close guantanamo bay. that is why it is still open today. host: that was john mccain after the president's speech yesterday. we are taking your calls and thoughts on the president's plan on guantanamo bay yesterday. the president talked about a wide range of policies at that speech yesterday. "the wall street journal" headline notes -- also talking about the drone issue and his thoughts on the justice department going after reporters and doing their jobs. we will talk about some of those issues in our next segment of "the washington journal." we are focusing on just his plan for guantanamo bay right now. let's go back to our republic in line, from california, good morning. caller: good morning and thank you for cspan. i am getting sick and tired of the bleeding heart liberals whether it be the successful republicans in this country making too much money and paying their fair share of taxes that is not good enough for the prisoners at guantanamo not getting enough cheese on their pizza. this is not a nazi p

one hundred days of hunger at guantanamo bay a mass protest by inmates at the u.s. detention center shows no signs of abating with authorities resorting to force feeding and isolation to stamp out the revolt we report extensively on the hunger strike and where it's heading. the day the music died u.k. citizens could feel the full brunt of the british record industry has it looks to clamp down on file sharing websites. and the french president calls for greater political integration in the e.u. despite his country floundering in the blocks financial slump and falling into a second recession in five minutes. online on screen international news and comments live from our studio center here in moscow. today marks a milestone in the history of the world's most maligned prison one hundred days of a mass hunger strike at guantanamo bay. out of one hundred sixty six inmates one hundred thirty are on strike according to prisoners while the military only admits to one hundred two of these to third of them are being force fed the procedure recognized by various medical organiz

some people have said we ought to close guantanamo. my view is we ought to double guantanamo. we ought to make sure the terrorists -- >> double guantanamo. yes. mitt romney lost that republican primary. he lost to this guy. >> for closing guantanamo bay because it's become a symbol. it may be one of the nicest places in the world to live in, but it has become a symbol and we need to close guantanamo. >> john mccain won the republican primary that year. and at the time, he was really vocal about his desire to close the prison at guantanamo. that position was also held by the man who was president at the time. >> i'd like to end guantanamo. i'd like it to be over with. one of the things we will do is we will send people back to their home countries. >> so that was the position on the republican side in the lead-up to the '08 presidential election. here's how democrats were dealing with the same issue at the same time. >> we should shut down -- i would the first day as president, i would shut down guantanamo. >> i voted to not build the new $36 million part. i called for closing

my view is we ought to double guantanamo. >> double guantanamo. mitt room know lost that republican primary. he lost to this guy. >> closing guantanamo bay because it's a symbol. it may be one of the nicest places in the world to love in and it's become a similar moll and we need to close guantanamo. >> john mccain won the primary at that time that year and he was vocal to close the prison at gun toantanamo and that positios held by the man who was president at that time. >> i would like to end guantanamo. i would like it to be over with. one of the things we will do is send people back to their home countries. >> so that was the position on the republican side in the lead up to the '08 presidential election. here is how democrats dealed with the same issue at the same time. >> we should shut down -- i would as first day as president i would shut down guantanamo and not build the $36 million part. i called for closing it three years ago. >> i will close guantanamo which i think is a national embarrassment. >> we'll lead by shutting down guantanamo

one hundred days of hunger at guantanamo bay dozens of inmates are now in hospital all being force fed with no end in sight to a protest dubbed as the last resort to report extensively this hour on the hunger strike and where it's heading. well is full of detainees next prosecutors hope one time i explain here at all to you the stakes at play what it is that's pushing the prisoners to such desperate measures. woods but no action from washington. once more to try and close down the infamous facility hopes remain. online on screen international news and comment line from a studio center here in moscow. well today marks a dark milestone in the history of the world's most maligned prison one hundred days of a mass hunger strike at guantanamo bay. out of one hundred sixty six inmates one hundred thirty are on strike according to prisoners while the military only admits to one hundred and two at least a third of them being force fed a procedure recognized by various medical organizations as painful enough to constitute torture and by all accounts there is no end in sight to the protests pris

