will find out who did this. we will find out why they did this. , anyesponsible individuals responsible groups will feel the full weight of justice. >> the boston marathon bombing spread of three dead, over 140 injured after a pair of bombs exploded near the finish line of the historic race. no arrests have been made, no one has claimed responsibility. we will go to boston for the latest. then we will look at somalia, where a least 30 people were killed in coordinated bombings on sunday. thene day i went to hospital. my mother was sick. i saw the hospital, how they were treating the doctors, how the heck committed to help the sick people. i admire them and decided to become a doctor. >> we will speak with dr. hawa abdi, author of the new book, "keeping hope alive: one woman: 90,000 lives changed."

all of that and more coming up. this is "democracy now!," democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. at least three people are dead and 144 wounded, 17 of them critically, after two bombs exploded near the finish line of the boston marathon on monday. and 8-year-old boy is among the dead. the blast took place about 100 yards apart in the heart of downtown boston. most of the 23,000 runners had finished the race when the bombings occurred. but the streets were still packed with runners and spectators cheering them on. no suspects have been arrested or identified, and no one has claimed responsibility for the attacked but police reportedly searched a residence in the city of revere on monday night. this is boston police commissioner ed davis.

>> i would like to offer my sympathies to the victims and families of this horrendous event. this cowardly act will not be taken in stride. we will turn every rock over to find the people responsible for this. the boston police department is on the scene and has been since the incident happened. there has been a horrendous loss of life. at least three people have died in this event. >> national guard troops have been deployed in boston and security is expected to be tight in the city today with officials searching bags on public transit. speaking on monday, president obama said those responsible for the attacks would be brought to justice. >> we still do not know who did this or why. and people should not jump to conclusions before we have all the facts. but make no mistake, we will get to the bottom of this. and we will find out who did this. we will find out why they did this.

, anyesponsible individuals responsible groups will feel the full weight of justice. >> we will have more on the boston marathon bombings after the headlines. in iraq, at least 55 people died as dozens of explosions and a shooting ripped through provinces across the country monday just days before elections. the worst violence struck the capital baghdad, where at least 25 people were killed by car bombs and other blasts. at least 14 political candidates have been killed in recent weeks that the provincial elections scheduled for saturday. monday's toll was the highest in nearly a month after 65 people died in blasts on march 19, the anniversary of the u.s.-led invasion. in somalia, a militant group is threatening to carry out more attacks in -- after a least 30 people were killed in chord in the bombings and shootings in the capital mogadishu on sunday. the militant group al-shabab claimed responsibility for the attacks, which included a series

of explosions and an assault by gunmen on the supreme court complex and another car bomb near the airport. a spokesperson for the militant group told reuters monday "more lethal attacks are coming." later in the broadcast, we will speak with dr. hawa abdi. she was kidnapped by the al- shabab and she is a doctor who has taken in tens of thousands of refugees on her property just outside mogadishu. a federal judge has denied an emergency relief motion from a hunger strike in guantanamo prisoner despite reports he is dying. a doctor said yemeni prisoner musaab al-madhwani's life could be in imminent danger and accused the prison of deliberate indifference, saying he had been placed in solitary confinement without daily monitoring after collapsing last week. u.s. district judge thomas hogan said he did not have jurisdiction in the case and called the prisoner's condition self manufacturer. musaab al-madhwani has been in

prison for more than a decade and has never been charged with a crime. his part of a hunger strike that began in february and is reported to include nearly all of guantanamo's 166 prisoners. a powerful earthquake struck iran today, and was felt across several counties -- countries in asia, including in new delhi, india. the u.s. geological survey said the 7.8-magnitude was centered near khash. a landmark nonpartisan report has confirmed indisputable the of the states tortured people after the 9/11 attacks and said the highest officials in the torch to the bush a ministration responsible. the constitution prect says never before in u.s. history had there been the kind of considered and detailed discussions that occurred after 9/11 directly involving a president and his top advisers on the wisdom, propriety, and

