Its not just morally wrong, its bad economics. Richard shermans getting all the attention. I regret doing that. He cares about preserving black rhinos. Absolutely heartbreaking. Nearly three ears after a deadly tsunami in japan caused the Worst Nuclear Disaster since chernobyl, soldiers are suing the power plant. House and senate how makers want to find out exactly how much radiation u. S. Service man were exposed to. The sailors say exposure to radiation led to frightening illnesses, including hemorrhaging and cancer. What i went through has 100 changed my life. Military personnel were located where the plant leaked radiation. The may man was assigned to check ratations. Background radiation in the air was 300 times higher than a normal day of sun. He and his team say they were exposed to these levels and three he years later, easy feeling what he thinks are the effects of radiation exposure. My bodys falling apart. My right arm is an inch and a half smaller than my left. I have 50 to 60 have the power i used to have out of the right side of my body. A u. S. Army officer said his life will never be the same. Simmons drank contaminated sea water without warning. According to some sailors, they cooked with it, bathed in it. He said the effects are now debilitating. I ended up dropping between 2025 pounds completely unexpectedly. My left arm started swelling, im dealing with severe night sweats. He is forced to use a wheelchair as he loses power in his legs and arms. Signals between his brain and bladder are paying, so he uses a cath at her. His kids are afraid of whats happening. Our oldest for the longest time, she, the only thing she can think about is dads going to die. They have banded together in a lawsuit against the Power Company which operates the fukushima power plant. They lied. I dont understand how you can place a ship aside of a carrier into a nuclear plume for only five hours, suck up contaminants into the water system of the ship and expect there to be no harm whatsoever to human life. Rewarding the possible effects of exposure, a defense democratic spokesperson wrote at no point am i ever pointing became at d. O. D. Or the u. S. Government. I honestly believe that if they had Accurate Information in a timely manner, things would have been done differently. He said the lawsuit isnt about the money. What im looking for in the suit is a medical fund, money put aside for a medical fund someplace for all 70,000 people, to make sure were taken care of down the road when we really need it. Aljazeera. Joining us now from san diego, california is michael seaborn, former u. S. Sailor who was a designated ratation decontamination officer and had flown into the area. First, as we just heard in the story, youve been through a lot. How are you doing . Well, physically, i have my issues, but im ok. Im ok, day by day, im doing good, thank you. The lawsuit initially was dismissed late last year, but the suit refiled. The number of sailors who are suing is growing, more than 70 now. They say that the company that owns the fukushima power plant, tepco knew there were dangerous radiation levels in the area and said nothing and let means and ships go into that area. Thats correct. Its almost we take we take Operational Risk measurements when were deciding what were going to do, the level of assistance that we can give to the japanese people, of course, our first reaction was to go help, but were not going to put ourselves in undue harms way to be able to go assist, so we took what they said, what tepco was saying and highups in the military came up with a man on how close we could get, the kind of every and relief efforts that we could based on what we were being told, and it turns out what we were being told was false. You were doing your work in an american air base that was quite a distance from fukushima. What was happening was you were then dealing, checking air means as they came back and helicopters as they came back from the area and you found some incredibly high numbers as you were doing that. Thats correct. We started off our base had completely evacuated all of the aircraft had gone to guam, the family members evacuated. We were told that we may never come back to that base again. We were told to put our names and Contact Information into our windows of our houses and dashboards of our cars, because it may be too dangerous to ever come back to. We did relief efforts out of another safer square, but after it gets very cold up this and because of the snow, because of the mountains, we couldnt continue the relief efforts. We actually went back to continue relief efforts elsewhere under a notice that if things got worse, we would evacuate and never return. As you were going to these airplanes, you say you were going through them without suits on and at some point found levels four times higher than the level where you would be require arid to wear a suit. Thats correct. We actually after the operation had started to die down, we still had aircraft that were radiated, but we would decontaminate and measure the outside skin of the aircraft, which is what we were taught and thats what we were instructed to do by the written instructions that came down. We had aircraft that had blown back, they had stopped performing missions. The levels were down, we thought they were safe and all of a sudden because of preventive maintenance, its time for us to paul radiator out of the engine compartment. We pulled it out and everything has to be scanned for ratation exposure and i sentenced that and its reading four times higher than the level we should be wearing not only suit and gloves but a respirator, as well, and this thing has been growing and just seething itself inside the aircraft, because we never were instructed and didnt know to take out internal components of the aircraft when measuring radiation. We were just doing the outside air frame. That was a scary moment right there. Many people suing were on the uss ronald reagan, sent to the area to help. Part of the issue there