and take you inside the vatican's financial empire. >> when it comes to money, this is one of the sloppiest organizations on earth... >> al jazeera america presents... holy money only on al jazeera america >> on "america tonight": the weekend edition. a critical health alert for millions of american women. a routine surgical procedure, 100,000 women have it each year. and a warning: that it could spread cancer. small. this is probably going to be a global epidemic, stage 4 cancers of women caused by doctors. >> correspondent sarah hoye, with a look, a simple diagnosis of common fibroids.

so how did it come a ravaging cancer? also flit. buried treasure. under alaska's grand vistas, a treasuretrophy of mineral wealth. going to washington to stop it. >> these are folks who don't like federal government or state government or much of any government, going to the big bad pea saying we are so a- aepa saying we are so afraid of this, we need your help. >> and hot shops getting people out of trouble. >> i've been law abiding all my life. >> cannabis confusion. lighting up news controversy. good evening.

thanks for joining us. i'm joie chen. for millions of american women a medical story now that raises real alarm. an estimated 75% of women who have uterine fine fibroids during their lifetime, a newer remedy, minimally invasive surgery is gaining popularity. it could cut recovery time down to just days. but deadly consequences. "america "america tonight"'s sarah hoye was given schubl access to a -- exclusive access to a vicious cancer that was supposed to help her. >> it was the last place that amy reed, a successful boston anesthesiologist expected to be. a cancer patient accompanied by

her husband, a boston heart surgeon. they received the devastating news last fall. amy had a rare and deadly form of cancer, stage 4. >> it was a complete shock, when they called me a week later, saying are you home or someone with you? i knew right away that that was not a good thing. i didn't even -- it was not even on our radar screen. >> and so walking in you felt 100% confident? >> oh, i didn't have cancer walking in. how could it be possible? i'd been screened. i had tests. i had spoken to all the right people. >> but amy did have cancer, an especially aggressive and hard to detect sarcoma with a survival rate of three ofive years. after she had a history hysterectomy, against a

routine gynecological procedure, they believe upstaged her cancer. >> when i found out this was a routine standard of care, i knew we were dealing with a public health hazard. >> during her minimally invasive hysterectomy, the surgeon used a procedure, which she says spread the hidden cancer cells. >> you see the procedure, chunks dripping down. it's not a refined procedure. >> amy said she wasn't consulted about the use of morseellation. >> i learned we had been

morsllated. , somewhere in the ballpark of 80% because of the way they had handled the tumor inside of me. >> 80%? >> eight-zero. >> amy has undergone months of chemotherapy. to remove cancerous tissue. >> my wife was hit which i recognized as a surgeon a catastrophic hit. if you disrupt the cancer inside someone's body, you automaticallying dislodge it from a stage 1 to a stage 4. we got torpedoed. >> it is a very rare cancer. but for women who undergo surgery for fibroids, that number goes up from one to 150, for those women morsellation is a risk.

telling anyone who will listen that there is no place for morsellation during a hysterectomy, they first took their concerns to administrators at brigham women's hospital, where her husband works. the recovery and campaign has taken its toll. >> my husband has put a lot of effort into the campaign and getting the word out and trying to change the surgical practice. we initially went to brigham and women's hospital and say, this is going on. what are you going to do about it? they basically shut us out, shut him down, basically said, don't come back to work. >> human has been relieved of his duties. he is basically sharing his wife's story. >> for you, why did you care to do this?

>> the overwhelming you know magnitude of the truth of what we confronted there, which is that they're doing this to about 100,000 women a year in the united states alone, this happens in europe and south america and other places in the world. so the magnitude of this is not small. this is probably going to be a global epidemic, stage 4 cancers of women caused by doctors. >> brigham women's hospital denied our interview request. they did say they have stopped using morsellation for the treatment of women with fibroids. >> pulling as the blade is spinning so it is cutting through the tissue as we are pulling the tissue out. >> dr. kathy huong is at new york university school of medicine.

