to syria to continue investigating reports of chemical weapons use their and their probe will include gathering evidence on a strike near the city of aleppo on march 19 that reportedly killed dozens. both the government and syrian rebels have blamed each other for the attack heard a previous report confirmed a nerve agent was used in the deadly attack last month. the obama administration is ending months of the lay with the first global treaty ending global arms trade. house initially blocked it until after the bid for reelection. the treaty will have no impact on domestic gun laws but will bring new regulations to the sale of arms. john kerry is expected to add the u.s. signature at the u n general assembly, but it will face a tough ratification vote in the senate.

the national rifle association is expected to continue its vocal campaign for the treaty's rejection. the nigerian president said the darted have sustained -- arms have sustained attacks. left atk in nigeria least 142 people dead. kenya has begun three days of mourning for 67 people killed in a siege of the westgate mall in nairobi. the death count could still rise as more bodies are found. the kenyan president declared final victory four days after the attack began. he said at least five attackers were killed by gunfire and 11 others are in custody. al shabaab had gained -- claimed

responsibility, calling it retaliation for intervention in somalia. on tuesday, and attack survivor made an appeal not to conflate the actions with the teachings of islam. >> this is not islam. islam is something else altogether. islam is peace, togetherness, humanity. what i saw there was not islam, and if you ever think for a minute that those people represent us, they do not, they ver will, and please, do not let them win by thinking it. >> we will have more on the nairobi mall attack later in the broadcast with jeremy who has been in both somalia and kenya. thedeath toll from

earthquake in afghanistan has reached 270. thousands of people were wounded and left homeless. worstpakistan's earthquake since 2005 1 around 75,000 people were killed. isublican senator ted cruz staging a marathon filibuster. the democratic-controlled senate provisionstrip it from a spending bill that would tie a government shutdown to the defunding of obamacare. senator ted cruz began speaking tuesday afternoon and continued into wednesday morning. as we broadcast, the filibuster is in its 17th hour. obamacare toared the appeasement in muncie germany. cash exceptaw in

the nazis. yes, they will dominate the continent of europe, but let's appease them because we cannot possibly stand against them. >> a number of leading republicans have opposed the effort, fearing voters will blame their party for a shutdown. the longer he holds a big vote, the less time the republicans will have to craft a response. be forcedencies will to partially close unless congress can approve new spending before the end of the month. enrollment for obamacare is expected to begin next week. the white house has unveiled new figures showing most health care remains will cost less than previous projections. the average midterm plan will cost $300 a month with most qualified for subsidies to lower the price. the senate has openly -- has

confirmed the first openly gay judge. he was confirmed for the u.s. court of appeals in the federal circuit in a 98-0 vote. the nomination of the first gay african-american has been defeated following an abrupt reversal by republican senator marco rubio. he has announced he is withdrawing support for judge william thomas after initially backing his nomination last year. the florida senator's spokesperson cited questions about his judicial temperament and his willingness to impose appropriate criminal sentences. abandonbio decided to thomas to appease key party conservatives -- key party partyvatives -- tea conservatives. an attorney for survivors of the u.s. john attack in pakistan say he is being blocked from

returning to the u.s.. he says the state department has approved travel, but not his. attorney,n an representing over 150. his clients are set to testify in a house hearing. both children were injured in attack last october, so (grandmother died. haseading yemeni activist been released after he was detained at a british airport and interrogated about his human rights work. he was traveling to london for ace eking event in british -- for a speaking event when british officials detained him under the same low -- law that detained david maranda.