you know, closing guantanamo, absolutely. i mean, this is what we believe is so important, but the real question is what's next? because the president has articulated, i think, a lot of great points, and i agree with you. his treatment of madea benjamin i think is a credit to him and i think her passion is a credit to her. but i like the fact he didn't just try to disser her. i was proud to see he didn't do that. at the end of the day it's about execution because the president has articulated some good views. there are people who are going to try to stop him. there are people who don't want to change the amuf or close guantanamo. now the question becomes, how do we work with the president to make sure that some of these good ideas get carried out and it won't be easy and we're going to need all of that passion across america. >> do you think the politics on this issue have changed? i mean, i was struck today by the president saying, you know, this is not -- this war needs to end, and his very specific point about getting out

very detailed let's talk about what he did say about guantanamo because at the moment where he did get a. political reason to keep. open and. receive a spontaneous round of applause absolutely there seems to be a great grands well of public opinion there and i think there's a realisation in general i think this is this is probably something. i think of the entire speech which went for over an hour was that obama is is in my opinion obama is trying to pull back on some of the some of the elements of the so-called war on terror and the challenge the very premise of the war on terrorism as well and so that this war cannot continue in perpetuity. but he i think in my opinion obama was definitely trying to pull back on some of the key ideas that had come through in the bush administration and that we associate with america's war on terror eat the human rights black spot that has gone tandem obey and the policy of drone strikes and particularly some of the accountability and legal issues you talk about those during strikes but interesting enough he didn't actually say he's going to close dow

you know, closing guantanamo, absolutely. i mean, this is what we believe is so important, but the real question is what's next? because the president has articulated, i think, a lot of great points, and i agree with you. his treatment of medea benjamin i think is a credit to him and i think her passion is a credit to her. but i like the fact he didn't just try to diss her. i was proud to see he didn't do that. at the end of the day it's about execution because the president has articulated some good views. there are people who are going to try to stop him. there are people who don't want to change the amuf or close guantanamo. now the question becomes, how do we work with the president to make sure that some of these good ideas get carried out and it won't be easy and we're going to need all of that passion across america. >> do you think the politics on this issue have changed? i mean, i was struck today by the president saying, you know, this is not -- this war needs to end, and his very specific point about getting out of

soil for the prisoners at guantanamo? >> we've always said the ministration should charge those people in federal court. that is the inappropriate route. -- that is the appropriate route. the idea of bringing military commissions here when we have federal courts that can do it is not the past forward. moving people to supermax facilities and shifting the location of guantanamo from one place to another is also not the right way to close the prison. more than half the population has been cleared for transfer. they can go home. they can go to third countries if they need resettlement. the remaining man whom the administration has said it will not charge and does not plan to charge but are too dangerous to release, that is a made a standard by the administration. the loss of war do not support that kind of a standard and as man should be released as well. president obama at a few weeks ago said detaining people indefinitely without charge is not sustainable. if there is a very small number of people the administration never

of guantanamo at a minimum. what the president will probably try to do is at least get back to the area where, where we are able to move those out where there's a place to go. and that probably will take care of the immediate challenge of the hunger strike. of course, these are among the people on the hunger strike are people who were told several years ago that they had been clearedly every intelligence agency and military agency in the states to go back. but then congress put these restrictions on and said to the administration -- you, the president of the united states and the defense secretary have to assert that these prisoners will never go back to jihad. if they're sent back to yemen. and actually now beyond yemen, other countries as well. >> that's correct. the vast majority of detainees down there are yemenis. about 56 of those cleared in one fashion or another to go are yemenis. and the question that we'll be looking for in the president's speech is does he in fact lift the moratorium he imposed on tra

one hundred days of hunger at guantanamo bay mass protest by inmates at the u.s. detention center shows no signs of abating the forces resorting to force feeding and isolation to stamp out the revolt we poured extensively on the hunger strike and where it's heading. also this hour the day the music died u.k. citizens could feel the full brunt of the british record industry as it looks to clamp down on file sharing websites we get expert opinion from london. the french president calls for greater political integration in the e.u. despite his country floundering in the blocks financial slump and falling into a second recession in five years our top stories this hour. on line on screen international news and comments live from our studio center here in moscow today marks a dark milestone in the history of the world's most maligned prism one hundred days of a mass hunger strike at guantanamo bay. out of the one hundred sixty six inmates one hundred thirty are on strike according to prisoners while the military only admits to one hundred two at least a third of them ar

