09/29/16 09/2/216 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacifica, this is democracy now! >> i called 911 three times to come help my brother, that he is mentally disturbed and needed help. andt some it could help him get some comedic asian going. i did not call the police to come and kill my brother. amy: protests continue near san diego over the fatal police shooting of an unarmed ugandan refugee. police shot and killed out for the lungo after his sister called 911 to report her brother

having a mental health emergency. we will go to the san diego for the latest and look the shocking study that shows people with mental illness are 16 times more likely to be killed during a police encounter than other civilians. been to syria. >> this s is worse. morea slaughterhouse is humanitarian. hospitals, clinics, ambulances and medical staff in aleppo are understaffffed. amam as the assault continueues with the bomombing of two more hospspitals, the obama administration is threatening to cut off talks with moscow. we'll u.s. escalates its u.s. military involvement? we will get the latest. all of that and more, coming up welcome to democracy now, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. protests continued wednesday in san diego, california, suburb of

el cajon, where police shot and killed an ununarmed african-american man tuesday after his sister called 911 to report her brother was having a mentalal health emergency. eyewitnesses in el cajon said 38-year-old alfred olango was holding his hands up when he was tased by one police officer, and then fired upon five times by another officer. police initially said they fired when olango pulled out an object. on wednesday, the police admitted that this object was, in fact, an e-cigarette. this is protester asaac ali. >> this is not just about how i am feeling about it, it is about how america feel about it. police are terrorizing america. each and every state. they are killing each and every corner. this is time for america to look into it. this is not isis in the middle east. are killing people more than i says. that is what we need to look at really careful. amy: this comes as questions are

being raised about el cajon police officer richard gonsalves, one of the officers involved in olango's shooting. last year gonsalves was sued for , sexual harassment after making lewd propositions and texting explicit photos to his subordinate officer. he was demoted to officer from sergeant. gonsalves was just served with a second suit in august of this year after the harassment continued. we'll go to san diego for more after headlines. meanwhile, in louisiana, a judge has released body cam video showing police officers shooting into a car and killing a six-year-old child in september 2015. the boy, jeremy mardis, was in first grade. he was killed on site after being hit by five bullets. authorities say the marshals began chasing the car after seeing an argument between a man and a woman. when the car chase ended at a dead-end street, the marshals approached the car and opened fire. the video shows the driver, christopher few, with his hands in the air.

the louisiana state police superintendent said the video is "the most disturbing thing i've seen." two u.s. marshals involved in the shooting are on trial facing second-degree murder charges. in washington, d.c., congress has voted to allow americans to sue saudi arabia over the 9/11 attacks, overriding president obama's veto of the bill. it's the first time during obama's presidency that his veto has been overridden by congress. the senate rejected the veto 97 to one, while the house rejected 348 to 77. this means the "justice against sponsors of terrorism act" now becomes law. this legislation would allow courts to waive claim of foreign sovereign immunity after an act of terrorism occurs within u.s. borders. this is president obama speaking at a town hall on cnn wednesday night.

pres. obama: if we eliminate this notion of sovereign immunity, then our men and women in uniform around the world could potentially start seeing ourselves subject to reciprocal lalaws. and the coconcern thatat i haved has nothing to do with saudi or my something before 9/11 families, it has to do with me not wantiting a sisituation in which we are suddenenly exposed to liabilitis for all of the work we're doing all around the world. amy: the bill had passed both the house and the senate earlier this year, but president obama had vetoed it earlier this month. in july, the obama administration declassified 28 pages from the september 11 detailing possible ties between the saudi government and the 9/11 attacks. the declassified documents raise new questions about the role of the saudi consular official based in the los angeles area. he personally helped two of the hijackers after they arrived in los angeles in early 2000.

15 of the 19 9/11 hijackers were from saudi arabia. in news from the campaign trail, a new investigation by newsweek reveals that one of donald trump's businesses violated the u.s. embargo on cuba and secretly did business there in the late 1990's. the investigation draws on internal company documents showing trump's company, then called trump hotels & casino resorts, spent at least $68,000 in cuba during a secret business trip to havana. at the time it was illegal under , u.s. law to spend any corporate money in cuba. the investigation also reveals trump had knowledge of top executives working to cover up the illegal expenditures. only one year later, trump wrote in an op-ed in the miami herald in 1999 -- "i would rather take a financial hit than become a financial backer of one of the worlds most brutal dictators. of course we should keep the embargo in place." meanwhile, "forbes" magazine is reporting that donald trump has

