Democracy Now! Audio - Democracy Now! 2026-03-05 Thursday

Episode Date: March 5, 2026

Democracy Now! Thursday, March 5, 2026

From New York, this is Democracy Now. We've taken control of Iran's airspace and waterways without boots on the ground. We control their fate. But when a few drones get through or tragic things happen, it's front page news. I get it. The press only wants to make the president look bad, but try for once to report the reality. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegsa, who President Trump calls Secretary of War, war, criticizes journalists for covering U.S. casualties. And Senate Republicans block a war

powers resolution that asserts Congress's role in declaring war. We'll speak with two former U.S. government officials, an 18-year career diplomat who resigned from the State Department and a former Pentagon advisor. Then as Russian-Ukraine peace talks are halted. in Geneva because of the Iran war, we'll speak to filmmaker Craig Renault, brother of Brent, the first Western journalist killed by Russian forces in Ukraine four years ago. We've just got some breaking news. Brent Renaud, an American photojournalist has been killed. Brent lost his life documenting the horrors of the battlefield in Ukraine. But first, a conversation with the acclaimed documentary,

filmmaker Gita Gondabir. She's made history for being nominated for both best documentary short and best documentary feature for an Oscar. 9-1-1s to address for the emergency. Are you having puppies with the neighbor's children? I'm at the sheriff's office. Were any of you guys over here messing with this lady? No, no.

We won't play. The sheriff's office. helpful because the kids come across the street. They shouldn't be screaming and running around. Okay. All the kids like to play, they can't walk or even throw their football over here. 9-1-1 was the address of the emergency.

All that and more coming up. Welcome to Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org, the Warren Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman. The United States Senate rejected a resolution Wednesday that would have directed the removal of U.S. Armed Forces. from hostilities with Iran, as Iran's government said the death toll from joint U.S. Israeli attacks past 1,200. 52 Republicans were joined by Pennsylvania Democratic Senator John Federman on a procedural

vote opposing the war powers resolution. This is Mississippi Republican Senator Roger Wicker. I'll vote no on the pending resolution. President Trump decided to attack Iran. That decision was profound, deliberate, and correct. 44 Democrats and two independents voted to advance the war powers resolution, joined by Kentucky Republican Senator Rand Paul. That fell short of the 51 votes needed to pass. Georgia Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock spoke ahead of Wednesday's vote. The Declaration of War is not a power that the President of the United States has.

The Constitution makes it clear the Declaration of War is the authority. and the responsibility of Congress. Meanwhile, Politico reports some Democrats are not ruling out voting in favor of a multi-billion dollar infusion of new funding to the Pentagon. The White House is reportedly considering asking Congress for $50 billion in new funding, on top of $990 billion in military funding already approved by Congress in recent months. Sri Lanka's Navy says it's rescued 32 Iranian sailors and brought them to a hospital for treatment after an Iranian warship was torpedoed by a U.S. submarine in the Indian Ocean. Sri Lanka officials said they'd recovered 87 bodies from the ship's wreckage after it was struck without warning in international waters near Sri Lanka's coast.

Defense Secretary Pete Higgs had celebrated the attack on Wednesday. An American submarine sunk an Iranian warship that thought it was safe in international waters. Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo. Secretary Hegeseth added, the U.S. and Israel are in the process of crushing Iran's government, quote, without mercy. Iran's foreign ministry says U.S. and Israeli attacks have struck 33 civilian sites across Iran, including hospitals, schools, residential areas, and historic sites. Earlier today, air strikes destroyed Tehran's Zaddi Stadium, which has hosted international soccer matches. Meanwhile, two Iranian Red Crescent Society paramedics told Middle East Eye last weekend's bombing of an elementary school in southern Iran was a so-called double-tap air strike.

with the second strike coming after the school's principal called parents and told them to come and pick up their children. The strikes killed about 175 people, most of them young girls. Meanwhile, Iranian missiles reportedly targeted a base housing in Iranian Kurdish force in neighboring Iraq Thursday. The base is one of several where Iranian Kurdish separatists say they're preparing to launch an insurgency with U.S. backing against Iran's government. Iran is continuing to strike at U.S. military bases across the Middle East and the countries that host them. Iraqi forces say they shot down a drone targeting a U.S. base near Baghdad International Airport. Saudi Arabia's military says it intercepted and destroyed 10 drones and two cruise missiles. In Kuwait, an 11-year-old girl was killed when the remnants of a rocket

hit her home. In the United Arab Emirates, six people were injured by falling. debris from drones that were intercepted in the skies over Abu Dhabi. In Kuwait, an oil tanker anchored in the port of Mubarak al-Kabir, reported a large explosion Wednesday, one of five ships in the region that reported attacks over the last 24 hours. Meanwhile, Azerbaijan says Iranian drones struck its territory Thursday, hitting an airport terminal and falling near a school building. Two civilians were wounded. Azerbaijan summit Iran's ambassador demanding a clear explanation and threatening a response. Iran's foreign ministry later denied targeting Azerbaijan. Meanwhile, Iran's armed forces have denied firing any missile towards Turkish territory after Turkey's military said a ballistic missile fired towards Turkish airspace was shot down by NATO and missile defense systems. Israel's military has ordered tens of thousands.

