Transcripts For ALJAZAM Consider This 20140911

Terrorist threat. It is time for United States military to go on offense against the Islamic State group. I will not hesitate to take action against i. S. I. L. In syria as well as iraq. 61 of americans say acting against the Islamic State is against the american interest. You have muslim against muslim. Dangerous terrorists in the world. As you send us your bombs wile wee will send you ours. I will end up being crucified. Signs of hope in a fragile ceasefire. 70 of troops have moved from Eastern Ukraine. What would happen if the internet were divided into two lanes of web traffic one faster than the other . New Companies New websites independent journalists will be unable to access users. I dont know how team z gets their information. We are particularly relying on law enforcement. Did send a copy of the ray rice tape months ago. They probably did get the video and didnt want to look at it. We begin in iraq and syria. President obamas plan to degrade and destroy the Islamic State group. I want america to understand how this effort will be different from the wars in iraq and afghanistan. It will not involve american troops fighting on foreign soil, steady relentless effort to take out i. S. I. L. Wherever they exist using our air power and the support of our partners on the ground. While never uttering the word he is calling the nation to war with plans to extend an already intense air campaign in iraq all the way to war torn syria a conflict the administration has been loath to get entangled in. I will not hesitate to take action against i. S. I. L. In syria as well as iraq. This is a core principle of my presidency. If you threaten america, you will find no safe haven. The president s strategy is contingent on key partnerships with iraq, moderate Syrian Rebels and allies around the world, many of which have not been yet solidified. I. S. Is a threat to the u. S. We have not yet detected specific plotting against our home land, i. S. I. L. Leaders have threatened america and our allies. Our Intelligence Community believes that thousands of foreigners including europeans and americans have joined them in syria and iraq trained and battle hardened these fighters could try return to their home countries and carry out deadly attacks. And speaking on the eve of the 13th anniversary of the september 11th attacks cia director john brennan was asked if he has seenfully signs of an attack. A sign brennan brennans preder called the red blinking lines before 9 11. They are evil and incar natal, the terrorist activities in iraq and syria are very very worrisome. I think lights may be blinking red, in that it is time so its not able to continue along its current path. Joining us now from washington, d. C. Is former Senate Majority leader George Mitchell who served at president obamas special envoy for middle east peace from 2009 to 2011, he received the medal of freedom for his part in the irish peace process. Senator really a pleasure to see you. Thank you for joining us on this nightly. This was a critical speech for president after weeks of criticism for saying he didnt have a strategy for combating these Islamic State terrorists. Was he unambiguous enough . He didnt use the word war, he only called it a countertomorrow effort. Thats right. He did make that distinction and i think its an appropriate one. I think we have to be careful not to assume that American Military power alone can deal with i. S. I. S, or the many other issues in the region. I think a critical element which the president referred to is a government in iraq, and eventually, hopefully, one in syria, that is representative of all the people and is not seen as partisan or sectarian as the prevent Iraqi Government has been seen. Its not a coincidence that where i. S. I. S. Has succeed is in areas that of sunni dominated and where the places have been disaffected not giving sunnies a fair shake so i think that there has to be a National Government there in iraq hopefully and hopefully soon. Right an important political component within iraq. Now normally, president s use these kind of prime time speeches to make a case to the American People but here, polls have shown that the American People were already there maybe ahead of the president supporting action against the terrorists. But as you know americans dont want troops to fight another war. The president stressed there would be no more boots on the ground. But is it a good idea to limit how far well go from the onset . Right, in this case its necessary and appropriate. Americans are rightly concerned. We spent a dozen years in both iraq and afghanistan with tremendous loss of life and a great deal of resources in financial terms going into those efforts. In addition, i think the American People understand and i think they will understand more in the years ahead that this is a long process in that region. Its a degree of turbulence, that will continue for some time, there are many overlapping conflicts within islam, sunni versus shia, sunni governments against sunni extremist groups like i. S. I. S, persians versus arabs and of course the historical conflict between the arabs and israelis. So i think its going to be turbulent and you have to understand that i. S. I. S. Is an outgrowth