>> 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.

>> focusing on international affairs and he is the author of a new book "don't wait for the next war, a strategy for american gloeth and global leadership." always good to have you with us. thank you very much for joining us. >> thank you. >> we will get to the book in a moment but let's start with isil taking over a third of kobane. turkey has forces ready to go, tanks on the border less than a most likely away from where isil may be fighting. they seem to be going nowhere

fast any time soon. what happens? do we let isil get stronger? >> what i hope we will do is we will use this as a motivating factor to pull the coalition more closely together. you need several elements. u.s. air power, the moderate syrian opposition. you need the turkish ground forces and you need the free syrian army in there. but the free syrian army right now is not capable of standing up against isis. so i would like to see us work on a three-way arrangement to be able to bring the turkish ground forces in. >> you have argued we need to know who we are helping. now, that's obviously a big question in syria because in a micro level, we would help the kurds there but on a bigger level, on macro level, who would be, we be helping? because as you said, the moderate syrian rebels are nowhere to be found. would we just be helping assad? >> this is always the problem. >> that's why when you are doing

an operation like this, you have to think from the desired ends state. the desired end state is to leave in place in syria a moderate government that will not use syria as a basis for terrorism and is not basha bashar assad. so we have got to pull together the moderate syrian opposition and give them the capacity to governor this space. when people say you have to have boots on the ground, they are right. having boots on the ground is a necessary condition but not a sufficient condition nor success. to be successful, you have to be able to govern that space. and so, u.s. troops can't do that. we know they can't do it. but we could empower the syrian moderate opposition political leadership. we could work in conjunction with the turkish grounds forces and provide u.s. air cover and a temporary no-fly zone over that area to make sure there is no interference from bashar assad. something could be pulled together and probably, that's under discussion right now

inside the pentagon. >> you have also argued that several sunni arab nations have funded terrorists to get at assad and to prevent iran and hezbollah from dominating syria. you said they created a monster and don't trust troops and are looking for us to save them. those are pretty strong words. and, in fact, they echo what vice president biden just got criticized for and had to go off and apologize for. >> well, i don't know what the relationship is with vice president biden, but i will tell you what, this is my assessment from having looked at the situation and talked to people in the region and it has nothing do with the diplomacy of the u.s. government and it's not a part of that. it's just my private assessment. but i am concerned because unfortunately, this got out of control. this isis movement, and it does espouse the same extremist interpretation of sharia law that is espoused by some sunni nations in the region. so, it

makes it difficult for them it with their forces. i think -- i think it makes it difficult. now, if they say it doesn't, then i am happy. if that's the case, put those forward -- those forces forward and let's get to work. >> now, you have said, also, what the pentagon repeated this week, that we cannot win this war with air power alone. and as you just were telling me, you have argued that u.s. combat forces would be a huge mistake, especially because you think that if we did that, we would be playing in to isil's hands. >> absolutely. it would be a big recruiting draw for isis. i mean what they would like to be able to say is they are the only power that can, you know, fight the united states, great infidels over there. they would like that moniker. they have tried to sucker the united states in. it will make it worst if we put u.s. troops on the ground. we have to find a way to do this together with our friends and allies in the region. but we have to do it without u.s. troops on the ground. >> so in the meantime, then, what is the air power mission?

because if we all agree that air power, alone, won't defeat isil, then what? can we at least use it to stop isil? because it sure seems like we weren't able to stop isil in kobane despite the fact they were moving troops and tanks and armored vehicles through open fields. >> you can't attack moving forces like that unless you have eyes on a continuous basis. you can't have those eyes on unless you have people on the ground with communications to the aircraft. this is what we are doing now, we used to call it battlefield air inter diction. we are flying deep over enemy territory. we are doing it without friendly forces on the ground. we are identifying target did from the air. we are doing pre-planned strikes in most cases and it is effective if degrading and disorganizing and causing the isil forces to react and take precautionary measures. it does slow them down operationally. it just didn't get at the exact point of the battle.

