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tv   Consider This  Al Jazeera  May 26, 2014 10:00am-11:01am EDT

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>> i'm ali velshi, the news has become this thing where you talk to experts about people, and al jazeera has really tried to talk to people, about their stories. we are not meant to be your first choice for entertainment. we are ment to be your first choice for the news. night. >> just how safe is our nuclear arsenal from the fo for terrorit attack. show that they are cooking the book. and how college may hurt a new generation of graduates. an iranian video celebrating happiness is anything but for those that created it. i'm antonio mora, welcome to "consider this". here is more of what is ahead.
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>> a military drill to help check reactions for a hostile take over was a failure. >> in the nuclear force there's perfection. >> when we are looking for marines to come in, i think the things we are looking for is somebody that is hungry. a certain individual is attracted to this job. >> in iran six dancer that hard in a video of the song "happy" were arrested. >> tehran police chief called it obscene. an activist says the incident highlights the political and social divide within iran. we begin with what the air force describes as a deficiency in security. according to an internal air force review, an armed security team was unable to regain
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control of a captured nuclear weapon during a take over of a minuteman missile sil um in montana. there's 350 minute-man missiles. each nuclear miss ill is armed ready to launch on the president's demand. this failure is one of a series of self-inflicted wounds that the missile force suffered. from cheating, to high court marshall and the removal of major cary for misbehaviour. i'm joined by brigadier general mark kimmitt, assistant secretary of state for political military affairs and an al jazeera contributor. as always, good to have you with us. the exercise the security team failed was the cap use of a sillo by terrorists.
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that nuclear war heads could be vulnerable to terrorists is frightening. how serious was the failure? >> i think the words that the air force used was a critical deficiency in the exercise is damming in the business. you have minor defin sighs. when you say critical. that's bold letter for this was a screw up of epic proportion. it was repeated in october and they passed. part of the problem was a lack of standardized simulations for the security teams. what does that mean? what was wrong? >> what it means is the security team probably wasn't training enough, may have been bringing in people not familiar with the responsibilities, or they were not up to the standards expected of them. >> are they doing different
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simulations with any kind of regularity. you'd think they would, given the importance of this. >> absolutely. the worst thing you can do is get into a rope set of standard scenarios, because all of us recognise that the last thing you will expect a terrorist to do is something in the ordinary. i mean, we never saw planes attack buildings before 9/11, all of a sudden they did. you expect terrorists that will go to this effort to capture a nuclear weapon to do what you don't expect them to do. >> i know nuclear war heads vary in power. the use of any would be catastrophic. if one fell in the wrong hands would it be difficult to use it. >> i don't expect them to get launch codes or use it as a nuclear defies. they are probably trying to get
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plutonium in the war head, which could be used to turn to what people call a dirty box. you wrap dynamite around that, all of a sudden you have an effective piece of material that doesn't really explode as much as it spreads nuclear material around the area. you mentioned panic that would result from that. >> despite the fact that the simulation failed, is there a likelihood that something like this could happen that we could see a scenario where terrorists could attack the bases? >> no, i think you have multiple redundant safeguards on the missile silos, the security force is important. they are second and third level safeguards as well. but you can never assume that that can't happen, you have to train under the assumption that it could happen so what it does - when an attempt is made, it doesn't happen.
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we scuffed the issues with -- discussed the issues, defense secretary chuck hagel ordered reviews after 100 officers allegedly cheated on tests, launch officers lying about braking security rules. two officers charged with illegal drugs. what does the air force need to do to end the misconduct among officers who should be among the responsibilities. >> they must be above reproach the the personal reliability programme. it is a formal programme to make sure it adheres to the standards expected. it is important to maintained. sounds like there's a leadership problem corroding the overall problem. that will come out in the investigation that secretary hagel will be reviewing.