according to reprieve, he was threatened to be detained for the full nine hours after he said he did not believe his views on human rights were relative to security. he has testified before congress about the impact of u.s. drone attacks in yemen. the brazilian president has openly criticized u.s. spying on her government in her speech to the u.s. assembly. she accused the u.s. of violating human rights and international law by spying numbers are in companies, politicians and civilians. >> we are a democratic country surrounded by democratic, peaceful countries that respect international law. living in peace with our neighbors for more than 140 years. like so many other latin americans, i, myself, fought

against arbitrary behavior and censorship, and i could therefore not possibly fail to uncompromisingly defend individual's rights to privacy and my country's sovereignty. canceled herly october state trip to washington in response to leaks from edward snowden showing the national security spying on her personal communications and petrobras. the greek government has launched a probe of the neo-nazi group golden dawn. deather was stabbed to outside of a café last week and the murder has sparked a new wave of protest against golden dawn. came hip-hop artists together for an event honoring his life. r said greeks are united

against fascism. it was a great moment to be united, forget about our neo-rences, and agree that nazis and fascism is not tolerated. we have to be more tolerant toward everybody that is busy -- different, and not tolerant at all to the people that are ready to kill. >> thursday, golden dawn .eadquarters were raided the ongoing probe is focusing on ties between law enforcement and golden dawn politicians. those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman.>> welcome to listeners and viewers around the country and around the world.

the united states and iran are levelto take part in high- negotiations that could potentially and u.s.-led sanctions that have devastated the air and in -- the reigning league economy -- the iranian economy. hasn't obama insisted the united states is not interested in regime change and said the u.s. the specs the right of iranian people to access peaceful nuclear energy. he also welcomed what he called hassan rohani's popular mandate for a moderate course. >> i want to be clear, we are encouraged that present hassan ahani's received -- received mandate for a moderate course and then directing john kerry to pursue this effort with the iranian government" operation with the european union, the united kingdom, france, germany, china, and russia.

the robots might prove to be too great, but i firmly believe the diplomatic path must the tested. >> while obama and the ukrainian president hassan rohani did not meet at the united nations or shake hands, hassan rohani echoed obama's called for diplomacy. farad seeks -- iran seeks constructive engagement with other countries based on mutual respect and common interest, and within the same framework is not seek to increase tensions with the united states. i listened carefully to the statement made by president obama today at the general assembly. commencement with the political

will of the leadership in the united states, hoping they will following the shortsighted interests of warmongering pressure groups, we can arrive at a framework to manage our differences. otherr weapons and weapons of mass destruction have no place in air and --iran's security and defense doctrine and conjured up our fundamental religious and ethical convictions. >> hassan rohani's speech comes after weeks about which efforts to the west at the behest of the iranian supreme leader. lastly, president hassan rohani appeared in a written interview with nbc news. monday, the former reformist president wrote an op-ed in "the guardian" calling for a renewal of diplomacy. in the lead up to the youth cash

u.n. general assembly -- u.n. general assembly, they released prisoners. a graduateoined by student and documentary filmmaker in new york university, director of "the skin that burns," about chemical warfare in iran. talk about the significance of the new iranian president at the u.n. yesterday. >> a couple of things that president hassan rohani did yesterday that were he was first he addressed the domestic audience in iran that has been a little bit weary of where this is going to go, and he was very forceful in saying that you ran should in his opinion and in the opinion of the islamic republic continue to pursue nuclear enrichment for fiscal purposes,

and at the same time, out against the sanctions and compare it to the iraqi sanctions from before 2003, which was very big for him to do, but at the same time, he said it does not want war and iran wants peace. that was addressed to the toestic lyrical a lead and the american audience in the u.n. that was watching -- elite and to the american audience. >> who are the domestic leaders he was appealing to and how does it represent a change from his predecessors? came in at aani moment that was critical to the republic. up to one week before the elections, many people we talked to were not going to vote, and many did not think hassan rohani had the slightest chance to win

the election but three things came to play a large role. one was the sanctions. the economy in air and is hurting badly -- in air and is is hurting and the middle class is not have things they had before and. -- 2009 elections in iran having millions of people chant against the supreme leader showed the political elite that they have a significant portion of the population that is against the current course and that led to the mystic fractions and political infighting in iran among the revolutionary guards and political elite. those three forces coming together brought about this change that we see because the islamic republic, at the end of the day, wants to be around. it is a pragmatic regime. it does not want to go anywhere. it realizes it has to give in on

