Transcripts For WHUT Democracy Now 20130122

Of battle, are unmatched in skill and courage. On the same day that president obama gives his inaugural address, the u. S. Drone strike kills three people in yemen. Today we look at the new documentary, dirty wars the world is a battlefield. Dimons sue was nothing like kabul. Life is defined by the war. Everything revolves around it. In yemen, there was no war, of these not officially. The film, dirty wars, follows Jeremy Scahill to afghanistan, somalia, and yemen as he chases down the hidden truth behind americas expanding covert wars. We will speak with jeremy and the films director, rick rowley. Night rates have risen to astronomical levels where there are 1000 raids a month happening. Decades after vietnam, one decade into this war, we have gone back to body counts is our only way of measuring any kind of progress in the war. Broadcasting from the Sundance Film Festival in park city, utah, all of that and more coming up. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Hundreds of thousands packed into the National Mall on monday for president obamas second term inauguration. In an address many saw as a blueprint for a more progressive second term domestic agenda than his first, obama vowed to continue to fight to seek equality for the rights of women and of payment and lesbians. Our journey is not complete until our wives, mothers and daughters can earn a living equal to their efforts. [applause] our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law. For if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well. In making those comments, obama became the first u. S. President ever to use the word gay in an inaugural address. He also give a nod to voting rights, Immigration Reform and his recent push for gun control. Our journey is not complete until no citizen is forced to wait for hours to exercise the right to vote. [applause] our journey is not complete until we find a better way to welcome the striving, hopeful immigrants who still see america as the land of opportunity. Until bright Young Students and engineers are enlisted in our work force instead of expelled from our country. Our journey is not complete until all our children from the streets of detroit to the hills of appalachia to the quiet lanes of newtown know that they are cared for and cherished and always safe from harm. President obama also used his address to hint at a more forceful engagement on Climate Change than in his first term, calling the fight against Global Warming a defense of future generations. We will respond to the threat of Climate Change knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future generations. [applause] some may still deny the overwhelming judgment of science, but none can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires and crippling drought and more powerful storms. The New York Times reports the Obama Administration will tackle Climate Change this term by avoiding broad, farreaching and birds through congress and instead focusing on administrative actions. These include reducing power plant emissions, increasing the efficiency of home appliances, and reducing the federal governments carbon footprint. Although the white house is planning a campaign to build public support, environmentalist have been warned not to expect fullscale engagement what congress is preoccupied with other issues including gun control, immigration, and the federal budget. Well have more from president obamas second inauguration after the headlines. Algeria has confirmed the death toll from its recent hostage crisis and a southern gas field saying 37 foreigners and 11 workers lost their lives. The dead included three americans. The attackers came from algeria and neighboring mali as well as several foreign countries, including egypt and canada. Algerian troops raided the complex over the weekend after the attackers were raided it last week, calling for an end to the french bombing of mali. Meanwhile in mali, france continues to make advances in its Ground Invasion in the north after a week of airstrikes. French troops appear to have now taken control of the key towns of after rebel militants fled. In syria, at least 30 people have been killed in a suicide car bombing. The attack reportedly targeted a building used by progovernment fighters. Meanwhile in northern syria, activists are reporting more than 50 people have died in a week of fighting between rebels and members of the long oppressed kurdish minority seeking self government. The violence comes as the nations has launched a new appeal for its operations in syria, saying humanitarian needs are vastly underfunded. Our International Donor Community Giving 50 of what is needed here, in our minds, a very, very obsessing and of course results in much higher humanitarian suffering that needs to be. It means the people who need the food, not all of them are getting the food, and so on. Hundreds of people marched in new york city monday in a show of support for stricter gun control in the wake of the mass killing in newtown, connecticut. The group 1 million moms for gun control called on congress to back president of his plan for tighter restrictions on gun and ammunition purchases. The group marched across the Brooklyn Bridge to city hall, braving frigid temperatures. Children should not have to worry about guns. We should have a free nation that does not need to depend on firearms to protect ourselves. We should just know we are safe critics really listen to the voices of moms and not the civil law the of the gun industry and try to protect our lives and value the lives of our kids of of really what is in industry voice and not the voice of the people. It was devastating. I have never marched before. I am going to do whatever i can to be certain