that has been the message from the white house over the past 25 years as the u.s. wages one war after another in iraq. secretary of state john kerry just flew into baghdad on a surprise visit to address the latest crisis. we will speak with retired army colonel and professor andrew bacevich about his new book, america's war for the greater middle east. stockre is a need to take of u.s. military involvement in the region to recognize this failure and therefore, to consider alternatives -- and it is my personal judgment, that there are alternatives to the militarization of u.s. policy. why plus we will look at the obama administration deported 85 refugees to bangladesh, india, and nepal who were seeking asylum after fleeing repression and violence in their home countries. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. black lives matter activists interrupted former bill clinton during a speech in support of hillary, in philadelphia on challenging the clintons on thursday, their support for the 1994 crime bill, which led to a massive expansion of incarceration in the united states. activists shouted, "black youth are not super predators," a reference to hillary clinton's 1996 comments about some youth. they also held signs reading, "clinton crime bill destroyed our communities." in response, former president clinton defended hillary's use of the term "super predators" and accused the activists of defending criminals. >> wait a minute, wait a minute. ok, i heard it. can i answer it? see these other signs? this is what is a matter. i do not how you characterize the gang leaders who got 13-year-old kids hopped up on crack and sent them out on the streets to murder other african-american children. maybe you thought they were good citizens. she didn't. she didn't. you are defending the people who killed of the lives you say matter. amy: this comes as hillary clinton is facing an increasingly tough challenge by bernie sanders in the new york primary on april 19. pope francis has issued a widely anticipated proclamation on family life, in which he calls on priests to move away from the -- make the church more inviting to single parents, lgbt people, and unmarried couples. he also calls on governments to provide public health care and education in order to support families. pope francis did not, however, advance the church's position on a range of social issues, including contraception and the role of women in the church. he also makes a point saying unions between same-sex couples are not marriages. afghan officials say at least 17 civilians were killed by u.s. drone strikes in afghanistan wednesday. the first strike reportedly hit the truck of a local elder who was on his way to resolve a land dispute, killing the elder and 11 others. the second drone reportedly struck and killed two people who were collecting their bodies. a third train struck reportedly killed three more who had come to see what had happened. the pentagon has confirmed two of the three drone strikes, but says there were no civilian casualties. meanwhile, a u.s. oversight office has issued a damning report indicating the $113-billion effort to reconstruct afghanistan has largely been a failure. the report details shoddily built structures dangerous , roads, and hundreds of empty schools. the u.s. special inspector general for afghanistan reconstruction john sopko, who was responsible for the report, said -- "fifteen years into an unfinished work of funding and fighting, we must indeed ask, 'what went wrong?'" since 2002, the u.s. has been 113 billion dollars on reconstruction efforts, more than the total spending on the marshall plan to rebuild europe after world war ii. fromsurprise visit secretary of state john kerry flew into baghdad today amidst increasing protests over the iraqi government corruption. iraqi prime minister haider al-abadi has vowed to replace most of his cabinet following weeks of demonstrations. this comes amid a continuing u.s.-airstrike campaign backing the iraqi military's attempts to retake control of mosul from isil militants. u.s. officials are also warning dam could collapse at any minute. if it collapses, hundreds of thousands of people would be at risk of drowning, and more than one million people would be displaced. in syria, activists say isil militants have kidnapped at least 170 cement factory workers in damascus. their whereabouts are unknown. this comes as the united nations has delayed the next round of geneva peace talks until april 11. the massive data leak known as the panama papers has revealed the law firm mossack fonseca set up more than 1000 shell companies inside the united states, once again raising questions about the united states' role as an offshore tax haven. the papers show more than 600 shell companies were set up in nevada alone. matthew gardner of the institute on taxation and economic policy said -- "we should be thinking about this as a very american problem, and a problem that arguably is worse here in the states than it is in panama." this comes as an argentine prosecutor is calling for an investigation into argentine president mauricio macri's finances, following panama paper revelations that macri's family is connected to two offshore shell companies. federal prosecutor norman dario martinez spoke thursday. understand not only does he have to give an explanation for the panama papers case for the two companies to which he is tied, one of the bahamas and the other in panama, but he should also hold an open news conference with questions from all of the journalists and you should explain this to the argentine people, given the gravity of this topic. regarding the court, whatever he has to show, he should have to explain it there. amy: president macri is claiming the companies belong to