09/11/14 09/11/14 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] >> from pacifica, this is democracy now! so tonight with a new iraqi government in place in consultations with a broad and congress at home, i can announce america will lead a broad coalition to hold back this terrorist threat. our objective is clear. we will degrade and ultimately destroy isil through conference of and sustain counterterrorism strategy.

>> on the 13th anniversary of the september 11 attacks, president obama authorizes airstrikes in syria and more attacks in iraq and abroad escalation of a campaign against islamic state forces. we will speak with former u.s. ambassador peter galbraith and professor vijay prashad. then, what would dr. martin luther king do? >> nations will not rise up against nations. neither shall they study war anymore. and i don't know about you, i ain't going to study war no more. >> we will speak with tavis smiley, author of the new book, "death of a king: the real story of dr. martin luther king jr.'s final year." more, coming up. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman.

president obama has authorized u.s. airstrikes for the first time in syria and their expansion in iraq against the militant group islamic state. in a primetime address, obama vowed to hunt down islamic state militants wherever they are. >> we will hunt down terrorists who threaten our country wherever they are. that means i will not hesitate to take action against isil in syria as well as iraq. this is a core principle of my presidency. if you threaten america, you will find no safe haven. i want the american people to understand how this ever will be different from the wars in iraq and afghanistan. it will not involve american combat troops fighting on foreign soil. this counterterrorism campaign will be waged through a steady, rely less effort to take out isil wherever they exist, using our air power and our support for partners forces on the ground. >>'s plan includes over $500 million to arm and train syrian

rebels. one group that has cast doubt on aiding the certain opposition is the family of steven sotloff, the american journalist whose videotaped beheading helped mobilize calls for u.s. strikes. speaking to cnn, family spokesperson said sotloff was sold off to isil by other syrian rebels. sayor the first time we can steven was sold at the border. his name was on a list here been responsible for the bombing of a hospital. this was false. >> he was sold at the border? >> we believe the so-called moderate rebels that people or our administration wants us to support, one of them sold him between $25,000 to $50,000 to isis, and that is the reason he was captured. to coincide with obama's speech, the white house announced saudi arabia will host a training program for "the " to,ate syrian opposition isil. saudi arabia is one of the largest sources of funding for

jihadist groups. we will have more on president obama's reach and his plan to attack islamic state forces after headlines. dozens of people have been arrested in ferguson, missouri in a protest over the police shooting of michael brown. a crowd of over 100 gathered wednesday to block a state highway in a call for the replacement of st. louis county attorney robert mcculloch in favor of a special prosecutor. >> [indiscernible] the demonstrators were blocked from entering the highway by a larger number of police in riot gear, who arrested about 35 people for failure to disperse. a handful of demonstrators threw objects at police. organizers said a plan to stage more blockade's until the officer who killed brown, darren wilson, is indicted. new figures show the ozone layer

is restoring after years of depletion. the united nations has stratospheric ozone is on pace to fully recover by the middle of the century. the united nations environment programme credited the banning of certain chemicals from aerosol and refrigerants under the 1987 montréal protocol. >> the world avoided a major problem by getting rid of ozone to putting substances by the montréal protocol. without this protocol, and all the actions we have taken across the globe, we would be seeing of your substantial global ozone depletion today. we've seen evidence of a decline in ozone substances in the past decade and now starting to see increasing encouraging signs from ozone measurements that the ozone later is on track to recovery by the middle of this century. >> without the montréal protocol, the un's has 2 million of your cases of skin cancer would have occurred each year by 2030. but this rare bit of environment all news has also come at a

cost. many comedies have replaced ozone-depleting chemicals with hydrofluorocarbons, hfc's, which worsen global warming. >> we're at a critical point where hfc's richard used in order to introduce the ozone depletion. what we did not anticipate at the time or what was not for seen is that if the huge dust use of hfc's come increasing at you begin tod extrapolate that, by the year 2050, you could have a major negative issue and challenge in terms of global warming. bethe u.n. says hfc's can phased out if new action is taken, top water action to tackle global warming. the world meteorological organization said --

