welcome to al jazeera america. i'm del walters. these are the stories we are following for you. a former defense secretary, starting a war of wards. robert gates taking aim at the white house in a new tell-all book. a deadly helicopter crash in the united kingdom, killing four u.s. servicemen on board. and the poverty struggle in america, many struggling to meet their basic necessities. ♪ former defense secretary

robert gates lead the pentagon during two administrations and two separate wars, now he is taking aim at his old boss, president barack obama. rosiland jordan takes a look. >> reporter: at the engineer of 2009, u.s. president barack obama told the nation it was time to renew the fight against the taliban in afghanistan. >> i have determined that it is in our vital national interest to send an additional 30,000 troops to afghanistan. after 18 months our troops will begin to come home. >> reporter: but behind closed doors, the former defense secretary says the president waffled about fighting a just war. robert gates accuses white house staffers of undermining president's obama's resolve, by

criticizing karzai, and the idea of a troop surge . . . >> reporter: u.s. news reports about gates memoir suggests the book is as much about settling scores as talking about his 45 years in government. he also has harsh words about joe biden . . . >> gates accuses white house staffers of micro managing and being clueless about the realities of war, and he admitted that he at first was opposed to the raid that lead to osama bin laden's death in may 2011. >> former secretary gates is above the fray. first of all he knows he'll never serve in washington again.

he sifshed honorably for a number of administrations on both sides of the isle. maybe who investigated robert gates before he was selected for these jobs knew what they were getting. >> reporter: he called biden one of obama's closest advisors, but given that gates is almost 70 years old and officially retired, it is possible he doesn't care what anyone thinks. rosiland jordan, al jazeera, washington. our white house correspondent mike viqueira is in washington. mike what is the latest response from the white house. >> well, you heard rosiland jordan say it appears that gates is about settling scores, we might add he was a cia chief under bush 41. so a long time grinder, known as

a team player, and all of that just being smashed. settling scores, or utter rage, and scorn for not only what happens in washington as a whole, but for congress, describing his terms before congressional committees as utterly ridiculous grand standing going on time after time. but it is the joe biden criticism that is gathering the most attention. we do have a response from the national security council . . . del a day such as today. every week on wednesday the president sits down with the vice president for a private lunch on, never in the history

of this administration have they opened it up for press conference, today they are ping waiting the point that they are making in this statement, they have opened it up for video and still photographer's image. as far as the president, they say that the president -- the white house really taking the high road, hayden saying that the president appreciates all of the input enhances his options and things of that nature. so the white house sort of trying to not feed this fire, but it certainly has taken washington by storm. >> mike it is also fascinating in the sense that there was a time when vice presidents had nothing to do, now with cheney and biden, they had something to do and now they are the focus of

tell-all books. >> right. you look at joe biden his long experience in senate, as chairman of the judiciary committee, and the foreign relations committee, the was the point man on iraq, certainly a more high profile role to say nothing of his intentions for the race in 2016, and how that will effect him. >> mike viqueira at the white house thank you very much. in this iraq government forces say they are retaking parts of anbar province. the violence in fallujah threatening to undo gains made by u.s. forces years ago. imran khan reports. >> reporter: as a standingoff between the group islamic state of iraq and the levant, and progo groups, tins, the

humanitarian situation gets worse. >> translator: government services aren't provides. there's no oil, gas, or petrol. >> reporter: progovernment groups have called on the tribes to force the al-qaeda groups to lead. >> translator: i call on them to take action and we are with them, we stand beside them constantly and support them. the army is ready, but we want them to take the initiative in order to pull the rug out from under the feet of those evil people. i call on them to unite and to take a stance to prevent a deterioration in fallujah.

>> reporter: an interim deal has been struck. and isil fighters not wanting to surrender, a ground assault may be the only option level. imran khan, al jazeera. it is day 11, al jazeera, still awaiting the release of our three colleagues who have been detained inside a cairo prison since december 29th. nicole johnston has more. >> reporter: the network is demanding the release of their colleagues. they are accused of spreading lies harmful to state security and joining a terrorist organization, al jazeera rejects this. >> to suggest that our reporting was bias or colluding with one side of the story is outrageous. there is no justification whatsoever in continuing to lock up our team. >> reporter: al jazeera english maintains that its coverage has

been fair and balanced. >> what is the situation security wise across egypt peter? >> reporter: here is one of peter greste's last reports from cairo. he is talking about the go's decision to declare the muslim brotherhood a terrorist organization. >> if over all what the government was trying to do in this decree was to try to create order and stability, to try to clamp down on what they say is acts of terrorism, then i think it could well have had the opposite effect. >> reporter: peter greste is an award-winning correspondent who has reported across africa. >> this is a stage in a process. >> reporter: he previously worked for the bbc. mohamed fahmy has reported for cnn, the "new york times," and read cross, and he is also an author. and baher mohamed seen on the right, is a prelance producer who has also worked for a

