Terror from the wars in iraq and syria to the assassination of Osama Bin Laden to the fall of gaddafi. I think what happened in libya, including the president , should have been a clue that when you depose a dictator, you have to be aware of what is going to and you have to think long and hard about what you are doing. Amy all that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. President obama has announced the deployment of 250 more special operations troops to syria in a move that nearly doubles the u. S. Presence in the country. This comes just days after the Obama Administration announced 217 more troops would be sent to iraq to help in the fight against isis. President obama addressed the wars in syria and iraq during a speech in germany. We continue to make progress, pushing isil back from territory that it controlled. Just as i have approved Additional Support for iraqi forces against isil, ive decided to increase u. S. Support for local forces fighting isil in syria. Amy we will have more on u. S. Involvement in syria with journalist Seymour Hersh after headlines. Ahead of obamas visit to germany, tens of thousands of people took to the streets to protest a massive trade deal between the United States and european union. Critics say the transatlantic trade and Investment Partnership or ttip will undermine safety and environmental regulations to serve corporate interests. Organizers said 90,000 people attended the rally in the Northern City of hanover saturday. Protests continued on sunday. We should be part of the negotiations. They are creating a second judicial system sitting in secret rooms, deciding behind our backs and putting governments under pressure with court cases billions of dollars because they claim they lose money, which is not ok. That is why i am totally against ttip. Amy Ohio Governor john kasich and texas senator ted cruz have announced plans to coordinate their campaigns in an effort to deny frontrunner donald trump the republican president ial nomination. Cruzs Campaign Says it will focus on the may 3 primary indiana in order to allow kasich to compete with trump in oregon and new mexico. Both kasich and cruz are hoping to keep trump from reaching the threshold of 1237 delegates needed to secure the nomination before the july convention. If trump stays below that threshold, it opens the possibility of a contested convention, where delegates could switch their votes away from the candidate chosen in their states primary or caucus after the initial convention ballot. Republican Megadonor Charles Koch has said he could support democratic president ial candidate Hillary Clinton over a republican nominee in november. In an interview with abc news, koch said he would only support republican candidates donald trump or ted cruz if they change certain proposals, including cruzs vow to carpetbomb isis and trumps plan to ban muslims from entering the United States. Koch spoke to journalist jonathan karl. Correctly,ring you you think bill clinton was a better president than george w. Bush . In some ways. And otherwise, i mean, he wasnt asexemplary but as far the growth of government, the increase in spending on restrictive regulations, it was 2. 5 times under bush that it was under clinton. Is a possible another clinton could be better than another republican . Its possible. You couldnt see yourself supporting Hillary Clinton, could you . We would have to believe her actions would be quite different than her rhetoric, let me put it that way. Amy oil Baron Charles koch speaking to abc news. Virginia democratic Governor Terry mcauliffe has restored Voting Rights to more than 200,000 felons. Bypassing the republican legislature, mcauliffe issued the change through executive order. It will allow people who have served their prison time and finished parole or probation to register to vote in time for the november election. Virginia is a key swing state. Most of those affected are african american. Eight members of a Single Family have been shot to death in rural ohio. Authorities say seven adults and a 16yearold, all members of the rhoden family, were shot in the head executionstyle, most while they slept. They were killed early friday at four crime scenes within a short distance of each other. Ohio attorney general mike dewine said the shootings were not random. This was a preplanned execution of eight individuals. It was a sophisticated operation. And those who carried it out were trying to do everything that they could do to hinder the investigation and their prosecution. Amy meanwhile in georgia, a man is suspected of killing five people at two separate locations, then killing himself as part of what authorities described as a domestic dispute. Wayne Anthony Hawes reportedly killed a number of his wifes relatives after she left him. In a victory for survivors of cia torture, a federal judge has allowed a lawsuit against the two psychologists who designed and implemented the program to move forward. Psychologists James Mitchell and bruce jessen reaped more than 80 million for designing torture techniques used by the cia. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of two torture survivors and the family of a third man, gul rahman, who froze to death at a cia black site in afghanistan. Aclu staff attorney dror ladin called the judges decision a historic win in the fight to hold the people responsible for torture accountable. A court in saudi arabia has sentenced a human rights activist to nine years in prison. Amnesty international condemned the sentencing of issa alhamid as part of the Saudi Arabian authorities ruthless quest to eradicate any last vestige of dissent. President obama visited saudi arabia for a fourth time last week. Amnesty international has accused the Nigerian Military of massacring hundreds of people, burning some alive, then trying to cover up the killings. More than 350 people are believed to have been unlawfully slaughtered by nigerian soldiers in december during a confrontation between the military and demonstrators with the Islamic Movement of nigeria. In austria, a farright candidate has won the first round of the president ial elections after running on an antiimmigrant campaign focusing on the arrival of refugees. It was the best result to date for the farright Freedom Party in a national election. The partys candidate will face a green partybacked candidate in a runoff in may. A group of independent experts have accused the Mexican Government of stonewalling their investigation into the disappearance of 43 students in september, 2014. Mexican authorities have claimed police turned the students over to drug gang members, who killed them and incinerated their bodies. But the experts, appointed by the Interamerican Commission on human rights, concluded there was no such burning. The experts also found evidence state, federal, and military personnel were present on the night of the disappearance, and evidence that suspects whose confessions were used to bolster the governments account were tortured. The experts said they faced obstacles from the Mexican Government, including the withholding of documents and even a retaliatory criminal probe into one of the officials who appointed the panel. In washington, d. C. , antonio tizapa, the father of one of the missing students, joined a demonstration in support of the panel. He spoke to democracy now by phone. It is not a protest. It is a major sorrow of support for this great work they have done. This is the way to show our support so they continue. So they see we have confidence in them because we dont have confidence in the government. Amy a guard at a private immigrant Detention Center in pennsylvania will go to prison for admitting he sexually assaulted a 19yearold honduran woman. Daniel sharkey is the first worker at a family Detention Center to be convicted of institutional sexual assault, despite previous reports of sexual abuse in such facilities. He has been sentenced to six to 23 months in prison. There is a chance he will serve less time than his victim and her threeyearold son spent in detention after fleeing abuse in honduras. One of the first people to file a lawsuit in connection with the water poisoning crisis in flint, michigan, has been shot to death. Said her child had been poisoned with lead after number to the manager appointed by governor rick mitre switched the water to the corrosive flint whether river. Bell was one of two women found shot to death in a townhouse. She was 19 years old. And family and friends of Samuel Harrell plan to conclude their fiveday Hunger Strike at a rally in harlem today after marking the First Anniversary of harrells death. Harrell was an africanamerican man who died after as many as 20 Corrections Officers kicked, punched and threw him down a , flight of stairs while he was incarcerated at the Fishkill Correctional Facility in beacon, new york. At a vigil near the prison over his sister, cerissa, spoke out about why she and others are on Hunger Strike. To giveunger strike is up. Were willing to not eat to get you know, to give something in return. What we want in return is justice. It is been a year. Nothing has happened. Does it hurt . It hurts a lot. Do i think about it . Every day. Do i forget about him . Never. Amy s supporters have demanded reforms including body cameras for Corrections Officers. They say all the Corrections Officers involved in harrells death remain on active duty. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. We are on a 100city tour marking democracy now s 20th anniversary. Today, were broadcasting from santa fe, new mexico. President obama has announced the deployment of 250 more special operations troops to syria in a move that nearly doubles the u. S. Presence in the in syria. This comes just days after the Obama Administration announced 217 more troops would be sent to iraq to help in the fight against isis. Earlier today president obama , addressed the wars in syria and iraq during a speech in germany. Right now the most urgent threat to our nations isil, and that is why we are united in our determination to destroy it. And all 28 nato allies are contributing to our coalition, whether it is striking in syria or iraq or supporting their campaign or training local forces in iraq are providing critical human a cherry and eight. We continue to make progress. Pushing i file back from territory that it controls. And just as i have approved Additional Support for iraqi forces against i file, i decided to increase u. S. Support for local forces fighting isil in syria, a small number of American SpecialOperations Forces are are the underground in syria and their expertise has been critical as local forces have driven isil out of key areas. Given the success, ive approved the deployment of up to 250 additional u. S. Personnel in syria, including special forces, to keep up this momentum. They will not be leading the fight on the ground, but they will be essential in providing the training and assisting local forces they continue to drive isil back. Amy as the u. S. Expand its presence in iraq and syria we turn to the legendary investigative journalist Seymour Hersh who won the Pulitzer Prize when