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i think he'll have to take harsh and top-to-bottom action in order to get this force back to the standard that the american people can be confident of the security force. >> the commander cary, was removed for drunkenness. another was removed in a gambling investigation, and a broader issue about moral, that the miss ill force is suffering moral because it was on the cutting edge of the cold war, and now they consider themselves in a back water, using decades old equipment to support a mission that no one wants to fulfil. is there anything that can be done about that burnout. >> i want call it - again, there's an example of a leadership problem. top-level leadership - it can't
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persuade and inspire forces, then something is wrong. it's a critical mission. people should be going to work excited and if not, sombre. it's not a job that one should have a morale problem. they should be inspired when they take on that responsibility, and they expect day. show. chicago's police department is under fire for manipulating crime statistics, underreporting and in some cases not reporting them at all. in the second part of the series about the crime rate. the pd is taken to tasks for a host of sins. the editor-in-chief of the chicago magazine joins us. we talked to you about the police department fudging homicide numbers showing
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chicago was making great process. the second part of the investigation shows questionable accounting. you quote an alterman, cary austerman saying you say we are down. that means crap. crime is down 56% in three years. commonsense says that's too good to be true. >> in fact, a big thing is that the police department is telling them when they look around and see a break in, and the police are saying "it's just your perception, look at the statistics", that is driving them nuts. the story those behaviour by police, more ab surd than in the first report. you show an example of a guy that gets it stolen in a laptop.
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thugs break down a door and police do not qualify it as a burglary, they classify it as trespassing, that brings the crime rate down. >> exactly. some crimes matter more than others. there are things that attract from reporting to the fbi and they get more publicity than others, and, for example, trespassing is a minor crime than robbery or burglary, so if you downgrade it, obviously it looks better on the numbers and it's a way of making the index crimes they call them look like they have plunged a bit. >> they play with numbers, in some cases, counting multiple incidents as a single offense, you say a case where 11 got shot and it was counted as one crime. >> the inspector general released a report
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out ieding the aggravated consult and batsery numbers and found double counting in other things that, the department under reported those crimes by 25%. >> it's a huge number. it's about what it needs to have gone down to get to the 56% since 2011. the fbi uses certain standards on how to measure how safe a city is. you show the chicago police department gives a set numbers to the fbi and shows numbers with a dramatic drop in crime to the website. how do they get away with this? >> this happened after ron emanuel became major and he hired gary mccarthy, trained in new york city. they use comsat.
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they ceased doing reports that came from the police department and had gory detail about all the cils in the city. he discontinued them and reports comstat numbers on the city's website and so essentially it's keeping two sets of books, but not being transparent. it's kind of comparing apples and arranges to compare the reports from previous years to the past three years. that's what people are doing. >> it makes little sense. the police department issued a denial about the first peace. in a statement a spokesman said: said: . >> they did not answer our requests for a statement. how do you respond? >> well, we would love to hear a statement from them. i asked the superintendent for a
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comment on the story, and he said no. all i can tell you is we checked outline of our facts and stand by our reporting. >> another tinge that they argue is -- thing that they argue is your stories talk about beat police which has dropped. the chicago police argue that that hasn't happened. part of what is said is because of the drop in beat police station, the response to creams is slower, and that makes it diff to report crimes or is so. > absolutely. if you imagine your purse is smashed. you are waiting for police to show up so you can file a report, or not even a purse snatching, something like an assault. how long will you wait there for the police to show up. you want to get to the hospital, you want to - they are never going to come, they'll leaf. that has been an issue. i have to address the statement
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about the officers. we were referring to a chicago tribune thorough study showing beat cops, those that are walking the streets, patrolling the areas, they have gone down 10%. that's what they have to focus on, not just officers. >> their response talked about clearly it not deal with beat cops, they were looking in a broader number while you talked about those that respond. how big of a political fall out has there been, how much will there be. >> there has been a political fallout in the sense that two separate alleder men in chicago under the mayor in the city council. about a quarter of them, a third signed resolutions citing the ig's report and our report calling for a hearing into the numbers.
