Democracy Now! July 16, 2012

July 16, 2012 from Democracy Now! via Creative Commons License BY-NC-ND

A new US government report finds much of the American taxpayer money used for Iraq's reconstruction has likely been squandered. And at the Green Party's 2012 National Convention in Baltimore over the weekend, keynote speaker Gar Alperovitz made the case for third-party politics to challenge a corporate-run society. Plus headlines, and more.

(more) (less)

In This Video

Syrian Civil War

The Syrian civil war is an ongoing armed conflict in Syria between forces loyal to the Syrian Ba'ath Party government and those seeking to oust it. The conflict began on 15 March 2011, with popular demonstrations that grew nationwide by April 2011. These demonstrations were pa... Explore this topic

Syria

Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south and Israel to the southwest. A country of fertile plains, high mountains and deserts, i... Explore this topic

Damascus

Damascus, commonly known in Syria as ash-Sham and nicknamed as the City of Jasmine, is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo. It borders Quneitra, Daraa and As-Suwayda to the south, Jordan to the east, Homs to the north, and Lebanon to the west. It is a... Explore this topic

International Red Cross

The International Committee of the Red Cross is a humanitarian institution based in Geneva, Switzerland and a three-time Nobel Prize Laureate. States parties to the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols of 1977 and 2005, have given the ICRC a mandate t... Explore this topic

Civil war

A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same nation state or republic, or, less commonly, between two countries created from a formerly united nation state. The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a re... Explore this topic

UN Security Council

The United Nations Security Council is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations and is charged with the maintenance of international peace and security. Its powers, outlined in the United Nations Charter, include the establishment of peacekeeping operations, the e... Explore this topic

Tremseh

Explore this topic

Tremseh massacre

The Tremseh massacre reportedly took place in the village of al-Tremseh, Syria, in the early hours of 13 July 2012 during the Syrian civil conflict. The Local Coordination Committees in Hama and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that the Syrian army and the Shab... Explore this topic

United Nations

The United Nations is the world's largest, foremost, and most prominent international organization. The stated aims of the United Nations include promoting and facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human r... Explore this topic

Bashar al-Assad

Bashar Hafez al-Assad is the President of Syria and Regional Secretary of the Syrian-led branch of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party. He has served as President since 2000, when he succeeded his father, Hafez al-Assad, who had ruled Syria for 30 years prior to his death. Al-Assa... Explore this topic

Also See

Iraq War

United States

US-Iraq relations

Watch Next

2:25

Associated Press | Aug 8

Syria has become the bloodiest uprising of the Arab Spring and has now descended into a full-blown civil war. Find out what's behind the conflict a...