Paris. We will speak to lebanese french scholar Gilbert Achcar. To put all of this in context and understand all of this appalling features come from somewhere and this somewhere the action of the west, the responsibility of the west, and also the responsibility of the west and the United States, in particular, in fostering the source, the ideological source of the most fanatical education of islam that is the saudi kingdom. Plus, the latest on the bombing outside the naacp office in Colorado Springs. Then, we go to vermont. 29 singlepayer advocates were arrested after they disrupted the inauguration of Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin who has backed down on his promise to create a singlepayer Health Care System in the state. All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. French police have surrounded a building in a northern town near Charles De Gaulle airport as part of a massive manhunt for the two men accused of carrying out the Charlie Hebdo massacre. Police say they believe the suspects, said and cherif kouachi, are holed up in a small printing business where they have taken a hostage. Meanwhile, french officials are now saying there is a link between the two brothers accused of the Charlie Hebdo attack and the heavilyarmed man who shot dead a French Policewoman on thursday. The suspect in that shooting has reportedly taken hostages of a supermarket in paris. We will have more on this breaking news after the headlines. People across france and around the world are paying tribute to the victims, including Police Officer ahmed merabet, whose execution on a sidewalk was captured on video. It was shown around the world. Thousands have memorialized merbet with the social media hashtag je suis ahmed, or i am ahmed, a take on the viral hashtag je suis charlie. Un secretarygeneral ban kimoon paid tribute to merabet as he called for unity after the attack. We have now learned the policemans name. He was ahmed merabet. He himself was a muslim. This is yet another reminder of what were facing together. It should never be seen as a [indiscernible] it is an assault on our common humanity, designed to terrify and insight. In nigeria, the militant Group Boko Haram has laid siege to the town of baga in northeast nigeria. The militants have reportedly decimated the town and attacked surrounding areas, leaving bodies strewn in the streets. The death toll is feared to be in the hundreds, with estimates from local officials ranging from over 100 to as high as 2,000 people. The south asian nation of sri lanka has elected a new president , dealing an unexpected defeat to president mahina rajapaksa, who has ruled the country for nearly a decade. Rajapaska is credited with defeating the tamil tigers in 2009 after a 26year civil war. He is accused of presiding over war crimes in the complex final stages. His opponent, maithripala sirisena, who won the election was acting defense minister during the bloody final days of the conflict. In the mexican state of veracruz, 13 local police have been detained over the disappearance of a journalist. Moises sanchez, who reported on drugrelated violence and corruption, was kidnapped from his home in Medellin De Bravo earlier this month. The 13 officers detained constitute about a third of the municipal force there. In saudi arabia, an imprisoned activist is facing a public flogging today as part of a sentence of 1,000 lashes. Sentenced to 1000 lashes for charges including consulting islam. Amnesty International Says raif badawi prisoner of conscience who is being punished for exercising freedom of speech. Well have more on saudi arabia and its close relationship to the United States after headlines. The Obama Administration has fined honda a record 70 million for failing to report death and injury claims related to its vehicles. The national Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced the fine after it was revealed the automaker failed to report more than 1700 claims over more than a decade. President obama has announced a new proposal to make Community College free for two years to students who maintain a certain gradepoint average. Under the plan, the federal government would pay 75 of tuition while states would need to pay the remaining 25 . In a video ahead of todays formal announcement, obama said the plan was part of a preview of policies he will announce in his state of the Union Address later this month. Put simply, what it would like to do is to see the first two years of Community College free to everybody who is willing to work for it. Thats right, free for everyone willing to work for it. It is something we can accomplish and something the train our workforce so we can compete with anybody in the world. The pentagon is consolidating its forces in europe and returning 15 sites to their home countries in a purported costsaving measure. But the plan will keep the u. S. Troops the same, with increases in italy and germany and plans to launch a new fleet of Stealth Fighter jets from a base in england. U. S. Lawmakers have advanced a measure to approve the Keystone Xl Oil pipeline which would bring carbonintensive Tar Sands Oil from canada to the us gulf coast. The newly Republicanled SenateEnergy Committee approved the bill, which president obama has vowed to veto. Vermont independent senator Bernie Sanders denounced the measure. I am very worried about the United States congress turning its back on science, turning its back on those people who tell us that we have got to cut Carbon Emissions