tonight a conversation with robert greenwald about his new documentary and first-hand -- about first-hand interviews and as well as the innocent bystanders who survive the attacks. then we will turn to a conversation with one of the great singers, dianne reeves. she went back into the recording studio last week and has just released a new project called "beautiful life." us. e glad you joined

♪ >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ tavis: documentarian robert greenwald has never been afraid to tackle difficult subjects. his latest is called "unmanned: america's drone wars" and it challenges the use of drone

warfare, which is often attacked for collateral damage. [speaking foreign language] >> you have done it again, my friend. good to have you back on. i suspect we are about to find

out that what you still appreciate is being able to see project that bring humanity of the subject matter into full view. what i love about your work is you always find a way to take us right to the humanity of the character. this conversation about drone is always had in washington -- it ain't had enough in washington. tell me why it was important for you to get to the humanity of these persons who have been victimized by our drone war. hit the nail in the head. it is getting to the human story. it's a number, and it's abstract, but when i went to pakistan and was interviewing and looking people in the eye,

and they are telling me about their grandmother or their children or their uncle killed by drones, that's a personal story everybody can relate to. these were not high profile targets. we are killing innocent people. guy to thegood a right of you like rand paul and of being the person in congress receiving the most attention for putting this front and center? how did this happen with all these lefties? >> there are people who take the partisan label of what is right and what is wrong. peoplere far too many who will not speak up on the issue, and it's very important to say, this is not making us safer. we are killing innocent people. we are alienating millions of people in a country that is

tribal, and our security is not being advanced. it's important to speak up. i was honored to make the film. pakistan, every single person would say to me, will you tell mr. obama i am not a terrorist, like i can walk into his office and have that conversation. tavis: i suspect he heard that because he went to visit the region. there are so many high hopes for barack obama on this and other issues. -- why is he getting a pass? i think too many people who were actively or otherg the iraq war wars are saying, he is a democrat. therefore it is ok. it's not ok. it's fundamentally wrong. the notion we are going to cure -- kill our way to security is

not going to make a safety, and a moral level.n >> tell me why. >> this is not traditional collateral damage where armies are fighting each other. we are targeting. we are making decisions to kill people based on faulty information. the drones are technically accurate, but how are we deciding who to kill? we are bribing people. we have virtually no assets on the ground, so it is money. just like what we saw with guantanamo. people are being killed with drones. think about this. no judge. no jury. no evidence. bad guyse guessing who are, and they are killing them based on guesses. sits inarack obama the situation room every week,

and he personally decides who is on the kill list. the president of the united states makes a decision who on this list is going to get off this particular week, and then the process begins of how the drones are going to be used. after he signs off on that list he is responsible for the kill list. is that the way this ought to be done? he is the commander-in-chief. >> it shouldn't be done that way because the information he is getting is so wrong, and that's not being question. then there is the whole other aspect, which is signature strikes, where it is literally the cia has convinced evil in the administration that through the drones and their brilliance, they could see by a pattern of behavior who is sitting, what cars are being driven, and where they are. those are being taken out. 45 leaders of the community were killed. they were meeting to settle a

dispute, and the cia set -- the cia said they must be bad guys and took them out. this adds to the policy that is bad as anything i have seen. tavis: what about the story of the wedding party. >> wedding parties, funerals. situation.f in that you are going to a wedding, and the entire wedding party is decimated by a drone frothe united states. how would you think or feel about that country? >> we talked about barack obama making this decision of the kill list. what about the young men and women sitting at these joysticks like it is a game making these maneuvers. >> we have one of the pilots in younglm, an extraordinary man who has suffered, because he has realized he has killed innocent people, so in military and traditional warfare you might kill and innocent person,

but as brandon told us, in drone warfare you are following him day after day. you're getting to know him and then pushing a button. they are having high instances of posttraumatic stress instances with drone pilots for that reason. tavis: for those who say no war is perfect and then say would you rather drones, whittled mentally save american lives, or do you want boots on the ground? you say what? fax us not the choice. we are not going to invade occupied pakistan. kill morelowing us to because elected officials, administrative officials are saying we can drone over here. that's an easy choice. it's not easy for the people being killed. it's not saving american lives in the long run. it's going to cost them. wasterviewed someone who running for president, and he said, we have fanatics. we have maybe 100 who are