legality of inflicting pain and torment on some detainees in our custody. the task force led by two former congress members, republican as a hutchinson, and a democrat james r. jones, said it found no compelling evidence torture produced helpful information that could not and found without a. it details how the cia waterboarded not only outcome of prisoners, but also an least one libyan suspect, and says prisoners were slammed into walls, chained for hours in difficult positions, and kept awake for days. the report criticizes a lack of transparency by the obama administration, saying its practice of hiding details about rendition and torture "cannot continue to be justified on the basis of national security." a bipartisan group of senators has cancelled a news conference on immigration reform today because of the boston bombing, but still plans to introduce the legislation. the bill reportedly will provide

a 13-year path to citizenship for some undocumented people, but would require border controls criticized as near as possible to be put in place first. according to mcclatchy, applicants would have to pay upwards of $2,000 in fines and check in using a probation-style system. if they fell behind on their fines, they could use the right to be in the u.s. according to nbc news, the bill would allocate $4.5 billion for increased militarization and fencing along the u.s.-mexican border and demand an enhanced version of the controversial e- verify system to prevent undocumented immigrants from working. venezuelan opposition candidate capriles is continuing to challenge the results of his presidential race against nicolás maduro, the chosen successor of late president hugo chávez. 51% of the-- won vote compared to 49% for capriles. on monday, then as well as the

electoral council certified maduro's victory. a spokesperson for the a state department had supported a recount, calling it an important, prudent and necessary step to ensure that all venezuelans have confidence in these results. on monday, capriles complained defeatedimed he maduro. >> the fight here is not between the people. the fight here is between the people versus an illegitimate government. wee story is president -- believe we won the elections. the other of a pro camp believes they won the elections as well. everyone of us is within our rights, every one of us has the right to count our votes. we have the conviction that we won the elections here. tosyrian troops loyal president bashar al-assad appeared to have broken a rebel

blockade of two key bases in the province of idlib. according to opposition activists, up to 50 rebel fighters were killed in the clashes. meanwhile, syria's main political opposition group says nearly 30 children were killed in a government airstrike on sunday. in new european union report says the problem of human trafficking is deepening in europe with a number of victims increasing as the number of convictions falls. nearly 24,000 people were victims of human trafficking over three years according to the report. but its authors of the actual number is probably far higher, in the hundreds of thousands. on monday, the european commissioner for home affairs urged eu member states to take action. we know today with certainty the situation regarding human trafficking in europe has deteriorated. the number of confirmed or presumed victims of trafficking 2008-sed by 18% between

2010. >> president, has signed into law a measure critics say guts key transparency provisions from a law designed to combat insider trading by members of congress. the new bill repeals a requirement in the stop trading on congressional knowledge at that high-level federal officials disclose financial information online. but according to the center for responsive politics, it also removes requirements for the searchable and electronic filing of information related to potential conflicts of interest by the president, vice president, congress, and other officials. on its website, the center wrote --

remainingi's only abortion clinic will stay open for now after a federal judge temporarily blocked the state from revoking its license. extendeddistrict judge an injunction protecting the clinic as it challenges a 2012 law aimed at shutting it down. the law requires all abortion providers at jackson women's health organization to have admitting privileges at a local hospital. such a standard can be impossible for any abortion provider because abortion is so safe, providers often don't admit enough patients to comply with hospital minimums. in mississippi, all local hospitals have rejected applications from clinic doctors. a group of new york city students, organizers, and officials gathered monday to condemn the schools to prison pipeline to say is funneling of students of color into the criminal justice system. members have drawn attention to the disproportionate number of suspensions and arrests of african-american and latino students as well as harsh penalties against students with disabilities.

