captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, another deadly friday, this time in the west african nation of mali, where dozens were killed by gunmen who held 170 people hostage in a hotel. then, one week after the paris attacks we look at how the community and police in the french capital are recovering. >> sreenivasan: a night of >> woodruff: and mark shields and david brooks are here, to analyze this full week of news. plus, a hip hop musical, that's also a history lesson. we talk with the creator of the broadway hit play "hamilton."

>> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. >> supporting social entrepreneurs and their solutions to the world's most pressing problems-- skollfoundation.org.

>> the ford foundation. working with visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and friends of the newshour. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: the siege today in the capital city of mali lasted all day before ending this evening. islamist gunmen burst into a hotel and seized up to 170 hostages, many of them foreigners. in the end, scores of hostages were rescued or escaped, but

estimates of the dead ranged from 19 to at least 27, plus two attackers. the state department said one american was among those killed. the attack on the attack on the radisson blu brought security forces on the run, early this morning. mali's defense ministry said extremists armed with guns and grenades stormed the luxury hotel in bamako just as guests were beginning their day. >> ( translated ): at this moment, this morning around 7:30, individuals not yet identified, about three or four we believe so far, attacked the radisson blu hotel. sadly there are deaths. people must remain calm. >> woodruff: by some accounts, the attackers car-jacked a diplomatic vehicle, drove up to the hotel, and stormed inside. witnesses said they shouted islamist slogans and went room by room asking guests if they

could recite verses of the koran. those who could were let go. early on, the owner of the hotel said the assailants locked in as many as 140 guests and 30 employees. hours later, malian special forces stormed the hotel themselves, freeing hostages one floor at a time. >> ( translated ): the soldiers were very professional, they took good care of us. they came to us, they knocked, they said: "it's the security forces" and then i looked. it was them. i left the room. they cleared the whole floor. >> ( translated ): i heard gunshots very early in the morning. i thought it was firecrackers and didn't realize it was a hostage situation. at one point, the malian forces came to get us. they knocked on our doors and evacuated us in small groups. thank god we're safe. >> woodruff: at least six americans were evacuated during the operation, with u.s. and french special forces assisting the malians. hours after it began, a jihadist group previously affilated with al-qaeda-- "al-mourabitounes"-- claimed responsibility for the attack.

in paris, french president francois hollande vowed to help the former french colony. >> ( translated ): terrorists entered a hotel in bamako and have taken hostages. once again, terrorists want to make their barbaric presence felt everywhere, where they can kill, where they can massacre. so we should once again show our solidarity with our ally mali. >> woodruff: back in mali, officials announced this evening that the siege of the radisson blu had finally ended. and for more on the attack in mali, we turn to retired lt. col. rudolph atallah. he served as africa counterterrorism director at the defense department. he's currently a senior fellow at the atlantic council, a non-profit think tank. he is also chief executive officer of a security consulting firm. rudolph atallah, welcome to the program. based on what you've learned so far, who do you think was behind this? >> well, it's still unclear.

it's going to take time to really reveal that, but some news agencies are claiming it's ac mood mactun. >> woodruff: who is this group? connected to al quaida? >> it's an offshoot of al quaida mokhtar belmokhtar has been trying to link from al quaida central and break away and try to run things. in august the council made him the the amir of the group. and then shortly after a couple of days later the group rebranded itself to al quaida of

jihad. >> reporter: whjihad. >> woodruff: why would he get closer to al quaida central. >> because he doesn't believe al quaida has been doing a good job in going after key targets. this was the man responsible for the attack in algeria january 2013 on the gas plants in which we saw 699 people released and 730 western hostages killed. this attack looks eerily similar in which they ask people to recite part of the qur'an. >> woodruff: what's the motivation? what does this group want? >> in one part, this group initially was trying to bring people to themselves because they're fearful that many of tease young jihadys -- these young jihadys would branch away

and go to i.s.i.s. or daesh, so they made a push for that and also want to show themselves capable of, you know, reinstating what mali lost in the north. remember northern mali was under islammist rule until the french intervened in 2013 so they're looking for that state. >> woodruff: a comp the tigs with i.s.i.s. -- a competition with i.s.i.s. going on here? >> it's yet to be determined. of course, both groups are opposite of each other in terms of -- well, in part, some of the ideology is different, but their motivation is -- what they want is similar, essentially having the caliphate. but there may be some competition happening there, but it's yet to be determined. >> woodruff: they certainly have gotten our attention in a vair bad way today, rudolph atallah, the atlantic council, thank you. >> woodruff: in the day's other