extreme people. now you have one million who hate the united states because of this power. when you think of it, your relatives are killed. how are you going to feel about that? this is a society where everyone has a gun. tavis: if we can't get barack obama to take a different look at this, what agency do fellow citizens have to actually do anything? >> i think we have to pressure congress. a congressional hearing where we brought over a whole family in the film, and it impacted. we saw congressmen and congresswomen. they saw a nine-year-old girl, and she said, my grandmother was killed by a drone. you have to be a real psychopath or not be affected by that at all. we can affect congress. ,ou can see a free copy of it

send it to elected officials. people like yourself in the media who have an intelligent audience, and i think he can change policy because it is wrong. tavis: disabuse me of this notion that in the age of technology this is only the beginning, that there is no turning back at this point, technology allows us to do it, and this is the way it is going to be. >> we do live in an unsafe world, and the problem is our brainpower has not caught up with the technology. our policy and laws have not caught up with the technology. believe drones are a fundamental shift in the way we are going to be doing war, which is why it is more important we put pressure. think about this. what happens with 40 other countries have drones of may decide to shoot drugs and -- you drones into other countries they are not at war with.

tavis: give me a couple other things you think ought to be considered as a part of public policy when we make the decision whether or not to use drones. >> the policy should be transparent where we know what is going on. now it is this game where it is classified, but we will talk about it when we kill someone we want you to know about it. if there is a policy we can announce who had been killed and why they had been killed, it would be a beginning. if there was at his latest and legal oversight, that would be a beginning, but fundamentally, we are not going to solve our world problems by killing people in this way with drones. you have to use this incredible brainpower for other kinds of solutions. that is what is not happening. is kill kill, kill. >> i close by saying he has done

it again. this one is called "unmanned: america's drone wars" and you might want to add it to your collection. it's free. >> you can get a free online copy. up four-time grammy winner dianne reeves will join us. stay with us. four-time grammy winner dianne reeves went back into the recording studio last year ending a five-year hiatus, putting her exceptional voice on a cd entitled "beautiful life" which it always is when dianne reeves sings. on the cbr a host of high-profile guest including a recent grammy winner, a great reporter. let's hear a cut of the new cd entitled "beautiful life." to wait int want

vain for your love ♪ ♪ i don't want to wait in vain for your love ♪ ♪ i don't want to wait in vain ♪ ♪ no, no, no ♪ no no, no no i'm not going to ask where you have been, because you have been all around the world. you have been everywhere but the studio. is that what took so long? was it just a matter of being business or trying to find the right material? >> it was about balancing my whenat the time in my life my mother became very ill. it was time to stop for a

minute. i was at home a lot. >> when you step into the studio after being gone a while -- even though you have been touring, it has been five years. was there any trepidation? >> the thing that is so interesting is you need to live some life to inform what you are going to do. when we got back in the studio i was ready to go back in. it was easy. it all came up the default. is a painful this subject, but she lived a beautiful life, your mother, who has passed away since you were last on this program. you go through a cycle like that. you step back in the studio. you live this life, and now this comes back to you. i can imagine the myriad ways your life has changed since losing your mama. how has your music taste?

say her passing, i realize i was always very comfortable that no matter where i was in the world she was there. is a major transition, and either you are going to fall apart, or you are going to take in all of those things that were given to you, and she poured a lot into me. i just feel i am more confident and more clear than ever. now it is on me. it has been an interesting journey. you're still in things happening in my life, so i know she is still with me in a lot of ways. tavis: i don't have to even name the track. how many requests do ?ou still get for that one song

>> i was in newport news, virginia, and people are like "better days." i was laughing because i wrote the song in 1979. that's how long i have been doing it. tavis: if you have not heard there is a song called "better days." ram mondays days. >> the official title is "better days." if you have never heard this song, your life is incomplete. go to amazon. pay for it. it is a song i know she cannot get offstage anywhere -- if i am in the audience you're going to get heckled to sing it as it is such a beautiful track. you are back in the studio after five years. you decide you are going to do some new stuff and you're going to cover some stuff. how do you figure out the playlist? >> it's interesting.

