>> u.s. troops on the ground in syria's civil war. what the special troops will and will not be doing and what america's deeper involvement means. >> syria's independence territorial independence and secular character are on the way. >> a new player in the negotiations. a lawyer for a man who spent nearly 14 years in prison at

guantanamo talks about the long fight to free his client. a republican party sets its sights on nbc blaming the company for this week's controversial debate. and the government prepares for an economy where anybody can start a company and sell shares online. good evening, i'm randall pinkston, antonio mora has the night off. this is al jazeera america. the u.s. has escalated its mission against i.s.i.l. the obama administration announced today that the u.s. will deploy about 50 special operations troops in northern yrts tsyria to work with local . the first time american troops will be on the ground in syria. right now special forces are based in northern iraq. a number of them were involved in a raid last week against an i.s.i.l.-run prison.

pentagon special correspondent jamie mcintire has more. >> the president says he will not put boots on the ground in syria but today the white house announced that a small number of u.s. troops will be planting their boots on syrian soil, just for now at least in a combat mission. unlike last week's joint u.s. kurdish raid on an i.s.i.l. prison in iraq, the pentagon says the number of troops being sent to northern syria will not be going on with local forces on raids or engaging in offensive combat. a senior defense department official briefing the pentagon on policy said flatly those forces will be doing an advise and assist mission, they won't be doing any joint missions. the white house called it an intensification of the current strategy. >> the fact is our strategy in

syria has not changed. the core idea is to build up the capacity of local forces to take the fight to i.s.i.l. to their own country. >> a strict advise and assist role, helping syrian local forces with planning and logistics and u.s. forces won't do joint raids call in air strikes or even establish their own headquarters. at least not initially. the pentagon says the force will deploy from the united states over the next few weeks to an area of northern syria near raqqa where a loose alliance of about a dozen groups the u.s. has duplicated the syrian arab coalition has had some success against i.s.i.l. it's far from the western part of syria where russian has been conducting air strikes. while the u.s. hasn't coordinated with moscow, it

expects the safe distance. incirlik air base, other planes have just rotated in last month. that's to make good on the promise to step up the pace of the air campaign which slowed in october for a lack of targets. while the pentagon says the u.s. forces will have no combat duties in syria for now it is not rulings out an expanded role in the future. a senior defense official explained the u.s. is not as comfortable with the syrians as it was with the kurdish peshmerga fighters, forces it has worked with for years. this is a start to gauge what is possible. randall. >> pentagon special correspondent jamie mcintire. discussing possible deployment solutions fodiplomat,

u.s. secretary of state john kerry and his counterparts from other countries could not agree. mohammed jamjoom has the story. >> they were two long and arduous days but finally common ground was formingd. at thforged. u.s. secretary of state john kerry was heappe happy to introe points of commonality. >> we agreed that syria's state institutions will remain intact. we agreed that the rights of all syrians, regardless of ethnicity or religious denomination must be protected. >> reporter: diplomats had hoped the presence of iran might finally lead to a break through and while the sense of guarded

optimism may have bolstered these efforts at diplomacy it added nothing to the bloodshed on the battlefield. a missile attack in a crowded marketplace in duma. and claiming at least 80 more lives in other areas of syria. one more reason why the opposition activists who gatheroutside the site of the negotiations were so angry. chaptering against syrian president bashar al-assad, expressing how disappointed they were to end the warfare in their home land. >> they have had for five years, can you imagine five long years. with all this blood with all this mass, how can we expect any good from them? >> reporter: for its part

russia heavily criticized for its involvement in syria went to great pains to suggest it was heeding the concerns of the international community. >> translator: russia is committed to fighting terrorism on the basis of international law, whether we're talking about military interventions in the air or on the ground, both need to be conducted with the agreement of the government. on the air or on the ground. >> much wonders what will come next. with diplomatic talks scheduled in vienna it is still unclear if members of the syrian opposition or the syrian he regime will be invited to join in. while points of mutual understanding were indeed reached here in vienna the only thing for certain when it comes to syria's civil war is that no matter who participates, the talks will be difficult. mohammed jamjoom, al jazeera, vienna.