that things change. As claymont and a new yorker and as an american, we are fed up with guns and children getting killed and people being unsafe and we want change and better laws. Last week, andrew cuomo signed into law a package of gun control measures hailed as some of the tightest in the country. Meanwhile in brooklyn, new york, a group of demonstrators marched to the Police Precinct in the neighborhood of Crown Heights to demand justice in the case of Jabbar Campbell. He is an africanamerican man who is accused officers from the new York Police Officer of a hate crime. Campbell says he was hosting a party for gay and lesbian friends at his home earlier this month when he was confronted by police. Surveillance footage from his apartment shows officers tampering with and turning around the camera monitoring his doorstep. Moments later, Jabbar Campbell said he is brutally beaten and called antilgbt slurs freed on monday, he addressed supporters outside the precinct. We need to speak up and that these officers know they cannot go around invading peoples homes, tampering with their property, and beating up innocent people. Yes, yes. And treating them like animals. I was an innocent man and i was brutalized by the officers from the 77th precinct. I am here to speak up and fight back. Newly disclosed internal documents have confirmed the Roman Catholic archdiocese of los angeles deliberately hid evidence of child molestation for more than a decade. The now retired archbishop, Cardinal Roger m. Mahony, and other highranking clergy officials, made extensive efforts to transfer abusive priests out of state to avoid prosecution and to stop them from confessing to therapists who would have been forced to inform police. The church reached a 660 million settlement with 500 victims in 2007, the largest of any Roman Catholic diocese. In reaching a deal, its their top Church Officials from having to testify in court. A los angeles judge is set to rule next month on whether two Church Officials will face new depositions in a civil lawsuit over the abuse. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. We begin todays show in washington, d. C. , where some 800,000 people packed into the National Mall to witness the second inauguration of president obama on monday. The secondlargest inauguration in history, only behind obamas first 1 four years ago that was the largest event in washington, d. C. s history. Myrlie evers became the first woman in the first layperson to deliver an inaugural invocation. She is the widow of medgar evers, the civilrights activist who was assassinated 50 years ago. 150 years after the emancipation proclamation and 50 years after the march on washington, we celebrate the spirit of our ancestors, which has allowed us to move from a nation of unborn hopes and history of disenfranchised folks to todays expiration of a more Perfect Union the aexpression of a more Perfect Union. We ask that where our paths seem blanketed by oppression and rippled by pangs of despair, we ask for your guidance toward the light of deliverance. And hose who came before us and dreamed of this day, that we recognize that their visions still inspire us. They are a great cloud of witnesses, unseen by the naked eye, but all around us, thankful that theyre living was not in vain. For every mountain, you gave us the strength to climb, your grace is pleaded to continue that climb for america and the world. Myrlie evers delivering the inaugural invocation. O misled, president of emmett if his inaugural address. Week, the people, still believe that our obligations as americans are not just to ourselves, but all posterity. We will respond to the threat of Climate Change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future generations. Some may still deny the overwhelming judgment of science, but none can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires and crippling drought and more powerful storms. The path towards Sustainable Energy sources will be long and sometimes difficult. But america cannot resist this transition, we must lead it. We cannot cede to other nations the technology that will power new jobs and industries, we must claim its promise. That is how we will maintain our Economic Vitality and our National Treasure our forests and waterways, our crop lands and snowcapped peaks. That is how we will preserve our planet, commanded to our care by god. That is what will lend meaning to the creed our fathers once declared. We, the people, still believe that enduring security and lasting peace do not require perpetual war. [applause] our brave men and women in uniform, tempered by the flames of battle, are unmatched in skill and courage. Our citizens, seared by the memory of those we have lost, know too well the price that is paid for liberty. The knowledge of their sacrifice will keep us forever vigilant against those who would do us harm. But were also heirs to those who won the peace and not just the war, who turned sworn enemies into the surest of friends and we must carry those lessons into this time as well. We will defend our people and uphold our values through strength of arms and rule of law. We will show the courage to try and resolve our differences with other nations peacefully not because we are night about the dangers we face, but because engagement can more terribly lift suspicion and fear. [applause] america will remain the anchor of strong alliances in every corner of the globe and we will renew those institutions that extend our capacity to manage crisis abroad, for now has a greater stake in a Peaceful World than its most powerful nation. We will support democracy from asia to africa, from the americas to the middle east, because our interests and our conscience compel us to act on behalf of those who long for freedom. And