>> running away is not the answer... >> is a chance at a better life worth leaving loved ones behind? >> did omar get a chance to tell you goodbye before he left? >> which side of the fence are you on? >> sometimes immigration is the only alternative people have. borderland only on al jazeera america american air strikes intensify in iraq. john dean will join us to mark the 40th anniversary of richard nixon's resignation. those stories and much more straight ahead. >> for anyone who needed a wakeup call, this is it. >> american war planes are once again striking inside iraq. >> trying to stop the advance of

islamic state fighters. >> the government of iraq invited us to assist them. >> america is coming to help. >> nato called russia to withdraw their troops from the border. >> russia is trying obully a small country. >> step back from the border. >> fragile ceasefire has crumbled. >> israeli war pleans planes are aoverhead. >> far greater than what held us together. >> are international public emergency. >> i am declaring the current outbreak of ebola disease a public health emergency of greatest concern. >> we begin with return of u.s. combat operations to iraq.

friday for the second time, f-18 hornet fighters from the george zimmerman h.w. bush struck the kurdish city of erbil. two fighters dropped bombs on a military could b convoy. aid and u.s. humanitarian air drops have dropped more than 5,000 gallons are of water and prepackaged meals to 10,000 yazidi refugees. more air drops have been promised. iraqi christians and other religious minorities are fleeing. josh ernest

said the help would be limited in scope. >> president obama hasn't had an end date. we are going to take that approach in which those kinds of decisions are evaluated regularly and are driven by security situation on the ground. >> for more on america's role in iraq i'm joined from the state department in washington, d.c, by maria harf, the administration's spokesperson. maria, good to have you. has the bombing taken place in iraq just the beginning or could they be the end of the islamic state fighters don't push further into kurdistan? >> well the goals of these actions over the last 24 hours are really twofold, the first is to provide humanitarian assistance as we could. the u.s. military did a massive drop onto the mountain where the yazidis are at risk as the president says of genocide.

and the second is to prevent i.s.i.l. 's movement towards erbil. we've made progress here but the president has authorized the u.s. military to take actions they believe necessary. so i would expect to see more actions in the coming days. >> but is that policy too limited? because doesn't it then allow the extremists pretty much to act wherever else they want in iraq without fearing the u.s. bombing? >> not at all. look i think when you're a terrorist group that has the united states military dropping 500 pound bombs on you that doesn't give you a whole lot of comfort about where you can operate. let's be clear here. the president said last night this is for discrete purposes. long term, there is no american military solution to the challenge of i.s.i.l. what we're focused on the long term is to build up iraq forces to give them time and space so

they can get back on their own feet and fight on their own. we'll be helping them do so. >> creating an iraq up to now even one of president obama's form he ambassadors to iraq has asked the question why did the white house wait so long? >> to be clear when this crisis first began in june, we meld increased our surveillance so we had better eyes on if and when we star decided to take action. they are taking many actions on their own including 24 hours some iraqi hair strikes. we created joint operations centers in erbil, to provide rakes there with more information so we steadily increased our support. we've steadily helped the rakes get better in fighting this threat. but when there was a direct humanitarian challenge that we could help with and direct

threat on erbil where we could help the president was confident to provide the action. >> the president has made a commitment to help rescue the yazidi refugees trapped by the islamic state fighters up on a mountain side. does america's commitment go beyond that? what if these trustee extremists go beyond that? >> i'm not going to go beyond that. the principles of protecting our people not only in erbil but in baghdad will drive much of our decision making over the coming days and weeks of this issue. we have a wide range of toolts to help -- tools to help against i.s.i.l. >> even though sending help to northern iraq, what does defense department plans, what does the administration plan to do if anything to help the christian refugees who have been driven

from their homes by the islamic state? >> well since 2008 we've provided i think $83 million to help the minority populations inside iraq. a lot of our work is with the u.n. in terms of internally displaced persons but what you saw over the past 24 hours is that we will take additional steps to help humanitarian ways, because there is such a crisis. i think we should also remember that i.s.i.l.'s brutality isn't just limited to crifnt limited r yazidis, or kurds, then in their way they have committed to kill. we have committed to help iraqis in this fight that has affected all of iraq. >> shifting to the israeli crisis you said our hope is that the parties will agree to a ceasefire in the coming hours. can you elaborate on that? >> our team remains on the ground in cairo. we know the other parties left.

