were discriminated. only three of them are alive to receive the recognition. those are the headlines, and consider this is next. you can always get the latest news on aljazeera.com. venzuela. is most of what we thought we knew about eating saturated fats wrong. the controversial call to land a bachelor before their bachelor's degree. i am antonio morrow. welcome to "consider this." here is more on what's ahead. russian has an exed the region of crimean to haday after the u and european union imposed the toughest sanctions since the cold war. a defiant vladimir putin said crimean has always been an inseparable part of russia. >> eleven days and still no answers.

the united states formally asking for malaysia for more tra parents see. thai official say they detected a twisting flight path but they didn't share it because they weren't asked for it. >> thousands of riot police are standing guard in venzuela. >> protests continue at the main plaza that has been the heart of demonstrations. >> the princeton mom who gained fame after telling ivy leagues, "marry smart" t "love just happens" it doesn't. >> we begin for the search for the flight 370 missing since march 8th with 239 people on board. thailand's military released radar information that showed the boeing 777 headed west away from its flight path on saturday morning. sources told nbc news that

change of direction had been programmed into the plane's computer at least 12 minutes before the co-pilot good nighted air traffic control. meanwhi meanwhile, the search area has been expand today nearly 3 million square miles, about the size of the continental united states, reaching from kazakhstan in central asia to the depths of the southern pacific ocean west of australia. why theories range from an on-board fire that disabled the crew and passengers to a hijacking and landing at some secret location, here is what we know: the flight departe kuala lumpur. a system transmission at 1:07. some time after that, a new flight path was programmed into the plane's on board computer. at 1:19, the co-pilot transmitted "all right. good night" to malaysian air traffic control. at 1:21, the plane's transponder

shut down. at 2:14, the flight was captured on military radar, then, though the akar system had been disabled, a satellite received a feint final signal at 8:11. if it were still flying, it would have run out of fuel. for more, joined by colleen keller, senior analyst at metron which provides advanced air traffic management products and services and investigated the june follow-up 29th accident happenance of air fraunings and editor of flying magazinence an editor of flying magazine . >> a new flight path was programmed into the on-board computer as this latest report would have it, this happened just before the last control? >> good evening, antonio. this is something that i wrote about last friday.

it's something that apparently, the investigators were not looking seriously at and until i came out with the piece and there were a number of pieces that followed on after that. the point is that when you program something in to the computer that they call the flight management system or the f.m. 4 -- f.m. 4 s, it can drive the autopilot to make deviation based upon what the computer programming language is. they flew to a series of way points like checkpoints in the sky that are virtual. there is no checkpoint. nothing that's other than a computer recognition of where they are in space, and they went to very specific checkpoints that only a pilot would know to go to and only pilot who is really familiar with the fms and only a pilot would know to do that. i have heard people say it was easy to do that kind of programming into the fms. it isn't.

i have nominee a dozen jets. all had slightly different ways to do that kind of programming. none of them are easy. they take a lot of stud. >> it's difficult to reprogram. reprogrammed? >> well, we can deduce that by the fact that the airplane flew a pathway that went from way point to way point. it's something that's not conceivably a coincidence. it had to be done purposefully. and it had to be done by using the fms. >> col colleen, how would you compare what's going on here in this tremendous search over this enormous area with the search for flight 447, which crashed in the atlantic with 228 people on differences. >> yeah. the key difference here is that for the air france crash, we had indications prior to the loss of the airplane that something was going very wrong. the akars data that they were sending was showing us that the flight deck computed had shut

down, the pilots were hand flying the plane. >> gave us good information to go on to plan where we should be looking and what kind of scenario might have resulted in the crash of the plane. here, it could be a target that's trying to evade us, trying to evade detection or a target that's literally on autopilot. we don't know. and so that really makes the trying to determine how to look a lot more difficult. >> in talking about this transmission of data, if the akars data had been turned off, i have read that there are signals that the plane would send if it had crashed? >> yeah. well, what you are referring to is the emergency low indicator transmitter or elt that is activated when an aircraft impacts the ground. it's not clear that an elt would activate if it impacted the water and it wouldn't operate under water. so that signal that you are referring to wouldn't be present for a target under the water. >> i see. robert, is any of the data consistent with one of the theories that it's out there that this was an accident that

