merrick garland was meeting with officials. >> that's right, today he made that long drive up to capitol hill, and he must have felt a little bit alone. there were only two friendly democratic senators on hand to greet him publicly. and it is true, a handful have begun to reach out but it's a hard party line. no nominee, no confirmation, and no up and down vote. as for the white house, they're continuing to sell their man very hard. one day after his nomination, merrick garland was meeting and greeting those in whose fate lies leahy said it's the most important vote that they have to make along with going to war.

>> leahy was referring to mitch mcconnell who spoke only by phone to garland on wednesday, telling him he has no plans to schedule a hearing. on the senate floor they noted how garland's nomination could change the direction of the court for a generation, and republicans and democrats simply disagree on that. >> the republicans think the people deserve a vote voice in this critical decision, the president does not. so we disagree in this instance and we logically act as a check and balance. >> harry reid met as a nominee. afterwards reed said that americans were begging republicans to do their job, and can see that garland really is the impeccable choice obama said he is. >> my job is to study the qualification of these people going into the court behind me. it's an awesome responsibility

and all of us agree we should take a look at the record as we're begging the republicans to do. >> the white house is pushing its man as hard as it can, releasing this video montage of him and his family on the white house website and offering a twitter page. white house spokesman josh earnest said that garland is a consensus candidate. >> the president has put forward a nominee that the republicans themselves would be a consensus nominee. it shouldn't be particularly difficult for politician to put politics aside and do their duty first. >> they would confirm in between the election in november and the inauguration in january if hillary clinton wins. the white house was asked about this saying there was no good reason to wait until lame duck and urged the republicans to go

ahead and confirm the nominee in a timely manner. >> thank you. the flint water crisis was the topic in a fiery hearing on capitol hill today. the star witnesses were the michigan governor and head of epa and there were calls for them to resign. >> lawmakers in overidentity and government reform committee were angry. they wanted to know why state, and federal officials did not act more aggressively as the waters problems in flint michigan mounted. now it was nearly a year and a half after concerns first surfaced until officials finally sounded the alarm. during that time there was a steady drip of evidence that all was not right. >> the testimony you're about to give is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

>> the michigan government and head of epa were both under fire. >> let me be blunt. this was a failure of government at all levels. local, state and federal officials. they all failed the families of flint. >> while the epa did not cause the lead problem, in behind sight we should not have been so trusting of the state for so long when they provided us with overly simplistic assurances of technical compliance. >> but members of congress were not buying it. during a contentious hearing during the house oversight committee they attacked snyder as administration and the epa for not acting fast enough after the swis switch of flint's water supply.

>> what if this was a business? there is no doubt in my mind that if are a corporate rate ceo did what governor snyder's administration has done they would be held in criminal charges. >> you have a right when there is not someone acting under compliance. who was fired or held accountable in epa? >> well, sir, you have to look at-- >> was anybody fired? >> no, sir. >> residents and officials from flint were watching the testimony and were just as critical as lawmakers. >> i think governor snyder is trying to act and play like he's really concerned and accountable and he really didn't know. he knew, and he needed to admit

when he knew and how fast he knew. >> they look like they're dancing around the questions and the issues rather than giving direct answers. >> governor snyder said that michigan is spending millions of dollars and taking other steps to clean up the water and prevent a similar crisis from ever happening again. >> not a day or night goes by that this tragedy does not weigh on my mind. >> but that did not stop calls. >> the more i lived and the more i watched the government, i think it is time for him to go. >> and mccarthy's, too. >> you did not act when you had the chance. if you're going to do the georgeous thing, you, too, should step down. >> 15 current around former state officials have refused to cooperate with the committee which wanted to do interviews and is looking for documents. many members have asked the governor to direct those

employees to do so. >> thank you. two days after the voting in missouri, th hillary clinton ended up beating sanders by 1500 votes. still they split the state's delegates and on the republican side donald trump leads ted cruz but a small margin but the republican party in missouri said 12 extra delegates will go to the statewide g.o.p. winner. some republican party leaders have begun considering new ways to block donald trump from winning the nomination, possibly in a brokered convention. david shuster reports. >> on capitol hill thursday, house speaker paul ryan stepped up to the microphone. >> happy st. patrick's day. >> and then in cold irish