of al qaeda which is an outgrowth of the Muslim Brotherhood and the mu muhuh hu. We will be relying on Coalition Troops that may not be up to it. When hes talking about forces to combat the terrorists in syria will. There will be some American Forces on the ground, special forces and some to conduct training but i dont think this is going to lead to a large scale introduction of american combat forces. To the degree that existed in both iraq and afghanistan. And i think theres good reason for that. We Vice President got the outcome that we wanted in either place and there have to be others participating. And in particular, as the president noted, the the muslim people themselves, particularly the sunni endowmented groups in the gulf region, have to step up and make clear their views in opposition to the extremist groups and make clear that they are prepared to undertake the effort to join in the effort with us and others. And there will be Ground Forces iraqi forces which have not performed well so far. Kurdish forces and there will be others in the region which we can rely for intelligence, resources, assistance, logistics and so forth. The United States is the dominant power in the world but great as our power we cannot control events everywhere in the world and not every problem in the world is an exclusively american problem. We have a unique opportunity and a unique power to influence events, that is what we are going to do here, i believe we will succeed in degrading and deneeddefeating i. S. I. S. The longer term problem is building responsible and tolerable and dominant states in the region. You were the ambassador or the five years, the president has said he has the power to act on his own. Should there be a full blown debate and discussion and authorization from congress . Wouldnt it have been stronger for the president to have gotten full blown support from the congress before moving forward . Theres no doubt, the United States is stronger when theres unanimity in the branches of government. I believe there will be expressions of support in a variety of ways. Most notably funding for the operation which has to be approved by congress. Are you concerned about the divisions on capitol hill, some democrats on the left arent thrilled about us getting into another protracted fight in the middle east, weve got republicans, libertarian wing, some like ron paul, congressman ron paul has said we should just get out of there altogether. This is a large diverse country with many different points of view and which we pride ourselves in freedom of speech and expression of views. The vote to go to war in the 1940s was by one vote. We dont expect unanimity. Not through direct combat forces on on the ground but i dont let that deter us. We believe in freedom of speech, we believe in open debate. We understand theres disagreement in our country but i think now on this issue at this time the country is largely united. Do you think the president can be the leader necessary to unite the country and also to create that coalition we need especially if there is no combat troops on the ground, because the president is described as a very reluctant warrior. Well, i tell you something. I prefer a president who is a reluctant warrior than one whos seeking combat. I think the president has been restrained and wise in terms of the use of American Military power. If we engage in military combat, everywhere were asked to go, we will soon be unable to engage in that combat anywhere. There is a limit to our resources. A limit to our strength. And keep in mind that the greatest strength that the United States has in the world is our ideals. The principles which under which our country was created and which have led us to the point today, military power and economic strength are important. But it is ideals that are the primary basis of influence to the world and that means that we do believe in restraint. We dont seek out war. We are not aggressors in conflict and i think thats consistent with the american tradition not contrary to it. Former Senate Majority leader George Mitchell. Thank you for your insight. Thank you antonio. For more were joined from Denver Colorado by christopher hill, dean of the Joseph Corbell school of international studies. Thank you for being on the program. We just heard George Mitchell say, he thinks caution is important. What do you think of the president s speech . I think the president has a comprehensive strategy. The question is whether the elements of that strategy are going to work. Certainly the air strikes, there is no air force in the world like the u. S. Air force. That part i think will go well. I can foresee improved performance from the peshmerga even the iraqi army. I think theres some good news in baghdad in terms of a broader based government. The real issue is whether the diplomacy and the politics of this are going to line up. Will saudi arabia support socalled moderate sunni opposition in syria . Will saudi arabia take extra measures to prevent use of their Banking System and other institutions from supporting the radical groups such as i. S. I. S . So thats a big question. Just more broadly, what is going to happen with other countries . Will turkey step up in this . So there are a lot of questions. And those questions