japanese television station. >> once again we're calling on the egyptian authorities to release them immediately. >> reporter: al jazeera english has consistently reported both sides of the egyptian story. a street campaign which called for the former president to resign, it was in the square on june 30th when millions of egyptians protested against morsi, since then it has also looked at the growing popularity of the head of the military. and al jazeera english has always covered the ongoing demonstrations by people opposed to the coup and the crackdown on the muslim brotherhood. >> since the removal of president morsi last july, the egyptian authorities have systematically repressed every media that they regard as muslim brotherhood supporters, and al

jazeera is seen as the main target of this harassment campaign. another two journalists have been detained for the last five months, a verdict in the case against one is expected on thursday. the staff from al jazeera english are being held separately. they have been interrogated by state prosecutors, but they have not been charged. nick coal johnston, al jazeera. we are following breaking news coming out virginia. the u.s. military confirming a helicopter down off of the coast there. rescue efforts are ubway for five people who are in the water. this in norfolk england an investigation always underway into a deadly u.s. military helicopter crash there. four air force crew members were killed when their chopper went

down on tuesday. that team on a training mission at the time of the crash. helicopter going down in a bird sanctuary in the coast of norfolk england. three years ago today, gabby giffords was shot during a campaign event in arizona. the shooter now serving seven consecutive life terms. he wrote an op-ed saying quote . . . she goes on to say, we are not daunted. coming up next on al jazeera america . . . ♪ >> these are just some of the items at this year's consumer's electronics show. we'll take you to vegas to check out some of the's -- items on

display. and john siegenthaler going one on one with stephen colbert. >> they offered me a chance to anchor a newscast that focused on serious news -- >> uh-huh. >> in-depth journalism, unbiased reports -- >> oh, come on. this is al jazeera! patients. does big pharma impact the doctors in their decision to not offer alternatives to the pill here? >> i think that there is evidence that if you have interactions with pharmaceutical companies, it does impact -- and there's actually pretty good studies based -- that have looked at physician prescribing patterns and interactions with big pharma. i think one of the luxuries i have is i'm in academic medicine, and we have a policy that we don't interact with pharmaceutical companies.

so i hope that gives me a better perspective. and i think a lot of these doctors aren't having these conversations with their patients because i have countless patients who come to me and said they have never heard of iud's. so i think there is some impact of that. we know there's an impact of that. and it makes it challenging, you know, to -- to have a completely unbiased view even though we as doctors like to think we have an unbiased view, there has been evidence that shows that they do impact us in some ways. so i think it's important for us to go out and educate our providers too. there is no one size fits all birth control, and there are a lot of options that work for women. >> we want to take a closer look, are there unique

challenges facing women in minority communities when welcome back to al jazeera america. i'm del walters. taking a look at our business headlines at this hour -- the bulls on wall street having trouble gaining traction in the new year. the dow down 65, coming off of yesterday's rally when the stocks had their best day of 2014. payroll firm adp reporting 238,000 private sector jobs created in december. that's the best reading in 13 months. november figures also revised upwards.

the report is a prelude to the closely watched jobs report. in less than two hours we'll learn more about why the federal reserve decided to pull back on their stimulus program. policy makers surprising the financial world in december. central bank is set to release the minutes of that meeting this afternoon. butter is back. the american butter institute saying consumption hitting a 40-year high in 2012. 25% more than just ten years ago, butter's bounce comes as consumers turn to natural foods. for many the american treatment is dream is out of reach. washington now trying to close the gaps between the haves and the have nothings. >> reporter: this is the america u.s. politicians like to talk about, one of upward mobility,

promise and wealth. >> the wealthiest nation onneth. >> but 50 years ago president lyndon johnson had a different perspective when he declared a war on poverty. >> we shall not rest until that war is won. [ applause ] >> the richest nation on earth can afford to win it. >> reporter: that was five decades ago when 19% of the nation lived in poverty, but then the war was working. the rate started to fall down to just about 11% in 1973. since then it has climbed now back to 15% of the population. that translates into 46.5 million people who struggle for the basics of life, including 16 million children. this is one big reason for those numbers according to economist richard wolf. >> by far the most important has

been the decision of major capitalist employers in the united states fundamentally to leave the united states, to go to other parts of the world where they can pay much lower wages, where they do not have environmental rules and regulations that they have to subordinate their activities to, where they can get to be blunt, better profits than they can here. >> reporter: it has also translated into a growing wealth gap. the so-called 1% have grown by 86%, while the incomes of everyone else has grown at just a little over 6%. the wealthiest reaping the benefits of growing corporate profits and a booming wall street, but on main street, wages have barely increased. president barack obama will try to change that by proposing an increase in the minimum wage. he has promised that before without success. he'll try again, another small

