Transcripts For WHUT Democracy Now 20130709

Sovereignty. Violationefinitely a of sovereignty, without a doubt, just as it is a violation of human rights. Now we have to see without rationale or prejudgment. We have to investigate. Brazils position is very clear and strong. We do not agree, in any way, with these kinds of interference is, not just in brazil, but in any country. She says her government will also raise the spying issue at the United Nations in the hopes of securing International Protections for privacy rights. In his latest article based on Edward Snowdens disclosure, the journalist and Glenn Greenwald reports today that nsa spying has extended to all of latin america. Suggestsent surveillance covers issues of trade and economics. A priority for venezuela. Snowden is believed to be at an airport in moscow. Nicholas maduro claimed he confirmed he received the official asylum request. He said asylum offer from his government as well as bolivia and nicaragua showed that large parts of latin america are becoming a humanitarian corridor. We receive an application letter for asylum. He will need to decide when he will fly here if he wants to fly here. The fact is, latin america is humanitarian territory, and it is growing every day. On monday, thousands of rallied outside the embassy in bolivia to protest the forced landing of bolivian president a evo morales. To land inas forced brussels because of false rumor that snowden was aboard. As thepute comes just u. S. And European Union have opened talks in washington on creating the Worlds Largest freetrade zone. Negotiations were briefly thrown into doubt last week after it emerged the u. S. Has been spying on European Union offices and member country offices. We will have more on the spying with a newly released interview with Edward Snowden, and then we will speak with the ecuadorian foreign minister patino lawyers for Brandi Manning have opened their defense at his military court martial. On monday, his attorneys began playing the video that he leaked of shooting iraqis from a u. S. Helicopter. The prosecution had sought to block the video from airing in court, calling it not relevant. Lawyers also submitted a transcript in the book the good videors to show that the had already been circulated. Manning also as the defense to drop a number of charges, including aiding the enemy. A federal judge has issued a ruling suggesting the force feeding of hunger striking guantanamo prisoners as a legal but awards only president obama can stop it. The district judge rejected a prisoners effort to halt his forced feeding, saying she lacked jurisdiction, but she said how least 45 of the estimated 106 guantanamo Hunger Strikers are being force fed through tubes. Thousands of prisoners across california have launched their third largescale Hunger Strike in the past two years. The action focuses on ending longterm solitary confinement, which the prisoners call a state of indefinite state sanctioned torture. Thousands took part in the most recent Hunger Strike in 2011, winning vows to improve conditions in solitary confinement. It has now spread to twothirds of the states 33 prisons. Officials say some 33,000 prisoners refused meals on the strikes first day, which if sustained, would result in a large largest harbor strike in california prison history. Many are also missing classes and prison work programs. The death toll from the derailment of a train carrying crude oil in canada has reached 13. The Police Spokesperson in the town of lac megantic, quebec, say that dozens are missing. We are still talking about around 40 people that are reported missing. We do not know their whereabouts. The train was carrying crude oil from north dakota. When it derailed and slammed into the center of town. If the missing turn out to be dead, it would be candid thes worst accident since the swiss air crash. In texas, thousands descended on the public can revive a bill that would shut down nearly all the states abortion clinics, ban abortion after 20 weeks. Hundreds of people on both sides gave testimony during a state Senate Committee hearing that lasted late into the evening. Among them was austin resident came behind, who delivered a poem. If my vagina was a gun, you would fight for its rights. If my vagina was a gun, you would treat it with care. He would not fill it with secrets. If my vagina was a gun, he would say in private. If my vagina was a gun, its right to be protected, no matter the body count. If my vagina was a gun, i could bypass security, concealed carry laws would insure i had a purity. The texas house is expected to vote on the bill today. The bill was defeated by wendy davis and a peoples filibuster last month, but gov. Rick perry called for a special session to reconsider it. A federal judge has temporarily blocked part of a new law signed by Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker that would require abortion providers to obtain admitting privileges at nearby hospitals. The move came after planned parenthood and others filed a lawsuit saying the law which down two out of four abortion clinics. Thousands of people gathered at the North Carolina legislator building for the attend weekly moral monday protest called by the naacp to protest the agenda of the republicanled state legislature. Many arrive in pink tshirts to protest a series of antijoyce restrictions passed by the state Senate Last Week without a public hearing. The bill requires abortion clinics to meet the standards of ambulatory Surgical Centers which critics say which shut down all but one of North Carolinas abortion clinics. On monday, more than 60 people were