we must be a source of hope to the poor, the sick, the marginalized, the victims of prejudice not out of mere charity, but because peace in our time requires the constant advance of those principles that our common creed describes the alleged tolerance and opportunity, Human Dignity and justice. We, the people, declare today that the most evident of truths that all of us are created equal is the star that guides us still. Just as it guided our forebears through seneca falls and selma and stonewall, just as it guided all of those men and women, sung and unsung, who left footprints along this great mall, to hear a preacher say that we cannot walk alone. To hear a king proclaim that our individual freedom is inextricably bound to the freedom of every soul on earth. [applause] it is our Generations Task to carry on with those pioneers began. For our journey is not complete until our wives, our mothers and daughters can earn a living equal to their efforts. [applause] our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law, for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well. [applause] our journey is not complete until no citizen is forced to wait for hours to exercise the right to vote. [applause] our journey is not complete until we find a better way to welcome the striving, hopeful immigrants who still see america as a land of opportunity. After president obama delivered his inaugural address on monday, a cubanamerican poet Richard Blanco recited a poem called 1 today. He is the first latino as well as the first openly gay poet to read at an inaugural ceremony. My face, your face, millions of faces in mornings mirrors, each one yawning to life, crescendoing into our day. The pencil Yellow School buses, the rhythm of traffic lights. Africa stands apples, limes, and oranges arrayed like rainbows begging our praise. Silver trucks heavy with oil or paper, bricks or milk, teeming over highways alongside us, on our way to clean tables, read ledgers, or save lives. To teach geometry or ring of groceries as my mother did for 20 years, so i could write this poem. Cubanamerican poet Richard Blanco reciting the palm 1 today a president of his inauguration on monday. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. When we come back, we are here in park city, utah, the Sundance Film Festival. One of the films that has just premiered is called, dirty wars the world is a battlefield. We will speak with the subject of that film and its producer, investigative journalist, Jeremy Scahill, and its director rick rowley. [music break] Jennifer Hudson singing the al green classic, let stand together, for the obamas first dance at last as commander in chiefs inaugural ball. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. We have flown from washington, d. C. , from the inauguration, to park city, utah to cover the Sundance Film Festival. It is the 10th anniversary of the documentary track. We will start off by getting a response to president obamas inaugural address. On monday, president obama declared a decade of war is now ending and that lasting peace does not require perpetual war. But you never mentioned the wars in iraq or afghanistan by name. There was also no mention about the secret drone war that has vastly expanded under president obama. On the same day he gave his inaugural address, a u. S. Drone strike killed three people in yemen east of the capital. Also on monday, president obama officially nominated john brennan to the director of the cia, succeeding retired general David Petraeus, who resigned. Nickname the assassination czar, brennan was the first Obama Administration official to publicly confirm drone attacks overseas and to defend their legality. Four years ago, john brennan was rumored pick for the cia job when obama was first elected but was forced to withdraw from consideration amid protests over his role at the cia under the bush in ministration. Obama also officially nominated chuck hagel to head defense and john kerry to become secretary of state on monday. Joining us here in park city, utah, is Jeremy Scahill, National Security correspondent for the nation magazine. He is featured in and cowrote the new documentary, dirty wars the world is a battlefield. Book with thest same title is due out in april. Were also joined by the director of the film, rick rowley, independent journalist with big noise films. The film premiered here at the Sundance Film Festival in the u. S. Documentary competition section. When we flew in a Salt Lake City last night, we went directly to the Salt Lake City library where there was a soldout crowd to see a showing of dirty wars. We want to congratulate you on this absolutely remarkable film. I think it is very appropriate to begin our four days of broadcasting here in park city on this day after the inauguration of president obama to begin with dirty wars the world is a battlefield. Jeremy, talk about president obamas first four years and where were going now. You got a chance to hear his inaugural address. What did you think of it . I think if we look back at the first term of the Obama Administration, what we saw was this very Popular Democratic president who had campaigned in terms of his broader rhetoric during the president ial campaign against john mccain on the notion he was going to transform the way the u. S. Conducted its Foreign Policy around the world. He then proceeded to double down on some of the greatest successes of the bush administration. If you look at the use of the state secrets privilege or the with the Obama Administration expanded the drone wars, powered special Operations Forces from jsoc to join special Operations Command to operate in countries where the United States is not at war, if you look at the way the Obama Administration essentially boxed congress out