news: paris marked one week since the islamic state attacks that ravaged the city, as the death toll rose to 130. at the same time, investigators worked to figure out when and how the ringleader gained re-entry into france, and french lawmakers moved to extend a state of emergency giving police additional powers. we'll have the story in full, after the news summary. in russia, meanwhile, law-makers today backed a sweeping overhaul of national security. this follows the paris attacks and last month's bombing of a russian airliner over egypt. today, in moscow, both chambers of parliament met in a rare session, to call for tougher penalties for terrorists and more power for police. >> ( translated ): these days, the federation council receives a lot of requests from citizens, public organizations, experts, and what they have in common is concern about the need to increase effectiveness of the

fight against terrorism. i think that additional measures, including legislative ones, are definitely needed. >> woodruff: meanwhile, the russians claimed today their air strikes have destroyed a number of islamic state oil facilities in syria in recent days. official video showed ground crews at an air base in russia, writing the words "for paris!" and "for our guys!" on bombs. they were being attached to planes heading out on missions to syria. thousands of refugees were in limbo today after four balkan states begin turning away economic migrants and accepting only those fleeing war. for now, that means macedonia, serbia, croatia and slovenia are allowing only syrians, afghans and iraqis to cross their borders. at the greek-macedonian border today, other migrants waved documents at police holding them back. those who've left iran and bangladesh held up signs begging to be let in.

president obama arrived in malaysia today, and urged young people in the largely muslim nation to reject extremism. he spoke at a town-hall with college-aged students, and stressed their role in combating terror, in the wake of the paris killings. >> when you think about the terrible vision of those who carried out those attacks, and you contrast that with the young people who are represented here, you can set an example, not just to stand up to violent extremism, but to build inter-faith dialogue, promote tolerance, and to combine an appreciation of your own culture and traditions with the modern world. >> woodruff: the fight against islamic state militants will take center stage as the president attends a southeast asian summit this weekend. accused spy jonathan pollard was released from a u.s. federal prison today, after serving 30 years for spying for israel. it was one of the highest-

profile espionage cases in american history, and an ongoing irritant in u.s.-israeli relations. chief foreign affairs correspondent margaret warner has the story. >> warner: pollard arrived in new york city this morning after being driven from a federal prison in north carolina earlier as a naval intelligence officer in the 1980's, he passed suitcases of top secret documents to an israeli colonel. they contained classified intelligence about arab governments, and soviet arm shipments. first arrested in 1985, he pled guilty to spying for israel and was sentenced to life in prison in 1987. since then, his case has been a source of tension between israeli and u.s. administrations. today israeli prime minister israeli benjamin netanyahu celebrated his parole after a long campaign for his release >> the people of israel welcome the release of jonathan pollard. as someone who raised his case before successive us presidents

many times, i longed for this day. and now after three long and difficult decades, jonathan has been released. i wish him on this first sabbath that he's going to spend with >> warner: his wife, esther, spoke when his parole was first announced. >> i'm relieved and i'm happy that our ordeal is finally coming to an end. >> warner: pollard made no statements today. under the terms of his parole, he must stay in the u.s. for five years while wearing a digital gps tracking device. his lawyers are asking a federal judge to overturn this requirement and let him move to israel, which granted him citizenship in 1995. pollard will work at a finance firm in new york. >> woodruff: a man from florida who landed a mini-helicopter, a gyrocopter, on the u.s. capitol lawn, pleaded guilty in federal court today. douglas hughes admitted to operating the one-man craft without a license. last april, he buzzed through restricted airspace, saying he

wanted to draw attention to big money in politics. hughes could get up to ten months in prison. princeton university has agreed to consider removing the name of woodrow wilson, its alumnus and former u.s. president, from campus buildings and programs. that came after black and white students staged a 32-hour sit-in to protest wilson's support of racial segregation. wilson was president of princeton from 1902 to 1910, before being elected governor of new jersey and then, president of the united states. and, wall street finished the week on a high note. the dow jones industrial average gained 91 points to close near 17,824. the nasdaq rose 31 points, and the s&p 500 added 8. for the week, all three indexes were up well over 3%. still to come on the newshour: paris, one week after the deadly terror attacks; the women of the islamic state; mark shields and

david brooks on campaign rhetoric and refugees, and much more. >> woodruff: it's been one week since paris was struck by tragedy. france moved to give law enforcement officials more power to prevent future attacks, as its citizens try to move forward. hari sreenivasan has been in paris all week, and has the story. >> sreenivasan: the shaken "city of light" returned to life tonight-- if only temporarily. the sound of music and flicker of candles marked the moment the string of deadly attacks began one week ago. it was part of a campaign by cultural figures urging parisians to make "noise and light"-- and show the french spirit cannot be dimmed by terror.

