arch. welcome it al jazeera america america. i am john siegenthaler in new york. out of control, the situation in iraq. americans evacuated. politicians pointing fingers. how will the u.s. respond? terrified, half a million iraqis flee chased from their homes by violence. coming home, my's last prisoner from the afghan war expected to land in texas tonight. the world up cup underway despite violence.

birthday leap. the former president celebrates 90 with another jump. scrunch the human toll, 4400 americans killed. more than 30,000 wounded. the pricetag more than a trillion dollars. tonight, there are new questions about what the united states accomplished in the nine-year iraq war. president obama is on the spot tonight. republicans say he was caught off guard. the white house says it will help iraq. the question is: how? >> my team is working around the clock to identify how we can provide the most effective assistance to them i don't rule out anything. >> in iraq, an al-qaeda-inspired group sieged two major cities and say they are headed for baghdad. today, the kurds in the north took over the oil-rich city of

kirkuk. there are reports iran is getting involved battling what the their president calls terrorism. >> reporter: a senior advisor in the iraqi ministry of defense confirmed that special forces as well as highly-trained forces -- he described them as elite forces -- will carry out military operations in tick rita and mossul to clear fighters from iraqul to clear fighters fm ir iraq. he did not specify when that campaign will start. he said it will besoon. separately, the iraq air force has been carrying out. different airstrikes in mosul and tikrit. they remain under the armed grou groups. politically the prime minister failed to convince parliament to pass an emergency law, not

enough mps showed up to that session. so they couldn't pass the emergency law which will give the prime minister, noori maliki more time to deal with the crisis. anoth another, the government confirming special forces are on the way to mosul and tikrit. some of the shiia groups fighting along with bashar al-assad's forces have backed the government against fighters from the islamic state. >> omar from baghdad. >> u.s. citizens are being relocated. the state department says american contractors have been moved because of security reasons. it won't say where they are working or where they have been relocated to. staffing at the u.s. embassy and consulate, however, has not changed. also today, jet maker

lockheed martin said it's too soon to say how violence in iraq would affect delivery of new f-16 fighters. the company is under contract to provide 36 fighter plays to the iraqi government. the cost is $3,000,000,000. the lockheed martin official said the unrest could stop the delivery scheduled for later this year have. president obama gave his first public reaction to the explosion of violence in iraq. he said he hasn't ruled out any response. republicans say the u.s. must do more soon and they are blaming the president for pulling troops out. mike mcca mike viqueira is at the whitehouse with more? >> it's a measure of how serious this has become. president obama who has spent the better part of the last three years talking about what a success his iraq policy is talking about direct military intervention in iraq. >> reporter: describing the situation in iraq as an emergency, president obama says american airstrikes might be

needed in the face of insurgent gains. >> iraq is going to need more help. it's going to need more help from us. and it's going to need more help from the international community. my team is working around the clock to identify how we can provide the most effective assistance to them. i don't rule out anything. >> as the sectarian conflict becomes a crisis, mr. obama lays part of the blame at the feet of the iraqi leader, noori al maliki from excluding sunnis from power. >> we have not seen the kind of trust and cooperation develop between moderate sunni and shiia leaders. >> the president ended american military involvement in iraq in 2011. since then, the white house has described the policy as a success. today, republican leaders scoffed. >> now they are in control of mosul, 100 miles from baghdad. what's the president doing? taking a nap. >> if i sound angry, it's because i am angry.

>> others point to mr. obama's failure to agree with malaccic on leaving behind a small american force in iraq for training and intelligence. >> i say to the president of the united states, get a new national security team in place. you have been ill-served by the national security team and the decisions that you have in place now and the decisions that you made. and have that knew national security team come up with a strategy. >> critics see lessons for afghanistan and are now calling for the president to reconsider his 2016 deadline for removing american troops. >> what you see in iraq is going to surely happen in afghanistan at a faster pace. >> this has democratic allies reject the critics and point the finger back at a republican president. >> if you want to talk about iraq and the opposition they have always had to our military engagement there, we have to go back to 2003 or go back to 2002. in the fall of 2002, when the