specializes in over 300 robotic procedures a year. she says morsellation is an appropriate approach. >> we don't think it's for everyone but again everything has some benefits and we must weigh the risks and benefits of morsellation to risks and benefits of other surgery. it should be her right to see whether she should be going into minimally invasive virnlg or regular surgery. >> are asking for more data. >> because this is a clear wrong. >> amy and human have taken their fight to the media and washington, d.c. including the food and drug administration which responded to an alert in april to the medical community. the fda also refused our request

for a an interview. his recollect reply, human said the warning did not go far enough. >> if i told you that campbell's such a was causing cancer, they would automatically pull those soups off the shelves. that is a no brainer. >> we have 15 years of experience with morsellation. alternatives would be largely an experiment. we're happy to look into alternative experiments but that's an experiment, it is what medicine is. we don't know whether the solution would be worse than the problem right now. hence the fda's decision not to remove it. it's not campbell's soup. these are human beings, these are not soup cans. each one is different, each have a differently set of issues and challenges.

>> you may do 1500 or 1600 of these a year but i'm the one and i now have such and such cancer. i'm the one who's now sick, i'm now the one who's dying. what do you tell me when i say, i'm that few who's the rare case? >> i would be with them every step of the way. you know, that's the horror of medicine that people get sick. the surgeon stays with them, work with them. the same thing could be argued on the other side, took the morsellator, blood clots kim hundreds of thousands of women a year, blood clots required by open procedures, what do you say to her? >> an fda hearing is scheduled this week to determine whether or not morsellation should be banned. for amy and

human the hearing couldn't come soon enough. >> we need to do so but until then individual patients are going ohave to step up for themselves and say this is unsafe. i don't want it. >> and they are doing their best to make sure other women unlike amy have the chance to do that. sarah hoye, al jazeera, boston. >> and in our next segment, returning vets battle ing ptsd. >> i've gotten older, to understand that definitely there were times i thought he was angry at me. >> a second generation of post-traumatic stress disorder p how children are left to cope. >> al jazeera america presents >> i want to be able to make decisions and not feel guilty.

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surprising talks with the most interesting people of our time. "talk to al jazeera" saturday 5 eastern only on al jazeera america >> the veterans administration estimates that half a million troops that served in iraq and afghanistan now ptsd. post-traumatic stress disorder. the lives of their families are forever changed, children living with sometimes a new and unpredictable parent. correspondent sheila macvicar looks at the second generation. >> at their home in plairld, veteran mark trepanier takes solace in his backyard. >> it's a barometer for my stress levels. just they're relaxing.

>> he has been diagnosed with ptsd after serving in the first gulf war, in bosnia and in north africa. when he finally came home seven years ago his wife gail says he was a different husband. a different father. >> he was very depressed. he was very angry at times. he had flash backs where he thought he was somewhere else when we were in the front yard. >> reporter: at 14, jenna is the oldest of the four children. she remembers how her father was before. >> jenna, you noticed how your father was. you saw the change in him. >> he wouldn't play as much. we would always play games. he didn't do that as much and he seemed more separated at times . and we get like really emotional. not angry but sometimes really passionate.

>> the kids have been on an emotion roller coaster. they act out, like at school, they thought he had adhd, but it was emotional stress, unable to relax plp. >> reporter: there are an estimated 4 million military states. with the longest wars in u.s. history winding down these kids have been affected by war like no previous generation. especially in families where the veteran has ptsd. the entire trepanier family is in counseling trying to deal with a very different dad. >> the children have the expectation the vision oh, daddy's coming home oh this is going to be great, you know, they have memories perhaps if they were older of the fun they used to have with daddy. but the person that comes back is just a somber, negative, machine d

dk lik -like being. the expectation is very tough to take. >> psychologist bob motta was a reluctant warrier. he served in the first cavalry division. >> i spent a lt of time flying in helicopters, door gunner, million supplies. >> when he came home, motta decided to study how ptsd affected vietnam vets. >> the initial study i did was a disorder of the individual. but what research has consistently shown is that's not true. it's a disease that spreads to others. particularly those who have persistent being connection with

the victim. >> they like to play they like to have a good time. that is typical children. the child behavior. what we see in traumatized children is something radically different about they're somber, they're moody, they're withdrawn. their irritable. if they were functioning okay in school their grades have now fallen off. they're doing poorly. they can't focus, their memory is very poor. and because they're so absorbed with the problems of their parents, that they can't really focus well in school . >> caleb vines did two tours in iraq. the second in ramahdi. where firefights were a daily occurrence. caleb returned home to his wife and infant daughter. >> family life started to come down pretty quick.