of songs thatt had been with me. when i started to tell my ideas, i went out on the road with terry lynn, who had one of grammy. we were just talking. she became interested and started sending me ideas, and that's how it came together. i was saying i love the fact a lot of these musicians are greatly inspired by the music i grew up in, so i said, that would be a perfect meeting point, and it all came together. an amazing experience. comes to covering things we all have stuff we love. some stuff i think is cover a coverable, and some stuff is uncoverable. don't even go there. i understand every musician wants to put his or her interpretation on the song, so i

am ok with that. i am so glad you did "i want you ." i am glad you did it as track number one. why did you want to cover that? >> all my life, my singing life, marvin gaye has been one of the greatest inspirations in my life because he was so open. while he is a soulful singer, he is steeped in a beautiful jazz this song thought really set the tone for what the rest of the record would be, and having somebody like sean jones iaying trumpet, it was magic. think there is a new standard. i think her be hit on that a while ago. a lot of the popular songs of the time, there are a lot of beautiful songs out there that you can sing and make your own

that were written by contemporary artists. >> what was it about marvin that resonated with you when you heard him? >> there was this kind of sincerity that sounded almost childlike, this kind of innocence in his voice that somehow i could relate to. i didn't really know what he had gone through, but in his voice it said something i felt as a kid, some emotions, and i think that was the beginning. as i grew up and started to know more about him i thought, how honest and naked he was as a performer from the very beginning. tell me how you have wrestled with your own beformance, wanting to authentic and naked as a

performer. >> i did a record, and at that time i was a singer and a person. they had not come together, and i really hid behind my voice. when i did that record, it was a statement. it was like, this is what i am about. this is what i love, and this is what i am open to. all kinds of music and musical boundaries and so forth. i think when i am on stage it is a place where there are no inhibitions. i could possibly be, so i carried that with me on and off stage. like,hat record on it was this is me. this is what i do. tavis: are you comfortable with that now? i think it takes a while for audiences for those to

blend because was to get to the ofnt of the a that open -- being that open and that transparent, you have to be comfortable with the skin you are in. >> absolutely. the thing i love is jazz music gives you that. the thing i love about that is i have always told people it is my passport into all kinds of things. with herbie worked hancock and christian. with herbie he is so in the moment you never know what it is going to be, but you just know you want to be a part of that. it is because of the way i feel that i am like, put me on the edge. i want to jump off. i don't know if we are going to land, but that is appealing to me. jazz as short to find thi i did or you.

>> absolutely. back to this project. when you pick a song like stormy weather, which i know you had to sing 10,000 times, how do you stankur own dianne reeves on stormy weather? >> there has to be something about the song that appeals to you in some sort of way. the funny thing about the song -- i was doing a concert for the thelonious monk institute. they put different people together. i wanted an arrangement that really featured the space and in,freedom i know he plays so that's how the arrangement came about. on the record the time is very

stated. when you hear it live, it's like, don't count. just be there. i love the story of the song. it's a very honest story about breakup and know where you are. i can see that because i have been there. more than anything i love the harmonic values and the open space it provides me to sing in. tavis: before i let you go i picked out two tracks that jumped out to me when i first heard the city. pick a new track and tommy why you loved it. >> gregory porter is this old you to go onnvites and just be there. i love that we were able to do this duet together. tavis: we loved having him on. we may have been the first show

-- he came on here, and he got a lot of exposure. i was happy to do it because i am a big fan of his work. chanceo happy he got a to perform, and a few months later he won a grammy award. you have in doing it for quite some time. him on herually hear new project. it's called beautiful life. it is a beautiful life in a time is inice of dianne reeves the air. congratulations and good to have you on the program. >> thank you. >> that's our show for tonight. thanks for watching, and as always, keep the faith. >> for more information on today's show, visit tavis smiley at pbs.org. tavis: hi, i'm tavis smiley. join me next time for a conversation with tony ruxton and kenneth "baby face those kennethmunds --

"babyface" edmonds. that's next time. we will see you then. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. thank you. >> be more)

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