaa shiban, speaking to you in london. Are you affected by the ban . That is a really good question. Me, myself, right now, i cannot go to visit my reprieve colleagues in the u. S. That is effectively what the muslim ban has done. Not only that, actually, but we in reprieve have invited before relatives of drone strike victims to the United States, and we have arranged for the meetings to meet and talk to congressman and senators inside the u. S. So they can talk to each other, basically. We brought a relative of a drone victim that was able to sit and meet with congressman and effectively what we were trying to do is encourage that dialogue to happen. People need to talk to each other and need to hear those voices that effectively what the Trump Administration has done with this ban is shut down the door of dialogue to say, we dont want to talk to anyone. Were going to deal with everyone outside the u. S. As aliens and that is it. Im not sure how this is going to help the security of the United States when youre not willing to talk to people anymore. Theyasically, this is what have been doing. It is not just me. There are thousands of yemeni people who have relatives may be outside at the moment of the ban , and now cannot go back into the country. Amy Jeremy Scahill, Stephen Bannon was with President Trump when he okayed the raid, apparently. Could you talk about the significance of this . Stephen bannon and jared and first lady, as she appears to be now, evocative trumps husband, the event was a dangerous rightwing ideologue. Yes, he is a former member of the United States navy, but his lifes work is promoting fear mongering against immigrants and promoting what i think can rightly be called the whites from assist agenda. White supremacist agenda. Donald trump the administration will lie about aerial photos from his inauguration and what they show. Do you think they will tell the truth about the details of a covert raid in yemen that killed women and children and got a u. S. Navy seal killed . Lets look at their actual response in the bigger picture. We learned yesterday that gina hasspel is going to be the Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence agency. She was one of the people that ran a cia black sites where prisoners were mercilessly tortured, waterboarded, etc. , and she, we understand, was the agent who led the destruction of the cia torture tapes at the direction of the main torture ringleader was a rodriguez at the Central Intelligence agency. That is the person who now is asng to be the number two Donald Trumps cia and susan rice, ambassador to u. N. , and all of these other democrats are up in arms because a republican was bragging about her being the first woman to be named to such a high position. In fact, obama had also named a woman to high position of the cia. The objection is not the black site, not the torture, not the destruction of tapes, but that there is gender equality somehow under obama and now trump has picked this woman. That is the state where we are now in our discussion about these policies. The fact that trumps administration, islam is sos, billionaires, bigots, and torture lovers. Amy i want to thank you all for being with us, Jeremy Scahill of the intercept, baraa shiban of reprieve, and Pardiss Kebriaei of the center for constitutional rights. You can go to our website to hear the voices of several workers across new york who went on strike thursday in the latest protest against president s trump immigration order. When we come back, we will speak with a transgender reporter who was just fired from the public radio show marketplace. Stay with us. [music break] amy this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Story of ato the reporter who wrote a blog post about journalistic neutrality under President Donald Trump and found himself out of a job. Until last week, Lewis Wallace was the only out transgender reporter at the public radio show marketplace. Did he published a blog post on the website medium about journalistic neutrality and the challenges of being a transgender journalist who covers the current administration. Under the headline objectivity is dead and im ok with that, he questioned people who hold morally reprehensible positions such as supporting white supremacy, can be covered objectively and he argued journalists shouldnt care if they are called politically correct or liberal. He also wrote after years of silence denial about our existence, the media has finally picked up trans stories, but the nature of the debate is over whether or not we should be allowed to live and participate in society, use public facilities and expect not to be harassed, fired or even killed. Marketplace said the post violated its code of ethics, suspended Lewis Wallace for writing it, and asked him to take it down. When he later republished it, he was fired. For more, Lewis Wallace joins us in our new york studio. First, i want to read the response from marketplace plus director fumigation andy angie anderson. She said they dont discuss Personnel Matters about current or former employees. In a statement she added the broader issue around journalistic ethics is an ongoing one for the industry. For marketplace, its very clear. We are committed to raising the economic intelligence of all americans. We accomplish that with independent and objective reporting that is based on facts, pursues the truth, and covers whats happening in a fair and neutral way. Our Journalists Mission is to be honest, impartial, nonpartisan and independent in their work. Our team is a Diverse Group of professionals who have committed to that code of ethics. That is the statement from marketplace. About the firing of Lewis Wallace. Your response . Well, it is a really sort of complicated series of even that went on that led to me losing my job, but fundamentally, i think a lot of journalists all over the country and public radio stations and in other types of organizations as well are thinking really seriously about where is the center . Where is our moral compass . And how are we going to report on in administration that lives ly pushes lies, talk about ideas like alternative facts. I never did a story for marketplace that was accused of bias or of being partial or unethical. This was more of a big picture discussion that i wanted to carry on with other journalists. That discussion is going on now and i am really happy to see that that is happening and i think the sad thing has been learning from a lot of other journalists around the country that they are afraid to raise these questions, in particular, journalists of color or transgender journalist who are in newsrooms were mostly white, where decisions are journalistic decisions being made from sort of a certain perspective and we are all aware that the perspective affects how we cover stories. We should cover them truthfully and fairly, but i still think we should be questioning the meaning of neutrality in this time. And a lot of people want that conversation and should not have to be afraid to have it. Amy we will continue this conversation and post it on democracynow. Org. Our guest, Lewis Wallace fired , from the National Radio outlet marketplace on monday after posting on his personal blog about journalistic neutrality and the challenges of being a transgender journalist in the era of alternative facts. That does it for our show. 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 ] p. Allen smiths garden to table is brought to you by. Mountain Valley Spring water. Mountain Valley Spring water, americas premium water since 1871, has been bottled in glass at the same Natural Spring source for 140 years. More about mountain Valley Spring water at mountainvalleyspring. Com. 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