i stayed five years in guantanamo altogether and. they always force me to sign papers that i should agree that i'm a member if i tie them taliban and every time when i refused to sign those kind of people they tortured me in different kinds. of ways like waterboarding. electroshocks i'm also a couple times hunger strike in doing my time and going almost all i can on the stand those detainees over the. more than eleven years over there they still didn't have to try and if you are in the system it's very difficult to get all to even even if they go home and knows that you are innocent. ninety five percent of those prisoners already know what has a trial and they still are not getting a trial for the future that's mean they can stay all their life over there even if they are innocent i myself i think it's going to be the last time is right for the most the time he's. i believe they would know will start again to eat. now r.t. has been following the hunger strike from the very beginning well before us all authorities even admitted it was

guantanamo is our very own chateau the gift. i was in london to interview hree guantanamo prisoners. a detailed a regimen that was characterized by inadequate and poor quality food, lack of medical care, violence, and gratuitous and regular sexual humiliation intended to degrade muslims. one detainee was blinded in one eye. if another country were holding a few hundred americans under similar conditions we would be declaring war. americans do not care what goes on at guantanamo bay but it is safe to assume that no one else is paying attention. millions of muslims are paying close attention and this is a culture that is prepared to take revenge for injustices' that occurred when thousand years ago. i am haunted by the words of one of the former prisoners, "you have lost an entire generation of muslims who have written you off. they are forever against you. the hunger strikes will likely prove another way of shooting ourselves in the foot. we concluded that the means to break the strike is a manifestation of violence. we recommend

ignoringquences of guantanamo are enormous. not only for america but chiefly for the prisoners themselves. many of whom have reached point that they would prefer to die rather than persisting more years of indefinite detention, which is in itself that amount to torture. we have called to president obama to release all detainees have no case against them. we urge him to transfer the rest to u.s. courts where they can be charged and tried. doimplore him above all to as he promised, by shedding guantanamo down. it is imperative not only for the captives to be dealt with fairly but also for those who tortured them to be held accountable. the point of having laws against torture if they do not apply to the powerful? the real crimes were not or inted in guantanamo afghanistan. committedrimes were in washington. without genuine accountability the sanctity of human life in america will continue to languish its content. thank you. [applause] >> thank you to our esteemed experts. i also want to thank congressman moran and his office for

i continue to believe that we've got to close guantanamo. now, congress determined that they would not let us close it. and despite the fact that there are a number of the folks who are currently in guantanamo who the courts have said, could be returned to their country of origin or potentially a third country. >> john: congress still objects to closing guantanamo. senate minority leader mitch mcconnell told reporters... >>> actually, they would be held in maximum security federal prisons. as for the hunger strike, mr. obama addressed that, too. >> obama: i don't want these individuals to die. obviously the pentagon is trying to manage the situation as best as they can. but i think all of us should reflect on why exactly are we doing this? why are we doing this? >> john: at this point it might be fair to say we aren't doing this, mr. president. you and congress are in all of our names. for more, i'm joined by carlos warner, an assistant defender who represents 11 detainees at the guantanamo bay prison. counselor warner, welcome back to viewp

onbegin today's show guantanamo. the pentagon has confirmed it has sent at least 40 medical personnel to the prison to help force feed hunger striking prisoners who are protesting their indefinite detention and ill treatment. lawyers say at least 130 of the 166 remaining prisoners at guantanamo are refusing the as part of a hunger strike that began in february. over 20 prisoners are being force fed, a practice considered torture by the united nations human rights commission and condemned by the american medical association. one prisoner described force feeding by saying it felt like a "rasul belaid going down your nose and into your throat." >> i continue to believe we have to close guantanamo. critical for us to understand that guantanamo is not necessary to keep america safe. it is expensive, it is inefficient, it hurts us in terms of our international standing. it lessens cooperation with our allies on counter-terrorism efforts. it is a recruitment tool for extremists. it needs to be closed. now, congress determin

