>> president obama makes his case to the american people to destroy the islamic state group. also a former islamic extremist, talks about living under a constant death threat. hello i'm antonio mora, welcome to "consider this," those and other stories straight ahead. >> america will lead a broad coalition to roll back this terrorist threat. >> it is time for united states military to go on offense against the islamic state group. >> i will not hesitate to take action against i.s.i.l. in syria as well as iraq. >> 61% of americans say acting against the islamic state is

against the american interest. >> you have muslim against muslim. >> dangerous terrorists in the world. >> as you send us your bombs wile wee will send you ours. >> i will end up being crucified. >> signs of hope in a fragile ceasefire. >> 70% of troops have moved from eastern ukraine. >> what would happen if the internet were divided into two lanes of web traffic one faster than the other? >> new companies new websites independent journalists will be unable to access users. >> i don't know how team z gets their information. we are particularly relying on law enforcement. >> did send a copy of the ray rice tape months ago. >> they probably did get the video and didn't want to look at it. >> we begin in iraq and syria.

president obama's plan to degrade and destroy the islamic state group. >> i want america to understand how this effort will be different from the wars in iraq and afghanistan . it will not involve american troops fighting on foreign soil, steady relentless effort to take out i.s.i.l. wherever they exist using our air power and the support of our partners on the ground. >> while never uttering the word he is calling the nation to war with plans to extend an already intense air campaign in iraq all the way to war torn syria a conflict the administration has been loath to get entangled in. >> i will not hesitate to take action against i.s.i.l. in syria as well as iraq. presidency. if you threaten america, you will find no safe haven. >> the president's strategy is contingent on key partnerships

with iraq, moderate syrian rebels and allies around the world, many of which have not been yet solidified. i.s. is a threat to the u.s. >> we have not yet detected specific plotting against our home land, i.s.i.l. leaders have threatened america and our allies. our intelligence community believes that thousands of foreigners including europeans and americans have joined them in syria and iraq trained and battle hardened these fighters could try return to their home countries and carry out deadly attacks. >> and speaking on the eve of the 13th anniversary of the september 11th attacks cia director john brennan was asked if he has seenfully signs of an attack. a sign brennan' brennan's preder called the red blinking lines before 9/11. >> they are evil and incar natal, the terrorist activities

in iraq and syria are very very worrisome. i think lights may be blinking red, in that it is time so it's not able to continue along its current path. >> joining us now from washington, d.c. is former senate majority leader george mitchell who served at president obama's special envoy for middle east peace from 2009 to 2011, he received the medal of freedom for his part in the irish peace process. you. thank you for joining us on this nightly. this was a critical speech for president after weeks of criticism for saying he didn't have a strategy for combating these islamic state terrorists. was he unambiguous enough? he didn't use the word war, he effort. >> that's right .

he did make that distinction and i think it's an appropriate one. i think we have to be careful not to assume that american military power alone can deal with i.s.i.s, or the many other issues in the region. i think a critical element which the president referred to is a government in iraq, and eventually, hopefully, one in syria, that is representative of all the people and is not seen as partisan or sectarian as the prevent iraqi government has been seen. it's not a coincidence that where i.s.i.s. has succeed is in areas that of sunni dominated and where the places have been disaffected not giving sunnies a fair shake so i think that there has to be a national government there in iraq hopefully and hopefully soon. >> right an important political component within iraq. now normally, presidents use

these kind of prime time speeches to make a case to the american people but here, polls have shown that the american people were already there maybe ahead of the president supporting action against the terrorists. but as you know americans don't want troops to fight another war. the president stressed there would be no more boots on the ground. but is it a good idea to limit how far we'll go from the onset? >> right, in this case it's necessary and appropriate. americans are rightly concerned. we spent a dozen years in both iraq and afghanistan with tremendous loss of life and a great deal of resources in efforts. in addition, i think the american people understand and i think they will understand more in the years ahead that this is a long process in that region. it's a degree of turbulence, that will continue for some time, there are many overlapping conflicts within islam, sunni

versus shia, sunni governments against sunni extremist groups like i.s.i.s, persians versus arabs and of course the historical conflict between the arabs and israelis. so i think it's going to be turbulent and you have to understand that i.s.i.s. is an outgrowth of al qaeda which is an outgrowth of the muslim brotherhood and the mu muh uh hauh hadeen. >> we will be relying on coalition troops that may not be up to it. when he's talking about forces to combat the terrorists in syria will. >> there will be some american