loom very large, once we start looking at the situation in syria because i dont think theres anyone who believes that this socalled moderate opposition could defeat al nusra, defeat i. S. I. S. And defeat assads forces simultaneously. That is going to be a really tall order. To your point the president is stating that arming and training the moderate forces in iraq is important. Listen to what he had to say . With respect to syria its always been a fantasy this idea that we could provide some light arms or even more sophisticated arms to what was essentially an opposition made up of former doctors, farmers, pharmacists and so forth. Theres not as much capacity as you would hope. Now former u. S. Into ambassar robert ford said not arming the moderates, can they help . Ill let the president s words speak for themselves. But there is a sort of Cottage Industry to the effect that once upon a time, the Syrian Opposition consisted of all very moderate people but when they werent given enough help the thugs came in. Id like to see more evidence for this narrative. But whatever it is, this is what we know now. The moderate opposition is probably the weakest element within syria and yet, its the only element that we can build around. That we can deal with. So i think we have no choice but to work with them or try to. Right, and as he said that wed go after the Islamic State terrorists in syria if need be diplomatically how do we deal with Bashar Alassad . He said he wants notification of u. S. Air strikes in his country. Well thats not going to happen. If this were a Perfect World what you do is go to the russians and say look russians you need to sit on assad, dont let him to take any territory and you know make sure he doesnt try to take advantage of what were doing against i. S. I. S. Well you know theres no russia to go to at this point. Weve got a huge problem with russia in ukraine. Similarly, it is not so easy for the u. S. To team up with iran. We have huge differences with iran. Anyone who has spent any time in iraq as i did is very aware of the really malevolent position the iranians took in terms of helping these various shia militia groups. So that is basically a road thats probably closed for you know long term repairs. So i think this is going to be a very tall order in terms of finding a ground component in syria. Again, i can see the possibilities with the iraqi army. I can see the possibilities with peshmerga. Its just a tougher set of issues when you get to syria. I will make one more point. I think we need a long term vision of what is going to become of syria when it grows up. I can understand what were looking at in iraq. Were looking at a government thats probably going to have a shia prime minister, probably going to have a sunni head of parliament, kurd thats president , government that have ministers from these three countries. I communities. I get it in iraq it will be pushing and shoving to get there. But in syria who knows what were talking about . To say assad is some isolated dictators, where are the druge supporting him why are the christians supporting him and the answer is theyre really worried about whats on the sunni side, very big complicates there. Ambassador christopher hill, always nice to have you with us. A former jihadist takes us inside extremist groups and how he became a double agent and helped the u. S. Kill a major al qaeda leader. And a different look at a the mlk leader, tavis smiley will join us. O. The United States has carried out an average of five air strikes a day in the last month, to help iraqis regain territory and protect significant infrastructure. The president has said he will send over 500 more Service People to join the thousand that are already there. Expanding air strikes to syria and to train iraqi and Syrian Forces for battle against Islamic State forces. Lengthy commitment to long wars in iraq and afghanistan. Were joined by major mike lyons, he now selves as a fellow with the trueman security project. Mike, lets start with something the president said. He said that this operation would compare to what weve been doing in somalia and yemen. Is that an apt analogy, because certainly, we have not gotten rid of al shabaab and as recently as a few months ago we were hearing about how big a threat al qaeda in the asian peninsula has posed. What he wants the vision inside iraq and syria going forward, thats the way to do it. The stand off military, the drone president , hes seen an incredible amount of drone strikes during his administration. Hes saying this is how well do, over the horizon, he brought up that we destroyed the leader of that organization last week. That was all about this again bright line between this and what happened before. Right but most military analysts and i suspect youre probably in that field too have said that air strikes will not be enough to destroy this group and so were going to have to rely on Regional Forces and weve seen how poor the iraqi forces and to some extent the syria forces have fared against. Military aside you are looking at a map where i. S. I. S. Is, they occupy Road Networks. They look at places where normally armies take major swaths of land. In this case i do think that the air strikes will be able to push them back along those Road