Was arrested after the suspects opened fire. The speed of the response by the International Community to the threat posed is under further scrutiny. Officials say the coalition is not doing enough to help fight isil. Sometimes crowd end up aggravated the mistakes made picture their individual members. Joey is here about how productive collaboration is. People often silence themselves ford to follow the leader. Astronomers are reporting some big discoveries far out in space. Eight new planets have similar characteristics to earth. Cooley grail of science is Oscar Nominations were released and they say the list of nominees lacked diversity the oscars so white tells it all. We begin with europe on edge. Inch inch the threat from fight evers returning home. Belgium Security Forces said the nighttime raid in the city left two dead and one man severely wounded. Officials say the man who had been under surveillance were part of a terror cell that was on the verge of launching a large scale attack. The serjs were made as a part of an investigation into an operationperational cell of about ten persons. Some of whom had come back. The raid was one of several Counter Terrorism operations. Security Officials Say more than 350 bell junes had gone to syria to join the fighting. Thats the highest number per capita. Anxiety has grown, as french authorities continue their essential for a fourth suspect in connection with the attacks in paris last week. And spanish officials are looking into a possible cell in madrid after learning that one of the suspects spent time there last month with his girlfriend who fled to syria. Joining us now, is dr. Jim walsh and Research Associate at Mit TechnologySecurity Studies program. Jim, always good to see you, although under these circumstances really a scary stuff in europe. It ayer poos what we are seeing in europe is exactly what we feared. Yes, and i would say, its both better and worse. I know thats not a very satisfied thing to say, but yes, they have returned. They attempted to execute attacks. Unsuccessfully in belgium, so police were able to kill these two before they were able to do any damage, or kill anyone, mott so in france, i would say this thats bad people predicting but you know this is not 9 11, this is way closer to what was in my own backyard, literally, my backyard in water town these are folks that buy guns, they dont hijack a plane, they dont have hitech explosives, they buy guns and then they shoot up an office, they shoot off grocery store, or in this case, attempted to attack a police station, tragic, awful, buzz three are soft targets. This does not rise to the level of sort of a thing that would threaten governments. So it is awful, and to be condemned but i think we need a little perspective. As long as they are limited to individual soft targets but if you have multiple cells conducting multiple attacks, at some point, fear can become paralyzing. You are absolutely right, you put your finger on the number one concern here what is terrorism, the about creating terror, creates fear. It is spot as if they can fight and win a straight up war you execute smaller attacks the grips and paralyzes the civilian population, leads them to overreact, and make choices they shouldnt make, and thats how they gain strength, so it is all about fear, and thats why i i condemn these, they are awful, and tragic, but i want to underline, more folk will die in violent crime, or the flu or in Car Accidents than happens here, that doesnt mean we shouldnt work really hard to stop it. We are going to address that topic, but talking again about these fighters and this is the good news, that these guys the way it seems tock working, may return, held for a week, and then watched the question becomes is when there are that many going, you have more than 1,000 in france. And theyingenled we 150 in the United States. They start coming back, what do you do . You track them, hope they dont attack. Yeah, i hear what you are saying i think the u. S. In a better position, we have more resources, we have a lot going on here and other laws may be tougher. We have laws that say if you provide support you can be thrown behind bars. Should the laws be tougher. The french are actually pretty muscular on this, so this is not that sort of false debate between being tough on terror i. Or some it, the french are really tough, i think the problem for france is they had them under surveillance, they were in prison. And then they sort of dropped off the list so oi dont think this is about passing more laws it is about sort of figuring out what they did wrong, and you put your finger on what for europe is a difficult problem. These numbers are always a little shaky here. Put it is 3,000, 5,000 folks who may be enganged in jihadi activity, and it takes at least a i cording to one analyst, went five lives to track them, because you are tracking them physically online, audio, and so then you multiply 25 by three to 5,000, and you are getting into big numbers. Not very encouraging. Its a problem. And belgium already saw a french algerian who had fight with isil, he then went and shot and killed four people. Last may, that without thousands to be just inspired but now there is a growing concern that isil isnt just focused that european Security Forces have received indications that isil is beginning to direct european extremism to launch attacks. Well. I think we with should be cautious about this. Essentially it is sunni extremism. And theres a lot of groups who all would like to take credit for this, under this lose umbrella of extremism. Again, these guys went over to syria, the folks in belgium, they came back but i wouldnt call them highly trained. I wouldnt call it sophisticated, but yeah, it is a problem, the food muse is when they cross a border espebblely now, and they go to syria, then that shows up on the radar screen and so i think they will be increasingly under surveillance, i think there will