People of puerto rico need to know they are not forgotten, that they are part of the american family, and Congress Plus responsiveness, even though this is not a perfect bill, at least moves us in the right direction. Amy while president obama vows to help the puerto rican people, a stunning new report has just been released showing how much of the debt owed by puerto rico is not actually money that the island borrowed, but instead interest owed to wall street firms including goldman sachs, citigroup, Merrill Lynch, and morgan stanley. In some cases, puerto rico is being paid forced to pay up to 1000 interest. Then we will speak to the dishwasher at Yale University who was arrested after breaking a stainedglass window depicting enslaved africans carrying cotton. We will also speak to professor Craig Steven Wilder author of , the book, ebony ivy race, slavery, and the troubled history of americas universities. All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. At least 84 people are dead in nice, france, after an attack on a crowd of people celebrating a bastille day. Witnesses said a man in a truck a truck deliberately ran over dozens of people before getting out of the truck with a gun and opening fire. Police then killed the man. One resident of nice described no longer feeling secure anywhere. Collects it was really early. I was in bed and i wake up this morning and i had liked 100 missed calls from my friends asking what happened. Then i saw the videos. It doesnt seem safe anymore and france. I came a couple of months to start working here. Nice is not a big city and does not attract that much attention. Anywhere can be a target. Amy witnesses described bodies strewn for as long as a mile down a seaside promenade where people had gathered to watch fireworks. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but the french government has described it as an act of terrorism. It is the second major attack in france since november, when the socalled Islamic State of iraq and syria took credit for killing 130 people in paris. French police have identified by special the attacker as a 31yearold tunisianborn french citizen named Mohamed Lahouaiej bouhlel. France has been under a state of emergency since november. Only hours before the attack, french president Francois Holland had said that state of emergency would be lifted by the end of next week. But early this morning, hollande said he is calling up reserve police and military forces and that the state of emergency would be extended for another three months. In washington, d. C. , u. S. Lawmakers have said 28 classified pages from the congressional report on the 9 11 attacks will be released today. The pages focus on any role the government of saudi arabia may have had in the attacks. In may, the Senate Passed a bill giving families of 9 11 victims the right to sue saudi arabia. 15 of the 19 men who hijacked planes on 9 11 were from saudi arabia. Saudi arabia has previously threatened to sell off up to 750 billion in treasury securities and other u. S. Assets if the measure passes. Meanwhile, u. N. Secretary ban ki moon has asked saudi arabia to prove it is taking precautions to avoid killing civilians in yemen. With u. S. Backing, saudi arabia has led a Bombing Campaign in yemen for more than a year. The u. N. Has said that the majority of civilian casualties in the conflict are caused by the saudiled coalitions bombing. President ial hopefuls from both parties characterize the attacks in nice, france, as a declaration of war. Donald trump spoke to bill oreilly shortly after the attack last night. Mr. Trump it is no longer isolated isis attacks. You agree with that . Mr. Trump i certainly do. It is out of control. We dont call it we have a president who doesnt want to call it what it is. You look at world trade center, look at san bernardino, paris 130 People Killed and 70 injured in paris from that attack. You look at orlando. It is out of control. Ill, unless we get strong and really strong and very, very smart leadership, it amy anderson cooper. Mrs. Clinton we are at war with these terrorist groups and what they represent. It is a different kind of war. We need to be smart about how we wage it and when it. Amy this comes as Newt Gingrich, who reportedly is one of the people on Donald Trumps shortlist for Vice President ial running mate, also broke out after the nice attack. Wepoke to fox news saying should frankly test every person here who is of muslim background. If they believe in sharia, they should be deported. Donald trump was expected to name his Vice President ial pick today, but he said he is delaying in light of the nice attack. Another person on the shortlist to is believed to be his choice is indiana governor mike pence. As governor, he oversaw a cut in planned parenthood and the state and sign legislation that would have restricted abortions in the state. In cleveland students at case , western reserve university are protesting the administrations plan to house nearly 2500 of Police Officers and National Guard in campus dorms during the Republican NationalConvention Next week. Students say the plan puts their own safety at risk, in light of the recent Fatal Police Shootings of African Americans alton sterling in baton rouge, louisiana, and philando castile, in falcon heights, minnesota. This is a case western reserve student. Shutdown of all buildings, all employees are asked to stay home, students are being essentially evacuated from campus because case did not seem to realize that housing 1700 officers and 200 National Guard might have complicated the university situation quite a bit. Amy the ngo oxfam has issued a call to lift the