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and that is something all see. >> it's a powerful report in the june edition of the magazine. great to have you with us. we'll be back with more of "consider this". >> we're following the stories of people who have died in the desert >> the borderland memorial day marathon >> no ones prepared for this journey >> experience al jazeera america's critically acclaimed original series from the beginning >> experiencing it has changed me completely >> follow the journey as six americans face the immigration debate up close and personal. >> it's heartbreaking... >> i'm the enemy... >> i'm really pissed off... >> all of these people shouldn't be dead... >> it's insane... >> the borderland memorial day marathon only at al jazeera america
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in nigeria on tuesday boko haram was blamed for back to back blasts killing 180 people, wounding 35 more in jos. nigeria is reeling from the kidnapping of nearly 300 school girls from the north, and the
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group's leader's threat to sell the girls to slavery. as incredible as it may seem, slavery is too real. i'm joined by a professor of history at the ros chester university. and an author. good to have you with us. according to a report from the international labour organization, the u.n.'s labour agencies, there are 21 million trafficking victims, half of them women and girls, 4.5 million victims facing sexual exploitation. with trafficking in all these forms of slavery generating $150 bill job, it seems the modern day slavery is big business causing untold suffering. >> yes. well, that's correct. you know, several years ago
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professor wanaberg in south africa estimated tracking human being is possibly the third-largest elicit activity, third only to guns, elicit arms and drugs. >> and that it's growing. turning to nigeria. when the head of boko haram threatened to sell the kidnapped girls to slavery. it's another incredible reality to think about it in those terms of are there slave markets where human being can be bought and sold. it's something from another century. >> you are right. it sounds like that. i'm not an houssa expert, and that's what he spoke in. let's assume he conveyed that he'd sell the girls in a market. i imagine americans or others in the west think of 19th century slave markets. that's not what is happening.
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there are no auction houses and it's not the deep south. there are markets where you can buy girls and boys and adults. if you spend a little bit of time in many parts of west africa, it would be a matter of days, hours, before you could find people to put you in touch with vendors of people. >> it's hard to believe in this day and age that that is happening. before moving on from the girls, what do you think the fate of the girls will be if boko haram sells them? >> it's a disturbing situation and i'm travelled by what is going on. i don't old out hope that all the girls will be rescued. i think some will. a military activity is not what i think makes sense.
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many of the girls will end up in a forced marriage, used to describe a conjugal situation. many of the girls may become effectively brides for members of the militia. i am sure many have been sexually exploited and raped. it's impossible that they have been sold for money to individual members or given, if you like, i use this phrase advisedly, given as war booty for the inheritance of boko haram. he runs a rebel army and needs to solidify control. and one of the ways they rewarded adherence
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is to give soldiers. >> it's a transit point. from what i have read the scale is enormous. several hundred thousand slaves are there. >> the scale is enormous, that's it's diswarfeed by the putry resources that are given towards anti-trafficking. last year the anti-tracking budget in nigeria was $3.5 million. the military budget has, for the last 10 years been, on average, 1 to 1.5% of g.d.p., many billions. so last year, for example, there were several hundred convictions or arrests for trafficking. obviously if you look at the u.s. state department reports you'll see names of individuals who have been convicted.
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the numbers are dwarfed by the volume of slavery. it's a transit point. nigeria is ideally located for traffickers who have transnational businesses, those that use the international flights going flow nigeria from the middle east to europe to south africa and other parts of the north america. it's a big business. >> the numbers you talked about, nigeria spends $3.5 million to fight trafficking and prosecuted 493 trackers, won only 273 convictions. when you talk about 700,000 bucket. >> an international labour organization report points out that this is a problem going beyond africa. this is a world-wide problem. >> right.
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it is a worldwide problem. nigeria does more anti-trafficking activity. they have a strong federal law, ain dependent autonomous agency. they have been very active in anti-trafficking. if they were to go to togo or niger or cameroon, other countries, they have a significant trafficking problem. of course nigeria is compounded by the fact that it is on a wonderful conduit lane between many parts of the world and is a sixth the population of africa, and a large economy. in terms of volume it looks like the largest. but in terms of the volume throughout west africa, others countries are doing haves. >> appreciate you taking the time to join us. thank you.