Networks and back into syria. Hes recognized the fact that were going to have to deal with the ground force now to add the arab state countries side by side. I think perhaps that is the long pole of the tent in this. Looking at the map we just had up, they control a significant amount of territory in iraq and in syria which certainly that could be a disadvantage for them because they have to deal with iraqi forces coming from the south, Kurdish Forces which will hopefully be better armed from the northeast and if this whole plan to arm and train the syrian moderates help theyre going to have to deal with the syrian from the northwest, and who knows, they could really have a three prong, or four pronged war on their hands. Those Road Networks all lead back to syria. Theyre going to monitor them the fact well go on offensive, well ignore the border between syria and iraq at this point, go for i. S. I. S. Inside syria, this is a conventional army of i. S. I. S. That kicks up a lot of dust when it decides to roll out those Toyota Pickup trucks. How can the u. S. Military gear up to the point where we need to be in order to do what youre talking about . I think weve probably already started that. Theyve anticipated this mission and thats something where if nato gets involved well have that capability to have command and control over that. Youll see what the u. S. , leading control, that means synchronization of all these combat assets. As long as we have people on the ground and advisors on the ground, theres likely to be risks, american casualties here. They will be directing air strikes and bringing all the combat power together on the ground in the air to i think be successful. Right and thats the question of course is just how many of those american troops are going to be involved on the ground despite the promises that were not going to have boots on the ground there, especially as we were talking about earlier on the show if we are going to train and equip the syrian moderates is that where you think the biggest danger lies . Im not sure how you take the Syrian Free Army off the battlefield, train them in saudi arabia and send them pack to the battlefield. Thats not their shortfall, their shortfall is not they dont have enough mass now especially if theyre going to fight potentially 20,000 i. S. I. S. Soldiers inside of syria. I dont know where theyre going to get them from and to vet them is a separate issue. To know who you are giving these arms to which will be a big problem. To get them off the battlefield bring them into saudi arabia, they will train king khalid military academy. Bring them back online. How important is it to do what we did in iraq during the iraq war to get the sunnis in the areas where the terrorists are already dominating to fight against these terrorists . Do you think the unity government will help that . And again how important is that . There has to be another Sunni Awakening here to be the tipping point. One thing we wont have in this situation. We wont have one event to be able to point to to say oh thats it, now weve tipped the point over, and this is going to work. There will not be a decisive battle here. It is going to take time. Good to for you to join us to bring the military side of things, major michael lyons, pleasure. Now for more stories from around the world. We begin in ukraine where president Petro Poroshenko announce theyd 70 of Russian Troops in kook have left. In ukraine have left. Russia denies that they were ever there. Rebel held areas of Eastern Ukraine more autonomy but not independence. Also today, speaker of the house john boehner announced that poroshenko will announce the two houses of Congress Next week. Rain so much water fell, streams overflowed. Crops in a nearby rural area were destroyed. And we end here in new york where a new report claims an nfl executive was given the video of ray rice hitting his then fiancee in an Atlantic City casino in april. The Associated Press was given access to a 12 second voice mail from an nfl Office Number that confirmed the video had arrived saying at one point, our right, its terrible. Commissioner Roger Goodell said the nfl did not have access to the film and the nfl released a statement saying we have no knowledge of this, we are unaware of anyone in our office who possessed or knew about the video before it was made milk on monday. Thats around the world. A jihaddist as a double agent, joins us next. Also a personal and revealing look at dr. Martin luther king, jr. s final year. Talk show host tavis smiley joins us. New book. Our social media producer, hermela aregawi. Whos up. Net thu tralt debate by slowing things down. Ill explain their unusual tactics coming up. What do you think . Join the conversation ajconsiderthis and our facebook and google plu plus pages. Three years ago, American Drones fired hell fire missiles that killed four suspected al qaeda operatives including the prime target who directed or inspired attacks in the u. S. , including the underwear bomber, and major nidal hasan, who killed four and wounded 40 others. An iraqi found himself in a drones cross hairs, with help, cowritten an extraordinary book about his years first as a supporter and then as a spy within al qaeda. For more im joined in london by morton storm who worked