of any effective oversight role of the covert aspect of u. S. Foreign policy, what we really have is a president who has normalized for many, net many liberals, the policies they once opposed under the bush and ministration. This has been a war presidency. Yesterday as president obama talked about how we dont need a state of perpetual war, multiple u. S. Drone strikes in yemen, a country we are not at war with, where the u. S. Has killed a tremendous number of civilians. To make, most disturbing about this is john brennan, who really was the architect of this Drone Program and expansion of the Drone Program, these guys are sitting around on tuesdays at the white house come on terror tuesday, discussing who was going to live and die across the world. What do you mean terror tuesday meetings . That is what is referred to. Senior white house official said they internally refer to them as terror tuesdays, when they go over the list of potential targets. There on baseball cards in some cases. They are identifying people they want to take out and are on the u. S. Kill list. After 9 11, there were seven people on the u. S. Kill list. Then we had the deck of cards in iraq and saddam and his top people. Now there are thousands. It is unknown how many people are on this kill list. Three u. S. Citizens were killed in operations ordered by the president s in late 2011, including the 16yearold al awlakis. The appointment of brennan to cia to me is the greatest symbol of how deeply invested in covert war and expansion of wars around the world and the notion that was popularized under the neocons of the world is a battlefield. That notion the u. S. Could strike in any country across the world, wherever it determines terrorists were suspected militants may resign. The most disturbing part of this policy to me, and i think the people within the Intelligence Community who are looking at this, is there are regions of yemen or pakistan where president obama has authorized the u. S. To strike even if they dont know the identities of the people that are striking. The socalled signature strike policy. The idea of being a military aged man in these areas, there targets based on their gender and age and geographic presence, those are going to be legitimate targets . Explain that. This is something that started under the bush administration. When president obama first took office, he was briefed on this by the then director or outgoing director of the cia, michael hayden. They had developed this policy called signature strikes. If an individual had contact with certain other individuals, traveling a certain area, as certain times, gathering with a certain number of people there was a presumption they must be up to no good, that they are suspected militants or terrorists in the u. S. Could take preemptive action against those people. And by that i mean, killing them with a missile. There was authorization to do that. In some cases the president has precleared the cia to authorize these strikes without being directly notified. My understanding from sources, president obama has released sort of micromanaged this process. Brennan is basically the hit man of this administration except he really never has to do the hitting himself. He orders missile strikes and other strikes to hit in somalia and yemen, pakistan. Were looking right now at a reality that president obama essentially has extended the very policies that many of his supporters once the post under president bush. I think it says something about the bankrupt nature of politics in this country that the way we feel about life or death policies around the world is determined by who happens to be in office. To me that is a very sobering reality. I want to go to a clip of your film, jeremy and rick, the story of muslim cleric Anwar Al Awlaki features prominently in dirty wars. His 16yearold son became the third u. S. Citizen to be killed in a drone strike in yemen in october 2011. President obama called the assassination of Anwar Al Awlaki a marlstone. Milestone. Aiden. It was nothing like a bowl. In afghanistan, life was defined by the war. Everything revolved around it. In yemen, there was no war. At least not officially. The strike seems to have come out of the blue and must yemenis were going about life as usual. It was difficult to know where to start. The Yemeni Government claimed responsibility for the strike, saying he killed dozens of out, operatives. It was unclear who the targets really work or who was even responsible. That is Jeremy Scahill in yemen in the film that has just premiered at the Sundance Film Festival called, dirty wars the world is a battlefield. Jeremy . That was a scene where we were just first getting into what is happening on the ground in yemen. We learned about these series of missile strikes that have happened in december 2009. The first time that yemen had been bombed by the United States in seven years. In the process of looking at who the targets were, we understood that anwar awlaki, there had been an attempt to kill him bring it in fact, it had been announced awlaki had been killed. And that is how we discovered he was on the kill list but anwar awlaki is a u. S. Citizen. The first bombing that happened december 17, 2009 or president obama directly authorized the strike was on this village in southern yemen. 