Ifill all that and more on tonights pbs newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by and the william and flora hewlett foundation, helping people build immeasurably better lives. And with the ongoing support of these institutions this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Woodruff president obama invoked the iraq war today during a defense of the recent nuclear deal with iran. He said those who oppose the deal are like the people who rushed the u. S. Into war with iraq. He spoke in pittsburgh, at the veterans of Foreign Wars National convention. Were hearing the echoes some of the same policies and mindsets that failed us in the past. Some of the same politicians and pundits that are so quick to reject the possibility of a diplomatic solution to Irans Nuclear program are the same folks who were so quick to go to war in iraq and said it would take a few months. We know the consequences of that choice, and what it cost us in blood and treasure. Woodruff the president also pressed Congress Today to help with funding for the Veterans Affairs department. Its been a little over a year since the v. A. Was rocked by scandal over excessive wait times. He said hes still not satisfied with the changes hospitals have made in fixing veterans care. Ifill an uncle of the man who opened fire on military facilities in chattanooga, tennessee has been in custody overseas since a day after the attack. The uncle of Muhammad Youssef abdulazeez lives in jordan, where other relatives have also been questioned by authorities. Abdulazeez spent several months in the kingdom last year. In washington, republican senator john mccain asked the general tapped to be the next army chief about arming recruiters. I think thats complicated legally and there is issues involved. Well have to come to grips with that. What part of it can be resolved . Do you think they should under certain conditions be armed . I think under certain conditions both on military bails and in outstations, recruiting stations, reserve centers, we should consider it and in some cases i think its appropriate. Ifill president obama pledged today the u. S. Will do everything in its power to protect American Military members from attacks like last weeks. Woodruff a prosecutor in texas says its too early to tell what happened to a woman who died in Police Custody last week. Sandra bland was found dead in her jail cell three days after she was arrested. Her death was originally ruled a suicide, but authorities are now treating the case as if it were a murder investigation. Authorities also released a surveillance video, showing no movement outside her cell until medical personnel arrived on the scene. Ifill twoterm Ohio Governor john kasich has become the 16th republican to enter the 2016 president ial race. The former congressman is known for his record of fiscal conservatism. As chairman of the house budget committee, he helped secure a balanced budget deal in 1997. Kasich officially announced his candidacy today at Ohio State University in columbus, with his family at his side. I will promise you that my top priority well get this country on the path to fiscal independence, strength, and we will rebuild the economy of this country because creating jobs is our highest moral purpose and we will move to get that done cheers and applause ifill in other campaign news, donald trump lashed out at fellow republican president ial contender, lindsay graham, who has been critical of the new york businessman. Before a crowd of about 500 people in south carolina, trump called the palmetto state senator a total lightweight, and read what he said was grahams cell phone number aloud from a piece of paper. Trump said graham gave him the Contact Information years ago, when the two were more friendly. Woodruff a federal Appeals Court in chicago overturned some of the most sensational corruption convictions of former illinois governor rod blagojevich. Hes currently serving a 14year sentence after he was convicted in 2011 of trying to sell president obamas former senate seat to the highest bidder. Prosecutors could appeal the ruling or decide to retry blagojevich on the dropped counts. Ifill voters headed to the polls in small numbers today in burundi, where protests and violence dampened the turnout. At least two people a policeman and a civilian were killed in a string of explosions and gunfire that rocked the capital overnight. In spite of that, most polls managed to open on time. Opposition groups are boycotting the election in protest of the current president s decision to run for a third term. Woodruff a mass funeral was held in southeastern turkey for victims of yesterdays suicide bombing in suruc, near the border with syria. Crowds of mourners wept and shouted over the flagdraped coffins as they were laid out. 32 people died and 100 were injured when the blast ripped through a rally of Young Political activists. Meanwhile, turkeys Prime Minister announced the suspect had ties to Islamic State terrorists, but refrained from identifying the individual. Ifill dozens of mayors and governors from major cities around the world gathered at the vatican today to demand bold action on climate change. The summit was designed to increase pressure on National Leaders ahead of climate negotiations in paris later this year. Last month, pope francis released a landmark environmental encyclical, urging the world to do more to fight humaninduced global warming. Woodruff new Research Suggests older women with mild memory problems worsen twice as quickly as men. That was in a report presented today at an International Conference on alzheimers disease in washington. Women make up nearly twothirds of all alzheimers