could have involved an electrical fire or a cargo fire on board that plane? >> absolutely. my colleague, lesa al bip put forth the three it was a fire that was limited to the avionics bay that could have selectively taken out some of the communications radios and it could have rendered, incapacitated the pilots. if that were to happen, then it's conceivable that the airplane could continue to fly on autopilot while the pilots were either incapacitated or dead. >> said, it's really hard to playoff that a series of very improbably coincidences could add up to that. >> colleen, what do you think? >> i would have to agree with that, being a pilot, myself, i can't see. >> just seems like its way out there to think that all of those things could happen in sequence. >> now, robert, is everything we have learned so far consistent with the malaysian government

with the flight path change had to be deliberate? >> absolutely. we don't know much about the mystery but we know the pilots deliberately, whoever was at the controls and i am assuming it was the pilots based upon the evidence we have. one of the pilots or both of the pilots. most likely one of them and the evidence that we have is that they controlled the airplane, they selected these way points, put them in the fms, let the auto pilot fly that flight plan that was drastically different from the one they would have destination. >> colleen, you are a pilot. is there any chance that the flight's communication gear was shut off in any way that wasn't intentional? this is not something that happens accidentally? >> no. i can't see that it was accidental. not at all. >> robert, another scenario that's been discussed is the possibility that the pilot deliberately crashed the plane, but then we have heard, you know, it traveled for hours after they -- after that transponder was shut off. so, it doesn't make that much sense. i take it that you agree.

theory? >> you know, i don't. and the suicide theory is one that i have a problem with because we have seen suicides with the silk air crash of a 737 and with the crash of an egypt air 767, both in the mid to late '90s. in both cases, the pilots simply pushed the nose forward and crashed the plane into the ground or in the case of the egypt air, into the water. in both cases, there were none of these kind of mac natio machinations if a pilot wants to crash an airplane, he can do it. >> colleen, wreckage of the air france flight was found within days of the crash, but it took two years to find that plane. given everything, all of these mysteries that we are dealing with here, are you concerned that we are never going to find out what happened? >> we need more information. if it is under water, the under

water beacons are coming off. we could hear them if we knew where to put our towed finger locators but the ocean is so big that we can't even use that reliable sensor. in the air france crash, they didn't detect the target because both week ons were disabled in the crash. that was one of the reasons why it took so long. they did a very thorough search right off of the bat for those beak ons but the beak ons back. >> terrible mystery, colleen keller, robert, thank you for joining us to give us your thoughts on what may have happened. thank you. >> thank you. switching topics to the crisis in engineukraineand russian president vladimir putin formalized the take offer with a treaty signing in the kremlin tuesday and boasted to his audience that the strategic peninsula had returned to russia uniforms seized a military mapping office near crimean's capitol, seimferopol. schifrin.

good to see you. shootings? >> reporter: antonio, this could be a turning point, a very dramatic development because it was the first shot fired, and so many people have been worried about this invasion, this occupation by some 30,000 russian troops according to ukrainian intelligence, turning into a war. it didn't happen in part because those russian troops didn't have to fire a shot. the ukrainian troops were explicitly told that they should not fire a shot. and so what happened today as far as we can tell and as far as the ukrainian military is saying is that on a base about a few miles from here, we were there all afternoon, there are two towers that overlook that base. at some point, there was an exchange of fire. we see on one tower, evidence of the ukrainian soldiers shooting up at those russian troops, possibly snippers. we saw a few what looked like russian snippers leaving one of those buildings. we saw evidence of ukrainian troops shooting at that building and, of course, evidence

according to ukrainian military of the russian troops firing in to the base. by the time we got there, the russians are completed controlled the bates. they were flying the russian flag and a neighbor who was there right before us told us that the ukrainian soldiers had all been basically shipped out of that base in a single truck and no one knows where they have gone. at this point, another example of the russian troops expanding their prince using pro-russian militias to do that. afterward, they were guarding the base. when we arrived. and the real solidification, not only politically thanks to putin but on the ground physically of their control of crimean. >> i can only imagine the kind of pressure on them now. what happens to them? >> i think this is the key question moving forward. they have a truce between ukrainian troops and russian troops but it only lasts until friday. at that point, the ukrainian soldiers will likely be given two choices: one is to pledge allegiance to the independent state of crimean. >> that's essentially asking

