03/22/23 03/22/23 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> we are witssing the emergence of the people's republic of china as a major player in global politics. whether that is going to be good or ill, i don't know, but the notion that somehow the united states runs the show has become obsolete. amy: 20 years after the u.s. invasion of iraq, we speak to

retired colonel andrew base of edge, vocal critic of u.s. foreign policy after 9/11. we will talk about this week's meeting between xi jinping and vladimir putin in moscow, the war in ukraine, the 2003 u.s. invasion of iraq where he lost his son, and more. then we go to sami rasouli, a beloved iraqi who moved back to iraq after the u.s. invasion and founded the muslim peacemaker team. he has been a regular guest on democracy now! over the past two decades. >> i see the war as pointless. it caused lots of agony and disasters for the iraqis. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman.

chinese president xi jinping wrapped up his visit to moscow earlier today, signing over a dozen agreements on trade and other forms of cooperation with president vladimir putin and vowing to keep strengthening their ties. this is xi speaking during his visit. >> the political trust between our countries strengthens the common interests multiplied, and the nations are getting closer, cooperation and trade, investment, energy, culture, humanitarian is developing. amy: while putin praised beijing's ukraine peace plan, no concrete steps were announced to end the war. meanwhile, in ukraine, japanese prime minister fumio kishida made a surprise visit to meet with president for loading or zelenskyy, -- president

volodymyr zelenskyy, bringing geo-political divisions and alliances into sharp relief. at a joint press conference, zelenskyy said he would virtually join an may's g7 summit in japan and countered beijing's peace plan with his own. >> suggesting china in public as well as through diplomatic channels -- we invited them to participate. we invite china for dialogue and wait for response. amy: a call is reportedly being planned between zelenskyy and xi . overnight, russia launched a new wave of missiles and drones it ukraine, killing at least four people at a school dormitory. in the west, the pentagon announced it will expedite the delivery of abrams tanks to ukraine come in dissent refurbished motor vehicles of the vehicles by fall. a warning to our audience, this right contains images and descriptions of police violence.

-- this story contains images and description of police violence. a virginia grand jury has indicted 10 people -- seven sheriff's deputies and three hospital workers -- in the murd of irvo otieno, a -year-old black man whdied on mch 6 after being violely pinned down and led on for re than 11 minutes by e deputies andedical staff. video the killing was released to the public thiseek shows hospal staff attempting in vaito administer cpr to otieno after his body nt limp. he suffered from mental health challenges and was tak from his me and locked up three days earli after a neighbor caed police wh otieno walked ono his property and toosome ghts and startedanging on their ont door. otieno's mother caroline ouko, who moved to virginia with her family from kenya in the 1990's, said at a news conference tuesday her son was a sensitive and caring man who was failed by multiple institutions.

>> with my friends behind me, with my community behind me, with mothers and fathers who are fearful for what might happen to the children aftersun what happened to my son, with young people who are going through mental distress and the world behind me, we will achieve justice for my son. amy: philadelphia has agreed to pay $9.25 million to over 340 protesters and residents who were subjected to excessive police force, including tear gas, pepper spray, and rubber bullets over two days of demonstrations in 2020 following the police murder of george floyd. the city will also award a

half-million dollars to the bread and roses community fund for a grant that supports grassroots groups in philadelphia. as part of the historic settlement, the philadelphia police department will also withdraw from the 1033 lee so which grants u.s. military equipment to local law enforcement agencies. this is plaintiff ed parker who was detained and brutalized by police resulting in three surgeries. >> something else entirely, they major one of the first things they did was rip off our masks and subsequently stop us on buses and in cells together. this was june 2020. the absurdity of being the subject of police brutality a protest against police brutality was not lost on us. amy: president biden designated two new national monuments tuesday, in nevada and texas,

protecting over 500,000 acres of land from new development. spirit mountain, or avi kwa ame, in nevada is a sacred site for the fort mojave tribe and others. indigenous and environmental advocates have been pushing for years to designate the area as a national monument. in texas, castner range, located at the fort bliss army base in el paso, is an old firing range and was a training site until 1966. the area will need to be cleared of unexploded munitions before it can be enjoyed by the public for its native rock art and unique flora of yellow and orange poppies that bloom in the spring. biden also committed to designating a new marine sanctuary in the pacific, southwest of hawaii, which will protect nearly 800,000 square miles of islands, reefs, and marine life. meanwhile, a federal appeals court heard arguments tuesday