hours earlier, a cold rain soaked memorials across the french capital, but mourners were undeterred. >> ( translated ): it was important for me to come. it's really moving to see all these flowers. i think it's very sad. it's been a week since the attacks and it feels like it was just yesterday. it's impossible to get rid of this sadness that we feel. >> ( translated ): i think a lot of people are still scared. we have to be careful not to fall into nasty hatred, as can happen. >> sreenivasan: there was one more death to mourn today, as another victim died of wounds-- raising the death toll to 130. more than 350 others were wounded in last friday's violence. authorities also reported a third body was discovered overnight at the site of the saint-denis apartment that police raided wednesday. security officials now say he'd

that raid killed the alleged mastermind of the attacks, abdelhamid abaaoud. he'd been spotted on surveillance video in the paris subway shortly after the shootings and bombings began. in all, french police have carried out nearly 800 raids since then, and arrested 90 people. and, the government is moving to give the police more power. today the french senate approved the request to extend the state of emergency by another 90 days. that means among other things, police can get permission from the interior ministry to raid a suspect's home. they don't have to get permission from a criminal court. this is causing a tension between police powers and civil liberties. >> ( translated ): the results so far have allowed us to find hundreds of weapons. >> sreenivasan: jerome bonnet is the spokesman for the french national police. he says the speed is necessary in times like these and that the measures are temporary. is this the new normal?

>> the principle of state of emergency is that it is supposed to be temporary. we'll quit this state of emergency when the level of threat goes down. >> sreenivasan: but already some are concerned about the long term impacts of the new police powers. >> ( translated ): even if we're talking about a deep level of pain that french people are experiencing, we're still wondering how we can respect citizen's rights if this situation continues. >> sreenivasan: florian borg is the president of a union representing 1,000 civil and criminal lawyers. he thinks this is executive overreach, and undercuts the judicial branch of government. >> ( translated ): in a democracy, for it to be calm and to live in freedom, we need a justice system that punishes, that corrects behavior and prevents all kinds of crime-- including terrorism. and now, this is not the impression we have. >> sreenivasan: the attacks have also put new focus on migrants entering europe. french prosecutors said today they've now determined that two of the attackers arrived in greece last month, with other migrants. and muslims in france say

they're feeling the pressure. today, those attending friday prayers at paris' grand mosque were carefully screened before entering. some said they've been stigmatized by islamic state actions. >> ( translated ): people make generalizations based on what happened, based on the acts committed by a few individuals, which were not at all committed in the name of islam. even if they yelled words that could mislead people, they acted of their own accord. >> sreenivasan: meanwhile in brussels, european union ministers met in emergency session and pledged solidarity with france in addressing the growing threat of violent extremism. they agreed to new measures tightening border checks, surveillance, and gun control, after an appeal by france's interior minister. >> ( translated ): the strengthening of external border controls, particularly in the light of the heightened terrorist threat, is indispensable for the security of european citizens. we have come together today to act and we need concrete action. we should proceed quickly and with force.

europe owes it to all the victims of terrorism and their loved ones. >> sreenivasan: the head of the e.u.'s law enforcement agency-- europol-- agreed that more needs to be done to prevent future atrocities. >> i think the key to respond to such a complex and now clearly an international threat of the dimension we have seen is information sharing. the ability to collect and connect the right intelligence at the right time and this is a very complex environment where we've got to get that right. >> sreenivasan: back in paris, government officials announced plans to hold a national remembrance ceremony in the capital one week from today to honor the attack victims. >> woodruff: you were talking to french security officials. what additional powers do they now have? they say they're temporary but what more can they do in the

short run? >> sreenivasan: well, they can now make basically house arrests of anyone they want without really any repercussion force them. just if they feel that that individual is a threat to public security, they can dissolve groups that they also think perhaps could incite terror. they can block web sites that they think are related terrorism. they can also extend the ability to carry out warrantless searches and they can also seize any data that is in a home or during that search. the only exceptions are for jowmplists and lawyers who are members of parliament. >> woodruff: hari, from talking to the french police, do you get the sense that they now have the tools to prevent future attacks? how confident do they seem? >> well, what they say is, listen, we have prevented six major attacks on french soil since "charlie hebdo." we are working as well as we can. obviously, we missed this. this is a failure.