certain issues. right now the biggest issue in iran is the economy, and they know the way they can better the economy is through nuclear negotiations. >> this is hassan rohani describing the impact of the u.s.-backed sanctions. violent,sanctions are pure and simple. orther called smart otherwise, unilateral or multilateral, the sanctions violate inalienable human rights. >> there is president hassan rohani talking about those sanctions. that has been a lot made in the u.s. corporate media about iran snubbing the u.s.. said a man formerly held as a messiah was having a bad day. him, ted cruzub

filibustered him, and you know the russians are messing with him behind the scene. a lot was made over the weekend of white house officials saying president obama possibly would be shaking the hand of hassan rohani, so it is believed that hassan rohani was not willing until at least yesterday to do that. >> it seemed from one hassan christiane to amanpour in his interview is that the iranians were willing notngage, but there wasn't enough time for the meeting to take place. hassan rohani and his camp still have hard-liners that would not appreciate something happening as quickly as this. the message is there, both from hassan rohani and from obama that both presidents seem to want to engage and tomorrow i level negotiations will be taking place, so that is a step in the right direction.

>> you have spent a large part of the last nine or 10 years in iran. can you talk about some of the affects of the sanctions in the day to day lives of the people as you have seen the sanctions become more strict? >> the biggest thing we are seeing in iran right now is vital medicine for those dealing with chronic diseases and cancer is no longer available. survivors of chemical warfare, which we have about 100,000 in iran, they do not have access to the vital medicine they need, and anything from birth control pills to any sort of over-the- counter stuff like anything that has to deal with women's health is extremely hard to come by in iran. beyond the pharmaceuticals, also the price of meat and everyday staple food has gone up at least six to seven times in the past

six to seven months. >> during his address to the u.n. general assembly, president obama talked about the root of the distrust between the united states and iran. >> the united states and iran have been isolated from each other since the islamic revolution of 1979. this mistrust has deep roots. a rainy have long complained of u.s. interference in their affairs and of's -- and of in overthrowing the government during the cold war. iranians see and government that is declared the united states enemy, taken hostages, and threatened israel with the destruction. >> that was president obama in his speech to the u.n. general assembly. can you talk about the president obama

referring to the u.s.-backed coup? >> it is huge that he did that. one of the main points of the nuclear issue for irradiance and especially the political elite iran,riran -- for especially the political elite, the coup reinstated the shop against the popularly elected. the general population and the political elite believe that the united states and foreign powers do not want iran to have access to its energy and not have control over energy, so because of tha the nuclear issue is a national issue in iran. having obama talked that way about the coup was significant because he is trying to come out and say at least the rhetoric is we want to engage iran and

understand the mutual respect between the countries and the history of adverse involvement. out andink he is coming saying we understand what we have done and we do not want to do that now. whether iran will take it that way, i do not know, but it was significant. >> a lot of people have suggested that the reason hassan rohani has been able to make these overtures is because of support he has received from the supreme leader. can you explain why the supreme leader's position has shifted? ofhe came out in support terminejad in his first and when people were protesting against results in 2009, but one year after his reelection, amanda john -- they went head to head, and for the last years of

ahmadinejad's presidency, the supreme leader and him were not seeing eye to eye and that became known to the iranian public. about ahmadinejad not showing up for 11 days in a row. >> what was the reason for the dispute? >> there were rumors everywhere, and there was no way to know exactly what it was, but we knew that for the first time we were seen a lot of infighting the top levels of the islamic republic. one thing that is in porton to note is limited to shot and his closest advisers -- one thing that is important to note is committed to shot and his closest advertisers pushed away. there is some support from the clerical elite. hassan rohani has come out and is trying to show a different

face for the islamic republic, what is important to know is that because of all of this political infighting there is a significant portion of both the revolutionary guard and politicians that were very much against ahmadinejad. >> you are a filmmaker getting your phd here in new york and you have been looking at chemical weapons in a big issue is around support of syria. in recent headlines we reported -- onlyly disclosed disclosed information showed the u.s. helped saddam hussein launch chemical weapons on iran. of. gave iraq the location iran's troops despite knowing