them to defect from ukraine to russia because their allegiance will be to the pro-russian government which will be presumably in a matter of time part of the russian federation. the other option is to leave crimean entirely and to go back, quote, unquote, into ukraine. >> that's something that the ukrainian government, the ukrainian military finds slightly humiliating almost like someone leaving with their tail between their legs and they do not want the image of all of those ukrainian soldiers leaving on trucks en masse back to ukraine. but frankly, antonio, they don't have many options. right now, all of the cards are being played by russia and by president putin, himself and the ukrainian military has not shown the willingness or ability to actually fight back in any other way other than to take orders and to hunker down. >> a quick last question given some of the pictures we have been seeing. you bring up russia. is vladimir putin the most popular man in crimean? >> let's put it this way.

i predict in 9 months there will be many years in vladimir. there is a huge popularity tore putin right now. a huge thankfully necessary among the majority of people for reuniting crimean with russia. there is a minority population that is deeply concerned about this. the minority muslim tatars concerned what happened to their grandparents when the soph yes, it is deported them might happen to them again. putin said that's not going to happen. the majority of this peninsula is embracing their russian future. they are applying for russian passports. they think they are going to be russian citizens. as one put it, it's like we are coming home, back to russia. >> al jazeera america's nick schifrin in simferopol. appreciate your time. thank you. for more on russia's crimean takeover, i am joined by william courtney who served assem bats dor to kazakhstan. great to have you on the show. how dangerous do you soo he this

outbreak of shooting between what are obviously russian troops and ukrainian forces that being? >> it creates a new level of happen. it's too hard to say whether it's going to be really dangerous or not. remember what happened in crimean was an overwhelming surprise assault by russian forces in unmarked uniforms. and so the ukrainian military never really had a chance to organize itself and respond, and so stayed on its bases. now, this could change some people's minds, but still, the russian military has overwhelming control over crimean. so, it would be quiet risky for crainian soldiers to start firing their weapons. >> vice president biden was in warsaw on tuesday and he condemned when he called russia's blatant violation of international law. he promised poland's prime minister u.s. support. what can and should the u.s. do to help our nato allies in

eastern europe that it's not doing already because i can imagine that leaders in poland and estonia and lithuania and latvia must be nervous? >> yes. one thing that can be done which already has begun to happen is that the u.s. has sent f-15 and f-16 combat fighter aircraft to the baltics and poland to reinforce them and it has sent nato airborne aircraft to provide better awareness over the air space of ukraine and that could help ukraine, for example, understand if russia is about to launch an attack against eastern ukraine. but over the long-term, what needs to happen is a more determined western effort to basically try to deter russia from aggression into eastern ukraine and into other areas. >> now, putin doesn't seem to be terribly concerned about any of

this. and an exing crimean seemed widely popular on tuesday and as we heard from nick schifrin, it was also popular in crimean but nations certainly aren't lining up to formally recognize what's happened here is that a problem for putin? >> yes. in the august -- sorry august, 2008, russian invasion of georgia, russia invaded where it had some presence. it arranged for those two areas to be declared independent countries but not even bellarous would agree to recognize them as independent countries would agree to recognize them as independent countries. it could be the prospect for crimean. very few countries will recognize crimean and crimean financially. >> and vladimir putin also compareddrenal kosovo in the lien 9090s when the nato supported the balkan reamingons,

against serbia allowing kosovo to become independent. he said the west was cynical, using double standards to not see it his way. he's seriously misinterpreting history. isn't he? >> yes, he certainly is. in kosovo, remember, the serbs had been using a lot against the al bainians. they wanted independence and wanted to be able to protect themselves from serbia. serbia was just not reducing the violence against them. and so that led the west to support an independence vote by kosovo. what's happening in crimean is russia has invaded the whole area and even though over a third of the people in crimean real cra it looks like it is out of the days of bresnev where 97 percent of the people shortupported it.