46 people were killed, including two dozen women and children in that strike. What rick and i did was we went down to the heart of where these strikes were happening, and met with people on the ground and interviewed survivors of these missile strikes. We gathered evidence and actually found the Cruise Missile parts. The u. S. Did not claim responsibility for the strikes. In fact, the Yemeni Government claimed responsibility. We know from the released wikileaks cables that general David Petraeus conspired with senior yemeni officials including the former president of yemen to cover up the u. S. Role in what would become a rapidly expanding u. S. Bombing campaign inside of yemen. This administration has continued to pummel yemen. Earlier today, they claimed for probably the doesnt time for the past couple of years to have killed one of the leaders of the arabian peninsula. Maybe this time he has been killed or maybe he hasnt, but what we saw is the u. S. And yemen climb to the killing al qaeda leadership and give killed a handful in yemen, but for the most part, it seems the drone strikes are hitting in areas where there killing civilians. It is turning people in yemen that might not be disposed or have anything against the u. S. , turning them into potential enemies with a legitimate grudge against america. We saw that repeatedly. Rick rowley, your film making is truly remarkable. You have shown that in your previous films, for example, fourth world war. In this film, you take this one camera and you and german travel the world in dirty wars. Going to places that the entire u. S. Press corps, i mean, with their armed guards, has rarely been, if ever at all, to track what has been secret until now. Talk about that journey through yemen. The global war on terror is the most important story of our generation, a story that has been completely not covered. It remains invisible and hidden from most americans. This is the longest american war in history which hundreds of thousands of people have been killed, but it is happening in the shadows in this film where troy and emmitt is invisible were being fought in our name but without our knowledge visible to the american people. In order to do that, we had to leave the safety of the green salad and go out to where the work takes place, talk to the civilians on the ground in places like afghanistan, somalia and yemen about how this war is affecting our lives. In yemen, as a result of all of these drone strikes, the backlash against these drone strikes was huge. When we arrived in yemen, an entire province in the south had been taken over by in accounted a crowdedaffiliated group. It turns out of him into a terrifying place. These missile strikes, these night raids destabilize the country. They turn them into places where it becomes very dangerous to move and operate. In afghanistan as well, jeremy and i could only work as a crew of two. We had to keep a low profile and travel under the radar. Running around was secured would only make it more dangerous. Rick had to train one of our afghan colleagues and how to use the second camera so we can have someone felony while rick was filming the people we were interviewing because it would not have been set to bring more people. Rick was trained people on the fly in multiple countries on how to do other things because of some of the limitations for security purposes of having to travel very lightly. One of the thing that humbles both of us is, when you arrive in an afghan village and knock on someones door, your the First American to have seen since the americans that kick that door in and killed have their family. Time and again, those families invited us in, welcomed us and share their stories with us. We promised them we would do everything we could to make their stories be heard in the u. S. It is amazing to be here at sundance because finally, were able to keep those promises. Afghanistan, jeremy, talk about one of the central focuses of dirty wars. When we began working on this film, it was a very different film. Both of us have been on democracy now and i feel like i grew up and at democracy now on my Facebook Page i list democracy now as a university and really view it that way. We were talking to at the time, we had started on a very different journey. We had read about this raid in gardez because of very brave journalist, who is now covering the latest expansion of the not so covert war in mali and we will talk about that in a moment it quits week read about this night raid, this horrible massacre. What happened was, u. S. Special Operation Forces said there were taliban, a cell was having some sort of meeting to prepare a suicide bomber. They raid this house in the middle of the night. They end up killing five people, including three women, two of whom were pregnant, and another person they killed in the house turned out to be a senior Afghan Police commander who had been trained by the u. S. , including by the mercenary or the private Security Company mpri. They were not even postions. That almost exclusive at the city of the taliban, they spoke what was happening that that was not preparing a suicide bomber, there are celebrating the birth of a child. They were dancing and had music and women without had covers on. So the soldiers raid this house and kill these people. Instead of realizing they had made a horrible mistake and that the intelligence was wrong and resulted in these people being killed, they actually covered up the killings. We interviewed the survivors of this raid, including a man who watched while he was zip cuffed, american soldiers digging bullets out of his dead wifes body. And they did that because . Just to finish this part of it, the kill the people, take out the bullets, then take into custody all of the men of the house, including a man who is just watched a sister and wife and the skilled, and they fly them to a different province, interrogating them to give up information that would indicate the taliban had a connection to that family. It shows you how horrid the intelligence is you have a senior Police Commander, theyre dancing and playing loud music and women without had covers in the house. Nato issues a press release and makes statements anonymously in the media where they said the u. S. Forces