be more cooperation about their travel. So thats all to the good, and then the question will be, whether these countries are going to overreact to this and actually feed the problem. I think at the end of the day, france, like the Boston Marathon bombing is paris going to be paris, yes, it is, is belgium going to be belgium, yes, it is, we need to honor the dead, but we also need to act prudently. As you mentioned, isil taking well, hasnt taking credit for this, but its been attributed to isil. Yes. So is that a worst case scenario, that we with have these groups competing with each other. You know, yes or no. Its a pad scenario when they are competing. The bad news is there are a lot of folks splinters in smalling groups who all have bad intentions that would like to do bad stuff to us. The good news is this is not al quaida 2,000 where you have a centralized leadership. Operating freely. Exactly. And exscout much more sophisticated. So it is bad, i dont want to minimize that, and it is more of a challenge, because soft targets you cant really defend every grocery store, so there are big challenges but frankly, this is not about eliminating risk, it is about minimizing risk, and if you have to choose between two bad things i would rather have smaller groups doing smaller stuff, than one big group. The Obama Administration just released five yemenis from guantanamo, one to astoria, they have been held 13 years without charges. Senator mccain and others are prop posed to the release. To relief more prisoners they say roughly 30 of the one whose have been released have returned to the battlefield the deft department counters that by saying no, 90 live peacefully around the world. I know this group that was released are supposed to be under survey lance, but how big of a risk do you think they might pose. It is a great question because it relate today what we were just talking about, we with dont live in a zero risk world, so, yeah, theres a possibility. Not that part of it is, and this is what the senator does not talk about, these were extremists who then go and rejoin the fold, although i think a lot of them are ten years older, and weaker. But theres also the potential that they didnt do inning and would then have a motivation to strike us, but you cant hold people forever. Without trial until they die because you feel they may do something. For me, what i take my cue from you saw a recent ad by a military officer who was in charge of get mo this is the guy that ran it, and he says we cant continue to do this. If you are on the ground it is costing 3 million per prisoner. Definitely. Always good to have you with us. Thank you. Turning now to iraq and the continuing threat posed by the Islamic State, many iraqis are criticizing the u. S. For not doing enough. Parliament speaker told reuters. Until now our feeling is that the International Support is nonconvincing. Only a combat level, the country is depending on its own capabilities. That despite months of u. S. Air strikes and kept the northern kurdish region from being overrun. Also, after a recent visit the American Special envoy in the campaign against isil, the iraqi Prime Minister release add statement calling on the coalition to increase the tempo of the effective air strikes on Islamic State physicians. We are joined from the director of the center of middle east centers good to see you, the u. S. Has made it clear that we wont be sending troops. Just months ago, the Prime Minister of iraq said he didnt want those troops and wouldnt allow them to help. But now iraq is asking for more assistance. So is what i do that way want that under all these circumstances the u. S. Can give . Well, i mean, i think iraq is in a very difficult and fragile situation. Other the summer, the summer that just passed the country came very close to breaking apart, with the expansion of isis they were on the outskirts of baghdad, so i think this repeated call for greater assistance is a cry for help. It reflects the very fragile sense today, without increased american air such port, and weapons, sales that the country is not going to come back on its feet. So i think. You look at with the military has done, there are currently plans to send 10,000 m 16 rivals, 12,000 sets of body armor, 250 armors vehicled a boost in the number of military trainers but again, we are still hearing that iraq feelses lice thing fighting on its own right and i think all of this highlights Hooper Darius the situation is. Lets remember, that when isis with a few hundred fighters defeated effectively a 20,000 man iraqi army in mosul, that was very revealing in and of itself. It gives you a sense of not only how broken the society is, but how broke. Military is, and so these supplies these demands for greater support, i think all of that is just sort of highlighting how long it will take for iraq to get back on its feet. How it needs greater support. I dont think the quite should be giving them everybody it dend mas. Is making sure that the Iraqi Government shifts course and starts to reach out to the community, starts to deal with with the underlying so there has to be leverage here, that the United States can can still have, to make sure that they are on the road to sort of reconstruction and rehabilitation. Particularly with respect to the 20 Iraqi Sunni Community that has been alienated and has allowed for isis to reach into that community, and claim to champion their grievances. Blue one with important question, is the use losing leverage . Every report is that iran is increasing its role in helping iraq fight it has depp ployed thousands it is regularly supplying equipment to the military, sup effort powerful arming the shiite 34 lish shas and the press reported that iran has effectively taken charge of iraqs defense, do you think thats fair . Well, i think it is largely true, and thats because there is no understanding army. A lot of the heavy lifting the fighting happen been