his father, and that he has not received income from them. meanwhile, british prime minister david cameron finally admitted thursday that he's profited from an offshore trust set up by his father through the panama-based law firm mossack fonseca. cameron answered questions from reporters thursday. >> can't be certain that some of that 300,000 it not come from offshore forces? >> he had investments -- >> in jersey. >> because of another unit trust him again, established, industry standard on all of the rest of it, and many people have those -- in all of this, i have never hidden the fact i am a very lucky person and had wealthy parents who gave man great upbringing, who paid for me to go to an amazing school. i have never tried to pretend to be anything i'm not. amy: labor party parliament member john mann has called for prime minister in cameron's resignation. in virginia, the council of american-islamic relations has filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of 18 people who have been placed on the u.s. government's sweeping terrorism watchlist. the plaintiffs include a four-year-old named baby doe, who has been on the watch list since he was 7 months old. the suit accuses the government of "ensnaring individuals into an invisible web of consequences that are imposed indefinitely and without recourse as a result of the shockingly large federal watchlists." a new investigation by buzzfeed has revealed the fbi and department of homeland security are flying dozens of federal aircraft's over major u.s. citizens every day. the agencies say they're not using the flights to conduct mass surveillance, but the buzzfeed investigation shows the airplanes fly in slow circles and are outfitted with high-resolution video cameras. some planes are also equipped with cell phone tracking devices. in wyoming, scientists say chemical contamination from fracking has poisoned the water supply of the small town of pavillion. the scientists recorded benzene levels 50 times above permitted limit. this comes three years after the environmental protection agency decided to halt its investigation about water contamination in the town. in new orleans former bp rig , supervisor donald vidrine has been sentenced to probation, but no jail time, for crimes associated with the 2010 deepwater horizon rig explosion in the gulf of mexico, which killed 11 workers and caused the worst offshore oil spill in u.s. history. he was the last of four former bp employees to be prosecuted for crimes associated with the explosion. none are serving time in prison. this comes as the ceo of bp, bob dudley, is facing growing revolt from the company's own shareholders over his record-setting $19.6 million paycheck for 2015. some shareholders are expected to attempt to block the dudley's pay raise, up 20% from the previous year, during a vote at the annual shareholder meeting next week. meanwhile, the justice department has filed an anti-trust lawsuit to block a merger between energy giants halliburton and baker hughes. they are the second and third largest oilfield service companies in the world. environmental groups heralded the lawsuit. food and water watch head wenonah hauter said -- "it's time for the doj to bust the energy trusts and for the u.s. government to halt the industry's damage to people and the environment." in texas, the san antonio school district has launched an investigation after a video surfaced of a school police officer body slamming a 12-year-old girl. the cell phone video appears to show officer joshua kehm lifting up 12-year-old janiss valdez and then forcibly throwing her face first into the floor. the officer then handcuffs her hands behind her back. on the video, onlooking students can be heard saying "she landed on her face." in washington, d.c., active as are delivering a petition calling for an investigation into the death of a 16-year-old palestinian-american teenager who was shot and killed by israel the soldiers at a checkpoint near the jewish only settlements in the israeli occupied west bank in february. witnesses said the soldiers continued shooting shaalan even after yet followed to the ground and prevented an ambulance from taking him to the hospital. israeli soldiers say shaalan tried to attack them with an eye. this comes as the united nations says the israeli government has tripled the number of demolitions of palestinian homes in the occupied west bank over the past three months. the data shows a monthly average of 165 home demolitions since january. on thursday, a man spoke out after israeli authorities demolished his home in a village near jericho. >> at 9:00 in the morning, i was surprised by the israeli police and the army. they came to demolish the structures, so i was very mad. i asked them, why do you want to demolish it? i did not get a warning or anything. you tommy, you're not legal. amy: new data shows more than 40% of people with federal student loans in the united states are either behind on their payments are refusing to pay entirely a noncompliance , rate that is raising serious questions about the federal government's ability to ever collect on these debts. one in six people have defaulted entirely. the average student loan debt for last year's college graduates was more than $35,000, making the class of 2015 the most indebted class in u.s. history. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. juan: welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. amy: before we talk about iraq, john kerry has just made a surprise visit there, your keys in "the new york daily news" is about yet another editorial board meeting. a week or two ago, it was with bernie sanders. yesterday, you and the board met with john kasich. juan: kasich came into the editorial board to discuss his platform and hoping to get the voters of new york to back cam, republican voters. i specifically zeroed -- he is much -- those who have seen the debates among the republicans regard him probably as the most reasonable, the most common sense of the candidates in his approach. he really touted his ability to work with political opponents, his long experience and both the congress and as a senator of a major -- i mean, as a governor of a major state. i try to zero in on my few questions i was able to ask him on his role in terms of american labor. obviously, in 2011, he pushed through a bill that not only would outlaw strikemployees in o would restrict the ability of union members to negotiate over pensions and health insurance. that created a huge stir, backlash in ohio, police, firefighters, a major referendum and kasich was defeated two to one. it was the biggest of feet of his term as governor. i asked him what he learned from that. he said, don't do it again. when i asked him, well, without president kasich attempt to restrict the union rights of federal employees? he was a little bit more equivocal and said it would depend on what you're talking about. i would not make any sweeping judgment on that. kasich also has a pretty checkered history in terms of public education which he focused on a light. the charter schools in ohio are considered the wild west of charter schools nationwide. there's been all kinds of scandals on charter schools and just last year, the person he had appointed to be in charge of charter schools had to resign when it was revealed he was misrepresenting how badly charter scores were performing in the state, to federal government application. kasich did say that he has fix that, he has passed and laws to try to raise standards for charter schools in his state, but the wife of that disgraced official who resigned who was the chief of staff of kasich, is to running his presidential campaign, so really, in comparison to trump and to cruz, good, butks pretty that is only in comparison to the other republican candidates. amy: i know you do not write the headline, but when you say it is accurate moderate john kasich is still dangerously conservative? juan: yes, i did not write that. that is pretty much what it talks about. amy: i'm headed to columbus, ohio, to john kasich's ohio hometown and hope to see folks there. we will continue to cover the presidential race as we travel across the country in our 100 city tour beginning today. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. juan: secretary of state john kerry flew to baghdad today on a surprise visit amid increasing protests over government corruption. iraqi prime minister haider al-abadi has vowed to replace most of his cabinet following weeks of demonstrations. this comes amid an ongoing u.s. airstrike campaign backing the iraqi military's attempts to retake control of mosul from isil militants. kerry met with the iraqi prime minister. >> i'm happy to visit you again. this is office live very critical time here in iraq and in the region. you and i have been working on a lot of different issues the last few years. it is good to come and be able to visit. amy: on tuesday, president obama announced he's exploring new ways to scale up the battle against isis in syria and iraq. >> working to make sure we are accelerating the campaign against isil, syria, and iraq. isil continues to lose ground, collision forces recently severed the main highway between the strongholds in raqqa, serial, mosul, and iraq, and we continue to take on their infrastructure, financial networks, we will squeeze them and we will defeat them. as we have seen from turkey to belgium, isil still has the ability to launch serious terrorist attacks. one of my main messages today is destroying isil continues to be my top priority. this will continue to be a difficult fight, but i am confident isil will lose, we will prevail. prevail." ill those were the words of president obama on tuesday. nearly a decade ago in december 2006, president george w. bush said those same three words in another address on the fight in iraq. >> i also believe we will succeed. i believe we will prevail. not only joined a how important it is to prevail, i believe we will prevail. i understand how hard it is to prevail. but i also want the american people to understand that if we were to fail, one way to assure failure is just to quit. it is not to adjust and say, it is not worth it. if we were to fail, that failed policy will come to hurt generations of americans in the future. that waswill prevail" george w. bush in 2006. his father george h.w. bush used the same phrase 25 years ago in january 1991 when he announced the u.s. had begun attacking iraq to begin what became known as the persian gulf war. >> even as planes of the multinational forces attacked -- attacked iraq, i prefer to think of peace, not war. i am convinced, not only that we will prevail, that out of the horror of combat will come the recognition that no nation can stand against a world united. juan: "we will prevail." three words said by three presidents all addressing u.s. wars in iraq dating back a quarter century. the seemingly never-ending u.s. war in the middle east is the subject of a new book by retired army colonel andrew bacevich titled, "america's war for the greater middle east: a military history." in the book bacevich argues the , untied states has been involved in gigantic failed war with the middle east since the that continues today with no end 1980's in sight. amy: in the book andrew bacevich writes "as an american who cares , deeply about the fate of his country, i should state plainly my own assessment of this ongoing war, now well into its fourth decade. we have not won it. we are not winning it. simply trying harder