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our criminal justice system has changed dramatically. the number of americans incarcerated has soared. it's troubling for african american men. studies show more of them are caught up in the justice system than were slaves before the civil war. to see the consequences on poor black neighbourhoods. alice spend six years immersed in a community in konstantinos filippidis, and wrote about her experience in "on the run" -- community in philadelphia, she wrote about her experience in "on the run", it's. . . >> alison joins us. she is now an assistant professor of sociology at the university of the wisconsin. i have to start with your story. you were a soft more. an ivy league college and decided to live in a poor neighbourhood and immerse
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yourself in the lives of these men on parole on the run from the law. them. >> i had a job working at a cafeteria on campus. you got to know older african-american women, i tutured a grandchild. i moved to the neighbourhood. it was slow. i met her cousin, he was coming home from juvenile detention, and that's when i realised what was happening. he introduced me to mike, a few weeks after i het him. the police raided the house looking for him. he was on the run, stayed at my place and a few either until he scraped together the money for a lawyer. as i got to know him and his friends i realised many young men in the neighbourhood are wanted for low-level violations or high level, or going to
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court, on probation and parole. >> it was a long process. in the process of getting and living in the neighbourhood you ended up living with two low-level drug dealers and immersed yourself in their lives, at times you bailed them out of gaol. at the same time you were trying to deliver college classes at pep, and you talked about how you almost lost yourself. it must have been a schizophrenic situation going from one place to another. >> it's like embedded journalism. you spend a lot of time reporting on what people are facing and reporting on it. >> it's talked about as a great sociology book, it's like an investigative journalism in many ways. early on, as you go to the neighbourhood, you saw a game of
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cops and robbers with little kids, and that stunned you. >> i saw two children, five and seven play a game of chase in which the child playing the cops ran up to another boy, and when he caught him he said "i'm going to lock you up, and you're never coming home", he took money oust of the pocket and said "i'm seizing that." children would quit before they were caught and lay on the ground and put their hands behind the head or push themselves up against a car. i once saw a 6-year-old child try to d a cavity church on another child. games that children enact were reflective of what happened in the neighbourhood. >> you found yourself in danger from police who threw you to the ground and handcuffed you in a raid, to having a man shot as he got out of your car. did you question your decision to do this?
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>> well, like many people in the neighbourhood i was worried that the police would come and what they'd do. this is a neighbourhood where every day the police are stopping people, searching and running people's names, chasing them through houses, raiding house, beating young men. the first year and a half i spent on the blocks i saw the police punch, check, kick young menace they chased young men. there's a level of police violence that is troubling and that i was worried about myself. >> part of the title is fugitive life in the city. >> you found there was a double whammy, they are going to prison, and when they come out technology keeps them under surveillance that they violate parole in some way and become final tifs. >> right. so young men who were on probation or parole were worried that - the tippings that you
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should be doing to be good people, fathers, workers, citizens, were going to get them arrested. showing up to the hospital when their child was born or seeing their mother on christmas, a last-known address, spending time with their partners. police often turn to the young women to provide information. young men on low-level sentences. probation and parole. >> it tears apart the fabric having women inform on their men. drugs and drug dealing lead to violent and nonviolent crime. what do you say to people that argue biggest police forces, the ones we have and aggressive policing that we see in the last 20 years or so leads to the crop of crime across the country?
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>> the research that came out recently about this shows that this huge ramping up of policing and large-scale incarceration reduced crime to some doctoring. the question is can we afford it. is this the right way to solve the problem of poor communities, communities excluded from decent jobs, people living in poverty and all the problems that come along with that. the right way to deal with the problems. it raises questions and it's an incredible journey that you lived.
