[[voiceover]] every day, events sweep across our country. and with them, a storm of views. how can you fully understand the impact unless you've heard angles you hadn't considered? antonio mora brings you smart conversation that challenges the status quo with unexpected opinions and a fresh outlook. including yours.

. syria - it appears public opinion is not divided. latest polls are clear - six in 10 americans are against against military intervention in syria. doesn't matter if you are a democrat or republican. president obama has not explained why military action is necessary. with congress days away from a vote, law makers are listening to their constituents. and sheila macvicar found the folks back home had a lot to say. >> in the mountains in new york,

in the green hills, this town is home to about 15,000 people. it was once a booming oil town. it has a more colourful pass as a prohibition era boot leggers par adice. it is in the 23 rld district. people -- 23rd district. and voted for bush. in 2008 they went for barack obama and voted for republican congressman tom reed: he is on a listening tour, gauging views on us military intervention in syria. his voters are not shy telling him what they think. >> average american people - the regular joes and janes have a better sense of where the government has to go. we are sick of war. >> carl edwards is a county

legislator and vietnam veteran. there are a lot of vetterans in this room. >> you need to listen to the american people, not the bozos of the nsa and state department. you will not fix this by lobbing a few missiles into a third rate country. keep us out of war. we are sick to death of war. >> this is the hardest decision that has come in my tenure. . >> al-qaeda and muslim brotherhood will take over and will kill christians. >> do you want a primary fight next september? if you do, go ahead and vote for this. don't change your mind because i will see to it that you have a primary fight next september if you vote for this. i can't say it any stronger. >> strong words from david dekker another vietnam vet. >> everyone pointed out we have

had iraq and other conflicts before that. no more, we are done. >> doing nothing runs risks. eyes wide open, so we are on the same - there is a serious questioning of american credibility around the world as we stand aside. i'm telling you what the counterpoints are so that when it potentially could lead to a situation where assad feels emboldened, where iran feels emboldened because we are sitting on the sideline. that is a message - that is a credibility issue that needs to be dealt with. >> you have people in the room that don't agree on politics coming together saying, "this is bad." >> when it was time for a show of hands. >> all those in favour of authorising the use of force in syria raise your hand. all those opposed to authorising the use of force in syria, please raise your hand? >> the room was unanimous - no to intervention much.

>> phone calls, email, facebook and the town hall has been significantly overwhelm overwhelmingly opposed. >> people are passionate, they are concerned. when you are talking about milty engagement and men and women, sons and -- military engagement, and men and women, sons and daughters being put in danger. >> you pretty well threaten the congressman with a primary fight. strongly? >> to make him understand how i feel. it's a grave concern. we don't have all the information. some people pointed out we have benghazi, we don't have answers there. libya - we don't have all the answers there. >> i asked about the chemical attack. i am sure you saw the pictures.

>> i saw the pictures. it's terrible. bashar al-assad is a madman. he's going to continue to do what he wants to do. we do not need to be in another civil war where we don't know what side we are supporting. >> we have no reason to be in iraq. i'm not an namby-pamby on this. i served two years in combat, i know what it's like. so, it's not like i'm against all fighting. but i want - i want some - i want symmetry. i want a plan in place. there's no plan in place. we don't know what we're doing. our administration doesn't know what it's going. mind. >> if american interests are attacked, that's a total different situation that needs to be dealt with.

now, knowing what we know, and the risk that i see for it, i believe in my opinion, and when we cast the vote we won't go in. >> no vote from mr reed. he's not alone. decisions. >> he's not alone. a lot of organisations are tracking how members of the senate and house are feeling. at the moment the senate is pretty much equally divided. there's probably - it looks like they may get the vote. the house is a different story. here is what the "the washington post" found a couple of hours ago when they checked the numbers. leading no or no 204. undecided 143, and yes - that's a big 24. that's 371 members of the house. >> they are keeping a close

watch on the members and senators. polling in the us is different to polling on the ground in syria. is there any way to measure public opinion there? >> astonishing enough, the gallop organisation, an international organisation conducted a face to face poll, 123,000 interviewed in july - before the crisis developed. 50% of those interviewed said they thought the war would ask for another one to two years, and 47% of those interviews said if they could leave they would. >> unfortunately a lot are becoming refugees. sheila macvicar, thank you. >> next, the fight for better wages. why some critics say the school is setting the kids up for failure.