we want to see a short term ceasefire so we can have an attempt to negotiate a more sustainable ceasefire. that's in the best interests of the palestinians, it is in the best interest of the israelis. we saw hamas go forward with more rocket strikes, which leads us to where we are now. we need a ceasefire situation where we can get maybe hopefully a longer ceasefire in place. >> and do you think that will happen soon? >> well, we hope it will. but we know this is challenging, there are a lot of actors at play, we are committed to staying on the ground at cairo and working to see if we can get something in place. >> maria harf at the state department, thank you. for more on the situation i'm joined by robert grenier. mission manager in iraq from 2002 to 2004 and he is an al jazeera contributor. robert as always good to have you with us. the u.s. is using air power exclusively.

it's clearly been effective to the extent it's been used but are you surprised that it is being limited to far to just pinprick attacks? it certainly seems that there's no shock and awe this time around. >> well, no i'm not surprised. this administration as we know has very much wanted to avoid military engagement wherever they could and they are very cherry in drawn into an open military commitment. they are clear to state what the guidelines are what the policies are that they are trying to support and they're stating very clearly that any use of military force will be only in support of those objectives. number one to protect u.s. facilities and personnel and secondly to avoid a catastrophic humanitarian situation in northern iraq. >> in that context the white house says it's determined to keep the white house from being dragged into a long military conflict in iraq but isn't this the same issue we're facing in

afghanistan lettings the enemy -- letting the enemy know just how far we will go in iraq and they'll let the u.s. forces go away? >> i think you can make that argument. we are demonstrating already that the only way that the islamic state in iraq is going to attract u.s. military attention is if it launches direct attacks on peshmerga forces or threaten populations who fled their rule in northern iraq. as long as they stay away from that it would appear thus far they have no problem with the u.s. military. >> former u.s. air force colonel cedric layton told al jazeera this about the precision strikes. >> intelligence has to be key in this, you have to have absolute understanding of where people are at every second of the day. >> do we have those sorts of assets in place or can we do all the targeting from the air or by

satellite? >> well, of course there are drone assets that can be employed. there are things that can be done with satellites, quite a lot that can be done with satellites but the u.s. doesn't have military in iraq at this point but our military objectives are very limited but it's only those i.s.i.s. forces that are geangd in hostilities in -- engaged in hostilities that we are committed to defend. for instance as we saw earlier today if there is a battery which is firing on kurdish positions they've pretty well identified themselves and they're open to attack. for us to go further would require greater intelligence capabilities on the ground but we're not there yet. >> now even in a limited

engagement situation and with the islamic state not having ground to air missiles that could bring american planes down they do have issues and sometimes those jets have mechanical problems that could come down, even if the islamic state captain. are we in a position -- can't. are we in a poks t position to rescue a pilot if a plane goes down? >> the u.s. has very strict protocols on that and i don't believe if they could avoid it the u.s. military would be going into harm's way if we didn't have the capability to rescue pilots. in the persian gulfs we have turkey nsulit air base, and seasar capabilities to rescue them. >> these

islamic state have proved to be brutal. in order for the kurds to be able to mount more of a resistance? >> in my view absolutely. we ought to be aiding the kurds militarily in a much more serious way. we should be providing them with advisors, we should be provided them with sophisticated equipment. they are running low on ammunition. they don't have the weapons to match the i.s.i.s. fighters. so absolutely we should be providing them with assistance. one of the problems and one of the equations that the administration is trying very carefully to balance though is they don't want to get between the government in baghdad and north. in fact they've insisted thus far that anything we provide to the curd kurds should be done th baghdad since they are in

political dispute right now. >> that's the problem, the iraqi government has been reluctant to provide the kurds with the armament keeping most of it for the iraqi army itself. the islamic state's leader threatened the u.s. on friday calling us the holder of the cross and calling for a direct confrontation with his fighters. is there any doubt at this point that the islamic state has replaced the world with the biggest threat the u.s. has when we could conceivably bomb them to oblivion. >> well you know all politics is local. and yes, absolutely they do see themselves as being in the vanguard of the global jihadist movement. that's what they wanted it all along. they very much want to be in the leadership position of the