cases in the u. S. But scientists are still baffled as to why the disease disproportionately affects so many more women than men. Ifill stocks fell on wall street today after several disappointing corporate earnings reports. The Dow Jones Industrial average lost 181 points to close at 17919. The nasdaq fell more than ten points and the s p 500 slipped nine points. Woodruff still to come on the newshour the power of early treatment for h. I. V. To halt the spread of aids, american civilians joining the front lines to fight back isis and much more. Ifill patients, advocates and scientists are hailing new studies that show the value of getting aids drugs to people, early and often. The threedecadelong fight against aids has seen a series of breakthroughs in recent weeks, showing momentum in the push for an h. I. V. Cure. Yesterday, at the 2015 International Aids Society conference in vancouver, researchers detailed some dramatic findings. They confirmed that, for people with h. I. V. , starting treatments with antiretroviral drugs early did prevent aidsrelated illness and deaths. Until now, there had been concern that starting such therapy too early might increase patients risk of cardiovascular and renal disease. That news came on top of a Surprising Development as doctors at the conference described the case of a french teenager. The sofar unidentified girl was born with h. I. V. , and received antiretrovial treatment until she was six. 12 years later, shes still free of the virus. It appears to be the first confirmed longterm remission in a child infected from birth. People were saying that we were foolish dreamers, that we were even naive. Ifill and that followed word last week that the u. N. Reached its 2015 goal of providing access to h. I. V. Treatment for 15 Million People worldwide nine months ahead of schedule. They said it was too costly. But we have been able to demonstrate that they were wrong. And they were saying that the costs will never go down. Ifill the report also said that a onceunthinkable goal ending the aids epidemic is in sight, by the year 2030. So lets look closer at the growth of treatment, the push to dramatically expand it to unheard of levels and what these drugs have meant. Deborah birx is the point person for the government as the u. S. Global aids coordinator. She joins us from vancouver where the conference i still underway and Justin Goforth is with the whitmanwalker Health Clinic here in washington. He was diagnosed with h. I. V. Back in 1992. Dr. Birks, lets talk about these numbers, which are quite stunning. Were talking about a 48 decrease in h. I. V. Infections in children just since 2009. Thats in 21 priority countries. What is the significance of this . It really those that when we focus and work together, we can achieve amazing goals. So under the global plan that was launched just a few short years ago, it mobilized governments and communities to really move forward in an organized and focused way to have this dramatic change in the number of new infections in pediatrics. Ifill Justin Goforth, you were handson every single day dealing with this for some years. How does this play out in a Health Community which service so many people in a highly affected community . Its been an evolution with the he cannology and science around h. I. V. We needed to get to the point where we could have treatments that could be managed in the daily life of people we take care of. Thats why we are where we are and things are changing quickly. If you can get in care and stay in care on treatment, it is a manageable chronic illness. Ifill thats whats happened with you . Thats correct. Its been since 1992. In 96, i was taking 40 pills a day, five dames a day, had to be with a completely full meal, two times a day on an empty stomach. Where we are today, the majority of people take one pill a day and manage their illness very effectively and plan on living full lives. Ifill dr. Birks many of the findings in vancouver have to do with Children Worldwide where there has been great impact over the years, especially among the youngest. Tell us about the significance of how soon you begin to act and provide this medication for children. Well, both children and adults, so its been incredibly exciting to be back in van vancouver. As guns said, we had 19 years ago in this city the announcement of highly effective treatment. For myself and cry nations, thats when we were able to keep patients alive. So the patients that made to it 1996, if you were in the developed world, you were able to live effectively. That was extraordinary. To be back here 19 years later and hear, now, through the really groundbreaking trial that was done around the world, the start trial, it says if we start people early, they can live full and Productive Lives no matter where they are. So that theme of that conference which was one hope one world can finally be realized with this new trial results. And we are so excited to translate that science immediately into programs. Ifill part of your role dr. Birks was to provide antiretrovierls for 15 Million People by the year 2015 and you got there early. How did that happen . You know, that is so extraordinary because when u. N. Aids said we were going to get to 15 million in 2011, that was doubtful. We were excited about translating that vision into practice. I think the funding through the global fund and pet fire and new collaboration and partnerships between post governments and Civil Society allowed us to sprint in a way we didnt know we were capable of doing. So to say we have the last piece of the puzzle and the last tool that will really allow us to move and move back into the print mode to really reach