had stumbled upon the aftermath of the taliban honor killing and implied the family that the women were killed by their own murderers family members. So in the course of the film, we investigate the night raid and learned the individuals who did that raid were members of the joint special Operations Command and we know that because the then head of the joint special Operations Command showed up in this village with scores of Afghan Soldiers and u. S. Forces. We showed this in the film, there is a scene where they offload a sheep and offer to sacrifice the sheep to ask for forgiveness, and afghan cultural tradition. It was meant to be a gesture of reconciliation. The offload the sheep and offering to sacrifice them in every place where the raid had taken place, the admiral goes into the home and says his men were responsible for killing women and the Police Commander and he asks for forgiveness from the head of the family. Had a great photographer not been there to snap the photographs that you see in our film of the admiral, we may never have known who the actual killers were that day. And both Jerome Starkey and i filed a freedom of information act requests, trying to get information from u. S. Military. My request has been bounced all over the military. The most current update i have is months old. They said it is and then and now agency they said it is an unmannned agency waiting for review. We dont know if anyone was ever disciplined or held accountable. All now is the admiral and a bunch of soldiers showed up with a bunch of sheep and said there were sorry. And tried to destroy Jerome Starkeys reputation. There are a couple of journalists in our film who emerged as heroes of the story we are telling. Another one is currently in jail in yemen. One is in jail because president obama intervened. What do you mean he intervened . The journalist first exposed the missile strike was talking about in yemen had taken photographs of u. S. Missile parts and that is how we first learned it was in fact u. S. Cruise missiles. He was snatched from his home by the u. S. Backed yemeni Counter Terrorism unit. And then was put on trial for allegedly being an al qaeda facilitator propaganda, sentenced to five years in prison. His trial was denounced as a sham by International Human rights in any organization. He was about to be pardoned by the yemeni president because there is tremendous pressure. President obama called and expressed his concern over the release. Over the reporter . Whats the reporter. The part it was ripped up after that. His lawyers say he is clearly in jail because of obamas interjection. You can see the readout of the phone call from that day on the white house. It was put on the website openly. Very small, unknown media outlets. I heard from someone inside a very prominent News Organization in the u. S. Told me that they had been called by the administration when are working with him and said, he should stop working with him because he takes his paycheck and gives them to al qaeda. They tried to slander the journalist behindthescenes. When jerome start the first exposed the coverup, nato publicly attacked him by name and accused him of lying. Rick rowley, you have this remarkable footage, aside from you both going and interviewing survivors of the raid, talk about the video footage you retrieved their and the hands of the u. S. Soldiers that you see. One of incredible things, the family gave us cellphone video they had taken the night of the raid. Theres one clip in particular, early in the morning, a shaky video. We thought it was just another shaky video of the bodies. But then you could hear voices coming over it they are american accents, speaking of piecing together their version of the nights killing, getting their story straight. You hear them trying to concoct a story about how this was something other than a massacre. And you see their hands . You see their hands moving the corpses around and photograph and the bullet holes. We never get to see their faces. All we have are their voices. We spent a long time to analyze the audio because the name is mentioned in one part of it, but it is to distort it on the cellphone to find out. These are the scraps and pieces that we have to use to reconstruct the story of these wars because everything is systematically hidden. All we had to go on where these pictures that jeremy kelly took, the story the videographer for Jerome Starkey . Yes. Who is now the kabul course on a. All we had were these tiny little scraps of clues that were not even supposed to exist. And pictures of a person unknown at that time. The admiral, no one knew who he was. That was the first shock to see him, see his rank, read his name. He was not from nato command or the eastern regional command. He was not i mean, why was this elite force operating in kicking in doors of farmers . The mystery that begins the investigation. And you take this back to the United States and show at mcraven, a photograph. After we learned this figure, william mcraven, was a leader of this great, our fellow sort of this journey was like pulling on the tale of an elephant behind a hidden wall. Youre pulling on it and the cracks start to show what is behind the wall and you realize this is part of a much bigger story. That kicked off a journey that took us to elsewhere. For us, just this incredible Looking Glass moment happened when Osama Bin Laden was killed. All of the sudden, everybody is talking about jsoc. It is everywhere. We spent so much time embedded in the story when there were so but little been written about it except a small circle of journalists. And all of the seven people whose journey we have been tracking have become national all of this sudden, people whose journey we have been tracking have become national