u. S. Forces killed hundreds of civilians. In 2004, he broke the abu ghraib is the abuse scandal. He is just published a new book titled, the killing of Osama Bin Laden. In the introduction hersh writes its now evident, 15 years after the 9 11 attacks, that obamas Foreign Policy has maintained many of the core elements of the global war on terror initiated by his predecessor assassinations, drone attacks, heavy reliance on special forces, covert operations and, in the case of afghanistan, the continued use of american Ground Forces in combat. And, as in the years of bush and cheney, there has been no progress, let alone victory, in the fight against terrorism. Seymour hersh, welcome back to democracy now congratulations on your book. Why dont we start by talking about what president obama announced in his speech in germany today, just hours before this broadcast. Increased troop presence in syria. What does it mean . First, happy anniversary. I am glad youre still around, ghetto. One of the words he does not mention is russia. I cannot begin to tell you what is in his mind. It is amazing at this age he is putting more forces in, but that is his prerogative as president , i guess. Always makes good news. Nobody ever seems to object will he put more people on the ground. The real winner in the last year has been the russians. The russians, the bombing was much more effective. If you remember, the president said publicly when putin decided to put his air force hard at work there, he said it would be a quagmire, they would not be up to get out, it is going to be like what happened to us in afghanistan and is happening to us and certainly did happen to us in vietnam. But they did it. They did very well. I will tell you Russian Special forces are in the fight against isis with the syrian army with has, with the iranian army hezbollah, with the iranian army. We trained them, we outfitted them, etc. , etc. A much better army since the russians came in. The fighting in palmyra that the syrian army in the Russian Special forces did was much bloodier. Isis thought to the debt. It was a terrible toll on everybody, but it was a victory for the syrian army. We know all these things. The syrian army, probably, we dont know, nobody knows, it isisprobably take raqqa is on the run, particularly in syria. Not necessarily in iraq. I dont understand what the president is doing. Why he wants to engage war. But, it is not my call. I would also i had been told there are many more forces in iraq than were publicly announcing. What the hell . As usual, we dont know with a game plan is. I do not understand why he is decided to jump into a war that was being run is being run by. He syrian army i can just speculate that are antiputin, antirussian instinct in america continues apace. Thats all. Amy in your introduction to your new book the killing of Osama Bin Laden, you write in a review of my interviews about obamas early decision to raise the antiafghanistan, one fact stood out. Obamas face in the world of special operations. And in stanley mcchrystal, the commander of u. S. Forces in afghanistan who worked closely with dick cheney from 2003 to 2008 as director of jsoc. Seymour hersh, can you elaborate on this . It is amazing. ,ook, you win the presidency hope and peace, whatever it was, and you discover because you dont have the power you might dream you would have. You cant get a lot of things done because you have of your hostile congress. In president s inevitably frustration. There is nothing more wonderful for a president , can feel more like a president , then taking a walk with someone from the special Operations Community or the cia and the rose garden and getting rid of somebody you dont like, whether in the case of what we do now is we target assassinations. Earlier, we just move them out or did operations. Little operations. Now we hit people. There is a weekly meeting in which they go through names of people to target, assassinate, including in some cases, an american, without any due process. It has been a wonderful movement i dont mean to be too sarcastic, but you know, this guy ended up in the same place and far too many times as you read and as i wrote, as bush and cheney were. Thesean you explain what special ops forces are doing, both in iraq and syria . I really dont know. I know what im told, but i just dont know what the truth is. Clearly, theyre going to be engaged more, helping to plan operations, but we do a lot of dirty tricks in the world. In the firste iran decade of this year before the iranians began to talk seriously about getting rid of the Nuclear Weapons that dont exist, that never did exist. We were doing operations inside the iranian the borders and also we even when inside tehran with surrogates. We did monitoring for nagar activity, etc. , etc. We have been deeply involved in that world in covert operations. How much firsthand stuff, i dont really have. I have not actually talk to tehran, butwas in we were doing a lot of stuff, including working with people who were doing stuff like blowing up mosques and trying to whack iranian scientists. One target i do know, the president has designated that he really wants to take out the head of isis. He is been a high priority assassination target for more than a year. We could be doing Something Like that, but were certainly there is not much you can do in iraq because the iraqi army, you know, the usual story, theyre going to run away. One of the great classic lies of america is them every year some two star general involved with training either the afghans were the vietnamese or the iraqi