bush administration misrepresented the facts to the american people, took us into a war on a false premise. >> john, one thing the administration has been at pains to point out today, repeating it again and again, there will be no return of american ground troops. no more american boots on the ground in iraq. john? >> that's mike viqueira at the whitehouse. colon ole peter monsour served under general petraeus. one of the key military members behind the 2007 troop surge in iraq and he joins us from columbus, ohio. welcome. good to have you on the program. can you hear me? >> yes. it's wonderful to be here. >> i wanted to make sure you could hear me. let me start. do you think the united states should get back involved in iraq? should it intervene? >> well, i think we have to settle the politics of the issue first. noori al malaki has created this problem with his deviciveness, his marginalization of "the

sun"ni minority and we shouldn't simply come in on his side. we need to demand a new government and new prime minister and deal with the presence in iraq. >> how can they demand anything? >> if iraq wants our help, we have leverage. there are plenty of iraqi politicians who want new leadership there in that country and who view noori al malaki's prime ministership as a failure, which it is. and so i think we can work together with those politicians, and we can help them craft a new deal for iraq that includes all parties and all sects and all ethnicities in a unit government that works for all iraqis. >> we heard a lot about national building in the early part of this war. can the united states really dictate the government in iraq,

what iraq's going to do going forward? hasn't it failed so far to do that? >> well, by removing our troops in 2011, we removed any kind of leverage we had over the iraqi government and the worst sectarian instincts of prime minister malaki. we removed the glue that held iraq together. we were the honest broker among the sects and factions in that country. we need to get back into iraq diplomatically and engage. >> weren't american people tired of troops in iraq? we thumped tired of the war. >> right now, i am talking about diplomatic engagement. >> you mentioned if we kept our troops on the grouted in iraq. wasn't there tremendous pressure to get out of iraq? >> you know, the polls showed americans didn't want the troops there but i am sure the polls in 1953 that americans didn't want troops in south korea. yet here we are 60 years later

and american troops are in south korea. the fact is that the situation was pretty stable in 2011. had we kept troops there, it would have remained stable and i think the american people would have tolerated a u.s. presence in rack given those circumstances. >> there are a lot of critics in congress who suggest we should have had troops in iraq, troops beyond, in afghan stan and have gotten involved in syria as well. how many current trees can the united states get involved in? ? >> the fact is that we got involved in iraq and afghanistan and we needed to remain engaged once we were there. i think syria is a different issue all together. there was no really compelling strategic reason to put boots on the ground. we could have assisted the opposition early on in the conflict, but now, the opposition consists mostly of al-qaeda and its fellow

travelers. so, it's a much more difficult proposition there. but i think iraq and afghanistan are different cases. >> colonel, if you will stand by. i have david shuster. here here with more on how iraq got to this point. >> okay. >> saddam hussein became president of iraq in 1979. he held together rival factions throughout the country with brutal force. in the 1980s, he fought iran and kurdish iraqis. the international community knew he used chemical weapons. there was no condemnation. no international intervention. in 1990, saddam invaded kuwait. the united states under president george h. herbert bush, a coalition in the gulf war to get saddam's forces out of ckuwait. sud a.m. remained in pour in iraq. in 200 through 3, the george w. bush administration, claiming sudan hussein's had a stock pile of weapons of mass

destruction. under the u.s. occupation, by 2004, the country fell into sectarian violence. eventually several elections were held but whole political parties and ethnic groups felt disenfranchised. in august, 2010, american comeback operations in iraq airshieldsed a -- ended and lef. he lenses were held april 30th. sunnis and minority groups felt left out of the process. a month later, sunni fighters kambin their campaign to take mosul from the largely shi-ite government. >> colonel, what do you think the history should do given that history? send troops back? should it send drones in? how can it get involved and change the way things are headed there now? >> the united states cannot tolerate a permanent terrorist state in the heart of me mesopotamia. as i said earlier, we have to have a government in iraq that's

worth supporting before we engage. >> is there going to be time for that? >> yes. there is. although, the isil group has certain control of what is commonly referred to as the sunni triangle. as they approach baghdad, there is going to be a lot more resistance from the iraqi security forces, is shi-ite militias mobilizing on the streets of baghdad according to my sources. iranians are engaging. this is not going to be some sort of rapid takeover of the iraqi capitol. so we have time. >> the reason i question that is because in mosul and tikrit iraqi security laid down weapons and let them come through. we have had half a million people evacuate, flee the refugees from those towns, try to get away from the violence. so, you know, i mean, it seems like a reasonable question why that wouldn't happen in other parts of the country. >> well, i think it goes to the poor leadership of the forces