the last school year, 52% of suspensions about african- american students, who make up just 27% of the public-school system. messages, you need to fix what mayor bloomberg did. take the amount of funding you get and give it to the schools. if i was running a school, the perfect school for me would be peer mediation, the students actually want to go to school and feel like they belong to, and no student safety agents or metal detectors. >> the 2013 pulitzer prize winners have been announced. among the winners were the florida sun sentinel for its coverage of reckless speeding by off-duty police officers in the denver post for breaking coverage of the aurora movie theater shooting. the brooklyn based nonprofit insideclimate news won an award for detailing the dangers

associated with oil pipelines. the new york times one quadruplets' tears, including two for its reports business abuses committed abroad by walmart and apple. to see our interviews, go to democracynow.org. today marks the 50th anniversary of reverend dr. martin luther king, jr.'s letter from a birmingham jail for it was written as a response to one alabama clergy who criticized king's actions during the birmingham campaign, a series of nonviolent sit ins and marches held to protest racial segregation. this is dr. king reading a pa of a letter he wrote in jail after he was arrested for defying a judge's ban on protests. >> you speak of our activity as extreme. was not jesus an extremist for love?

bless them that curse you and pray for them which despite fully persecute you. we be extremists for the preservation of injustice, for the extension of justice. >> that was from the film "king ." those are some of the headlines. this is "democracy now!," democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with aaron maté. >> welcome to all our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. bombing from monday's at the boston marathon stands at three dead and 144 wounded, 17 critically. it was the worst bombing since the oklahoma city attack of 1995. wereber of children included. and 8-year-old boy named martin richard was killed. his sister reportedly lost a leg and his mother went into surgery for a brain injury. the bombings to place at 2:50

local time with two blasts about a hundred yards apart in the heart of downtown. the first bomb exploded inside a garbage can near a prospective is watching runners approach the finish line. this is figure taken at the scene of the first bombing right when it occurred. you can hear the second bomb go off about 13 seconds later. >> doctors have reportedly carried out at least 10 amputations on bombing victims. a trauma surgeon at massachusetts general hospital said many patients suffered shrapnel wounds, either from the bombs directly or from the resulting debris.

>> there is a lot of small metal debris. some people have asked already about whether these were bb's for pots of bombs, and i don't .hink we're able to say >> no group has claimed responsibility for the bombings. both fox news and the new york post reported authorities are guarding a person of interest to suffered severe burns. the person was described as a saudi national on a student visa who's being treated for his wins at a local hospital. but with no other details to emerge, he may just be a victim of the bombing. at a news conference, boston police commissioner ed davis maintained there are no suspects so far. >> i want to stress one thing. there is no suspect. there are people we're talking to, but there is no set -- suspect that has been widely reported in the press. i would like to fix that right

now. >> most of the boston marathon is 23,000 runners had finished the race when the bombings hit. but the streets were still packed with runners making their way to the finish line and the many more spectators cheering them on. over half a million people turn out for the boston marathon each year, the oldest in the country and one of the most famous in the world. it's held annually in boston on patriots day, the massachusetts holiday commemorating the start of the american revolution. with no suspects announced the information to go on so far, tried to determine responsibility is only a matter of speculation. among the potential factors of note is that in addition to patriots day, monday also marked tax day, the federal deadline for filing taxes. that has fueled speculation the bombing could have been the work of anti-government extremists. speaking at the white house, president obama cautioned against a rush to judgment and vowed to bring the perpetrators to justice. >> we still do not know who did this or why. and people should not jump to

conclusions before we have all of the facts. but make no mistake, we will get to the bottom of this. we will find out who did this. we will find out why they did this. any responsible individuals, any responsible groups will feel the full weight of justice. >> witnesses of the bombings described gruesome injuries in a sea of blood. the first witness here is carlos arredondo who has appeared a number of times on "democracy now!" he became a prominent anti-war activist after his son was killed in iraq in 2004 driving around the country and his son's fifth of truck. >> the bomb went off right in front of me. my first instinct was to try to help them. i remembered a fellow who lost both lambs and everybody around him was missing limbs and a big puddle of blood.