from indigenous advocates in a -- you are fighting to block the transfer of oak flat, an ancient site in eastern arizona sacred to the san carlos apache nation. they want to turn it into a massive coppermine. it is a joint venture of multinational mining corporations bhp and rio tinto. leaders said the construction would violate their religious freedoms and other rights. this is sn carlos apache elder. >> if i want to go there and pray, i should have that right and i don't want no florida company to come and a time may know, you can't do that. we have the freedom of speech. we have the freedom of choice to write about whatever we want to write about. we have the freedom of religion and this is our religion. this is who we are. amy: in brazil, almost all

illegal gold mining operations have been banned from yanomami indigenous territory as more miners are expected to be evicted from the amazon region. the government of luiz inacio lula da silva launched a massive operation earlier this year as a response to the humanitarian catastrophe faced by the communities largely due to the disastrous effects of illegal gold mining, which have displacepeople, devastated the land and food resources, and contaminated rivers with mercury. in ecuador, a group of five journalists were targeted with bombs disguised as usb drives monday. one of the reporters, lenin artieda, was wounded when the device exploded after he plugged it into his computer. the explosive devices were mailed in envelopes to news stations in quito and guayaquil. ecuador's attorney general's office said monday it had launched a terrorism probe into the attacks.

uganda's parliament has passed another sweeping bill criminalizing lgbtq people, allowing for the death sentence in certain cases. the new law appears to be the first to outlaw even identifying as lgbtq, carrying a penalty up to 20 years in prison. it also targets hiv-positive people who engage in same sex relations with the death penalt bans the so-called promotion of homosexuality, and declares all same sex conduct as nonconsensual. a u.s.-saudi citizen sentenced to 19 years in saudi prison for his tweets criticizing the government has been released. 72-year-old saad ibrahim almadi was arrested in november after -- november 2021 after traveling from florida to riyadh to visit

family. almadi's family and rights groups are calling on the saudi government to lift a travel ban imposed on almadi so he can return home to the united states. in reproductive rights news, the minnesota house of representatives passed a bill monday that would shield patients who travel to the state for an abortion and their providers from legal repercussions. the reproductive freedom defense act would prevent state courts or officials from complying with extraditions requests, arrests or subpoenas as a result of an abortion that a person receives in minnesota where the procedure is still legal. the bill now heads to the senate, which has a razor-thin democratic majority. here in new york, a manhattan grand jury is reconvening today and could vote on whether to indict former president donald trump over hush-money payments made to adult film star stormy

daniels during his 2016 presidential campaign. house republicans are demanding testimony and documents from manhattan district attorney alvin bragg, calling an indictment against trump "an unprecedented abuse of prosecutorial authority." but legal experts say congress does not have the constitutional authority to oversee local prosecutors and the house lawmakers' demands violate new york's sovereignty. in more legal woes for trump, a federal judge has ordered trump attorney evan corcoran to testify before a federal grand jury as part of the special counsel probe into trump's handling of classified documents. a fox news producer filed two lawsuits this week accusing fox lawyers of coercing and intimidating her into providing misleading testimony in the $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit

against fox by dominion voting systems. abby grossberg said fox was attempting to shift blame on her and fox business host maria bartiromo for the network's repeated promoting of donald trump's lies about election fraud and dominion's role in helping rig the 2020 elections. she blamed the strategy on fox's culture of misogyny and discrimination. a swedish court said greta thunberg and 600 other climate activists can proceed with a class action lawsuit against the swedish government for failing to respond to the climate disaster. the climate group, aurora, hopes to legally compel sweden into slashing its emissions, citing its duty under the european convention on human rights. and back here in the united states, senior climate activists with the group third act demonstrated against fossil fuel-backing banks around the

country, cutting up their credit cards to chase, citi, wells fargo, and bank of america. this is reverend neal christie at the washington, d.c., protest. >> make sure the banks know that we care, that we are watching how they invest their money. what is interesting is the u.s. banks have chosen not to follow european banks in terms of divestment from dirty energy, from fossil fuels. they know better. and they are making billions and billions of dollars off of harming our planet. amy: you can see our interview with third act founder bill mckibben and sierra club executive director ben jealous at democracynow.org. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. when we come back, 20 years after the u.s. invasion of iraq, we will speak with retired colonel andrew bacevich, a vocal