that were engaged up in mosul and tikrit. and these are forces that, again, you can lay the fault at the feet of nouri al malaki for appointing commanders loyal to him who had little military capability. i think when you get -- as you approach baghdad, it's going to be a completely different battleground, and we will have time to get the politics right before we engage with air power and advisors and any other sources of military strength that we decide to engage with. >> given all of the blood, sweat and tears that people like you and so many others have given to this battle from the united states, is this frustrating to watch this? >> oh, it's deeply frustrating and saddening. more than 4,00$4,000 dead, a trillion, plus, dollars of treasury wasted. this is something that i think any veteran of the iraq war looks on with deep sadness and

regret. but this battle is not yet over, and like i said, the united states in its own national interest cannot allow a terrorist state to exist in the heart of the middle east. >> colonel monsour, thank you for joining us. >> thank you. coming up, our coverage of the situation in iraq continues at the half hour. hundreds of thousands of iraqis left homeless by the violence. some children separated from their parents forced to fend for themselves and bowe bergdahl's return. new information on when the former prison of war will be back on u.s. soil.

sergeant boweberg entering on his way back to america tonight. he was released in german today and is on an airplane. we have more from lisa stark in washington. >> geological john, sanning

event bergdahl will arrive in the early morning hours on friday. he could be there for months. this is the final phase of his reintegration process. he will continue to get medical care if he needs it. he will get psychological help. he will be debriefed about any intelligence he can provide and any family reunion would take place at the hospital. the defense department says its first priority is to make sure that bergdahl continues to get the care and the support that he needs. now, we spoke with dr. richey, a former army psychiatrist. she said it can be very difficult to readjust after the kind of traumatic event that bergdahl went through. >> often prisoners of war have been held, sometimes for years, as is this case. they may have thought they were forgotten about, often thought they were dead or were going to die. not thought they were dead but the chances of survival was very now, and once they leave that setting and then leave the

decompression, they are going to face an intense media glare, and that can be very overwhelming. so part of the decompression process is both to get them back to physical and medical health and then help them prepare for that reintegration. >> richey said bergdahl may have an especially tough time because he was held for so long, nearly five years and also because of the controversy over how he may have been captured. bergdahl's trip back to the u.s. comes one day after defense secretary chuck hagel was on the hill and was grilled by florida republican geoff miller about why bergdahl was still in germany, why he wasn't already back in the u.s. where he could be questioned about the circumstances of his capture. >> you are trying to tell me that he's being held in germany because of his medical condition? >> congressman, i hope you are not implying anything other than that. the fact -- >> i am asking the question, mr. secretary.

>> i am giving you an answer. >> i don't like the implication of the question. >> answer it. >> he is being held there because our medical professionalas don't believe they are ready. >> the doctors in germany have decided bergdahl is fine to travel. it's on his way back to the u.s. hagle did tell lawmakers at some point, bergdahl will be questioned about how he was captured by the taliban, whether he did desert his post in afghanistan. john? >> lisa stark, thank you. vladimir putin got a phone call from ukraine's president. the two leaders spoke after three russian tanks entered eastern ukraine commanded by anti-government forces. we will get more from kim vinnell in donetsk. >> they video can't be scomplvshing verified but intends to show a tank, the interior minister said crossed over from russia.

the they say 2 are under attack by ukrainian troops. separatists, however, say they seized the tanks from a warehouse and say they haven't received any help from moscow. kiev hasn't accused the kremlin for sending the tanks. separatists say kiev is the agressor. >> our government calls us terrorists and separatists, but now, they brought tanks, aviation, self-propelled art 'til ery weapons, more than one and a half thousand people. today and tomorrow were preparing to storm this town. people are walking around. we are here to protect our family. >> ukraine has thrown all of its military might behind it's bid to regain control from pro-russian separatists. the first townvanian tools have successfully taken over, the region's military commander told us morale is high.