can't do that without forces on the ground that have contact with the air. now, if we had the turkish forces in there, if we could bring the iraqi forces forward, yes, those forces have the connectivity or could be given the connectivity we need. we don't have that yet. a lot of these things are coming together. we didn't wait until we had every piece organized to go forward. we went forward with a sense of urgency with what we had. and we are assembling this coalition on the fly. >> in that context, you have still got a lot of contacts at the pentagon, i know. what about all of the talk that's being grumbling that there is a split between the defense department and the white house because, you know, going back to when this effort sfashthsd the pentagon called our action a war before the white house did. we now have seen secretary, former secretary defense panetta's very strong negative

comments about the obama administration. >> well, look. there will always be different opinions from different branches and components of the government because what you see and how you feel depends in part on where you sit. it's the president's responsibility to see the big picture. and it's the department's responsibility of defense to bring to him the military options and the considerations. so he is not bound to accept every military option or every military assessment. now, if he tries to do military operations that contra seen military best judgment, he may run into trouble but the military is very loyal. they will do what the commander in chief tells them. but they are going to give him their best advice. that's all. we don't need to get any partisan bickering in here and get partisan politics in this. this is very normal sort of give and take within the executive branch as decisions are being made. >> you address partisan politics in your book and how they can be problematic for what the u.s. needs to do in the world going

forward. and the book is entitled, "don't wait for the next war." you say that foreign policy, american foreign policy, has been far too reactive for the past century. not just recently, and not proactive enough. you also say that war is a poor substitute for trstrategic visi. so what should our strategic vision be be now moving in the middle east and around the world. >> you need a national strategy first and a way to regrow, reinvigorate the american economy, create jobs at home and increase our growth rate so that we are strong enough to do what we need to do in the world. >> that's job number 1. i think we need to focus on hydrocarbons, bio fuels and becoming more energy independent. there is no reason why we couldn't become completely energy independent if we follow through with the technology and resources and financial support available right now in the united states. we just have to -- we have just have to turn it loose and it will go. it's all private sector and will

double the u.s. gdp growth rate. we need those resources we have to strength en our relationship with europe and then we have to handle the terrorist challenge and the crisis of the middle east and we have to help guide the ascent of china as it grows to become a larger and more responsible player in the world. >> so it sounds like economic nalls we need to focus domestically a bit and strengthen our economy so we can project that strength that um we need to project. you know, you say that we need to stay engaged globally. like i said, there are lots of great quotes in your book. you say there is neither safety nor security in retreat. americans, every poll until these horrible beheadings, every poll was americans did want to retreat. we were becoming more isolati isolationi isolationist. >> sure, but you can't guide foreign policy over a long period by the vagueries of

public opinion. public opinion comes and goes. americans were quite happy to turn their backs on the middle east. isil beheads two americans and suddenly the public wants to jump in and kill them all. so, it's useful to have public support you can only do so much without public support. but generally, in foreign policy, the executive branch has to lead and shape public opinion, has to educatie, has t figure out how to gain and maintain support of the public raernl simply react to it. >> talking about the executive branch, you have run for president before. this book would seem putting out this grand vision, it would seem like a perfect launching point for a presidential campaign we talked about hillary clinton should be the candidate. any chance you will run again? >> nope. absolutely not. this is not a launching pad. in fact, what i am trying to do is get out of the partisan

politics because the partisan politics is part of the reason why we don't have this vision. we need democrats and republicans to come together. we need environmentalists and energy people, oil companies to come together and sub merge their own private and selfish interests in the larger good of america. we need a national strategy to deal with the big problems we will face in this sentence tree, problems like terrorism and cyber threats and climate change and financial systems, stability and guiding china as it comes forward to be a larger and larger influence in world affairs. >> again, the book is "don't wait for the next war, a strategy for american growth and global leadership. general wesley clark a pleasure to have you back. >> thank you so. >> while isil's siege has captured much, the fighting and bombing urges own t targeting isil armed vehicles home to the azidis where kurdish peshmerga

forces continues to gug. it is a problem for the kurds. the peshmerga say they are still out gunned and much of the long promised u.s. weaponry has yet to arrive. joining us from washington, d.c. is carwan sabari the. good to have you back on the show. as you know, the coalition airstrikes continue across much of iraq. fwlfb continuous strikes in recent days in fallujah, ramadi, mosul. what is the current situation as we have been so focused on syria with what is the current situation in iraq. >> good to be back, antonio. thank you for having me. as you -- as you have mentioned, we are currently focused quite a bit wouon syria. there is a lot of action going on iraq. isis is an organization or as an army has the capability to mobilize very quickly and rapidly between different countries and different regions.