forces on the ground, special forces and some to conduct training but i don't think this is going to lead to a large scale introduction of american combat forces. to the degree that existed in both iraq and afghanistan. and i think there's good reason for that. we vice president got the outcome that we wanted in either place and there have to be others participating. and in particular, as the president noted, the the muslim people themselves, particularly the sunni endowmented groups in the gulf region, have to step up and make clear their views in opposition to the extremist groups and make clear that they are prepared to undertake the effort to join in the effort with us and others. and there will be ground forces iraqi forces which have not performed well so far. kurdish forces and there will be others in the region which we can rely for intelligence,

resources, assistance, logistics and so forth. the united states is the dominant power in the world but great as our power we cannot control events everywhere in the world and not every problem in the world is an exclusively american problem. we have a unique opportunity and a unique power to influence events, that is what we are going to do here, i believe we will succeed in degrading and deneed-defeating i.s.i.s. the longer term problem is building responsible and tolerable and dominant states in the region. >> you were the ambassador or the five years, the president has said he has the power to act on his own. should there be a full blown debate and discussion and authorization from congress?

wouldn't it have been stronger for the president to have gotten full blown support from the congress before moving forward? >> there's no doubt, the united states is stronger when there's unanimity in the branches of government. i believe there will be expressions of support in a variety of ways. most notably funding for the operation which has to be approved by congress. >> are you concerned about the divisions on capitol hill, some democrats on the left aren't thrilled about us getting into another protracted fight in the middle east, we've got republicans, libertarian wing, some like ron paul, congressman ron paul has said we should just get out of there altogether. >> this is a large diverse

country with many different points of view and which we pride ourselves in freedom of speech and expression of views. the vote to go to war in the 1940s was by one vote. we don't expect unanimity. not through direct combat forces on on the ground but i don't let that deter us. we believe in freedom of speech, we believe in open debate. we understand there's disagreement in our country but i think now on this issue at united. >> do you think the president can be the leader necessary to unite the country and also to create that coalition we need especially if there is no

combat troops on the ground, because the president is described as a very reluctant warrior. >> well, i tell you something. i prefer a president who is a reluctant warrior than one who's seeking combat. i think the president has been restrained and wise in terms of the use of american military power. if we engage in military combat, everywhere we're asked to go, we will soon be unable to engage in that combat anywhere. there is a limit to our resources. a limit to our strength. and keep in mind that the greatest strength that the united states has in the world is our ideals. the principles which -- under which our country was created and which have led us to the point today, military power and economic strength are important. but it is ideals that are the primary basis of influence to the world and that means that we do believe in restraint. we don't seek out war.

we are not aggressors in conflict and i think that's consistent with the american tradition not contrary to it. >> former senate majority leader george mitchell. thank you for your insight. >> thank you antonio. >> for more we're joined from denver colorado by christopher hill, dean of the joseph corbell school of international studies. thank you for being on the program. we just heard george mitchell say, he thinks caution is important. what do you think of the president's speech? >> i think the president has a comprehensive strategy. the question is whether the elements of that strategy are going to work. certainly the air strikes, there is no air force in the world like the u.s. air force. that part i think will go well. i can foresee improved performance from the peshmerga even the iraqi army.

i think there's some good news in baghdad in terms of a broader based government. the real issue is whether the diplomacy and the politics of this are going to line up. will saudi arabia support so-called moderate sunni opposition in syria? will saudi arabia take extra measures to prevent use of their banking system and other institutions from supporting the radical groups such as i.s.i.s? so that's a big question. just more broadly, what is going to happen with other countries? will turkey step up in this? so there are a lot of questions. and those questions loom very large, once we start looking at the situation in syria because i don't think there's anyone who believes that this so-called moderate opposition could defeat al nusra, defeat i.s.i.s. and defeat assad's simultaneously.