>> translator: during our actions again terrorists in most of the districts, the town was recaptured from bandits, scound realized -- let's call them monsters -- and the city was liberated. >> the army has work to do. slovyansk is beingshelled nightly and pro-russian separatists control some border posts. >> ukraine's new president, petro poroshenko said he is making inroads, spoke by phone to russian president vladimir putin about a plan to bring peace to the east. reports of russian tanks entering ukrainian territory could make any talks going forward very difficult. kim vinnell, al jazeera, dondon. >> it is day 3 of a global summit in london, 120 countries meeting to help victims of sex violence and bring their perpetrators to justice. boka haram in nigeria was a maple topic of discussion. african and wetter than nations coming up with plans to rescue

the more than 270 school girls kidnapped by boka haram in april. barnaby phillips reports. >> reporter: african and western governments brought together for an emergency meeting looking for ways to defeat boka haram. he said britain as well as france and the u.s. will do more to help the nigerian government. >> this will mean significantly expanding the training and tactical assistance that the u.s. provides to the nigerian armed forces. it will include helping to train units dmrad on counter insurgency operations against boka haram in northeast nigeria. we will also provide further assistance to regional security and intelligence cooperation. >> but it's now months since the school girls were abducted. mr. hague said he wouldn't give a running commentary on efforts to rescue them. but he did say that nigeria and neighboring african countries have agreed to share intelligence and tighten poroud

borders. the fact that the school girls are still missing is an indictment of the nigerian government and shows the limits of western power. at this conference, which is specifically looking at ways to protect women in conflict, you can sense the frustration that those girls are still held by boka haram. >> they wanted their education. they wanted after their education to get a job, to contribute to the nation in nigeria but, also, globally. so we cannot deny them those rights. so we need to go back, sit and find and i think that u.k. and other government which supports nigeria to make sure that we bring the girls back home. >> reporter: mr. hague says that defeating boka haram is a long and difficult task but that the governments here are determined to succeed. >> may be true, but so far, they have little to show for their efforts. barnaby phillips, al jazeera, london.

>> we spent time with one survivor of sexual assault, a woman from myanmar attacked by three men when she was 15 years old. now, she is living in denver trying to build a life for herself and her family. tamara bank has her story. >> reporter: >> reporter: at a time conflict in myanmar is one of the world's longest running civil wars. as a result of decades of conflict, more than 2 million people have fled the country. >> i miss my village, but sometime, i do not miss it because i get hurt in my heart. >>reporter: meet mary, not her real name. through an interpreter, she tells me she doesn't want her true identity revealed. she has arrived in denver from myanmar three weeks ago. she is one of millions of women raped during a war. she was 15 years old when solids attacked her village, raping women with impunity. >> one was holding my hand, one was putting his hands on my

mouth not to scream, and the other one raped me. >> in many countries, rape in war is seen as inevitable. sexual violence against women during wartime is lethal to the cohesiveness of a community. raping a woman or a girl is not only an attack on her, but it attacks her family and her culture. in many societies, women are seen as the centerpiece to that community's social and cultural values. >> there can be long-lasting consequences of sexual violence, including, for example, forced pregnancies that lead to children being born who are basically born out of violence. >> dr. oliver kaplan teaches in denver. he says sexual violence against women is used as a tool of ethnic cleansing and can go unnoticed. >> there hasn't been as much awareness of this issue because it often happens far away from the u.s., oftentimes but not

always in developing countries. >> it is a painful subject to discuss, but mary tells me that she wants to share her story in hopes of helping others. >> i very much want this to stop in the village. >> she says she will never go back to the place where she endured so much pain and humiliation. >> my only hope and desire is my three children should be well educated here. >> reporter: here in her new home country that can offer a better life for her family. tamara banks, denver. next, the crisis in iraq. what options are available to the white house as the situation deter 80s on the ground? and birthday tradition. the 41st president flying high once again on his 90th birthday.

this is al jazeera america. i am john siegenthaler. coming up: humanitarian crisis, a struggle to help hundreds of thousands of iraqis chased from

their homes. many of they will children separated from their parents. we will go live to brazil where protests mark someday one of the world cup, and taking a big step, what prompted ballet dancers from cuba to defect and take the stage in miami? in iraq, al-qaeda-inspired fighters are threatening to march on baghdad. the group has seized two major cities, said it will start implementing its strict version of islamic law in mosul, tikrit and other areas. president obama sedrak needs help. officials say that could include air strikes and increased surveillance. governments around the world are closely watching iraq. our dana lewis is live in london. what's the reaction from europe?