heroes. Hollywood producers got in bed with the cia to make their version of the events the official history. And that is the film zero dark thirty. The relationship between hollywood and the cia over this issue needs to be thoroughly debated. I am thankful we are debating it. One of the great films people are talking about torture after zero dark thirty, but for us to see mcraven and jsoc been talked about publicly was really an incredible experience because we had seen this other side. Our film is about all of these things that these same units did that almost never get talked about. What americans know about jsoc is overwhelmingly limited to what happened in the raid that killed Osama Bin Laden. Rick often points out sort of the irony of the way that is covered versus the role these forces play around the world. We are flooded with details about one raid, may 2, 2011. We know everything about it how many seals, helicopters, what, rifles the work caring. We know they had a dog with them. We know everything about this raid. But that same year there were 30,000 other night raids in afghanistan. We know everything about this, but those are all hidden from us. Were going to take a break and then come back to a pair of remarkable investigative journalists whose investigations are now a film, dirty wars the world is a battlefield. It has just premiered here at the Sundance Film Festival in its 10th year. We will be back in a minute. [music break] this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. We are with two great journalists, rick rowley and Jeremy Scahill. Jeremy, a long time democracy now correspondent and National Security correspondent for the nation. Rick rowley, a filmmaker, a videographer, has been in iraq and afghanistan for many years. That put together this film, dirty wars the world is a battlefield. It has premiered here. I want to talk about m somalia talkali, but lets start with a clip. Will discovered in somalia was the u. S. For years had been outsourcing its kill list in somalia to local warlords. In our film, you need to of those warlords. One of them was protecting people who were on the u. S. Kill list, an ally of the al qaeda and alshabab figures within somalia and has flipped and is now working with the u. S. Here we meet the stentorious warlord whos working on the side of the west. In an earlier life, he had been in the americas enemy offering help for those on the kill list. Now he was on the u. S. Payroll and assumed the title of general. He is in the fiercest fighting is happening right here. He is saying the fiercest fighting is happening right here. [gunshots] the men fired across the rooftops, but it did not make sense to me what we were doing here. Or what the americans were doing here in somalia are in this war lord turned general for what seemed like a senseless war. These were fighters you buried here. If recapture fighters alive, we give the medical care unless theyre foreigners. If you capture a foreigner alive, you execute them on the battlefield . Yes, the others should feel no mercy. The u. S. Backed somali warlord indha adde. Journalist Jeremy Scahill there, rick rowley felon. Talk about somalia and mali as the world learns about mali with the french attacks on mali and what has happened in algeria, and how that ties into the central theme of your film about jsoc 3 we have some people within the jsoc community whose identities we protect in the film. We are talking to them. Two years ago, we were considering going to somalia because we were hearing from sources there were covert operations happening covertinsie mali. This is something we are seen throughout the horn of africa and in places throughout north africa where these groups are getting stronger and stronger. The u. S. Is increasingly getting itself involved in these dirty wars in africa. We could have easily gone to uganda or somalia or mali and reported on this, but since africom was greeted as a full freestanding, and like Southern Command in central command, africom has been expanding these wars. And where is mcraven . He is the commander of the special Operations Command. William mcraven is the most powerful figure in the u. S. Military. He is an incredibly brilliant man. He is very shrewd. He understands media. He is in charge of the most elite force the u. S. Has ever produced and has been given Carte Blanche to do what he believes is right around the world, and howard much are under president obama than under president bush. You see some who has worked within jsoc say that in our film. Out of a camp in djibouti, the u. S. Has been expanding these covert wars in africa. Most americans, what they know about somalia is blackrock down but i think youll see a different reality and our film. Youll see the whole state that has been built by a decade of covert war critics this is the fourth anniversary of president obama promising to close guantanamo. It has not happened. There are scores of men there, 166 men and Something Like more than 80 have been cleared but are still there. Is it too cynical to say this dirty war, as you call it, the targeted killings, are a way to end all of these prisons question you dont detain prisoners, is simply kill them. That is what others have said. The irony of these guys have normal no more stainings who refuse to talk about these issues are saying, well, obama is just killing them, these we stuck them in some sort of prison. Devastating is your film, dirty wars the world is a battlefield. It is premiered here at the Sundance Film Festival. It will go out to scores of movie theaters around the country. This is just the beginning. I congratulate you both, Jeremy Scahill and rick rowley. What an amazing film. This is our first day at the Sundance Film Festival. 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