that is going to be a really tall order. >> to your point the president is stating that arming and training the moderate forces in iraq is important. listen to what he had to say? >> with respect to syria it's always been a fantasy this idea that we could provide some light arms or even more sophisticated arms to what was essentially an opposition made up of former doctors, farmers, pharmacists and so forth. there's not as much capacity as you would hope. >> now former u.s. intor ambassador robert ford said not arming the moderates, can they help? >> i'll let the president's words speak for themselves. but there is a sort of cottage industry to the effect that once upon a time, the syrian

opposition consisted of all very moderate people but when they weren't given enough help the thugs came in. i'd like to see more evidence for this narrative. but whatever it is, this is what we know now. the moderate opposition is probably the weakest element within syria and yet, it's the only element that we can build around. >> that we can deal with. >> so i think we have no choice but to work with them or try to. >> right, and as he said that we'd go after the islamic state terrorists in syria if need be diplomatically how do we deal with bashar al-assad? he said he wants notification of u.s. air strikes in his country. >> well that's not going to happen. if this were a perfect world what you do is go to the russians and say look russians you need to sit on assad, don't let him to take any territory and you know make sure he doesn't try to take advantage of what we're doing against i.s.i.s.

well you know there's no russia to go to at this point. we've got a huge problem with russia in ukraine. similarly, it is not so easy for the u.s. to team up with iran. we have huge differences with iran. anyone who has spent any time in iraq as i did is very aware of the really malevolent position the iranians took in terms of helping these various shia militia groups. so that is basically a road that's probably closed for you know long term repairs. so i think this is going to be a very tall order in terms of finding a ground component in syria. again, i can see the possibilities with the iraqi army. i can see the possibilities with peshmerga. it's just a tougher set of issues when you get to syria. i will make one more point. i think we need a long term vision of what is going to

become of syria when it grows up. i can understand what we're looking at in iraq. we're looking at a government that's probably going to have a shia prime minister, probably going to have a sunni head of parliament, kurd that's president, government that have ministers from these three countries. i -- communities. i get it in iraq it will be pushing and shoving to get there. but in syria who knows what we're talking about? to say assad is some isolated dictators, where are the druge supporting him why are the christians supporting him and the answer is they're really worried about what's on the sunni side, very big complicates there. >> ambassador christopher hill, always nice to have you with us. a former jihadist takes us inside extremist groups and how he became a double agent and

helped the u.s. kill a major al qaeda leader. and a different look at a the mlk >> an astonishing america tonight investigative report >> why are you wearing gloves? >> ocd... taking over this woman's life... >> i don't wanna touch anything... >> now a controversial surgery can literally reprogram her mind >> we can modify emotional circuitry >> is this a miracle cure? or an ethical nightmare? >> there's a lot of mystery right now... >> rewiring the brain an america tonight investigative report only on al jazeera america

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air strikes a day in iraq in an effort to help iraqi forces regain territory and protect infrastructure. president obama sent more than 500 troops joining 5,000 forces there. while the iraqi army and kurdish forces have success. there are divisions. forces for battle against the president vowed to use airpower against i.s. wherever it exists, ensuring a lengthy commitment following the wars in iraq and afghanistan. for more, we are joined by major mike lyons, a combat veteran of desert storm, where he was awarded a bronze star. he's a senior fellow with the truman national security project. good to have you with us. let's start with something the president said.

he said that this operation would compare to what we have been doing in somalia and yemen. is that an apt analogy. we have not gotten rid of al-shabab, and as recently as a few months ago we heard how big a threat al qaeda and the arabian peninsula poses. >> he wanted to draw a bright line between what happened in the past in iraq and what he wanted to see the vision going forward. that's the way to do it. the stand-off military, the drone president, he has overseen drone strikes during his administrations. he's trying to say "this is how we'll fight the war from over the horizon, use the technology" and that we'll destroy the leader." that was all about the bright line between this and happened before. >> but most military analysts, and i suspect you are in that field too, have said that air

strikes will not be enough to destroy the group. we are going to have to rely on regional forces, and we have seen how poorly the iraqi and kurdish forces fared against the terrorists much is that the weak link. >> he hasn't called it war, he called it counterterrorism. this is not war. military aside, you are looking at a map where i.s. is. they occupy road networks. they look at places where - and normally armies take swaths of land. in this case i think that the air strikes will push them back along the road networks into syria. he recognised the fact we'll have to deal with the ground force. to get the countries to fight side by side, i'm not sure how that will happen. i think that is the long pole in the tent on this. >> looking at the map we had up. they control a significant amount of territory in iraq and syria. that could be a disadvantage for