unfortunately, we are having problems with our shot with dana lewis. the sunday violence has 40sed half a million people from their homes. they are fleeing mosul and on the roads out of the city, the refugees describe chaos. fighters overrenal iraq's security forces in mosul. earlier this week, prompting hundreds of thousands of people to flee their 0 homes. aid agencies are scrambling to deliver humanitarian aid. in our first person report, carl shibri is with safe the children. he is vased in rabil about 50 miles east of mosul, and he tells us about the challenges iraq's fleeing children are facing. >> the things that children are

witnessing, they are things which no human being, let alone children, should be witnessing in their lives. children who have been separated from their parents, unaccompanied minors. the most common story is in the chaos and in the panic that ensued when it became clear that there was this conflict raging in mosul, parents were fleeing and some children were left behind or got lost in the process. but again, the big questions, nobody knows whether their patients are alive, whether they will be able to get reunited soon with their families. it's all very traumatic. it's the kind of experience which no child should be going through. today, talking to so many of them, is the questions that they have and not even agreeing among themselves it is safe or going

to be safe and what their future holds. some want to leave iraq. others want to stay in and others say they want to go back to mosul because they think it is now safer. and seeing them arguing and debating what's happening is actually quite heart-rending because you can see in their eyes the uncertainty that's surrounding them. >> that was carl shimbri with save the children. we want to go back to london now. dana lewis is there to talk about the reaction from europe regarding what's going on iraq. dana, what are you hearing? >> well, i spoke to a western diplomat who told me this is frightening, the complete free flow of arms and extremists from lebanon through syria to iraq and iran and it's about to get worse before it gets better. he said the region, quote, is crumbling, to use his words. the u.n. is calling the displacement from refugees massive. roughly 500,000 people have

privileged in the kurdistan region fleeing for their lives, they lack money and food and water and medical care and there is no idea of where to go next, says the u.n. people in iraq, including in baghdad stocking up on food and fuel expecting the worst. britain is ruling out any kind of military involvement in the situation. foreign secretary william hague attending a ministerial meeting on northern nigeria, he reacted to iraq saying that britain will only help with the humanitarian situation. >> no, no military assistance has been requested from the u.k., and we are not contemplating military intervention or assistance from the u.k. i commented this morning that we will consider and we are considering what we can do to relief the humanitarian pressures caused by the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people. >> is something that the u.k. is well-placed to provide. hague said it is an issue for

iraqi leaders to deal with this problem and they need a political solution forshey ites, sunnis and kurds. he is hii wanting at the frustrations and the shi-ites have done little to reach out to sunnis. there are statements from iranian officials that they have used the iranian revolutionary guard inside iraq to help fight the isis, which, if true, is a new and disturbing complication there, john. >> dana, earlier this year, iraq's government made a request for, f for, for train and supplies. which request did the u.s. and european leaders take seriously? >> there have been a number of requests, and i mean the "new york times" was reporting at one point that al malaki asked for airstrikes on some of these militant staging areas which the u.s. is said to have declined. that was a "new york times" report. so, in general terms, iraq has pleaded for more weapons, more training, especially after

insurgents took over an bar province and seized the city of fallujah which u.s. marines struggled to retake in 2004. in general terms, this blitz by insurgence seems to have shocked baghdad and washington in the last few days, but the militants have been gaining ground for months and al malaki has been asking the u.s. for help for months which to a large degree has not been forthcoming. >> dana lewis in rondon. thank you. the ongoing violence in northern iraq is the worst there since u.s. troops pulled out in 2011. five years ago, there were nearly 160,000 u.s. troops there. this week, the pentagon said the number was down to 250. and tonight, officials say 3 plane loads of americans are being evacuated from an air base north of baghdad. randall purposingston joins us live -- pinkston joins us life now from washington. randall? >> as you know, some are calling it the verge of a civil war. some are calling it a civil war. it is clear that the government of iraq that the u.s. military

helped to stand up appears to be falling down. one of the reasons: the iraq military is refusing to fight. there is one report that 90,000 iraqi soldiers that the u.s. military helped train and equip and spent blood and tears for eight years trying to get ready walked away from the their post as rebels moved in to some of iraq's largest cities. >> iraq's army, the one the u.s. military spent billions of dollars and years to train is being overrun by a well-organized rebel force: the islamic state of iraq and the lavant. the group controls a section of syria and a huge swath of iraq, including mosul, the second-largest city plus tikrit and its allies hold fallujah, 40 miles west of baghdad. america's filth commanders are worried. >> we are obviously monitoring the situation in iraq as closely as we can. and we certainly condemn the violence. >> the rebel group is led by