. now stories making headlines on america tonight. egyptian officials say interior minister survived a suspected car bomb explosion in cairo on thursday. a parked car packed with

explosives blew up. one person was killed. it's the first assassination attempt since the ousting of president mursi. >> what set off the rim fire in california's yosemite - it was a hunter. it is now mostly contained. >> in a one on one meeting president obama and his russian counterpart vladimir putin said a quick hello - 15 second quick. tensions between the two men, and edward snowden and the strike on syria. >> walmart workers took to the streets in a protest over pay. they want the retail giant to increase salaries to a minimum of 25,000 a year.

today's protest was not the first. several workers claim they were fired for speaking out. >> >> inside green came no washington dc from her home in los angeles to spread the word about walmart wages. like others circulating partitions she's backed by the uscw. >> what was your story? >> i worked for walmart for three years, i was severely injured and whilst injured i got a call from a brother from uscw and told me that he was making a change at walmart and i was all in. i knew that, you know, we was. >> green spoke to newspapers, appeared on tv and attended rallies protesting walmart working conditions. green heard nothing from her employer until she marched with thousand of walmart workers and

supporters to protest a new store in downtown los angeles. >> after speaking out about the conditions in my store. six days later i was term nated through the mail. >> you think you were fired as a reprisal for speaking out? >> of course. >> ms green is not the only one claiming that walmart fought employees. >> we support other workers and stand up for our rights. >> brandon garrett says walmart fired him for protesting at their headquarters. these employees say they were let go. >> i'm barbara colins from california. i'm here even though i got fired for going on a ulp strike, i'll fight for what is right. >> i'm pamela davis. i'm from richmond store. i was fired two weeks ago for

in. >> i'm alex from florida. back. >> walmart insists the employees were fired for reasons not related to the protest. a company official says walmart has a strict policy against retaliation and no associates were terminated for involvement in a protest campaign called our walmart. dan directs the newest campaign to protest the company's wages - making change at walmart. he put the former walmart workers on the front line. >> we have a right to protest, demonstrate, use our voice and power to alter and shift the free market economy so that it works for us. that's what we are doing. >> most walmart workers do not earn enough money to support household. >> we need jobs that people can

live on and enjoy the american dream. . >> our managers make anything from $50,000 to $170,000 a year. >> alex is the washington dc regional manager for walmart. at a store opening near vienna, virginia - he insisted lower-paid jobs lead to successful careers like marty. >> what was your starting wage? >> $8. >> $8 an hour. congratulations. again, it's not just a marty story. there are so many stories like marty's out there. we need to make sure that folks understand when we come to a community like vienna or lives. >> why target walmart when others pay similar wages and fast-food chains less. because, critics say, with wall

marts size comes -- walmart's size comes influence. >> walmart as 1.4 million employees and has a huge impact on the economy, the retail economy specifically. right now that economy is not creating jobs and opportunities for people working in retail. we want to change that. >> today ms green was back, protesting walmart's wages, along with former workers and supporters around the country. her hope is future employees can benefit from the sacrifice she made by speaking out. >> that report came from correspondent chris burey. >> the fight for a living wage goes behind the walls of walmart. bill joins us from the retail justice alliance. we appreciate you being here. we were talking about fast-food workers and their strike a couple of months ago, and now walmart.