as a double agent, for britains mi5 and mi6. And his book agent storm, my life inside al qaeda and the cia. Morton, you were a trublgd yound young man when you converted into islam. What brought you into the social circles of denmark and britain who wanted to attack the u. S . I obviously went broad after converting to abroad after converting to islam. I went to an institution up there which is the most concentrated salafi institute in the world. I studied with people from america, from europe, from all over the world and obviously it made me quite fundamentalistic and very firm in my faith there. You became a fundamentalist, heavily involved, you knew richard reid, the suspected shoe bomber, what made you turn away from extremism and work for british and american intelligence . I was planning to travel to somalia and fight and join up with the Islamic Union court in 2006 in december. A couple of days. My travel was due, i had a phone call from a friend who was in somalia. Warning me t not to return backo somalia because they just lost the airport to the ethiopian troops. It was such a blow to me, it was a show of my faith. It was like we had just lost the world cup in football. I then went home and googled, you know, i googled contradictions in the koran and i came across a lot of websites which obviously stated there was contradictions in the koran and having been a devoted muslim for ten years studying islam i never dared to ask questions but this time i did. I studied those contradiction and concluded that they were genuine and obviously wiped away my faith. And you didnt believe that killing civilians was acceptable. And you know, that raises the question for me, is you know, why is it that so many others, why arent people turned off by the savagery, like what were seeing in iraq and syria and even worse that it seems like so many are actually attracted by the horrors were seeing the beheadings the crucifixions, the enslaving of women . Yeah, the problem is, sir, that we if you studied the sunni, obviously the sunni islam and the salafi methodology you will then learn that by the way, when i say salafy, i have to remind everybody out there that the salafy ideology is the Fastest Growing ideology, the Fastest Growing ideology. And these people dont take it out of nowhere, they take it from the koran, the interntion of thinterpretation of the korad the hadith, prophet mohamed, new of those books i studied personally and you come across a situation where these kinds of events actually happened in the time of prophet mohamed and it was used to spread islam and also used to spread terror into the fear into the hearts and mind of the enemies. Now you said you felt a lot of joy when anwar alaki was killed. You said the cia paid you a quarter of a Million Dollars for helping him to find an american wife, how dangerous was al alaki . He was extremely dangerous, very deluded person. Are he was so determined to be one of the first, be involved in one of the first Chemical Warfare attack that al qaeda had planned, and you know he knew he was going to get killed. So for him it was not amatter of if he was going to get killed or not. He knew he was going to do it so he was planning to do as much damage as possible and also at the same time he believed by doing that he will reach paradise, you know, thats it. And do you think the Islamic State group poses the similar situation to the United States and do you think president obama is right in going after them in iraq and syria . Yes. This is one of the few times where i would actually consider the American Government are doing something good. And that what the Obama Administration is doing now by intensifying their strikes against i. S. I. S. Is actually correct, and is the best thing that could happen even for not only for the people in the west but for the people in the region. And for the future, we talk about the christians, if jewish minorities, the yazidis or anyone else who doesnt agree with i. S. I. S. Will get killed. So actually, the air strikes, americans are launching at the moment is extraordinary humanitarian help for these people. Quick final question. You wrote recently in 00 magazine that the Islamic State wants you dead. You were in Time Magazine that the Islamic State wants you dead, you were pictured figh fighting, you were there prominent among them, how do you live with that threat . Well, life goes on and see, the most important thing to send a strongest message out to those terrorists is that we do not give into them and we do not obey the bullying and intimidation. My life goes on. I obviously had to take my Security Missions but my life goes open and as much as i can contribute with talking to you, to fight this ideology i will do it. I want to explain everything i possibly can to educate people around the world about this very dangerous threat, and the drive behind it. So im still fighting. Im not staying behind. Well its good of you to join us to get your message out. The book is agent storm, my life inside al qaeda and the cia. Good to have you. Thank you sir, thank you very much. Fine out whats trending on the web. Hermella. Advocates of Net Neutrality declared wednesday internet slow down day. Theyre not actually slowing things down but if you go to Netflix Kickstarter