the official death toll from the ebola outbreak in west africa has topped 2300 with warnings of the significant jump in the coming days. a library and minister is warning the virus is "devouring everything in its path." the coordinator in liberia said the numbers don't capture the actual toll. >> i can't say enough about just how grave this is, just how deep the needs are and just how great the challenge is going to be. the ebola numbers that we have 2000ially today are over suspected probable or confirmed cases and over 1200 deaths due to ebola in liberia. as the world health organization has warned us, these are not the

true numbers. they don't capture the true toll of ebola. in the next few days, we should expect to be working with significantly higher numbers. >> the pentagon is building a 25 bed field hospital in liberia but it will only treat foreign health-care care workers affected by the virus. a fourth ebola patient arrived in the u.s. this week to receive treatment at emory university hospital in atlanta. these are the military says it has opened, no probes of two of its most publicized killings of palestinian civilians are in the summer's assault on gaza. investigators will examine the killing of four palestinian children on a gaza beach in a later attack that killed 14 people in a u.n. school, one of several that hit you in shelters. over 2100 palestinian's, more than 75% civilians, were killed in the israeli assault. critics say israel is seeking to deflect international scrutiny, including the united nations

human rights council probe of potential cases before the international criminal court. the news comes as these really government has quietly acknowledged hamas leaders had no role in the abduction of three straight teens that led to a massive raid in the west bank and the ensuing gaza assault. according to "new york times," dockets released by israeli police provide no evidence that the top leaders of hamas directed or had prior knowledge of the plot took. the three israeli use. these really newspaper haaretz reports israeli intelligence has concluded the objection was carried out by an independent cell. hasreally police officer been charged with the beating of a palestinian-american teenager that was caught on tape. tariq abu khdeir was watching demonstrations in east jerusalem when he was seized. the video shows him lying on the ground as the officers repeatedly beaten with batons. he was left with facial bruises

and severely swollen eyes and lips. he was a cousin of mohammed abu khdeir, the palestinian team burned alive in a revenge attack for the killings of these really the israelis and the west bank. meanwhile, hundreds of people gathered for the funeral of a palestinian man shot dead by israeli forces in an overnight raid. more2-year-old is one of than two dozen palestinians killed by israeli forces in the west bank over the past two months. bahrain continues to face calls to release more than a dozen dissidents and human rights activist jailed for criticizing the u.s.-backed monarchy. a human rights activist has been jailed for over a week after trying to enter the country. she says customs officials told her she no longer holds citizenship. she is been try to visit her ailing father, abdulhadi

alkhawaja, who remains on a hunger strike behind bars. hundreds of people have taken part in rallies inside bahrain since her detention. in a statement, human rights watch said -- bahrain is a key u.s. government ally, hosting the navy's fifth fleet. a law enforcement official says the nfl was sent the video of ray rice knocking out his fianée in a casino elevator. the tapes released this week led to his indefinite suspension. details of the case have been known for two months, but the nfl said the new tape forced it to act. speaking to the associated press, an anonymous official said an nfl executive was sent a copy of the tape in april. the source could not confirm if anyone at the nfl watched the tape, but could confirm the league acknowledged its delivery. the office of nfl commissioner roger goodell has said other he

nor any other official obtained or saw the video before this week. abc news also reports rice's team, the baltimore ravens, was made aware. prices -- made aware that his lawyer had a video copy but no one followed up. conductueller will conduc an independent investigation. nfl players have an involved and 56 to mr. violence cases under goodell's tenure. of the 56, the players have been suspended a combined 13 games. convictedexecuted a double murderer by lethal injection. the eighth by the state this year. the killing of willie trottie came shortly by -- after the supreme court rejected his last-minute appeals. attorneys had argued texas was using expired drugs to end his life and that he is received an

adequate counsel at his original trial. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. >> welcome to all our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. in a prime time televised address last night, president barack obama announced he it authorized u.s. airstrikes for the first time in syria and our expansion in iraq against the islamic state. he vowed to hunt down militants from the islamic state "wherever they are." obama also announced he is sending 475 more u.s. military troops to iraq, bringing the total to 1600. he also called for congressional support to arm and train the syrian opposition. obama's speech came on the eve of the 13th anniversary of the september 11 attacks. >> so tonight with the new iraqi government in place and consultations with our was abroad and congress at home, i