we are now at the one hundred day mark for the guantanamo bay hunger strike critics continue to question the obama administration's lack of action in closing down this detention facility an in-depth look at how the strike is progressing and its possible future today. it's another great thursday for a trip into the digital world in today's tech report we'll talk about apps that can protect your privacy and even help you with boycotting certain products the circuits and bits of the digital age coming your way. the silence is golden but it's another story in federal court gerald koch is an anarchist subpoenaed to testify before a federal grand jury and he's decided not to cooperate now he's facing the threat of jail time we'll have more on the details of this case from new york in just a moment. it's thursday may sixteenth five pm in washington d.c. i'm maggie lopez and you are watching r t well the hunger strike at guantanamo bay's detention facility is now entering its one hundredth day and still no end in sight here of the numbers as they stand now of the one hundred sixty six people in

why is guantanamo still open? >> congress determined that they would not let us close it. >> jon: the legislative stone in america's urethra. yes, those guys, they know what i'm talking about. so, they wouldn't let you. congress would not let you close guantanamo or even allow blanket transfers of prisoners. although i believe they did grant you the authority for case-by-case waivers, no? >> even after congress granted it in 2012, the power to issue case-by-case waivers to those transfer restrictions to send people back to places like yemen, the administration has not exercised that authority once. >> jon: well if there's one thing we as the american people can sympathize with, it's not exercising. well, you know what? they didn't exercise the waiver on a case-by-case basis because there's no prisoners cleared for release. these guys are the worse of the worse. >> about half the detainees' population, 86, have been cleared unanimously by national security agencies for more than three years to be released until sec

for guantanamo you had president putin in russia you know when the u.s. blocked diplomats from coming here he said he was to us to criticize us and they have kuantan him out. and so there's no real upside to keeping it open and we have prisons here that can handle the detainees that need to be confined we have federal courts that have successfully prosecuted hundreds of terrorism cases all the military commissions have floundered for eleven years we've got eighty six people that have been cleared for transfer we need to send them home the one sick. can't leave like the chinese weavers for muta took in some detainees the u.s. has never taken or won and we're supposed to be the home of the braves who had to be at least as brave as bermuda and finally i want to ask you about your petition very quickly you said that you have one hundred fifty five thousand signatures that were approaching one hundred fifty dollars just a little as one hundred forty seven thousand and change but we're approaching one hundred fifty thousand after less than a week that's quite i

there is a crisis at guantanamo right now. the administration spent from 2009 to 2010 reviewing those cases and making decisions and that resulted in -- >> it's almost the decision they couldn't carry them out. >> the read on this that i think people that want to see guantanamo closed and are sympathetic to the president, their read is if the president could wave a magic wand, he would do that but he's hemmed in by congress and crucially the politics. is that your read on it, that they are worried they'd send someone back to yemen and he get captured on the battlefield, and lindsay graham takes to the microphone and it becomes a huge opportunity for everyone to demagogue and the politics of this become terrible? >> first of all, lindsay graham's title should be demagogue, not senator. that's all he does these days. whether benghazi or any other issue, it is awful and has no place in this debate. so a couple things. yes, the administration did transfer a number of individual to european countries. in candor, that was some of th

the guantanamo bay hunger strike enters its one hundredth day the number of inmates refusing food is increasing and the use of force feeding has been condemned as extensive coverage of the situation on the. a million dollars a year. russia's security service releases phone conversations detailing what the alleged cia agent arrested in moscow was offering his potential recruit. from centers recession for the first time since two thousand and eight and the latest blow to president tough first year in office and a threat to the whole eurozone. good morning from moscow. in the russian capital where it's now i just after eight am let's get a straight to one of our top stories here for you today the official number of inmates now refusing food at guantanamo bay is continuing to go up it's been exactly now one hundred days since the detainees at the guantanamo bay camp started their hunger strike now the official number we're looking at here the official number of inmates refusing food increasing on an almost daily basis it's now reached one hundred around thirty hunger strikers are being s