people as quickly as we can, not only with effective therapy, but as justin said, a therapy that can be utilized as a community so people can stay on treatment and thrive. This really is a unique opportunity. Ifill Justin Goforth, in order to treat and provide this therapy, this wonderful technology, people have to be willing to take an early diagnosis as well. Has that changed over time . The numbers are not so positive here in washington, d. C. If you look over time our numbers actually are getting tremendously better. I believe we had about 500 new infections last year, according to the new data that was out, and five to ten years ago, that was easily 1,000 to 1500 or for new uninfections. Weve changed the number of new fections dramatically. Thats about getting a lot of people tested. We have lots of data to suggest its really difficult to change peoples behaviors, but getting them into care and on treatment actually doesnt just keep that person healthy and well for a life spap it also prevents them from infecting other individuals. Thats an hick torque marriage of two Public Health prevention and treatment alcoming together at the same time and having a manageable treatment was necessary to get to the point that we could use this as prevention. So thats what, i think is why were seeing a turnaround in all the urban centers in the United States but particularly here in d. C. Where we used to be seen as the worst of the worst. Thats not the case with our new numbers. Ifill dr. Birks, 2030, youre talking about getting to zero. What is the possibility of that and how do you get there . Were talking about ending aids as a Public Health threat, so we certainly want all our h. I. V. Positives, the 37 Million People living with h. I. V. Right now, to know their status and to thrive and to be on medication so they can thrive. To get there to the end is going to require us to bring all our prevention tools to the table and expand them in an appropriate way in absolute partnership with the community and i think weve been using the whitmanwalker example. You can see what that clinic and its Community Outreach has been able to do. We want to translate what the whitmanwalker clinic and others have been able to do in washington, d. C. To every city, village and Community Around the globe. You can see from what we just heard from justin, its possible. Ifill dr. Deborah birx, u. S. Aids coordinator and Justin Goforth with the whitmanwalker Health Clinic here in washington. Thank you very much. My pleasure. Thank you gwen. Woodruff tonight, an exclusive story from iraq on american citizens, civilians fighting the Islamic State group. Many are former u. S. Military, but some have never seen a battle before. Special correspondent marcia biggs reports. Reporter american boots are back on the ground in iraq, but this time its volunteers, u. S. Military veterans on the front lines against the Islamic State. And among them one woman. 25yearold Samantha Johnston was a private in the army for two years before she left to be a stay at home mom to her three children. With the Islamic State dominating the news, she says she sat in her North Carolina home, watching videos of their atrocities and felt compelled to join the fight. Something inside of me just snapped and i couldnt do it i couldnt allow myself to sit down and do nothing when all of these children here are in trouble and me and my family are just living happily in america. I couldnt do it. Reporter she made contact with other volunteers through social media sites. And three months ago, she packed her bags and flew to iraq, where she volunteered with the kurdish army, the peshmerga, in the war against i. S. She says shes become close to the kurdish soldiers in her unit, even listing herself on facebook by a kurdish name. They became my family. I plan to stay here as long as i can, as long as they need me to be here. Reporter she spends her days training for battle, but has not yet seen any combat. Back in her army days, her job was making maps for deployed units, but she never got the chance to go overseas. I really wanted to be deployed, but my unit never deployed. Reporter is that why youre here . Probably, its probably one of the many reasons im here. Reporter and shes not the only one. Officials at the u. S. State department believes that more than 150 americans have voluntarily traveled to iraq and syria to fight in the ongoing conflict. Im here as gelhat rumet. Im from the boston area. Reporter just last month 36 year old Keith Broomfield became the First American known to die while fighting i. S. , killed near the syrian town of kobani. The next village is right over there is isis. Reporter many of the volunteers we met are military veterans, like 29yearold jeremy woodard, who spent years fighting in iraq and afghanistan but struggled back home. It was hard to get a job. You can barely get a job at mcdonalds flipping a burger. They look at you, they see your resume, serving in the u. S. Army honorably, but they look at you like youre a hazard, like youre going to hurt somebody. Reporter when the Islamic State swept through iraq last summer, woodard also left family behind, jumping at the chance to get involved in the fight, in honor of his fellow soldiers who fought and died in the u. S. War in iraq. All those people got killed over here for fighting for a cause. I didnt want them to die in vain. Reporter woodards unit has seen some combat, fighting alongside the peshmerga. Back in april, they were able to establish this defensive line, after a fierce battle with i. S. Fighters, a force these volunteers say is one to be reckoned with. We dont recognize them as terrorists, we recognize them as an actual