efforts. >> i saw boehner last night and i told him to knock it off. >> speaker ryan said he does not want to be the g.o.p. nominee and the republicans considering a brokered convention should cross him off any list. >> it's not going to be me. it should be somebody running for president. i made the decision over a year ago not to run for president. i really believe if you want to be president you should run for president. >> that's music to the ears of donald trump's final rivals ohio governor john kasich and ted cruz. >> only one campaign has beaten donald trump over and over and over again. [ cheering ] >> without a contested convention, cruz can only reach the 1237 delegates needed to win the nomination by capturing 87% of all the delegates in the remaining contests. kasich's math is even worse. because even if he wins all the

remaining delegates, he would still fall short. as for trump it's a mathematical certainty that he'll enter the convention with a plurality of delegates. >> it's a 100 choice and we're at 1100 and everybody else is at 500 or 400. we're way ahead of everybody. i don't think you say we get it automatically. i think you would have riots. >> back at the senate former presidential candidate marco rubio. >> there's not going to be any riots but people will write books about this year. >> and the final chapter in the public nomination race could still be written in trump's favor before the convention, to reach his magic delegate number of 1237, trump needs to maintain his vote ratios in the contests coming up in these states and

grab the contests that are winner take all. meanwhile, th the desperate effort to block trump now is playing out in the republican endorsement game. >> i think the best endorsement to stop him is ted cruz, and i'm going to help ted in every way i can. >> earlier this year former presidential candidate lindsay graham said he would rather be shot or poisoned than support ted cruz. and just three weeks ago he illustrated the sentiment of cruz's colleague this is way. >> if you killed ted cruz on the floor of the senate, and the trial was in the senate, nobody could conviction you. [ laughing ] >> politician makes for training bedfellows. the big problem for republicans who dream of cruz, ryan or anybody else but donald trump is that trump's nomination may now be unavoidable. >> my party has bleep crazy.

>> david shuster, al jazeera. >> we're joined by a proffer of campaign management at nyu. she's in atlanta tonight. okay, we listened to some straight talk from lindsey graham of south carolina. he laughed about it, but republicans aren't laughing about this. it's not just donald trump. they're not happy about ted cruz either. >> no, in terms of getting out the vote, keeping the senate and maintaining their lead in the house. you know, it's slightly funny when you hear lindsey graham and others making these comments, but this is serious business for the republicans. i think paul ryan really under scored that today. there is a lot of fear not just in what we keep calling the establishment, but in minute who cares about the republican party

and the republican brand. the idea that a donald trump or ted cruz may be their nominee really i will histies fear that they'll lose the white house and the senate. >> there's a story in politico that suggests that donald trump has reframed or remade the republican brand. how do you see it? >> you part of the problem they're not certain. they're going through realignment. so this is a party that has been realigning not just this year, but 2012-2008 in particular trying to figure out what is it is going to be going forward. we saw in 2007 when the tea party came out and really gave birth to this idea of the right wing of the party. that this is a party that is really split, and we're seeing the outcome of that today. the party establishment that has not been paying attention to its base as it should, and a party

that has become so divergent in terms of some of its views that it can't coalesce lined a candidate that can in potentially win the white house. >> lindsey graham doesn't like donald trump. said he doesn't like ted cruz, but he's endorsed him now. what do cruz and trump supporters think of people like lindsey graham? >> you know, i think they probably see lindsey graham as part of this establishment that they're not craze about. that these are the people who have been running washington and their party for many years, and they don't think that they've lived up to some of their promises. you know, i think there is some truth to what they're saying, and i think that's art of what has been happening to the republican party. they have a base that's angry and the base is angry in some cases for good reason. i think the problem is that their solutions or the people that they're looking for to give them a solution are probably not going to give them what they want in the end when this comes to governing the country. you know, you think of a ted cruz or donald trump governing

the country, and you're hard pressed to imagine that they would be able to fulfill the promises they're making to the base. the result would be more anger and more frustration in the next election cycle. >> the other headline in the news today is the speaker of the house paul ryan going to palm beach, meeting with big-money donors for the republican party, apparently trying to decide what to do about donald trump. i'm not sure--how many options do they have? >> their actions are extremely limited. we've heard this conversation over and over for the last several weeks. unfortunately, the rinse did not have this conversation early enough. >> you either way then they have fight on their hands.

