Guantanamo harrowing descriptions written inside the prison. Homeland security, a public divided whether washington is doing enough to keep the country safe. Al Jazeera AmericaFirst National poll on national security. This is al Jazeera America live in new york city. Im tony harris. In three hours time president obama deliver his sixth state of the Union Address. For the first time hell be laying out his legislative goals before a republicancontrolled congress. Well have a look at what is coming up. First a power grab in yemen cap two days of turmoil in the yemeni region. Houthi rebels storm the president ial building and kill two president ial guards. The president came under cheltenhaming. In a nationally televised statement, they blamed the houthi to enact better reform. Who controls the government now is largely up to debate. The yemenis official residence came under attack making hadi a prisoner in his own home. Witnesses say it was largely between houthi and elite guards. The president s unwillingness to negotiate led to todays crisis. Our country is suffering a domestic level. Many of the internal forces in terms of the Political Party and are not living up to the degree, the level the current challenges. They are not addressing them responsebly. Todays assaults were carried out as negotiations between president hadi and the houthi leadership were supposed to get under way. Now some believe the way forward requires president hadi to step down. The only way for to maintain that is to push a leadership, one that is locally and internationally accepted, which does include the houthi and the president as well. Not everyone believes that hes able to maintain stability while keeping the houthies at bay. I think it is very realistic to keep in mind the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister, hes young. He has more popularity than hadi and sees the middle ground ground. Houthi rebels controlled parts of the government since september 2014, weakening hadis rule. To many tuesdays takeover of the president ial palace is symbolic of who is actually running the nation. Even as president hadi appears to be safe in his home, the Republican Guards protecting him now have no back up. Their headquarters have fallen, and rebels control their weapons supply. Standing behind president hadi after holding an emergency meeting today. James bays is at the United Nations with more. Reporter the Security Council actually meeting as fastmoving developments were playing out on the ground in the yemeni capitol sanaa. In the past the council supported mediation efforts and threatened the use of sanctions. There are very few other options open to the Security Council and thats why when they finally made a statement it had words of condemnation but no new action. The members of the Security Council, and president hadi is the legitimate Authority Based on election is. The members of the Security Council emphasize that all the parties and political actors in yemen must stand with president hadi. In an odd quirk of timing at the same time the new yemeni ambassador was presenting the credentials to u. N. Secretary general ban kimoon. He was appointed by president hadi. Many now are questioning whether president hadi really controls the levers of power in yemen. President hadi has had Broad International support but his government has been forced to fight battles on two fronts. Jonathan betz is here with more on yemens power struggle. Yes tony, a lot changing quickly. Lets look at the rebels who are trying to derail yemen. Houthies are competing for control there. Theyre part of the shia subset and ruled part of yemen for a thousand years until the 1960s. But season years ago the houthies formed an arm group and have been fighting for control ever since. The two groups do not Work Together because theyre from opposing islamic sects. The houthies do have ties with hezbollah in lebanon and many suspect that iran also gives those rebels weapons. So why should Americans Care about all this . Well alqaedas branch in yemen is very active, and very dangerous. It was behind the shooting at Charlie Hebdo paris and was behind the underwear bomber in 2009. Now his former leader also inspired the Boston Marathon bombing suspects and the fort hood gunmen. Since yemen arab spring up rising in 2011 the United States has strongly backed its fledgling democracy but as this crisis unfolds many worry that u. S. Is losing its hold on a crucial ally in the middle east. The Justice Department has charged two yemeni men for conspiring to kill americans living abroad. The two were arrestss in saudi arabia and then handed over to u. S. Custody. Japans Prime Minister said saving the lives of two japanese hostages held by isil is top priority. A video shows the two men kneeling in a desert in orange jumpsuits. Now to washington where president obama is preparing for tonights state of the Union Address. Republicans took control of the house and senate, and the president held a surprise Oval Office Meeting this afternoon with four people who wrote letters to him. Theyll be sitting with the first lady during the speech. Mike viqueira, first of all good to see you. What will we expect to hear from the president tonight. This time of year is very special. Everybody is in the same room. Everybody is listening and there is roadblock coverage across the board. A lot of pageant try and a lot of ceremony. You look beyond that, and these two sides the republicans and president obama are on a collision course. Just today we saw the president issue the sixth and seventh veto threat. Congress has only been in session for two weeks. The republicans want to demonstrate to their base that theyre in control. Theyre passing legislation to roll back the fordable care act and ease legislation