is unlikely to produce a different outcome." bacevich is author of several other books, including "washington rules." his son was killed in action in iraq in 2007. professor bacevich, welcome back to democracy now! we will prevail. we will pull fail -- prevail. we will prevail. have we? >> we haven't. those are exquisitely chosen clips because they do illustrate what is the point of my book, and that is that we have been engaged militarily in the greater middle east, and a large part of the islamic world, for going on for decades. we have engaged in innumerable interventions, large, small, brief, protracted, and we have yet to come anywhere close to achieving our aims. whether we define our aims is restoring stability or promoting thecracy are reducing prevalence of anti-americanism, it is not happening and arguably , our military efforts are actually making things worse. juan: interestingly, as you point out, before 1980, virtually no american soldier had ever been killed in any kind of military action in that part of the world. and since 1980, very few have been killed who were not enough part of the world. this shift that occurred from the middle east and largely an area of influence or control by the european colonial powers to the united states exercising such a huge role, how did that happen? >> we americans have forgotten, but prior to the beginning of the cold war, the united states was not a great military power. we raised forces from time to time to deal with some particular issue, but it was in the wake of the cold war that we as a nation decided on a permanent basis to maintain a large military establishment. for the first several decades of the cold war, the united states had to priorities. we were willing to fight for western europe and did fight in east asia. we were not willing to fight for the middle east. that changes in 1980, specifically, a particular moment in january of 1980, when president jimmy carter in his state of the union address promulgated what is known as the carter doctrine. juan: i think we have a clip on that that we would like to go to now. this is jimmy carter, january 23, 1980, delivering the state of the union address. you mention what would later become known as the carter doctrine. >> let our position of the absolutely clear. in attempt by any outside force to gain control of the persian gulf region will be regarded as an assault on the vital interest of the united states of america -- [applause] and such an assault will be repelled by any means necessary, including military force. juan: the importance of what happened after that? >> one thing to appreciate is carter himself had no understanding of the implications that would flow from that statement. what happens on an immediate basis is that the national security bureaucracy now redefines its priorities and begins to orient itself for the possibility of armed intervention by u.s. forces in the region. and over the course of the next 10 years, that process begins -- reagan sending peacekeepers into lebanon, the initial jousting with colonel gaddafi in libya, support for saddam hussein, of all people, and what i refer to as the first gulf war -- the gulf war of 1980 to 1988, pitting iraq against iran with the united states coming to the aid of iraq. so carter starts the process of militarizing u.s. policy, which , becomes morepens frequent, becomes more ambitious , and becomes more costly, bringing us to where we are today in 2016 where we continue to hear the speeches by president insisting that we will prevail -- presidents insisting that we will prevail when obviously, we have not. juan: the epic scope of pulling everything together that for in terms the prize has of focusing on the importance of oil in all of this. could you talk about that? >> the war for the greater middle east did begin as a war for oil. the approximate trigger of carter's speech was the iranian revolution, which had produced a second oil shock of the 1970's, combined with the soviet intervention in afghanistan, which in washington raised fears -- i mean, there is our notions, but raised fears the soviets were going to march across iran and attack saudi arabia. so at a time when we were increasingly dependent upon foreign oil to include oil from the persian gulf, yes, we decided to fight for the region. but i argue, the really was much more estate and simply access to oil. -- there's much more to argue sensibly access to oil. the war for the greater middle east really becomes an efforts to refute the notion that the united states is a country that has to accept limits, to affirm the claim of american exceptionalism, of our uniqueness of our special status and history and in the world at large. amy: i want to go back to september 18, 2001, then secretary of defense donald rumsfeld holding a pentagon briefing where he tells reporters how war against terrorist targets would differ from conventional war. this is a neck served. >> we have a choice, either to change the way we live, which is unacceptable, or change the way that they live, and we chose the latter. we intend to put them on the defensive to disrupt terrorist networks and remove their sanctuaries and their support systems. this requires a distinct a different approach from any war we have fought before. amy: so assess what he said and go back to what you referenced at the beginning. you're saying our presence in iraq right now in the middle east is worsening the situation. >> the question about it. that is a wonderful clip. i think that is in a sense the most important, the most telling, the most instructive quote from u.s. government official to understand the path we have followed. prior to 9/11, i don't believe that presidents and policymakers actually had a clear understanding of what