critic of u.s. foreign policy after 9/11. we will also speak with him about this week's meeting with xi jinping and vladimir putin in moscow, the war in ukraine, the 2003 u.s. invasion of iraq, and more. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "the second baghdad" by iraqi american musician rahim alhaj. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. chinese president xi jinping has left moscow where he met with russian president vladimir putin. the two leaders declared a "new era" in chinese-russian relations. during a joint news conference, putin said, "russia-china relations are at the highest point in the history of our two countries." xi jinping arrived in moscow on monday, just three days after the international criminal court issued an arrest warrant for putin accusing of him of committing war crimes in ukraine.

on tuesday, xi jinping discussed china's 12-point peace proposal to end the war in ukraine. >> i would like to point out in the ukrainian settlement, we consistently followed the principles of the u.n. charter and stand in an unbiased position. we do actively promote reconciliation and resumption of talks. our stance is based on the very essence of the matter and on the truth. we are always for peace and dialogue. we are firmly standing on the true side of history. amy: russian president vladimir putin said china's plan could be the basis to end the war. >> of course we did not ignore the situation around ukraine. we believe many of the provisions of that peace plan put forward by china -- can be taken as the basis for a peaceful settlement. when they are ready for that in

the west and kyiv. however, we see no such readiness from their side. amy: in recent weeks, ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy has expressed a willingness to talk to xi jinping about china's peace plan. a senior ukrainian official has told cnn that discsions are underway to organize a call between the two leaders but nothing has been set yet. zelenskyy spoke in kyiv on tuesday. >> we invited china publicly and diplomatic channels to participate in our peace formula. we invite china for dialogue and we wait for response. amy: meanwhile in washington, national security council spokesperson john kirby dismissed china's ability to be an impartial mediator between russia and ukraine. >> i don't think you can reasonably look at china as impartial in any way. they have not condemned this

invasion. they have not stopped buying russian oil and russian energy. president xi saw fit to fly to moscow and has not talked once to president zelenskyy, has not visited ukraine. amy: to talk about the russia-china summit, the war in ukraine, as well as the 20th anniversary of the u.s. invasion of iraq, we are joined by andrew bacevich, chair of the board and co-founder of the quincy institute for responsible statecraft. retired colonel and vietnam war veteran. bacevich is professor emeritus of international relations and history at boston university and author of several books. his latest, "on shedding an obsolete past: bidding fewell to the american century." professor, welcome back to democracy now! there is a lot to talk about today from what happened 20 years ago, u.s. invasion to iraq , to the ukraine war, but let's

begin with the latest news of the xi-putin summit, the chinese peace plan that was offered, and zelenskyy's rponse to it. do you see a path right now? start off by talking about e signicance of the summit. >> first of all, we should not take at face value anything the parties say. whether we're talking about russ, china,kraine or united states. i think what impresses me is the evidence of chise diplomatic activism. and i say that also with reference to their role in brinng about the restoration of diplomatic relations between iran and saudi arabia. our diplomacy, american diplomacy strikes me as reactive and unimaginative and

ineffective, but i think chinese diplomacy appears to be more imaginative and potentially more effective. what that says is, guess what, the world is changing in important and dramatic ways with regard to the distribution of power and influence worldwide. and this simply confirms in a sense what we have always known or have known for a long time, which is, yes, indeed, china is emerging as a global superpower on a par with united states of america. amy: can you talk about the peace plan that they have offered? and while zelenskyy is not accepting that, saying it would mean russia would stay within the occupied areas in ukraine in both crimea and eastern ukraine

and could allow them to invade at any future point, but just the fact that he is saying i do want to talk with the president of china and has presented his own peac plan, if you could alyze that. >> i have not analyzed it in any great detail, but i think you're making the key point that zelenskyy's willingness to talk, to hear out china, suggests an openness to china serving as the intermediary which will make some sort of deal possible. it is highly unlikely that there is going to be one side that wins and the other side that loses in this conflict, even though that appears to be the expectation of the biden administration. ukraine will win and russia will lose. ain't gonna happen.