>> putin is not toning down the rhetoric. ambassador, good to have you on "consider this." >> thank you. >> coming up, venzuela is getting new pressure to find

as the death toll from the month-long protest in venzuela rose to 29 on tuesday, the president made a show of force sending national guard and heavily armed security forces to an opposition strong hold. it's hurling opiniinsults including references to a series of

american horror movies involving a murderous doll. >> the chuckie of fascism like burning. >> joining us now is the former president of peru, one of four former south american heads of state calling on both sides of the conflict in venzuela to adhere to non-violence, democratic principles and the new rule of law. he is a consulting professor at stanford and he joins us from there. president, good to have you on the show. despite president maduro's best efforts, protesters returned on tuesday night and opposition leader lopez's wife told protesters her husband's message was i call on the country to keep the pressure on. the government is putting on the pressure. how concerned are you? where do you think this violence is going to go? >> to be very candid, i am very

concerned. up like what we had in peru at the beginning of the '90s , when we had also a dictatorship of fujomori, i am afraid that we have a long way to walk to recoop rate democracy, freedom, freedom of expression and independence of the democratic institutions. i would like to call on president maduro when we have done when my colleagues, a nobel prize president, president of brazil, president of chile and myself, we made this pronouncement to call on both

sides to recoop rate the sense that democracy needs to be en rooted. it is not sufficient to be elected democratically, assuming that democratically. i said it's not sufficient. we have the normal responsibility to govern democratically, to respect the independence of the institutions. you cannot silence the opinions that were different from what the government has. you cannot violate human rights there are already 29 young men and women who only guiltiness is

to scream for freedom for democracy. >> i was going to quote that. you said in the pronouncement: we condemn these actions and urge the venzuelan government and all parties and political actors to establish a constructive debate within the framework much universally recognized democratic principles. do you think there is a chance that that will happen, that the debate will come together office is there anything? anybody in the region that can get madduro to seriously sit down? because certainly many of the presidents in south america have been very silent. >> well, let me be very frank. ambiguity and silence in front of a position that is an evident violation of human rights in

venzuela, the silence and ambiguity could be part of complicity. not only the acting head of states for the region for whom i have enormous respect, but, also, the oas, the organization of american states, who supposedly have the responsibility to supervise the quality of democracy in the region. and has also the responsibility to implement the inter american democratic charter that was signed on september 11, 2001, in lima peru and was signed for everyone. today's head of states cannot close their eyes to what has

happened to one of our brothers country within our hemisphere. i hope that the world will rise their voice independently within the region or outside the region. i hope the united states will be a little bit more firm. i am not calling the united states to intervene. it's our relationship. but let me tell you, democracy does not have a nationality. just as much human rights does not have skip color. so, it's a universal value. >> right. but what should the united states do? because maduro is talking out of both sides of his mouth. on one side, he is proposing a peace commission on to president obama. but on the other hand, et cetera

saying that the u.s. is behind the protests and his foreign minister is calling secretary of state kerry a murderer. so what should the u.s. do? should they impose -- should the government impose sanctions?? >> well, you know, the united states is part of the american hemisphere and it's a country that has always been a leader of certain democratic values. amend i respect that a lot. but watch with the silence that could be misinterpreted intlfrp we are seeing all of thi rhetoric. he is calling his opponents chuckies, a rememberance to the film of a red-headed doll called "chuckie" another opposition crazy chuckies and made an appalling joke about the man he barely beat in the presidential election last year.

he called him chuckie lucky and the punch line was that he had been sexually assaulted by a large gorilla while visiting africa and was lucky to survive. it's almost impossible do believe this stuff. >> president maduro is prisoner of the venzuela armed forces. so you can from there extrapolate with intelligence what the next step could be if the world does not raise their voices. it is a time to tell people who use the door of democracy to kidnap the institutions. and set up the scenario for the re, re, reelections under the

name of 21st sent tree socialism. i do not understand what that means. so, the social responsibility of the world to keep up those values. now,ty encourage the young people, men and women of venzuela not to stimulate violence but don't silence your voice. use all of the mediums, and i hope that the leaders of the world will raise their voice in the name of democracy because the voices of democracy are much louder than the tanks of ukraine and much louder than the dictators or the populace governments in our region. >>

peruvian, former peruvian president, it is good to hear your thoughts. we very much appreciate you joining us tonight. time. >> thank you very much to you. >> straight ahead: is college mac making income inequality worse? president bush declared the iraq war over eleven years ago wednesday. we will run down the costs. on mrs degree as in mrs., women getting a husband before graduating used to be a joke. but the old idea has new support. >> these protestors have decided that today they will be arrested >> these people have chased a president from power, they've torn down a state... >> what's clear is that people don't just need protection, they need assistance.