arrested, including the head of planned parenthood of central North Carolina. More protests are expected today as the state house holds a hearing on the bill. The Obama Administration is considering a speedy withdrawal from afghanistan that would remove all troops next year. The New York Times reports president obama is weighing plans to scrap plans for a residual force in afghanistan after the withdrawal date of 2014. The report cites obamas apparent frustration afghan President Hamid karzai. Their ties apparently reached a new low after karzai objected to peace talks last month between the u. S. And taliban. The journalist and media activist sputnik columbia has died at age of 55 after a battle with liver cancer. She was often the only woman reporting from war zones. She was known as a mentor from other journalists. She worked for more than a decade at Radio France International and her voice was regularly heard as a correspondent for free speech radio news, which she helped to found. She helped to expose sexual trafficking in the balkans. Suggest more than 700,000 people are traffic across the borders worldwide. Almost onethird of this figure concerns the balkans, which has become a major transit and destination point. One reason for this is the Huge International presence in the region. Sputnik kilambi also worked with the detonation to establish Media Outlets and trained journalists. She worked most recently in rwanda hoping to create the countrys First Independent Television News station. Those are some of the headlines, democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Im juan gonzalez. Im juan gonzalez. An emergency petition was filed on monday asking the Supreme Court to halt the National Security agencys collection of millions of phone records. Also on monday, Privacy International filed a lawsuit over alleged spying on internet and phone users in britain. Brazil meanwhile launched an investigation into whether Telecommunications Firms operating in the country cooperated with the United States. Over the weekend, a newspaper revealed brazil was the top target in latin america for the intelligencegathering effort. This is the brazilian president. It is definitely in violation of sovereignty, without a doubt, just as it is a violation of human rights. Now we have to see without brashness or prejudgment. We have to investigate. Brazils position is very clear and strong. We do not agree, in any way, with these kinds of interference is. Not just in brazil, but any country. The report about u. S. Surveillance in brazil was based on leaks by Edward Snowden, the former nsa contractor. Airportns in a moscow while trying to obtain asylum. Three countries have offered to protect him so far. Venezuela, cuba, and nicaragua. On monday, venezuelan president confirmed he had received the asylum request. We received a letter from snowden. He will need to decide when to fly here, if he wants to apply here. The fact is, when america is humanitarian territory, and it is growing every day. This is probably the only political asylum that would be given collectively in history. There are already other countries participating. This is a collective humanitarian asylum in which the terrories are over our land america says to this young man, you are being persecuted by the imperialists. We turn now to Edward Snowden in his own words. In a newly released video, he claims the National Security agency gathers all communications into and out of the United States despite claims that it only targets foreign traffic. Snowden also predicted the u. S. Government would seek to demonize him and accuse him of aiding americas enemies. He conducted this interview on june 6 before he was revealed as the nsa leaker. He was interviewed by Glenn Greenwald of the guardian. It was filmed by laura poitras. Have you given thought to what it is the u. S. Governments you, how theybout may try to depict you . I think the government will launch an investigation. I think they will say i have committed grave crimes, violated the esplanade act, and they will say that i have aided our enemies in making them aware of these systems, but that argument can be made against anybody who reveals information that points out mass surveillance systems. Fundamentally, they apply equally to ourselves as they do to our enemies. When you decided to enter this world, did you do so with the intention of weaseling your way in the and becoming a mall so that you could one day undermined it with disclosures . What was your mind set about it at the time when you first got into this whole realm . I enjoy the Intelligence Community when i was young. Sort of the government as a whole, i enlisted in the army. Shortly after the invasion of iraq. I believe in the goodness of what we were doing, the lead in the ability of our intentions to free oppressed people overseas, but over time, over the length of my career, as i watched the news and i was increasingly exposed to true information that had not been propagandized in the media, that we were actually involved in misleading the public and misleading all public, not just the American Public, in order to create a certain mindset in the global consciousness. I was actually a victim of that. America is a fundamentally good country. We have good people with good values who want to do the right thing. But the structures of power that exist are working to their own hands, to extend their capability at the expense of the freedom of all publics. Arean you talk about what some of the most important primary documents and what they reveal . The primary disclosures are that the nsa and does not afford itself intelligence. It