them. they have to deal with ricky forces coming from the south, kiddish forces hopefully -- kurdish forces hopefully that will be better armed from the east, and if the plan to arm and train the syria moderates - they'll have to deal with the syrians of the north-west. and who nose if the turks will be involved. they could have a three pronged, a four pronged war on their hands. >> if you look at the road networks they lead to syria. from the air force's perspective they'll monitor them 24/7. the fact they'll go on the offensive. we'll ignore the boredier between syria and go after the heads of i.s. this is a conventional army kicking up a lot of dust. those will be the tarts of opportunity that we weren't -- targets of opportunity that we wopt going after before -- won't going after before.

>> how quickly can they do that? >> i think they have started. they anticipated the mission. n.a.t.o. will get involved. they'll have the capability to have command and control. the president will lead the coalition, it means synchronization of all the combat assets. as long as we have people on the ground and advisors on the ground. there'll be casualties, they'll be on the ground with the forces, directing the air strikes. they'll bring the combat power together on the ground, in the air. i think to be successful. >> that is the question, of course, how many of those american troops are going to be involved on the ground, despite the promises that we will not have boots on the ground, especially as we talked about earlier, if we train and equip the moderates, is that where the biggest change arises? >> i am not sure how you take the army off the battlefield and

train them. at this point they don't have soldiers. the bottom line is de don't have the man power, particularly if they are fighting with the i.s. soldiers inside syria. i don't know where they'll get them from. >> you need to know who you are giving the arms too, which is a problem. >> to get them off the battlefield and into saudi arabia, they'll train the military city, wide open desert, but how do you take a unit offline and train them. >> a quick final question - how important is it to do what we did in iraq during the iraq war, to get the sunnis in the areas where the terrorists are already dominating, to fight against these terrorists? do you think the unity government will help that? again, how important is that? >> there has to be a sunni awakening. one thing we won't have in the situation, we won't have wisent

to point to and say "that's it, now we have tipped the point over, and now it will work." there won't be a decisive battle. the president prepared us for that. >> a lot of time and questions. good of you to join us. look forward to having you back. major michael lyons. now for more stories from around the world. we begin in ukraine, where president petro porashenko announced that 70% of russian troops in ukraine have left. russia denies that its troops were ever in the ukraine. in a sign into a resolution to the conflict might be nearing petro porashenko outlined a plan that would give rebel-held areas more autonomy, but not independence. speaker of the house john boehner announced that petro porashenko will address a joint congress next week. now to spain and video of a

hale storm that washed away cars and flooded houses. it lasted 20 minutes, dumped so much water that streams overflowed. no one was hurt, but cranes were needed to clear the roadways. crops in a rural area were destroyed. in new york - an n.f.l. executive was given a video of ray race, a report claims, hitting his wife in an elevator. the associated press was given a voicemail from an n.f.l. office number confirming that the video arrived saying "you're right, it's terrible." commissioner roger cadell said the league did not have access to the film and the number of fl released a statement saying : that's some of what is happening around the world. coming up, the gripping story of a former jihadist

turned double agent for the c.i.a. he faces death threats from the terrorists and joins us next. a personal and revealing look at dr martin luther king junior's last year. harmeli aregawi is tracking the top stories on the web. >> a lot of websites ramped up net neutrality debate by slowing thing down. i explain the tactics. what do you think: i'm a 17 year old teenager. i go to a public high school outside of the city limits of atlanta. it's 99% african american we do get a quality education. you know we have teachers that really care about us as far as the african american stereotypes, all the music they listen too is

rap, they only use ebonics, they don't know how to speak proper english, they've never read a book in their life, all they do is get high, smoke weed, no... i've never been exposed to anything like that... coming from a mom who as a single mother, had her first child at 16, who is the ceo of her own company, me being someone who is about to graduate, who is the recipient of a full scholarship, the stereotype is absolutely flawed. >> did it ever cross your mind that. being a single mother that, your children may end up like the statistics say they're gonna fail >> being a single mom... raising five kids, i've always said you guys, you be 100% the best that you can be >> i would like to run for the senate in 2032. then it leads to the great big goal in life, to run for the office of the president of the united states of america >> catch more stories from edge of eighteen on al jazeera america