>> the ukraine crisis as tensions esalate >> russia for all inents and purposes showing no signs of backing down. >> crimea's vote rejected by the west... >> here in crimea, a lot of them say the west should just butt out... >> new santions looming >> mr. ambassador will those sanctions work? >> things could easily get out of control >> will crimea break away? what's russia's next move? and how will th u.s. respond? >> we're making it clear that there are consequences for their actions... >> for continuing coverage stay with al jazeera america your global news leader. can you start feeling less guilty about eat that double bacon cheese burgher with a fried eg g on top? the link between saturated fats and heart risks may not be as

certain as we all thought. 80 stutties tracking half a million people found. >> no evidence that eating foods high in saturated fat leads to heart disease, heart attacks or high cholesterol. we are joined by dr. abdul asayed an assistant professor of epdeemology. good to have you with us. we have heard forever that we shouldn't be eating butter. we should shouldn't be eating fatty foods. does this change that? >> uh-huh. so the hypologist dis that it was the silver bullet for cardiovascular disease came into prominence in the 1980s. we have been hearing that for 30 years now. the study tells us that there really is no silver bullet. part of the reason is when you do studies like this, by definition, you have to compare different types of people. right? so it's what i like to call the reduced fat peanut butter problem. jeff, when they decided to make did he have jiff decreased the amount of fat.

>> but added other calories. >> decreased fat by 75% but increased the amount of sugar about 50 percent. you had for calories in the reduced fat peanut butter than you did the other. >> that's one of the things this study raises is that maybe that's one of the problems is that we cut these fats out but we increased car brchlt s and sugars and that that caused problems on its own? >> exactly. if we are trying to understand how saturated fat may play into the problem. it's unfair to say you took out the saturated fat and replaced it 2 all other things like processed sugars. so the jooir jury is still out. the question about what people should be thinking about, not get burgers. >> the steakhouse? >> i would go with you. but one should be moderate. really what this suggests to us is our diet in relation to our risk for cardiovascular disease, it is about balance. it's trying to decrease the amounts of unhealthy things together in concert.

just picking one and writing that is not enough. >> found it didn't seem to increases the bad cholesterol by that much. >> that's true. one of the issues with studies like this is you are cor comparing different times of people, so they may be hard to compare. >> hard to have a controlled study. another thing it brings up is that maybe all of those oils we thought were good for us like olive oil and vegetable oils that might increase our good cholesterol that they may not help that much either? >> what the study did was took the studies in the literature and tried to come out with a quantitative summary of what those studies said. so there are three different types of studies here the first are randomized. they gave people supplemental and said is your health better because of the supplemental? if from there, we have observational studies. two different times. people say they eat a lot of these oils. people who had their blood measured and we looked for them in their blood. the problem is all three of

these types of studies had issues. we know the supplements, themselves, first are not as bio available. our bodies don't do as good of a job as getting the good nutrients out of the supplemental that we are taking than out of food. dosing is wrong. when you pop a pill of cod liver oil, it's different than eating a slab of fish. >> better to eat the fish than the supplement but raising questions about whether eating much? >> that's true, but again, we run into this problem of people just being fundamentally different types of people. who are the people eating fish different in a way besides the fact that they are eating fish from people who don't? really, the jury is still out. -- >> bottom line, we are still terribly confused. >> we are stillies confused. i think the best way to enter berrett study is that there is no silver bullet. we need to be balanced about the diet we eat. we know a number of different things may be flawed. we have good information to suggest that, saturated fats as well as carbohydrates.