there is nobody that's trying to cover that up. but one of the concerns and complains they and most to have the european nations have is i wish we had better access to intelligence. we know other countries have intelligence about some of these individuals but we're just not getting and they said, yes, the information sharing has gotten better since "charlie hebdo" but clearly not enough. >> woodruff: do they expect to get it? >> sreenivasan: they hope so, and this is one of the key concerns that the political establishment has is exactly what else do you need? is it about creating a whole different agency across europe that works together? or is it about beefing the existing ones up? >> woodruff: hari sreenivasan, joining us once again from the streets of paris. thank you very much. >> woodruff: when the man thought to have planned the

paris attacks was killed during a raid on wednesday, a woman who was with him also died in the assault. it's unclear what role she played, if any, in planning the attacks. but experts say more and more women are joining isis, travelling to territory held by the group in syria and iraq. why are they making the trip? and what do they find when they get there? william brangham has more. >> brangham: here with me now to discuss the motivations of the women who join the islamic state is newshour foreign affairs producer p.j. tobia. he also hosts our shortwave podcast, which this week is all about "the women of isis" so, p.j., how do we know what we know about these women? and who are they? >> well, first of all, everything that we know pretty much comes from social media platforms -- facebook, instagram, twitter -- they're very active in documenting not only their radicalization in place before they leave their homes in the west or in asia or really anywhere they travel to

territory controlled by the islamic state and what life is like when they get there. as to who they are runs the gamut. there was a green girls case. three young women, high school-age girls from eastern london who jowrnerred to the territory controlled by the islamic state earlier this year, but there are also older women. there is a story of a 26-year-old woman, a doctor from malaysia who relocated to syria last year and chronicled her journey through social media and said along the way she saw women in their 60s, much older women making this journey. >> brangham: do you have any idea how many women? >> hard to say. in media reports is 550 foreign women have gone there. that numbers comes from the institute of strategic dialogue. it's a terrorism n.g.o. think tank based in london. but speaking to the people who came up with that number at the

institute, they say that number is wildly outdated from earlier this year. >> brangham: they think it's higher? >> much higher. over the summer, germany intelligence said 100 women just from germany traveled to islamic state territory. one researcher said one in four people leaving europe to join jihad in these territories is a woman and the number of men plateaued and the number of women is increasing. >> brangham: what do they do once they land in i.s.i.s.-controlled territory is this are they joining the community? what is their life like? >> the most important role for women in areas controlled by the islamic state is wife and mother. that's been written by the islamic state group itself. they've written treaties about the role of women in the islamic state that's been published and translated and that's primarily what they do. they get married almost as soon as they're there in most cases according to researchers that study this stuff, and they're

homemakers, they're provided for in an interesting way. they basically receive a weekly stipend. they have food. if they're married, they get a home. they try to say a sort of normalcy of life. there is a social media message. there is a picture of a boundary candy bar you can find in almost any western convenience store on a pile of writing and words to the effect of i'm doing some work and enjoying some candy, just as you might be doing right now at your house in the west. another thing they talk about on social media and you see this in many studies is a culture of widowhood where the men they marry go off to fight and die and they glorify this idea of being widows. one tweet said i never thought i would be a widow at 18. we plot and plan but allah is the best of planners. >> brangham: these are women who recently married i.s.i.s. fighters and the men get killed

in battle and the women celebrate that? >> that's right. one expert said a quarter of women shetion been following on social media are widows and most widowed in the last six months. so when you go on social media, you will see messages like "marriage in the land of jihad, till martyrdom do us part." there is a culture of glorifying, because women who don't fight on the lines of islamic state, having a woman who dies as a martyr in jihad is the next best thing in. their culture, it's -- in their culture, it's looked at as a fast track to paradise. >> brangham: p.j. tobia, thanks so much. >> thanks, william. >> woodruff: stay with us. coming up on the newshour: a founding father captured in song; the man behind the musical "hamilton."

