can it be done by an policing force against our citizens without first making every effort to bring the and confused elements of society back to the mainstream. are violation of pakistan's sovereignty. [indiscernible] quick secretary of state john kerry was in saudi arabia monday for talks with the king. the meeting came amidst reports tensions between the two sides over syria, iran, and the palestinian peace talks. at a news conference, john kerry said the same page. >> there is no difference about our mutually agreed upon objective in syria.

as i have said many times before, al-assad has lost all legitimacy and he must go. nothing that we are doing with respect to this negotiation will alter or upset or get in the way of the relationship between the united states and saudi arabia and the relationship in this region. >> after saudi arabia, john kerry flew to poland where he faced immediate questions over u.s. spying. he is the most senior u.s. official to visit europe since edward snowden revealed extensive nsa spying on european leaders, diplomats, and ordinary citizens. john kerry said the spying controversy should not cloud ongoing trade talks. >> that should not be confused with whatever legitimate questions exist with respect to nsa or other activities. as i have said previously, we want to hear from our allies

will stop we want to have this conversation. president obama welcomes this opportunity to work with our allies and ultimately if we get it right, which we will, we cannot only alleviate concerns, but we can actually strengthen our intelligence relationships going forward and we can all be more secure and safer as a result, as well as detecting the privacy of citizens. iranousands rallied in monday in the annual commemoration of the 1979 seizure of the u.s. embassy. the demonstration was held outside the old embassy building, now dubbed the nest of spies. protesters chanted anti-u.s. slogans in what was seen as a rebuke of president rouhani's talks with the u.s. and other world powers over iran's nuclear program. the united nations is warning around 40% of syria's population is now in need of humanitarian aid will stop on monday, emergency relief court nader valerie amos told the security

council some 9.3 million syrians rely on assistance, around 6.5 million are displaced from their homes. an independent panel says u.s. military doctors have violated medical ethics by enabling the torture of prisoners and the so- called war on terror. in a new report, the task force on preserving medical professionalism includes medical d withsionals who worke the cia and pentagon "design and participated in cruel, inhumane integrating treatment an ," atre of detainees guantanamo bay and sicker prisons overseas. the study sites doctors for breaching patient confidentiality and advising interrogators on how to exploit risner's fears and crush their will to resist. the task force consists of 19 experts from the fields of military, health, law, and human rights. they're calling for a full investigation of the medical professions role in u.s. torture and an overhauled to ensure

doctors involved in interrogations follow ethical standards. the hedge fund giant as they seek capital has agreed to plead guilty to securities fraud in pair record $1.2 billion fine. under the agreement, as ac admits to a massive insider reaped scheme that hundreds of billions of dollars in profit for the firm and its billionaire owner. as ac of the charged companies have agreed to plead guilty, all have agreed to wind down and closer outside investment businesses and all have agreed collectively to pay total fines and penalties in the billion.ount of $1.8 today's agreement, if approved, would resolve the two cases are brought by the government in july, both the criminal indictment against the companies and a separate civil money laundering

action as well. >> the case marks the first time a major wall street firm has admitted to criminal wrongdoing in nearly 30 years. will no longer manage outside investments, it will continue to operate with the owner's estimated $9 billion fortune. the pharmaceutical giant johnson & johnson has agreed to pay $2.2 billion to settle a long-running probe into its marketing of drugs for unapproved uses. johnson & johnson and subsidiary janssen pharmaceuticals wrongly promoted the antipsychotic drug for treating anxiety and elderly behaviorpatients and problems in children. the company acknowledged paying kickbacks to omnicare from the country's largest pharmacy service in -- serving home patients. the fine marks one of the largest health care fraud settlements in u.s. history. a gunman opened fire in a crowded new jersey mall tuesday before taking his own life.

no one else was hurt, but many were trapped for several hours as police conducted a search. the new jersey police chief briefed reporters after the gunman's body was found. >> one of the swat teams here was able to locate the victim in a back room with self-inflicted gunshot wound. at this point, we are still doing a secondary search on the stores. many stores have locked and procedures. they have locked themselves in the stores, and we need to go store by store to get these knowe out and let them everything is safe here. >> the senate has voted to advance a landmark bill ending workplace discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation. seven republicans joined senate democrats in supporting the implement on this, nation act, but house speaker john boehner has publicly opposed the bill, confirming it faces a tough battle in the house. in a victory for reproductive rights, the supreme court has

let stand an oklahoma court ruling striking down restrictions on the pill form of abortion. the supreme court had indicated it might review the 2011 law which banned the off label use of abortion inducing medication in favor of a strict protocol that doctors say is outdated. last week the oklahoma supreme court definitively ruled against the measure saying it would effectively ban all drug induced abortion. on monday, the supreme court opted not to review the ruling. a similar ban in texas went into effect last week. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. this month marks the 50th anniversary of an assassination that continues to haunt the nation. on november 22, 1963, president john f. kennedy was hardly passed his first 1000 days in office when he was fatally shot as his motorcade passed through dallas, texas. his death is marked by still unanswered questions. we'll look back at kennedy's life and legacy with our next