i was angry more times that i'd like to admit. saying stuff i would not like to admit. >> reporter: he has ptsd and aa traumatic brain injury. too close calls with ieds. frustrated with the lack of support for families, being branna vines founted families of a vet association in 2007. hoping that families could help each other. >> i started what i thought was going to be a little website. >> family of a vet has grown. vine says the network of volunteers now reaches 48 states and five countries. filling she says a crucial void. >> for the most part, the va is still largely ignoring our children. >> reporter: many of those kids exhibit child sized versionsversions of

ptsd. her eight-year-old daughter. >> i'm protective of my system, make sure they are okay. make sure nelson happens. >> sorts of take on themselves, this idea of needing to protect things. >> reporter: it's the same type of hypervigilance, always scanning for potential threats. it's not that caleb and branan have told their daughter much of what went on in iraq but she knows how her dad relates. she calls this secondary ptsd. ptsd from ptsd. but you won't find ptsd or secondary trauma for that matter in any manual. >> i think it would help because it would allow justification for treating these families, right now the medical community and

the va could say well, it's not a real disorder. it's not really a problem so why should we treat this thing that's not a problem. >> bran-an vine says, it is something she and gail face every day. >> i'm trying my best to communicate that to a the children that dad's emotions he's dealing with has nothing to do with who they are. dad loves you he cares for you but when dad is in that state that he is struggling with deep hitters. >> jenna was 8 when her father arrived home with more. >> jenna, did you think your dad's anger was directed at you? >> uh-huh. >> you felt your dad's age are was directed at you? >> i understood that it wasn't. i definitely thought there were

times when he is angry at me. >> she came up to me and said i know dad's angry but it's just the ptsd. >> a level of empathy in the children of ptsd vets. like eight-year-old laneie vines. >> you are bombed in a couple, three feet or two and the sound wave messed with his brain a little bit. he doesn't remember that much words. he's not remember house it's spelled that much. but he's working very hard to learn all of those again . and i'm proud of my dad. >> caleb vines was a college student, getting as and bness on 9/11 pem he decided that day to enlist in the army. one symptom of his ptsd: caleb vines does not like crowds.

>> he's at home, he's hurting right now. and sometimes, i'm kind of sad. but i try to think of other things. and it makes me happy. even though he couldn't come. >> reporter: vines no longer works. he's tried to find ways to bond with his daughter like fishing. trepanier too can no longer hold a job. he made a six-figure salary with a defense contractor. but now he needs a task list. >> he needs a task list to remember to need the dogs. take the trash out, things like that. >> what do you wish for your dad? >> i want him to get better. >> what does better mean? >> not have all these medications, emotional and mental problems

. >> reporter: it must be pardon to be in a house with a parent where you're not entirely sure what you're going to get up when -- get when you get up in the morning. something his wife and children travel with him. sheila macvicar, al jazeera. >> recreational pot shops open for business in the state of washington. state officials say puffing is legal but the feds aren't giving out a free pass. >> if i had known that the government was going to do what they're doing to us, i've been law abiding all my life. >> we'll sort out the cannabis confusion, next.