of additional residents of southern Lebanon to evacuate dozens of villages or face death. An Israeli military spokesperson posted a message in Arabic on X reading, quote, residents of southern Lebanon, you must move immediately to areas north of the Latani River. Unquote. Some 200,000 people live in the region on Thursday. There were massive traffic jams as panicked residents piled personal belongings into cars and headed north. Meanwhile, Lebanon's health ministry says Israeli attacks have killed eight more people across Lebanon with several air strikes overnight in southern Beirut. Beirut neighborhoods where Israel had issued forced evacuation orders. On Capitol Hill, Marine Corps veterans suffered a broken arm as he was dragged out of a hearing by Capitol Police Wednesday after he disrupted a Senate hearing to protest the U.S.

U.S. Israeli war on Iran. The veteran, Brian McGinnis, resisted as he was aggressively pulled by Capitol Police officers. Republican Senator Tim Shihi of Montana joined the altercation. McGinnis' arm was broken after his hand became stuck in a doorframe. Elsewhere in Washington, D.C., demonstrators with the anti-war group Code Pink Thursday disrupted a Heritage Foundation conference protesting the think tanks' role in crafting policies that boost military funding and support U.S. interventions overseas. When they see a – When they see a flawless – you stand up there talking about patrons.

You don't care about Americans. You don't care about your constituents. You care about that 500 for A-Pet. Don't I. Your constituents want health care and housing. They don't want to send their children to pill other children. They don't want their – the greatest country in the history of the world.

In climate news, new research suggests human activities causing ocean levels to rise far faster than government planners previously thought with tens of millions more people at risk of losing their homes to rising seas. Researchers reviewed hundreds of scientific assessments, finding most of them underestimated baseline coastal water heights by 12 inches or 30 centimeters. A Texas Democratic Congress member warns there are at least 14 hours. active measles cases at Camp East Montana, a hastily constructed tent camp in El Paso where more than 3,000 immigrants are imprisoned. Another 112 people are being isolated. The ICE jail has recently had outbreaks of COVID-19 and tuberculosis and is rife with reports of inadequate medical

care. Democratic U.S. Congress member Veronica Escobar warns the outbreaks threaten the greater El Paso community, yet she has never seen guards wearing masks to prevent. the spread of highly infectious diseases. This comes as the Washington Post reports, ICE is drafting a letter to terminate the facility's $1.2 billion contract. ICE dramatically cut its basic training program amidst a hiring spree meant to speed up the Trump administration's deportation efforts. That's according to records obtained by the Washington Post, which corroborate the claims of an ice whistleblower who warned that ICE last year removed about 240 hours from its basic training program or more than 40% of instructional time. On Wednesday, Homeland Security Secretary, Christy Noem returned to Capitol Hill where she was

grilled by Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee about the killing of Renee Good and Alex Preti by federal agents. Once again, Noem refused to apologize for calling Good and Preti domestic terrorists almost immediately after they were shot. dead. Meanwhile, Minnesota Governor Tim Walls appeared before the House Oversight Committee Wednesday, where he fended off charges from Republicans that he failed to prevent a social welfare fraud scandal, which the Trump administration used as a pretext to freeze Medicaid reimbursements to Minnesota. Wall said Minnesotans had been singled out and targeted for political retribution at an unparalleled scale. Under the guise of combating fraud, the federal government has flooded Minnesota with

masked, untrained, and unaccountable agents who are wreaking havoc in our communities. On the streets of Minnesota, federal agents have entered U.S. citizens' homes who have committed no crimes. They have violated the constitutional rights of our citizens. They have ignored court orders. They have shot first and asked questions later. Time and again, they have gaslit us by demanding that we ignore what we see before our very eyes. But the American people are not so easily fooled. A massive blackout in Cuba has left most of the island. including Havana without power. Cuban officials said the island's largest plant unexpectedly went offline. A U.S. oil blockade has cut off the Cuban government from accessing desperately needed fuel as the Trump administration intensifies pressure on Cuba.

President Trump recently raised the possibility of a, quote, friendly takeover of Cuba, unquote. Meanwhile, Ecuador's expelled Cuba's ambassador and diplomatic staff declaring them to be persona non-grada. On Wednesday, Ecuador and opposition lawmaker, Hector Rodriguez, criticized the move. These kinds of measures undermine Latin America integration and undermine the possibility of having a union of neighboring countries that are brothers. We share a history and not only language and a cultural identity, but a way of seeing the world.