global movement and in order to do that, they have to threaten the major enemy which is the united states. and so yes i'm not at all surprised to hear him challenging the united states. and they think that they are in a very, very strong position. when you see what they've gone through in syria, the americans have certainly not been active in trying to counter them there. i think that they feel that the u.s. is a threat that they can manage at this point. >> robert renee, thank you for your insights and your time. ambassador hill from 2009 to 2010, ambassador to iraq, currently dean of the joseph cor bel corebel institute. i want to play something john kerry said on friday. >> the stakes for iraq's future

could also be not more clear. and today's stakes underscore them significantly. for anyone who wanted a wake up call this is it. >> we have seen this islamic state group on the offense itch in iraq seizing -- offensive killing sunnies for months. did the united states need this wakeup call from kurdistan to take action? >> you're absolutely right. this has been going on for months. but i think it also speaks to the fact that we are now seeing attacks not just against maliki's forces but against kurds as well against religious minorities up in nineoa. it's clear this i.s.i.s. group has bigger ambitions than just unseating mr. maliki. when the secretary speaks of a wakeup call he speaks of the fact that there is a movement there not just to a politician in baghdad but to the broader

region as well. >> don't you think we should have seen that before because certainly they dominate a whole section of syria and they've taken over much of northwestern iraq. should we have learned from bill clinton who has said his greatest regret was not acting sooner during the rwandan genocide. we've seen more than a million people displaced in iraq. >> we are looking this from the optics of whether the maliki government has done enough in terms of sunni outreach and other political gestures. but i think what's come clear in recent days is that this group has had much broader ambitions. there have been interviews with members of this group, where they not talk about stopping in baghdad or erbil but stopping at mecca. i think as this group has articulated its broader effort or broader ambitions i think it was necessary for our secretary of

state to kind of issue that wakeup call. i don't think he's referring to himself. i think he's referral to many people who saw this as just another annoying political problem in the meld of the middle east. >> to your point, the group's leader, abu bakr al-baghdadi threatened the united states directly. he said soon enough you will find yourself in confrontation with the sobs of islam who have prepared themselves well with the day we fight you. can we, in syria and iraq, possibly train thousands of would be fighters? some have said this is far worse than days before 9/11. >> this is getting very bad and of course the issue starts in syria. we had quite a free for all in syria and the real problem has been there has been no political or diplomatic way forward. even if bashar al-assad, the

focus of much of the ire in the western world? even if he were run over by a bus today, you have a serious question about how syria will be ruled in the future. will it be simply majority rule or some kind of federal structure some kind of canton system and yet nothing has been done and meanwhile there has been talk of arming some groups yet that hasn't been done either. i think we have a syria whose problems have been met as at a metastasized. what the administration has got to do is look at this as a broader region-wide issue involving shia, sunni and other divisions within the region. we have seen an unpres precedented weakening of the structures in the middle east and we have seen people taking refuge in

structures. this is shaping up as you suggest as a really big league problem that needs to be addressed comprehensively and by the way not just by the united states. i think other countries need to be not only looking at this but solution. >> in the context of those sectarian and tribal divisions many kurds are said to be ecstatic that the u.s. has intervened however modestly so far but certainly not all iraqis disagree. an iraqi shia says, that, someone else who was close to the shiite leader muqtada al sad r, said they were looking out for their own interests not for ours. do they have a point? the president has said

, the humanitarian crisis of the yazidis? >> in terms of humanitarian protecting the minority leaders. some of the shia can be forgiven by saying if they protect the kurds why haven't they protect us? one subtext is the kurds would have declared an independent state sometime ago were it not for the fact that the united states has made it very clear the united states opposes that type of breakup of iraq and therefore opposes the formation of an independent kurdish state. not helping the kurds that equation could change for the kurdish leadership. >> the presidential has to face the big question of course just how the u.s. can get involved

all over the world with so many problems that we're seeing now. ambassador christopher hill, a pleasure having you with us. thanks. coming up israeli air strikes intensifies. and w.h.o. designates ebola an international health emergency. >> hundreds of days in detention. >> al jazeera rejects all the charges and demands immediate release. >> thousands calling for their freedom. >> it's a clear violation of their human rights. >> we have strongly urged the government to release those journalists. >> journalism is not a crime.