>> that is not a position that the republicans want to be in, and that's why this idea and even paul ryan mentioned this today, they're likely headed to a brokered convention is very, very upsetting to many republicans because it is going to leave them incredibly divided after the convention and regardless of how it comes out. >> there are rules, and the republicans--the establishment controls the party, so how can they manipulate--if donald trump doesn't get the right number before the first ballot, how can they manipulate it? how can they keep control of this to keep donald trump out? >> it's going to be very tough. they do have the ocean on the republican side of changing some of the rules before the convention, and everybody is watching to see if they make any changes there. if the rules stay they are, they'll certainly go through several rounds of ballot. you'll see marco rubio, who still have these hundred plus

delegates being in position to guide those delegates with are they could and who they support. and it's going to be a big battle, and again, the establishment hands are really tied here because there is not a lot that they can do, and this is going to be a p.r. disaster for the republican party because you could be up for what many people are calling a convention unlike anything we've seen at least since 1976 with ronald reagan and gerald ford or back to '68 even though i agree those are slightly different sets of circumstances we haven't seen anything like this in the convention in recent history. >> we sure haven't, and it's agreed that it's interesting coming up, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> many latinos in colorado are taking their own steps to stop donald trump. many are rushing to become legal residents hoping to vote against him if he wins the nomination. jim high schoo hooley in

denver. >> this woman helps her 10-year-old daughter. >> she came to the u.s. from her home in mexico 26 years ago. >> 1990. >> you remember it clearly? >> oh, yes. >> crossing the board, packed in the trunk of a car with five men. she remembers just as vividly her first taste of american politics. >> i remember 1998, i see these lady, we were walking around a second-hand store, and she already vote. they gave you a sticker when you vote. i thought, i want that sticker. >> martha became a permanent legal resident with a green card after getting her papers in order in the '90s. now she wants to become an u.s. citizen so she can vote. she fears the anti-immigrant rhetoric from donald trump and

talking about building a wall and calling immigrants rapists. >> my kids are watching him. >> martha is one of thousand was legal, permanent residents here in colorado motivated by trumps candidacy. so they're spending their morning to begin the application process. william came from colombia 16 years ago. >> what do you think of donald trump? >> i think wrong, he is wrong because everybody, latino, mexicans, everybody say deport. >> adriano larson has been in the u.s. for 28 years. she said donald trump finally made her want to be at citizen. >> because i don't like the way he thinks about hispanic. he thinks we come here and we take from the american people. and also we come here and bring drugs. >> first of all, i think

mr. trump could probably use a little primer of how immigration law actually works. >> catherine chan is an attorney volunteering her time to help with legal questions. she said that trump's claims are unfounded. >> are there criminals, drug addicts and rapists coming through the doors? >> these doors of naturalization? yes. do they come into the country? yes, but the rules don't allow for people with that kind of history to enter, and once they commit that kind of problem, they call for their depasture. >> partner groups have been working for moss organizing citizen workshops and phone banks around the country especially in swing states with large latino populations. the cut off to get applications in and processed in time to vote is quickly approaching. april 30th. >> the goal of some of the

national partner campaigns is a million applications by the end of april. we're seeing it in key places where we know that new voters make a difference. we will see increased activity outer florida, nevada, colorado. >> this is the 19th century morality section. have you ever been a habitual drunkard. >> volunteers help with the application process. here in colorado there are 90,000 latinos who are eligible to be naturalized. they've lived legally in the u.s. for years, even decades, which allows them to expedite the naturalization process. they hope to register 1300 of them as new citizens. >> martha does not like to speak badly of a candidate she has never met, but one thing is certain, if she becomes a citizen in time to cast a ballot in november, you will not see her voting for donald trump, but you will see her "i voted" sticker.

>> when you get that stick their year and proudly display it, how will you feel? >> i don't know, i don't know. [ chuckling ] i'm going to be so happy. >> jim hooley, al jazeera. >> coming up next, secretary of state john kerry blasts isil, saying the group committed genocide. plus sea change. the gunning of the end for killer whales at sea--the beginning of the end for killer whales at seaworld.