can announce that america will lead a broad coalition to roll back this terrorist threat. our objective is clear. we will degrade and ultimately destroy isil through a comprehensive and sustained cut her terrorism strategy. first, we will conduct a systematic campaign of airstrikes against these terrorists. working with the iraqi government am a we will expand our efforts beyond protecting our own people and he miniature emissions so that we're hitting isil targets as a iraqi forces go on offense. moreover, i made it clear that we will hunt down terrorist who threaten our country wherever they are. that means i will not hesitate to take action against isil in syria as well as iraq. this is a core principle of my presidency. if you threaten america, you will find no safe haven. second, we will increase our support to forces fighting these

terrorists on the ground. in june i deployed several hundred a mac and service members to iraq to assess how we can best support iraqi security forces. now that those teams have completed their work and iraq has formed a government, we will send an additional 475 service members to iraq. as i've said before, these american forces will not have a combat mission. we will not get dragged into another ground war in iraq. but they are needed to support iraqi and kurdish forces with training, intelligence, and equipment. we will also support iraq's efforts to stand up national guard units doubt sunni communities secure their own freedom from isil's control. across the border in syria, we ramped up military assistance to the syrian opposition. tonight i call on congress again to give us additional authorities and resources to train and equip these fighters.

the fight against isil, we cannot rely on the aside regime that terrorizes its own people in a regime that will never regain legitimacy. instead, we must strengthen the opposition in the best counterweight against extremist like i saw -- isil. draw, we will continue to on a substantial counterterrorism b's to prevent isil attacks. working with our partners, we will redouble our efforts to cut off its funding and prove our intelligence, strengthen our defenses, counter its warped ideology, and stem the flow of foreign fighters into and out of the middle east. and in two weeks, i will chair a meeting at the un security council to further mobilize the international community around this effort. fourth, we will continue to provide humanitarian assistance to innocent civilians who have

been displaced by this terrorist organization. this includes sunni and shia muslims who are at grave risk as well as tens of thousands of christians and other religious minorities. we cannot allow these communities to be driven from their ancient homelands. this is our strategy. and in each of these four parts of our strategy, and at will be joined a broad coalition of partners. >> to talk more about president obama's speech, we're joined by two guests, peter galbraith's former he is invested or to croatia, has worked on issues involving iraq since 1980's and is a former advisor to the kurdistan regional government. he testified before a subcommittee of the house foreign affairs committee on wednesday. currently a senior diplomatic fellow at the center for arms control and nonproliferation. his books include, "the end of iraq: how american incompetence created a war without end." he joins us from washington, d.c. in massachusetts, we're joined by vijay prashad, professor of

international studies at trinity college and author of several books, including "arab spring, libyan winter" and must recently, "the poorer nations: a possible history of the global south." is also ahad columnist for frontline where he's been writing extensively about the islamic state. his latest piece is headlined, "what president obama should not do about isis." let's begin with you, ambassador. your response to president obama's speech last night? >> he outlined a strategy, and i think the strategy has a good prospect of a coalition the goal of degrading isis. but i don't think it is capable of destroying isis. so let's look at the parts of it. effective when our forces on the ground. and that really is the dilemma. inside iraq and syria, there are three main forces that you could

be supporting. their secret a stand peshmerga which suffered setbacks in august, but the units have been able to retake territory but they're not going to go significantly beyond kurdistan. more or less, the every taken that territory. the rest of iraq, there is the iraqi army, which has largely disappeared since the beginning of the year. we spent billions rolling it up and the end result was the weapons we provided ended up in hands. the president is talking about supporting local forces. it could be effective in theory and the sunni areas, but it is going to be hard to get them set up given that isis is there. and also that they would have to work with the government that

sunnis absolutely don't trust. in syria, the problem with supporting the syrian opposition is that we don't really have a good feel for who all these people are. they really have no prospect of defeating assad. we don't know if we can rely on them to fight isis. the kurdish military have been fighting isis for well more than a year. , i want to askd her reaction to the president's speech and his new policy and also this whole idea of asking congress to finance the reach raining once again, the creation of a new iraqi army after the last one the united states spent billions on training has basically disintegrated.