u. S. Embargo on cuba. Oxfam executive director Winnie Byanyima said the group had previously avoided taking up the issue, but will now campaign to have it removed sooner rather than later. In march, president obama became the first sitting u. S. President in 88 years to visit cuba as diplomatic relations were restored and the u. S. Embassy there reopened. However, the more than half century old embargo remains in place. Tens of thousands of iraqis have defied a ban on demonstrations and gathered in baghdad to demand governmental reforms. The demonstrations were called for by muqtada al sadr, a popular cleric and politician. His supporters have held regular demonstrations in baghdad and other parts of the country for months. In april, they overran the green zone, a heavily fortified neighborhood in central baghdad that is home to the countrys Iraqi Parliament and strictly off limits to most iraqis. A second attempt to enter the green zone in may ended when troops opened fire on demonstrators. In 2015, Transparency International said the u. S. Backed Iraqi Government was one of the 10 most corrupt in the world. Just days before the Republican National convention, a billboard depicting president ial candidate donald trump kissing republican senator ted cruz has been erected near the rnc site. The billboard reads, love trumps hate, and is located near the Convention Center where republicans will hold their convention. An Organization Called planting peace paid for the message. The group said it is a response to reports the draft platform republicans will ratify next week includes language opposing samesex marriage. Another provision in the draft text promotes state laws to restrict which restrooms transgender people can use. Planting peace president Aaron Jackson said planting peace calls for immediate change in the Republican Party platform with regard to our lgbt family and lgbt rights. Never again shall a negative, hateful message be uttered in the name of religious freedom. democracy now will be broadcasting live two hours every day from the Republican National convention. As well as the Philadelphia Democratic convention. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now democracynow. Org, the war and , peace report. Im amy goodman. Juan and im juan gonzalez. Welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. More than 84 people are dead in france after an attack on a crowd of people celebrating bastille day in the city in the french riviera. The dead include as many as 10 children. Another 18 people are critically injured. Witnesses said a man in a large truck deliberately drove into a massive crowd watching a fireworks celebration. The truck continued driving a mile at a high speed mowing down people in the crowd. Survivors described horrific scenes on the streets of nice. There were people on the ground. Only people on the ground. Many, many. I was trying to not look. I tried to look up. I did not want to see. It was too painful. There were people crying. People covered in blood. People covered in blood everywhere. It is so sad. Amy no group has taken responsibility for the attack. French media have identified the driver of the truck as 31yearold Mohamed Lahouaiej bouhlel, a french man of tunisian descent who lived in nice. He was shot dead by police during the attack. Earlier today, french president Francois Hollande announced he would extend the state of emergency put in place after the paris attacks. The paris attacks killed 130 people eight months ago. The statedecided that of emergency, which should have ended july 20 six, will be extended for another three months. A bill will be presented to the parliament in the coming week. Nothing will make a sealed in our fight against terrorism. We will reinforce our activities in syria and iraq and continue to strike precisely those who strike us on our own soil in their hideouts. Amy we are joined by Ismail Khalidi palestinian american , playwright and writer who was in nice visiting family. Yasser louati, joins us. Ismail khalidi, you are last night. While you did not see the truck, you certainly saw the aftermath of people running. Can you tell us what you experienced . Collects hi, amy and juan. Unfortunately, i was not at the scene and did not witness the carnage, but i was probably away from where the attack took place. Where the fireworks had just ended. There were thousands and thousands of people, families, tourists, congregating. All of the sudden, we witnessed what really essentially amounted to a stampede of people shouting and screaming and a lot of confusion, obviously, resulted from that as there was not really very clear information about what was going on. Only that the police had told people to run. They followed suit. One of probably the most harrowing things we saw last night was a young father jettisoning his two kids over a fence and then clambering up the fence himself in order to get out. Obviously am a horrible, horrible night in nice. It was quite chaotic and confused. There was not a lot of information in the aftermath from the bullies on the streets about where people should go and what they should do next. Juan what have you been able to learn more have we been able to learn since the attack about the man who led the attack was in the truck and was killed . Mean, i think you guys reported a little on it. What i read is he is a local nice resident, a young french i think,nisian, dissent with a petty criminal record as far as i know. It seems to me he fit the bill of a lot of these attackers from the paris attacks, for example on november 13, of young, alienated immigrant men who in many cases are marginalized, ghettos in french