rather than give a green light for the exploration and production of some of the dirtiest oil on this planet. I think, frankly, that is crazy. The vote comes as one of the senates leading voices on Environmental ProtectionCalifornia Democratic senator barbara boxer, has announced she will not run for reelection in 2016. Boxer, who was first elected in 1992, has supported reproductive rights and gun control and was one of the immortal 23, the 23 senators who voted against authorizing the u. S. Invasion of iraq. A coalition of democratic lawmakers has joined with labor and environmental activists to oppose president obamas plan to fasttrack approval of trade deals. The Obama Administration has been quietly pressing for the authority to secretly negotiate trade pacts and then rush them through congress with an upordown vote within a set time frame. The new powers could let obama push through the transpacific partnership, a secretive pact encompassing 40 of the global economy. On connecticut democratic thursday, Congressmember Rosa Delauro said trade deals merit debate and cannot be rushed. Trade deals go well beyond trade. They can cpromise the quality of the food we eat. They c raise ps that we y fomecine. They can aack our environment regulations, we cannot financial regulation, stop our government from supporting american businesses, and they do nothing to stop the injustice of currency and election. Ohio has announced it will drop a twodrug cocktail used during a botched 26minute execution during which the prisoner gasped for air. The same twodrug combination was used a botched execution in arizona which lasted for nearly two hours. Ohio says it will delay at least onexecution as it seeks a replacement anesthetic. But the drugs of been nearly impossible to obtain due to a refusal by European Drug manufacturers to sell them for executions. Newly released video from a Fatal Police Shooting in cleveland, ohio shows officers failed to provide medical help to 12yearold tamir rice in the minutes after they shot him, and knocked his sister to the ground when she ran to him. Previously released footage showed police shot rice within two seconds of pulling up next to him in a park where he was playing with a toy gun. Following a battle with city officials, northeast Ohio Media Group obtained a longer version, which shows rice did not receive medical attention until four minutes after the shooting, when an fbi agent who was in the area came to his aid. About a minute after rice was shot, his 14yearold sister is seen rushing toward him as he lies behind a police cruiser. Police tackle her to the ground, then handcuff her and place her in the cruiser just feet from her dying brother. The footage matches what rices sister tajai told the today show last month about the november shooting. Iran i ran to the gazebo and i could not gather all the way to him because the officer attacked me, threw me on the ground tackled me on the ground, put me in handcuffs and in the back of the police car. The video shows it took more than eight minutes for emergency medical personnel to arrive and more than 12 minutes for tamir rice to be taken away on a stretcher. He was pronounced dead hours later at the hospital. An environmental activist sentenced to 19 years in prison for ecoterrorism in what his supporters say was a case of fbi entrapment has been released after serving nine years. Eric mcdavid was convicted of plotting to bomb sites in california including the nimbus dam. But his attorneys say he was entrapped by a teenage informant who supplied him with food housing and bombmaking instructions, and pressured him into illegal activity. As part of a settlement, federal prosecutors acknowledged withholding evidence in the case, including an fbi request for the informant to undergo a liedetector test. Mcdavid was released after pleading guilty to a conspiracy charge. The white house has responded to a petition calling for the firing of the federal prosecutor who led the case against Internet Freedom activist aaron swartz, two years after the petition was created. More than 60,000 people signed the petition on whitehouse. Gov calling for the firing of u. S. Attorney carmen ortiz for prosecutorial overreach against swartz, who took his own life two years ago this sunday, on january 11, 2013. Swartzs suicide came just weeks before he was set to go on trial for downloading millions of academic articles with the intent of making them freely available. He faced decades in prison. The petition launched the day after swartzs death quickly passed the threshold of 25,000 signatures, which by white house rules at the time required them to respond. Two years later, the white house has issued a statement refusing to address Agency Personnel matters in a petition response. In a statement, david segal, head of the group demand progress, which swartz cofounded, said a white house that truly cared about protecting Internet Freedom would recognize the chilling effects that actions like those of carmen ortiz have on activists and technologists and see to it that they were put to an end. And those are some of the headlines, this is democracy now, democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman with juan gonzalez. Welcome to all our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. French police have surrounded a building in a northern town near Charles De Gaulle airport as part of a massive manhunt for the two men accused of carrying out the Charlie Hebdo massacre. Police say they believe the suspects, said and cherif kouachi, are holed up in a small printing business where they have taken a hostage. The brothers reportedly told police they wanted to die as martyrs. Earlier today, shots were fired as Police Chased a car believed to contain the suspects. The two brothers have been accused of carrying out wednesdays attack on the office of the satirical magazine , killing eight journalists, two Police Officers, a maintenance worker, and a visitor. 