on pipeline construction outside of keystone. That was the subject of one of the veto threats today. Meanwhile, the president is touring the country and the with an unconventional roll out giving a glimpse to his speech before hands raising taxes on the rich, and really appealing to the democratic base. It is going to be an economic stage tonight. Its going to be the real substance, whats announced and rolled out right . Absolutely. And the white house and the president are eagle for tap whats in the economy. As a resurgence in the economy. All throughout the president s term over the last six years hes always sought the bright spots and otherwise been a dark economic picture. Now he has legitimate good news to point to in terms of economic growth. Youre going to see the president talk about the hot political topic the lack of income the lack of job growth continuing tight labor markets around the country. Were talking about a republicancontrolled congress. Were talking about the final two years of the presidency. What is it that you think that he can maybe the conversation he can start tonight with his speech. He said hes going off on offense. Hes not shying away. You see the president butting heads not just in recent weeks but over the course of last year. You can look at this several ways. One way to look at it is that the president is putting down a marker for negotiations to come on issues where they may be able to agree like taxes. Mike viqueira for us. Thank you. Many of the tomorrow topics in the president s speech may lead to part of the debates in 2016. Libby casey the president will be proposing several initiatives, but clearly hell be facing plenty of opposition from the majority. Absolutely. And because the president has issued veto threats and rolling out elements of his state of the union speech republicans say hes being obstructionist. Hes creating gridlock, talking about issues that theyre not interested in. Theyre trying to paint him as the one who is being difficult. Heres the tone that Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell took today. I think any president in this situation has across. He can sort of act like hes run forgive office, or he can focus on the things that we have a chance to reach an agreement on. Now some of the areas that the republicans dont like, the path the president is going down include that middleclass tax break proposal, and also Free Community college. They dont like the way it would be paid for. Democrats, on the other hand, say look, the republicans have had a chance to work with the president. They have not done so over the past number of years and so its time for the president to forge ahead. So libby what are some of the issues here where the congress and this president actually can find agreement . Agreement it sounds a little doom and gloom but there are places they can find that agreement. One is trade. And if the president talks about trade tonight lets watch to see who in the chamber is interested, who is applauding, and who might get up and give him a standing ovation because a number of republicans are on board with what the White House House when it comes to fast tracking trade deals deals with europe and the asiapacific region. Democrats are concerned that they have issues with some of the labor aspects of it as well as environmental aspects. Thats a place that they may be able to work with republicans. There is cyber security. A lot of concern in washington after the hack of sony and the concern of consumer data after the hacks on home depot and target. Now corporate taxes that that is an area that everybody in washington says there could be agreement, but because there is a roll out of tax proposals the republicans may be less inclined to come to the table and negotiate. Libby casey. Thank you. Domestic issues are expected to dominate the president s state of the union but mr. Obama is likely to talk Foreign Policy. Al Jazeera America and Monmouth University wanted to see where the u. S. Stands when it comes to security. Reporter after the paris attacks a few weeks ago the al Jazeera AmericaMonmouth University poll asked americans if they believe a terrorist attack is likely to happen in the United States in the next few months. 73 of americans believe it is likely. A terrorist attack like paris will happen in the future. Breaking it down. 28 saying an attack is very likely. And 45 of americans believing it is somewhat likely. When asked if the government is doing enough to prepares the u. S. Against attacks on u. S. Soil, 44 believe that the u. S. Is doing enough. And 49 believe government is not doing enough. When asked about the top concerns facing families, job security and healthcare cost every day bills and terrorism they were all related to finances. Terrorism came in 16th, 1 said it was their biggest concern. The implication is that the president is wise to focus on domestic issues as were expecting him to do tonight. A lot of numbers there. More to come. Thank you. Much more ahead on tonights state of the Union Address. Our Political Panel will join us. Were expecting the first excerpts from the president s speech coming here. Up next, on this program guantanamo diary the first book published by a a detainee being held at the facility, and well reveal who will be sitting with the first lady at tonights state of the union and why people in washington called them skutniks. Two and a half years after the massacre at the movie theater. Dressed in regular clothes accused killer james holmes rocks back and forth in his chair. Holmes is on trial for the july 20, 2012, rampage when he stormed into an aurora, colorado movie theater. 