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as thousands of college graduates across the nation prepare to leave the halls of dememia for the real -- dememia for the real world, they are the most indebted class. the average student loan for members of the 2014 class is estimated to be $33,000. not surprising given the cost of a 4-year college education is at a high. does the huge spending on an education make sense, and are students getting their money's worth. joining us from washington d.c. is thomas franks, a columnist and author of pity the billionaire. his rent article was guilted congratulations class of 2014, you are screwed. >> you say that because kids are
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coming out of school with so much debt when compared to 20 years ago, that this will have a profound impact on their lives, from impeding their ability to create wealth. did they have a choice, what else would they do? >> that's the question. there's no way around it. every college is doing this and have been doing it. it's longer than 20 years, going back to the early '80s. they've been jacking up the price of a college education, faster than the rate of inflation for a long time. there is no way out of it. if you want to have a middle class life, get a middle class job, this is the route. they know that, that is why they are doing it. >> in most cases when things go up in price by the inflation rate. it's because products are better than they used to be. you think that is not happening with education, tuition is soaring but the education kids
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are receiving is getting worse and worse. >> it's true. there's no way around that. that is the reality. i'll prove it to you in a minute here. i want to say that was a strawman. i don't know of anybody that makes that claim. about college any more. it was a joke people used to say that back in the old days in the '80s and '90s. the reason it was so high is college was so awesome. i don't think anybody says that, and the reason it's impossible to make the claim is because look at who is teaching. look who is doing the job o educating. the campus is beautiful, maybe the library is bigger and they have fantastic fabulous architecture on campus. all those things, and the food court and the gymnasiums, all the stuff that everyone talks about. the people doing the educating, the teachers that give the
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lectures are more than half of them today are adjunkets. part timers. >> they are not full-time. 30% of teachers in american colleges are tenured. in 1969 they were 80% of the faculty. why is the tenured track important. . >> professors who have tenure track - that's who does the right, those that write the books, the articles, time to really think about things and talk to students in depth. what adjunkets - the problem with adjunkets and i vuffed to adjunct myself, i wrote a book. i wrote it br that. it was published when i did it. there's a lot of good people who are adjunkets, people who have ph.d. s and are good teachers. the fact of the matter is they pay them so poorly, little - this is well-known, it takes a
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lazy google search and you can find the adjunct horror stories. they have to rush one job to another they don't have the time to spend too much time on campus, let alone write books. this is the end of the zone for the professorial class. they have changed the nature. >> cutting faculty salaries, and the type of faculty you have. you mentioned some things where the money goes to, gyms, food corps. i have a high school junior. i have emails, six in the past 24 hours. from princeton, north western, college of woovter, baits, fau. in some cases universities focus on the luxuries they provide - resorts. >> luxury homes.
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that's what they do. they have been doing this for a while. they used to jack up the tuition to be the most expensive universities in america. they knew that that attracted a certain kind of student that wept for luxury goods. they were a bmw or armani suit. people look at going to college as a luxury good, and they deliberately go out and search for that. >> paying extravagant tuitions, that it plays on the american belief that high price equals quality. you cited the former george washington university president who talked about this. >> they are open about it. >> part of the strategy was the gigantic tuition hikes. it made it more prestigious. shouldn't they be trying to keep costs down? >> they should.
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you look at what is happening everywhere else in the world or failing to happen is the way i should put it. this is when colleges try to raise tuition two years ago. they had students in the street, enormous protests. the government itself went down. when this happens in france, on the front page of the "new york times" was a story about students protesting in kenya, because they were trying to raise the price of tuition. >> where does it not happen? eventually you suggest there'll be a breaking point, a day where colleges can't increase costs. do you see it happening soon? >> there has been is number of breaking points. if you look at the history, there has been points where parents say enough, you can't go to that college. you have to go somewhere else, a state university. if you have some of the colleges that you were mentioning, they
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were expensive schools. or maybe go to community college. maybe go to a foreign country or something like that. there has been a series of breaking points and a series of political threats or warnings made by political leaders. nothing happens. at some point you can't - you know what, i'll be cynical, that's my nature. i'm the most negative guy in the room. they can raise the price of tuition. if you think about it in terms of the cartel, the collegiate cartel, they can raise the price of tuition until they have extracted basically everything you have the gains. >> they are substantial. college grads make a lot more money than those with high school diplomas, especially when
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they go to better schools. thanks for joining us, it's a thought-provoking topic. >> we'll be back with more of "consider this".