and reddit, the spinning circle associated with slow down. Fc changes that they say would ruin the internet. Under current guidelines generally speaking all websites are treated equally by Internet Service providers. What the fcc is proposing, charging more for faster service, that would create a slow lane. Change would dictate a form of censorship. When you are looking for access one website much faster than another website youre going to go to that faster loading website and those large incumbent companies who can afford for that high speed access to users are going to get the attention of users, new Companies New websites small blogs and independent journalists and things like that will be unable to access users. The Net Neutrality debate has generated a record for Public Comments to the fcc. They received more than 1. 7 comes on the issue, the 1. 4 million they received for Janet Jacksons wardrobe malfunction at the super bowl. Let us know where you stand on twitter, ajconsiderthis. Statements in favor of Net Neutrality david. Thats a huge issue, hermella, thanks. Welcome. The glory days for Martin Luther kings civil rights, but he was ostracized by some of his biggest supporters, well take a surprising look at Martin Luther king from tavis smiley. How it started with a simple question, thats in our data dive, next. Todays data diefn are dive goes for a world record. More than 130 million books have sold in a total of 20 languages when it was first published. After a chairman of the guiness brewery, missed a shot at the plover, three years later he recruited Sports Reporters to compile facts and figures in what would first become the guiness book of world records. It didnt take long for people to join the fun and tried to break all sorts of records just to get in the book. Some of the stranger inclusions this year, californias nick stoboro made the by having the longest tongue ever recorded. 3. 9 inches. When he sticks it out outside his lip. Stostowboro got in. The longest jump by a cat of six need. Largest joe h yoyo. 11 feet nine inches. Who can play with that thing . The extensive record to get certified can take up to three months. After all it takes a while to verify achievements like lindsay crushing eight apples with her biaccepbicep. Coming up, a side of Martin Luther king, jr. You probably havent seen before. The inside story ray suarez hosts inside story weekdays at 5 eastern only on Al Jazeera America we usually think of dr. Martin luther king jr. As an inspiring heroic leader who was martyred in his search for civil rights. Death of a king, shows how his very vocal opposition to the vietnam war led to him losing major blocks of his support, leaving him rejected and dejected. I sat down with the author, tavis smiley, for talk to al jazeera. Last year of his life, april 4, 1967 and april 4, 1968. Why is that year important . Because he gives the war against vietnam, he uses this phrase, he refers to america as the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today. Thats a strong indictment from a black man to a white nation. It created quite the backlash. Lord god did it. Next day everybody and everything started to turn. The triple threat of racism poverty and militarism. Long story short. As long as this negro was standing in the lane of civil rights he was okay, acceptable. But when he started talking about foreign policies and budgets are moral documents and the money you are spending away should be spend at home. And that war is the enemy of the poor they turned on martin king in that very last year. And they turned on him in a pretty substantial way. Im old enough to remember the allegations of him being a communist. You write about how 75 of whites thought he was irrelevant at that point. A good majority of blacks also believed the same thing and part of it was the rise of the black Panther Party and young people being more attracted to people more militant than he was. We so deifieed him in death. Forgotten. Absolutely. After that speech the white house turns on him. He and johnson working on Voting Rights and civil rights, two of the most substantial are bills in the 20th century. That number was almost 60 in black america thought he was per sonna nongrata. Whitney young in the urban league, the cosmos had turned on him. What would he say if now, you know, what has it been 46 years later, if he saw a black president , if he saw that there has been great progress on race issues but that there continues to be racism and discrimination in this country, what do you think he would say . Great question, antonio. The closest thing him seeing a black president , was the first black mayor, carl stokes, he would have involved himself in the obama campaign, if he had been asked to be used as a surrogate, they may not circulate wanted him on the campaign trail. He certainly would have campaigned for barack obama. And once obama got elected he would have said, i love you but im going to be your critic and im going to hold you account annal to those issues that are the of most interest to the American People. Before the election where barack obama became president of the United States you werent uncritical of the president. You brought up issues and you got a lot of grief for it. In fact you ended up changing jobs to some