11 people were also wounded, four of them seriously. Meanwhile, french officials are now saying there is a link between the two brothers accused of the Charlie Hebdo attack and the heavilyarmed man who shot dead a French Policewoman on thursday. That man is reportedly now holding five hostages, including women and children, at a supermarket in paris. Sources told reuters the three men were all members of the same paris cell that a decade ago sent young french volunteers to iraq to fight u. S. Forces. Cherif kouachi served 18 months in prison for his role in the group. At the time, kouachi told the court that he had been motivated to travel to iraq by images of atrocities committed by u. S. Troops in abu ghraib prison. Said kouachi who was training with al qaeda in the iranian peninsula, u. S. Government sources told reuters the two brothers were listed in two u. S. Security databases him a highly classified database containing information on 1. 2 million possible counterterrorism suspects called type in the much smaller nofly list. Vigils are continuing to take place across france to remember those killed. Last night, the lights on the eiffel tower were turned off as a mark of respect. For more on the paris attacks, we are joined again by the lebanesefrench academic Gilbert Achcar. He is a professor at the school of oriental and African Studies, or soas, at the university of london. His most recent books are , marxism, orientalism, cosmopolitanism and the people want a radical exploration of the arab uprising. The french newspaper le monde has described him as one of the best analysts of the contemporary arab world. Gilbert achcar, thank you so much for joining us again today on democracy now the situation is thousands of French Police have surrounded this Printing Press right near Charles De Gaulle airport. They are saying the two brothers are inside and have a hostage with them. Police say they have made contact with the men, that they say they want to die as martyrs. That is according to the police. Can you talk about the developments of the last few days from the attack on the newspaper Charlie Hebdo to where we stand today . Thank you amy. Well, the obvious thing it should be said to avoid any misunderstanding, is that of course, this was an appalling attack in a really barbaric act to slaughter like this these journalists, whatever disagreement one may have with their kind of perspective. That i should say is the obvious. Now, again, what we are seeing now unfolding is, unfortunately something predictable, which is trying to blame islam actually, for this. There are so many pronouncements in this direction now in europe in the west, and all that. Of course, not official pronouncements, but you have a deluge of far right and lets say bulger vulgar kinds of phrases attack on muslims in general. That is why think it is very important to put such events in context. Yesterday when we spoke, i tried to remind the viewers, well, on the scale of rampage killing this appalling killing in paris comes, you know, after i mean , beneath i mean, on the islamophobia mass killing by the anders brevik. Yes. Made Something Like over 75 people killed, young people in norway. In the massacre perpetrated also by the ultrazionist killer in 1994, which made Something Like 29 or more people killed. Again, i mean, these are appalling acts of what i described some years ago as a clash of barbarisms, because that is what we are getting. The barbarism of the strong, being the primary responsible in this awful dynamics, and it leads to the counter barbarism on the side who see themselves as the downtrodden the oprah asked. In the case of iraq, this is something that i said immediately after 9 11 and even before the invasion of iraq, and what we saw in iraq is the best illustration of that. You just mentioned how these killers, the two french killers or alleged killers, lets say had been affected by these developments in iraq and had been connected with the networks fighting in iraq against u. S. Troops. What you have in iraq is the barbarism that represented by the u. S. Occupation which went beyond even what one could expect with things like the torture in abu ghraib or the massacre in fallujah. Of course, counter barbarism represented by al qaeda. The bush of administration invaded iraq in the name of eradicating al qaeda and all he managed to get al qaeda the largest base they couldve dreamt of in iraq. What were seeing now in the name of the socalled Islamic State in syria and iraq is the continuation of al qaeda, of the same al qaeda that the Bush Administration was supposed to eradicate. That is what you get. This kind of actions by the United States and invading other countries and acting as an Occupying Force with what this means, leads to such extremism on the other side as we have seen. Moreover, i mean, we have to taken a consideration that for decades, the United States in alliance with its best friend in the middle east, the saudi kingdom, the closest friend, even closer than israel in that regard, the saudi king