so there has to be a compromise. it would appear to me zelenskyy is signaling a willingness to compromise, whereas the united states is sticking to a very hardball position. amy: so the u.s. is saying they can't trust china, but talk about why you think china and other countries could be seminal in mediating a peace deal. >> well, i think the larger context here is one that other commentators have recognized, and that is that the ukraine-russia war is a proxy conflict. it is a proxy conflict that is a subset of a larger competition between the west led by the united states, even if our leadership was somewhat precariousbeeen the west and

the people's republic of china. and i think what we are seeing isssertiveness, imagination on the part of the people's republic that has not met wi anything comparable from the united states. amy: andrew bacevich, if you can talk about this moment in time, the corporate media is hardly dealing with this very significant 20th anniversary of the u.s. invasion of iraq and the ukraine war, you know, going on during this time. and even when the mainstream media does, it is the same people who 20 years ago pushed -- beat the drums for war for that invasion. and i'm not just talking about fox kindness and we political leaders from joe biden daily clinton when they were in the senate voted for the u.s. invasion that president george w. bush pushed forward. talk about the effects of this

disastrous war were still like -- unlike in afghanistan, 2500 troops are still there. >> i think a preliminary question is why did the u.s. invaderaq in the first place? there are multiple answers to that question. i think too many respects, the most important answer is that the iraq war was envisioned by both the bush administration and by proponents of the war, for example, in the media, was envisioned as a way to demonstrate that 9/11 really did not mean nadje of anything -- much of anything. at the united states was still the one and only global superpower. that if we sent u.s. troops to iraq, if we beat up saddam hussein, overthrew saddam hussein, that would suffice to erase the obvious implications

of the 9/11 attacks, meaning obvious implications being that we were far more vulnerable, far weaker than the post-cold war claims of being the indispensable nation would seem to suggest. so it was an effort to show that 9/11 really did not matter. that effort assumed the united states would when a eat decisive, inexpensive military victory in iraq. of course, that did not come to pass. here we are 20 years later, i think you are right, there is an unwillingness on the part of the establishment to grapple honestly with the implications of the war. and in a sense, an ironic sense, i think the ukraine war gives

the establishment the convenient opportunity to change the subject. you are right, we still have u.s. forces in the middle east. we persist in the basic structure of national security policy, spend more money on the military than the next 10 biggest military powers in the world, maintain 800 plus bases around the world, and taint these regional -- maintain these regional command headquarters li nato and so on. we have learned nothing. that is sad, to put it mildly. and i think it also sets us up for repetition of that mistake. we are in this showdown, a proxy showdown, with russia and ukraine. we seem to assume that putin's war efforts will consist entirely of conventional weapons.

despite the fact, of course, russia possesses a massive nuclear arsenal. so we make these convenient assumptions about the way the war is going to go and then we are utterly surprised when the war does not follow the. required script. amy: you recently wrote a piece for the american conservative headlined "and the winner is 20 years after the iraq invasion, america's humiliation was china's gain." talk more about this. >> no question, over the past0 years, if you were -- if there was a matter of stock prices, china's stock prices have gone up and flourished, our stock price has plummeted. we have frittered away influence. i would not say the iraq war is the one and only explanation for relative american decline, but

it has been a very important contribute in factor. if the imperative that the moment would include putting a floater that decline, it seems to me the place to begin is with an honest recounting of the iraq war, its origins, its conduct, its implications, but there is not a heck of a lot of evidence suggesting that honest recounting is going to happen. amy: and what to you think the right, in terms of questioning the iraq war, leading many to believe sort of sides are switching and shifting. there are those that are deeply questioning the ukraine war in the peace movement or sing negotiation is the only solution here, fearing this could lead to a nuclear war, but those on the right -- even in florida, to

santos, the governor, could be challenging trump, saying just a territorial dispute. and so many republicans saying stop funding the war in ukraine. >> should we as citizens believe that when politicians speak in public they are expressing a principled perspective, or is it more likely that they are actually saying things that reflect domestic political considerations? >> i have to say, and i don't mean to be cynical, i am in the latter camp. now that biden owns the ukraine war, we see lots of republicans sounding dovish or at the very leas cautious with regard to the use of force. i am not persuaded that the

positions staked out today by democrats and republicans reflects principled points of view as opposed to what is politically convenient in the moment. amy: going back to iraq, and a moment we will be speaking with a well-known iraqi have an american who when he was invaded iraq left minneapolis and said i don't care if i just have to sweep the streets of my city of najaf, i'm going to be there with my people and has now returned, we see that president putin has now been charged by the international criminal court with war crimes. the question of where american officials should stand, not 20 years later but even 10 or before that, president obama was famous for saying we should always just look forward.