lost at least $800 million in personal wealth since 2015. "forbes" estimates trump's net worth is now about $3.7 billion. in more news from the campaign trail, libertarian presidential nominee gary johnson stumbled during a town hall interview on msnbc wednesday night, when host chris matthews asked him to name his favorite foreign leader and johnson couldn't name a single one. instead, he said he was having an "aleppo moment," referring to an earlier interview when he was asked about what he would do to stop the devastating bombing against the major syrian city, and he responded by asking, "what is aleppo?" this is former new mexico governor and presidential candidate today johnsnson. >> hoosier favorite foreign leader? any one of the continents. name one for leader you look up to. anybody. >> shimon peres.

>> i'm talking about living. anywhere. any comment. canada, mexico, europe, asia, south america, name before leader that you respect. >> i guess i'm having an aleppo moment in the former president -- >> i am giving it the whole world. anybody. pick any leader. >> the former president of mexico. >> which one? >> i'm having a brain -- trucks anybody. amy: in new york, authorities say they have identified the two men who found a bag containing an unexploded bomb placed on 27th street in chelsea earlier this month during the bombings in new york and new jersey. authorities say video shows the two men taking the items out of the bag, and then walking off with the bag itself. police described the bag's contents as a pressure cooker bomb connected to a flip phone, packed with shrapnel and wired to detonate. authorities say the two men have now been identified as egyptians who were visiting new york and have since returned. authorities do not think the men have anything to do with the

bombings. this comes as the main suspect in the bombings, ahmad khan rahami, has retained the american civil liberties union to represent him. after judges in both new york and new jersey rejected efforts by public defenders seeking to represesent rahami. the head of the aclu in new jersey udi ofer said "violates the constitution and needlessly sacrifices civil liberties in the name of national s security" in more political news, new jersey governor chris is under fire over the george washington bridge link closures. prosecutors say his top aides conspired to createe a traffic jam to punish the mayor of fort lee for failing to endorse christie's reelection in 2013. no former port authority official and former ally to chris christie, david while steam, has testified in federal court that kristi knew all about the plan ahead of time. he sayays chris chrisistie was d about the planned two days before the link closures began

to the september 11 1 memorial service and that chris christie laughed at the idea. pastshington, conversation legislation to avoid a government shutdown only two days before the agencies were expected to run out of money. it will keep the government funded through december 9 including $1.1 billion to respond to the zika virus and $500 million of aid for flooding in louisiana. the white house has authorized the deployment of an additional 600 u.s. troops to iraq at of the battle to retake muzzle for isis -- mosul from isis. the deployment will increase the total number of u.s. troops in iraq to more than 5000. in somalia, officials say a u.s. airstrike has mistakenly killed more than 20 somali soldiers. the security minister of somalia's galmudug region says the u.s. strikes were requested by officials in a rival region, who told the u.s. the strikes were targeting al-shabab militants. the pentagon says it's investigating the incident, but

has claiaimed at least nine al-shabab fighters were killed in the strike. in south carolina, a 14-year-old boy shot and killed his father, and then wenent on a shooting rampage in the p playground of e townviville elementary school in anderson county, about 100 miles from atlanta he shot and injured wednesday. two boys, as well as a teacher, befofore being arrested. one of the boys who were shot in the leg is in critical condition. the shooter was not named. a one-day strike thursday to protest the government's attempts to in a legislation tying salaries to productivity rather than seniority. this is one of the union organizers. >> about 60,000 workers from all over the country went on strike today and about 50,000 workers join the rally here. we demand a stop to adopting illegal wage system based on performance pushed by the government.. it will hurt the peoeople. people marched to mark the second anniversary

of the kidnapping of 43 students from the ayotzinapa teachers' college. the students were attacked by local police and subsequently went missing in the southern mexican state of guerrero. this is jose nava garcia, a student who survived the attack. > we are herere to demanand e because we don't forget. we as survivors of yasser munif. we are constanantly -- we are survivorors of ayotzinapa. ththey wed war on n us and we dd not at this time understand what was happening. we were just freshmen will stop amy: meanwhile, in the bordederg state of michoacan, police arrested at least 4747 students from anotherer teacherers' colle on wednenesday after a confrontation with police clad in riot gear. police say the students had stolen busses. some news reports say police fired at the students during the confrontation. on wednesday, fellow students blocked highways to demand their classmates be released. and in north dakota, 21 people were arrested wednesday by police in riot gear, while the group was conducting native