there isgoing fight in the north peshmerga fighters have been carrying the fight to isis. repeatedly recently we had captured ramil, a strategic town on the border of iraq and syria. there is ongoing fight in fallujah outside of ramadi and in hiit. the fighting hasn't stopped. >> how significant has the progress been? have you arrested isil's advances? >> we have stopped the momentum despite the fact that the pesh forces are still outgunned because, remember, the isis has cap tufred a lot of american-made heavy artillery tanks up, humvees, but we are still on the offensive and we have been taking some of the towns and villages away from isis. so, now, they are primarily focussed in kobane, mobilizing some of their tactics. >> you bring up the issue of the

arming of the peshmerga forces. the u.s. promised to do that .2 months ago. what's going on there? are you getting the weapons you need to fight the have very well-armed isil? >> antonio, this is the frustrating part. >> while we are grateful for the u.s. led coalition airstrikes, they are effective to a certain extent. some of the equipment, light to medium equipment, has been received by the peshmerga forces. the requested heavy artillery that has been requested has not been received yet the pesh is on the defensive despite -- despite by being out gunned by the isis. >> i know they have been getting training from different western countries to fight isil. but again, if you don't have the weapons, you need to be trained on them. i am not sure how much that will do for you. there are some questions being raised, though, that even if you do get the arms, even if the peshmerga get the arms, whether they will be a match for isil, especially because at some point, a lot of this fighting is

going to be urban warfare, something the peshmerga don't have that much experience in. >> well, you are absolutely right about that. the peshmerga are expedsitionary force. however, there is a loyalty. there is a professionalism in doing this. and certainly loyalty. they are determined to taking back this land. they are determined to putting these people back to the residents of these towns. yet, what's going to happen is because the pesh is not an expeditionary force, they will do the fight. they will take the fight to isis. they will take back the cities. unfortunately, what's going to happen is you will have a lot of casualties as a result of this offensive. >> now, how about the change in the iraqi government's leadership? as you know, of course, the peshmerga were not getting armed by the iraqi government because of sectarianism there, malaki was using the armed forces basically as an extension of his own power and really became a mostly shiia organization so the kurds were being ignored.

have things improved when it comes to cooperation between the iraqi government, iraqi army forces and the peshmerga? >> you are absolutely right on that, antonio, malaki hijacked the process, consumed military power, alienated the kurds, marginalized the sunnis and unfortunately, we are here because of the mismanagement and miss government under the leadership of prime minister malaki. since the new government has been sworn in, the new prime minister, he has taken some steps by getting rid of some of these corrupt military commanders and bringing in new ones. he has extended his hand to the sunni community, the kurdish community, yet it is still new. this government is fairly new. it hasn't even gotten over its honeymoon. we hope and the kurdish leadership, all of the political parties have joined baghdad under certain conditions that we will join if the same mistakes he made are not repeated and

certain demands are met such as the budget for the krg which has not been paid in the past 9 months and the payment for the peshmerga to take this fight to isis. ? >> you weren't getting money you were owed. can you provide any update on the situation with the yizitis because it's becoen almost two months since the u.s. used airstrikes to try to save so many lives and i know many of those refugees have gone further into kurdistan? >> this is one of the things unfortunately that has been overlooked, antonio. some 1.4 million refugees and i idps are taking refuge inside the kurdistan region. some of these towns and cities have a rash of 1 to 1, 1 to 2 and some 1 to 3. they continue to occupy the y i yaziti community. they are now in the kurdistan region are occupying schools, government building, backyard,

skeleton buildings and delayed the academic year by as much as two months and counting. >> the persecution of religion minority says one of the many atrocities we are seeing. karwan zebani, thank you for the update about kurdistan and iraq? >> good to be with you. with more stories from around the world. . >> we again in yemen where despite a cease-fire agreement, nearlying 70 people were killed in a pair of attacks, a warning some of the images we are about to show may be disturbing. at least 40 people were killed in the country's capitol sanaa when a suicide bomber debt detonated. shortly after that attack, a car rapidly into a security post killing at least 20 solids. all of this comes a day after militants stormed government buildings in sanaa killing at least 29 people. sunni militants including groups linked to al-qaeda are believed to be behind this latest round