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want to get lunch? get the fastest wifi hotspots and more coverage on the go than any other provider. xfinity, the future of awesome. >> rockets and missiles are flying between israel and gaza again. five palestinians were reportedly killed including a ten-year-old boy and several israelis were injured. attempts by negotiators to salvage peace continued in cairo with little help for a break through. israeli delegation left egypt after rejecting palestinian proposals calling for a lifting of the israeli blockade on gaza. >> they broke the promise of the talk and there will not be

negotiations under fire. >> for the latest we're joined in jerusalem by al jazeera correspondent jane ferguson. good to see you again. is there hope for a break through now with the palestinians staying in cairo and the israelis leaving? >> well, hope seems to be fading of course as you said. that ceasefire expired and now we're back to similar violence we have seen over rocket fire being exchanged. the israeli delegation have left so officially they're not partaking in talks. unofficially however they are making contact because of course don't forget that these have all been indirect talks. they are not sitting down at the table with the palestinians. we have had egyptians shuttling between the two sides. it is possible there is some communication ongoing even though israelis aren't in cairo itself. the likelihood of a break

through, in terms of the lifting of this blook blockade on gaza whether or not the palestinians will accept a partial lifting or slight easing whether they will stick by what their demands are a near total lifting of the brookd ball twblockade and whete israelis feel like they're in a position to need to give any concessions is unclear at this point. >> what about the fighting? we have new video exclusive to al jazeera of hamas fighters inside a tunnel that apparently was not destroyed. hamas broke the truce, israel fired back but so far no issue whether israeli troops are goog back to gaza? >> israelis didn't want to extend it because they didn't see their terms being met. in terms of tunnels, israelis

say they largely destroyed the tunnels. they said they came back to their public and said what has been achieved by the past month of rocket fire. destroying the tunnels was one of the main objectives but it's important to remember that these tunnels are not one or two going from gaza into israel. it is an entire network. if you take out one of those tunnels it will be another. it is an entire web of tunnels. until we have seen an attack using a tunnel an attack where palestinians go into israel we're unlikely seeing israel soldiers back in gaza strip. basically we're unlikely seeing boots on the ground now that they've withdrawn those. what's more likely is further rocket fire, more air strikes by the israelis to finish off whatever tunnels they feel are still there rather than to strike inside the gaza

strip. >> jane ferguson from jerusalem thank you. joining us from our studio in los angeles is the consul general david segal. good to have you with us. while i understand the israeli position of no negotiations while under fire why leave cairo altogether? >> it's a grave situation. here with israel fulfilling its side of the bargain for three days of a ceasefire. we stopped the fire, we pulled out of the gaza strip we ceased all operation is against terrorist targets. here we are again in a situation where hamas and terrorist groups are firing into israel into rural areas into cities, the ceasefire the whole premise was that the fire would stop and this again is why the situation is so grave. >> now the entire palestinian delegation not just hamas insists for a ceasefire to

continue, israel needs to lift the blockade on gaza. can't israel consider that? there was an editorial in the haretz newspaper there is a lack on prime minister netanyahu part. >> given a sustained ceasefire israel has low pressure been often the record by saying we're very willing to discuss the reconstruction of gaza, to start bringing in the humanitarian supplies and everything that is needed for the people of gaza. but you certainly can't do this, when rockets are being fired on your country. and by the way, the wore blockade it's restrictions and the restrictions came as a result of the rockets, not the other way around. so this again is something that we need for our own security but we're willing to open up and lessen those restrictions in the context of a sustained ceasefire. >> egypt is refusing to lift its

own restrictions its own blockade at least so far. have the israelis gotten anywhere in their demand that gaza be demill tried? >> it should be very clear that in order for the gaza strip to go through the reconstruction it needs to go through you need to have some control of the resources going into the gaza strip. to make sure that it goes to the people and not to the terror organizations. in the past we saw that the cement that the metal that the supplies that went in went underground for the purpose of terrorism not for the purpose of the people. again this is something we believe is something that is a very important concept and it should be the basis for the the reconstruction of gaza and we should have strong international support from behind us. >> what about this plan from britain germany and france which proposes rehabilitation of gaza along with demilitarization

and an easing of the bloods? we'll keep doing that in quiet negotiations, we keep our negotiations discrete, with our host in cairo so we don't talk about the details. but in general, the situation is clear, israel is open for a peaceful process with the palestinians. but small israel can't agree to a situation where they keep firing at us and tunneling into our border into israel. >> there is an interesting poll out of gaza this week, 92% of gazans favor a long term ceasefire, 72% hope a long term peace can be reached but 62% say hamas was not responsible for the situation in the middle east and 68% would prefer for the gaza strip rather than armament.