but for culpability when it comes to the destruction of this nation of iraq, what about george w. bush? yesterday on the show i was i just a day after 9/11, when we know 15 of the 19 hijackers were from saudi arabia, was pushing his counterterrorism czar on the issue of iraq. richard clark was saying there was zero connection. what this means, what this led to? should he also be charged with war crimes and should other the with him? >> first of all, there is no question in my opinion that the iraq war initiated by the united states, a war of choice, was a crime. i am probably easier on president bush than many other people are. i view him as an individual of

limited talent, to put it bluntly. he became president because his last name was "bush." he was an unimaginative figure. and was utterly unprepared for what happened on september 11. his reaction, which i would not defend, i think is primarily attributable to the associates that he chose to surround himself with. in other words, if i'm looking for bad guys, i don't begin by looking at bush. i begin with cheney and rumsfeld and condoleezza rice, people who fancied themselves strategic thinkers. they fancied themselves to have a grasp of world politics, who

believed that the american military might was so great that we would sweep aside saddam hussein's forces and some vast benefit would result. they miscalculated. they were utterly wrong. so when i'm looking for 70 to blame, i tend to blame those people more than bush. not letting bush of the hook. he was the commander-in-chief. but in at least some sense, it was not his hands that were on the controls. amy: if bush was so untalented, why couldn't the largest antiwar movement in the world stop him? it is not only in the united states. february 15, 2003, millions of people took to the streets of the world to stop u.s. invasion of iraq. >> i don't think bush or anybody in the bush administration cared

about world opinion. they cared about whether or not they were going to deal with a line of certain allies like great britain to support the war . in that, they succeeded. shame on tony blair. but i don't think it factored in a large sense in the inner circles of washington, d.c. but your larger question is, i remember those, it would have to be in new york city, manhattan, on the day of i think february 15. amy: february 15, 2003. >> moving massive, astonishing, and i think zero political impact. why? i think that says something about our democracy, that deletes -- elites tend to bow for the will of the people but they when they set around the table and they make decisions,

decisions related to war and peace, i don't think they think very seriously about, well, what are the folks back in indiana thinking? their calculations is shaped by considerations of power. again, i would say with regard to the bush administration in 2003 when the war began, radically defective understanding of the war, understanding of ourselves, understanding of the potential of american military power. our leadership, elected and appointed, was stupid. the people actually i think had a better grasp of the dangers that we were undertaking when we went to war with iraq. amy: andrew bacevich, thank you for joining us, chair of the board and co-founder of the anti-war think tank quincy institute for responsible statecraft. retired colonel and vietnam war veteran. professor emeritus of international relations and

history at boston university and his latest book "on shedding an , obsolete past: bidding farewell to the american century." he is speaking to us from florida. we will link to your latest piece in "the boston globe" headlined "the self-deceived deceivers of war." coming up, we continue with our weeklong 20th anniversary of the iraq war special by going to minneapolis to speak with sami rasouli, a beloved iraqi have an american restaurant tour in minneapolis who moved back to iraq after the u.s. invasion to be in his home country where he founded a muslim peacemaker team. now he is back. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. as we continue to look back at the 20th anniversary of the u.s. invasion of iraq, we are joined

by sami rasouli, who we have spoken to numerous times over the past 20 years. he was an iraqi native who immigrated to the united states over 35 years ago. restauranteur and beloved member of the community in minneapolis. after the u.s. invasion of his home country in 2003, he moved back to iraq where he founded the muslim peacemakers. in a moment, sami will join us live from minneapolis. but first, i want to go back to 2004 when sami appeared on democracy now! to discuss his plan to move back to iraq in the midst of the u.s. war. >> i would do anything, anything. probably i will start cleaning the streets where my sister lives and give those kids who like to listen to their uncle to