they wanted to do in the greater middle east. they somehow assumed that the presence of u.s. forces or introduction of u.s. forces would have some kind of a positive affect. it is after 9/11 it donald rumsfeld and those around him -- the president, cheney, willful with -- embarked upon this massively ambitious strategy to change the way they live. you'll notice he doesn't specify who "they" are. theynk the implication, are large number's of inhabitants of the islamic world. we're going to change the way they live to make them live the way we live with the expectation that therefore, they will no longer pose a threat. informing that ambition, of course, is an estimate of american military capacity that assumes that we cannot be defeated. more to the point, that we can and will prevail militarily. that is the thinking that of course then informs the decision to invade iraq in 2000 three. amy: we have to go to break and then we will come back to this discussion with retired colonel and vietnam war veteran professor andrew bacevich. his latest book "america's war , for the greater middle east: a military history." stay with us. ♪ [music break] amy: "sublime detonation." this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. is retired colonel andrew bases which, vietnam war veteran, professor emeritus at boston university. his latest book, "america's war for the greater middle east: a military history." andrew bacevich, you have called donald trump, said he is to american politics what martin shkreli is to big pharma. explain. >> i think he is the same sort of -- his attitude is the same sort of smirking cynicism that we saw in a form suitable scandal -- pharmaceutical scandal. i have a five year old grandson who i love dearly, and he is a wonderful boy. he also has a tendency to blurt out whatever happens to be passing through his mind. it seems to me that donald trump , who is not five years old, suffers from the same sort of inclination. be angests that he would enormously dangerous commander-in-chief. i think we all recognize people say things on the campaign trail that may not actually reflect their intentions were they to be an office, but there does come -- there are moments when the gap tween what is being said and what ought to be done by any responsible person, when that theis so broad that rhetoric itself i think becomes a disqualifying factor. add, it isquickly not clear to me that senator cruz, who is the apparent alternative, is by any inclination any better. if you take a look at the people that cruz is surrounding himself with as foreign advisers, that, to my mind, is deeply troubling. amy: like who? islamaphobics, retired general boykin, who for all practices -- practical purposes, sees the war for the greater middle east as an exercise in judeo christian jihad. he is keen to go sleigh the muslims. asarly, views islam itself the enemy. juan: what do you make of the selective choice of our government in terms of where it intervenes? it is perfectly willing to bring down regimes were to intervene militarily, but in those countries like saudi arabia, kuwait, the emirates, that are so dictatorial to their own people, as long as they are our allies, we have no problems. >> i think one of the things that strikes me about this trying to understand and describe the larger military enterprise is, thextent to which once he began, he was kind of on autopilot. and even today, there appeared to be in official circles remarkably few people who are willing to adjust pose that kind of basic -- to just pose like on a basic question. why do they qualify as our friends? why are security commitments that may at one time in the past the security commitment to saudi arabia, may at one time in the past have made sense -- at least from the point of the of national interest -- do they make sense today? if we not dependent upon oil from the persian gulf -- and we are not -- then why isn't it permissible at least to revisit and re-examine policy assumptions that simply are no longer valid? there's such an absence of creativity and imagination in the national security .pparatuse to keep on doing what we did last year near before, that, too, i think is quite troubling. amy: we're talking to andrew bacevich. he is written a new book called, "america's war for the greater middle east: a military history." i want to turn to human rights watch. human rights watch is reiterating its call for the united states to stop selling weapons to saudi arabia after the group said it found evidence the saudi led coalition used u.s. supplied bombs in the deadly airstrikes on a crowded market in yemen last month. the strikes killed at least 97 civilians, including 25 children. the medical clinic worker spoke out about the aftermath of the attack. >> we received 44 wounded in total. including women, children, and elders. amy: that is yemen, the ongoing drone strikes there and in just our headlines today, speaking of drone strikes. afghan officials saying at least 17 civilians killed in u.s. to run strikes in afghanistan on wednesday, first strike reportedly hitting a truck of a local elder going to resolve a land dispute, killing the elder and 11 others. the second drone killing two people going to collect the bodies. a third strike in a reportedly killing three men who went to see what happened. this expanded drone war, which is president obama's? >> there is no question about it. it has to be one of the most disappointing parts of his legacy, i think. the president -- we elected the president because he said he was going to end the iraq war responsibly. sadly, he also said he was going to escalate the afghanistan war. he did that without any particular success. my assessment of the president thatat he understands invading and occupying