a young lady was begging for help. a horrified seen. >> this seems like most people's lower extremities. there were some bad looking people. i am crying for all of them. we're all try to put pressure on the wounds for everybody, tourniquets, or whenever we could do. it was chaos. >> we begin today's show with carlos arredondo and his wife joining us on the phone from boston red they were both at the scene of the bombing yesterday. we welcome you to "democracy now!" carlos, tell us what you experienced, what you saw, where you work. >> i was across the street from where the bombs explode. was i saw in the beginning a big fire coming out across the street from where we are at the time. the loud noise occurred, then

the smoke. people were running. the second explosion hit right after that. my reaction was to just jump the and jump thestreet second fence and land in this area where was pretty much the serious injuries. everybody was on the ground read there were broken limbs, people with no limbs, people totally passed out. so many injuries. and never seen it like that in my life. it was a very horrible moment. people were running. a lot of people were doing a great job in handling the best we could at the time. >> carlos, you are being cited in the media as a hero for what you did for the victims.

tell us how you reacted to the bombings. --well, i don't really feel it took a few minutes to was anand this explosion. my first reaction, being a volunteer for the red cross, my first reaction was to just go and do my duty. so many people were doing the same thing. police officers, national guard, people from the stands, veterans, everybody just got together. we did not know if there was a third bomb waiting for anybody there. everybody removed the fence by their hands and pushed everything around. and a few minutes time, everyone was pulled out to the next 150 yards. .here was an emergency area

it was a lot of help. >> carlos, you helped a man. he tied a tourniquet around his leg. you were there because one of the runners was honoring your dead son and iraq? runners was doing and to remember alexander two national guard member started at 4:00 that morning walking. i was in the street waiting for the one who was running for my son because they were passing by between 2:00-3:00. the explosion happened before 3:00. fortunately, none of them got hurt. >> but you were helping wounded people? >> i just concentrate in

removing the fence to help everybody coming to the scene. then i concentrate and -- on a young man who lost both his limbs. another gentleman helped me out. on thethis tourniquet legs. the first wheelchair arrived. i picked him up and put him in a wheelchair and dragged him out of there because it was the only thing i could do at the time. >> what retelling the victims you were helping? man hised this young name. i asked him to stay awake and talk to me. he was fine. the analyst was here. and he was conscious. he gave me his name. could.rying to do what i >> carlos, yet been through so

much in your life. you lost your older son, alexander, in iraq. you lost your neck son, bryan, who committed suicide a few years later. you have been traveling around the country speaking out against violence and now you witness this and tried to say people who were injured. side.ve been at carlos' you are a peace activist. thed you speak right in phone but not into the speaker phone? we can hardly hear you. melida? are you there? carlos? >> ok, i am here. i apologize. good morning. to be quite honest, since we lost brian in december 2011,

carlos and i have been trying to just stay sane and have been working real hard to promote awareness about suicide, both in the military and among military families. carlos was here wrote yesterday. i was in the stands right across the street. i saw both bombings head on. us,degree did not reach thank you, jesus. the scene was very, very scary. i was in the top of the stanford i could not walk. someone had to help me down the sort of like football stands. trying to nurture each other and have been seeing a few more doctors than usual. it has taken a toll on us. but i knew when that bomb went

off after the second bomb went off, i knew that carlos was there because his training as a first responder. he is in the disaster relief for the american red cross. that is his instinct. to go and help. he has helped other people who have been injured over the years in fires and things like that through his work. it has been very overwhelming with the calls. i immediately got called all day. i cannot stop shaking until this morning. very -- crying and traumatized little bit, but we're going on. at the same time, we are full of adrenaline. we will be getting in touch with counseling services shortly for ourselves. i recommend anyone who was there to do that.