how do we minimize these things? >> moderation? >> moderation is the key. >> all right. great to have you with us. >> thank you. turning to education, in the 1980s, the u.s. was the undisputed world leading in the percentage of people graduating from college 86% of us viewed higher education as a vital part of the american dream. today, that dream is slipping away as the u.s. has fallen to 14th in the world when it comes to the percentage of americans graduating. a long-time educator said college is no longer the quite equalizer but instead, a cast system that fosters greater inequality. for more, we are joined from syracuse, new york by suzanne metler, a professor of government at cornell university and the author of "degrees of inequality: how higher education sab to your knowledge" you say colleges have gone from facilitating upward mobility to hindering it. some would say the scales have

been tipped in favor of the ? >> it's good to be here with you antonio. it's a complex story. it is at a time case that before world war ii, it was mostly people who came from privileged backgrounds that were able to go to college. but then, the period from the gi bill after world war ii up through pel grants in the 1970s changed that and we began tha think of college as a path for upward mobility and building the middle class the. these days, it's still their ticket to opportunity. but too many students don't graduate or even if they do, they are in such debt that they have trouble repaying those loans and some are worse off than if they had never done to college in the first place. >> one of the things is a big problem for funding for state universities that account for almost three-quarters of our graduates has dropped and you say young adults have become the victims of a perfect storm of

political winds. >> yes. that's right. 73% of american college students today attend the public universities and colleges. and in the middle of the 20th century, at the same time that the federal government was really expanding student aid policies, at the same time, then, the states were investing as never before in their public universities and colleges and more and more people, including from low and middle income backgrounds were able to to go to college at the state level. but since then, since particularly in the early'90s, the states have been cutting back and the amount of state contribution per student has dropped by 26% and as a result, these universities have had to turn to students and their families asking them to pay more in tuition. so tuition has gone up by about 113% since that time as well. it's still the -- there is still the most affordable colleges

around. but these increases can mean the difference between enrolling and not enrolling or between staying enrolled and dropping out for students. >> how much of the problem has to go to the universities? how much of the clem is responsible for this? because i looked today and i saw when i went to law school, it cost me about $16,000 a year in today's dollars but this year, $55,000. >> that's crazy. >> right. well tuition at universities and colleges across the board has increased more quickly than inflation. and economists will explain this as the increase in costs to skilled labor. there are similar reasons that have made healthcare, for example, increase in cost. there is only -- there are various other kinds of occupations where you can replace people with technology and make costs cheaper. but that's not the case for the

most part in education. so costs have gone up. but the reason why costs have increased so much in public universities and colleges is because states are contributing so much less than they did in the past. and that's really the changed. >> but the problem has also existed in nonprofit universities like the one that i went to law school at. and to be a devil's advocate here, you bring up healthcare, some of the arguments the healthcare costs have gone up is because there is insurance and that money then goes to people using healthcare in ways that they shouldn't and then when it comes to colleges. is government funding some of the problem, that if there is unlimited money for loans and a lot of money for grants, what stops colleges from just charging more? >> right. well, i want to make one quick point about the first thing you said and then i will answer the broader question. the nonprofit private universities, it can be somewhat deceiving to students and families when they are looking at the costs of tuition because, in fact, what the published

price is, the sticker price is, are what very few students actually pay. the average student is paying about half of that because of substantial student aid that they receive to attend. but going to the broader question, a lot of people wonder this: does increases in student aid lead colleges to charge more? economists have studied this in some depth and they found very little evidence of it, but there is one sector of higher education that apparently does respond this way. that's the for-profit colleges. these are colleges that used to be called trade schools and proprietary institutions. today, the university of phoenix is the largest, and there is the corinthian colleges and the education management schools and this is the most rapidly growing sector of higher education. they give students training in skills that we used to call vocational training, although now, they have amplified what they are doing. but they charge students very

high rates of tuition, and most of their students borrow. the problem is that when they graduate, they are often not able to get degrees that enable them to repay those loans. so they can end up in quite a bit of debt and sometimes worse off than if they had never gone to college in the first place. >> so many other issues being brought up about whether the four-year cleming education is the right way to go for a lot of people. so mary issues here. it's really an important topic that you bring up in the book and again, the book is "degrees of inequality" by suzanne metler. great to have you on the show? >> delighted to be here. >> see what's trending on the hermela? >> a deadline to sign up for healthcare under obamacare approaches, the white house is getting ce avian. last week, president obama was on a web show and this week, the whi white house is hop okay march madness's coattails to get people to sign up. >> we know what you are up to