Cuba and Ecuador have had relations for over 150 years. Ecuador's decision to expel the Cuban diplomat came as the U.S. announced it had deployed special forces to Ecuador to conduct joint military operations with Ecuador and commandos. Venezuela's interim president, Delci Rodriguez announced Venezuela will reform its mining laws in a move that will give the U.S. greater access to Venezuela's natural resources. Rodriguez made the announcement next to U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Bergam, who was in Caracas, along with executives from more than two dozen U.S. mining companies. Axios reports Trump officials have already brokered a massive U.S. Venezuela gold deal. This all comes two months after the U.S. attacked Venezuela and abducted the Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Silja Flores, who are currently in jail here in New York. The Republican-led House Oversight Committee has voted to subpoena U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to testify about her handling of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein's case. Meanwhile, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnik has voluntarily agreed to testify.

Last month, he admitted he and his family had traveled to Epstein's private island in 2012, contradicting earlier claims that he had cut off ties to Epstein in 2005. The House Oversight Committee has also asked Bill Gates, billionaire Leon Black, and Goldman Sachs' departing general counsel, Catherine Rumler, to testify about Epstein. And a multi-year investigation into the Catholic Diocese of Providence, Rhode Island, has found Catholic priests sexually abused hundreds of children for decades and were protected by bishops who put the reputation in the church above the well-being of survivors. The report by Rhode Island's Attorney General found 75 Catholic priests molested more than 300 victims since 1950, though the true number of victims and abusive priests is likely much higher. Only a quarter of those named in the report are just 20 people faced criminal charges. Of those, just 14 were convicted.

And those are some of the headlines. This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org, the War and Peace Report. coming up, we speak to two former U.S. government officials who've spoken out against the U.S. Israeli war on Iran. Stay with us. Healing Wave by Kayla Painter. This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org, the war in peace report. I'm Amy Goodman. U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran have entered a six day as the war spreads beyond the Middle East.

In Iran, the U.S.-Israeli attacks have reportedly killed more than one. 1,230 people. According to the Iranian Red Crescent Society, the U.S. and Israel have struck at least 174 cities in Iran since Saturday. Iranian officials have accused the U.S. and Israel of intentionally striking civilian infrastructure, including schools, hospitals, and sports stadiums. Iran's continuing to retaliate across the Gulf. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claims its inflicted significant damage on 20 U.S. military targets in Kuwait, Bahrain, and the UAE. Iran has been accused of firing drones and missiles at Azerbaijan and Turkey, but Iran denies both claims. On Wednesday, NATO air defenses shot down a ballistic missile headed into Turkish airspace.

Earlier today, Iran's IRGC took credit for attacking a U.S. oil tanker in the Persian Gulf. This comes a day after a U.S. submarine torpedoed an Iranian naval vessel off the coast of Sri Lanka, killing at least 87 people. The ship had been returning from India where it took part in a major international naval exercise called Milan 2026. The U.S. had been invited to take part in the same exercise, but pulled out. Iranian foreign minister of Basarachi accused the U.S. Navy of committing an atrocity at sea. He said on social media, quote, mark my words, the U.S. will come to bitterly regret the precedent it has set, unquote. Meanwhile, the death toll from Israel's attacks on Lebanon has reached 77. More than 300,000 people have evacuated southern Lebanon. Earlier today, the Pentagon revealed the final two names of the six U.S. soldiers killed in an Iranian attack in Kuwait. On Wednesday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth criticized how the news media. is reported on U.S. troop deaths. We've taken control of Iran's airspace and waterways without boots on the ground.

We control their fate. But when a few drones get through or tragic things happen, it's front page news. I get it. The press only wants to make the president look bad, but try for once to report the reality. CNN's Caitlin Collins later questioned White House press secretary Carolyn Levitt about Hegseth's remarks. The president is going to attend the dignified transfer for these families. Given what Secretary Hegseth said this morning, is it the position of this administration

that the press should not prominently cover the deaths of U.S. service members? No, it's the position of this administration that the press in this room and the press across the country should accurately report on the success of Operation Epic Fury and the damage it is doing to the Rogaranian regime that has threatened the lives of every single American in this room. If ex-up was complaining that it was front-page news about these six service members who were killed. That's not what the secretary said, Caitlin, and that's not what the secretary meant, and you know it. You know you are being disingenuous. There is not, we've never had a Secretary of Defense. Who cares more?

We've got through where tragic things happen. It's front-page news. I get it. The press only wants to make the President look bad. Because you know, we cover the debts of U.S. service members under every president. The press does only want to make the President look bad. That's a fact, especially you. No, listen to me. especially you and especially CNN. And the Secretary of Defense cares deeply about our war fighters and our men and women in uniform. This all comes as the Republican-led Senate rejected a resolution aimed to force President Trump to end the war in Iran, which was launched without congressional approval. Democratic Senator John Federman joined Republicans to oppose the war powers resolution.