saddam hussein would use nerve gas. you are doing a film on the effects of the chemical attacks. how much of that is understood -- for example, these released , and how dos irradiance feel about -- ira nians feel about this? >> the first known chemical away was in 1981, and in 1984 there was an appeal for investigations to happen in iran because they believed amoco weapons were used. three investigations took place , ande made -- mid-1980's other significant evidence was found that chemical weapons had been used by the iraqis in the war, all three investigations were ignored by the international body. this is well recorded in iran and also, post-2003, after the

u.s. invaded iraq, many more documents came to the surface since saddam hussein had left power. the documents are there, especially with the united nations. however, because the united states and the western powers were against the islamic republic, many of the the not come to four, including the attack of 1988 against iraq's kurdish populations in which almost 5000 people were killed. >> cuts go to a clip of your burns."he skin that warplanes dropped chemical bombs on us. my battalion was exposed. all of the civilians in that area were also exposed.

we were exposed to mustard gas. >> mustard gas leaves no part of the body unarmed. they call it the poor man's atomic bomb. >> that was from narges bajoghli burnsm, "the skin that pick up the significance of that experience today in iran? >> it is huge. they have the biggestmount of survivors in the world, including military survivors and civilians because many civilians were attacked by chemical weapons. the significance of chemical bombs is that it is a slow death, and that up until the air iraq war this

combination of chemical weapons had not been used in oer parts physicians doand not know what is going on inside the bodies of the survivors of the attacks. it is a trial and error game that physicians are playing, but we know the survivors developed extreme forms of cancer and begin to pass away. conclude, could you say something about people that have been skeptical about hassan intentions, including the israeli prime minister and some here in the u.s.? always good to have a healthy dose of skepticism when it comes to politicians anywhere in the world, however, as far as benjamin netanyahu is concerned, i think he is taking too much of a hard-line, and for other is in a position

in which if it does not do something, there is so much discontent in the country on the ground itself a are afraid of another sort of demonstration to happen, especially because of the economic situation here in the islamic republic knows that. beingts to stay and it is pragmatic. filmmaker --ning >> iranian filmmaker narges bajoghli, thank you. addresscome back, the by president obama at the united nations and the attacks in kenya that left about 70 people dead and many other injured. stay with us. ♪

♪ [music break]

>> "why can't we be friends." this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman.>> we turn to kenya. group honcholitant bob claims responsibility for a coordinated attack. the death count can -- al shabaab claims responsibility for a core needed attack. kenyan prime minister declared final victory four days after the attack began. >> ladies and gentlemen, as i found earlier, we have shamed and defeated our attackers. that part of our task has been completed by our multi agency

security team. willterrorists were killed -- with gunfire. custody in are in connection with the attack. intelligence reports had suggested that a british woman and two or three american citizens may have been involved in the attack. we cannot confirm the details at present, but forensic effort -- experts are working to ascertain the nationalities of the terrorist. >> kenyan president, uhuru kenyatta. since the attack on the survivors have shared their accounts. this man, along with his wife, was running a children's cooking competition before the attackers struck. -- >> hee turned turned and said we did not spare

your women and children, why should we spare yours? they were not shooting to scare. they were shooting to kill. they aim below where the people were crouching and opened fire. this is not islam. allm is something all else -- something else altogether. islam is peace. islam is about togetherness, humanity. what i saw there was not islam. if you ever think for a minute that those people represent us, , they never will, and please do not let them win by thinking it. max one of the victims -- >> one of the victims of the attack. the somali elephant lube -- militant group al shabaab claimed responsibility. we are- to talk more

joined by a national security correspondent for "the nation, and producer and writer of the film and book "dirty wars." elcome back to democracy now! can you talk about what has happened? >> right now, there is not just one al shabaab. there has been a fracture within the organization, and a free -- a few weeks ago the most high- profile jihadist from alabama who was a rapper and propagandist was killed, and it appears he was killed by a rival faction of the group. ist of what we are seeing the section that is more aligned with the global vision of what was osama bin laden's al qaeda network is trying to make a mark