american ceremonies to block construction of the $3.8 billion dakota access pipeline. the pipeline has faced months of resistance from the standing rock sioux tribe and members of hundreds of other tribes from across the u.s., canada, and latin america. land defenders say police carrying assault rifles responded to the ceremonies with armored vehicles, tear gas, and helicopters. this is a sicangu lakota grandmother. ceremony a really n nice and then we l looked and over tt there were ae -- few police. in the next thing i knew, there were like 40 police all dressed in riot gear. we did exactly what we were supposed to do, except the ones in the road just to telll people to keep moving, keep moving. i have never in my life seen a gun in r real life. and i have never had a gun pointed at me. we all -- i went into shock.

amy: and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. nermeen: and i'm nermeen shaikh. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. protests continue in the san diego, california suburb of el cajon, where police shot and killed an unarmed african-american man tuesday after his sister called 911 to report her brother was having a mental health emergency. eyewitnesses in el cajon said 38-year-old alfred olango was holding his hands up when he was tased by one police officer, and then fired upon five times by another officer. olango was a 38-year-old father of two and a ugandan refugee who moved to the san diego area 20 years ago. in a dramatic video posted to facebook, a woman named rumbie mubaiwa begins filming moments after alfred olango is shot dead. in the background, olango's sister is heard crying over the death of her brother.

>> ok, so the police did it again, y'all. they shot another unarmed black person, as usual. and the lady is saying she called them for help not to kill her brother. and they shot her brother. amy: in the video, alfred olango's grieving sister is seen tearfully confronting police. she tells them, "i called you to help me but you killed my brother." >> why couldn't you tased him? why couldn't you tase him? why? why? >> what is his birthday so they can find his information? >> whyhy didn't you tase h him? amy: theheister of a alfred olao can be heard in the video saying -- "i called three times for them to come help me. nobody came they said it's not priority." police scanner audio at the time of the shooting reveals that officers knew they were responding to a so-called 5150 call, or a mental health emergency.

it does not appear that officers dispatched a psychiatric emergency response team. el cajon police chief jeff davis acknowledged it took officers 50 minutes to respond to the 911 call of olanango's sister.. he s said there was nono weapon found at the scenene of the killing. chief dadavis dispsputed witness acacunts that t olango had his hahands in the a air, saying thn pointed an objecect at an ofoffr with both hahands as if to firea handgugun. nermeen: -- d back male subject pace and forth, rapidly drew an object from his front pants pocket and placed both hands together on it and extended rapidly toward the officer, taking what appeared to be a shooting stance, putting the object in the officer's face. at this time, one of the officers with the taser discharged his taser in an effort to subdue the subject. simultaneously, the officer who had the object pointed at him

discscharged his fireararm, strg the male. nermrmeen: on wednesday, police confirmed alfred olango did not have a gun. the object he pointed at police was a three-inch long silver e-cigarette. the shooting is just the mostt recent in a string of police shootings of primamarily men of color wiwith mental illness s or disability. just lasast week pololicin charlotttt north cararolina shst and killlled kthth scott, a 43-yeaear-old father of seven wo reportededly had suffered aa traumatic c brain ininjury duria motorcycle a accidenent in 2015. in july,y, a police officer in north miami contends he mistakenly shot an african-american behavioral therapist, charles kinsey, when he was aiming for arnaldo rios soto, a 26-year-old autistic man. amy: who was simply cradling a toy truck. in addition to concerns over the el cajon police department's response to what was a mental health crisis, questions are being raised about el cajon

police officer richard gonsalves, one of the officers involved in olango's shooting. last year, gonsalves was sued for sexual harassment after making lewd propositions and texting explicit photos to his subordinate officer. naked pictures of his private parts to his subordinate officer. he was demoted to officer from sergeant. gonsalves was just served with a second suit in august of this year after the harassment continued. well, for more, we are joined by two guest. dan gilleon is the attorney for the family of alfred olango, and also represents officer christine greer, the plaintiff in the sexual harassment lawsuit against richard gonsalves. christopher rice-wilson is associate director at alliance san diego. we welcome you both to d democry now! dan gilleon, let's begin with you. explain what took place. you are the lawyer for offered s family.