military authority overseeing guantanamo bay he denies there's any abuse at the facility. when a detainee leave the camp they get a what we call a full frisk which is a pat down search not unlike you'd experience going through airport security if you are selected for secondary screening in the united states it's quick it's with full clothing on and it's noninvasive so the lawyers it's not the detainees job to tell the truth the lawyers just repeat what the detainees say that all of those allegations are false what about the allegations of the many years i want to let me ask you about the allegations about the unsafe and inhumane force feeding all those prisoners who are on hunger strike do you deny that well there is the policy of the united states and its drudgery of life for lawful means we currently have a hundred hunger strikers today we have currently thirty who are. doing and terribly sad deaths using a liquid nutrition supplement. most of them when they're ordered to do that go compliantly and take it a percentage about a third need to be taken to their their cheati

for guantanamo you had president putin in russia you know when the u.s. blocked diplomats from coming here he said who's the u.s. to criticize us when they have kuantan him out. and he said there's no real upside to keeping it open and we have prisons here that can handle the detainees that need to be confined we have federal courts that have successfully prosecuted hundreds of terrorism cases all the military commissions have floundered for eleven years we've got eighty six people that have been cleared for transfer we need to send them home the ones that can't leave like the chinese weekers for muta took in some detainees the u.s. has never taken or won and we're supposed to be the home of the brave who had to be at least as brave as bermuda and finally i want to ask you about your petition very quickly you said that you have one hundred fifty five thousand signatures is that we're approaching one hundred fifty i looked just told that it was one hundred forty seven thousand and change but we're approaching one hundred fifty thousand after less than a we

>> there are currently 166 detainees remaining at guantanamo. that's down from 240 when he took office, and about 800 total whom the bush administration brought there. president obama has not brought anyone to guantanamo. >> ifill: and when you mention at the expense and the president mentioned the expense, what are we talk approximating about? >> it's more expensive to build anything there. it's more-- because it is so far away, you have to barge things in around cuba. it's more expensive to operate anything there. and currently the facilities there are sort of falling apart. the south comm which overseas gain tan to-- guantanamo has a pending request for $200 million in new construction to replace deteriorate facilities which it says needs to be done right now. this would effectively build permanent structures to replace what had been temporary guard baracks and camps and so forth set up over ten years ago. >> ifill: the president also made another claim today, assertion. he said that the presence of guantanamo makes if a recruitment tool for

the guantanamo however soaring keeping the prisoners hells isolated and under total control doesn't come cheap u.s. taxpayers are shelling out nine hundred thousand dollars a year for every inmate in guantanamo and there are one hundred sixty six of them what's worse that course is likely to grow to give a new bills presented by force feeding doctors and medication wendy worthington he's an investigative journalist he's been writing extensively on the guantanamo bay prison and he joins me live now so you've been gathering information all of these inmates what can you tell us about the conditions for them. well the conditions for them are terrible in the sense that they have literally been abandoned by all three branches of the united states government so since president obama failed to keep his promise to close the prison within a year that was in january two thousand and ten they have been unable to to see any future for them so apart from staying in guantanamo forever and of course you know what underpins the horror of this is that half of these men over half of these men were cleared

the guantanamo bay hunger strike now enters its one hundredth day and the number of inmates refusing food is continuing to increase and the use of force feeding in the meantime condemned has extensive coverage of the situation. a million dollars a year plus bonuses security service releases phone conversations detailing what the alleged cia agent arrested him offering his potential recruit. recession for a second time since two thousand and eight some economists. ticking time bomb is the latest blow to president after a tough first year in office. good morning to you from moscow where it's not what just after. the worldwide news thank you for joining us today. it has been exactly one hundred days since detainees at guantanamo bay prison camp started their hunger strike. now the official number of inmates refusing food has been increasing on an almost daily basis and has reached at least one hundred around thirty hunger strikers are being subjected to force feeding a controversial tactic condemned by the un and the international medical community as in humane and all those numbers are