>> the first retail marijuana stores opened this past week in the state of washington. that makes it the second state in the nation after colorado where anyone over 21 can legally smoke pot just for fun. but what's legal in the state's feds. "america tonight"

's lori jane gliha has the story pf. >> in the quiet mountain forest of stevens county washington. >> it's serious. they're probably going to throw me in the jug. >> it all started with harry and bad knee. so bad he says he can no longer get around his 34 acre property on foot. >> about four years ago, a friend of mine give me a marijuana cookie. he said it's a good pain reliever. i ate that cookie and you can't believe it. in five minutes the pain was gone, like gone. >> the retired truck driver and commercial fisherman says that one cookie made a believer out of him. >> so this is the way you go to get to your marijuana farm the way it was? >> yes, we're going omake a loop here. >> so much so that he and his

wiefer rhonda and three of his friends obtained medical marijuana certificates and cleared this patch, to grow pot. >> this is all grown up in weeds before but there he weren't any weeds before. >> what did it look like when you had pot plants? >> it looked like a garden. looked like a marijuana patch. >> what would you say to people outside looking in, how could five people in the same family all have a need for medical marijuana? >> i didn't write the prescriptions from a doctor. rhonda's got osteoarthritis. she's bungd up. don't let her looks fool you. she's hurting. and our son hurt his back snowboarding. >> but in his second year in pot growing, an air patrol spotted his

plants and reported hymn. a marijuana advocacy organization. >> they called the stevens county prosecutor and said what do you want to do with this? they said they have a prescription. he said, i'm not going to prosecute this case. >> then it took a difficult turn. the federal u.s. attorney never stopped prosecuting cases. and he came after the harveys. >> they came back a week later. dea agent sam kaiser was leading the charge. all the same deputies that were there the first time were wearing the dea jackets. they took the motorcycles and the cars and they threatened to take the home. >> we got raided, they came up here, four or five car loads of them and they showed us a search warrant. they came in the house and tore

the dang house apart. >> harvey said they seized anything that could be used for drug trafficking. >> they took our vacuum sealer. >> they took this vacuum sealer because they said it was part of a drug operation? >> yes. >> they also confiscated a digital scale but harvey said it wasn't for drugs. >> this is sage, this is all stuff you use for making sausage. >> what do you say about the fact that all the things you have for making sausage was used for making drugs? >> i couldn't tell you because i'd have to swear. no, it's just a joke and unfortunately, they've got the deck stacked against me where i can't win. >> the feds also took the family's firearms which the

hunting. >> this is me with the shotgun. >> is this one of the guns they took? >> yes. >> how often would you guys go hunting? >> during hunting season every day. >> the u.s. attorney says the guns were used for trafficking a felony which carries a mandatory sentence for five to ten years for the first gurch and 25 years for -- gun and 25 years for additional guns. what's more, the county prosecutor charged them with growing more than 100 marijuana plants which means they face an additional five years in prison. >> the more i learned about the case the more i was confident that this was the exact example of the individual patients that the federal government says they're not prosecuting. >> marijuana is still illegal under the federal law but in 2013, the department of justice announced it would focus its resources on the most significant threats and stay out of states with strong regulations. >> individuals see these

policies on the federal level, they hear eric holder on the news saying we're not going to go avid patients. they hear president obama saying we are not going to use our influence flu to interfere in state laws. they believe that's the case. >> scott o'neil is about to open a retail store. >> this up here is going to be your bud. it's going to dry out and you're going to smoke it. >> o'neil won a lottery in 2013 allowing him to apply for a commercial marijuana license. >> i worry every day keeping my employees working and running a successful business. any other business. this just happens to be illegal for the past 40 years. >> o'neil knows that until the federal law changes, businesses like his will be a gamble. >> hopefully the federal government will follow the laws that the people want. but next president their new staff could have a completely

new policy and that is a very scary thought. that we could have all this time and money invested and one time they could say you're done. >> his retail marijuana store is scheduled to open a few miles from the courthouse when where the harveys will be prosecuted. >> the reality is that any time for any plant you can be prosecuted federally. it's up to the prosecutors to determine. >> a spokesperson declined to comment on the state, saying only the department is focused threats. >> if you are really going to have a law on the books, you either enforce it or get rid of it. federal government, you need to make a decision. >> the top cop in spokane county is sheriff ozzie kanezevich.