for itself and it is a group that is very much in trouble internally in somalia and it is trying to project that it has a more globalist, jihadist agenda. this attack on the westgate mall was indicative of the fact there are multiple versions of al shabaab, with one part focused on somali outtakes and taking part -- power in somalia, and the other is intent on making a name for itself as a global terrorist player. >> the issue of americans involved? >> there has been anywhere from a couple of dozen to 50 or 60 americans that have gone to somalia to work alongside or fight alongside al shabaab or other militant organizations. many have come from the state of minnesota, and the somali- american community -- i was there recently -- they are in a

difficult position because they are targeted by federal agencies and surveillance and they have their mosques and community organizations surveilled, and they are very concerned that young people are being recruited from minneapolis to go to somalia. there have been several young somali-americans that have acted as suicide bombers blowing themselves up at the gates of the u.s.-backed african human -- union forces in somalia. on the one hand, this is a real young peoplee recruited and going over there. on the other hand, there has been an incredible overreaction and immigrant communities are being targeted. in the whole scheme, it is a representative -- relatively small problem, the representative peter king, has really try to paint this as some

kind of bogeyman on steroids. it is a real issue, but the fact that the somali community in minneapolis is under this intense scrutiny, and it is unjust on the one hand. on the other hand, they have been unified in speaking out and demonstrating against what happened at the westgate mall. introverted tonk the expansion of al shabaab io the splintering -- contributed to the expansion of al shabaab and to the splintering you spoke of? >> everybody knows everything about all shibata, yet there is very little context given. -- all shabbat, yet there is very little context given. , the bushly 2000's administration put all of these warlords on the cia payroll. i tracked them down in kenya and

somalia. they had them acting as an assassination squad. most somalia experts said there ale no more than one doesn't qaeda-connected individuals in somalia after 9/11 terror the u.s. hired these warlords and they ended up murdering vast numbers of people that were religious scholars, and in some cases, they would literally chop peoples heads off and bring them to their american liaison. you have this utterly thuggish collection of warlords murdering people and doing so, they believed, with the backing of the united states of america, the most powerful nation in the world. that sparked a revolt against the warlords. so, what happened is these coalitions of religious figures from different regions from

somalia formed the courts union, and it was 12 sharia courts, meaning there were 12 regional authorities that had imposed some version of law in the areas they controlled. they came together and united as one body area they pooled their resources -- body. they pooled their resources. there was a 13th unofficial , andr, which is al-shabaab that was the only faction within the court union that had any presence of foreign fighters, and they were the least powerful with the least credibility and least visibility. warlords expelled the and imposed a bootable -- brutal but effective form of government, with all sorts of vicious, violent punishments against people that violated

with a perceived to be the tenets of islamic sharia law, but most everyone except bush- era officials would agree that it was the only moment from the falling of the regime in the early-1990's to 2006 at there was anything vaguely -- the u.s. partners with ethiopia which launches and overthrow of somalia. they call them a ball, bush was batting of yarn and dick cheney here's islamic and said we have to overthrow them. there were extremists, but most of them were not. most of the most -- more closely represent the taliban government, which is a brutal form of government, but these

are not people that wanted to attack the united states. there was no u.s. interests except for knee-jerk, neocon reaction. they viewed the cover of this over-invitation to go in and start hunting people and they wanted to take out the leaders of the islamic courts union. they are looking for people involved with the 98 means the u.s. embassy -- bombings of the u.s. embassy in tanzania. the cyclic, the islamic courts union is dismantled. -- basically, the islamic courts union is dismantled. somalia returns to the civil war, and ethiopians are then committing rape, murdering civilians, rendering people back to ethiopia, and it becomes an utter disaster. what ends up happening is al- shabaab, this group of relative nobodies, that were on the periphery, they say we will be the vanguard and we will take up