12 people were killed. Another 70 injured. Two and a half years later the question is did james holmes know right from wrong when he armed himself like an assassin and open fired inside the theater. The defense claims did he not know the difference saying holmes was in the throats of a psychotic episode during the shooting, which is where he pleaded not guilty during one of the deadliest gun violence in u. S. History. While he will stand front and center thats not the only question for jurors. If you dont believe in the Death Penalty you wont end up on this jury. Theyll have plenty to shoes from. An unprecedented 9,000 people have been summoned. The selection could take four months. The trial could a last until october. I trust jurors to make the right decision. If jurors have concluded that the prosecution did not do its job the way it was told it had to do its job then thats the system at work. However the system works out in this muchanticipated trial for people like brian beard, who lost his friends Alex Sullivan that deadly night justice can only come in one form. The only way that alex will receive justice is death. You fight fire with fighter. It someone takes an eye it cant an slap on the wrist. You cant. It is an groundbreaking memoir by a guantanamo prisoner. In it he describes two long years of for torture. Tony, mohammed has been at guantanamo longer than nearly any other prisoner. His lawyers worked for seven years to get it declassified. They say hes innocent and should be set free. From behind guantanamos inif a miss walls hisinif a miss walls come this diary. Still visit accounts of abuse remain. Interrogation 24 hours a day. I was living in terror. He said his captors took him out on a boat and made him drink saltwater. I believe it was directly from the ocean. It was so nasty i threw up. Later he said the abuse continued onshore. They stuffed the air wean my clothes and me with ice us cubes from my neck to my ankles whenever the ice melted they replaceed it. He went to afghanistan to join fight necessary what had been an u. S. Backed battle against the u. S. Sovieted regime. That group became alqaeda. He cut his ties with them in 1992. Ten years later he was locked up in guantanamo. He was accused of taking part in a failed blot to bomb a los angeles airport but he was never charged with the crime. He said that the evidence is thin and tainted by torture. They should let him go home. They have no evidence. He is innocent, and they should not be holding an innocent person. The aclu is also calling for his release. Weve long sought for his freedom. We hope with the publication of his book those effort also come to fruition this year. He has been unlawfully detained, torture, and suspected to really terrible abuses for over a decade, and now is the time to set him free. The Justice Department has appealed his release and the Defense Department spokesman today said that he can appear before a review board. His attorneys say that the recent releases for several guantanamo prisoners give them hope that he might be freed soon too. His book is published in 20 countries. I spoke with his editor, and he said that he did a lot of fact checking, and he feels quite sure that this is an accurate account. Lawyers want a reduced fine for bps role in the spill of 3 Million Barrels of oil in the gulf of mexico. We have more now from new orleans. In the final and most critical chapter bp is facing the largest penalty for causing the worst offshore spill in american history. I think that the fine as its set up, 13 billion is still a huge amount of money. I think that there will be discretion on the judges part to hit him for the maximum amount. A judge already found bp grossly negligence for the disaster. Im not speaking for bp, but i would think that they would say we have done more than our share already and that the fines should be somewhat lower than the absolute max and it should be focused on particular issues that we think are still outstanding. Not necessarily on building new resorts in florida. Bp has spent more on 40 million on clean up and settlements. But under the clean water act it still faces fines on the oil spilled. While its unknown how much oil leaked it was estimated a 3 Million Barrels. During tuesdays hearing the government showed dramatic images of birds covered in oil as part of their opening argument. Its important that they pay the maximum penalty. Not because bp defense it, but risky behavior and cutting corners is unacceptable. For more than 20 years the nonprofit has monitored the activities of the oil and cass industries. He expect bfs attorneys will argue because the price of oil is down they should pay less. What about the high price of oil for the last four and a half years since the disaster. We think that theyre fully capable of paying the maximum penalty, and i think the last thing that anybody in the public is sympathetic to is an oil company pleading poverty. Reporter the judge will use a series of factor regarding the fine. Most of the money will be used for Coastal Restoration ending the penalty phase of bp. Jonathan martin, al jazeera, new orleans. A landmark of freedom decision the justices ruled on whether prison systems can restrict the length of beards inmates can grow for religious purposes. It was one of several decisions made today. In an unanimous decision, the justices ruled that a muslim inmate in arkansas, gregory holt can grow a half inch beard, and that the beard does not pose a security threat. The court also declined to hear two cases. One is a win for big banks and a loss for retailers. The issue is socalled swipe fees. The fees that banks charge stores when a customer pays with a debit card. The justices let stand a Lower Court Ruling allowing higher limits on those fees. The justices allow lawsuit to go forward on private contractors kbr and halliburton who worked in iraq and afghanistan.