fullmoon hundred days nearly one hundred guantanamo detainees are screaming for justice. where is the end for good low. they're ready to come here to work and not get paid for it. people from all over the world are eager to help the. what does it take to become a volunteer at russia's premier museum while the son of the louvers director come here. from one of the camps to. behind the scenes of the. this is our sea welcome back problems has entered a recession for the second time in five years the numbers come as president francois hollande monks' one gain office which some have labeled at his own stuff and as his test software reports there were down so with a whole year's o's ability to monitor its crisis economy i was looking at a cafe culture here in paris still continuing looking calmer wherever this is a far cry a contrast to the other images that we've seen across the country such as protests against president fox will launch the first anniversary as president has there seeing him as not having done enough for the economy or those administering a steady protest now

he also went into significant amount of detail about guantanamo bay. i felt at the end of his speech that he got very, very close to saying that there's no presumption of indefinite detention and that -- almost to say that the war on terrorism as we've known it since 9/11 is over. buhe never actually did that. he talked about revising, refining and possibly repealing the authorization for the use of military force, which would sort of be a formal congressionally agreed end to armed hostilities but he could have done more, i think, to say, look, the world has changed since 9/11 and as we draw down in iraq and afghanistan it's time to think about what comes after the global war on terror. i think that the speech was well delivered but we didn't quite get the sort of policy outcomes th people were expecting. >> rose: i'll address those issues later. karen greenberg -- >> i think this speech was very -- to put it bluntly obamaesque. he promised a lot in his words and said very little toward a concrete future. but there were a couple of things that are take

the guantanamo bay hunger strike and his its one hundredth day the number of inmates refusing food is increasing and the use of force feeding has been condemned he has extensive coverage of the ongoing situation in the camp. a million dollars a year plus bonuses russia security service releases purported phone conversations detailing what the alleged cia agent arrested in moscow was offering his potential recruit. and from recession for a second time since two thousand and eight with some economists stopping it as the eurozone ticking time bomb issue is the latest blow to president hollande after a tough first year in office. it is just after one pm here in the russian capital this is on t.v. with your worldwide news and me will receive. it has been exactly one hundred days since detainees at guantanamo bay prison camp started their hunger strike. now the official number of inmates refusing food has been increasing on an almost daily basis and has reached at least one hundred now around thirty hunger strikers are being subjected to force feeding a controversial tactic condemned by the

>> there are currently 166 detainees remaining at guantanamo. that's down from 240 when he took office, and about 800 total whom the bush administration brought there. president obama has not brought anyone to guantanamo. >> ifill: and when you mention at the expense and the president mentioned the expense, what are we talk approximating about? >> it's more expensive to build anything there. it's more-- because it is so far away, you have to barge things in around cuba. it's more expensive to operate anything there. and currently the facilities there are sort of falling apart. the south comm which overseas gain tan to-- guantanamoas a pending request for $200 million in new construction to replace deteriorate facilities which it says needs to be done right now. this would effectively build permanent structures to replace what had been temporary guard baracks and camps and so forth set up over ten years ago. >> ifill: the president also made another claim today, assertion. he said that the presence of guantanamo makes if a recruitment tool for ex

he also went into significant amount of detail about guantanamo bay. i felt at the end of his speech that he got very, very close to saying that there's no presumption of indefinite detention and that -- almost to say that the war on terrorism as we've known it since 9/11 is over. but he never actually did that. he talked about revising, refining and possibly repealing the authorization for the use of military force, which would sort of be a formal congressionally agreed end to armed hostilities but he could have done more, i think, to say, look, the world has changed since 9/11 and as we draw down in iraq and afghanistan it's time to think about what comes after the global war on terror. i think that the speech was well delivered but we didn't quite get the sort of policy outcomes that people were expecting. >> rose: i'll address those issues later. karen greenberg -- >> i think this speech was very -- to put it bluntly obamaesque. he promised a lot in his words and said very little toward a concrete future. but there were a couple of things that are