well, i found the speech interesting because the details -- werewould definitely definitely much more significant than the details on syria. it was very light on syria for good reason. , as the in iraq ambassador said, there is the possibility of providing close air support to the #are -- peshmerga and air support through whatever remains of the , they did take back a town, but in syria, there is no real easy group to which the united states can give their support. the why pg, that is to say the kurdish force and the northeast a serious backed by the kurdish workers party from turkey. the united states sees them as a test organization. i doubt very much they would

have any record nation with the ypg and the pkk. they said they would not coordinate with the syrian government, the second for second immobilized to attack the isis fighters, particularly as isis is moving toward the homeland of the kurdish government. the third major force is the other islamist opposition. it is important to point out here that a few days ago there was an enormous bomb attack on one of the -- fierce fighting ,nits among the other islamists which lost basically its entire leadership the free syrian army is basically a shell of what it had been. it is in name only. the idea the united states is now going to outsource the training of a moderate syrian opposition fighting force with

saudi arabia has created, i think, a lot of worry in the region. a lot of concern. because saudi arabia's own cut is notthe syrian war known for its modern nation in any way. the united states, if it once to provide air support to take on the islamic state inside syria, has no effective partners. in that sense, mr. obama's speech yesterday was very confusing and was much more rhetoric than actual strategy. >> we will take a break and come back to this debate. where joined by professor vijay prashad, as well as ambassador peter galbraith. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

>> "masters of war." a shout out to the students who have come to watch democracy now! today. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. >> we continue to look at president obama's speech last night authorizing airstrikes in syria and expanding attacks in iraq against the islamic state. >> i want the american people to understand how this effort will be different from the wars in iraq and afghanistan. it will not involve american, troops fighting on foreign soil. this counterterrorism campaign will be waged through a study, relentless effort to take out a soul wherever they exist using our -- isil wherever they are exist using our air power. the strategy of taking out terrorists who threaten us all supporting runners on the frontlines is one that we have

successfully pursued in yemen and some audio for years and is consistent with the approach i outlined earlier this year she is force against anyone who threatens america's core interest. to mobilize partners wherever possible to address broader challenges to international order. talks to talk more about the speech, can we're joined by two guests, ambassador peter galbraith, former advisor to the kurdistan regional government and trinity college professor vijay prashad. vijay prashad, do you think the u.s. should be bombing at all? >> well, there's a big difference between bombing from the sky to destroy the advance of something like the islamic state, and to give close air support. , think this is the confusion what exactly is the united states prepared to do? is it prepared to wipe out a city or doesn't want to give close air support to people on the ground providing directly and engaging with the group the

islamic state? as far as i can see in, unless there is a serious political discussion between all the parties, there is no way that you can reconstitute a significant enough fighting force that will be able to take on the islamic state. it seems the united states wants to have it both ways. on the one side, take on the islamic state and on the other side, continue with promoting chaos inside syria. you cannot promote chaos and take on the islamic state. you have to pick one particular strategy, and mr. obama actually has chosen both. unless is not a panacea there's a real strategy of how you're going to defeat the islamic state on the ground. >> ambassador, what about the issue of the president saying he believes he has the authorization to be able to carry out these actions and says he would welcome a vote by congress but doesn't feel he needs it? i would like to ask about that,

specifically in relationship to syria itself. >> i spent 14 years working for the senate foreign relations to 1993, andm 1979 repeatedly the issue of the war powers act came up. it was enacted to prevent another vietnam, but the kind of conflicts that we have had since then have been much smaller scale. congress is not serious about having a role in making decisions about these kinds of interventions. in one presidents really want to do it, they're not interested in getting congressional support. i think this is really an academic debate that is not of much interest to the american people, not to the foreign-policy community. frankly, it is a sideshow. >> do you agree with that, professor? well, i don't have the kind of expense and washington, d.c., but i do think that a lot of in the last two