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if seal team 6 is the best known special operation force, the newest group is making a name for itself. the marines special operations command was created in 2006. they handle everything from counterterrorism special reconnaissance, unconventional
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warfare and psychological. it's part of a trend towards using special operations forces as a spearhead. retired navy captain joins us. he served from the navy demolition teams. he wrote the book. it is called "always faithful, always forward - the special forging of a special operations marine", good to have you with us. you were given unprecedented access to marsoc. you follow them through recruitment. we have heard about the seals, the rangers, the green berets. why did the marines need their own special forces. what did they do. the marines special operations command stood up in 2006. the u.s. special operations demand was configured 20 years early in 1986.
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the marr eaches are new though this business. initially when special operations gathered their special types under one command to better execute raids, the marines stood back and said we don't want marines under the command of non-marines. they stayed away. 9/11 changed a great deal of that. special raigss came to the fore. the marines joined the club, if you will, in 2006, and set up a fine organization called the command. >> in the introduction to your book, oliver north said he didn't think it would be a good idea, and that marines were marines, and he didn't think there needed to be a distinction between them. what is the difference between marsoc and special operators from the other forces.
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>> i appreciate my friend ali's forward there. he is right. marines are special. marine special operators differ from their brothers in their focus. they have a good deal of poection on special reconnaissance and defense, working with other nations in partnership pd kind of arrangements and cross cultural deals. pass that they have the same brode base. it can do a lot of things. they focus in those areas of defense and reconnaissance. >> to do the hot of things, the training is insane. it's multifaceted in the water, close quarters combat. marksmanship, explosives, how to
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work in urban environments. it is really brutal. >> yes, it is. all special operations training, it's a culture in themselves. and you can say that's the same command. >> they are different, primarily, as they make their selections, rather than recruiting from at large. they recruit from within the marine core. they are already proven, capable and combat-ready marines who come for training and they take them to the next level and make them marine operators. >> few of those chosen make it. >> that's true. it seems like an all-special operations components. if you want one good man you have to start with five good men, and the attrition comes from a lot of reasons. it's hard, professional.
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you have to demonstrate capabilities across the spectrum of disciplines. i was surprised to see how many of these fine young men going through the course, performing to standard, but stepped back and said "i don't think i want to be a part of this organization", because they realised that while we stand down in afghanistan and the deployments may not be rigorous special operations will deploy - they'll be under a rigorous schedule going forward. if you go into the business you have to be prepared to spend time away from home. >> the numbers - 3700 when you went to print. it's the smallest of the special operations forces. you see the role as foreign intervention training, native populations to deal with their own security? >>
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i think that's the case. of course, that's the stock and trade of army special forces, this training of other militaries. you'll see seals doing this as well, and the marine special operations demand will focus on the training and enhancing host afties. >> your publication coincides with the 70th anniversary of d-day. the military vastly different to them than it was back then. the emphasis on special ops has grown tremendously. we have the forces growing all over the world. do you see that continuing? >> i see it continuing. somewhere between 68 and 72 foreign nations. they have presence there and are making deployments there. you see them across africa, indonesia, south america and the
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philippines. any place where the presence has been requested and training forces to resist the forces of insurgency and terrorists. the book is "always faithful, always forward - the forging of a special operations marine", appreciate you joining us. best of luck with the book. >> thank you very much. >> thanks for having me. >> "consider this" will be right back. been >> we're following the stories of people who have died in the desert >> the borderland memorial day marathon >> no ones prepared for this journey >> experience al jazeera america's critically acclaimed original series from the beginning >> experiencing it has changed me completely >> follow the journey as six americans face the immigration debate up close and personal. >> it's heartbreaking... >> i'm the enemy... >> i'm really pissed off... >> all of these people shouldn't be dead... >> it's insane... >> the borderland memorial day marathon only at al jazeera america
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the news, go deeper and get more perspectives on every issue. al jazeera america. iranian authorities arrested six people for making this video danning to the song "happy", the the authorities saying it was hideous. five have been released but the director is in custody.