collects all communication veterans of the United States. There are literally no ingress or egress point in the United States where communication that enters or exit without being monitored or analyzed. The verizon document speaks highly to this. It literally lays out, they are using an authority that was intended to be used to seek warrants against individuals. And they are applying it to the whole of society by subverting a Corporate Partnership through Major Telecommunications providers, and they are getting everyones call records and everyones internet traffic as well. On top of that, you have boundless informants, a global auditing system for the it and as a intercept and collection system, that lets us track how much we are collecting, where we are collecting, by which authorities, and so forth. The nsa lied about the existence of this tool to congress, and to specific congressmen in response to previous inquiries about their surveillance activities. Aeyond that, we have prism, demonstration how the u. S. Government coops u. S. Corporate power to its own ends. Companies like google, facebook, apple, microsoft. They all get together with the nsa and provide them direct access to the back end of all the system you use to communicate, stored data, put things on the cloud, and even to send birthday wishes, keep a record of your life. They give tdirect access so they cannot be held liable for it. I think that is a dangerous capability for anyone to have appeared particularly, an organization that had demonstrated, time and again, their work to shield themselves from oversight. Was there a specific point in time that you can point to where you crossed the line from contemplation to Decision Making and commitment to do this . I grew up in the world understanding that the world where i lived was one where they could enjoy the freedom to communicate with each other in privacy, without it being measured or analyzed, monitored, were judged by these figures or systems. Anything that travels across public lines. I think a lot of people in my generation, anyone who grew up with the internet, that was their understanding. As we have seen the internet and governments the relationship of internet the ball over time, we have seen that open debate, that free market of ideas, lose its domain and be shrunk. What is it about that set of developments that makes them sufficiently menacing or threatening to you that you are willing to risk when you have risked in order to fight them . I do not want to live in a world where everything that i say, everything i do, everyone i talk to, every expression of creativity or love or friendship is recorded. That is not something i am willing to support, not something i am willing to build, not something im willing to live under. I think anyone who opposes that sort of world has an obligation to act in the way they can. I watched and waited and tried policy job in the most driven away i could, which is to wait and allow other people, wait for our leadership, figures to correct the excesses of government. As i have watched, i see that is not occurring. In fact, we are compounding the excesses of prior government, and making it more invasive, and nobody is standing up to that. That was part two of Edward Snowdens interview with the guardian. You can go to our website and also led to the first part of the interview. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Towill be going to quito speak with the ecuadoran foreign minister patino to ask about the latest of snowden, the downing of the plight of a evo morales, forcing him down in austria, and we will also ask him about Julian Assange. Stay with us. [music break] no government by nicolette. Im amy goodman with juan gonzalez. We turn to part two of my interview with glenn Glenn Greenwald. He had recently spoken to Edward Snowden for the First Time Since june. I have the opportunity to speak with him on saturday, the First Time Since he left hong kong. I had a good, long conversation with him. Although im not interested in divulging where he is, he is into about the developments over the past week, both in terms of ongoing roll revelations and debate that he helped to open about world wide surveillance as well as the report he is getting around the world and at the moment three different governments who have offered him asylum. The question of how he is going to get there, what will happen once he arrives, those are still in the process of being worked out, but he is doing very well in terms of his mind set, demeanor, debates as they unfold, and is feeling good about the choices that he made. Did he talk about his preference for where he wants to go . I did not speak much about his request for asylum. I think he feels he has always been consistent about the fact there is and fantastic article in the Washington Post within it the same point that the crucial objective that he had, just as ellsberg had, was to participate in the debate that he triggered. That means staying out of the u. S. Where is he ends up, as long as his voice is heard, he will be happy. Snowdenis it edward st encouraged by as he follows the debate and continued revelations online . The first conversation i had with him on my knee, he said he only had one fear, and that was that he would sacrifice his life and take these enormous personal risks in order to make these disclosures possible and then have the world reacted with indifference and apathy, they would say, i assume this is happening and i do not really mind. None of that has happened. There has been intense debate, movements of reform, movements against the United States government, and