he also went into significant amount of detail about guantanamo bay. i felt at the end of his speech that he got very, very close to saying that there's no presumption of indefinite detention and that -- almost to say that the war on terrorism as we've known it since 9/11 is over. but he never actually did that. he talked about revising, refining and possibly repealing the authorization for the use of military force, which would sort of be a formal congressionally agreed end to armed hostilities but he could have done more, i think, to say, look, the world has changed since 9/11 and as we draw down in iraq and afghanistan it's time to think about what comes after the global war on terror. i think that the speechas well delivered but we didn't quite get the sort of policy outcomes that people were expecting. >> rose: i'll address those issues later. karen greenberg -- >> i think this speech was very -- to put it bluntly obamaesque. he promised a lot in his words and said very little toward a concrete future. but there were a couple of things that are ta

>> there are cuently 16 detainees remaining at guantanamo. that's down from 240 when he took office, and about 800 total whom the bush administration brought there. president obama has not brought anyone to guantanamo. >> ifill: and when you mention at the expense and the president mentioned the expense, what are we talk approximating about? >> it's more expensive to build anything there. it's more-- because it is so far away, you have to barge things in around cuba. it's more expensive to operate anything there. and currently the facilities there are sort of falling apart. the south comm which overseas gain tan o-- guannamo has a pending request for $200 million in new construction to replace deteriorate facilities which it says needs to be done right now. this would effectively build permanent structures to replace what had been temporary guard baracks and camps and so forth set up over ten years ago. >> ifill: the president also made another claim today, assertion. he said that the presence of guantanamo makes if a recruitment tool for ext

>>> brian williams is next.w3 >>> on the broadcast tonight, the hunger strike at guantanamo that's now gotten so bad, prisoners are being force fed as the president faces tough questions. >>> under investigation. did u.s. intelligence miss a chance to stop the boston bombings? tonight that's what the nation's spy chief wants to know. >>> is there too much caffeine in the food we eat? we know it's in coffee, but how about potato chips and jelly beans? that's why the fda is sounding the alarm. >>> and pray or play? a tense face-off tonight in the south. if a billion-dollar nfl stadium goes up, it means some historic churches have to come down. "nightly news" begins now. >> announcer: from nbc news world headquarters in new york, this is "nbc nightly news with brian williams." >> good evening. we don't get to see them or know their names, and most americans actually prefer not to spend a whole lot of time thinking about the men who have been rounded up as enemy combatants and imprisoned at guantanamo bay in cuba. we think of them when they become an issue like when candidate obama vowed t

whether it is about guantanamo or it's about the drones. and we also have discussions with their chiefs of staff and sit down and have long talks with them. so we certainly do that. but it is much easier to talk to our elected officials in congress than it is to reach the president. we sent in 300,000 signatures to the president just last week around the guantanamo issue and you never hear a response even to that kind of overwhelming number of signatures. and on the drones issues, we have been out there in front of the white house on a regular basis doing protests. so it is very hard to reach the president but i think you're right. it is important for people to know that we are constantly trying to put pressure on the republicans in congress who are obstructionists on this issue as well as the democrats because let's remember, when the vote came for confirming john brennan as head of the c.i.a. who is the mastermind of the drone program it was the republicans who voted against john brennan and the democrats, even all of the progressive demo

i'm a representative of one of the detainees in guantanamo. this is a question for mr. -- i know there are 86 detainees designated for possible transfer. some of whom have been designated that way multiple times, and a number of the panelist have mentioned in the past we have negotiated with countries, like our allies, saudi arabia, afghanistan, and so on to try to transfer the detainees. i was -- my question is, what is garnishes -- guess why is the administration not negotiating will some of our allies such as tee niesha and great britain who are trying to work with the united states to have the detainees transferred. the law cite as a sticking point and finger pointing on both side but there are exceptions that have been nut place that allow the administration to waive certain blocking points and sort of provide the detainees for transfer. so i was wondering what the administration can do and why they're noting too it. >> thanks. first, i want to identify a very unhelpful trend of directing questions at me, which i -- with respect to the tr