what is happening? >> we are seeing a frontage of what i call the movement of the unemployed. that's what we are looking at. underemployed. >> that's right. it's a segment of the population that gets little intention. it's a segment that has part-time jobs, temporary jobs and has to put a life together using pieces of employment. increasingly. people putting together multiple part-time jobs. >> for the last 30 years with the structure of the economy, what has happened is the companies have narrowed a core workforce, creating a periphery, and that includes people like those we see in walmart, those that we see in the fast-food companies. and so what is happening is that this segment of the population is getting angrier and angrier because they can't keep up. they are bringing attention - direction. >> protests are the way to do

it, but we are seeing if from the top-down. the new labor secretary mr peres said he supported - not a particular wage - but supported the protesters coming out striking. >> it's fantastic, rarely do we have a secretary of labour speaking out for workers. it's good. the protests are insufficient if there's not organisation to sustain it. the protest is important. we know how this country operates - you have a protest one day and it's forgotten the next. the workers are looking for an increase in wages, organisation and the right to unionise. >> look at the organisation, the groups coming together and doing this. is there evidence that this is a union mann ipulation, to say to generate higher membership. it's a fair question.

>> it's a bias question. union mann ipulation - what is it is that unions exist to raise living standards of working people. that is not mann ipulation, it's justice. are unions involved, absolutely. if not, it would be curious. >> have workers made the case that their minimum wage needs to be higher and businesses can afford that? >> absolutely. what businesses have to understand is if they don't raise the wages, the question is who will buy the products? this goes back to the 1960s when walter ruther was given a tour of an autoplant and run by robots. he was asked, "what will you do when rob ots make the cars?" he said, "who will buy your cars?" >> have you seen pressure or openness by some businesses to raise wages to levels more

aligned with the minimum? >> historically yes. in the retail industry slowly. some companies in retail are willing to raise wages. >> on their own. >> on their own. the problem is as long as you have a big elephant in the living room - walmart - that has reshaped the retail industry... retailer. >> there you go. they set the pattern. we can win victories in smaller places. until we crack this one, until walmart understands that they have an interest in changing the way they relate to the workforce, the other victories are temporary. >> do we know how much is enough? people say raise you here, a dollar here, a dollar there. how much is enough? >> you look at the cost of living. you look at what does it take for a family of

four, thre three/four, to survive. the issue is not about the calculation, the issue continually raised is whether or not companies can afford it. >> thank you bill fletcher from the retail justice alliance. appreciate you being here. >> ahead - friction along the border turns deadly. angry communities blaming us border patrols is ahead.

. and welcome back. as the immigration debate hits up the boarder between mexico and the united states is becoming stained by the blood of mexican citizens. a report by the nation institute says that over the past five years unidentified us border agents fired over the fence at least 10 times, killing six mexicans. the agency responsible for policing the borders now, under heavy scrutiny - yet seemingly immune from prosecution. our correspondent reports. % >> jose was 16 when he was killed with a bullet through the head by the united states border patrol. nine more shots went into his body. as he lay on the ground in his

home town in mexico. the bullets, fired from the top of this cliff in arizona travelled through an international boundary and an illegal vacuum. the agent has never been . sidewalk. the report indicated he did not have a weapon in his hand, a rock or any type of nothing. he had a cell phone in his pocket. >> his brother was shot in the centre of town. he would meet him to help mop the floor before closing.

that night he never made it. >> jose was shot to death on the street corner. the walls on the doctor's office are riddled still with bullet holes. the border patrols explanation hinges on the fact that they say their agents were threatened by somebody throwing rocks on this side of the fence. standing here the first thing you ask yourself is could a 16-year-old threaten someone on top of a 20 foot cliff, and on the other side of that fence? whatever took place here that night therefore video cameras there which recorded everything that happened. but the border patrol and the

fbi refused to share that surveillance video. so we are left to piece together the clues. from the night jose died the police report describes border agents pursuing two menace they climbed the fence back into mexico. at the same time, on the street below the fence, this man was walking home from work. >> where were the agents when you saw them firing? >> so it would seem the agents

meant to fire at the fleeing men. a questionable use of force to begin with. jose was just walking down the street as the boys ran away. >> attorney roberto took us to the spot the agents fired from on the us side. >> there is no way that the officer that was on top of this hill was in any kind of danger. first of all, i don't think you can hurl a rock from where jose antonio was, over an 18 foot fence, which is pure steel. >> this was 15 shots fired into and at a young man who was walking down the street. how do you describe that? what is it that took place here? >>

at best, it's negligent homicide. at worse, it could be murder. >> jose's death is part of a disturbing new trend - us border agents shooting across the line to kill mexican citizens in their own country.