the city of boston is one to put together counseling services for people at the event and the american red cross is going to reach out to local community health centers, which we have several in the area. i am very upset to hear this morning the little boy -- that is immediately what i thought of, the children. this is a family-friendly event. to elders toildren every nationality. it is a very beautiful event. it was very upsetting to hear the young child of the martin hisly the would-i think first and was martin, was killed. are his mother and sister severely injured and in the hospitals. >> we want to thank you for

being with us, carlos and melida. we're so sorry to be speaking to on such a painful day. thank you for being there. carlos, as usual, for your heroism. theos lost to someone marines came to his door and said his aunt -- he said is an set his van on fire. they lost their son last year to suicide. when we come back, we will speak to a doctor and reporter in boston. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

>> this is "democracy now!," democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with aaron maté. as we continue our coverage of the boston marathon attack, dr. michael gibson is a dr. beth israel medical center. he was on call monday treating

victims of the bomb blasts. his son ran in the marathon yesterday. we're also joined by boston- based reporter charles pierce. he wrote a piece yesterday. >> why don't we start with the doctor, talking about what you have seen at the deaconess, what has happened, what you understand has taken place. dr. michael gibson? >> thank you. it was a bit like a war scene, essentially. watching tv, seen the show inside combat rescue, we see a light of loss of limbs from explosive devices. it was eerily reminiscent of that. people were missing lower extremities. there were reports of a lot of shrapnel, not clear if that came from the bomb itself or from the

container the bomb was in or near by debris, but most of the injuries were to the lower extremities. although, shrapnel was present everywhere. a lot of people had hearing loss from the blast as well. trauma base completely filled with patients. there were two waves read the first wave was about eight patients critically injured. those patients went off to the operating room and then a second wave of patients then arrived to fill those beds. dramatic, traumatic scene yesterday. i have to say, the emergency room staff was very well organized. the trauma surgeons, orthopedic surgeons were spectacular. it really was a lesson, i have to say, an organization. sometimes to many people not

helpful, and i think a lot of it centered around getting the staff organized, to get the right doctor to the right patient at the right time. >> dr. gibson, can you talk about the child victims you saw? how many children have been treated at your hospital? and talk about the imputations. we know there have been at least 10 performed so far. >> we did not have any children and our hospital that i saw. i have to say, the picture of carlos really was cropped. what you don't see is the fact that the young man he was assisting had no lead -- leg. many of these patients presented with amputations already. the real heroes were on the scene. people like carlos who ran toward the blast rather than from it.

when they arrived at our hospital, these patients were very well stabilized. people like carlos and people in the andtents already put on tourniquets to stop the bleeding. that may have saved many lives. people like carlos and the people on the scene. trooperp quoted state saying a lot of people amputated, and these 25 a 30 have a least one leg missing or ankle missing or two legs missing. is that your sense, is that number right? isit is hard to know what going to happen because some of the people may still have a limb in place, but over time, it may not be saved or salvaged. that number may climb over time. there were many deformities. it is clear how many of those winds will be salvaged. my job was there as a cardiac

person to assessed -- assist with the blood flow, blood pressure, heart, getting access into the arteries. that was my role. >> i know one of the big problems that people who ran to the aid of others had or those well-known barriers -- are those on the barriers that protesters face all over the country. there were have the dividing the spectators from the runners. they were collapsing on the injured spectators. can you talk about the pre- planning, the disaster scenarios that you have in boston that may well have helped in the situation? >> again, i emphasize when the blast went off, you saw people pushed away by the blast but what was very dramatic was the way -- wave of humanity that rushed toward the blast. they put the best interest of

those injured first. there was a tremendous effort to clear the area around the blast so that then emergency medical personnel could make their way into the area. we saw people pulling away the barriers. tremendous effort on those people, again, putting the injured's will being ahead of theirs. at the hospitals, there were many structures outside the hospital. there was also a biohazard unit detoxification if necessary. you never know if this is just what is now being said a black blast, which is traditional gunpowder kind of blast, or was there any kind of contamination? the hospital was prepared for that. the hospital was locked down both by police and by military personnel all around the hospital so that people could