cities, who have criminal records. And carry out acts of violence. I actually cannot speak to much more than that. That is what i know. I do know nice, from where i am right now, in the center of the city, seemed to kind of a going about business as normal. I think probably where the attack took place is obviously, im guessing, shut down at this moment. Amy yasser louati, you are in paris, french president hollande has left and gone to nice where he is just arrived. There was a state of emergency ending next week after the attacks in november. He is now said they will be extended and france will increase its presence in iraq and syria. Can you talk about what you understand about what happened and what is happening in your country, france, today . Hi, amy and juan. This is deja vu. This is my fourth time on your show and unfortunately, i will repeat the same things. It is great confusion from the government. First, how sure can you be this is a terrorist attack . The corporate was known to be nonreligious, make no political claims. He was known to be a womanizer who was isolated and has no connection whatsoever to any organization. We need to leave time enough for the government to do its job to identify the motives the highness attack. What we should keep in mind, president hollande on july 14, yesterday morning, was saying he was going to lift up the state of emergency, that it would be over on july 26. The very same day he said, theyre going to extend it for three months. Talking about the state of emergency, it has been in full effect since last november and did not bring any more protection to us as everyday citizens ,nor did it crackdown on this terrorist threat. At the same time, the presence of military people in big cities and major public areas has not shown its a fax. Even the repressive laws that passed since november, and the enhanced abilities given to police, has been protected us. Going back to the confidential reports from intelligence saying the government is failing by adopting security measures and should take into consideration the financial, social, and identity crisis deeprooted in this country. Juan i want to ask you, you mentioned the emergency decree. What is the impact on the Muslim Community of the United States of amy france. Juan im sorry, france. Raidshas led to over 3600 , leading to only six inquiries. Thehave dramatically used Muslim Community as a scapegoat to divert attention from the governments failure to protect the people of france at the same time, to review its own policies both abroad and here at home. When you have human rights watch, u. N. , amnesty international, and various organizations saying the state of emergency does not help in reducing the Terror Threat [indiscernible] at the same time, we have received two waves of terrorist attacks in 2016. Nobody resigned. Nobody took responsibility. The government cannot keep holding minorities responsible for those very same failures. I was saying a couple of days ago, there was a parliamentary inquiry released by the national simply pointing to the fact the Intelligence Community in france historically failed. You keep compiling these reports of the government keeps repeating the same strategy, people fromrry, nice killing people from nice. Why would bombing syria or iraq it is more security . Amy ultimately, what do you want to happen . The french government to review our foreign policy. We need to have a strategy. Then we have to listen to what the professionals say. We cannot use security measures alone when they are counter effective. Another point, do not forget that in the famous article destroying the gray zone saying we need these terrorist attacks so the Muslim Community will be cast aside, stigmatized, and persecuted. This will help hire more people and bring a divide between muslims and make it impossible for these two communities to live together in peace. Amy let me play for you what Newt Gingrich, one of what is believed to be the three people on the short list for trump for Vice President , Newt Gingrich, the new good jersey governor chris christie, and the indiana governor mike hands, but this is what Newt Gingrich said last night speaking on fox news. Western civilization is in a war. We should, frankly, test every person here who is of muslim background. If they believe in sharia, they should be deported. Amy talking about americans being deported who believe in sharia after the nice attacks. Yass, respond. So much ignorance is just beyond words. The western world is not at war with islam because there are western muslims being killed in the west by terrorist organizations. Second, i think Newt Gingrich should send his resume to isis and get a job there because he is doing exactly what they are asking for. They kill us here in these continue the job of the terrorist organization. Unfortunately, this will go on. Saying, to gingrich is donald trump, even hillary. ,here is a fallacious concept prophecy. How about the 16yearold war on terror . Years, billions of dollars spent, hundreds of people being killed. [indiscernible] how about prosecuting the very same people who lead to the emergence of isil . I dont know, george bush, tony blair . We can use the report to prosecute these people. Amy yasser louati, thank you for being with us french human , rights and Civil Liberties activist and researcher. , speaking toalidi us from where the attack occurred last night. At least 84 people have been killed. When we come back, where does the debt that it has been said puerto rico owes come from . Stay with us. [music break] amy this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. With juan gonzalez. Juan a s