countries in the islamic world, basically, does not work. and so he is refraining from trying to repeat that mistake. otherhe has now turned to methods of employing american military power with missile firing uav's, one good example, and there is little evidence that those alternatives are all that much more effective. i'll be at, at least from a u.s. point of view, a u.s. point of view only, aren't as costly. mean, i am --n, i war is the continuation of politics by other means. war makes sense only if you are able to achieve your political purposes at some reasonable cost . and we have been fighting a war and the greater middle east without achieving, and any conclusive sense, any positive political outcomes. and yet the tendency is to evaluate our conduct their in operational military concerns, of winning five as opposed to a come pushing political objectives. that is at another problem. one could take that further now to the fight against isis were isil. to what degree is that a military battle that must be waged and can it succeed? >> the military battle should be waged, but not by our military. in my count, this is the fourth gulf war in which we have been involved. supporting saddam hussein in the first, kicking him out of kuwait in a second, overthrowing saddam hussein and the third, then occupying that country for eight years, hoping that when we departed in 2011, iraq could stand by itself. that has not happened. so we are back in it again. adversary isis. yes, isis needs to be destroyed. one of the lessons it seems to american power, american military power, does not fix the problem. it tends to worsen the problem. so the responsibility for the destruction of isis should fall on the shoulders of those who -- most threatened by isis that happens to be the countries in the region. were they to recognize that they have a common interest in destroying isis, they could in fact do so. but our insistence, that somehow it is our responsibility that american leadership, so-called, needs to be the decisive element , simply lets them off the hook. , we are inl bacevich new york right now, though we are headed out on a 100 city tour around the country, but right now new york is ground zero for the presidential race in a both for the republicans and the democrats. the democrats, sanders, clinton. the big debate these days is each of them are saying the other is not qualified. i want to go back to the democratic presidential debate in new hampshire last year, bernie sanders accusing former secretary of state hillary clinton of being "too much into regime change." >> that i think, and i say this with due respect, that i worry too much that secretary clinton is too much into regime change and a little bit too aggressive without knowing what the unintended consequences might be. yes, we could get rid of saddam hussein, but that destabilized the entire region. colonelcould get rid of qaddafi, but that created a vacuum for isis. yes, we do get rid of assad to mark, but that would create another political vacuum that would benefit isis. so i say, yes, regime change is easy, getting rid of dictators is easy, but before you do that, you have to think about what happens the day after. >> with all due respect, you with to reduce change respect to libya. he joined the senate and voting to get rid of colonel qaddafi and you asked that there be security council validation of that would a resolution. all of these are very difficult issues. amy: hillary clinton, bernie sanders. bernie sanders has hillary clinton, among other things, is not qualified simpson because you voted for the iraq war. andrew bacevich? >> i don't know that i would judge some his qualification simply on one particular vote, but i have to agree with the basic argument that senator sanders is making, that secretary clinton is in unreconstructed hawk. in terms of the rhetoric, she comes across as more reasoned ,han the republican opposition but the fact of the matter is, if we elect her to be our next commander-in-chief, we are voting for the continuation of this status quo with regard to u.s. national security policy. and specifically, u.s. national security policy and the greater middle east. for people for whom that is an important issue, who want to see change in u.s. policy, she is not going to be the vehicle for change. juan: you are a veteran of vietnam. after vietnam, the united states -- rid of its citizen or it's drafting of soldiers into the military, and created a volunteer army. you have been a critic of that. why? >> i think one of the unintended consequences of ending the draft, creating professional military, was to create a gap between the military and society. we do not acknowledge that gap. in fact, we deny the existence of that gap by all of the rhetorical tributes paid to the troops and the obligation that we all have to "support the troops." the reality, i think, when it comes down to it, the american people do not pay much attention to how the troops are being used. and because they're not paying attention, the troops have been subjected to abuse. that is to say, there been sent to fight wars that are unnecessary. the wars have been mismanaged. the wars go on far longer than they ought to. letting peopleby in uniform be the first to board airplanes. and i think, frankly, that is disgraceful and that -- it actually ought to be one of the things that gets discussed in a presidential campaign, but tends not to, sadly. amy: finally, what do you want these presidential candidates to say -- we're introduced to as a retired colonel come as a vietnam war veteran, as a professor emeritus, but you're also a dad and you lost your son in iraq in 2007, like so many parents in this country. also like so many iraqis who lost family members. what do you want