in many countries around the world, as we discussed. He feels like what he set out to do it has happened. He did not set out to destroy the systems. He wants to make people around the world realize what the u. S. Government is doing to them, to enable them to decide whether that is what theyre willing to tolerate. He is extremely enthused and satisfied that his objective has been fulfilled. His father has been pushing for him to come back to the United States and be tried. Does edward share those sentiments . I think the father is concerned as a father. I had the opportunity to speak with his lawyer several days ago and is doing what most parents would do, which is to do what is best for their children. The premise of that view, that he ought to come back to the United States, is one that mr. Snowden projects rejects. The record of the u. S. Judiciary since 9 11 is shameful and atrocious. It is a subservient vessel whenever the government raises claim the National Security has been harmed. They cheat in cases where there are muslim defendants accused of terrorism. They do everything they can to ensure the government gets everything it wants. If you are Edward Snowden and you know the government will accuse you of espionage, prosecutors will tell federal judges that you in danger to National Security, often times, prosecutors do not have to tell the judges what basis they have for those claims. Oftentimes they cite documents that the judges do not even need to see. In almost every instance, the judges are on the side of the government. If you had a system that was that worked the way it was supposed to work and gave us a fair trial, he would be willing to come back, but because a lot of people do not think that, and a Young Osborne made the point today in the post, defendi his decision to flee, the chances that he will come back to the u. S. Voluntarily is extremely low. Are you concerned about, coming back to the United States, as you have a real all these stories of Edward Snowden, the revelations . When you have Major Political figures like the chairman of the House Homeland Security committee and prominent establishment journalists calling for your arrest and prosecution and debating whether you should be prosecuted as a main street debate now, of course, it would be irrational to dismiss it. At the same time, i know that i have not committed any crime, i have freedom to engage with the press. I have lawyers who are working on the situation and i have every intention to come back to the United States when i am ready to do that. Thatu tweeted on saturday you receive a document from snowden. What was that . He released a statement through wikileaks that you could say was rhetorically. Lent in its tone, more accustomed than i had heard him. He was very angry at the Obama Administration, president obama, first saying that we would not do anything extreme like scrambled fighter jets to take on the plane of its 29 yearold hacker, only to essentially to the equivalent of that, which is getting the u. S. Allies to block the plan that he thought he was on over their air space and forcing it to land in a completely different country. The main point that he made, the critical one, is that the u. S. Government for years Edward Snowden, just like Bradley Manning. From the manning already did his leaks, mr. Snowden as ensure that the documents he took will be revealed. They are not afraid of them. They are afraid of two things. They are afraid that future whistleblowers will be inspired and that the American People become informed that the what the government is doing and theyd go against them. They want to make sure that the American People, the real enemy, do not learn what it is they ought to know about what their government is doing in the dark. That was the point that he made in his statement. What about Edward Snowdens change, how his feelings have changed . The statement in 2009 the people have reported on, the nsa documents appeared to have come after a major change of heart on government whistleblowers. Namene using his screen criticizes the disclosure of casa by government information, saying those who do so should be shot. The criticism came from an article based on information on Cyber Attacks in iran be done a lot of people change their views over the course of years after taking in more information. Those who are younger are more prone to do that. That is a healthy intellectual evolution. We will be releasing a new video showing excerpts of the interview the lower and i did with him in hong kong later today in which part of the excerpt is in discussing the evolution. Remember, this is somebody who grew up in the military community in virginia. Both of his parents work for the. S. Government he thought he wanted to fight in iraq or because he thought it was a noble effort to liberate people. He then spent the next eight years of his adult life working for the cia and nsa. This is not somebody born to a radical antiamerican household or inculcated with the idea that the u. S. Government is illegal. He bought that they were the most noble government in the world. He wanted to work and devote his career to support in its policies, and it was only over time that he began to see all sorts of things and got critically about them, just as Bradley Manning did. Snowdens evolution as well. He finally got to the point where he realized so much was going on that the American Public was aware of, and that they were being propagandized, he cut he could no longer in good conscious allow that to continue. Of course, there are all sorts of things in his past where he expressed political views that