bagdadi who has an estimated 10,000 fighters under husband command. they spent years fighting in syria before pressing into iraq. retired army brigadier mark kimmett, deputy director of operations during the u.s. war in iraq sedrak's army isn't ready. >> you have battle hardened terrorists coming into iraq and taking over places such as mosul and tikrit. the iraqi army, which is very, very large and is well equipped but doesn't have the combat experience. >> more than 4400 americans died in the effort to suppress rebels in iraq before pulling outcome bat forces, the u.s. spent $1 trillion in the campaign. once the u.s. was gone, general kimmett sedrak's military training deteriorated. >> americans bear some blame for what's going on. by not having american cape ability, in the background, continuing to provide training

assistance, training support, meantoring support, the military has allowed to degrade -- has been allowed to degrade in its capability. >> the u.s. did not leave combat forces, it continues to provide equipment and advice to iraq. >> we have a pretty robust, in fact, one of the of the most foreign military sales programs in the world is with iraq to the tune of about $14,000,000,000. >> but the equipment may not be enough. there are reports iraqi prime minister noori al malaki has asked for intervention. general kimmet said there are other options? >> i believe the american military with the approval of the president can provide some intelligence support, possibly could provide some armed drone support and it may be even some bombing support. none of those would require american troop presence on the ground. >> u.s. officials say a decision needs to be made quickly because rebel fighters are on the move. >> tonight, president obama says his national security team is working around the clock to come

up with a plan to assist iraq. john? >> randall pinkston, thank you. oil prices spike to go a 9-month high. iraq is the sepingd largest opec producer. there are concerns the army may not be able to protect key oil facilities. john terrett explains. >> john, first let me show you where isil fighters are at the moment. as you know, they are up here in mos mosul, the second city close to the border. they are in tikrit where saddam hussein is buried. they are presently fighting iraqi security forces for control of samora andhoming in on the northern city of kirkuk, which is oil-rich and in the kurdish region. the kurds have always felt they should control it. right now, they do after the iraqi fled but isil forces are never far away. isil is also closing in on iraq's biggest oil refinery which you find in the city of

beji. this is rattling global markets and driving up al barrel of oil. it makes up 60% of the iraqi economy. they have been hoping to increase output to 4 million barrels a day by the end of the year. economists warn if this fighting goes on, the price of a barrel of oil could skyrocket to $130 a barrel and that will be damaging for the world's economy. now, 17% of iraq's oil fields can be found in the sunni and kurdish areas. we have marked them in black here so you can see them better. and they include the oil field known as the kirkuk field which has a pipeline running from it all the way out through turkey through the mediterranean. >> that's good for iraq except it's rusted and broken and experts say it's not going to be repaired any time soon. the largest oil fields are in the relatively peaceful south of the country down here in the

area controlled by the shiias with basra as the country's only port they can send oil exports out into the gulf by ship. now, the problem is, if this fighting persists and efforts to pump more oil from iraq, from both the north of the curreount and the south with the help of international corporation like british petroleum, bp, who are there could be hampered. john, a lot is rusting on isil not bringing their fight with the iraqi government much further south. john? >> john terrett, thank you very much. billions around the globe have been glued to their t.v. sets all afternoon today watching every kick of the world cup. the games got underway in brazil a few hours ago. lee wellington is live in ri rio de janiero. before the game started, protests dominated the news. what was it like today? >> reporter: there was a real mood of relief from the brazilian fans. i imagine the brazilian

government as well and even fifa. everyone involved in this world cup needs brazil to succeed because there has been so much concern. we have seen the protests for months in sao paolo. we saw protests a few kilometers from the stadium today and there is every chance that they will continue. they are not happy about the cost of this. the money could be used elsewhere. yet when the match kicked off, brazilians do what they do, get behind their ball team. imagine the shock when croatia took the lead. they may cause an upset but they fought back. you have to say the way that the match went, the brazilian team will consider themselves quite lucky and there was a strange refereeing performance and it meant brazil actually sort of got away with it. having won, there was enough celebration and the brazilians are starting to get momentum and to ease into it tournament and hope their team can win it and give some real pride to the