these presidential candidates -- what do it to hear from them? what do you want them to say to you? >> what they ought to say to us, not simply to me because of my whatnal circumstances -- they ought to say, i understand that we, as a nation, have been engaged in this war for going on four decades now, and i have learned something from that experience. i have taken on board with the united states try to do militarily and what it actually ended up doing and what the consequences that resulted. and here's what i have learned and here is how i am going to react if you elect me in commander-in-chief, that we will behave in ways that are otherwise are more prudent and more enlightened in the future. in other words, they have to look beyond simply the question of, how many more bombs are we going to drop on isis? that is a secondary consideration. they have to have some appreciation of the history that i try to lay out in this book. and if i want to thank you for being with us, andrew bacevich, a retired colonel, vietnam war veteran. his latest book, "america's war for the greater middle east: a military history." he is professor emeritus of international relations and history at boston university. he is traveling around the country and will be in providence, going to washington, d.c., will be speaking at the naval conference and many other places. you can go online. we will link to his website at democracynow.org. this is democracy now! stay with us. ♪ [music break] amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. republican presidential candidate donald trump has sparked backlash in controversy with his proposals to ban muslims from entering the united states, including refugees and asylum-seekers. but deporting muslim asylum-seekers is nothing new. this week, the united states deported 85 refugees from bangladesh, india and nepal who , were seeking asylum after fleeing repression and violence in their home countries. after the deportation, u.s.-based immigration advocates and the u.s. embassy in bangladesh arranged for media coverage of the arrival of the 27 bangladeshi nationals at shahjalal international airport tuesday night in dhaka. one of the asylum seekers described the deportation experience. >> the american homeland security forced us into the plane, those who did not want to come back. brother, it was not the regular blankets that people use regularly. it was security blanket. if they tie you with that kind of blanket, you will get no ability to move or for yourself. we were unable to breathe, like the intrepid to death. -- like being choked to death. juan: some of the men deported from corrections corporations of america's florence correctional center in arizona on sunday night had participated in a series of hunger strikes last year to protest their ongoing detention by ice, the immigration customs and enforcement agency, and demand their release from for-profit detention centers. some of the men have been detained for years. amy: following the deportation, an ice official told democracy now -- reminds that in response, said -- a book with the obama administration just deported nearly 100 southeastern detainees who crossed three comments seeking safety in the u.s.. what happens to the next is blood on his hands." for more, we're joined by fahd ahmed director of drum- desis , rising up and moving, a new york-based organization of south asian immigrant workers and youth. talk about what just took place, this mass deportation. detainees,utheastern southeastern migrants escaping violence in their home countries. they came here, as you mentioned, crossing three borders, causing 14, 15, 16 different countries them only to end up in detention, and prolonged, endless detention. while ice said these people had opportunities to present their cases before courts, the reality is, no one crosses 14 borders with an asylum pack it in hand. nobody got is the evidence they need for an asylum claim and then takes on a journey across a dozen countries. but when you d up in detention, it makes it impossible for you to be able to mount your case properly. what we're seeing is the prolonged detention of these detainees was strongly influenced, that they're a strong concerns of discrimination. that is the reason they undertook the hunger strike, was to bring light to the fact that were being detained indefinitely. juan: i want to turn to another clip of the bangladeshi media interviewing deportees shortly after they arrived at shahjalal international airport in dhaka. one man spoke of the difficulty in trying to get asylum in the u.s. >> whatever papers were evidence you show them, they won't believe you. they said they would not grant as political asylum. after telling us these things, they denied our appeal. later they asked us to sign papers and said if we signed the papers, we would be released in three months or six months if the embassy doesn't issue travel documents. juan: they also alleged inhumane treatment while in detention in the u.s. >> they cap does only in the prison, not only detained, even we were kept tight to hands and legs with each other. everyone was tied. we were tied for three days. some of them were put in body bags which were used for body bags. police 2000 of 3000 bangladeshis are still imprisoned in u.s. jails. >> they tied my hands to my waist in chains as well as my legs. they did not feed us for behold journey. we have never seen such horror in our life. juan: your response, and also, did many of these deportees have any kind of legal representation? >> some did, but as often happens in detention centers, you have a little bit of money come you get whatever attorney is available. attorneys often do take advantage because they know they don't have a lot of leverage. so people will take