right now. you are filling out your brackets and getting ready to madness. >> we have a different bracket we want you to check out. the sweet keep reasons you. >> you should sign up insurance. >> this girl's twerking because accidents happen, the accidents say, one accident could mean huge medical bills that you can't afford. this one is elmo tragically falling off the shelf. nobody is invincible. don't let huge medical bills be your crip t cryptonite. this will one is the first lady dunking behind biggest names in the nba. women can't be charged more. >> that's a slam dunk. >> 16 of these, eight pairs like the numbers of teams of march madness. the white house asks people to vote for their favorite. what do you think a white house using

jifs to promote healthcare or do you draw the line at twerking? i am curious about the march march 31st deadline. >> looks like twerking must have heard. should college women focus more on their education? wasn't this settled years ago? first, sizing up the financial and emotional costs from the iraq war 11 years after it was declared over. our data dive is up next. >> al jazzera america presents... documentaries from around the world that inform... >> they were bombarded with shells... >> inspire... >> we can deal with our conflicts... >> and touch our soles... >> it was my dream to get a high school diploma. >> award winning film makers create create unique perspectives. >> everybody's different here... >> just gotta tell ya, it was just a very magical moment... >> al jazzera america presents... on al jazeera america

todd's data dive goes to war. wednesday marks 11 years since president bush announced the war inrage had gun. the costs exceeded $800,000,000,000 through 2.011. the last troops left iraq in august of 2010. 50 troops were left behind poo for non-combat operations. in january, the u.s. military provided material assistance to help iraq's fight against al-qaeda in fallujah. the emotional cost was far higher. more than 4800 coalition forces were killed including nearly 4500 americans, 1500 u.s. contractors died and more than 100 coalition troops and contractors have been injured. iraqi civilians have suffered most in terms of engineers and deaths. since the conflict began 11 years ago, more than 100,000 iraqis have been killed.

exact estimates very wildly because there aren't reliable official figures on casualties. the war did achieve some of its goals. iraqi dictator saddam hussein was captured in 2003. he was convicted and executed. iraq is a democracy, free elections for the country's national assembly in january, 2005 were widely celebrated. pictures of those who had just voted with purple inked fingers were a point of pride for coalition forces and iraqis. however, peaceful democracy has proven extremely difficult to achieve and sectarian violence continues to this day. >> coming up, a very controversial suggestion. should women focus as much on getting a husband as on getting a college degree? >> scared as hell... >> as american troops prepare to leave afghanistan get a first hand look at what life is really like under the taliban. >> we're going to be taken to a place, where they're going

to make plans for an attack. >> the only thing i know is, that they say they're not going to withdraw. >> then, immediately after, an america tonight special edition for more inside and analysis. >> why did you decide to go... >> it's extremly important for the western audience to know why these people keep on fighting... ...it's so seldom you get that access to the other side. >> faultlines: on the front lines with the taliban then an america tonight: special edition,

al jazeera america. >> gloria steinem may fibrireak ou. last year, the proud mother of a princeton grad and a current princeton student sent a letter to the school's newspaper urging female students to find a

husband on campus before you graduate. the author, susan patton said she had come across is that many people who were wildly successful and unhappy. the letter went viral and a massive backlash followed. the principeton mom is back wita new book and is under fire for "marry smart." we are joined by the author and 1977 princeton alum, susan patton. she is known as the principleton mom or, susan, i must say you are also known as i read as the infamous princeton mom. >> i don't understand. >> are you surprised at the intensity of the reaction? >> i really am. i am stunned at the intensity of the reaction. but i understand. i am speaking truths that have become so politically unpopular, but they are truths nonetheless. so, yes, i recognize that what i am saying is controversial only insofar as people have not been talking about it and the value of my having brought this to the fore is that now women are