he no longer believes. That is true for me and all sorts of people that have a critical an open mind and to the law and their political views. Trying to use that to suggest that that somehow undermines his motives, i think is irrational. To me, it corroborates the purity of the notice he has claimed. Finally, it is not only the revelations that you have put out in the guardian and that have come and other places, but they are sparking others to go down this track. ,he latest nsa spying issue another headline today, u. S. Postal service now under scrutiny for a Surveillance Program of its own. They have been carrying out and mail isolation control and tracking program which photographs every piece of mail in its system, the contents never read without a warrant, but they allow investigators to other key information, including names, addresses, postmarked locations, information that was used to nab the individual who sent ricinlaced letters to president obama and mayor bloomberg. Owner found out that he was being monitored when a letter was accidentally sent to him. There is a journalist in new york, and he argues the revelations about the surveillance tape go far beyond the specific revelations enabled by the documents that he disclosed, and are reporting instead that he complete refocused world one global attention on the abuses of the surveillance state. Not just that article about the post that you mentioned about the court, there are articles about how the french are surveiling their own citizens, another story about how the pentagon is engaged in domestic propaganda, on entering websites for extreme political activity. This tidal wave of revelation that have come from the sea change that has resulted in the way we think about surveillance as a result of mr. Snowdens whistleblowing. I think that is ultimately going to be the most profound effect before people think differently about how the government spies on them, whether they want to trust their government, why journalism has failed to uncover these things, why we needed somebody like mr. Snowden to bring it to our attention. I then this will have profound repercussions for a long time to come. What about snowden saying that he the wiretap the president . Critics say that he is delusional. To you think that is true, what he said . I know it is true. The u. S. Government collects all emails and telephone calls that transmits its network. All of them, and billions every day. Once they collect them, they store them. The program that nsa analysts have at their keyboards are one that enable them to do searches by email, ip address, telephone, name, and once you enter those search terms, you can access those communications that match the search. Exactly as he said, if you have the email address of the in theent, because it it is United States, it is accessible by the nsa. Any analyst has the physical and technological capability to do that, exactly as mr. Snowden said. That was Glenn Greenwald. You can go to my first part of the interview at democracynow. Org. When we come back, we will be joined by the ecuadoran foreign minister to talk about snowdens bid for asylum in ecuador as well as spying in lead america and around the world. Stay with us. [music break] this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman with juan gonzalez. We turn to ecuador, where Edward Snowden is seeking asylum. The companys president says they can not process the request until he reaches one of their embassies. He recently reported that he received a call from Vice President joe biden urging him to reject snowdens asylum bid. What a difference between vicepresident biden and his equally raised congressmen and senators threatening the country. It was a friendly and cordial conversation. Of course, we discussed the topic of snowden and, for which she communicated a kurdish request from the United States and we reject asylum. I told him with ecuadorean position is. Bis president , thank you for your call. We appreciate the United States. We have not gone in search of the situation, we are not anti u. S. , which is less certain members of the media have said. He followed up by saying that russia is now in control of snowdens fate. In a public message, he also urged the whistleblower to meanwhile, here in the u. S. , democratic senator Robert Menendez said in welcoming snowden would severely jeopardize u. S. Relations with ecuador. Orreas ecuador has already granted asylum to Julian Assange, who has spent over a year in its London Embassy awaiting safe passage. Wikileaks is assisting Edward Snowden in his asylum bid to over 20 countries, including ecuador. Earlier this month, ecuador discovered it had discovered a hidden listening device in the residence where he was presiding. A small microphone was found in the ambassadors office during a security sweep. We now go directly to quito, ecuador, where we are joined by the foreign minister ricardo patino. Welcome to democracy now bolivia, and nicaragua have offered political asylum. Will ecuador also offer political asylum . Speaking spanish] these countries have granted asylum to these persons. Not issued a statement with regard to the request of but, certainly, we will study it. Thee are talking to ecuadoran foreign minister ricardo patino. For mr. Patino, your reaction to the bugging devices that were found in your embassy in . Ngland [speaking spanish] it is unfortunate spying is still prevalent drop the world still. It is a massive violation to to communication,. Uman expression, conversation the hidden microphone that we found in our embassy in london is certainly a grave occurrence and we are requesting