years in american policymaking is much more domestic consumption than it is actually about the problems around the world. if you take the example that mr. obama said yesterday of successes. he mentioned yemen and some audio. that is news to the people of somalia and yemen that the amerco strategy has been a success. indeed, visibly because it is out of the american news, yemen appears to be a quite place. but it is definitely not a quiet place for the people of yemen. in fact, the problems in yemen have since compounded. even in somalia with a leader of assassinated recently, there was a bomb blast. about 20 people dead. it is not clear when foreign-policy decision-making is made in the public domain in the united states, it is not clear it is directly in the interests of people overseas or whether it is for domestic consumption. it seems to me, this is much

more for domestic consumption that it is for the actual pragmatic problems of people in that region. >> ambassador, the issue of saudi arabia, i believe -- , iher, ambassador galbraith think secretary kerry is there today. saudi arabia as a funder of the islamic state in the u.s. role as an ally with saudi arabia, do you think it is putting the proper pressure it should, whether we're talking about saudi arabia or qatar were talking about jordan? >> the first point is, these countries don't see the situation as we do. as far as they're concerned, the top threat is iran and then probably the muslim brotherhood in the islamic state in third place. so to the extent the islamic state is useful in fighting the iranian-backed regimes in iraq

and in syria, they're much more ambivalent. and that raises the question about a strategy and having the sound is involved in turning the so-called moderate islamic opposition. there's always a question about whether the saudis are moderate in this matter. in syria,her problem which i think people don't focus on, is some 35% of the syrian population is not sunni-air. that is to say, they are aloe whites, christian, jews, other religious minorities and kurds. the striking thing about this opposition is it doesn't include sick africans support from any of those communities. the aloe whites fear with very good reason that if the opposition were to prevail, even the moderates, they would face genocide. even if they don't like assad, at least he is there incapable of preventing genocide. the one thing that i think -- one of the things i think was

good and the president's speech what has been remarked on, he made a distinction between trying to eliminate crisis and having a political settlement in syria. i think there is no prospect that the syrian war can be resolved militarily. i think will be difficult to do a politically, but at least there is a recognition in his assad that as far as the regime goes, we're not looking at a military defeat but a political settlement. i think that is right. >> vijay prashad, what would you see as a solution to the continuing crisis in iraq and syria and how does the united states counter this view in the arab and muslim world that it is going from one country to another seeking to impose its solutions on the local domestic conflicts? >> i will put it in two different ways.

i was struck by president obama's use of words like shia and sunni. very loosely used and i don't think this is helpful. i think the most important direction is to create dust for the united states to work toward creating a de-escalation between iran and saudi arabia. unless the united states is able to bring these two countries or help bring these two countries to the table, there is going to be continued chaos in the region. in fact, there has been an opportunity to bring them together, and that was the syria contact group which was formed i egypt in 2012, which had the most important countries in the noion sit around the table, saudi arabia, iran, turkey, and egypt. i think something like that needs to be constituted. i utterly agree with the ambassador that from the standpoint, they still see iran as the principal threat. if this continues to happen, god

help the middle east because the most important thing is to escalate the tension between iran and saudi arabia. it is what is principally going to be an impediment -- let's not -- any de-escalation of the immense violence that has inflicted syria and iraq. and the role of saudi arabia and all of this? >> it is a curious business. like the ambassador, i agree. it is a serious question whether saudi arabia has moderate goals in the region. the fact is, they cut out in syria, which -- is not at all considered a moderate group. people have worried about the people that officially have been financing, forget the private financing, the official organization itself is not moderate. so how could that get people ly formede that the new

front -- this will be the third attempt. how are we confident this is going to be moderate? i think this is really hoping against hope for some kind of development which there is not evidence to indicate can happen. in other words, the making of a moderate military force through the good auspices of saudi arabia. >> ambassador, i want to ask you about iraq's separately. you have argued in some of your writing that the national project of iraq is essentially a failed project and that especially in terms of the kurds, greater independence would probably be a better route. how do you see what is going to be happening in iraq, even assuming the united states is able to prevail against the islamic state with the support of the local iraqi and syrian

militias or fighters? >> iraq broke apart a long time ago. north is in in the all regards an independent state with its own parliament army. we are now supplying a directly. we speak of it as if it were also an independent state. there is no way it is going to go back to just a region of iraq. the president of kristen said he will have a referendum on independence, and i think that is probably been put off for a while. regard to sunnis and shiites, the problem is, the sunnis ran iraq for its first 90 years in a policy was to keep the kurds in and shiites down. since 2003, the shiites were the majority and have been in charge. it is been -- the last three prime ministers have come from a