but first, here in the u.s, politicians have clashed in response to the paris attacks, over refugees and security at home. political director lisa desjardins reports. >> reporter: last night in iowa the pointed debate over refugees sharpened even more, when donald trump was asked whether to register and track muslims. >> we should have a lot of systems and today you can do it. >> reporter: so, a reporter followed up: trump would implement a muslim database? >> oh i would certainly implement that. >> reporter: in a tweet today, trump did not back down per se, but did clarify, saying: "i didn't suggest a database. a reporter did." in new hampshire today, rival ben carson flatly rejected the database idea. >> if we're just going to pick out a particular group of people based on their religion, based on their race, based on some other thing, that's setting a pretty dangerous precedent. >> reporter: but last night in

alabama, carson sparked criticism himself. while arguing that security must balance with compassion, he offered this analogy about refugees. >> if there is a rabid dog running around your neighborhood, you're probably not going to assume something good about that dog and you're probably going to put your children out of the way. it doesn't mean you hate all dogs, by any stretch of the imagination. >> reporter: some other republicans struck a different tone. >> i think we need to be cautious that we don't get to a point where our emotions take over our brain. >> the statue of liberty cannot have a stiff arm. but if we use our passions and our anger, fear, and we use that to snuff our her flame by xenophobic and knee-jerk policy, the enemy wins. >> reporter: the democratic presidential candidates today condemned the rhetoric, including former maryland governor martin o'malley.

>> when you hear people like donald trump talking about wanting to do i.d. cards based on religion-- what the hell is that? >> reporter: the war of words has also engaged the current white house. in the philippines this week, president obama criticized congress as acting quickly to block syrian refugees, but taking no action to authorize military force against the islamic state. >> and now, suddenly, they're able to rush in, in a day or two, to solve the threat of widows and orphans and others who are fleeing a war-torn land, and that's their most constructive contribution to the effort against isil? that doesn't sound right to me. >> reporter: the refugee issue-- barely discussed ten days ago-- is now the top political debate in the country. for the pbs newshour, i'm lisa desjardins. >> woodruff: and to the analysis of shields and brooks. that's syndicated columnist mark shields and new york times columnist david brooks. welcome, gentlemen. , so this entire week we have

spent looking at what happened in paris. my question is, david, what has this done in the united states? are we now in a new normal as we were after 9/11? >> i think what i.s.i.s. has done psychologically, it's a drug you have to take more of to feet the effect. their level of viciousness and violence, they've ratcheted up a level. they started doing that the first time we became conscious of them, the beheadings, setting people on fire, this killing. and while they haven't achieved the super al quaida 9/11, they've created a more menacing atmosphere i think in this country and certainly in europe and around the world in nigeria, boko haram, and i think there is a sense of living with violence. i think in israel, with the middle east policy, the citizens live with violence. you adjust in some ways, develop rituals in some ways and it preys on the consciousness in a lot of ways and i think we're

more or less in that world. >> woodruff: how do you feel it changes things? >> i don't think it compares with 9/11. 9/11 was a profound, traumatic experience in this nation and just in the reaction, i think that you can see what 14 years of conflict has done and 14 years of being at war has done as well as what i.s.i.s. has done. 14 years ago, when the united states suffered the greatest infliction of loss of life on its own soil in our history, the president of the united states, george w. bush, visited a mosque. he said islam are our friends. he said people who do this are traitors to their faith, and we must remember that. he looked like abraham lincoln compared to the reaction of politicians in this city and particularly in lisa desjardins'

piece tonight, which was small, petty, vengeful, un-american, unserious and irresponsible. >> woodruff: let's talk about that and first look at what -- the president pretty much came out of the box, david, and said our strategy against i.s.i.s. is working. yes, this is a bad thing but i'm really not going to change anything in a big way. is he -- is he right with that? is he on track as he says he is? >> let me echo something mark said. george w. bush's reaction versus the current reaction of the donald trumps and the ben carson, it's immoral, degrading and bad foreign policy. ben carson is running for office, a senior figure, and if you're a soldier you need to show respect. when that rhetoric flies out across the world it makes it harder for our diplomats and

service leaders abroad. eth it has impact. this has been a slow-rolling genocide for a long time and in several stops along the way, there have been people in this administration and other parties who counseled some sort of action he could have taken to ameliorate some of the death we've seen and he has withdrawn and not taken the actions, even when red lines have been crossed, a training program which didn't work, has had token efforts recently. so for him to come back self righteously for other people, he bears some responsible for the syrian refugee crisis. he made decisions to save american interests but at the cost of what clearly has been a genocide in syria. >> woodruff: how do you see abouthe president's strategy?