>> a crisis on the border >> they're vulnerable these are refugees. >> migrant kids flooding into the us. >> we're gonna go and see

who's has just been deported. >> why are so many children fleeing? >> your children will be part of my group... >> fault lines, al jazeera america's hard hitting... >> there blocking the door... >> ground breaking... >> truth seeking... >> we have to get out of here... award winning investigative documentary series... no refuge: children at the border only on al jazeera america >> three years ago, american drones fired hell fire missiles that killed four suspected al qaeda operatives including the prime target who directed or inspired attacks in the u.s., including the underwear bomber, and major nidal hasan, who killed four and wounded 40 others. an iraqi found himself in a

drone's cross hairs, with help, co-written an extraordinary book about his years first as a supporter and then as a spy within al qaeda. for more i'm joined in london by morton storm who worked as a double agent, for britain's mi-5 and mi-6. and his book agent storm, my life inside al qaeda and the cia. morton, you were a trublgd young troubled young man when you converted into islam. what brought you into the social circles of denmark and britain who wanted to attack the u.s? >> i obviously went broad after converting to -- abroad after converting to islam. i went to an institution up

there which is the most concentrated salafi institute in the world. i studied with people from america, from europe, from all over the world and obviously it made me quite fundamentalistic and very firm in my faith there. >> you became a fundamentalist, heavily involved, you knew richard reid, the suspected shoe bomber, what made you turn away from extremism and work for british and american intelligence? >> i was planning to travel to somalia and fight and join up with the islamic union court in 2006 in december. a couple of days. my travel was due, i had a phone call from a friend who was in somalia. warning me t not to return

back to somalia because they just lost the airport to the ethiopian troops. it was such a blow to me, it was a show of my faith. it was like we had just lost the world cup in football. i then went home and googled, you know, i googled contradictions in the koran and i came across a lot of websites which obviously stated there was contradictions in the koran and having been a devoted muslim for ten years studying islam i never dared to ask questions but this time i did. i studied those contradiction and concluded that they were genuine and obviously wiped away my faith. >> and you didn't believe that killing civilians was acceptable. and you know, that raises the

question for me, is you know, why is it that so many others, why aren't people turned off by the savagery, like what we're seeing in iraq and syria and even worse that it seems like so many are actually attracted by the horrors we're seeing the beheadings the crucifixions, the enslaving of women? >> yeah, the problem is, sir, that we -- if you studied the sunni, obviously the sunni islam and the salafi methodology you will then learn that by the way, when i say salafy, i have to remind everybody out there that the salafy ideology is the fastest growing ideology, the fastest growing ideology. and these people don't take it out of nowhere, they take it from the koran, the interntion

of th interpretation of the koran and the hadith, prophet mohamed, new of those books i studied personally and you come across a situation where these kinds of events actually happened in the time of prophet mohamed and it was used to spread islam and also used to spread terror into the fear into the hearts and mind of the enemies. >> now you said you felt a lot of joy when anwar alaki was killed. you said the cia paid you a quarter of a million dollars for helping him to find an american wife, how dangerous was al alaki? >> he was extremely dangerous, very deluded person. are he was so determined to be one of

the first, be involved in one of the first chemical warfare attack that al qaeda had planned, and you know he knew he was going to get killed. so for him it was not amatter of if he was going to get killed or not. he knew he was going to do it so he was planning to do as much damage as possible and also at the same time he believed by doing that he will reach paradise, you know, that's it. >> and do you think the islamic state group poses the similar situation to the united states and do you think president obama is right in going after them in >> yes. this is one of the few times where i would actually consider the american government are doing something good. and that what the obama administration is doing now by intensifying their strikes against i.s.i.s. is actually correct, and is the best thing that could happen even for not only for the people in the west

but for the people in the region. and for the future, we talk about the christians, if jewish minorities, the yazidis or anyone else who doesn't agree with i.s.i.s. will get killed. so actually, the air strikes, americans are launching at the moment is extraordinary humanitarian help for these people. >> quick final question. you wrote recently in:00 magazine that the islamic state wants you dead. you were -- in "time" magazine that the islamic state wants you dead, you were pictured fight fighting, you were there prominent among them, how do you live with that threat? >> well, life goes on and see, the most important thing to send a strongest message out to those terrorists is that we do not give into them and we do not obey the bullying and