guest -- acclaimed film director oliver stone. his 1991 political thriller eventsxamined the leading to kennedy's assassination and the alleged subsequent cover-up through the eyes of former new orleans district attorney jim garrison played by kevin costner. this is the film's trailer. >> shocking assassination of a president. >> john f. kennedy's murder was probably one of the most terrible moments in history of our country. >> the outrageous murder of a suspect. >> oswald has been shot. quick succession of the district attorney. the president. >> do i have to spell it out for you? >> who will risk everything. but i think you care more about john kennedy then your own family. >> why was kennedy killed? who benefited? who killed jfk?

>> people got to know. au have to start things in different level like the cia does. people got to know why he was killed. >> the truth is the most important value we have. >> just live a normal life. i what my life back. >> nothing is one key me from going have with my investigation of john kennedy's murder. >> and oliver stone film. "jfk." to oliver the trailer stone's 1991 film "jfk," when kennedy was killed, the official narrative was immediately question. nearly five decades later, a new poll has found a clear majority of americans still suspect it was a conspiracy behind the assassination. however, according to the associated press poll, the

percentage of those who believe accused shooter lee harvey oswald acted alone is at its highest level since the mid- 1960s. the survey conducted in mid- april said that 59% of americans think multiple people were involved in the conspiracy to kill the president, while 24% think oswald acted alone, 16% are still unsure. a 2000 three gallup poll found 75% of americans felt there was a conspiracy. we are joined for the hour by three-time academy award-winning director, producer, screenwriter oliver stone. a vietnam war veteran, he's made around two dozen acclaimed hollywood films, including "platoon," "wall street," "salvador," "board on the fourth "born on the fourth of july." edition of "jfk" comes out on blu-ray next week.

recently, he has cowritten a 10 part showtime series called, "oliver stone's untold history of the united states." we're also joined by peter kuznick, a professor of history and director of the nuclear studies institute at american university. he is co-author of, "the untold history of the united states." we welcome you both. oliver stone, let's begin with you as we move into the 50th anniversary of the kennedy assassination. your thoughts? >> thank you, amy, for having me back. hello, peter. my thoughts. i saw them film these last few days and i've been able to assess it again and followed the case more or less from the outside. i haven't been inside. it is amazing to me that people still deny it. as you know, i was in the infantry in vietnam. at a fair amount of combat experience. i saw people blown away in action. when you look once again at the basics of the film, the bullets,

the autopsy, the forensics come the shooting path and stay away from the other stuff -- oswald's background in garrison, etc., just follow the meet, what you see with your own eyes and nose six seconds, it is an amazing -- it's all there. it doesn't need to be elaborated upon. you can see it with your own eyes. you see kennedy get a hit in the throat and then in the back, then you see him essentially get a hit from the front. when he gets the hit from the front, which is the fourth or fifth or sixth shot, he goes back into the left. you see a man flyback because he gets it right here. many witnesses at parkland and at the autopsy in bethesda saw a massive exit wound to the rear of his scroll to the right side. skull to the right side. dr. saw his brain almost falling out of the back of his skull. later when he is taken illegally

back to bethesda, maryland, -- >> why illegally? >> immediately. it takes four hours to find their plus the autopsy doesn't go off until later that evening. it is manipulated. the doctors at the autopsy were not in charge of the autopsy. neutral technicians, surgeons. the military is telling them what to do. when this whole thing emerges, we have the weird shots of the back of his head patched up, basically. to justify the shot from the rear to the front. they are saying it was shot from the back, came into his back and hit connally. they talked about three bullets. the magic bullet devised by arlen specter and others devises a path that is impossible with seven wins and two people and kennedy and connally -- >> john connally. >> it goes out his throat, and

six to the right, hits connally and left and goes down to connally's right wrist and balances back to his left knee. it is a farce. they got away with it because it is a lot of mumbo-jumbo in these scientific evidence, but when people are in combat, they see things. they go with a bullet wound. it is essential. before was shot right connally in the back. connally gets shot -- >> governor connally. >> there are at least five shots. even if they alternate -- >> for young people who don't know -- >> a local man who shot this film that was taken by the cia and the secret service and it was altered a bit, i think. there is a lot of evidence to that effect. bestven now, it is the signpost, a timing. it shows you the timeframe of the assassination.