arms and defend somalia. they started mixing together the ideas and rhetoric of osama bin laden with a somali nationalist politics and they ended up getting a tremendous amount of support because they were the only people fighting. what happened there, and this is incredible, osama bin laden tried to take credit for the black hawk down incident in the early 1990's. it was a complete lie. he had nothing to do with it. osama bin laden tried to take responsibility for it. >> u.s. soldiers were killed, as well as thousands of civilians. >> thousands were killed. it is one of the only things you don't know about somalia, black hawk down. it is like the vietnam war. do people know that multimillion vietnamese were killed? it is the same with the black

hawk down incident. thousands of somalis were butchered. >> when the u.s. helicopters came in under george h w bush. >> well, president clinton ended rangers inthe army the u.s. presence out of somalia, but they were hunting , who was basically destroyed mogadishu and created a situation where you have a civil war in somalia. the point i'm getting at here is non-abaab was largely a player in somalia and al qaeda had almost no presence there, and the u.s., by backing these warlords made the very force that they claim to be trying to fight the most powerful force in somalia. >> what is at stake for the u.s. in east africa and the horn of africa? >> initially, it started with a knee-jerk reaction to 9/11.

the fact was that there were major terrorist events that happened as a result of somalia's lawless situation. there were people being harbored that were involved with the 1998 embassy bombing. and dick cheney, early on after 9/11 developed a program called next steps, and they cited the countries they intended to go into, and somalia was on the early list. the state department, colin powell and others, cautioned against it, but people in the pentagon wanted to run the deck all over the world and send people in there. resources.atural it has the largest coastline of any nation in africa. there is a intentionally lucrative fishing industry that exists. it is why you see the rise of piracy. illegal fishing is happening all

the time. when people eat lobster and they are told it is canyon lobster, it is almost certainly from the simile coastline. i do not think there is a mysterious conspiracy -- nefarious conspiracy behind the scenes, but there is tremendous wealth in somalia. it has more to do with the narrow u.s. view of terrorism being is epic global threat and reacting in that way constantly or consistently. >> i want to turn to a clip of your film and then we will talk about president obama's address yesterday. was 1993 black hawk down under president clinton, in your ,"w documentary, "dirty war you need to notorious somali warlord that is working with the united states. this is a clip.

>> in an earlier life, he had been america's enemy, offering protection to people on the u.s. kill list, but the warlord has changed sides. he was now on the u.s. payroll and assume the role of general. you are saying the fiercest fighting is happening right here? ok. the men fired across the rooftops, and do not make sense to me what we were doing here, or what the americans were doing somalia, arming this warlord-turned general in what seemed like a senseless war. we've got to move. fighterse al-shabaab you buried here.

>> if we capture fighters alive, we give them medical care. unless they are foreigners. the foreigners, we execute. >> if you capture a foreigner online, you execute them on the battlefield? >> yes. the others should feel no mercy. s. from the film "dirty war >> this is what the u.s. is doing, paying somali thugs to do the bidding of the united states. we are one to where donald rumsfeld, dick cheney and others decided to back warlords. it is under health and some of the greatest suffering on planet earth and the u.s. has played a student enrolled destabilizing somalia for many years. >> we're going to go to break and talk about president obama's address of the u.n. assembly. our guest is jeremy scahill.

is the cowriter of the -- thetary "dirty wars world is a battle field." stay with us. ♪ [music break]

in-canadianmali rapper. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i am amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. >> the u.s. talked about the core interest in the middle east, u.s. access to oil. huxley united states is prepared to use all elements of our power , including military force, to secure our interests in the region. we will confront external aggression against our allies and partners, as we did in the gulf war. we will ensure the free flow of

energy from the region to the world. >> that was president obama speaking yesterday at the u.n. general assembly. .> your response >> during this section, my jaw hit the floor. he said the united states is an imperialist nation and we will do whatever we need to to conquer resources from people around the world. it was a naked declaration of imperialism and i do not use the word lightly. he pushed back against the russians when he said i believe america is an exceptional nation, defended the gulf war, said the motivation was about oil, and that we will continue to take such actions in securing national -- natural resources for ourselves and allies. it was a bold declaration, especially the way he has tried to portray himself around the world. on the other hand, the number what happened right before obama took the stage.