population. >> despite the protests, brazilians as a result of this game today are really getting behind it a lot more than they were in the past several? >> reporter: yes. usually, there would be an atmosphere where everyone from brazil wants to get behind the team and they are so proud of what the team did, they want them to succeed. it was just a bit of a quieter atmosphere going in to it. it has been grave concerns about the money being spent. but what will happen is now, brazil have won the opening game. they are the favorites for the tournament. scalari is such an experienced coach. you would expect them to make their way through the groups and get to the end of the tournament. >> that's the most likely thing to happen. when they do that, the brazil an people will really start to embrace it more and more. but we haven't seen the last of the process, i am sure, because they don't want to let it drop while the spotlight is very much on them and the spotlight of the world is on brazil. >> it was exciting to watch this afternoon. lee welling from rio de janiero.

in washington, joie chen with what's coming up tonight. >> good evening, following the journey of young migrants who make it across the border alone. the new focus on under-age and undocumented immigrants. the border patrol seeing an unprecedented increase in their numbers, tens of thousands fleeing poverty, violence and intimidation in their home country. why they would risk this difficult dangerous trip to reach the states. correspondent michael oku traveled to the u.s. border at nogales hear why so many risk so much. we will hear what the children and the adults who try to give them protection on the way have to say at the top of the hour on "america tonight." please join us then. >> thank you, joie. last weekend, six ballet dancers with the cuban national ballet defected. they have been happening since the '60s. these dancers are citing

artistic and it economic reasons for leaving the communist nation. natasha has their story from dural, florida. >> life is best lived on the stage for these young dancers. but a career can be fleeting even in the best of circumstances. the young men and women who recently defected from the cuban national ballet may not have been fully prepared to leave their home, but ambition led them to the u.s., a place they consider the land of limitless artistic opportunity. >> it's artistic. the freedom for yourself and also to the artist because this is very important. um, you have it and in your heart and you can do everything. >> 23-year-old oscar sanchez said he had been thinking about defecting for the last few years as one of the lead dancers in his company, he said he earned $29 a month. the standard pay for other dancers was $19.

>> translator: i feel sadness and anger that i have to leave my country for a better opportunity. >> sanchez longs to dance with one of the premier ballet companies in the united states. his fellow dancer, lize lizet contender shares this deem. she talks about how defecting was a last minute decision. her friends said they were defecting and asked if she wanted today as well. she had 24 hours to decide. >> i was the last one to leave. i was so sad because my parents didn't know about this. i had to leave my family because i couldn't grow as a dancer. >> she came to the u.s. with no money and not even enough dance clothes. she is trying to come up with a way to pay for $200 point shoes. the seven dancers who defected have found a temporary ref jopling with the cuban classical ballet of miami. they will be guest performers this weekend.

beyond that, the company has no money to hire them. the artistic director says, in the 10 years of its existence, it has helped 20 defectors from the island. as a cuban exile, himself, he is proud of that. he points out the prestigious cuban national ballet has provided excellent preparation. it's history as a guide, he is confid he want, the u.s. will give them a bigger stage to flourish. natasha gname, did youral, florida. act rift ruby dee died. she said she passed away from natural causes. she received an oscar nomination at 83 for herb role in "american gangster" and and along side her husband, ozzie davis. she was 91 years old. next, fighting air pollution. our te"techknow" team says tree contribute to the problem former president george w. bush

skydiving to mark a milestone.

good evening. i am meteorologist kevin korveau the heat toward the meth can border. towards idaho, high temperatures in boise reaching 92 degrees, well above average for this time of year. you can see the way those oranges are. we are talking about parts of nevada, utah as well.

down toward will halas vegas ass in phoenix. this is causing some problems. we have some warnings and advisories, the red flag warnings from oregon all the way back down here towards new mexico. red flag warnings mean we have wind problems as well as very dry conditions, fire weather watches are in place for parts of arizona arizona as well as into new mexico. we have heat advisories down here on the rio grande river in parts of texas. now, over the next couple of days, high temperatures will be warmer we think on friday for phoenix. but we think they will come down just a little bit. breaking triple didn't temperatures for a high over the next day. in texas, we have some thunderstorms developing. take a look at the radar and look over the last couple of hours how they really have popped up. >> means we are going to be seeing severe weather, especially thunderstorms and warnings are in effect. tornado watches are in effect right here across the central region of texas. tomorrow, that band is going to move to the east over here toward the panhandle action we

will get another round of severe weather. we will be watching that as we go toward friday afternoon. along the east coast, it has been the rain and the flooding for parts of virg, pennsylvania, west virginia there. you can see the red areas. >> means flash flood warnings are in effect. that's a look at your national weather. your news is after this.