of violence after shiia rebels took control of the capitol more than two weeks ago. next, we head to washington, d.c. where a new report from the washington post says the white house tried to cover up some of the columbian secret service scandal in 2012 that saw nine agent did lose their jobs. twelve agents reportedly brought prostitutes to their room preparing for the president's arrival. a white house volunteer named jonathan dac took a prostitute back to his hotel room and that the white house knew about it but never punished him. he works for the state department in the office of global women's issues. staffers in the inspector general's office say that anyone who raised questions on the white house's involvement were put on administrative leave as punishment and that they were told that the report on the investigation should be held back, quote, until after the 2012 election. dak insists he did not higher a prostitute. the white house said it conducted an internal review that did not identify any

inappropriate behavior. we end in space where nasa astron naught reid wise man tweeted this of bongnong taken from the international space station with anom muss caption: i have seen many from here but none like this. with wind gusts of more than 200 miles an hour, the 25-mile wide storm is the strongest hurricane to appear this year. sustained swrindz decreased slightly but are more than 150 miles an hour. vonfong po poses a threat to military bas japanese islands expected to get hit on saturday. to the mainland of japan, which should see the typhoon arrive early sunday. >> that's some of what's happening around the world. coming up, a frightening comparison, the cdc's director compares ebola to aids. also, the most expensive ailment in the u.s. is reportedly not cancer or heart disease. it's demon-russia. with the number of alzheimer's patients expected to double in the next few decades, the financial impacts could criminal

countless of american families. and our social media producer is tracking the top stories on the web. what's trending? >> young iranians say the need to show a happier side people don't usually see but made a lot of people angry. more on that coming up. and if you missed an episode of "consider this" check out our social media pages for the clips from the show. we are on twitter at ajconsiderthis and at ajconsider this. >> it's a chilling and draconian sentence... it simply cannot stand. >> this trial was a sham... >> 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.

the director of the c.d.c. tom freedom offered a terrifying analogy at a meeting with three

west african counties impacts by the ebola epidemic. >> in the 30 years i've been working in public health, the only thing like this is aids. we have to work now so this is not the world's next aids. >> with 3400 deaths and an estimated five now cases report every hour just in sierra leone, united nations chief ban ki-moon called for a 20 fold increase in resources to fight the outbreak. sierra leone's president pleaded for help. >> the general international response has up to this moment been slower than the rate of transmission of the disease. >> world bank president jimmiun kim said more money and resources are needed, outlining the exploding cost of not containing ebola quickly. >> the 2 year regional impact could reach $36 billion, catastrophic for the people of

the west african region. >> joining us to discuss the global impact if ebola is not contained and whether the international community is prepared for a wider outbreak is steven morrison from the center of strategic and international studies good of you to join us, the head of the c.d.c. - this is the worst epidemic he's seen since aides is obviously alarming. do you think it was a little bit of hiperbally or do you think it can become an international problem? >> i don't think that tom freedom is engaging in hiperbally. i think he's speaking from the data that we have had collected now in the last 6-8 yeecks, showing po pon engs growth -- exponential growth in the three counties, and the modelling shoes projections of up to 1.4 million cases by the end of

january, if that counter trajectory is not broken. what we are seeing right now is every person that is infected and contagious is affecting 1-2 other people, and so the actual base of infected population is doubling every 20 days, and that is - that is very real, that is happening, there's no exaggeration, when tom freedom says that this is a potentially world-alderring endem -- world-altering endemics, the second we have seen next to h.i.v. aids, that's a serious statement. i think it's a reflection of what the professional public epidemiologist are telling the world. >> to freedon's point there was a slow response to the aeds crisis and the sentiment that the world bank meeting was similar. we heard the president of sierra

leone say the international response was slower. have we waited too long. >> well, i wouldn't conclude that we have waited so long that the response that's under way today, which is a massive mobilization, which is moving ahead rapidly is in vain. i think there's hard lessons for the costs that are borne in west africa, and the costs born into the future by the slow response, and reflections on why that happened. we can go into the - into the reasons why that happened. i think the challenge today, and the counter emergency is to focus on what needs to happen immediately on an urgent basis. i think dr kim, and others, the theme that comes out of their statements is that there is no time to waste, this is an