battle in the 50-year old war yet to be won. patty culhane, al jazeera, washington. president obama calling income inequality the defining challenge of our time. in vegas lots of people are looking for the next big thing. now the destination for nerds and non-nerds alike. jacob ward is in las vegas. any site on the next big thing? >> reporter: del this is really a sort of rock concert for as you say nerds and non-nerds alike. mostly for nerds like me, i would say. but it's the big names, cannon, sony, panasonic, the tv makers who founded this show, but this year there has been a lot of new players arriving. people who really only raiseded funds via kick starter, auto

companies, and a the big thing has been drones. a company debuted a drone that cost just around a thousand dollars, and allows it to carry a full sized broadcast ready camera. it's the kind of thing when we went to them and said can we use these thing for our broadcast, we discovered there are all kinds of regulations that would get us huge fines because the government doesn't know how to deal with this thing. giving people the ability to fly a camera into almost any scene. so that sort of category, which no tv maker could have imagined when they founded this show several decades ago has become the talk of the town. as electronics get smaller, the materials get lighter, the batteries get better, you are

seeing drones becoming one of the big names at this show here. is data max ever going to make a comeback? and also what is the it thing that everybody is talking about this year? >> never will. one of the things has been 3-d which was hyped so heavily has been abandoned by a couple of major testify makers this year. i love it that all of us rolled our eyes at 3-d turns out we might have been right. so even so often it is as much about what isn't showing up here as what is showing up here. >> are you seeing more advertisers going to this show? >> every advertiser is really looking for the kind of opportunity that 165,000 industry affiliates gives them. so you are seeing all kinds of touch-screen devices, and puzzle

games that are shared via mobile phones used in the service of advertising. so that a big component of it. for the car companies this is as much as advertising themselves as innovators rather than having to talk about dull stuff such as miles per gallon. >> jacob thank you very much. up next on al jazeera america, a very serious story, tragedy on the slopes. the grandson of the man who cofounded vail dies in a massive avalanche in colorado.

welcome back to al jazeera america, i'm del walters. here are today's headlines snp updating our breaking news coming out of virginia, the u.s. navy confirming a helicopter down now off of the coast of norfolk, virginia.

five people were on board, and two have been taken to the hospital and two are said to be in a life raft, one remains unaccounted for. this is the second crash of a military helicopter in as many days. in norfolk england, an investigation is also underway into a helicopter crash. four air force crew members were killed when that chopper went down on tuesday. thousands of afghan migrants protesting outside of the israeli parliament today. israel says they are economic refugees. the twriel of egypt's former president, mohammed morsi delayed again today. morsi's lawyer and supporters speaking out against the delay. more than a dozen people are now under arrest. some might say that al jazeera america has now officially arrived.

john siegenthaler going toe to toe with jonathan colbert last night. thomas drayton has more. >> reporter: from the start stephen colbert rpulls no punches. honing in on what many americans have long associated with the al jazeera brand. >> al jazeera america is part of the al jazeera media network -- >> which is part of the al-qaeda media network. [ laughter ] >> but john siegenthaler made the case for any newest kid. we can bust some myths here. al jazeera is one of the largest news organizations around the world. we have 12 bureaus in the united states. >> lead story tonight?

>> syria. >> okay. miley cyrus has bleached her eyebrows john. [ laughter ] >> what is your angle? is it liberal or fair and balanced? >> we just cover the news. >> reporter: in the end of the roast, a serious question and a serious answer. >> how do you keep people from being afraid of this? >> all i can say is watch what we do, and i think if they see what we do on the air and the stories we cover, i think they'll understand we are doing serious news. [ cheers and applause ] >> well, john, i think -- >> reporter: thomas drayton, al jazeera. >> and you can see the whole interview at colbertnation.com, and you can catch john siegenthaler here at 8 and 11:00 pm eastern time. authorities have identified

a man killed in an avalanche in colorado, anthony seibert who is the grandson of one of the town's founder. it is the second death in colorado in the last two weeks. and i'm dave warren. we are looking temperatures which are climbing a little bit. after what we dealt with yesterday and the day before, we're seeing the numbers start to climb. still a bit windy though. a cold day today and chilly tonight with these wind chill temperatures down into the single digits, in fact a few below zero, but not nearly as cold. this is the warm air coming back, and it will eventually work its way into the northeast, but the cold air creating

lake-effect snows. talking 30 inches or more of snow. an additional 20 inches forecast today. so a tremendous amount of snow with this cold air going over the great lakes. temperatures will drop into the upper 20s. we're getting some rain falling into this area here where the temperatures are down below freezing. that poses the risk for wintery weather across the southern plains. the temperature is just above freezing, not the case here across the southern plains, tonight oklahoma, texas, arkansas, and missouri looking at that mix forming. this is an area of ice that you could wake up to tomorrow morning. del? >> okay. dave, thank you very much. and thank you for watching al

jazeera america. i'm del walters in new york. "the stream" is next. sex, scandals and politics. 15 years after bill clinton's impeachment trial, are americans more willing to give cheating polices a second chance? our producer, raj is here. and looking at the comments so far, it's interesting, no one has talked about this topic.