Republican Senator Rand Paul was the sole Republican to vote to curtail Trump's war powers. The House is scheduled to vote on a similar resolution today. We're joined now by two former U.S. government officials with long histories working on Mideast policy. Jasmine El Gamal is the founder and CEO of Avera Strategies, foreign policy analyst and former Middle East advisor at the Pentagon during the Obama administration. She's joining us from London. Also with us, Hala Rarrett. She's an 18-year career diplomat who resigned from the State Department over. the Biden administration's Gaza policy. She was the first State Department diplomat to publicly

resign. She had served as Arabic language spokesperson for the State Department. Rarrett is now an IMU policy project, non-resident fellow, joining us from Muscat Oman after evacuating from Dubai. Let's begin with you there, Hala Rarit. Explain what happened, why you have evacuated your family to Oman and respond to what the U.S. has been doing over the last six days. We have entered the six-day mark for the U.S. Israeli attack on Iran and then Iran retaliating throughout the Gulf. Amy, it's such a pleasure to be back with you. I wish it was under better circumstances.

But yes, like the rest of the world, I woke up on Saturday morning to the horrific news that the United States and Israel had attacked Iran and I had the most sinking feeling because this is exactly what American diplomats have been trying to avoid for two decades. And before my resignation, it is exactly what I was warning against and what I was trying to alleviate, it was trying to stop. And it was just a horrific feeling knowing that the day had come and that this would absolutely not end well. When it comes to my family, I live in Dubai, as you mentioned, and I knew that the retaliation, would come quickly. And so as a mother, I went into action mode as to what we needed to do to keep our family safe.

Now, it did not take very long for the strikes to begin. And we could hear them very loudly in Dubai. Unfortunately, my kids were very frightened. We could hear the fighter jets and we could also hear the interceptions. Now, luckily for the civilian population in Dubai, there's a robust missile defense system provided by the United States, unlike, and I have to stress the civilian population in Gaza that did not have the luxury of having a missile defense system or any type of defense system. So we were relatively safe, but for the sake of my children, we slept, we did not sleep.

We had a sleepless night on Saturday because the noises were scaring them. And also we were getting these automatic updates. Whether your phone is on silent, the government was pushing out these very scary sounding, that was really, really frightening to my kids. We were all in one in my bedroom. And after that, we knew my husband and I understood, and I understood deeply as an American diplomat that the situation would only escalate. So we decided on Sunday morning, as soon as we woke up, we hit the road to Oman, and I have been here since. Now we're in a bit of limbo, along with a lot of other American citizens, because the airspace is heavily restricted, and it's very hard to get flights out. So for the time being,

we're here and trying to figure out our next steps. So there were indirect U.S. Iran talks going on in Geneva that were facilitated by Oman's foreign minister, Bader bin Hamad Abu Saidi, key mediator in the U.S.-Iran nuclear talks. This was the foreign minister speaking to CBS Face the Nation this weekend. The single most important achievement, I believe, is the agreement that Iran will never ever have a nuclear material that will create a womb. This is, I think, a big achievement. This is something that is not in the old deal that was negotiated during President Obama's time. This is something completely new.

It really makes enrichment argument less relevant because now we are talking about zero stockpiling. And that is very, very important because if you cannot stockpile material, is a rich, then there is no way you can actually create a bomb, whether you are rich or don't are rich. And I think this is really something that has been missed a lot by the media, and I want to clarify that from the standpoint of a mediator. So that's really interesting, Oman's Foreign Minister Badr Abbas-Saidi, the key mediator in the U.S.-Iran nuclear talks. He flew from Geneva to Washington, D.C. apparently word has it to be able to directly convey to the president through the media,

to make sure that the, he was not only getting, the president was not only getting the Whitkoff, Jared Kushner version of the talks, but also to say you have a better deal than President Obama got back in 2015. I wanted to bring Jasmine Elgamal into this conversation, former Middle East advisor to the Pentagon during Obama's administration, your response to what has taken place? Well, first of all, thank you so much, Amy, for having me on. I'm a big fan of the show, and it's really good to see Hannah as well. I think, you know, there are really two big questions that any U.S. administration should have the answer to before it goes to war.

One is, why are we going to war? Is this necessary? have all other avenues been exhausted? That's one set of questions. And of course, the other one is, what are our objectives, are they achievable? And what is our exit strategy? That's the second bucket of questions.

And neither of those two buckets of questions have been adequately answered by the U.S. administration, by any official, whether it's Pete Hegsteth at the Defense Department, Secretary Rubio, or the president himself. So let's talk about the Trump administration's shifting rationales for why the U.S. attacked Iran amidst ongoing negotiations over Iran's nuclear program. So this is Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaking Monday.

We knew that there was going to be an Israeli action. We knew that that would precipitate an attack against American forces. And we knew that if we didn't preemptively go after them before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties and perhaps even higher those killed. And then we would all be here answering questions about why we knew that and didn't act. On Tuesday, Rubio backtracked and said the decision to strike came from President Trump, not Israel. On Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Catherine Levitt said Trump had a, quote, good feeling Iran would attack.