>> this woman's son was killed by an agent in 2011. % >> the us government closed the investigation. selma was never contacted. in 2012, this man was picnicking on the banks of the rio grande when gunned down by agents. he died in his 9-year-old daughter's airports. >> juan was shot two months earlier. in 2011, in tiuana a witness said jose was killed or using his cell phone to record an agent beating a migrant.

and sergio was shot between the eyes under a bridge. in each case the border patrol justified the killings, saying they were threatened by rock throwers. getting them to speak on the record about anything proved difficult. hi, bill, i'm calling from al jazeera english. we are in the area now. would we be able to arrange an interview and a ride-along with an agent out here? >> we sent emails, about six weeks ago. why is that? >> why is that? >> right, it just seems a little opaque. i'm trying to understand why the request was declined.

. >> what's happened is the border patrol, a large organisation, they are not like a police force in the same community that deals with upset residents that are upset and vote. it's a population that almost everyone is going to be kicked out and wind up in mexico. because of that, there hasn't been a way in which they have to modify their activities. there's almost no oversight, compounded by an idea that it's part of the national security. when someone looks at jose antonio's case, this is not security. >> the full report on cross border killings airs sunday night an faultlines >> when we come back on america tonight - we have access to a place few americans have been.

the story there and amazing

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finally - shooting in the korean war ended 60 years ago. the conflict between the two koreas simmers. recently the north korean government granted an american journalist access to the secretive nation to tell the story of daily life in north korea. here is mark edward harris. >> 2005 was the first time i stepped foot in north korea and it was very sur eel. whenever i arrive somewhere i try to go in with an empty cup. coming in from the airport i was fascinated to see daily life going on. when you first arrive the people have suspicion - who are you, what are you going to do, will you go in with the freedom to say, "let's stop here, let's shoot this." it's difficult.

>> but as the days go by that i'm with the people taking me around, and i speak some corian, they get more relaxed and i'm able to shoot more and they are a little more hands off. the people are cordial. i think when you treat - i think the key thing is if you treat people respectfully, you get that back. it would be very dangerous for me to engage locals who speak english in a political discussion. they would not be free to really say what they think, if they thought something other than the dear leader or the great leader is great. it would put them in danger. i would not want to get into that discussion. those discussions have to be in a different forum. they would ask all the time, you

know 'where do you live, what is it like there?' they were interested in the outside world. and not afraid to ask those questions at all. you'll see that the people are not just robots, marching to a single tune. there are still serious issues, but the daily life going on - we want to photograph families, they are proud of their kids, concerned about their kids doing homework, getting good school. they are very proud of their school system there, and the people well educated. i think they have more of an awareness of the west than we for. outside the capital, in a couple of cities, i went to some schools. visits. obviously they put the kids in

the best outfits they had and put a little stage performance on for us. for kids, you do see a purity that would be nice if we all held on to a little bit longer. i'm really trying to - as i say, go in with an empty cup and shoot what i'm seeing. i'm trying to get as much access as i can to the entire country. that is not easy. the biggest breakthrough for me was 2008, with the new york phil harmonic. the deal was, when they were invited, that they could invite the journalist they wanted to have, and we would not be restrained from shooting what we part. it gave me the most freedom to

get around. ean, i have lots of shots of the monuments and things - that's what they want to show. it's the people shots that mean the most to me. >> it is the people shots indeed. that collection of photographs coming to us from mark edward harris. that is it from us on america tonight. if you would like to comment on the stories, log on to our website. you'll be able to meet our team, preview the stories we are working on and tell us what you would like to see in our nightly current affairs program. join the conversation on twitter or at our facebook page. have a great night. see you tomorrow.

>> welcome to al jazeera. i'm thomas drayton. let's get you cause up on the currently stories. president obama is still trying to get congress on board for a military strike on syria. the president's military advisors says he has been making phone calls while at the summit. vice president joe biden met with the group of lawmakers in the white house situation room. mr. biden inn is also working the phones trying to drum up support for military strike on syria. we now know what caused that massive fire in