shiite religious party. they seek to define iraq as a shiite state with close ties to iran. that is unacceptable to the sunnis. sunnis are way that going to turn against isis and work for the government that they see doesn't really include indeed, is hostile to them. the president made a lot of speech of this national unity government. that was the basis for the strategy. but there isn't one. the kurds to 30 cap ministry, they have three. they haven't actually think their people. either strengthen permanent, they should've had twice as many. they developed it for the government. visit clearly they did so only because of intent to pressure him because the deadline of president obama's speech. the sunnis, the members of the government, if any of them live in the singer's iraq, they can't

go home. they're not really representing the people who are there. one of those tensions have been solved. betteralthough he speaks maybe isn't as power and are not as his predecessor, he comes from exactly the same party and .pproach of a centralized date this national government is not real and that is the fundamental problem with a strategy. >> dick cheney said the rapid rise of islamic state in iraq and syria can be attributed to the failure of president obama to assert american influence in the region. >> isis does not recognize the border between syria and iraq, so neither should we. we should immediately hid them in their sanctuary, staging areas, command centers, and lines of communication. we should provide significant

increase number some military trainers, special operations forces, and intelligence architecture and air power to aid the iraqi military and kurdish peshmerga in a counteroffensive against isis. we work to defeat isis and prevent the establishment of a terrorist safe haven in the heart of the middle east, we must move globally to get back on offense in the war on terror. >> aside from criticizing the administration, is what president obama doing that different from what dick cheney once, vijay prashad? itwell, not really, except is a hubris matter to take dick cheney seriously. it was one of the architects of the 2003 invasion of iraq which basically broke the state up completely and provided the opportunity for iraqi society, which had never really had any kind of al qaeda group can't incubate al qaeda.

it is odd for him to give a device. on the other hand, what he is saying is similar to what mr. obama is saying. he is the more specific. i don't know intelligence he is reading, but it is amazing to her some of talk about the islamic state having command and control centers, supply routes. i don't think he knows what he is talking about. this is not a group functioning in the way that he imagines. this is a very different kind of insurgency, much more fragmented. i'm not sure it is going to be so easy to find targets from up on high without people on the ground. >> ambassador galbraith, the subtitle of your book is "or without end." are we looking at a war without end." >> yes. strategyresident obama may be able to degrade the islamic state, but there isn't a prospect of putting together a unified iraqi government that is

going to win over the sunnis and make them as partners in an in theto eradicate isis sunni areas of the country. for is likely to continue many years. and in syria, i thought syria in its demography has a lot of similarities to lebanon. that civil war when on for 15 years and ended with syria intervening. but there isn't a syria to intervene in syria. so this war could also go on for decades. it is a real tragedy for the people of that part of the world , and it is going to be a challenge for u.s. and world foreign-policy. we've had a lot of talk about pivoting from europe to asia, but inevitably, we're gonna be focused on this part of the world. >> peter galbraith, former area

some basilar to croatia, thank you for being with us. former advisor to the critter stan government. his book include, "unintended consequences: how war in iraq strengthened america's enemies." and "the end of iraq: how american incompetence created a war without end." thank you to professor vijay prashad, author of many books, most recently, "the poorer nations: a possible history of the global south." back, what would dr. king do? stay with us. ♪ [music break]

>> "freedom."

this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. what would dr. martin luther king do? the debate continues over the expansion of another u.s. military operation in the middle east, we turn to look at the final year of king's life and became a fierce critic of u.s. foreign policy and the vietnam war, calling the united states "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today." >> we do not stop our work is the people of vietnam immediately, the world will be left with no other alternative than to see this as somehow -- horrible, clumsy, and deadly game we have decided to play. the world now demands a maturity of america that we may not be able to achieve. it demands we admit that we have been wrong from the beginning of our adventure in vietnam, that we have been tetramethyl to the