extent because of the fact that you had been treated so harshly, because you werent just toeing the party line and were bringing up questions. How do you feel about the president today, especially in regards to race . I know in 2011 you have said he has failed american blacks. I think the president has a difficult job and i certainly am pulling and praying for him every day. Not just to be another garden variety politician but to be a statesman. He could have been that on purpose but he missed the opportunity in ferguson, missouri, to be a statesman. Should he have gone to ferguson . He absolutely should have. King wasnt the president , obama is. I make the distinction all the time. King is a prophet. Obama is the president and the president of this country as far as im concerned whether youre black or white republican or democrat if theres a major crisis in this country and a major American City or a city next to a major American City like ferguson is to st. Louis is on fire and there and the citys been mil militarized ande city is burning and people are being beaten and being killed and being maced, the president ought to step into that situation. Im not going to let barack obama off the hook any more than i am letting george bush off the hook for going to new orleans. Whipping up African American voters across the country to get them turned out for the mid term election its a cynical that brings up an interesting question, which is is there a problem with the African American community becoming so identified with the Democratic Party and voting so overwhelmingly democratic, because then arent they seeing the democrats ignoring them because theyre taking them for granted and the republicans ignoring them for saying, were not going to get their votes anyway, what are they doing for the African American community, i know im harsh you arent harsh. They are being ignored by one party and taken for granted by the other party. This is an issue for black or brown. Whats really crazy about this is and i do mean crazy is that the republicans are too stuck on stupid to take advantage of that. Here you have two constituencies black and brown who in many respects both feel marginalized and taken for granted by their company but you cant bring the goods, you cant bring them another option that is in their best interest you cannot stop contesting their heuvment b humy bringing their policies for forward. Dr. King who would love the to points to fall. That could probably be a good point to end on but im not going to end there. You know where im coipg coming. Here at Al Jazeera America we do serious news, we dont do much entertainment. But i suspect im going to be the first person on this network to ever utter the four words. Dancing with the stars. You play be the last. You know what . I never thought i would utter those words either. In part because if youd asked me this five, ten years ago, the answer would have been no. When they did ask me this year i told them no three times. And they said take a meeting with us. I pulled out my pad, pros, cons it turned out to my surprise and my horror quite frankly, the reasons for doing this show outweighed the reasons not to do the show, im about to turn 50 and id do one stupid thing before that. I get final approval over what i wear. Im not going to be on youtube the rest of my life with a sparkly costume on. I dont care how bad you are, im going to vote for you. Death of a king the real story of dr. Martin luther king, jr. s final year, is out now and you can see my interview with dr. Smiley, a week from saturday. The cochair of the 9 11 commission joins us 13 years after the worst terror attack on u. S. Soil. A son of hamas who wound up spying for israel at great human risk. And the conversation continues on our website, aljazeera. Com aljazeera. Com creditthis. And tweet me amora tv. And they know that their needs are not being met by american tv news today. Entire media culture is driven by something thats very very fast. There has been a lack of fact based, in depth, serious journalism, and we fill that void. There is a huge opportunity for Al Jazeera America to change the way people look at news. We just dont parachute in on a story. Quickly talk to a couple of experts and leave. One producer may spend 3 or 4 months, digging into a single story. At al jazeera, there are resources to alow us as journalists to go in depth and produce the kind of films. The people that you dont see anywhere else on television. We intend to reach out to the people who arent being heard. We wanna see the people who are actually effected by the news of the day. Its Digging Deeper its asking that second, that third question, finding that person no one spoken to yet. You cant tell the stories of the people if you dont get their voices out there, and Al Jazeera America is doing just that. Hi everyone, this is Al Jazeera America. Im John Seigenthaler in new york. I. S. I. L. Is a terrorist organization, pure and simply. It has no vision, other than the slaughter of all that stands in its way. President obama lays down his plan to hunt down and fight the Islamic State group no matter where it is. Tale of the tape did the n. F. L. Know about the video that shows ray rice punching his fiancee. Tonight, what a new report may mean for the