how this happened with a sister called and said her brother was having a mental health emergency. explain what took place e next. >> there is a lot a fact that we just don't know right now. that is one of the problems i have with the way the city of el cajon and the police department's handling this. there is a video available. they took a still image from that video yesterday and put it out there in the media and began litigating this case in the media. selecting the still image that helps them the most. so i don't have a lot of the facts right now and i don't fell comfortable saying exactly what happened because we just don't know. i can tell you this, when the police officers arrived on the scene, they knew they were arriving in a situation that .alled for a pert they knew that. they are trained on how to deal with people with mental illness.

one of the things they know is that people with mental illnesses will act that people with mental illnesses. the sister was clear with them that he was having a mental breakdown. he was having a mental breakdown. he had just lost someone very close to him. i do not know the effect of that recent loss on any other underlying situation or condition of his, but they did know it. even the chief of police acknowledged he was acting erratically and running in and out of traffic. so they knew that. instead of calling the pert team, the team that is designed andandle this situation deescalate these situations, they sent out this richard gonsalves, who in my opinion, based upon the way he has behaved in the past, is a cowboy. hehe is a cowboy t that went out there and took matters into his own hands. i believe he escalated the situation to the point where this mentally ill person acted like a mentally ill person and raised his hands toward him.

we don't know if the officer with the laser deployed -- taser deployed it first. we don't know that because we don't have the video. that would be an important thing to know. there was a comment by the chief of police that the firing officer, this would be richard gonsalves, that he fired simultaneously. well, what we talk about in the business and when we do police shooting cases, is talk about sympathetic fire. and the police department's are taught how not to have situations like this result in a death as a result of synthetic fire. what happens is, oftentimes when a taser goes off, they allow -- it creates a loud noise and other officers who have their weapons drawn will fire. and not because any other reason other than that just now heard another shot. we don't know whether the officer who was firing a taser followed protocol, which was to

announce loudly "taser taser taser" and then fire. we don't know if he did that or not because they won't release the video. that process of announcing the taser is very important because it helps prevent the sympathetic fire. again, my role right now is to defend the case as being litigated in the media by the el cajon police department. it is a completely unfair thing to do that less than 24 hours after this man dies, that the police department is cherry picking one still image, releasing it to the media all for the purpose of building their own case, which it boils down to it was all his own fault. he had it coming. you should not have raised his hands. if you had not raised his hands, he would be alive. i don't believe the facts bear that scenario out all that well, but we just don't know yet. amy: we're going to go to break and come back to this discussion. dan gilleon is the attorney for

the family of alfred olango, an ugandan refugee in san diego. as wellher rice-wilson ook.ohn sno stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. nermeen: protests continue in the san diego, california suburb of el cajon were police shot and killed an unarmed african-american man day after his sister called 911 to report her brother was having a mental health emergency. after tuesday's shooting, alfred olango's sister explained the encounter with the police. >> i called 911 three times to come help my brother, that he was mentally disturbed and needed help. i thought there were somebody to help them get some crisis

communication going or the police officer -- he was running around, crossing the street. he almost got hit by the car. i kind of tailgated him with my car and try to get help so they could taken to the hospital. ien the police officer came, heard and say, don't put your hands in the pocket. i told the police, please, don't shoot him. he is sick. i did not call the police officer to come and kill my police officer. nermeen: that was alfred olango's sister. we're continuing our conversation with dan gilleon, the attorney for olango's family and christopher rice-wilson. i would like to ask christopher rice-wilson, could you say something about your response to the shooting? well, you know i am simply

aghast at the actions taken that day by the el cajon police department and continuing with the police chief's press conference that, you know, revealed a still photo that made their case and presented olango as a threat. the community is really upset right now and we want justice for alfred olango. we want a transparent investigation. we don't believe that we can get that here in san diego. and we're asking attorney general loretta lynch to assign an investigator from the department of justice. the community is really upset right now. we are standing with the family, demanding justice, and hoping and praying that someone will come help us here in san diego. amy: can you talk about the histstory of police relations in san diego? >> well, i mean, i think police

relations with communities of color across this country are not very good right now. we see this happening across the country. we don't have to isolate it to san diego. but when you talk about the policequote -- el cajon department and its history with the community, there was a grand jury report about a year ago that recommended improvements in theel cajon's handling of homeless and mentally ill, which are largely gone ignored. there is not a significant black population in el cajon and the black folks who do live in el cajon often feel picked on by the police department, harassed by the police department. and so when we see what happened the other day to mr. olango, it did not come as a surprise to many people who said it was just a matter of time prior to this event. , you not onlyon