I think the president prior to that phone call had a good feeling that the Iranian regime was going to strike the United States assets in our personnel in the region. So Jasmine Ogamal, as a former Pentagon official, your characterization of these shifting reasons that the U.S. has attacked Iran. I mean, it obviously shows you that there was no clear plan and no well-thought-out strategy before the U.S. entered into this war. Now, I don't want to remove all agency from President Trump. after all, he is the one who gave the order at the end.

But we do know from extensive reporting from Hanna and I, I am sure she can agree from our time in government, that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been for decades trying to drag the U.S. into war with Iran. Senator Van Hollen yesterday said he just hadn't found a president stupid enough to be dragged into that war. So he was under, we know that President Trump was under heavy pressure from Prime Minister Netanyahu to strike Iran while it was down, while it was weak.

The way that the Israeli Prime Minister, and certainly this is true, describe Iran today is probably at its weakest point from a security and defense perspective, from the perspective of its proxies, and from an economic and internal domestic perspective as well. So the idea here for those who are pushing for war with Iran was that, that it was now or never. It was really the right time to do so. Now, Amy, that doesn't mean that there was an imminent threat from Iran to the United States, which is what the U.S. needs to have a proper legal basis for this war. Intelligence assessments do not agree with the president's characterization that Iran was about to strike first. And I can tell you, having worked

at the Pentagon, that it is ludicrous to expect the American people to believe that Iran would have attacked the U.S. preemptively in the middle of negotiations, especially when, as you said, according to the Omani foreign minister who was mediating, that Iran was actually trying to make some kind of progress in these talks. And I think lastly, it's just important to separate two things here, which can be true at the same time. One is that this Iranian regime was a brutal, oppressive regime. And second, that it is not a legal justification to go to war to have the president talk about his feeling that Iran was going to strike. And we have seen the administration every day since then retroactively try to provide

a series of justifications and objectives for this war. And the fact that they're doing so now, after the fact, tells you a lot about how little they were really thinking this through before they actually went to war. Hala Rarrett, you're an 18-year career diplomat. You resigned over the U.S.'s Gaza policy under President Biden, the first diplomat to publicly resign over the U.S. support for the Israeli assault on Gaza. If you can talk about the through line from there to here, while you say, that you were shocked Saturday morning, you weren't actually surprised. And what this means

in terms of a wider conflict, the massive Israeli assault right now on Lebanon with tens of thousands of Lebanese fleeing Syrian refugees who've lived in Lebanon now crossing back over the border into Syria, terrified about what's happening in Lebanon. Take it from there. Absolutely. No, I was horrified by what was happening by what. I was not at all surprised. This is what I was warning against. This is what multiple diplomats were warning against and what we were working and trying to avoid. Now, if you rewind back to 23 and 24, you'll remember that there was a lot of activity even then with the Iranians. Israel attacked Iran and killed Iranian commanders in Syria. Three service members in Jordan were killed

as well by an Iranian-backed group. All of this was a lead-up that was dragging the United States into a direct conflict with Iran. And as an American diplomat, my role was to protect and defend the United States of America. And so our warnings were pull back, pull back, but Netanyahu obviously had other plans. Now, we insisted that U.S. law would actually be followed, meaning you cannot continue. to surge unconditional weapons to the state of Israel. We knew and we were documenting, and I even

reported this to Congress after my resignation, that these weapons were not being stockpiled by Israel, the weapons that we were sending to Israel, were not only being used for the genocide in Gaza, but that they were going to be used for a regional conflict with Iran,

which would have the proportions to bring down, really, the entire region. I don't think we can underestimate what is actually happening now. So for Netanyahu, there is not two policies. It is not Gaza, West Bank, Lebanon. It is one in the same. For the state of Israel.

Sorry, go on. I wanted to go to the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, saying it's been inundated with over 200 calls from members of the U.S. military military. Regarding religious comments made by U.S. commanders about the war in Iran, one combat unit commander reportedly said the war is quote, part of God's divine plan and that, quote, President Trump's been anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and Mark has returned to Earth, unquote. Last month, Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary, or as Trump calls him, the war secretary, invited the controversial Christian nationalist pastor Doug Wilson to lead the Pentagon's prayer service. Wilson has opposed Muslims holding public.

office does not believe women should be allowed to vote. Jasmine O'Gemarle, you're a former Pentagon official. Your response to how this is being framed and the danger of this, what's seen as a Christian crusade by some. Look, I mean, obviously it's horrifying to hear those remarks. And there certainly has been in this second Trump administration that surge of Christian nationalism, of Christian Zionism into U.S. policymaking when it comes to the Middle East. And it is absolutely horrifying because it means that we are sending American soldiers using American taxpayer money to a region that has been ravaged over the years by successive, ill-thought-out U.S. interventions.

the human cost of America's wars in the Middle East has been devastating. In just the last five days, as you mentioned earlier, almost 1,200 people killed and injured, tens of thousands displaced. The human cost is not something to be taken lightly here. And the recklessness and the callousness of these decisions that are being made by a handful of men, essentially, that are upending the region and the global economy as well, especially if it continues much, much further, is extremely irresponsible. Jasmine, Olamo, we're going to have to leave it there, former Middle East advisor at

the Pentagon under President Obama. Hallererat is an 18-year career diplomat who resigned from the State Department over Gaza under Biden. has now moved their family to Oman because of the escalating war. Up next, we speak with the first woman filmmaker to be nominated for both a short and feature documentary for this year's Oscars. We'll also, on this fourth anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, speak with Craig Renaud, the filmmaker who made a film Oscar nominated about his brother Brent on this fourth anniversary of the Russian invasion. Stay with us. The Hidden Light by Samuel Safa.