money and not show up to court cases or only do, you know, not do a really good job of representing them. these detainees were in areas in alabama and texas, areas where they did not have access to an attorney that spoke their language is or understood the conditions of the countries that are coming from. on top of that, these cases were strongly colored with the influence of national security concerns. most of the bangladeshi cases were denied because they said they were affiliated with the party, the main opposition party in bangladesh. power and the u.s. had great relations with them a few hours -- a few years ago. some sections of department of homeland security are labeling them as a tier three terrorist organization. there is no basis. no other branch of government acknowledges that level. amy: some of these people were put into body bags? >> yes. the amount of torture that happened in detention and in the process they are deported is endless. hunger striking, they were force and categorize. they were tied up and put into body bags. amy: like for horses -- corpses? >> yes. they were injected with tranquilizers. many of them were beaten. the first clip you show, the detainee has a knot above his eye after being beat up. amy: did they rate their homes? what states were they and in the u.s.? >> these are all people that came across the border. these are people that landed in and bolivia, and watched, hitchhiked, boated through jungles, rivers come all the way up to the u.s.-mexico border and turn themselves in, claiming asylum. after doing the proper intake, whether then be released to their communities or families, they continued to be held in detention for six months, one year, 1.5 years. it is when they got around to the 1.5 to two years that they began the hunger strikes. juan: demanding an excellent nations for what is going on? >> we've had support from a view congressman that have taken on these cases because they see the travesty of it. while the hunger strike was happening in el paso, ice brought in representatives from the bangladesh government to break the hunger strike. it is a legal to allow representatives from the same government you are being -- fleeing from to be there. those investigations were still going on. elevated even more danger if they're sent back, but more options to reopen the cases, and us people got deported. a lot of the congress people are honing in on these things around the dhs has just rim shot deporting people. organizedorganization a protest outside hillary clinton's opposites. why? >> we have been trying to bring the issue to light. we talked about donald trump's jury's are now an obama reality and we want to know what the candidates think of this and what actions are they willing to take? if they want to really demonstrate leadership, they should take actions to speak up for these people, to protect these people. the clinton campaign was not responsive, the sanders campaign issued a statement after some time. we're still get to see real leadership from either one of the democratic party candidates. amy: we will leave it there, but we will continue to follow this issue. fahd ahmed, executive director of drum desis rising up and -- desis rising up and moving, a new york-based organization of south asian immigrant workers and youth. juan: i want to imagine on wednesday night, our very own amy goodman was inducted into the i.f. stone hall of fame. named after investigative journalist. the hall of fame was established to honor previous izzy award winners who continue to produce award-worthy independent journalism year after year. in 2009, amy was the first recipient of the izzy award, sharing it with glenn greenwald. you were conducted by jeff cohen, who founded the media watchdog fair, fairness and accuracy in reporting, is the founding director of the park center for independent media at ithaca college. here is a clip. >> for nearly 20 years through the witch, the endless war in weekly, izzy ston'es newsletter was a lifeline, the most trusted journalistic source for progressives nationwide on government deception, on war and peace, political repression, social movement. and for the last 20ea, am good hild role of lifeline. most trusted source. except democracy now! is every day and democracy now! has greater reach thanizzy;s weekly ever did. readers of the weekly felt this personal connection to izzy during some of the dark times. he was like their personal washington bureau chief. democracy now! viewers and listeners feel that same personal connection to amy today. when new york university scholars, prominent journalists, to choose the 100 greatest works of journalism in the united states in the 20th century, number 16 on the list was i.f. stone's weekly. if we survive this century, i have no doubt that democracy now!ill be near the top of the list for the 21st century, and that is why tonight we officially induct amy goodman into the hall of fame. [applause] to amy onratulations your induction into the hall of fame, much deserved. amy: thank you, juan. i consider that an award for all of democracy now! and all of its supporters as well as. as we head out on a 100 city tour, today we will be a columbus ohio at the ohio state university. check our website. i will be speaking on saturday in missouri. democracy now!s looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693 new york, new york 10013. happy birthday to matt ealy. [captioning made possible by democracy now!] >> "p. allen smith's garden to table" is brought to you by... mountain valley spring water. mountain valley spring water, america's 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. >> we're taking a look at the beauty of grains, coming up next.

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