>> the only consistent voice on the republican side has been lindsey graham, senator from south carolina, consistently said we should send 10,000 troops -- >> woodruff: among the candidates. >> among the candidates. everything the president is doing that he's recommended to do, he's already doing, maybe not in numbers, but he's got special ops, flights, doing drones. this is a country that is war weary after 14 years. we can't even, in congress -- congress won't address an authorization for use of military force. i mean, they won't even confront. this they -- they won't bear a burden or pay a price. they want to sit offshore and lob grenades. i agree the president's premise has been the united states will

not go to war. that habit. he was elected to end wars. he doesn't want to start another one, and i think that his policies have been, in fact, less than successful by any measurement. but the reality is whatever -- with the exception of lindsey graham -- i mean, marco rubio said it's premature to discuss the number of troops. said we should send them but premature to discuss the number. drones are a perfect weapon for a country who doesn't want to go to war. there is no fingerprint, no direct involvement. human beings are killed on the other end, you don't have to see them, worry about them or meet their widows. it's antiseptic warfare and that's what's been embraced. >> the cowardice on capitol hill

has set off the debate. >> there are a couple in arizona led the fight that they should confront it. >> the good news is there's begin tock some sort of bipartisan, cohesive thinking. hillary clinton, marco rubio, jeb bush gave talks. they didn't just say let's bomb i.s.i.s., but as long as assad is in power, he creates a situation where you can't get rid of i.s.i.s. because the moderate sunnis will not rebel against i.s.i.s. as long as they're victims of this horrific campaign from assad, so what we need is an uprising among the normal sunnis the way we had in iraq starting in 2007, and clinton emphasized this in her speech. so you have to limit i.s.i.s. you also have to limit assad with sanctuaries and "no fly" zones and opposition to him and it's a complicated dance to be

against both sides of a civil war but nonetheless that is the only policy that has any prospect of success and both parties are orienting around that position. >> woodruff: so you're saying what all the candidates are saying and hillary clinton is saying makes more sense? >> i think her speech was exceptional. complicated but coherent. she wants to do things like sanctuaries and "no fly" zones against assad rubio wanted to go further and more sanctions against i.s.i.s. but the framework is the same with both candidates. >> woodruff: how do you see it. >> i think secretary clinton made a strong statement, it was coherent. i think the argument in the debate about a "no fly" zone is a real one and i think there is a real case to be made against it and the question of risk and reward is a very serious one, no doubt about it. the sanctuary zone, especially that embraced by dr. carson which is going to be

administered -- >> woodruff: it's along the border between turkey and -- a safe zone donald trump endorse bid is his consistent support of three-syllable adjectives, fantastic, successful, a beautiful safe zone. these are not serious -- i don't see a consensus. we have the worst time to make policy is a week after an event after this. there is an emotional reaction in the country. there is not a consideration or a reflection upon what we're willing to do. has anybody suggested we might have to pay another dime in taxes? we have spent $4 trillion in the last 14 years in war without paying for it, without paying for it. and now we have a big debate about the national debt. and we ask where the national debt comes from, how it grows and swells, when you have wars

for 14 years you deplete and destroy an army. the united states army is hollowed out after 14 years, it is tired. you have these people urging, let's go into combat, and as soon as we do and things go wrong, they are, as bob gates said, they're n nowhere to be found. >> i would say nobody is in favor of the action we had in iraq in 2003. i do think what paris has done, it was possible before paris but i think it's less likely to make this case is to say, i.s.i.s. is so crazy, syria is messed up, let's let i.s.i.s. collapse under their own weaknesses, let assad's internal weaknesses take itself down, it's some crazy syrian thing. a paris showed it's not just a crazy syrian thing. i.s.i.s. is now going off and doing this sort of activity. god knows what happens if they get their hands on biological and chemical weapons. for these people, there are no limits. time is not on our side anymore.

i don't know what the action is. we have to think more about that. >> on i.s.i.s., i stand in total agreement with david on i.s.i.s. 43 blown up in beirut, a nation of 4 million people, taken refugees. you have 220 blown up on the russian plane. 130 in paris. unlike al quaida, where it was micromanaged by osama bin laden, these are autonomous groups doing it and indigenous, obviously as seen by paris, indigenous recruits. >> woodruff: the other thing i do want to ask you about in the little bit of time left and that is we are watching this debate, david, play out over refugees and what to do, and there you do have republicans saying don't let them in, and even democrats joining in and saying hold off on any more syria or iraqi

refugees. >> i think it's appalling. the idea we're doing national or religious profiling is wrong. the refugees are the least likely way to get in here. the perpetrators were from belgium and france. are we going to stop the flemish from coming in? it's not a carefully thought-through reaction. the process we add to get people in this country through refugee, it takes a long time, it's probably the hardest way to get in. this is just a native reaction that has been an unpleasant one. >> woodruff: we had a democratic congressman on the program who said we're all getting phone calls about this, the public is concerned. >> i think fear of leadership on capitol hill -- it's the failure of leadership on capitol hill. paul ryan is two run responsible voice, he pledged a regular