>> that law, the medical marijuana and the recreational marijuana laws are not merged together. they are hard to understand, hard to comply with and enforcement is just a nightmare. >> reporter: how hard is it for you to enforce your laws? >> so hard our prosecutor went, we really don't want to deal with it. >> reporter: but federal prosecutors are dealing with it and moving forward with the case against the harveys. >> how much have you talked about going to prison? >> i think about it every day honey. there's not a moment that goes by what the consequence are if we are convicted, you know. i'm worried about my husband. there. >> do you have any regrets about growing that marijuana? >> if i'd have known that the deposit was going to come in and do what they're doing to us, i would have never did it. i've been a law abiding all my life. >> facing a minimum sentence of ten years in

prison, the harveys refused a deal to plead guilty in exchange for a shorter sentence. >> most people in this situation take a me deal. why -- take a plea deal? why don't you take a plea? >> that makes me a felon and i'm not a felon. as far as i'm concerned i didn't break no laws and i'll be damned if i take a plea deal. >> report from merritt's lori jane gliha. the settlement in bristol bay, but at what cost? >> this is a tradition, it goes back how long? >> hundreds of years. >> culture versus capital. "america tonight"'s michael okwu

examines the risks and rewards. we'll get his story next. >> it's a chilling and draconian sentence... it simply cannot stand. >> its disgraceful... the only crime they really committed is journalism... >> they are truth seekers... >> all they really wanna do is find out what's happening, so they can tell people... >> governments around the world all united to condemn this... >> as you can see, it's still a very much volatile situation... >> the government is prepared to carry out mass array... >> if you want free press in the new democracy, let the journalists live. families ripped apart... >> racial profiling >> sometimes they ask questions... sometimes they just handcuff people... >> deporting dreams... destroying lives... >> this state is literally

redefining what it means to be a criminal alien fault lines al jazeera america's hard hitting... >> they're locking the doors... >> ground breaking... >> we have to get out of here... >> truth seeking... award winning investigative documentary series fault lines the deported only on al jazeera america

>> a new struggle between man and the environment. this time we're learning about another controversial environmental decision looming before the obama

administration. this time, over what could be the biggest mine in america. full of copper and gold. but it sits in one of the most ecologically sensitive areas in the united states. michael okwu travels to the wilds of alaska. firsthand look of what's at stake. >> reporter: buried in these hills is a treasure worth half a trillion dollars. the mother load is known as simply the pebble deposit. pebble contains the largest untouched reserve of copper in the world. some 80 billion pounds of it along with thousands of tons of gold. mike is with the mining company that plans to unearth the fortune. >> 700 million that will strike an 86 mile road. could be he mined for generations.

>> reporter: if you haven't heard of pebble that's no surprise. its remote location has helped keep it from the public eye. located 200 miles southeast of anchorage, it is accessible only by air. but chances are you're going to hear more about pebble soon. its fate is one of the biggest environmental situations facing the obama administration since the keystone pipeline. according to company documents getting the metal out of the ground will mean digging one of the largest open pit mines on the planet. eventually that hole could be more than three miles wide and 4,000 feet deep. more than three times as deep as the empire state building is lie. there are doubters out there who say just the sheer size of this project makes it impossible that you could do something out here

and have it not adversely affect the environment. >> part of its size adds to the possibility to have the financial resources to do it right. getting it right is a critical part of our message. >> so what you're saying is size doesn't matter. mines have to meet environmental criteria, the environmental standards are the environmental standards across the spectrum. >> it's not just pebble's size that have many alaskans upset, it's the location. the mine along with billions of tons of potentially toxic waste would sit at the head waters of one of the world's most important salmon spawning grounds, and runoff would end up in the runoff. the fishing village of dillingham. today is the first day of the commercial fishing season.

the local boat yard is bustling with activity as the fleet is ready to go out to sea. >> are you done with the drill bits? >> samantha, at 70, has been fishing the waters off of alaska since she was a teenager. >> the first time you go out it's just a little chaotic. >> despite knee operations she's still going strong. what do you hear when you hear the words pebble mine? happen. it will be the beginning of the end. because it's not just -- >> beginning of the end? >> the beginning of the end. >> moore and pretty much everyone else in dillingham considers pebble no more than an existential threat. >> they're talking about jobs.