intimidation. my life goes on. i obviously had to take my security missions but my life goes open and as much as i can contribute with talking to you, to fight this ideology i will do it. i want to explain everything i possibly can to educate people around the world about this very dangerous threat, and the drive behind it. so i'm still fighting. i'm not staying behind. >> well it's good of you to join us to get your message out. the book is agent storm, my life inside al qaeda and the cia. good to have you. >> thank you sir, thank you very much. >> fine out what's trending on the web. hermella. >> advocates of net neutrality declared wednesday internet slow down day. they're not actually slowing things down but if you go to netflix kickstarter and

reddit, the spinning circle associated with slow down. fc changes that they say would ruin the internet. under current guidelines generally speaking all websites are treated equally by internet service providers. what the fcc is proposing, charging more for faster service, that would create a slow lane. censorship. >> when you are looking for access one website much faster than another website you're going to go to that faster loading website and those large incumbent companies who can afford for that high speed access to users are going to get the attention of users, new companies new websites small blogs and independent

journalists and things like that will be unable to access users. >> the net neutrality debate has generated a record for public comments to the fc c. they received more than 1.7 comes on the issue, the 1.4 million they received for janet jackson's wardrobe malfunction at the super bowl. let us know where you stand on twitter, @ajconsiderthis. statements in favor of net neutrality david. >> that's a huge issue, hermella, thanks. >> welcome. >> the glory days for martin luther king's civil rights, but he was ostracized by some of his biggest supporters, we'll take a surprising look at martin luther king from tavis smiley.

how it started with a simple >> start with one issue ad guests on all sides of the debate. and a host willing to ask the tough questions and you'll get... the inside story ray suarez hosts inside story weekdays at 5pm et / 2pm pt only on al jazeera america

>> on tech know, imagine getting the chance to view the world. >> the brain is re-learning how it sees again >> after decades in the dark, >> i couldn't get around on my own >> a miraculous bionic eye... >> i'm seeing flashes >> great >> 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. >> protestors are gathering... >> there's an air of tension right now...

>> the crowd chanting for democracy... >> this is another significant development... >> we have an exclusive story tonight, and we go live... >> today's data diefn are dive goes for a world record. more than 130 million books have sold in a total of 20 languages when it was first published. after a chairman of the guiness brewery, missed a shot at the plover, three years later he recruited sports reporters to

compile facts and figures in what would first become the guiness book of world records. it didn't take long for people to join the fun and tried to break all sorts of records just to get in the book. some of the stranger inclusions this year, california's nick stoboro made the by having the longest tongue ever recorded. 3.9 inches. when he sticks it out outside his lip. stow stowboro got in. the longest jump by a cat of six need. largest joe h yo-yo. 11 feet nine inches. who can play with that thing?

the extensive record to get certified can take up to three months. after all it takes a while to verify achievements like lindsay crushing eight apples with her biaccepbicep.

let the journalists live. >> we usually think of dr. martin luther king jr. as an inspiring heroic leader who was martyred in his search for civil rights. death of a king, shows how his very vocal opposition to the vietnam war led to him losing major blocks of his support, leaving him rejected and dejected. i sat down with the author, tavis

smiley , for "talk to al jazeera." >> last year of his life, april 4, 1967 and april 4, 1968. why is that year important? because he gives the war against vietnam, he uses this phrase, he refers to america as the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today. that's a strong indictment from a black man to a white nation. >> it created quite the backlash. >> lord god did it. next day everybody and everything started to turn. the triple threat of racism poverty and militarism. long story short. as long as this negro was standing in the lane of civil rights he was okay, acceptable. but when he started talking about foreign policies and

budgets are moral documents and the money you are spending away should be spend at home. and that war is the enemy of the poor they turned on martin king in that very last year. >> and they turned on him in a pretty substantial way. i'm old enough to remember the allegations of him being a communist. you write about how 75% of whites thought he was irrelevant at that point. a good majority of blacks also believed the same thing and part of it was the rise of the black panther party and young people being more attracted to people more militant than he was. >> we so deifieed him in death. >> forgotten. >> absolutely. after that speech the white house turns on him. he and johnson working on voting rights and civil rights, two of