represent the alpha the longer family after the police shooting death of alfred olango, you represent a plaintiff who sued officer gonsalves now twice. in civilian life, we see this. we see, for example, in the omar mateen and the pulse shooting, opened fire and the nightclub in florida, the violence against that that precedes it, wraps is not taken seriously. can you explain the story of your other plaintiff, the woman officer who says gonsalves has been harassing her now for how longng and what has he beeeen dg to her? >> well, i represent officer christine a greer and she is a current police officer at the el cajon police department. i'm a civil rights attorney and civil rights includes sexual harassment. i represent a lot of police officers themselves and i began suing police officers on civil

rights cases a number of years afteregan hiring me to go the police departments themselves when their civil rights have been violated. this is one of those cases where ms -- officer greer was facing very superior sexual harassment by her own immediate supervisor, her surgeon. and that was richard gonsalves, the same officer now, that shot mr. olango. lewdnt her a graphic, photograph of his penis. it was accompanied by text messages asking her for sexual acts with her wife. she is a lesbian. it was over-the-top sexual harassment, something that would get anybody in this world, i was suspect, fired. but for whatever reason, the el cajon police department decided to circle the wagons around the insurgent richard gonsalves and

just demote him down. and send him back to work with her. at which point he began continuing his harassment of her, spitting on her locker, following her down the hallway, other officers with start making comments about her complaint about him because they did not like that she violated the code of silence. it is just a deplorable situation froths or greer. -- for officer greer. and now this cowboy who felt like he did not have to follow the rules they said you cannot send photographs of your penis to subordinates, the same officer showed up at the scene of a mentally ill person who was acting out and decided to take the law into his own hands. i think this is just a problem for the el cajon police department. as you see again, circling the wagons, rallying behind us now officer and try to act like he is a victim again.

it is really unfortunate. unfortunately, this is, seems like to me, the state of our affairs when it comes to police departments even against their own. i represent a number of officers throughout san diego county in many civil rights cases where black officers am a female officers are being discriminated against and really harassed at work either because of their protected class or because they complaint about it. we do have a problem here in san diego.o. no doubt about it. nermeen: the details laid out in the lawsuit are graphic. part of it addresses the city of el cajon's s lack of action aftr the harassment took place. it reads -- "when a sergeant s his female subordinate a graphic photograph of his penis and offers to be her 'f--- buddy,' that sergeant should be fired.

he should be prosecuted. the city did neither." dan gilleon can you talk about that and how common that is to similar harassment claims? amy: and what the settlement was. >> i have never seen this. i have done a lot of sexual harassment cases over the years and i've never seen this. there's only one other occasion where i ever saw in employer send a photograph of himself, and he was not in employer anymore. he was quickly terminated. this is a case where really a violated the penal code. violatedwords, he terminal the law. that is why say he should be prosecuted. you can us in a photograph of yourself to somebody else when they don't want it. amy: dan gilleon, what was the settlement? >> well, the settlement the first time that was handled by , and enteredney into a confidential settlement agreement -- which i don't believe is enforceable. i believe in first amendment,

but at this point, i don't want to violate an agreement that was injured into by -- entered into by another attorney. i took the case after officer greer returned to work and they igin going after her again, mean, harassing her again, and basically trying to punish her for the lawsuit in the first place. amy: she was forced to work with and when she returned? she was forced to work with him when she returned? >> right. even yesterday, she told me she was there with him. the other day she had to show up at another location doing work duties and he was sitting across from her she believed he was videotaping her, just the way he was acting. this guy is over the top. for this police department to be circling the wagons for this cowboy right now, they've done it before when he did something that should have gotten him teterminated -- he should not he been a police officer on tuesday when he shot and killed my client's son, father, brother. you should not have even been a

police officer then. amy: christopher rice-wilson, what are you demanding now as the protests continue? >> that the police department release the video. we want to see the video. we do not want a still screenshot that makes their case. we want to see what happened before and after. we want to see mr. olango's a ctions that made him a threat. witnesses reported was holding a vape cigarette before police department released that information. if witnesses 20 feet away could see that it was a vape cigarette, why couldn't officer see at five feet away? we want the video. nermeen: i want to bring into the conversation john snook executive director of the treatment advocacy center. he is co-author of a recent study that found people with a mental illness are 16 times more likely to be killed during a police encounter than other civilians. the report is titled "overlooked , in the undercounted: the role

of mental illness in fatal law enforcement encounters" john snook, welcome to democracy now! can you talk about what happened to olango in the context of what your report found, the way in which police respond to emergency calls having to do with the mentally ill? >> short. this is really the nightmare scenario for f families with a loved one who has a mental illness and for law enforcement themselves. these are the sort of situation that we really work every day to prevent. unfortunately, this seems to have ended in the worst-case scenario. as we have seen around the country with the data, it happens far too often. i think one of the things we need to think about is this idea of when someone is having a medical emergency, why are we really wiring law enforcement -- requiring law enforcement to step in? why don't we have a mental health system that addresses these folks before this happens?