This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org. I'm Amy Goodman. We turn now to a conversation with Gita Gundabird. She's an Emmy-winning acclaimed Indian American documentary filmmaker, director, producer, and editor. Recently made history as the first woman to receive Academy Award nominations for both best documentary feature and best documentary short in the same year. The short documentary, The Devil Is Busy, Chronicles a Day on the front lines in the battle for reproductive rights at a women's health care clinic in Atlanta, Georgia. It is streaming on

HBO Max. Her feature documentary, The Perfect Neighbors nominated for Best Documentary Feature available on Netflix. The film looks at the case of Ajika Owens, a 35-year-old black mother of four, fatally shot in 2023 by her white neighbor, Susan Lawrence, raising further scrutiny of Florida's so-called Stand Your Ground Law, which Lauren's research before shooting A.J. Owens. Lawrence is presently serving 25 years in prison after a jury convicted her of manslaughter. The film is constructed almost entirely from police body cam footage as police are called repeatedly to the neighborhood in the lead-up to the shooting. This is the trailer for the perfect neighbor. 9-1-1's the address of the emergency.

You're having companies with the neighbor's children. I'm out of sheriff's office. Or any of you guys over here messing with this lady? No, no. We won't play football. Sheriff's office. I call because the kids swim across the street. They shouldn't be screaming and running around.

Okay. All the kids like to play. In the wrong, they can't walk or even throw their football over here. 9-1-1 was the address of the emergency. Several kids out there are screaming, yelling. Not in time I'm going to turn that little over there, a father of call. Oh, I know.

It's like the kids. She thinks we're trying to steal her truck. Do you even know how to drive? The police says no trespassing. I'm not always walking the ball. There doesn't need to be a fault service every time a kid's playing in the yard. She's always messing with people's games. Shears all best.

One minute! My neighbor has been screaming outside. She said her banging on her door. Howling it on it? Let me in. And then... I'm fire. I don't talk anybody.

I'm like the perfect neighbor. The trailer for the perfect neighbor. I sat down with the film's director, Gita Gundabir. I started by asking her how she came to this project. This is a project that myself and my team at Message Pictures, we didn't go looking for it. It came to us. And the reason that it did was because Adjika Owens was a friend of my family.

She was very close to some family that I have living in Florida. And so on the night that she was murdered, We got a distress call from my family, and we immediately sprung into action. And when I say we, I mean myself, my husband, and who's also a producer on the film, Nakan Kwan, too, and message pictures, my team, Elisa Payne and Sam Pollard. And we were immediately on the ground trying to support the family, and we became media liaisons for them, trying to get news coverage of the case, because we know without news coverage which, unfortunately, gun violence is so common that cases like Ajikas can get swept under the rug.

So that's how we got involved. Now, before Susan Lawrence kills Ajica, also known as AJ, I want to go to several clips from the film of witnesses describing an incident with her. This is an incident with Susan Lawrence, the white woman who killed AJ, in which Susan waves a. at the children in the neighborhood. Another day happened that my friend told me that ladies over there showed the kids that she had a gun. We were just playing over there,

and then she was waving her gun, and all of them were like, run! And we were hiding behind this car right here. And every time the basketball would go up there, I would be on my piece and cue. It's like, because I ain't trying to get a shot just for going. going up on her drive weeks.

Maybe like two days before that? About two days before she showed this gun? Yes. Witnesses repeatedly described Susan Lauren's racist and aggressive behavior toward the predominantly black children living in the neighborhood, including referring to them as slaves. This is another clip from the perfect neighbor. Susan, she would come out and scream.

and the language around these little capes. That Susan love you? Yeah. Oh, ho. Describe to me what she was saying. The F word, the B word. B word and the F word. She called them slaves.

She told them that the field that they weren't on where it wasn't the Underground Railroad. You guys chasing a dog around here? Chasing a dog? What color is it? I don't know. You guys chasing a dog or trying to put a dog into a car or something? No. The camera called.

Yeah. The camera calls. Yeah, she's saying. I don't know why she keeps trying to. She gets on, she just, where, um, the kids are just playing around here, right? She just, he came out and started talking. And she'd flick me off. She flipped them off because this is public space.

No, no, no. No, no. I'm going to talk to her. She had, she had, um, she asked. Oh, yeah. Because she, every time I'm going. I walk past. She thinks we're trying to steal her truck or buy her truck. We're not even...