done by these militias that are in one with way or another tied to the guard core. So thats a big part of the reality of what constitutes iraq today in terms of filing back, but i dont think it is a zero sum game, i dont think its the u. S. Having influence over the government, and the Iranian Regime having no influence. Lets not forget that iran and iraq are neighbors. There will automobiles be a relationship there, and the government wants to have a relation are ship with the west with, with the United States. So i think one with has to sort of view iraqs situation in that context. You mentioned the government having to deal properly with its sunni constituency. Earlier your was with talking about the danger of iraq breaking apart. Because their power base is in the area where sunni isil is strongest. And they are calling on the u. S. To train them and to give them weapons separately from the government thats similar to what the curds wanted so again, are we back, is this another step toward splitting the country into areas. Well, hopefully not, i think the parallel that i would sort of point to, that i think is more relevant is what happened in iraq in around 2007, 2008, when al quaida had made deep end roads into iraq, it had sort of was banking on and sort of gaining support from members of the community and the United States was able to through a process and a policy known as the Sunni Awakening arm various tribal groups and get them to turn and switch from fighting the earn manies to fighting al duda, that was broadly successful, of course it came with prompts of inclusion in the political system. Something that the government refused to do, have. Of them sort of turn ainto al quaida, and some of them sympathize with isis. So jobbing this means the breaking up of the country theres International Support for that, but you know, i think one has to just acknowledge that the sectarian war, and the scars of that are very deep rooted. There is a long term plan, and problem thats going to take a lot of hard work to get it right look cartoonist little broader, the wall street is reporting that it isnt working as well with, and that isil has gained ground, and our interests diverge, in both iraq the syria, iran is standing by syrian leader bashar al asaad, and has throughout the war. What would it mean for the region if the role of the u. S. Diminishes . Well, it means that irans influence sort of extends and expands. It means those allies of the United States will be significantly weakened. I think the big question here, you are right to point to the get of syria syria in many ways is the center of all this had it not been for the chaos, the war crimes in syria, iraq would not have suffered the plow that it did this past summer with the rise of isis so i think the bigging missing link, and unfortunately, i think will come back to haunt president obama. Is his broad failure to do the right thing on syria from the beginning and his on going reluctant to get involved and support moderate rebels. Effectively means that country continues to implode continues to break apart, and continues to allow iran to determine the pace of events not only in syria but throughout the broader region. I think this is something that will come back to haunt president obama always good to have you request us, thank you. Now for more stories from around the world. We begin in nigeria, where shockenning images show razed homes and destroyed towns after boko haram attacks. The pick sures show more than. Hundred damaged or destroyed houses in just two of the 16 towns attacked in North Eastern new yorker jeer yeah. On thursday a surprise visit the and city, where boko haram is very active. With thousands of people displaced by the recent attacks. Nigeria will hold elections in less than a month. Next, we head to the plain where pope francis weighed in on the free speech debate while traveling to the philippines. The pope condemned the attacks on the Charlie Hebdo newspaper but he also said that free speech needed to have limits. Especially enwith it comes to religion. The pontiff said freedom of expression should not be used to offend others. We end in cuba, starting friday, more americans will be allowed to travel there, if americans certify their travel to cuba is for the purpose of any one of 12 approved categories including education or religion, they can go without first obtaining a license. Also makes it easier for Telecommunications Providers to do business with the island nation. And americans are now allowed to bring loam up to 100dollars in the alcohol and tobacco that means the ban on cuban cigars is over. And thats some of what is happening around the world. Coming up, a much deadlier threat to the worlds population, than terrorism also the problem with with group think, how it can negatively impact everything from governments to businesses. And our social media producer is tracking the top stories on the web. Antonio, people are calling out the academy for the last of diversity in this years oscars. And while you are watching let us know what you think, join the conversation on twitter at a. J. Consider this, and on our facebook page. Al Jazeera America presents the best documentaries i felt like i was just nothing for this young girl times were hard doris had a racist, impoverished setting had a major impact but with looks charm. I just wanted to take care of my momma. And no remorse. She giggles everytime she steps into the revolving door of justice she became legendary. The finer the store, the bigger the challenge al Jazeera America presents the life and crimes of doris payne australia, a massacre at a school in pakistan, more terror and isil. And the recent attack in paris. But for all the attention these events receive, the actual deaths associated with them, are just a drop in the bucket compared to all the deaths from violence worldwide, which in turn are just a tiny fraction of global mortality. So are we over