a don't want to have to be in situation where we have to say, law enforcement, you need to address this person needs. they are not mental health professionals. san diego has stepped in with a program called pert that provides basically for a co-responder who is a psychiatric professional to come along on some of these calls. obviously, that did not happen in this case and it can't happen in every case. we need to step back and say, how do we keep law-enforcement from havaving to be on the frontlines to be our mental health responders? how to get mental health professionals more involved in these cases? amy: what is so frightening, sounds like mr. olango's sister did everything right. she called up and set her brother was having a mental health emergency. shshe called several times. not only did they send the police, but they waited 50 minutes. if someone once to report a mental health emergency amm a

witch could save other people, what -- if someone wants to report a mental health emergency, w which was a rathehr people, basically the message is sent if you called out the mentally ill, we will kill you or we will kilill them? >> i think it is important to step back and d if you think abt mental illness like any other illness and you said this person was having a heart attack, let's call the police, we would not be surprised that outcomes happen because that is simply not what a police officer is therefore. what we need to do is get awayy from the situation where we wait until someone is in a crisis before we provide care. takenk california has some steps, but even as we have been talking about this, there has been a broad disiscussion in california about misuse of the prop 63 funds, which are funds that ostensibly worked to be provided to -- were to be provided to mental health and the hoover commission put out another report that said unfortunately the funds are not being used for mental health and the way they should be.

tracking is not there. that is what we're talking about, the situations we have far too many people ending up not getting care until they are in a crisis, and then we wonder why bad outcomes happen. unfortunately, that is the case across the country. we simply have too many people in crisis, law enforcement trying to do their best in the worst case scenarios, and thahat is when the sort of tragedies occur. amy: we are now talking about, according to the figures and mapping police violence, mr. olango became the 217th black american to be killed by police so far this year. , the most, john snook important recommendation you have at this point, as we see what happened from el cajon to tolls the to charlotte -- tulsa to charlotte? >> we have to take mental

illness seriously. before this year, we basically were not even able to provide a very effective number of how many people with mental illness were killed by law enforcement officers. we know across the country that people with memental illness are languishing in jails in emergency rooms because we simply do not have enough hospital beds for them. we're not t taking memental ills seriously. finally, we're starting to see movement. there is a bill on the health waiting for senate acaction that would addresess these sorts of incidents, t the most severely mentally ill, provide additional police funding foror care for folks before they get to this point in police training. unfortunately, that is still sitting in congress. that is the sort of thing we need done. we need done people recognize this is a crisis that our nation is facing and unless we do more, we're going to keep having these sorts of incidentsts is. amy: john snook, thank you for being with us of the treatment advocacy center, joining us from

washington. dan gilleon the attorney for the family of alfred olango, an unarmed african-american man who was shot and killed tuesday in el cajon just outside of san diego. dan also represents officer christine greer, the plaintiff in a sexual harassment lawsuit against richard gonsalves, one -- the officer who killed mr. olango. thank you to christopher rice-wilson, associate director at alliance san diego. when we come back, we're pointed talk about syria. what is taking place there, what needs to be happening. back in a minute. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. nermeen: the obama administration is threatening to

cut off diplomatic talks with russia on syria in the wake of a devastating bombing campaign by the syrian government and russia in the city of aleppo. on wednesday, the two largest hospitals in east aleppopo were forced to close after being hit by airstrikes. there are reportedly only about 30 doctors left in east aleppo where 250,000 people are currently trapped. the russian-backed bombing of aleppo intensified after a ceasefire collapsed 10 days ago. witnesses have described it as the worst assault in the five-year civil war. u.n. secretary general ban ki moon says that the situation in the syrian city of aleppo has become worse than a slaughterhouse. >> this morning, we awoke to reports of strikes on to more hospitals in aleppo. let us be clear. those using ever more destructive weapons know exactly what they're doing.