but what happens to the jobs of the fishing industry? you look around here, you see three, four people on every boat. they've been doing it for years and their families have been doing it for years and it's the life line of alaska. >> reporter: moore has seen the mine site. when pebble was first being planned, she was part of the tour that the company gave to local business people. >> i was neutral. they set me down and said the river doesn't flow here, it comes two miles down. i thought, where the heck do you think the water's coming from? it didn't take me long to say, you guys are out of your minds. >> the fishing industry is one of the most powerful groups in alaska. it has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars lobbying against pebble. the mining company has also lobbied heavily. polls show more than 60% of alaskans oppose the

mine. the divide over the mine also runs through native alaskan community. each summer the salmon return to bristol bay, each summer the native alaskans come to catch them. >> pull it to get your slack. >> reporter: this subsistence fishing will help kim williams and her family survive through the alaskan winter. >> why is the pebble mine a bad idea in your view? >> every mine we've looked at where they've had a miner where they say no toxic waste will go through this liner is going to leak. it goes through where fish spawn. it's bad for bristol bay. go ahead and light it. >> under a special provision of federal law, several tribal leaders near bristol bay asked

the environmental protection agency, to stop pebble mine going forward. saying it's a risk to their life. >> my grandmother taught me to do it. >> this is a tradition. >> it is. >> that goes back how long? >> thousands of years. i can't imagine a day where my kids or my grand kids or my great grand kids can't put up salmon. >> earlier this year, the epa put out this report condemning the mine. arguing that it would have irreversible effects on bristol bay salmon. filing for apermit, something the agency has done only twice in its history. the mining company along with the state of alaska which supports the mine, has sued. saying they acted illegally. >> what if the permit process goes through? >> we'll still fight it. if i'm not here my kids will fight it.

>> as strongly as native groups oppose the mine others closer to the mine support it. lisa reimers is a president of a company located about 15 miles from pebble. >> you sold and delivered fuel to the pebble partnership, right? >> yes. >> how was business? >> business was going really well. >> r eimers company sells fuel and rents construction equipment. at one point they provide more than 100 workers to the site. >> everybody wants to talk about the fish and the environment. which is important. but there are also people in these villages that need jobs. not all of them go fishing. >> the village is typical of the small communities that dot the interior of alaska. job opportunities are

scarce. rirnts are winters are harsh. pebble would make a big impact around here. >> we've seen the environmentalists come in and basically scare people with information that could destroy the environment or the fish. but they're not really talking about the people that live here. the people are the ones that are struggling to survive and pay their fuel, their electricity, the high price of the groceries. >> what happens to this community if this mine doesn't go forward? >> if this mine is not built, we're starting to look at that question. is it going to shut down like the other communities that have nothing going on? this community could die. >> the split over the mine transcends politics. rick halford was one of the highest ranking republicans in alaska. serving as president of the alaska state senate.

he is one of the high profile republicans who oppose the mine. >> how big a deal was it for people to seek help about this issue outside the state? deal. this is local people who don't like federal government or state government or much of any government. going to the big, bad epa and saying, we are so afraid of this thing, that we need your help, this is not something that has just been opposed by hard-core environmentalists. >> reporter: when talking about pebble, critics like halford often bring up the bingham county mile in utah. groundwater has been poisoned for miles away, poisoned for areas near salt lake.

proof of what might happen at bristol bay. >> water connects everything. it's like blood in the human body. it doesn't take but a tiny infection to poison your whole body. >> is there any doubt in your mind that a mine will one day be built on this site? >> we have a lot of confidence from the engineering and environmental studies that have been done, we know we have to do things right. it is important to us, to alaska and to us as a company. >> is this your home? >> this is my home. >> is there some part of you that looks at this raw vast landscape and say, i don't want to muck it up? >> i'm responsible to create jobs and economy that allows me to live in this land i love. >> reporter: michael okwu, al

jazeera, brings to bristol bay, alaska. a family had to flee for their lives. >> i felt like a failure big time. because i not only exposed but brought down my childhood home and put them in a meth house. >> where do we go from here? what do you want to happen? >> correspondent sarah hoye on an unseen disaster, meth houses on the market and what happens. monday on "america tonight."