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it comes at a time when oppressive governments are internet. as technology develops can a government success fully censure the internet. jillion york joins us. specialising in freedom of expression in the arab world and formerly worked at the harvard burkeman center for internet society. the situation in iran is bizarre and contradictory. president hassan rouhani advocated for opening up the internet calling it an opportunity and a critical part of growth. he is active on twitter and facebook. most people can't access those or youtube. days ago the country blocked one of google's services and a number of witness boxing elliot rodgers pages -- wikipedia pages. are the iranian people in for more censorship?
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>> there's a discord between what president hassan rouhani is saying and the reactions of the government. we hope that the government sticks to the word, but for now it doesn't seem very pi. how much of this is anti-americanism. the secretary of a state committee that watches sites called it an espionage company. >> the state department put a lot of funding over the last decade trying to get around censorship, and to try to help the people in those countries to circumvent it. they see that as a provocation. >> what about the happy video. the young people in the video were arrested, it was called
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vulgar, hurting public chastisy. the discord was evidence. president hassan rouhani tweeted happiness is our people's right, we shouldn't be too hard on befores caused by joy. why are other iranian authorities threatened by people dancing in a video? >> this was disappointing. the video sparked copycats. so in this case, you know, it's hard to say what the crackdown was about, whether it was about the unveiled women and morality or if it was seen as a him uking of the west. nevertheless the kiss cord is tweet. >> china is known for censoring the internet. they blocked the social media, and what they do is called the great firewall of china. over the weekend the chinese government talked about making
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the internet tightly controlled, citing foreign attacks. are there ways for the chinese people and people elsewhere to censorship. >> the chinese government is trying to aim at the harmonisation at the internet. it strikes a balance, blocking out what they see as inappropriate. there are a number of ways that people in china can circumvent because the chinese government is adept at playing the game. people use the tools, many of which are built in the u.s. vpns and other services to get around the censorship. is it easy for people to have access to those things. going into the deep web and in that way it's easier. >> like i said, the country is a -- china is a difficult place. the government is adept at
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catching up with different tools and blocking them. in other countries they are easy to access and use. i worry in china catches up with them it's a matter of time for iran and others to as well. we need more tools hike this. not less. >> how easy is it for a government to shut things down. a cuban blogger launched a news outlet in 50 years. sanchez is famous with a big international following. she will targht a cuban -- target a cuban audience. it was gone in a few hours. >> it dependents on the country cuba is an island. they control everything coming in and out of the country. >> it is a lot more difficult. in the u.s. if the government wanted to block something they'd have to go to internet service providers, isp and order them to block the content. >> the
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venezuela government cut off internet access during the protest in february at times. in a case like that, is it as simple as flipping a switch? >> it is in some placing and not in others. it depends on how centralized the network in a given country is. in syria it's more centralized. the government there cuts off internet access for hours, days at a time. in other countries it's less centralized. in 2011 when they shut the internet they had to go to the different companies and demand services. >> because the internet was instrumental. i don't think anyone was surprised by iran, cuba, tightening restriction s. prime minister recep tayyip erdogan blocked the internet. youtube has been offline for march, and this country is a
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member of n.a.t.o. wanting to be part of the european union. we see a global increase. in turkey's case, one of the things they did was go twitter, the company, based in the united states and demand they block content and in some cases they complied with orders. twitter complied with orders in other countries. i think what we are seeing here is a rise in censorship around the world and an increase in the willingness of american companies to be complicit. >> not just twitter. >> facebook, google countries. >> it's important as internet is important in the united states and around the world. >> this show may be over, but the conversation conditions on the website aljazeera.com/considerthis. you can find us on
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twitter at av consider this. see you next