We're 11. We're 11. Okay. Yeah. Okay, so that's another clip from the perfect neighbor. And these are kids who are being talked to by police officers. Gita, if you could explain, the footage that you used. Sure. So, essentially, about two months after Adjika was murdered, we received the body camera footage, which you see in these clips. The film is about 95% police evidence. evidence. We received it from the family lawyers, Benjamin Crump and Anthony Thomas. And they asked us to go through it to see if there was anything we could use for the media. And I used to be an editor. I strung it out. And we saw it was about 30 hours of material. And what was so astonishing about it was that it went back two years prior to the crime. And you never see this. In this footage, we got to see this beautiful, multiracial, intergenerational community as they were.

before this terrible crime occurred. And we get to see them living together, loving each other, raising kids together, kind of the best of us, the best of our society, a bit of the American dream. And how Susan, who is one outlier with gun, use manufactured fear, weaponized racism, and had access to guns. Again, the gun laws in Florida allow you to buy a weapon, like a toaster oven or a microwave. And then also we see how Stan Your Ground Laws came into play. And the intersection of all those things led to this terrible crime. This is more than a decade after George Zimmerman killed Trayvon Martin.

Yes. Yes. And we have, so we have the precedent of that in Florida. And so for us and the family, we were deeply concerned that there would be no justice So stand-your-ground exists in about 38 states in some shape, form, or fashion. And the tenants are different state-by-state. But in Florida, the way that the law works is that you can, as long as you are anywhere lawfully, you don't have to be in your home, but anywhere lawfully, you can use deadly force to defend yourself against a perceived threat without

the duty to retreat. So imagine how biases play into that, because a threat can be received. So this is what exists in Florida. And again, it's an incredibly dangerous law. And there is no way that racism is not a factor. Can you talk about the through line from your Oscar-nominated documentary short, The Devil Is Busy, which we're going to talk about in a moment, to the perfect neighbor. And also why you chose that title, The Perfect Neighbor. Sure. So I'll start with the title. I believe the perfect neighbor holds a mirror up to our society. It speaks to all the ills that are coming mostly from the top down, frankly, that are being used to

divide us and to polarize us. Again, I mentioned manufactured fear, weaponized racism. We are being told to fear our neighbors. And that is obviously in service of then our neighbors being kidnapped and perhaps trafficked into concentration camps, in my opinion. It is, it is, it's a way of dividing us so that we do not fight back against encroaching authoritarianism. So for me, Susan describes herself as the perfect neighbor. She, she says, I'm quiet. You never see me. I don't do anything. And I think there's irony in that because the perfect neighbor, I believe, is what you see in that community of neighbors

who care for each other, who are visible, who speak up, and who are, again, are in close solidarity with each other. And I think when we think about what we're going through today in our society, I want people to think about being what a perfect neighbor actually is. Is it the people in Minneapolis who are defending their neighbors, who are in the streets, who are actually risking their lives and in some cases dying? I think that might be the case. So I would like people to think about that and hopefully walk away, wanting to be upstairs. And then the through line to The Devil is Busy. So that film, this short made with Soledadad O'Brien, Rose Arsane, my amazing co-director, who's my best friend from college, Crystal in Hampton, also a family film.

We wanted to make a film about the fall of Roe versus weight at the federal level, the Dobbs decision, and the impact. And this clinic in Georgia, which is run predominantly by women of color, felt like an incredible vehicle into that world. The film is representative of a day in the life. And the security guard, Tracy, who is on the front lines, is deeply religious, as religious as the men who are protesting outside. But she believes that women's reproductive freedom is still a fundamental right. The filmmaker Gita Gondabir, she's made history as the first woman to receive Academy Award nominations for both Best Documentary Feature for the Perfect Neighbor and Best Documentary Short.

for The Devil is busy in the same year. To see our full interview with Gita Gandabir, go to DemocracyNow.org. This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org. I'm Amy Goodman. We end today's show remembering the acclaimed filmmaker Brent Renault. Four years ago this month, he became the first Western journalist killed by Russian soldiers in Ukraine. He traveled to Ukraine to film refugees for a documentary series, the Pibati

award-winning filmmaker was 50 years old. Brent was a longtime filmmaker who'd reported across the globe, including in Colombia and Mexico, Egypt, Somalia, Iraq, Libya, Haiti, China, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. Much of his work done with his brother and filmmaking partner Craig Renaud. Craig's been nominated for an Oscar for his short documentary about Brent called Armed Only with a Camera. This is the film's trailer. We're joined by the Renault brothers, Arkansas, filmmakers. Brent, let's go. Okay.

Let's get out of here. When Brent told me that he wanted to be a documentary filmmaker, I followed my older brother to the most dangerous places in the world. They're locking in on this. We've just got some breaking news. Brent Renaud, an American photojournalist has been killed. Brent lost his life documenting the horrors the battlefield in Ukraine. The work that he was doing, the bravery with which

She did it. My name is Brent Renaud. This is my brother Craig. Besides my brother, I struggle to make friends. Autism tells you very little about a person. I can be calm as a Zen monk in a disaster zone. Soldiers over there. But the cocktail party in Brooklyn was absolutely terrifying.