>> this, is what we do. >> al jazeera america.

>> now to the turmoil in iraq where violence continues to escalate. "america tonight"'s christof putzel spent the haas few weeks reporting on the crisis. starting with the seize of mosul. -- siege of mosul. >> reporter: it started, now four weeks later a full blown war erupted,. i'm here in central erbil. in front of the citadel. how do you think about the possibilities of kurdistan gaining its independence? >> we want independence from iraq. >> reporter: while erbil is peaceful the effects of war are still felt every day. >> reporter: so how long have you been waiting for gas? >> eight. >> reporter: you've been waiting for eight hours since 2:00 a.m? >> yes.

>> reporter: lines of cars stretch for miles, as people wait for rationed gasoline in one of the most oil-rich areas of the world. people can only fill up half of their tank with the allocated amount of gas. they are going to park their cars and do there all again tomorrow. -- do this all again tomorrow. >> so some people don't even have any gas left. have to push their cars the buyer way through the line. there are high hopes among the kurds that this will all be over. during the turmoil, kurdish peshmerga force he, we went there to see how the kurdish fighters are digging through their territory and have no plans to let it go. we just passed the security line which for years has separated the kurdish region from the rest of iraq.

and right now we're on the way to kirkuk which was in the hands of the iraqi army until a few weeks ago. >> fleeing from the i.s.i.l, right in front of this humvee, as they were escaping. one of many given to them by the americans. less than half a kilometer from here lies the latest checkpoint. has the i.s.i.l. tried to break this line? >> yes, the kurdish forces have stood strong. >> reporter: the security line, everything on this side is in control of the peshmerga and everything on this side is in the control of the i.s.i.l. this soldier tells us as long as the i.s.i.l. stays over there they are not going oengage them.

caught in the -- to engage them. caught in the middle of the fighting are the refugees. >> if you look in the back seat they've piled everybody in as many as can fit. i'm counting 1-2-3 four 5'6" people in the bat seat. >> shias fleeing, sunnies and crifnt christians fleeing. >> as we are driving around it looks ready much abandoned. >> there's one bomb for here. even the door looks crushed. >> looking at this car it's covered in shrapnel marks. the entire wall is covered in shrapnel. this would have been a really bad place to be. hit here, this is the mark here, it just sprayed the rest of the house. >> yes, all of the glass is -- >> couple of the glass windows have been hit.

you can see it right here. >> and look here. >> it's gone right through the gate. >> we don't have water or electricity. and we are afraid, too. but we have -- safe of course god that he will save us, he never forget us, we are proud of being christian. >> people holding onto their faith is a scene we saw again and again, people ing. >> ramadan, usually a time of reflection and people fast and don't drink anything all day and that's incredibly difficult under these circumstances. the sun just went down and it's time for all the families here in the camp to break the fast and this one here invited us in. so we're going ojoin them.

o join them. i just want to thank you for including us. i know that times are really hard. and it's incredibly generous for you to invite us in to share this meal with you. >> "america tonight"'s christof putzel on front line iraq. that's it for us on "america tonight." don't forget monday, a dream home turns into a nightmare for an unsuspecting family that had to flee for theirs lives. meth houses on the market. monday on the program. remember if you want to comment, log on to our website, aljazeera.com/americaflit. you can join the conversation any time, on

>> tomorrow, a life saving new drug... >> it blocks hiv from reproducing >> but some gay activists are opposed >> there's a potential the risk of infection increases... >> an america tonight special report only on al jazeera america > in is aljazeera.com. i'm thomas drayton in new york. let's get you caught up on the top stories of this hour. bracing for more destruction. rocket attack continues. gaza and israel offers to mediate a ceasefire is ignored. >> we have made some important headway in removing some of the misconceptions. >> iran sees progress at nuclear talks, but