come and help me and probably we do a lots of things and get the people influenced by rebuilding their country again. amy: that was sami rasouli in 2004 when i visited him in minneapolis. in 2008, i interviewed sami during the republican national convention in st. paul. he was back from iraq. he criticized then-vice presidential nominee joe biden's proposal to partition iraq. >> as you and the audience a the viewers and many iraqis still remr mr. biden when he introduced the bill to the congress last year to partition iraq, now he camback on the ticket. so that was not a surprise for

me, at least, because the surge has accomplied one of its objectives, that iraq is ready to be partitioned by expelling or displacing more than iraqis 5 million within the country and outside of the country. amy: that was five days after i was arrested in st. paul as we were covering a protest, along with my democracy now! colleague sharif abdel kouddous and nicole salazar, the police went after us for filming and me for asking for them to be released. well, in 2011, democracy now! spoke to sami on the phone from his home in najaf, iraq. the interview took place just after president obama declared an end to the war in iraq.

>> in terms of destroying iraq, it's really “mission accomplished." the healthcare system has been really destroyed. as you mentioned, the infrastructure is a total catastrophe that began not only since 2003, and actually, it's more than 20 years since 1991. you know, we should not forget the effect of the sanction before the invasion. the iraqi people have suffered a lot, and many of them have died. amy: president obama pledged to remove all troops from iraq by the end of 2011. today, more than a decade later, there are still 2500 u.s. troops in iraq. and violence has continued in iraq as well. in 2020, in just one example, a bomb destroyed the american

institute for english in najaf, iraq. the school was founded by our guest sami rasouli. at the time of the bombing, sami was visiting the united states. since then, he has remained here with his family, which was finally reunited at the end of last year. his wife and son returning to be with him and their kids. he is now working on starting a new organization called the american iraqi peace initiative. sami rasouli, it is great to have you back with us as i talk to you from new york and you're sitting in a studio in minneapolis. it is amazing to go back on that journey as we met you in minneapolis, the antiwar movement so warmly supported you, the whole community at your restaurant in minneapolis. but then you said, i am closing it all up and i don't care if i have to just sweep the streets of najaf, i am going to improve

my country in any small way i can as the u.s. bombs were falling. take us on that journey 20 years later and how you ended up back in the united states. a talk about that first decision you made from your comfortable abode in minneapolis to say "i am going back to iraq." >> hello, amy. thank you for having me. thank you for reviewing our past meetings. it has been a while since we met. anyway, i am back now and regarding your question, i always tell my listeners that -- and friends, of course, that sami and sam and the fish has something in common, that they go upstream.

but they also have no income and salmon doesn't come back but sami keeps coming back because my good friend jeremy here in minneapolis said, remember, you always wanted to build a bridge for peace between the two countries, your country of earth and your country of choice. so remember that bridge has two ends. you have to maintain both ends. that meant to come back again and go back. so wherever i go, that is my home. i am privileged to have that. as you mentioned, eventually, i got reunited with my wife and my stepson. my family and i survived.

my dreams and school has been destroyed in najaf back in 2020. after killing the iranian general by mr. trump -- amy: at the iraq airport. >> correct. the baghdad airport, yes. well, it looks like i wife, my kids, and i are safe here but the war in iraq 20 years ago has left scars and visible legacy. and this is the babies. the babies of fallujah and najaf

and elsewhere. and the rise of the incidence of cancer come if we speak in general form, went up but among the kids, 12 times went up. and that is catastrophic. the gruesome different malady of newborn babies -- defor maladies of newborn babies keeps happening as a witness for crimes against a peaceful nation. that brings the question how we are going to deal with that. i always say a just compensation.

a just compensation to respect that nation and leave that nation alone. that nation is rich in its resources, but unfortunately, the bush administration, represented by paul bremmer, assigned people that are incompetent, they have nothing to do with leading a country, such a country called the cradle of civilization mesopotamia, they are just selling each part of the country out to others. and we as a people of iraq living in an unsecure country and actually it is a lawless state. so there is no security.