some positive some not so positive. >> again the people of gaza are not our enemy. this is not a fight we wanted to be in. we have no interest in further bloodshed. we have no interest in this conflict in the first place. it was really imposed upon us by an unprovoked attack on us by hamas. they use their own civilians as pawns. when we look at the people of gaza it is very clear what needs to be done. this conflict needs to stop. the firing on israel needs to stop. we need to begin building and rebuilding the gaza strip for the benefit of the people of gaza and the benefit of israel. we have interest in having neighbors that prosper not neighbors that suffer. us. thank you. >> thank you very much. >> now for some more stories from around the world. we begin in geneva where the world health organization

declared west africa's ebola outbreak an international health emergency. >> this morning i am declaring the current outbreak of ebola virus disease a public health emergency of international concern. countries affected to date simply to not have the capacity to manage an outbreak of this own. >> more than 900 people have been killed in the outbreak that began in march making it the largest and longest ebola outbreak ever. next we head to afghanistan where u.s. secretary of state john kerry brokered a deal between the two candidates, ab abdalla abdalla and ashraf aghani. the party's hope it will prevent the country's collapse along

tribal lines. both canes have agreed to honor the results for a unity government. despite being down graded to a tropical storm from a category 1 hurricane, just before landing, iselle dumped inches of rain on the big island. no injuries were reported. while hurricane julio is close on iselle's tail, it is expected to verge north with the majority of the storm away from the islands. russian militants kill more than a dozen ukrainian soldiers. four decades since richard nix'on resigned. john dean, what he knew and when

he knew our social media producer, hermela aregawi, what's trending online. >> night before a funeral service happened, was cancelled they found he was gay. clips from the show and for information on upcoming >> al jazeera america presents: >> smile and look at the camera. >> edge of eighteen >> i thought grades would get me into college. >> the tough realities >> the bullying became too much to take for me. >> my parents basically hated each other. >> facing our kids >> that's not how life works, apparently. >> look what i have for you... you can't have it. >> i'm not giving up - my father can't take those dreams away from me. >> dreaming big >> i've got to get into at least one of these top schools... there's no way i can't. >> i would like to run for president of the united states. >> confronting fears >> i have a confession to make. >> i don't wanna have to take out loans. >> i took the pregnancy test.

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>> turning now to the crisis in eastern ukraine where fierce fighting killed at least 15 on friday. in kyiv the secretary-general of nato ordered president putin to pull back under the pretext of a humanitarian mission. >> i call on russia to step back

from the brink. step back from the border. do not use peace keeping as an excuse for war making. >> meanwhile the russian government continue continued to retaliate against western sacks by scrapping most food imports from the west. it also raised the possibility of banning flights from the eu to from flying over yaition on asia on their way. the sixth anniversary of the russian georgian war, it is only inevitable when russia invades. >> might become a moment when they are like causing aid. that is to say direct all out invasion. partly almost there.

>> joining us from kyiv ukraine is anna memsova. anna, good to have you back. increase in russian troops on the border. do you think the chances are higher that the russians might cross the border as the ukrainian military gets more aggressive and pushes forward with its assault on the separatists? >> you know antonio, 40% of russians say that the army should cross the border and come to help rebels in eastern ukraine. and over 60% of russians think russian volunteers should come and fight together with rebel forces against ukrainian military. right now the only person who makes the decision, president putin is under a lot of pressure. different teams push him from different lands, different directions. i've been told that federal

security service really insisting on intervening and bringing the aerial to ukraine -- the the army to ukraine. while big business are concerned about economic sanctions. and at the end of the day, we know that it is president putin who is going odecide. >> and we're hearing -- to decide. >> we're hearing these words talking about there might have to be a humanitarian intervention in eastern ukraine because of the fighting. is that you think preparing the ground for a possible invasion? >> posly. last -- possibly. last time i spoke with rebel commanders is they would want russian forces to be there, take the wounded out bring humanitarian aid. i also speak to volunteers working in donetske and in luhansk, every day they help to dig out injured people from the debris.