outbreak on an exponential trajectory, requiring something better than incremental and slow response, and the epidemic got way ahead of the public health response in the period june/july/august, september. >> your point about the costs was made clear, if there had been earlier intervention, the costs would be a fraction of what they'd be now in order to stop the spread. how confident are you that the international community will get its act together now? >> the u.s. put a commitment on the table that will exceed a billion over the next six months. it's a substantial commitment. the e.u. is coming forward. the u.k. is coming forward with rising commitments on the military and civilian side in the u.k.'s case. the u.n. secretary-general has

come forward after a pretty miserable performance by the world health organisation. ban ki-moon came forward and declared that there would be a new operation created, a u.n. emergency operation for ebola relief. that is getting put in place as we speak. things are happening on the ground. and facilities are constructed, troops deployed, aircraft flying. there's a critical gaff that everyone is concerned about, which is in order to break the transmission, the change of transmission requires the deployment into the field of thousands of skilled, trained and deflected health workers. there's a huge gap and in order to recruit those, requires building their confidence and trust, that they can go in and will be safe in carrying out the dangerous work. if they are exposed or infected,

that they can be evacuated on an expedited basis, so the chances of civilal are maximized. >> what about here at home, is enough being done. we have the revelation that the deputy sheriff does not have ebola. he had gone into the department to deliver a quarantine notice. we saw the disinfecting pros at the apartment. spraying mist around the apartment complex. duncan vomited outside the apartment. the guy that cleaned it up had no protective clothing. are you confident that the u.s. health system will take quick and effective control of problem at home. >> we need to operate on the assumption that there will continue to be cases like thomas eric duncan who come through undetected because they are not yet symptom attic and contagious

and arrive and become ill and report to facilities and in the process set in train some of the event that we have seen. i think the lessons from dallas were very profound, wide by advertised and debated, and the net result is the pressure upon public health officials, hospital authorities and the like are to sharpen their skills and alert, and aware of the threat. and i'm hopeful. i think that there is a considerable capacity in the united states, there has been a lot of briefing across the federal and state and mooup its pal level -- municipal level. we have seen practices going on in new york and municipalities across the country. >> let's hope the lesson are

learnt. appreciate you joining us. thank you. >> thank you. >> time to see what is trending on the web. let's check in with harmeli aregawi. >> a social media page created by affluent iranian youth is getting heat and shading light on the waltsd gap. it -- wealth gap. it features photos of the economic elite driving fansy cars and wearing expensive clothing and jewellery. it spread to twitter from facebook. it is to show the good side of tehran to the world, what is not shown in the news. it has received a lot of criticism for flashiness, one tweeted: because of the iranian government secrecy economic statistics are hard to come by. according to recent c.i.a.

statistics, over 18% of the country lives below the poverty line. in response to the rich kids page, an iranian man created the poor kids of tehran to show the real tehran. the creator says you can't show the world that iran is rich, because it isn't. the iranian government censored the instagram page, and it was shut down because of high amounts of false publicity. let us know what you think of the debate. >> the rich kids better be careful. who nose what the government may do, given their track record? . alzhiemer's is destroying millions of people's lives, not just the lives of those with the disease. a staggering cost to put the families of those afflicted into bankruptcy and worse. a surprising number of older

americans getting divorced. and later, was "meet the press" seriously going to put a comedian na charge. how nbn news was courting jon stewart to take over.

>> i'm ali velshi, the news has become this thing where you talk to experts about people, and al jazeera has really tried to talk to people, about their stories. we are not meant to be your first choice for entertainment. we are ment to be your first choice for the news. dementia mostly caused by alzhiemer's has quickly become the most expensive ailment in the u.s. the cost raising from $159 billion to $250 billion annually, making it more costly than heart disease cording to a ranked corporation study. the staggering costs are expected to get worst.