not enter the hospital unless they were a patient injured or a care giver with identifiable information. and in a command control center was set up inside the emergency room to triage things, to get the right level of care to the right patient at the right time. we worked with the social workers on connecting the family members to patients. one of the issues that happened with my son called at 2:54 to , ande know that he was ok that was, for me, a very strong emotion to let me know we also needed to let other members -- family members know that patients are here or let them identify if their family member is ok. >> are you also looking for evidence in the hospital?

for example, the kind of shrapnel and looking for evidence of what the bombs or? , it use thee issues a lot of entrance wounds into the body, but what is underneath that is not always clear. you have to do x-rays and such to find out was thick glass, metal. that was a big part of it as well. at the time people presented to the emergency room. >> we're also joined by charles pierce, a boston-based writer. you went to see the bombing after the attack. tell us what you saw. >> obviously, i got there well -- i don't know if you can use the word stabilized. what i saw basically was the shocked aftermath of an awful,

awful day. a lot of very exhausted firemen and first responders. a lot of police had been on station since midnight the night before and were working at that point on virtually 16 to 17-hour shift. there was a startling at least according to witnesses and my own factory since, a starting amount of blood. events we last sports had that is not locked down in garrison had been hit by this. >> can you talk about the significance of the boston marathon, for boston and the country? is the oldest marathon in the country. >> the country would have to speak for itself, but it is a festival. nobody makes more fun of the boston marathon or nobody made more fun of it before yesterday than the people in boston did.

they complained about the traffic and people in the streets, but they would not trade it for the world. it marks patriots day. it is a uniquely massachusetts holiday, not celebrated anywhere else the red sox play at 11:00 in the morning on patriots day. it is a completely boston- centric, boston eccentric event. >> people go to the game at fenway and that are there for the runners coming through? >> yes. they tried to do that. it is american league baseball so the game runs into the end of the race. but they do, because the race goes down beacon street. then they wait for their friends or whatever. very rarely to the red sox cooperate enough that you get out to see the elite runners. but the square is generally a festival, a place of that time. pierce,ght now, charles

the people you're talking to, the heroism you saw -- for example, we just spoke to carlos arredondo who lost both his sons, one to suicide and 1 in iraq. he is there placing tourniquets on people who have lost their limbs. >> there is a number of remarkable stories like that. i think he pointed out the really tragic part is the first responders have to take down the barricades, which were allegedly there's for the spectators. these are huge mental things. they essentially have to take them apart by hand and a scramble. there are stories of runners who left the course and immediately donated blood. stories in and around boston for taking care people stranded here. there was a massive public garden and a mass of runner's time to get reunited with their families. the word passed on the race by everyone who had their thoughts

with them -- i fun with him to take pictures word came back that people were turning off the course that beacon street before getting to what was then a lockdown crime scene. in the event like this with a million people in the street, there are a million different stories. >> you spoke to police officers and workers, ambulances. what did they tell you? terrifying words in english language yesterday were "secondary device." the same thing was repeated block after block by police. a great number of the police and first responders at some point that our rotation into iraq or afghanistan. the basic comparison you got was with a roadside bombs. .his was plainly an ied

technology of that particular war to an extent is coming home. >> you are referring to spokane, washington, a white supremacist arrested for a bomb planting. they caught it before it blew up. >> it was found by a couple of park custodians. i think it was a considerably more lethal bomb and these were. kevin harper, the white separatist convicted of placing the bomb, placed it on a metal bench that was tucked into bricktially an l-shaped walls of the focus would have gone out into the street completely. it would have backfired off the wall and sprayed what was fishing weights used for shrapnel. a bait shop near his home