and they need help, they ask for help from kyiv, they ask for help from europe and united states, yesterday volunteers told me they don't really care where the help comes from but they need medicine, they need body bags. 300 body bags they were asking for yesterday. so there are many dead people already killed by this war. >> you mentioned the sanctions, western sanctions have hurt the russian economy. now russian sanctions on the west may also hurt russians because store shelves in russia may become bare. is there any sign that that's making any difference in russian opinion or in vladimir putin's behavior? >> well, you know, experts in moscow are not really serious about this russian sanctions. they think that they're not going to be too hard. as the

communists working for putin's team are making it as soft as possible. russian colleagues working for russian television they say in the past month twice they were prepared to air an important speech by the president. which they thought was the speech about invasion. but that didn't happen. the first time it was before malaysian airplane was shot down and the second time just recently when we heard about new sanctions in russia. experts in moscow say the president is very cautious right now. >> you have been reporting of course on everything going on in eastern ukraine, the ukrainian army hit the pediatric wing of a hospital, on thursday the rebels shot down a ukrainian fighter just outside of donetske and you wrote a piece saying this is

what the war really looks like. it's becoming surreal, residents are fleeing, some reports describe it as a ghost town. how far is the kyiv government prepared to go fighting the separatists? >> when i first arrived in donetske the city was beautiful, donetske is a hardworking city. people take care of their gardens, parks, public places, it's very clean. and in the course of a few months we've seen the situation becoming uglier and uglier. donetske was shelled the first time a month as. and today many people run to the basements at night. they are afraid of being killed in the middle of the night. some people spend their nights in the bathrooms. i saw bodies of killed civilians close to the railway station.

there were three bodies in one day. so this is a very different donetske from donetske that i first saw when i first arrived in april. not many people walk around the streets, sometimes you can go to downtown and not see anybody. no cars in the streets no people in the parks. it does look like a ghost town sometimes. >> very sad and dangerous situation in eastern ukraine. anna, thank you very much from joining us from kyiv. time now to see what's trending on the web. hermella. >> hard time for a grieving family even more difficult. a florida man's family cancelled a funeral a night before they found he was gay. new hope baptist missionary church, the church called to cancel, pastor jenkins had

ranged evans owe bi owe bi obituary. >> how can they wait that long and put somebody in a bind when they're going over that loss? >> the pastor stands by it. he says based on our preaching of the scripture we would be in error allowing the service in our church. i'm not condemning anyone's lifestyle but at the same time i'm a man of god and have to stand up for my principles. the family says the service was great but they're still disappointed with the church's decision. the pastor usually reviews obituaries before they are published but he was on vacation that week.

john dean says what you have heard about the richard nixon scandal is wrong. tsa is catching an awful lot of guns at airports. >> on techknow, new hope for a cure >> he has a rare severe form epilepsy >> a miraculous medical marijuana breakthrough... >> it's something we can all relate to, a sick child getting better >> a week went by, still no seizures... then we know we were on to something... >> tech know, every saturday go where science meets humanity. >> this is some of the best driving i've every done, even though i can't see. >> tech know. >> we're here in the vortex. only on al jazeera america.

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production is huge... >> no noise, no clutter, just real reporting. the new al jazeera america mobile app, available for your apple and android mobile device. download it now today's data dive tests airport security. 62-year-old maryland woman, already on braition for not only sneaking past security at the san jose airport but actually getting onto a flight to l.a. without a boarding pass. it's raised serious questions about san jose's safety, after a 15-year-old snuck onto the tarmac in april. he made it into the plane's wheel well, on a flight to hawaii.

you might want to consider this. agents done more than firearms just in the first six months of this year. that's an average of nearly 40 a week up about 18% from last year. the tsa's blog regularly features pictures of confiscated items. everything from a smoke grenade to a stun cane and rifles. gun owners have to declare and check any firearms into hard sided containers. fine of $7500. so far this year the hartfield international airport in atlanta has seen the most violations but country. on the other hand l.a. i l.a.x. is the second biggest but way down the list. florida comes down second on the list you do not want to be on. lots of reasons to take airport security seriously.

40 years ago, richard nixon resigned the presidency. john dean joins us to set the so many money stories sound complicated. but don't worry. i'm here to take the fear out of finance. every night on my show i break down confusing financial speak and make it real. @>> this, is .

>> al jazeera america.this, is .