that's because by 2050 the number of americans are expected to double to 10 million people. with a national infrastructure currently failing to address the huge costs, it appears we are on the path not only toward a health care crisis but an economic one as well. tiffany stanley wrote a powerful first person lent f -- act called "jackie's goodbye", when she learnt about the alzhiemer's debacle pop becoming a carer for her -- pon becoming a carer for her aunt. i can only imagine what the past couple of years would have been. your dad became ill, he was the primary caregiver for your aunt. you found yourself having to care for both of them, especially her. she needed full-time attention,

and medicare was no help. >> that's right. like a lot of americans, when i realised she needed more help, i thought we'll have to find a good subsidiary and i assumed it would be covered by medicare. but it doesn't cover custodial care - help with eating, dressing and bathing and supporting what dementia care patients needs. it pays for short-term care. the burden falls to family. >> with no help from medicare, it's something you have to pay for out of pocket is the a nursing home or you have to care for them at home, which brings with it all sorts of issues. under any circumstances there are huge costs in what you spend or lose in not being able to work and make money. the cost for families are

phenomenal. >> it's huge. a lot of women become caregivers, and studies show if they leave the workforce to care for a family member, they are giving up 300,000 in life-time earnings, and as a young person i thought what will to do to me if i leave the workforce, and how will we make ends meet if i can't provide for her. on the opposite end you look at a facility and nursing homes cost 80,000 out of picture. >> who can afford that. it's bankrupting some families, aside from the financial cost, psychological costs are tremendous too. >> absolutely. i was grieving, my father was ill and decide. i briefed him whilst trying to care for her. and the aunt that i loved and was losing. it's something psychologically that we don't give credence to.

people are making difficult decisions and doing strenuous care giving and dealing with emotional issues. >> you found that there is a lack of information, that you - there was no way of you going to some centralized place that could help you figure out what you needed to do, what kind of money you could get for the government. you were - you felt adrift. >> exactly. i felt like i was going from person to person, getting different information, and i wanted a care coordinator, a social worker, a nurse, doctor, someone that could manage everything that jackie needed and could point me to the direction of what resources were available. they were out there. we found out about them too late, weren't taking advantage of them, and there are not enough resources, but the ones out there, it's hard to figure out what they are. >> the costs are staggering for the country as a whole. what is the government doing.

it was originally part of the affordable care act. then it was taken out fairly early in the process. >> they are with something in the affordable care act called the class act, which was supposed to put in place public government-backed long-term care insurance. the programme was cancelled before it was started because it wasn't deemed financially feasible. that was pulled. there was a long-term care continue. they ultimately threw their hands up and while it made a lot of recommendations they couldn't figure out how to make for long-term care, and knowing the public support and private failed families. >> it's a double whammy, it's not just alzhiemer's, but autism. on bothened we have the baby boomers getting older, so there's an increase in people that need alzhiemer's, an

increase and need for autism care. this is going to be a very enormous health care challenge moving forward. do you think there's enough going on on the government approach, a comprehensive approach looking at the long-term care. >> i think there are some good things done on alzhiemer's. we have a plan to produce alzhiemer's. a lot of experts said it didn't go far enough. for the baby boomers aging. they maid need support at home. medicare and medicaid, designed to provide health care to the poorest americans, and covers long-term care, they not adequate, and what a lot of people don't realise is you need

to spend down all your assets. medicaid doesn't protect catastrophe. it's a tremendous problem affecting not just the people who have alzhiemer's, but all the families, tens of millions who are affected by this. that number will grow. the article is available in the journal. it's available online, called jackie's goodbye, what i learnt about the alzhiemer's debacle when i began caring for my art. thank you. >> no joke, "the daily show host" jon stewart was reportedly approached to take over "meet the press." first, why are so many older americans getting divorced. our data dive is next.

today's data dive looks at the number of older americans going through a break-up. grey divorce, the name given to baby boomers or those that are older are on the rise. researchers found one in four americans 50 plus are splitting from their spouses. we have seen a marked increase in the past couple of decades. since 1990, divorce rates among americans 55 to 64 doubled. the increase is dramatic for senior citizens, what may be more surprising is that it's happening at a time when the rates of divorce among younger groups stabilized and have gone down. also surprising half of grey divorces are among couples in first marriages that have been together for more than 20 years. researchers were inspired after al gore split from his wife of

40 years. women initials grey divorces more than men. once women get more financial independence and autonomy they can afford to split from their long-term husbands, and many grow apart once children are living on their own, but there is a financial downside. researchers found older divorced americans have 20% as. wealth as older couples that are married. the net wealth of widows is more than double that of older americans that got divorced. >> coming up, sounds like a joke, but n.b.c. was soars in courting jon stewart -- serious in courting jon stewart to host "meet the press." that's next. hi, i'm john seigenthaler in new york. after "consider this", the c.d.c. director warns the world must act on ebola before it

becomes an epidemic. a hazing scandal with a high school football team. sky high - buildings rising to new heights. riding the midnight express billy hayes talks about his approach from prison - coming up after this.