thought it was strange this guy was buying all these fishing weights. these bombs apparently were least one was a drop in a trash can and one left on the sidewalk. i don't mean to develop a sliding scale of fatality, but the one in spokane, which really was in ied, was considerably more lethal. >> and finally, there are all sorts of speculation, but the significance of patriots day, of tax day. this is a terrible week in history. you have april 19, april 20. you have waco, oklahoma city. you have virginia tech. onemember with howard zinn this petraeus day in 2007 and the boston marathon had taken place and virginia tech happen on that day -- on this patriot day in 2007, and the boston marathon had taken place in

virginia tech happen on that day. hitler's birthday is april 20. all of this taking place during this week. violentve a rather focal point in time based at least in some of the cases you cited, the misappropriation of the rhetoric of the american revolution to suit modern -- the wildness in our modern politics. that is unfortunate and appears to be ongoing. when ed davis got up last night to say there's no suspect, there is no suspect. people do not know. i hesitate to assign blame, but i do remind people, and i think he did a good job running it down there, that this has become a unique focal point in the political wildness of our country and universal suspect is quite vast.

>> we want to thank you for being with us. thank you. we conclude with dave zirin who is sports columnist for the nation magazine. he was riding yesterday as soon as this took place, covering both sports and politics. your thoughts? >> first, prayer's for the people in boston, baghdad, in mogadishu who are suffering today. second, i think people have to realize an attack on the boston marathon is really an attack not boston or the nine states, but on the world. we have a tendency in this country to call our national champions world champions. here's this boston that -- marathon the sounds of provincial, but it comprises people from 96 countries. the world record holders for the men and women are both in sub- saharan africa. over 20,000 people compete. you can speak to people around the world where part of this

global marathon community and they know heartbreak hill is the fourth hill in newton that is so difficult to go over. they know when you run past wellesley college, for example, the chairs can be so loud you cannot even hear out of your own ears. they know the boston marathon actually mean something. it is very communitarian. when you take something that is so communitarian and you turn it into something that now going for it is going to feel insecure, dangerous, something you don't want to bring your family too, it really is an attack on collective space with global dimensions. >> talk to us about the history of the boston marathon. you wrote about katherine switzer iran in 1967. >> i'm glad you asked that. i have a friend from vietnam who always reminds me that vietnam is a country, not a war. i hope we remember the boston marathon as a place of history that goes back to 1897 and not just the sight of the national

and international tragedy. katherine switzer is part of that history, part of what speaks to the best angels of our nature in the world we would like to live in. the boston marathon was all men through 1966. in 1967, katherine switzer decided she was gone to enter the race. she filled out her forms as kb race.r and enter the as she was running, one of the marathon organizers actually jumped off a truck and grabbed her physically, screaming "get the hell out of my race." the men around her actually pushed him away. there is a brilliant set of photographs of one man with this look on his face like he was so upset this woman was daring to run, and these other men actually pushing him away. in the midst of this the wrong, the of katherine switzer with this look on her face, focused, continuing to run and finishing the 26-mile race.

it is one of those landmarke moments, one of those moments we should remember for the boston marathon at that moment when it was what we want the world to be. unfortunately, was the world we currently and have a. >> katherine switzer was running with her coach and partner. they were the ones to push the head of the boston marathon away. she broke all barriers along with another woman who was hidden as well. dave, thank you for being with us. we're going to head on to someone where a terrible series of explosions took place on somalia- had on to where a terrible series of explosions took place on sunday. >> i just feel so sure wrongly that this is one of those moments where we need to come together in true empathy, look and ask ourselves, is

this the world we want to live in? when we are to gather and collective space, we should feel empowered and not frightened. i hope we take the idea of enforcing the idea of coming together collectively is a beautiful thing and one we should treasure. >> thank you so much for being with us, sports writer, dave zirin. thank you, charles pierce and to dr. michael gibson, who is a cardiologist, a professor of medicine at harvard medical school and a full-time cardiologists and chief of clinical research and the cardiovascular division at beth israel deaconess medical center. is also founder of .hich dock, -- wikidoc.org.org when we come back from break, we go to other bomb blasts that

took place in somalia at this past sunday and we will speak with another doctor who has saved so many lives in somalia. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