they know they are committing war crimes. destruction, people with their limbs blown off, children in terrible pain with no relief. end in to go and no sight. imagine a slaughterhouse. this is worse. even a slaughterhouse is more humane. hospitals, clinics, ambulances and medical staff in aleppo are on attack -- under attack on the clock. personnel who are in aleppo before the war have led, been detained, or killed. thisis is war against health workers. amy: video footage from aleppo has emerged showing syrian civil defense forces digging a young

girl out from under rubble. five year-old ghazal qasim was reportedly the sole survivor from an airstrike that killed 24 people in the aleppo neighborhood al shaar. her entire family, including four siblings, were reportedly killed in the strike. according to aid groups, children in aleppo have made up a large proportion of casualties from the bombings. at least 100,000 children remain trapped in the eastern part of aleppo. meanwhile, human rights watch has accused syrian government forces of using toxic chemicals in two recent attacks in aleppo that killed five civiliansnd injured dozens. e group also saineww informion haemerged indicating that the self-proclaimed islamic state has recently used chemicals as a weapon inside syria. on wednesday, president obama addressed the crisis in sysyria during a town hall meeting in cnn. ats.. obama: to kekey in syria

this point is unless we can get the parties involved to recognize that theyey're just burning their country to t the grnd, andnd get it on a diplomatic and political track, frfrankly,y, there is going g ta limit t what we can do. we will try to mitigatee the pan and d suffering that those f fos are undergoing. this is partrt of the e reason y our approach to refugegees, for example, has to be openhearted -- although, hardheaded to protect ourr homeland.d. and at thehe end of the day, the are going to be challenges around the world that happen that don't directly touch on our securirity where we need to hel, wewe need to help lelead, but jt sending in more troops is not going to be the answer. amy: we are joined by, an activist in east ghouta, a suburb of damascus, in an area controlled by opposition forces. can you tell us what is happening on the ground right ?ow osama nassar

>> good morning. that all ofu know the media is now fixated on aleppo. the city is s being attacked byy the russians and the syrian regime forors. people andmerican the west know nothing about it. and only know there is isis people who are fighting for no reason. you know the regime has blacked media here and the only media who are allowed to go actually, people are really upset about what mr. obama said, what mr. obama does

every now and then, the u u.s. administration did nothing to disasters ingoing syria. complicatedreally year after year and even day afafter day. today is the firirst anniversary of the intervention in syria. so that this means one year ago the u.s. did something about syria. they had nothing -- i mean, they in thet obliged negotiation with the russians. two years ago, for example, there were no bombings in the

european country and other places rather than syria and iraq. three years ago, there wewere en know. -- five years, ago there were people seeking freedom and demonstrating peacefully and the streets. so the more you delay or the more the u.s. and the international community are late to do something to stop this ongoing massacre in syria, the more it has become -- amy: i would like to bring yasser munif into the conversation, professor at emerson college who specializes in grassroots movements in syria. he has made several trips there, most recently in 2015 when he visited the syrian-turkish border. he is a sociology professor at emerson college. could you talk about why you think the recent cease-fire

between -- that was negotiated between the u.s. and russia in syria collapsed? >> thank you for having me. i think the main reason for the collapse is initially the deal between the u.s. and russia was not political. it was really only focusing on the military aspect of the conflict. wasfor the russians, what essential and important was basically maintaiaining the syrn regime and making sure that the boundaries between the jihadist groupsps in the moderate militay groups are blurred and pushing most of the modern groups into an alllliance with al qaeda and otherr jihadisist groups. , the e goal of that deal was basicically to collaboratate and coordinate the strikes againststsis. in t end, the syrian

opposition or the syrian population did not get anything. offfferings basically to the russian that they could maintain the syrian desespot. there was total refusal and rejection of the deal by the syrian population from these reasons, and it was basically reducing the revolution into a sanitary and -- humanitarian conflict that would basically lead to opening a few corridorss here and there and that some of the aid would reach the besieged areas in aleppo and so on. but in the end, it was reaeally benefititing the syrian regime, not any of the opposition. nermeen: i want to turn to comments made by the un's special envoy for syria staffan , de mistura. in an interview with al jazeera's mehdi hasan on saturday, he explained why the recent ceasefire had collapsed. >> who do you think would not