there is no respected economic system, social system, health system, education system. and when i say just compensation , i mean to build a new culture here, the backyard of the rest of the world, thunited states of the world. a new culture based on justice and peace that deal with, for example, local domestic, severely affected all of us -- since the school shooting of columbine 1991. we have not done yet anything to prevent that because since that shooting in 1999 up to date,

there are about 366 school mass shootings happening already. and those disturbed kids that are receiving very bad education system, by their political leaders, i should emphasize, because at school they teach them how to be kind and nice to their neighbors, to their friends, and teach them not to be racist against any colors or other people that they meet, to be diversified. but again, -- amy: i want to interrupt for one second because you are making an extremely interesting point as you talk about this country being really the only place in the world that has this level of

mass shootings day after day, and you go back to columbine. as you said, columbine was april 20, 1999. i will never forget president clinton's comets at the time. what was it, three days later, that the u.s.-backed nato forces, for example, bombed a radio station in serbia and we sell body parts of makeup artists and technicians being taken out of this civilian structure. that was just one example. but columbine happening in the midst of the bombing of yugoslavia, and president clinton saying, how do we teach our children that violence is not the answer to resolving conflict? and the irony of this with the war backdrop of war. then yugoslavia, your case,

talking about iraq, and now talking about the russian invasion of ukraine. >> right. kids, there were like 12 years old or 17 years old, the perpetrators. those kids -- they come as a challenge from their surrounding world. they would like to make some changes in this stage of age. so to tell them at school and home, violence is bad and we should not do it, but yet we are doing it by our political leaders in iraq and syria and other places and we tell them, "that's good," but the violence, for example, or attacking ukraine today is "not ok."

we are contributing to disturb their minds, their psyche, and eventually they end up with the conclusion that human life has no value, whether it is their friends, their classmates, or their enemies. and bullying their classmates if they are bigger or stronger, it -- they have seen it when the u.s. is a superpower goes into iraq with no reason and destroys the country and comes back and go to syria and destroy and libya and the saga will continue. so that should be ended.

as i said, a new culture of peace and justice should lead our mind and hearts, not only at home and school, but also in the pentagon and the white house and congress. amy: i wanted to ask you about 2015, president trump was -- donald trump was running for president on a fiercely anti-muslim platform. we know right after he came into office, the muslim ban, etc. but you invited him to iraq as part of the cultural exchange program for muslim peacemaker teams. if you could talk about establishing the muslim peacemaker teams, working with peacemakers and why you wanted to come to iraq. >> amy, you remember when we met

in minneapolis back i think in 2004, visited minneapolis and you interviewed me and you asked me -- you brought part of that meeting earlier in the show. i told you i am going with no clue what i'm going to do, but at least i'm going to go and sweep -- my sister, the house where she lives, the street where she lives. accidentally, with no previous plans, i met the christian peacemaker teams and they were a great guidance for me to establish the muslim peacemaker teams. i am still thankful for them to create all the roots and the

initial movement that muslim peacemaker teams follow. their food steps, to work together in many -- footsteps, to work together in many projects. one of them, mr. biden muslim countries, among them iraq, not to enter the u.s., then secluded iraq i remember, but still what i did in somalia because it was also secluded, so i flew to somalia to bring somalia and iraq together and we sign an agreement with the authority in every way to the north -- since

both of them are sister cities of minneapolis. we built that triangle as a reaction for mr. trump. but at the same time, i sent a letter inviting mr. trump to come and learn about the facts, how a muslim family operates and how the muslim family conducts its business with the neighbors, with the kids, with school teachers if you come and stays with us at home to watch us rather than to listen to the mainstream media. the mainstream media and u.s., they picture the muslims as terrorists. in the mainstream media and the middle east, they picture the european and the western among

them, the americans, as infidels. here comes the duty of peacemaker teams, the muslim peacemaker teams ring both together. the infidel and the terrorists. have them sit and look in the eyes, break that piece of bread, share it, and they find out all the since of terrorism for infidels has no value but they are nothing but brothers and sisters in humanity, and they should pursue this concept, the peaceful concept to respect each other and share what they have sami rasouli together. amy: sami rasouli, thank you for being with us, beloved iraqi have an american restauranteur. moved back to the u.s. after the invasion after forming the

muslim peacemakers team and someday soon i hope to come to minneapolis and share a meal with you, break bread with you in your community. that does it for our show. [captioning made possible by democracy now!] ññ

♪ hello. welcome back to nhk "newsline." i'm takao minori in new york. centralewbankers in the u.s.çó aware of the weight of their "cision. now they have had to balance the