>> the great some mullion- canadian musician read you can go to democracynow.org to see him. >> we in today's show in the african nation of somalia. at least 30 people were killed in coroneted bombings in the capital mogadishu on sunday. al-shabab claimed responsibility for the attacks which included a series of explosions and assault by gunmen on the supreme court complex and another car bomb near the airport. >> in somalia, unlike boston, there were no highly trained emergency personnel on the scene or top-notch hospitals to treat victims. since 1991, when the somali government collapsed, aid groups fled the country and violence routinely interrupts everyday life.

however, one somali physician has made it her life mission to care for those worst hit by violence, poverty, and sickness. dr. hawa abdi is down as the mother theresa of somalia and has just written a memoir called, "keeping hope alive: one woman: 90,000 lives changed." in it she explains why she established a hospital school and shelter for internally displaced people just the war- torn capital mogadishu. today, tens of thousands of somalis live on her compound, hundreds attend school, two will provide fresh food -- water and families are growing food on nearby land she was kidnapped by insurgents sheila with a pressure eventually convinced the rebels not only to free her, but also issue a written apology. in 2012, she is nominated for nobel peace prize. for more we go to fort worth, texas where we're joined by dr. hawa abdi as well as her daughter, also a doctor, dr. deqo mohamed. they are somalian human rights

activist and physicians to run the dr. hawa abdi foundation, a nonprofit organization. we welcome you both to "democracy now!" i know you're watching the news as well, the horror of what happened at the boston marathon with the double explosion that has killed three and injured well over 100. in hawa abdi, you yourself somalia experienced this kind of violence on a regular basis, the worst violence in two years happen on sunday in mogadishu with this coordinated bombings. your thoughts today? i think our fifth thoughts are with the families who lost their children -- i think our thoughts are with the families who lost their children in boston and in somalia. in somalia, every other day there is a bombing happening. we lose more lives every other

day. ands devastating unacceptable for this to be part of life. pray for me and my mother and all our teams for the families. >> that is dr. deqo mohamed. dr. hawa abdi's daughter. they worked together on their project to say people in .omalia by fighting poverty could you ask your mother, dr. deqo mohamed, asked dr. hawa abdi about how she deals with the violence? how she fights the violence and tries to build a different somalia today? >> we have suffered for 22

years, losing thousands of some of thessing worst things that could happen to a human being. [indiscernible] and attacked by terrorists killed 20 innocent people. we are sorry for what has happened sunday and for what happened yesterday in boston. >> how did you convince the al- shabab, the young men who kidnapped you, dr. hawa abdi, to but toy release you issue an apology for kidnapping you?

his, -- letterote an apology [indiscernible] what the society want, he has to obey. they open with the somali society once. they wrote an apology letter to me. not only me. doctors without borders, a doctor was working with me. they destroy their offices. the wrote them an apology letter also. they wrote three apology ventures.

>> to view of the on the states from somalia, what is the attitude toward the united states of simoleons? i think [indiscernible] inside somalia, there is no security, not enough education or food. every year is drought. we're losing thousands of lives, especially children and elderly. are dying from malnutrition. now the u.s. government and the policy toward the u.s. government in somalia is changing.

for the last 20 years we were in this island. they did not want to intervene after what happened and block lockdown in 1993. the u.s. stayed away from all of the issues in somalia. now there intervening in a positive way. they're trying to put -- >> we have to wrap it up but we will continue the conversation and posted online democracynow.org. [captioning made possible by democracy now!]

tavis: good evening. smiley. tonight, a conversation with senator bernie sanders. the bombingrmath of of th in boston and the budget. and then a talk with chris columbus. withversation