>> the state department said that isil's treatment of minorities in syria and iraq meets the legal definition of genocide. today's deng la ration from secretary of state john kerry said that there could be significant ramifications going forward. >> there have been reports sayin saying that isil's mass murder and oppression of christians and other religious and ethnic groups constitutes

genocide the u.s. has been condemning isil's brutal executions for years, but it was only after congress set a deadline that the state department issued a former declaration, that the murder, torture and rape of targeted groups amounts to crimes again humanity. >> in my judgment daesh is responsible for genocide including yazidi, christians, and shia muslims. daesh is genocidal by proclamation, ideology and by actions, in what it says, what it believes, and what it does. >> kerry's statement meets a march 17th deadline included last year in the government spending bill and comes three days after the house passed a non-binding resolution saying that isis is committing genocide. it was a rare unanimous vote, 393-0. the declaration does not obligate the u.s. to take

additional action against isil. much like the only other time the u.s. issued a similar declaration. in 2004 secretary of state colin powell said that the atrocities in darfur's region instituted genocide but only after lawyers ruled the declaration did not obligate the u.s. to intervene in sudan to stop the killing. meanwhile, ash carter and his stop military adviser general joseph dunford said that the effort to deal a lasting defeat continues to researc ratchet up the effort and training fight tours take them on. neither could say if isil's strongholds in iraq and syria would be retaken this year. >> do you see it falling this year, taken away from isil? >> senator. >> we're focused on raqqa.

we can't tell you when it will fall. we're working with indigenous forces on the ground. >> do you think that raqqa falling between now and the vote is remote? >> i couldn't tell you right now. >> the u.s. is already treating isil as a genocidal group even without the former designation. genocide has a very specific meeting. it's not just killing vast numbers of people. it's doing it with the intent to destroy ethnic or religious group in whole or in part. secretary kerry has called to document isil's alleged atrocities so that all perpetrators could be held accountable in the future. >> jamie thank you. north korea tonight is continue to go escalate tensions with the west. it fired a ballistic missile off its coast traveling some 500 miles before falling into

the water. meanwhile, the state department said that it has been able to establish contact with that american student in prison in north korea. he was sentenced yesterday to 15 years of hard labor. the 21-year-old was convicted of crimes against the state for stealing a propaganda banner. the state department said that it will do anything to try to win his release. now to the war in syria. the u.n. peace talks are under way and officials say there is progress including discussion of proposals for a political transition to end five years of war. meanwhile, in northern syria residents are holding protests against thal nusra front, al-qaeda's branch in that country. we have reports from southern turkey. >> something is happening in north we wer northwestern syria

that may change the balance of power. get out say these women. al nusra has an unshakeable grip over the areas inside idlib province it is said to control. >> here protesters make an equation between the tyranny and the armed religious groups chanting the syrian people are one. we're here to support the people. >> and the confidence is growing. they turn on al nusra support whose try to get in to the demonstration. the protesters were clearly more interested in the flag of revolution than that of al nusra. what is strike something in a the ideals had been shouted down by groups like al nusra and isil across northern and eastern syria. now this group, which is considered moderate in the west

which calls for all syrians to come together against the regime in damascus appears to be increasingly back in favor. things like this trashing of an al nusra office seems to reflect a growing concern that al nusra demands hold deeply conservative values like isil does, and people in idlib aren't interested. the shifting alliances among the rebel groups now appears to change its position that all fighting groups focus on their real enemy. >> the talks about setting up a civil state in syria among other things are to be addressed later. this is delayed because we're now focusing on toppling the regime. this is the same objective that we share with the rest of the opposition forces on the ground and their evolutionary forces. the priority is to bring down

the tyrant regime. >> with al nusra front and the growing pressure to release men from that it is holding, it seems that popular opinion is telling the group to stop fighting other syrians, tearing down their flag. what they stand for would have been unthinkable just months ago. >> al jazeera, southern turkey. >> coming up next, troubled water, radioactive waste from a nuclear plant said to be leaking into florida's ground water. and fur tile ground land of california. the major challenges ahead if marijuana becomes legal there.

>> our american story is written everyday. it's not always pretty, but it's real... and we show you like no-one

else can. this is our american story. this is america tonight. >> an aging nuclear power plant is causing problems in south florida. a new study finds that turkey plant is leaguing radioactive herl and leaking into the water nearby. jonathan betz reports from homestead, florida. >> it seem an unlikely pairing next to one of america's most prized national parks is one of florida's few nuclear power plants. >> we really couldn't find a worst place to pick. >> 5 miles south of miami. >> it sounds like you're worried about losing. >> yes, exactly. >> a neighbor that is deeply troubled. >> i'm very concerned. i mean, you know, the park the

water quality is great, and we want to keep it that way. >> for years, warm, salty, slightly radioactive water from its massive networks of canals essential for cooling the plant has been seeping into the ground water and biscayne bay, jeopardizing the water and the environment. >> you could triggerral guy blooms, and that could affect the water quality and the health of the fish. >> a new study shows the level of a radio active isotope of hydr hydrogen was found in biscayne bay above normal. >> it's time for action now. >> still it's the latest in ongoing concerns. last month a judge blasted the cleanup plan by the state and the plant's owner florida power and light. >> this is fp & l's problem.