>> the other conflicts in the middle east and africa continue to create a flood of refugees in the mediterranean. on land tensions are flaring at several crowded border posts. fights have been breaking out at the slovenian border with austria. austria's government is accusing slovenia of putting the refugees often a train and dumping them at the border and thousands more refugees are headed to the same location. in another grim reminder of the danger to refugee children this was the scene as bodies were brought to shore in greece. in the past two days three shipwrecks from killed 31 people in the area most of them children. across the united states the largest ever release of federal inmates is now underway, about 6,000 people serving sentences for nonviolent drug offenses are being set free.

it is part of an effort by the u.s. sentencing committee to reduce overcrowding and shorten sentences for low level drug offenders. advocates have been pushing for the changes for decades. >> we need to really realize that we have been excessive in our incarceration and will be better served if we don't send people to prison for such a long period of time and weth stead invest some of that money to crime prevention drug treatment programs. that is the direction that we should be going in. >> of the 6,000 prisoners being released about 1700 will be deported. the rest will be handed over to probation officers around the country. a year from now a second wave of 8500 prisoners will be let out early. the republican national committee announced today it is pulling out of the next debate hosted by nbc news. the move comes after the controversial gop presidential

debate hosted earlier this week by cnbc. it will not be part of the campaign. >> is this a comic book version? >> not a comic. >> after two days of intense criticism, the head of the republican national committee, said we are suspending the debate on february 26, 2016, he went on to say gotcha questions petty and embarrassing in tone, what took place wednesday night was not an attempt to give the american people a greater understanding of our candidates' policies and ideas. it sounds a lot like what texas senator ted cruz said from the stage just 20 minutes in. >> the questions that have been asked so far in this debate illustrate why the american people don't trust the media.

[applause] >> this is not a cage match. and you look at the questions, donald trump are you a comic book villain, ben carson can you do math, scott kasich, marco rube yoa whmarcorubio why don't. >> but. >> you people write this stuff i don't know. >> cnbc's john harwood generated particular scorn with his interruptions. >> are you in government? >> no john. you want me to answer or you want to answer? how are we going to do this? cleerp. >> because i got to tell you the truth even in new jersey what you're doing is called rude. so. >> and towards the end harwood

got caught telling a whopper about the debate itself. a few weeks ago several news organizations reported that donald trump pressured officials to shorten the event from three hours to two. something trump bragged about it. >> in about two hours i renegotiated it down to two hours so we get the hell out of here, not bad. >> for the record, the debate was always going to be two hours. senator rubio. >> you know that that is not right. >> trump in fact was correct. it all prompted headlines like this. mainstream debate moderators total debate fail. some blamed the republican national committee chairman himself. shouldn't have agreed to certain debate formats. applauded the chairman's action he and for nbc influences, responded saying this is a disappointing development. g development.

there's, adavid schuster, al ja. >> heading off threats of a government shutdown and default for two years. >> on this vote the yeas are 64, the nays are 35. >> flanaysayers, rand paul and d cruz. allows military and domestic spending, president obama says he plans to sign it. the u.s. releases a prisoner who spent more than 5,000 days at guantanamo bay, his attorney shares the moment when shakir amir learned he was being set free.

allowing entrepreneurs to sell online stock in their new companies. h

>> you're the first one on the scene. suicides, homicides, the roof is crushing into somebody's chest. >> what is the number one cause of death for police officers? >> suicide. >> director roman polanski will not have to return to the united

states to face punishment for unlawful sex with a minor. rejected a request to extradite the polish film maker. he was convictof having sex with a 13-year-old girl. turning him over would be a deprivation of liberty. known for films such as rosemary's baby and the pianist. both men held at guantanamo bay for 13 years without being charged, one is back in mauritania, andthe other shakir amir is being reunited nationsed witunitedreunited with hisfamil. >> flown back to the edge of london, a moment his family and campaigners had longed for.

>> shakir will have a mix of euphoria, he was never sure this would happen. crashing back down to earth where he has to figure out all the things that are wrong with him physically, he is then going to have to start rebuilding his relationship with the family he hasn't seen his wife for 14 years he hasn't seen his kids since they were very small, in the case of ferr ferris, he hadt seen him at all. >> shakir amir was detained in 2001 while work for a charity. in 2002 he was transferred to guantanamo bay. by 2007 the bush administration had cleared him for release. still in custody in 2009, when the obama administration also cleared him for release. he went on hunger strike several times. one of the many prisoners to protest in this way. campaigners say shakir axir was

held in falling conditions sometimes in solitary confinement and alleged he was beaten. his release comes after reletless campaignin campaignins family and supporters. it is expected he will be reunited, 14 years inside the world's most notorious prison. many will be asking how and why it took so long to free him. 'em maemma hayward, al jazeera. >> i asked his attorney when he first learned he was going to be set free. >> his reaction was extraordinary. i went into that shack, wooden shack in the cuban sun.