talking about marriage and motherho motherhood. we are taking with -- talking with boyfriends and parents and roommates. i think this is wonderful because it's a conversation that long. >> how did you get to the point of writing that letter? you worked in executive several. coach. >> right. >> you do write about the fact you met a lot of women look the way that were making tons of money, were tremendously successful but weren't happy? >> they were profoundly unhappy because they go home to an empty apartment. they took their eye off of the ball in terms of planning for their personal happiness and more and more what i am finding is that young women, especially the smart ones, the ones who are very well-educated, who know they have so many options ahead of them, they keep thinking, well, you know, i can put off having children. i can, you know, i have plenty of time to get married and have children. the answer is, they do not have plenty of time. they do not. women who tell me -- and they tell me all the "t's" time,

antonio, i will take the first ten or 12 years out of clem. i want to develop my career. then i am going to think about planning marriage and family. and the problem is, it's too late then. >> isn't college too early? >> no. it's not too early to start looking. i am not suggesting you get married in college although some people do and i guess that's a personal choice. but start looking. i am saying, while you are on your college campus, of course you are there to get an education, meet your best friends. you are there to enter into all sorts of interests, extracurriculars that appeal to you. why shouldn't you use this opportunity to look around at your classmates because you will never again, for women, you hwil never again have this concentration of men to choose from who are age-appropriate, single, who are like-minded and who who you have an opportunity to get to know in an organic way over class, over meals, walking events. >> the reaction has been that you seem to say that the most

important thing would be to be focusing on finding that huds as opposed to finding -- you know, getting a good education. >> the reason it seems like i am saying that is because that's why i am saying that. >> i will ask you. >> yes. saying. >> yes. >> with 50% of marriages ending up in divorce, where does that leave a woman who doesn't get a good education and who doesn't have a strong career? >> well, 50% of marpz end in divorce no matter how you slice those statistics. i don't think it's any better or educated. >> aren't you better off if you have a career? >> i am not saying don't have a career. >> you are saying you should give priority? >> yes. i am speaking as an executive search person. i know whence i speak. you can make up lost time at work but if you, as a woman, miss your opportunity to have your own children, it's gone. >>, you don't get back. so that's why i am saying to women, and again, my book is primarily for women who know

they want to have their own children and they want to do so in a traditional marriage. i am saying, you've got to get on this sooner than you think, much sooner you think because mock other things -- and when you tell a 20-year-old girl, you bobbling. i tell women, the years from 20 to 22 to 35 will pass so quickly, you can't even imagine how quickly you go from 22 to 35. trust me when i tell you, put in place the components of your personal happiness, meaning find yourself a husband early. start having your children early because that time, you can't make up. i know as an hr person, you can make up lost time at work but if you miss your opportunity to have your own children, that's back. >> another firestorm you set off was when you wrote about date rape and you said if you are too drunk to speak, then you may be incapable of saying no or warding off unwanted advances then it's all on you.

>> it's all on you. >> emily jaffe wrote a similar thing in "slate a few months ago backlash. but yes? >> are you blaming the victim? >> i am definitely not blaming the victim. what i am advocating is for young women, all women, to take control of themselves, take responsibility for themselves. don't allow yourself to be a victim and i am saying to these women, if you are at a point where you are drinking more than you can handle, where you are stoned beyond your capacity to make an intelligent decision, you have exercised horribly bad judgment. don't let it get to that. take control of the situation. take responsibility for yourself. no what your limit is and if you don't know what your limit is, then just don't drink at all. left? >> yes, sir. >> i know you said you are a feminist but feminists are not happy with what you said. they say they are outdated and? >> i don't know what a feminist is anymore. i used to think a feminist was someone who supported the idea of equal rights and equal

opportunity for women. that's me. i am a feminist in that regard but i am not antagonist i can. i am not militaristic. i am not looking to beat up on anyone who feels different than i do. the feminists are about diversity except ideologically diversity. vitriol. >> you give advice in the book. it's interesting and fun read, i must say. >> thank you. >> i appreciate you joining us? >> a pleasure to be here. >> the book is "marry smart: advises vites for finding the one." the most important money stories of the day might effect your savings, your job or your retirement. whether it's bail-outs or bond rates this stuff gets complicated. but don't worry. i'm here to take the fear out of finance. every night on my show i break down confusing financial speak and make it real.

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