the most substantial are bills in the 20th century. that number was almost 60% in black america thought he was per sonna nongrata. whitney young in the urban league, the cosmos had turned on him. >> what would he say if now, you know, what has it been 46 years later, if he saw a black president, if he saw that there has been great progress on race issues but that there continues to be racism and discrimination in this country, what do you think he would say? >> great question, antonio. the closest thing him seeing a black president, was the first black mayor, carl stokes, he

would have involved himself in the obama campaign, if he had been asked to be used as a surrogate, they may not circulate wanted him on the campaign trail. he certainly would have campaigned for barack obama. and once obama got elected he would have said, i love you but i'm going to be your critic and i'm going to hold you account annal to those issues that are the of most interest to the american people. >> before the election where barack obama became president of the united states you weren't uncritical of the president. you brought up issues and you got a lot of grief for it. in fact you ended up changing jobs to some extent because of the fact that you had been treated so harshly, because you weren't just toeing the party line and were bringing up questions. how do you feel about the president today, especially in regards to race? i know in 2011 you have said he has failed american blacks.

>> i think the president has a difficult job and i certainly am pulling and praying for him every day. not just to be another garden variety politician but to be a statesman. he could have been that on purpose but he missed the opportunity in ferguson, missouri, to be a statesman. >> should he have gone to ferguson? >> he absolutely should have. king wasn't the president, obama is. i make the distinction all the time. king is a prophet. obama is the president and the president of this country as far as i'm concerned whether you're black or white republican or democrat if there's a major crisis in this country and a major american city or a city next to a major american city like ferguson is to st. louis is on fire and there -- and the city's been mil militarized ande city is burning and people are

being beaten and being killed and being maced, the president ought to step into that situation. i'm not going to let barack obama off the hook any more than i am letting george bush off the hook for going to new orleans. whipping up african american voters across the country to get them turned out for the mid term election it's a cynical -- >> that brings up an interesting question, which is is there a problem with the african american community becoming so identified with the democratic party and voting so overwhelmingly democratic, because then aren't they seeing the democrats ignoring them because they're taking them for granted and the republicans ignoring them for saying, we're not going to get their votes anyway, what are they doing for the african american community, i know i'm harsh -- >> you aren't harsh. they are being ignored by one

party and taken for granted by the other party. this is an issue for black or brown. what's really crazy about this is and i do mean crazy is that the republicans are too stuck on stupid to take advantage of that. here you have two constituencies black and brown who in many respects both feel marginalized and taken for granted by their company but you can't bring the goods, you can't bring them another option that is in their best interest you cannot stop contesting their heuvment b humanity by bringing their policies for forward. dr. king who would love the to points to fall. >> that could probably be a good point to end on but i'm not going to end there. you know where i'm coipg coming. here at al jazeera america we do serious news, we don't do much entertainment. but i suspect i'm going to be

the first person on this network to ever utter the four words. dancing with the stars. >> you play be the last. you know what? i never thought i would utter those words either. in part because if you'd asked me this five, ten years ago, the answer would have been no. when they did ask me this year i told them no three times. and they said take a meeting with us. i pulled out my pad, pros, cons it turned out to my surprise and my horror quite frankly, the reasons for doing this show outweighed the reasons not to do the show, i'm about to turn 50 and i'd do one stupid thing before that. i get final approval over what i wear. i'm not going to be on youtube

the rest of my life with a sparkly costume on. >> i don't care how bad you are, i'm going to vote for you. >> death of a king the real story of dr. martin luther king, jr.'s final year, is out now and you can see my interview with dr. smiley, a week from saturday. the co-chair of the 9/11 commission joins us 13 years after the worst terror attack on u.s. soil. a son of hamas who wound up spying for israel at great human risk. and the conversation continues on our website, aljazeera.com aljazeera.com/creditthis. and tweet me

>> the fight against the islamic state fighters in iraq and syria could cost america billions of dollars. i'll tell where you that cash would come from, and what it might buy. i'm looking at how the small and wealthy country of qatar has become an influence and sometimes controversial player in the region. plus, effect playing video games. some companies are betting big that some day you'll want to watch video games. i'm ali velshi, and this is "real money." >> this is "real money." you are the most important part of the show. tell me what's on your mind by sweeting me at ali velshi or hit me up at facebook.com/ali velshi. 13 years after al-qa