claims that the problem was they went right into a ratation plume and the water, they desal nail the water on the airplane, take the water out of the sea to drink and bathe in, to brush their teeth, and that this obviously made them terrible hi sick. So, why not sue the navy no why just sue the Tokyo Company . Well, first off, theres guys on the suit that are still in the military and you cant sue the navy. You cant do that. We signed paperwork and contracts when we up for service that you cant do that. I think the navy did the best they could. They are not going to steam right into a plume of radiation. If he knows what did he say safe and whats not and has the correct information, then they wouldnt have been as close as they were. Right. So, we were there to help. Like i said in the beginning, we can make our calculated risk decisions and figure out how safe we can get, how close we can get while not putting our guys in danger. If the the dangers are higher than were told, then, you know, i think the navy did the best they could with what information that we had. Its just the information we had wasnt 100 correct. I hate to be a devils advocate, but let me ask if there were thousands of people on the reagan, why so few people coming forward now and suing . Why didnt more get sick. In fact, the World Health Organization said that residents who were evacuated were exposed to so little radiation that Health Impacts are likely to be below detectable levels. What do you say to that . Well, honestly, that sounds ridiculous to me. Those individuals that were evacuated havent even gone back home, so theres a reason for that. If these levels are completely safe 100 , why did tepco to pay each individual that lived in that area 50,000yen to compensate for that. As far as the ronald reagan, why so little, in the military, understood you are expected to do your job. A lot of these guys that are still in the navy dont want to come forward. They fear backlash. Theres a lot of guys if youre not having medical issues at the moment, then im sure they think nothings wrong. Now youve got 20, 30, 40 people on the uss reagan that are in their 20s and early 30s that have come down with some form of cancer. One or two a coincidence, but 20, 30, 40 in their 20s. But the navy hasnt changed its position on this. They dont believe the claims. A Spokesman Says what do you think of that . Are you upset that the navy isnt taking your side . Well, honestly won to that point, i was there, so im measuring the Background Radiation. If the normal Background Radiation is norm hi between nine to 15ccpm and im measuring 300 to 500 in the air, then some of these numbers are skewed. With the navy not taking our side, i will say i understand it. Its a very political issue. The navy and the japanese need each other. We need them to bal his with us. I was in japan for 17 years, i was there for a long time. I saw the cames that happened against the japanese people, the murders, the rapes, the assaults. At a certain point, we were that completely on lockdown where we couldnt be outside the base past 8 00 p. M. Because there was a curfew in place because of crimes committed by service members. In okinawa, the Prime Minister questioned whether or not the navy should be able to operate out of there. For us to go help them, and then for a few of us to sue the electric Power Company for what happened, i completely understand the u. S. Navy taking this political side to be able to keep on the good spirits of the japanese government. I dont blame them whatsoever. Thats the stance they have to take. Its understood with me. I hope you get well, and also hope that for all the other sailors and well have to see what comes of this congressly mandated investigation. Thank you for joining us. Thank you very much. Consider this will be right back. The economy an national security. Were talking with those affected most. Understanding where we are, taking a critical look where were going. There is much progress to report. Immediately after stay with us as we get your reactions live from around the country and across the globe. Dont miss special state of the Union Coverage as only Al Jazeera America can deliver. Right here on Al Jazeera America. Real reporting that brings you the world. Giving you a real global perspective like no other can. Real reporting from around the world. This is what we do. Al jazeera america. Gadhafi two years ago and they finished a dialog the United States is unthat doubtedly the greatest military power in the world, but has it forgotten how to win wars . According to a new article in the l. A. Times for more, im joined by professor of International Relations and history at boston university, the best selling author of many books. Great to have you with us. In the article, you say that the u. S. Military is second to none when it comes to skills and gadgets, but drugles to finish the job. Lets look at it historically. Did this start with vietnam and is the problem with the military or with the civilian overseers from both parties . Well, i think that the problem has many aspects, but i think the most important and probably the most difficult for americans to reckon with is that military power is an inappropriate instrument to deal with the conditions that exist in places like afghanistan and iraq. We came out of the cold war, United States came out of the cold war having convinced itself that military power was sort of an all purpose tool. I think in many respects, Operation Desert Storm back in 1991 seemed to affirm that conclusion. All of our experience since, whether youre talking somalia in 1993 or the post 9 11 wars tells a different story. Were using the wrong tool to solve the problem. Lets talk about afghanistan. Should we have not gone in after 9 11 . I think we needed to in the accepts that if you recall, the george w. Bush administration demanded after 9 11 that the taliban cough up osama bin laden, dismantle alqaeda training camps, the taliban then governing afghanistan refused to do so. I