the colbert report on comedy central had an expiration date. did we almost lose "the daily show." n.b.c. wanted jon stewart to be the host of "meet the press." stewart turned down the offer. another got the job. the network was apparently willing to give anything to bring stewart on board, saying they were ready to back up the brings truck. joining us from phoenix arizona is bill wyman, culture critic. i am a jon stewart fan, i watch every night. he makes me laugh. he's an important voice on all levels. what does it say about the state

of the sunday morning shows when one of the main network considers replacing the host when a career was guilt on mocking them. >> it's a great point. it shows how the sand was shifting on networks across the board, particularly in the news business. >> it's a bad idea. i don't think it would have worked. i think "meet the press" devolved where people came on with the minimum of fuss. >> i think todd might disagree with you. they feel that they pushed back and don't let them get away with anything. i realise that stewart is a guy that asks unusual questions and gets people to say things they wouldn't say in other environme environments. in a few cases.

i think it's overvalued as well. he's amart guy. he'll ask a and get b. and ask c and gets d. that doesn't happen on "meet the press", it let's them do a talking point, ask another question, there's another talking point and rarely the context that stewart gives. i don't think he could go through the incremental political advances week by week that drive the rest of us crazy in american politics and talk in the limited way. it's fun to talk about. it's a great fantasy. >> he's not a traditional journalist. he bridges a gap between a hard news and parody. the reality is smart guy. he would be more than capable of hosting "meet the press." but i would thing it would have been a strait jacket for him, unless they transform the show. >> it key be a charlie rose type

thing. a lot of people couldn't come on. john mccain, lindsay graham, they'd be reminded of past political oppositions contradicting their current ones. so i think ultimately the show would have lost its power because the power brokers wouldn't have come on. >> that's on interesting point. he does get a share of powerbrokers on the show. i wonder if he would have been as effective if he didn't have the lons to do what he did on the daily -- licence to do what he did on the daily show. he would have had twice the viewers. you'd think it would be a little terming. >> that's possible. they are talking to the washington - inside the belt way

world. you don't think of general people. it's a different audience. he has a nightly platform. there's a lot of pure right and editorial comment. leased with obscenity, and, of course, he's a comedian. it's hard to see him giving up the exhilarating humour that we see, that often i, as you, love. >> he does a lot of editorial. it's fun to watch. let's change topics of the nobel prize for literature awarded to patrick, a french writer. well-known in france, hasn't published much in english. his books sound interesting. the nobel folks are honouring an author with a small international following. >> yes, and this is something that comes up. he is thinking about haunting

memories, and trying to unearth them, and obviously in europe we are under the shadow of the second world war, they have a lot of power. it comes up that an american hasn't won in 20 years. but you look at what has been written about him, and it seems like han interesting guys, and maybe the nobel prize is doing what it should be, which is bringing riders to attention. >> it brings up the question, you know, is there a bias among the nobel committee against authors from the united states or are we too - i don't know what the right word is. are we overestimating, overvaluing our own literature. >> narcissistic is the word you are looking for. i would say yes, and yes. some of the academy people have been on the record criticizing the american literary established for being too

insular, not going outwards. it goes to the greatest work in an ideal direction. there's a sense of idealism and ideas in the literature award. that said, a lot of english-speaking people and writers have gotten it over the years. we are self important but it's not too sprazing to see it. the noeb ale prize is not something that goes to everyone, there's a limited number. not everyone cabinets one, a lot of famous people didn't get them. they would say look, we don't have enough to go around, that's the which it bounces. >> thank you. that's all for now. friday on "consider this", the controversy over long-term contraceptives, the solution to teen pregnancy. there may be negatives. the conversation continues on the website aljazeera.com. we are on facebook and twitter

@ajconsiderthis and you can tweet me at a moray tv. see you -- @amoratv. see you next time. . >> hi everyone, this is al jazeera, i'm john seigenthaler in new york. dire warning on the ebola crisis. what the c.d.c. director is now saying. >> beyond belief, horrible allegations of hazing and sexual assault an a top high school football team. why did it take so long to surface. >> no show. north korea puts on a grand spectacle, but no sign of kim jong un.