this is their plant. they need to make sure that their politicians do not contaminate the surrounding environment. they need to be held accountable for cleaning up this mess. >> are they being held accountable? >> i don't think they aren't. >> we'll continue to validate data to continue to take action to comply with the requirements set forth by the state, the county and improve canal conditions at the plant. >> but without a clear solution in place the pow play will continue leaking right next to one of america's natural treasures. jonathan betz, al jazeera, homestead, florida. >> join us for our special report, looking into the problem of toxic drinking water in several communities across the nation. you can see troubled waters tomorrow night at 8:30 eastern time. rivers are rising in southeastern texas, and residents have been forced to

flee their homes. this week parts of texas and louisiana were pounded with heavy rain causing record flooding along the savon river. andandy gallagher reports. >> this is after days of torrential rains. most of this water came from an overflowing reservoir. it burst its banks and making this the most severe flooding in more than a hundred years. >> i've lived through droughts, fires, hurricanes, this is worse than anything we've been through. >> the only way into the community now is by boat. but the extent of the damage and the depth of the waters is all too obvious. homes, cars, and businesses now lay partially submerged in deep ground floodwaters. >> you can see on the fence line

behind me that the flued wards are throwly beginning to recede. but just to show how the damage and how long before families can get back to their homes, this is a quiet residential street. now it looks more like a river. >> we're going to be here for a while, so we might as well have some fun with it. >> hundreds of families have been evacuated so shelters across the state. thankfully there have been no reported depths or casualties. for those waiting to get back to their homes there is certainty. >> there has to be a lot of cleaning that will have to be done it's going to be a mess. it's going to be a mess. i don't know what to expect. i'm just praying for the best. it may be weeks before the yo the extent the damage is known, but the cleanup will be a long and arduous process.

al jazeera, deweyville, texas. >> the economics of switching from growing fruit and vegetables to a bigger crash crop. it all depends on what happens this year and the vote of legalizing recreational marijuana. we explore the potential impact of that vote. >> when you think about growing pot, you probably think about an background operation. >> all of our products are-- >> with other venturers preparing for legal marijuana, the business around it is about to upgrade. >> we use organically grown flower. if you want a body high-- >> right now marijuana is still illegal under federal law. so it remains something of a shadow industry. there might be a couple of greenhouses over here, maybe a couple of acres over there, but nobody is doing it on a large scale. what happens if the government

suddenly legalizes this plant and farmers get in on the act? what happens if the standards and scale of modern agriculture are applied to marijuana. >> a few years ago there was a quarter acre crop of marijuana grown on an unused part of his farm, he contacted the authorities. >> when they gave me the street value of $19 million it was mind blower because it was on an acre of a 11,000-acre farm. >> michael did the math and realized if that crop became legal just a few acres of it could earn him millions. >> i would think that we would be looking at maybe $20,000 an acre profit range where some of the crops we're growing now are in the $2,000 to $4,000-acre range. so a ten-fold magnitude range. obviously an incentive to take a look at it. >> there is almost nothing california can't grow.

a powerhouse of citrus to wine grapes, bringing that experience to marijuana could make the content more consistent and change the market. >> are people so good at growing it now that they get it right every time? i've got that one hillside, can i grow it, and it's great. and thc level is exactly within range so people know what they're going to get when they smoke it, and it's got a neat blue berry, lemon flavor when you smoke it, and that's pleasant. i can sell that. those are the people that if alcohol is any indication, are going to be able to charge more once this stuff is legal. >> the worry, said ken and michael s flooding the market. >> california is super productive, and if you suddenly just were to bring large ache rectangles into the market gain i don't know if the market could with stand it. my sister seems to think that the market will handle whatever.