that the British Government collaborate ofh us in the investigation what information has been obtained with this hidden microphone. Patino, the recent events that occurred with the president evo morales, when his plane was not allowed to pass through the air space of several european countries. What has been the reaction in your country and in latin america to this affront to the bolivian president . [speaking spanish] there has been a very. Nergetic response furthermore, the secretary general of the organization of american states has also issued. Strong statement so in addition to glob spying and all the violations to International Law, that this constitutes now, we see yet. Nother grave violation it is really a flagrant violation, and so what we see is ofnowballing of violations International Law and there has been no explanation of this violation. And the norms of International Law are being complete discarded completely discarded. Article 14 of the universal declaration of human rights is also being violated. The citizens of the world hav rf expression and communication wherever they are in the world. To ecuadorianing foreign minister ricardo patino. We are having a little problem hearing his voice, so were doing the best we can. Let me ask you, foreign minister patino, about the case of Julian Assange. With britainss William Hague about his fate. Can you explain what will happen to Julian Assange . He is in the Ecuadorian Embassy for more than a year now in london. [speaking spanish] well, the issue is in that hands of the British Government. Have reallyy, we taken on a roll of the advocates and have provided extensive substantiated of asylumin favor being granted and respected. We have also had to provide the legal arguments that allow, and furthermore, force the British Government to provide safe conduct to Julian Assange. So we have asked mr. Haig what he expects. The seeking Julian Assange will just grow old in our embassy . There are International Conventions on asylum and the right of sovereign nations to we told the, so United Kingdom that it is a andtion of human rights that persons have the right to. Equest and receive asylum government needs to acknowledge that individuals have the right to request cover received, and enjoyed asylum. So, and Julian Assange, is by no means, in joining asylum. He is suffering. His rights are being violated daily. So this is a grave mistake and constitutes a violation of Julian Assanges human rights. Foreign minister, to follow up on the matter, could you share with the audience here in the United States, some of the substance of the conversation between vicepresident joe biden and president correa . What were some of the things that vicepresident biden said about snowden . [speaking spanish] well, president correa has made statements publicly with. Egard to that exchange vicepresident biden asked president correa not to grant asylum, and president correa pointed out that the u. S. Has not complied with its to extradite corrupt , that causeduador a great financial crisis. So president correa reminded vicepresident biden that that was the case. Sometimes it is important to remind each other of such matters. , of course, we respect the opinions of the added states with regard to the asylum request of snowden, but ecuador will exercise its sovereignty in about a wedding the asylum request. Suffice it to say, it was a cordial exchange. President correa highlighted the butial nature of the call did table the fact that ecuador has been requesting the extradition of these bankers for , and thatf years ecuador is happy toear the opinions of the United States on a variety of issues, but will make its own decisions. Givingident correa said the travel documents to Edward Snowden that allowed him to leave hong kong was a mistake on the part of the consul in london. Does he still feel that way, why does he feel that the broadwell, bolivia, and venezuela have out right offered asylum, and ecuador has not, which surprised many, since it offered asylum to Julian Assange . [speaking spanish] can you hear me . I did hear the question. The line is done very good. I can answer the question. Aesident correa said it was mistake by officials who provided safe conduct without requesting his higher ups permission to do so, but he did not say it was a mistake to do it, in and of itself. Just a question of procedure that was mistaken. When a person is boat persecuted politically, and , whichecurity is at risk need to give priority to saving the life of the person being and we know that the and there were people in countries whor were in danger and did not have passports or travel documents,nd were at risk and in danger and these people were taken to other countries to protect their life. That is wellknown. Happened in grave situations in the course of the worlds history and we know that there are solutions that can be offered by countries willing to save the life of those being persecuted. Foreign minister patino, the latest revelation that has come from the nsa documents released by snowden on spying on latin america, not only on military matters, but energy and oil matters. Your response . I think he is trouble hearing us and we have to end the interview because were coming to the end of the hour. We want to think foreign minister ricardo patino. Our interview with Sharif Abdel Kouddous will be on after the broadcast and will be posted at democracynow. Org. 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, ny 10013. Tavis it has taken a backseat to the bloodshed in cairo. Here to discuss john kerrys role as a piece worker is tohael oren, the ambassador the u. S