there he sat shackled to the ground. all of our clients are shackled to the ground when we meet with them. i told him notification of his transfer had been forwarded to congress, that president obama had called prime minister cameron and he would be going home after his 30 day count down was over. he just stared blankly, told me about his prison shoes. that's not unusual, in a prison setting. i realized that the news hadn't registered so i interrupted him and i said look shakir i need you to listen very carefully. i repeated again. only then did he ask me are you being serious right now, i said yes. he had a huge smile and could finally see there was a light at

the end of the tunnel. a series of church arsons in the area, david jackson started at least two of the seven fires, the churches have predominantly black congregations. do not expect them to be hate crimes. some areas of texas got 16 inches of rain in a matter of hours. raging rivers are forcing road closures. in san antonio tornadoes ripped buildings part. austin's airport had to temporarily close because of influx of water. permission to go one step further. donors can be investors in small businesses and they can create an entirely enthuse stock market. and the building blocks to one man's vision.

how chinese artist ai weiwei plans to use all of these legos next.

>> new rules from the securities and exchange commission are about to change how americans invest in small businesses. they will turn crowd funding into a way for entrepreneurs to sell stock in their companies online. al jazeera's jacob ward is in san francisco with a look at the new provisions. >> randall, this is how president obama described it when he signed it into law. >> for startups and small businesses this bill is a

potential game changer. right now you can only turn to a limited group of investors including banks and wealthy individuals to get funding. laws that are nearly eight decades old make it impossible for others to invest. but a lot has changed in 80 years and it's time our laws did as well. for the first time, ordinary americans will be able to go online and invest in entrepreneurs that they believe in. >> now the thing to understand here is that that was 2012, it's taken three years for the securities and exchange commission to finally begin to act on this, put together some rules, figure out how they're going to run something as transformative as this. this is going to change the landscape of american investing for all time. right now there's really just about 3 million people who work at various banks or work for sort of wealthy investors who are allowed or credited under sec rules to offer sort of investments in companies. you have to go through those people to make it happen.

under these new rules anybody with any kind of business could in theory offer shares in that business to anybody in the public. now you and i are used to the notion of kick starter where you are donating money in kind of an npr pledge drive model in exchange for a tee shirt or a prototype or something like that. in this you are buying shares of companies it cock a bike repair place a seamstress, ail awl the people who could fund a fresh produce shop in a neighborhood that can't otherwise get one. those kinds of investments are going to be an amazing democratickizinmazingdemocratiz. this is going to open up fraud to lots and lots of people. there are going to be things to

keep people getting swindled, obviously there's going to be fraud at some point but the most exciting is changing the way the internet and technology has revolutionizing so many industries, it is getting around to revolutionize this also. >> would not fill an ai weiwei back order, he turned to other forms. john terret has the story. >> ai weiwei is best known by taking issue with chinese government.but now it's the norwegian toy company. ai weiwei began to instagram.

in september created artwork as they cannot problem of the use of legoless for political works, he wanted to use it for freedom of speech. >> i was shocked because it was a respectable project. >> ai weiwei went on to suggest that legos decision, after a british firm announced plans to open a lego land in shanghai. >> in that way, the internet worked like a church. >> he posted an image of the lego bricks in the toilet bowl. except his instagram version has the caption, everything is awesome, the theme song from the

blockbuster lego movie. >> everything is awesome ♪ ♪ everything is cool. >> soon after a british journalist tweeted, will you accept the donations? ai weiwei retweeted, yes i will find a way to accept. one of london's most prestigious institutions, invited one to throw lego blocks into an old car. by friday the artist announced he had more than enough legos to complete his project. or in other words, ai weiwei had to many ai weiwei blocks to complete the project. it does not otherwise stop customers from buying legos,

which we say that's a very good business move. >> john you have done justice to lego and mr. ai weiwei. head over to al jazeera.com for more news and ray suarez is next for "inside story." r "inside story." ♪ ♪ >> it's the largest one time ever. more than 6,000 people mostly drug offenders, the u.s. sentencing commission with the support of the obama administration, is trying to relieve prison overcrowding and give relief to prison sentences at the end of the drug war. are the communities ready to receive them? in early spring? it's is "inside story."