i just don't know. >> californians will vote on legalizing marijuana this year, a potential revolution in america's most influential state. if the law changes california's oldest industry, agriculture would be transformed as well. jacob ward, al jazeera, los ba banos, california. >> seaworld will stop breeding killer whales in captivity. this is in response to an welfare groups who have criticized seaworld of its treatment of whales and dolphins. >> they've been making a big splash for more than 50 years seaworld's captive and terrible killer whales. the massive marine mammals have long delighted audiences and

angered critics. the change comes three years after the documentary black fish. it shows violent incidents involving a whale and raises ethical guess about seaworld's breeding programs. the move show just how bad the backlash has been for seaworld's bottom line. since the film came out visitor numbers have plummeted and stock numbers have tanked. activists have applauded the decision on twitterer for the people of ethical treatment of animals say this win is huge. seaworld will no longer breed or cans, and this generation will be the last to suffer in their tanks. it ended shows in san diego parks and the era of captive or cans are far from over. they can live as long as 100

years. some activists have called for or cans to be released into the wild, but seaworld said they'll probably die there. for as long as they have live, the or cans at seaworld will stay in our parks. the 29 remaining whales will no longer perform tricks. instead the company said it will develop new or can encounters that showcase the animals natural behaviors. on the company's website they say that seaworld is a victim of its own success in making the world fall in love with killer whales. we've helped to make other cans among the most beloved marine mammals on the planet. whatever the reason it is the end of an era for what some call entertainment and what others call cruel. >> coming up next, the real

story behind tina fey's new film. i talked to the real live journalist that fey plays in that movie.

>> how can we get to know each other. [ gunfire ] >> yes, excellent. [ gunfire ] >> she will make a very handsome boy. >> that's a scene from the new film "whiskey tango foxtrot"

tina fey plays a journalist. kim the author of "whiskey, tango and foxtrot." she's in our studio. welcome. >> thank you for having me. >> what is this like? >> this is surreal. i'm still a up in reporter, and the whole idea--it was a while ago since i was over there, so it's been an amazing experience. it gave the book a second life. it came out five years ago, and as "whiskey, tango, foxtrot" it's becoming a best seller all because of tina fey. >> well, that's good. >> yes, right. >> and the film, does it represent fairly you and-- >> i mean-- >> and your work? >> in the movie she is called someone kim baker who runs towards explosion. >> and you're not.

>> i runaway from explosions and i have an "r" in my name, kim barker. >> did you have a lot of involvement in this movie? >> no, i wrote the book. and i wrote a darkcally comic book that when it came out in 2011, "the new york times" book critic wrote a review saying that i had created a tina fey character. so tina fey within two eaks because she's a totally ego maniac read the book--that's her joke. i would never say that. >> right, right. >> she read the book and pushed to paramount to option it on her behalf and askedment loren michael to direct it. >> she is you on scene. and you say? >> weird. >> in some way accurate? >> i think the core story, it's

very much about a woman going overseas and having adventures and the best relationships she has over there is not a romantic one, it's the one she has with her translator, his name is vahim played by christopher abbott. that's the core story of the book, which is between my fiction and relive, pretty soon i'll start referring to myself in the third person in talking, too. i feel like they got the core story right and the craziness of life over there. people who see it hearsay it couldn't have been--the parties couldn't have been that crazy. >> true? >> the parties are a little bit exaggerated, but you had dance parties as if it was you were in college. and i wanted to write about that in the book because i thought it was so absurd and i'm very much a microcosm of america and all the mistakes made in afghanistan

in the book. >> you're an american, a woman in the war zone. take a look at this picture. you're surrounded by a group of men asking questions. were you ever intimidated by all of the men, mostly men around you? there aren't that many women. >> you don't really think about being intimidated in those situations. you're trying to logistically hand it will so you're not grabbed from behind. and i did get grabbed from behind. anyone who was with me in afghanistan knew what happened in that case. i punched a lot of guys because i was frustrated with being grabbed. i never got intimidated or scared. you get frustrated, and you feel like if they're doing that to you, how would a local woman be treated? because we always had the advantage or whatever you would say about it, that we could leave. i kind of wanted to write about those experiences as well because i felt like this is happening to us over there,