in the battle against air pollution, an unling culprit has been discovered. mother nature may actually make man-made pollutants worse. exactly how that happens is still unclear. "techknow" we want on the road to find out at the california institute of technology. >> i am studying atmospheric chemistry. >> what is your field of study? what are you working on? >> i have been questioned, i would say, is how does smog form. >> part of the answer includes trees. yes, trees. but don't blame them just yet. >> trees give off a bumpily of different chemicals.

obviously, oxygen that's useful for us to breathe. >> a variety of other come points including i-so phrne. it's one of the main chemicals that gets emit and it is responsible for a lot of the smog that we see. >> here is how it works. when i-so prene mixes it causes ozone and other part calls for smog. getting to the bottom of how that works is what kel haven't is researching. >> we don't know exactly what pathways, what chemical reactions take place that convert i-so prene to substances that are sticky enough, e se serbcially to help form part of calls. those are the chemical reactions i am trying to figure out. >> this conversion from i-s i-so prenes comes out of plants to smog, that's what you are working on in this hood.

>> exactly. what i try to do here in the synthetic lab is make some of these chemicals very pure so that we can see exactly which chemicals are responsible for the smog. >> joining us now is "techknow"'s phil torres. hi, phil. >> hi, john. >> so this is a very bizarre conversation because all of the time we thought that the plants helped us prevent pollution, but now, how is this happening? >> you know, trees are inherently a good thing. they provide has been at that time. they provide us oxygen. but they also release them chemical called i-so prene. it can be contribute to smog. it's less man-made pollution. understanding that process better. >> how revolutionary is this research? >> it's pretty revolutionary. i mean it's a very complex -- think of the atmosphere above us as a complex chain chemical reaction going from the tree's i-so prene of smog, in between

steps that are hard to observe in nature. these guys areability create them in the lab and observe these chemicals in a way nobody has been able to do before. >> how are they able to test the chemicals without causing more pollution. >> they have basically an environmental chamber, as a room-size plastic bag full of air that mim mixes the atmosphere. they do their tests within that giant bag. >> sounds cool. i understand "techknow" has a segment coming up on the program called "pluto-killer." tell us about it. >> that is right. this is the first time we did "techknow" on the road. so at cal-tech, we got to meet the best of the best there. one is dr. mike brown, the one who provided the evidence to show that pluto is no longer -- should no longer be considered a planet. pluto-killer he is. >> he wiwe will be watching for pluto-killer. phil torres, thank you very much. "techknow" saturday, 7:30 eastern, 4:30 pacific time.

coming up, all new tonight on our broadcast at 11:00 eastern time, meet america's youngest high school graduate. he is only 10 years old. and earned a 4.on gpa. he will tell us about how he did it and what's next for him. plus, his work is instantly recognizable. take a look at this. my conversation with peter max on his art work capturing life in the second half of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st. those stories and much more tonight. 11:00 eastern, 8 pacific time. today is president george h w. bush's 90th birthday. he celebrated the same way he did on his 8th and 85th birthday. he jumped. the former president made a tandem parachute jump from his helicopter in maine as his family looked on. his son and his wife. bush has a form of parkinson's disease. he has lost the use of his leg. that knot stop him from making the tremendous leap with a

retired member of the armyts parachute team. the president's first jump from a plane in world war ii when his plane was shot down over the pacific. tonight's freeze frame, a tribute to the president, sailors aboard the bush, to honor the former president on his birthday. ameri "america tonight" coming up next. we will see you back here at 11:00 eastern time. r

done the right way. is justice really for all? >> on "america tonight," back again? a group so extreme en al-qaeda rejected it takes hold of more iraqi citizens. how did u.s. trained forces so quickly lose control. can they regain the upper hand without american help? >> our national security team is looking at all of the options, but this should be also a wake-up call for the iraqi government. >> tonight, on the border but not on the fence. against all odds, mothers and even little kids by