the president of brazil got up, and she, herself, was a former political prisoner who was abused and targeted in a different lifetime, and she gets up and just last the united -- blasts the united states or the nsa spy program. >> we have her address. ,> we are a democratic country surrounded by democratic, peaceful countries that respect international law. we have been living in peace with our neighbors for more than 140 years. like so many other latin fought on i, myself, a first-hand basis against arbitrary behavior and censorship, and i could therefore not possibly fail to uncompromisingly defend individuals rights to embassy and my country's sovereignty. >> that is the brazilian president openly criticizing

u.s. spying on her government, the news that broke from the edward snowden releases that was released by glenn greenwald. you are headed to brazil for the opening of your film. >> i was there when this tory was breaking. it is a major, major scandal in brazil. it was such a major scandal that the president canceled her state dinner with president obama. this is not sitting in the oval office. this creates a huge menu, inviting all these people, and it was meant to secure a relationship between two western hemisphere part -- powers. power, anda rising this was to be an important moment in the history of relations between the u.s. and brazil, and for the brazilians to cancel it shows you the severity. all around the world, in the aftermath of the wikileaks cables, and the edward snowden

documents, people have access to documentation that in some cases is bolstering what people already thought is going on, but is also revealing the extent of dirty tricks the united states is playing on other nations around the world, not to mention its own citizens. we are at this moment where president obama appears that the u.s. and he only -- u.n., and he only said -- made passing , and thatto the nsa he was in the car when she was speaking, but maybe they had access to her e-mails, but at the end of the day, you have this winner of the nobel peace prize douglas the united policy, states a neocon and owns it. when we look back at obama's

legacy, this will be in his best this in the -- this will be significant where the ideals were continued under mr. nobel peace prize -- winner. if you take the long view, and president obama has been a forceful, fierce defender of empire, and that is going to be the enduring legacy of his presidency. >> we also had the latest news out of pakistan of a drone strike. the drone strikes that are continuing. >> mostly in yemen and pakistan, the u.s. is continuing forward with its not so covert war. doesn't obama, remember, in may, gave a -- president obama, a member, you may, in a speech where he owned to the u.s.

killed four is going on and on. ,> thank you, jeremy scahill correspondent for "the nation," " author.r s" willber 15, "dirty war be released on netflix and itunes as well as dvd. that does it for the show. we have two job openings. check our job website. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. thank you for

tavis: good evening. from los angeles, i am tavis smiley. tonight a conversation with j.j. abrams. he is one of the most are living writers today whose work can be

seen in tv series such as "revolution" and "person of interest." he is about to take over "star wars." next month he will publish his first interactive novel. you joined us. a conversation with j.j. abrams coming up right now. ♪ >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.

♪ tavis: jj abrams is the force behind such hit tv series as "person of interest." the upcoming "almost human" and returning "revolution." he will reboot "westworld." george lucas chose him to launch the new series of "star wars." i am tired of reading these. long guaranteed an audience. let's take a look at -- "lution can't go

revolution." >> we searched. she would have never left atlanta. she would have waited for me to her, waited until the skin melted off her bones. i know in your modesty you will not accept this, but my friends and i think you are the most powerful man in television. deflect that.l >> it is obviously not true, but it's a lucky thing to get involved at all. i feel blessed to be able to entertain people in any capacity. tavis: how do you manage -- you asked how i was doing. i said, i am doing great.

i know how you are doing. i expected you to be broken down when you come in here. it is one thing to have all these opportunities, but you have only 24 hours in a day. >> i will tell you, it's working with great people. i work with amazing people. sherpas for each other. we are polling each other up the hill. >> creatively, how do you juggle that many balls at one time? it is not like these are inconsequential. these are franchises you are juggling. for those watching thinking they cannot squeeze any more creativity out of themselves or they cannot do anything more, how do you manage all that? >> part of it is working with people who actually inspire you.