what's happening to local women? >> you start the book by saying i always wanted to meet a warlord, so we parked our van on the side of the beige road and walked up to the beige house and passed dozens of skinny soldiers brandishing kalishnikovs, and this is a picture of you with a warlord. >> yes, yes. >> this is surreal. intimidated may be a wrong word. but scared? >> no, i never did feel scared. >> ever? >> i did feel scared in this case when we kept going on from talking to the warlord, and we just found out that he had kidnapped a couple of afghan journalists who worked with the americans. going back to the territory i didn't feel great about it. >> you had to put that out of your head. >> you have to listen to the people who you're working with. my driver and translator-fixer

felt like it would be safe. i would just listen to them whenever they told me something was safe or not. >> there may be a lot of people who don't understand that term fixer, but fixer is a fixer. >> yes. >> and explain how important the translator, the driver, the fixer are to your work. >> i mean, you can't do your work without them. so it's really important to have somebody you trust and somebody who trusts you, and i felt it was a symbiotic relationship. if they tell me it's not safe, i'll listen to them. if they tell me that we can do a story that is dangerous, i believe them. >> but you're taking them with you. >> yes. >> and their lives matter as well. >> yes. >> so you're worried about your team. >> yes, of course. >> did you take them to places that were dangerous that you thought maybe you shouldn't have? >> no, because i would ask them if they thought something was possible or not. when they thought it was possible to drive, we drove. when they thought it was possible to fly instead, we would fly. we had to get a local driver instead of taking our driver

from kabul, we would do that. but i was very cognizant that i never wanted anything to happen to farokuk or nazir. sometimes you can't prevent that. sometimes you're at the wrong place at the wrong time. but i didn't want to go meet with the taliban out in taliban territory. i had friends who did that, and you know, some got away without a scratch, others got kidnapped, but i was never--i was never that journalist. i felt like there is a lot of great stories that you can tell that aren't necessarily right out in the front lines, and i try to meet with the taliban. they can come to visit me in the hotel or they could--or i would see them in jail. and i would get their stories that way or we would talk to them over the phone. i didn't see the point in putting any of our lives in danger, especially after things started going wrong. >> you got to know afghanistan and pakistan very well. and the key players. >> mm-hmm. >> there is a picture of you and hamid karzai, the former president. do you think afghanistan was a

success for the united states? >> i mean, who thinks it was a success for the united states? i don't think afghans think it's a success for the united states. like anybody who spent any amount of time there, you can't say that we declared war over there, combat over there no december of 2014, but it wasn't like we fought one 13-year war there. it was like 13 one-year war. they are still trying to articulate what they were trying to achieve before leaving. puff afghans controlling swaths of the country and the government, and isis creeping in. >> this is terrific. great success in the future. you've got a lot more stories ahead of you, i know. >> thanks a lot. >> coming up next, art lovers get the opportunity to see a classic van gogh painting as they've never seen it before.

>> a new bio pick on vincent van gogh is grabbing headlines. "loving vincent" pays home homage legendary artist. each painting is an oil painting in his style. in order to make it work on the screen there are 12 oil painters in the impressionist style of van gogh every second. now the art students of chicago are providing the interactive experience for fans of the

painter vincent van gogh. for $10 a night art lovers can sleep inside of a full-size rep mr. can of "th "the painting." >> these are old paintings but it looks as though they were painted a couple of weeks ago. >> the three versions of the dutch artist's paints are on display at the art institute in chicago. the first time all three have been exhibited together in north america. >> it's one of those iconic images that everyone remembers because it is so graphic, colorful, and in some ways startling because of its emptiness. >> van gogh painted the works in the late 1880s in france. >> it's really a summation of where he was at that time and the culmination of all thinks dreams and hopes of having a room of his own and a place of his own where he could listen

listen--live, work and have friends. >> the museum has added a fourth version in three dimension. >> the old adage of getting lost in a painting takes on new meaning inside this room. >> it's the perfect replica of van gogh's bedroom locatorred in an apartment in choreas north neighborhood. it is available to rent for $10 a night villa air b & b. >> it's amazing. yes, being able to do a night like the yellow house. it's brilliant, a really good idea. >> it took artists about a month to recreate the bedroom. some question what van gogh would have thought about the real-life bedroom. >> fascinating, but i don't know, it's like intruding into

van gogh. >> still the art institute says that the response has been huge. bookings have been sold out for an unique opportunity to sleep inside a master piece. al jazeera, chicago. >> that's our broadcast. thanks for watching. > i'm hello, i'm ali velshi and this is "on target". the trap for americans caught in a cycle of high-interest payday loans. tonight i return to the topic of payday loans, a financial product that