>> 40 years ago and possibly the darkest and most shameful episode of american presidential politics president richard nixon resigned from offense. and in an almost perfect irony it was his decision to record his office conversations was his undoing. john dean has analyzed and tribes hundreds of those tapes. shedding more light to what earned the presidency. john dean while still working in the white house he helped the justice department build the case against president. his new research into the nixon taiption has tapes has resulted in a new book. you've written two other books,. >> i have. >> this is what convinced you

that nixon didn't know about the watergate before it happened. and despite the title of the book this is not a defense of nixon which you see was in on the deal from the beginning. >> it is in his defense. every time he offers an answer which is fal ais fallacious, it gets him into more trouble. what did he know and how did he know it, asked of me by howard baker, i do start with the first tape, after he learned about the break-in, right through until he ordered to pull the plug on the system. >> to find some dirt on larry o'brien the head of the dnc which led them to concoct the plan? >> what's interesting i tried not to draw a lot of conclusions.

rather to take these rather amazing source, these self-secretly recorded conversations which had only been partially transcribed over the years. some by the prosecutors, some by historians. nobody had bothered to pull them all or catalog them all. i found a thousand conversations some very short some very long and from that i was able to put together a full story of what this man did, when he did it and why he did it. so it is a pretty important piece of our history and i thought we're now at the 40th anniversary, we should really understand it. so we now understand his motivates, what's driving -- motives what's driving him every page for me. >> you do draw some conclusions certainly specifically about the atmosphere that nixon encouraged at the white house. >> yes. >> to collect political

intelligence by any means fair or foul and the atmospheres he created was not only responsible for what went wrong but you said he was in many every instance thing catalyst if not the instigator. >> there is no question, the break in would not have happened if nixon had not wanted i it. from the outset if he had said, we're not going to cover this up, say mistakes were made, it would never have happened, woe have survived. things. what i want to understand is how somebody as savvy as nixon could have made these mistakes. i now know the answer to this. it was found in the tapes. the short answer is unfortunately he's not as savvy as i thought he was. >> you also wrote once the

coverup began, you said we had become something of a criminal can a ball. in the tapes it seems like nixon or his close staff including you realized what you were doing was illegal, considered what you were -- that there were any criminal implications of the coverup. >> that's early on. in time we do. i actually get the statutes down after we get really a good notice from howard hunt that he's not going to remain silent if he doesn't get paid. when that message came through chuck colson recorded it, i said we are obstructing justice. there are interesting tapes where i have raised this with er erlichman. haldemann, that shows you how far off the reservation dean has fallen.

i was right on all of those. >> political battle coverups were somehow fair game? >> no, they were looking at particularly ehrlich man, being a lawyer, a good intent good motive doesn't make anything less criminal if you commit the criminal act doesn't matter what your motive is. >> of course, from many questions that have been asked over the years why denied nixon throw everybody under the bus from the beginning because then he might have avoided getting into trouble himself and also aside from getting rid of the people the question is why didn't he get rid of the tapes, he got rid of 18 minutes of them that were erased. you have a whole appendix that deals with the eeras eraseure.

>> i don't think people could have had access not so important the who as the what. i understand why it had become an issue with the media. he promised he would do certain things, every time he promised he would do something another gaff would happen. he doesn't have this tape this first tape they have requested june 20th, first conversation back after the arrest, the last one he said i'm sorry it's erased, i know why it's erased, i know why it was erased. two days later, three days later they actually have one that will end his defense and that is, he was aware of the coverup. he was aware of it within hours, they start talking about it. and that's what's erased. you can you know two of the people, three of the people are still alive who i put in the end note who could have done it.

they are the only ones who had accessing. they could have done it on an order from nixon or to save him grief. they all recognize what the problem was. it blew away his final fire wall defense. >> asking pat buchanan and doug brinkley. was nixon any worse than his press said oars whit comes to callusness or absolute power? >> let me tell you how i look the at it. felix ondrew on the press dernt of his pred says -- precedent of his predecessors. let me tell you the difference i found. while others did do these things, nixon made it a standard operating procedure. where it had been an exception to the roo rule in past presidents. >> the book, john dean, thank you for being with us.

>> thank you. >> that's it for now. but the conversation continues. you can find us on twitter @ajconsiderthis. we'll see you next time. >> conflicts are raging across the world and the united states is being drawn into them. yet the oil and financial markets aren't sweating yet. we'll look at why investors are not reacting to the global unrest and weather. they have a false sense of security. plus your credit rating may be about to get a big boost. we'll tell you about the fico score calculation, and counting on your home as a nest egg may no longer be wise. what you need to consider to be more comfort i