do think it was necessary for us to demonstrate that any nation harboring, providing sanctuary to terrorists who are in tent on attacking us needed to be taught a lesson. We need to make clear to the world that that was unacceptable. What doesnt nothing is that we needed to stay in having a for now well over a decade trying to create a stable political order. That has turned out to be a task that we cant handle. President obama spoke out about the war in afghanistan a week ago. Id hike to get your reaction. I do think its important for americans to recognize that we still have young men and women in harms way along with co his partners who are continue to go sacrifice and we need to see some. Be all the way through. The question is what would seeing the job through mean there in having a . What would winning that war mean in afghanistan . There are reports this week that the u. S. Does plan to draw down close to zero troops in afghanistan by the end of the president s term. Of course, the president is, i think in a sense understandably vague about what finishing the job is. There have been many definitions over time. My sense is that at this point, the Obama Administration would be satisfied with being able to extricate all or most of u. S. Forces and not have the karzai regime collapse, at least not until obama has left office. If we had to go in and frankly that may be the most practical definition of success. We need to remind ourselves the distance between that definition of success and those touted in the immediate wake of 9 11. You recall that the in reaction of afghanistan was touted, was named Operation Enduring freedom. It was this expectation that somehow, we were going to behe stow freedom on the people of afghanistan. That was an absurd expectation and of course it hasnt come to fruition. You dont have an issue that we went in to get alqaeda, its that we went too far in defining what we thought winning the war would be. Absolutely, and we he went too far, and then articulating a global war on terrorism. Its that formulation, that framing of engaging in a global war on terrorism that then leads, creates some kind of a rationale going from afghanistan to iraq, another mismanaged war from which were still trying to recover. Were seeing how things are falling apart there. There was the intervention in both kosovo and boss noah. That seemed to work. I think thats probably the closest case you can get to post cold war interventions that did seem to produce unbalanced positive mythical outcome although it ended up taking a much longer time. My argument is not that there are never cases where military power has utility. There are cases. I think that the problem with policy makers in the United States over the past couple of decades is that they have tended to think that all problems can have a political solution excuse me, a military solution. We went into libya and helped overthrow gaddafi. Thats ban disaster. Its still a mess there. In yemen, weve gone after alqaeda in a limited way without straight intervention. The question that comes to mind, is the problem intervening in countries where there are very substantial parts of the population, mostly muslim countries that hate the United States. I think id phrase it that theres a problem expecting that u. S. Intervention, foreign intervention in societies that are in the process of an immensely complicated transition, a transition to modernity, trying to reconcile religious traditions with the 21st century, to imagine that a bunch of american soldiers can facilitate that transition in a relatively short period of time is a delusion. My own sense is that the people themselves, whether were talking about weather were talking about libyanors iraqis or afghannors egyptians, that the people themselves are going to have to figure out how to make that transition, and outsiders for the most part are going to find themselves irrelevant to the process. A lot of information in your piece, appreciate you joining us today. Americas decline has been a talking point for years. That political magazine looks at the issue in a new arlen titled americans, stop worrying and learn to love the climb, why 2014 will be our best year yet. Charles kinney is a senior fellow at the center for Global Development and author of a book. Good to have you with us. Theres real data saying america is not the dominant Economic Force the way it once was, researchers saying china will overtake us by 2028 you. Say thats not a sign that were going down, the rest of the world is coming up. Absolutely. That china became the largest trading nation in the world, overtaking the United States. Thats the first of many firsts to come. Thats not bad news for the United States. Its no the because the United States hasnt seen growing exports in recent years. In fact, its done quite well on that measure. Chinas done even better, growing very, very fast, seven, eight, 9 over the last 20 years or so. Indias been growing faster, brazils been growing faster. The rest of the word is growing richer, living longer lives and theyre producing goods that we want to buy and producing demands for goods we want to sell. Other analysts say this there are benefits to being dominant economically and politically and its not a question of the rest of the world catching up to us but that we are voluntarily contracting, actually doing things that are making us not move forward as quickly and stay as strong. Im sitting here in washington, d. C. I can hardly argue that congress and the president couldnt be doing a bit of a better job. I accept there are some roles for the United States doing things wrong in this area. I think it could be engaging more proactively globally, pushing trade and investment and migration more strengthening the u. S. Economy. Most of the story really is a atory of other maces not doing things wrong and starting to do things right. Take china, only a few decades ago, it was killing off millions of its own pop haitian. Thats not the a good way to grow in additi