life of the vietnamese people, the situation is one in which we must be ready to turn sharply from our present ways. >> dr. martin luther king speaking on april 4, 1967, and riverside church in new york, explaining why he opposed the war in vietnam. the speech was delivered exactly year to the day before he was assassinated at the rural -- the lorraine motel in memphis, tennessee on april 4, 1968. >> were joined by public television and radio broadcaster tavis smiley, who has a new book out this week, "death of a king: the real story of dr. martin luther king jr.'s final year." you can read its introduction and first chapter at democracynow.org. welcome back to democracy now! what a week to come out with this book. >> thank you for the invitation. it is interesting, not just a week, but today, as we sit here on the 13th anniversary of 9/11,

i've been thinking for the last 48 hours knowing this day would come, what king would be saying on this particular day. his heart would certainly bleed for those persons who lost -- those fellow citizens who lost their lives 13 years ago, no doubt about that. he reported violence anywhere in abhordrld -- he violence anywhere in the world. that is why he came out against the war in vietnam. he was sitting at breakfast eating one dam looking at a magazine and saw the pictures of these children in vietnam within napalm to death and he just stopped eating. one of his aides said, what is wrong, is the food not taste? good? nothing will taste good if i don't commit myself to do something about the violence on the some children in vietnam. he was against violence here and there and i've often wondered what that bust of martin luther

king in the oval office must be whispering to mr. obama didn't night as he is making these plans. everyone wants to quote him when it becomes public gathering, but the subversive this of his racism, poverty. what do we see in ferguson? here we are -- what is the irony on 9/11 from the headline in every major paper in this country, here we go again. king would have some issues with that. >> we've often talked on the show about that last year of his life when he really became not so much a hero for the establishment of the country, but you go behind the scenes talking about what it was for decisionhe reached a first. you start the book right before his speech and riverside church then you go through the year. could you talk to buy your

decision to do that after all these other books have come out about dr. king in the past? >> that is the first question, why another book about king? this one hasn't been written. focusing on that year and what happens to him that last year, what kind of person he is really went all this hell and hate is being directed at him. let me say quickly, this book is impossible without the heavy lifting that is artie been done -- has artie been done by his previous biographers. no book's ever focus just on this last year. i think it is the case with your juan or oramy or any human being, weta come to knowvis for king, that happened to be the last year of his life. you don't know what happened in the last year really don't know martin. tear weston, it comes out -- to

answer of your question, he serves talking about a poor people's campaign. as long as who is talking but civil rights, he was ok. but negro, we did not give you license to talk about foreign policy or the federal budget priorities. martin was saying the war is the enemy of the poor. the bombs are dropping in vietnam are hitting the ghettos of american cities. for being so vocal, what happens? the white house turns on him. lyndon johnson, but now johnson is after him. the white house turns on him. the media turns on him. what -- honest 50 years after his death, what the liberal "new york times" is saying about him, with a liberal washington post" what "time" said about him. the media turns on him. i might add, the black media turn on martin king.

and white america. the last hole in his life found nearly 3/4 of the american people, 75% thought martin was irrelevant. with approvales ratings or disapproval ratings about the same as george bush when he left the white house. that is how bad his numbers were. hold on your hand, almost 60% of black folk in the country thought he was persona non grata. in his own lifetime, that last year, he would of -- he could not get his own organization to support him the way he wanted. everybody turns on him and yes to navigate that. >> and yet he stuck to his guns. i don't want to use that analogy, but he -- >> he stood his truth. >> i want to go back to clip. >> as i have walked among the desperate, rejected and angry young man, i have told them that molotov cocktails and rifles

would not solve the problem -- there problems. i've tried offer them my deepest compassion on maintaining my convictions that social change comes most meaningfully through nonviolent action. but they ask, and riley so, what about vietnam? they ask of our own nation wasn't using massive doses of violence to solve its problems, to bring about the changes it wanted. their questions hit home and i knew i could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world of today, my own government. >> that was dr. king one year to the day before he was gunned down in memphis.

in the lasttion year is in financial trouble. people are turning against him. what were his conversations? >> he was despond it. he was depressed. there were times he was admitted to the hospital for what they said was exhaustion. and he was exhaustion. you have everybody against you in on top of that, you're getting death threats every day. on top of that, he could feel the death angel hovering around him. he knew there was a bullet out there with his name on it. how do you get up every day and try to tell your truth when everything everybody -- but it appears even the cosmos has sort of shifted against you, but you just the the truth and stay with the truth and stand with the truth? that is difficult for most of us to do, but king never wavered. the most beautiful part of this book is to see somebody when everything is coming at him, still tells the truth.