agree -- would not agree with forcect that syrian air is to be grounded? well, clearly not happy about it otherwise he would not have been able to do what they have been planning publicly to do to reconquer the whole syria territory. and to do so, hehe needs the air force. on the other side, put yourself in the place of ththe armed oppositionon and t their sponso. do they really find it see for ththem or do they like the ideaf disconnecting from al nusra, which in their r view, has beenn one of the biggest fighters against assad? at the same time, everybody recognizes a al qaeda, whether r not they change their name. then you have a announced who he no, at the moment,t, keen i intt in making the deal working. nermeen: yasser munif, can you

comment on what the u.n. for envoy to syria, in particular al nusra and they're working withh opposition forceces in syria? >> the level in the scale of the violence against the syrian population in syria is basically -- it is because of the money mental resilience and resistance of the syrian population. we would have to realize the syrian revolution has been going four or five years and it has many, many enemies, including the u.s. and russia and iran and hezbollah in turkey and saudi arabia and so on and so forth. and all of these different forces, for different reasons, are trying to crush the syrian revolution. the syrian regime since the beginning has been trying to crush the secular and the progressive dimension of the revolution. and pushed the jihadists and empower them and d they have

become what they are today. the russian also are trying to basically break that kind of deference between the moderate the secular to expand the jihadist groups. and by using that type of violence and massacring the popopulation, slaughtering peope in aleppo, is pushing the modern groups and al qaeda to basically form an alliance and as such, pushing the west to basically choose the lesser evil, and that lesser evil being the syrian regime as opposed to a qaeda and isis. and even the u.n. plays a very sure mental role in the syrian conflict. the report that shows how the u.n. has been helping and dropping aid to the besieged city under the control of the syrian regime him a but never dropping aid to any of the areas controlled by the opposition or

some of the funding that the syrian military that was sent by the u.n. and so on. so the role of the u.n. is instrumental. basically am a clearly, for the syrian regime. amy: i want to ask about a comment that stern president bashar al-assad that in an interview last week on ap. the syrian president denying government forces for besieging the rebel held areas of aleppo. people would have been dedead by now. this is the second most important. they have been shelling the .eighboring areas for years nonstop shelling of mortars and bombs. how could they be solving while at the same time they can have arms? how can we prevent the food and medical aid from reaching the area and not stop the armamament for reacngng t that area?

you hahave hospitals and you hae doctors and you have everything, how could you have them?m? how could you have a armament? hohow couould you get armament r people if you clclaim you have peopople -- - why you don't have food? they have to explain. i don't have to explain. the is telling. amy: that is for sure al-assad. yasser munif, can you respond? >> the syrian regime early understood the importance of the ,edia and creating discourse the military aspect of the conflict. it was able to create a parallel reality, unfortunately, and create media paralysis and prpropaganda that is relayed bya number of different networks, including russian tv, but also a number of different websites and news outlets here in the u.s., for example, counterpunch and

others, who are basically repeating such silly things. anyone can verify the there is a siege around aleppo. it is not difficult to do. if journalist want to really to to people on the ground -- talk to people on the ground and get their views, it would be very easy. the syrian regime basically understands and is using the media and that type of discourse as a weapon against the revolution. basically, trying to confuse the different audiences and telling them that there are different truths, biases, basically creatingng confusion and challenging what is happening on the ground. nermeen: today the intercept obtained yesterday obtained internal u.n. e-mails that revealed also that u.s. and european sanctions are having an extremely the terminal effect on ordinary syrians and makingg access to aid supplies more

difficult. yasser munif, could you respond to that? >> sure. this is also another aspect. the syrian regime is using all weapons that are available free to use, including besieging entire areas, starting populations, using bunker busters bombs with the aid of therussian, torturing population, preventing water from reaching certain areas and so on and so forth. know fromons as we previous experience with iraq and so on, for the most part, the civilian population. that is another example of how the syrian population is basically surrounded and besieged in so many different ways. i also wanted to m mention, as your previous guest mentioned

earlier, that today we are celebrating the first anniversary y of the russian intervention. we are organizing a number of revolts in more than 30 different cicities around the world on october 1 to basically raise a awareness and tell peope what is happening. there will be a revote -- there will be a rally, siddons, to break the regime. it is part of what is happening. the other part is the resilienee of the syrian population and the ongoing revolution with its creative dimension and what people are doing within different -- in many different ways. amy: yasser munif, thank you for being with us syrian scholar at , emerson college in boston and

from nassar speaking to us ghouta. we will continue this conversation and post it at democracynow.org. [captioning made possible by democracy now!]

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