order, we're going to have hearings and do this thing. it happened last weekend. wednesday they get a vote on the floor. this is the time to consider. judy, this is a nation of immigrants who hates foreigners? this is a country who says we're going to have a religious test? how's it supposed to be the organizing propaganda minister of i.s.i.s.? it says let me tell you what the united states says, if you're christians, come in. there are no christian terrorists. have they met the ku klux klan? it's not restricted to one faith. it's a terrible, terrible group of people. they are hateful, they are just villains. but, i mean, this is not limited to one faith. it's one to have the most unserious and irresponsible attitudes in this debate is about the refugees. >> woodruff: we'll talk about it more next week. mark shields, david brooks, thank you.

>> woodruff: now, what happens when you take a look at america before and after the revolutionary war, and throw in hip-hop and dance? just the biggest box office draw in new york city! jeffrey brown has the story. ♪ >> the hottest ticket on broadway. "hamilton" a hip-hop musical tells us of alexander hamilton, an ambitious rebel, a foundering father who never got the recognition he deserved. >> it's a concept album about treasure secretary alexander hamilton who embodies hip-hop.

>> the star performed an early version of one of the play's songs at the white house in 2009. ♪ i was the son of the scotsman ♪ ♪ dropped in the middle ♪ in the caribbean ♪ to be a hero and a scholar >> when we talked recently he told me how hamilton's life was about so much more. >> if i tell hamilton's story i tell the story of the forming of our country. that was a joyous experience. i think that's the secret sauce in the score. i was learning this stuff as i was researching it to write the show is. i knew the brought-out lines everyone knows. he was unattended, died in a duel. pretty much all i know. >> were you thinking in the beginning the larger story would emerge?

>> i knew that reading-- reading ron chernow's biography of his life was like a dickens novel-- such humble beginnings to such incredible heights and such incredible incidents throughout that, you know, i always tell people i feel like i'm a mosquito that hit an artery. like there's so much here. >> brown: yeah. >> how am i going to get it all? >> brown: storywise... >> absolutely. >> what i'm always on the hunt for when i'm writing song are details and really attacking every moment in the most original way and theatrically- compelling way possible. so our mantra-- and when i say >> is the political always has to be personal. so if you're going to write a song about the compromise that led to hamilton trading his vote for the debt plan for the capital of the u.s. being down here in the newly-formed d.c., well that's easy to say in a sentence, but let's tell it from the perspective of aaron burr, who wasn't in the room. >> and is desperately wants to be in that room. and suddenly, we can get away with anything 'cause we've got dramatic tension.

♪ ♪ i want to be in that room the kind of life he knew. (singing) >> hamilton is set several hundred years earlier but miranda found a similar connection. >> i would argue that hamilton feels twice as autobiographical than the >> well, i would-- i would argue

"hamilton" feels twice as autobiographical as "in the heights" does. >> brown: really? >> yeah, absolutely, especially- - i actually think we kind of double down on the themes of "in the heights," and, sort of, blow them up to a grand scope. we're not going to tell the story of an immigrant neighborhood. we're going to tell the story of the first american immigrant and the formation of our country. and so, in that sense, it felt intensely personal. it's not the story of people who have been here for generations, but what it feels like to land here and make your way. >> brown: and the language, the rhythms of hip-hop. >> it's the best form for hamilton, and when you extrapolate from him, it's a wonderful language for our revolution. we need a revolutionary language to describe a revolution. >> brown: you mean hundreds of years later? >> separated by oceans from britain, so this was not a first fight. this was a war of ideas, in a sense. we needed not only great fighters but also great thinkers to navigate us from rebellion to forging a new nation. so hip-hop is uniquely suited to that because we get more language per measure than any other musical form.