we don't have leaders these days who love us enough to tell us the truth. >> you mentioned in the book he was inspired by another , mohammed ali.e and how ali had just been banned from boxing and basically, lost all of his income because of his opposition to the war in vietnam . but king admired his courage. >> and told him so. he admired his courage and the courage of earth a kitt who fell out of favor with the american public after gathering at the white house, a ladies tea, as it were. she just wrecked the whole room she spoke out against the war in vietnam. that really blackballed her in many ways in the entertainment industry and king sent her personal telegraph and said how courageous he thought she was.

mohammed ali wanted to be in solidarity with those who saw the vietnam war is wrong. those biographers have written history. nobody has focused on the last year. the narratives are different. this is what i would call a historical novel. everything is accurate. notes at tons of end the back of the book. it is written as a historical is a pagevery chapter turner. for the first time ever, we put you with king in his seat. he is never dr. king. he is doc. to his friends and colleagues and workers, he is doc. he goes through and feels, you get to feel that with them. the story is told from his perspective. >> you mentioned ferguson. we went there in these last weeks. residents of the town packed a city council meeting on tuesday night, the first since last

month's police killing of 18 year old african american michael brown. the city council unveiled reforms that have stemmed from activist immense, including a citizen review board, a cap on how much of city revenue can come from fines, and a one-month recall program for warrants. the number of residents was criticism say the reforms do not go far enough, calling for the resignation of the top officials and the rest of the officer who shot brown, darren wilson. over the course of the night, many who rose to speak of a name simply as mike brown. >> they do not represent us. it is time for us to kick their you know what out of office. we got the power. we're trying to figure out how we get this young man, old man, or the man don't care what we say, how do we get him out? we vote him out. we recall him out. it is time for him to go. >> scores of residents were arrested, once again, protesting

in the streets. what would dr. king do? >> protest has its place, no doubt about it. there's no with the civil rights movement a conscious what it does without those kinds of protest. king would be in support of protest against unjust laws and against practices that take the lives of innocents and precious young people who are unarmed. dr. king, certainly, was concerned about this. he's up at the funeral of the four little girls killed in birmingham, the only time we see king actually crying in public in a public address because it hurt him so much. but he was so concerned about young people. one of the tragedies of his life, at the end of his life, there was a disconnect between dr. king and now people. stokely carmichael was coming on. henry newton was coming on. black power was the slogan. dr. king was trying to get them to understand, we want the same thing. our tactics may differ, but i

care but your love you. everywhere he went, he wanted to talk to young people. day and cleveland one there are bunch of young black women on the corner, prostitutes. they see dr. king in the car and they start chiding him and calling him uncle tom and other names because while there prostitutes, there aren't of the black power thing. they start calling dr. king names. the car pulls away and his aides in the car are trying to get him to church where he's going to be late for his appearance. dr. king says, turn the car around. they said, we have to keep moving, were going to be late. he says, turn the car around. andy said ,doc, let that go. they're just kids. said, i told you, turn this car around. and they turn the car around. the next week, he went back and got out of the car and stood there for 15 to 20 minutes,

talking to these young prostitutes. he wanted to know why these and folks felt that way and he wanted them to understand why was fighting so hard on the behalf. he said, -- these are prostitutes. he said, meet me back at my hotel at 3:00 so we can finish this conversation. he goes to the church, at 3:00 the front desk calls his room and says, dr. king, did you ask -- they could not believe these prostitutes were there to see dr. king. they sat for hours and he was able to connect to them. >> tavis smiley, as we say goodbye to, we say happy birthday, happy 50th birthday. are you really doing "dancing with the stars" on monday? how did you come to do this? >> i decided to do one last for this crazy thing before i turned 50. >> we will check you out.

tavis smiley, thank you for being with us. public tv and radio broadcaster, renowned journalist. his latest book, "death of a king: the real story of dr. martin luther king jr.'s final year." you can go to democracynow.orí?.

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