Brent was very intense and quiet. You put the cameras down? Yep. He filmed on the front line of conflicts. All around the world. But what he cared about the most were the people caught in the middle. Describe what you see. There are no terrorists here, only civilians.

What is your name? My name is Brent. The way you hold that camera, you're doing it from your heart. The trailer for the Oscar-nominated short documentary armed only with a camera, the life and death of Brent Renaud, directed by Brent's brother Craig. Craig joins us now from Austin, Texas. Craig, welcome back to Democracy Now as we end our show on the fourth anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the fourth anniversary next week of the killing of your brother of Brent in Ukraine. Can you talk about this period of time? You went to Ukraine to retrieve your brother's body.

hundreds of journalists have been killed around the world since then. This documentary is not only about Brent and his incredible life and work, but really at the end, a dedication to so many journalists who have lost their lives. Yeah, when we first started making this film, we thought it was going to be a tribute to my brother, but it seemed like every single day that we were editing this film, another journalist would be killed. And so we felt like it had to be a bigger story about all the journalists who were being killed. Since my brother was killed, there's been over 400 journalists killed around the world, according to the committee to protect journalists. So, you know, we wanted this to honor all those fallen journalists. To say the least a bittersweet time.

I mean, you did a film about the death of your brother. How hard was it for you to get into Ukraine to retrieve Brent's body, and Juan Ardando, who was working with him, was also shot. He almost lost his life. You had to get Juan out as well. Who helped you? It was journalists. It was Ukrainian journalists that helped us. They met me at the border, and we spent about a week and a half trying to navigate how to get Brent's body out of Ukraine and also how to get one out of the hospital that was being bombed. And without the Ukrainian journalists, I don't think that would have been possible to bring our brother's body home to our family. You and your brother, you and Brent, reported on the early days of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. You embedded with the Arkansas National Guard.

As you are here now, we are now in the midst of another attack, U.S. and Israel, attacking Iran. It is the sixth day. You have the Secretary of Defense castigating journalists for covering the deaths of U.S. service people because he says they're trying to make the president look bad. Your thoughts? I mean, it's one of the reasons in the film about my brother that I chose to show him after he was murdered.

I chose to show him in a casket, you know, because I know that Brent believed and I always believed that people need to see the results It's an impact of the horrors of war when these wars start. So for us as journalists, it's not something that we ever shied away from. And even when my own brother was killed, my family, my mother included, felt like it was important to show Brent's body. The film is dedicated to Brent Renaud and the many journalists who, quote, gave their lives in pursuit of truth and peace and ends with a scene of a memoriam,

with attendees holding up the photographs of journalists kill global. This is the Ukrainian journalist, Makola Davidzuk. Soldiers target journalists like Brett Renault. Long live these heroes who gave their lives. Since Brent's death, more than 100 journalists have been killed every year. Journalism has become one of the world's most dangerous professions. That a clip from the end of the film, marmored only with a camera, the life and death of Brent Renault. Your final thoughts, Craig, as we move

into this moment, there are, what, 11,000 members of the Academy of Motion Picture, who will be voting on short and long documentaries, all the different films, this terrible, really, moment for you, but also trying to redeem it somehow, your final thoughts. I just hope that this film draws attention to the work that my brother did. You know, Brent cared about people caught in the middle of these conflicts around the world. And, you know, as we enter another war, I think about all the civilians that are going to be hurt and impacted. I think about the soldiers that are going to be killed in their families. And I hope Brent's work and the work of all the fallen journalists helps people pause for a minute

and think about the impact that these wars will have. Well, I want to thank you for being with us, Craig Renault, director and producer of armed only with a camera, the life and death of Brent Renaud. About his brother, Brent, killed four years ago this month in Ukraine. The film has been nominated for an Oscar for Best Documentary Short. Voting for the Oscars by members of the Academy ends tonight. That does it for our show. To see the full interviews we've done over the last. years with Craig, with Brent, with all the Oscar-nominated filmmakers, you can go to

DemocracyNow.org. On Saturday, I'll be in Savannah, Georgia, at the Hindsight Film Festival for a screening of the award-winning documentary, steal this story, please, about the 30 years of Democracy Now. I look forward to seeing folks in Savannah, Georgia on Saturday night at 7. Check our website at DemocracyNow.org for details. That does it for our show. Democracy Now produced with Mike Burke, Dina Guzder, Messiah, Rhodes, Maria Teresayana, Nicole Salazar, Cherina Nodura, Sam Alcoftaymarie, A studio, John Hamilton, Robbie Karen, Honey Massoud, Safwat Nizal, our executive director is Julie Crosby.

Special thanks to Becca Staley, John Randolph, Paul Powell, Mike DeFilippo, call Marxer, Dennis Moynihan, David Prude. I'm Amy Goodman.