>> brown: what about the-- what about the casting of the founding fathers as a latino, as black. is that an important part of this to you? >> i think so. i think one of our overarching goals of this show-- with any show-- is you want to eliminate any distance between your audience and your story. and, so let's not pretend this is a textbook. let's make the founders of our country look like what our country looks like now. this is what our... >> brown: this is not a costume epic with a distance. >> correct. correct. and this is what our country looks like now. it looks like, you know, we are- - we are every shade and every color. and it also comes organically out of the music. this is hip-hop and r&b music. these are the best people to sing this type of music. in these days, miranda is himself a new kind of rock star. we joined him in washington as he received an ingenuity award from the smithsonian institution and gave a talk to an adoring

audience. skid him about the use of the word i think knew thety to describe his work and that brocket on a characteristic rif on how he develops his own word play. >> i remember there is a lyric in our show where lafayette says i think knewtive and fluid in french. and i remember a debate with a collaborator because i he said that's not a word, ingenuitive a and we looked it up, and it is an archaic conjugation of "ingenuity." and i was right. i don't know why i knew that word and other people didn't, but. >> brown: and therefore, you use it. >> and therefore, we use it. >> brown: yeah, but you can make up words if you want. can't you? >> well shakespeare did, and it worked out pretty great for him. >> writing stories and telling stories, is there a hierarchy?

what's most important for you? >> the most important thing for me is meeting the expectations every night. you know, we're not film actors in that show. it's not like you get once on camera and we're done. you have to make the experience happen for the audience that i'm going to see tonight after i get on the plane, for the different audience that i saw last night. >> you said you think to yourself what's the thing that's not in the world that should be in the world. that's a big idea, right? >> brown: right? i mean you feel that? like what's missing in our world? >> absolutely, i mean-- and it goes back to i hope that what i can contribute is something that hasn't been seen before. you know, "in the heights," very much, came out of me wanting a career in musical theater, but there's only about three great roles for latino men in musical theater. >> brown: yeah. >> you're bernardo, you're paul of "a chorus line" or, if you can really sing, you're "man of la mancha." i can't sing well enough to be in "man of la mancha." >> brown: so you get two-out-of- three.

>> so i wrote-- i wrote something that had so many parts for latinos because i knew there was a void there. i knew it because i was going into that world, and i was scared. >> brown: but it's also a big idea to think that you can fill a vacuum. it's not about the confidence to like "hello world, here's this idea that never existed." it's this is my brain and unless i express it, it's only going to stay in my brain. it's more about personal expression than imposing your will on the world. it's more about, you know, if i don't get this idea out of my head and on to paper, it dies with me. >> brown: all right, lin-manuel miranda, thanks so much. >> thank you. >> woodruff: and finally tonight, our newshour "shares"-- something that caught our eye that might be of interest to you, too. a sure sign the holidays are not far way: the arrival of the u.s. capitol christmas tree. this year's spruce made a

4,000-mile journey, which included a boat ride, all the way from the chugach national forest in alaska. the tree will be lit in a ceremony early next month. today, we caught up with some of the people who made it possible. >> so we have been providing the tree for 45 years and this is the first time it's come from alaska. the reason for that is it's quite a journey. >> i'm john shank from fairbanks, alaska. i hauled the tree from seward and brought it here from washington, d.c. and it is the people's tree. it's a once in a lifetime deal, especially like, this 80 food long, in the trailer itself. a lot of obstacles, a long journey but a great one. >> i was responsible for finding candidate trees last october. i found six trees total. this is the first one i found. i never would have seen it if i didn't actually get off the road and hike around in the woods. i saw this one and i just -- i mean, it was an immediate

reaction like, yeah, this is it. >> it's the first blue spruce ever to grace the lawn of the capitol in its 45 year history. it's about 90 years old. it's very inspiring. alaskans are cheering us for this opportunity to represent alaska at the capitol. >> woodruff: can't wait to see it vertical and lit up. >> woodruff: on the newshour online: we continue our series featuring syrian artists who have fled their country-- today, a filmmaker's take on the psychological effects of the war. the minute-long video was shot in a unique, stop-action sequence, and you can watch it on our home page. all that and more is on our web site, www.pbs.org/newshour. and a reminder about some upcoming programs from our pbs colleagues. gwen ifill is preparing for "washington week," which airs later tonight. here's a preview: >> ifill: after a week of hot political rhetoric, terrorism worries gone global, and-- more than anything else-- unanswered

questions, we'll explore the state of our debates over safety and over liberty. tonight on washington week. judy? >> woodruff: that's tomorrow night on pbs newshour weekend. and we'll be back, right here, on monday. that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. have a great weekend. thank you and good night. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> and by bnsf railway. >> and the william and flora hewlett foundation, helping people build immeasurably better lives. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you.

thank you. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

>> this is "bbc world news america." >> funding of this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation, newman's own foundation, giving all profits from newman's own to charity and pursuing the common good, kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs, and hong kong tourism board. >> want to know hong kong's most are magic spot? i will show you. i love an evening stroll. it is the perfect