we have a scene in the movie where you see a man trying to do what oswald did with the bolt action with a rifle, which is a bad italian weapon. you have to fire the shot through a tree at a target moving away from you. you can't do it. two teams of fbi experts tried to do it, plus cbs and other organizations have tried to simulate shooting that in less than six seconds, and it's not possible. this is a sophisticated ambush. there had to be a shot from the front, from the offense. at least one shooter from the front. at least one. >> i want to go back to a clip from your film "jfk," when former new orleans district attorney jim garrison watches a the harveyort about oswald, the alleged killer. then he makes a phone call to his associate and tells them to investigate oswald's connection to new orleans little bit further. oswald.arvey

a purely hubie king fascinated by communism. >> he is believed to be a fanatical supporter of fidel castro, and spent last summer in new orleans and was arrested there in a brawl with anti- castro cuban exiles. >> apparently, bob, oswald had been passing out -->> sorry to s late. we better get on this oswald connection right away. i want you to check out his records and find out any friends or associates from last summer. sunday at 11:00. >> all right. >> thanks, lou. >> that is kevin costner who is playing a central figure in your film, jim garrison. >> he was the only public official who brought charges in

the case. you started this case. it was difficult to bring charges against the covert operation of u.s. government cut which he thought it was. now that we live longer and older we know about how difficult that is. we know snowden's case, wikileaks case, all of these they can't get it out. they have had trouble. people just believe it. when garrison believed the story, as i did -- i was younger -- years go by, three years later garrison calls and david ferry. he is suspicious about new orleans. dismissed all the witnesses he called. three years later, he got into the case because senator russell long in georgia told him he didn't believe -- >> of louisiana. >> gears and started to read the worn commission and see the axes -- and consistencies -- garrison started to read the war in commission and see the inconsistencies. we know they had files on jim. they stole the files.

they had informants on his staff. three of his witnesses died. .thers were not called subpoenas were denied, etc.. he called several members of the cia. been the head of the cia and was fired by kennedy and ran n commission. stone of thistta country. ithis case is similar. that senior showed -- when snowden was first described as a loan fame seeking narcissist, you find similarities to the oswald case. oswald was identified on that friday afternoon. he had the profile ready. sympathizer,rxist not only alienated but disliked

kennedy. none of that was true. he was none of these things. we find that out by reading or looking at the movie. label seems to stick. wmd in iraq question mark when you put that first story out there, and there's something about that weather it is the revolution that kicks off the vietnam war or for that matter the blowing up of the spanish harbor, these stories fled and that first impressions days. it is a shame. what bothers me the most is that people who are intelligent, "the new york times," "vanity fair" guy in "the new yorker," they write these pieces and they say essentially in the article, well, history has shown us that oswald -- the consensus is oswald did it alone.

are they don't read books or deal with the ballistics, which is important. bob roden has done the best photographic analysis of the balloons and photography. he can show -- his most recent book is called "absolute proof," coming out right now. he has been at this for 30 years and is the best. talk to the people who have studied pathology, autopsies, and photo evidence. >> oliver stone, why does this matter 50 years later? >> good question. good question. what was kennedy doing? is important to give and minuses 13 years after the national security state starts. we are massively armed. , 1960 wed eisenhower go from 1000 nuclear weapons to 30,000.

i 1960, we are supreme. we are the sole superpower, truly. we have the ability at this point after many crises with the nuclear threats made by eisenhower -- several, five or six, dole is believed in brinksmanship, if you remember that policy, taking things to the brink. we called the containment of communism, but really we were aggressive., we basically wanted a war because we knew the soviets would arm up after 1960. they would catch up with us eventually. we feared that. they never did, but we fear that. we knew in 1960 that in a first strike situation, we could win and we could sustain the retaliation. so we had a very hopped the pentagon. we saw in berlin there was an anger and kennedy for what they called been soft on communism,

which meant he allowed the wall to be built. remember when the berlin wall went up. kennedy said, "i'd rather have a wall than a war." round, he failed to support the bay of pigs. he failed to go into laos, which was expected of him. when the october crisis rolled around in 1962, he backed out. that was their viewpoint. he backed down and said no to invading cuba, to going and bombing the missile sites. >> interesting, when we put out yesterday you were coming on, we were inundated with questions -- >> this is an important issue. >> on our facebook page, this question was posted -- >> no.

no. on the contrary, you cannot byome president in 1960 -- being soft on communism. you had to be a hardliner. he went to the right of nixon at that point, true, he did not know the missile gap. he believed the missile gap existed. when he got into office within six weeks, he he hired bob mcnamara to be as defense secretary. he had bob mcnamara find out where we were. was a mess. it in fact, we were way ahead of the soviets on every level. he realized in that atmosphere that his generals were up -- were really gearing up for a war. because if they didn't fight the soviets in 1960, their thinking was, the soviets will attack and we will have these crises in berlin, vietnam, laos for -- there will be a war sometime in

the near future by 1970. their thinking, let's do it and do it now. strangelove dr. movie about the retaliation? or member jack -- or remember jack ripper? these people wanted war. this new book whose book does not agree with our assassination concept, he goes into detail in "camelot's court," about how kennedy was finding those years with the military on all fronts. >> we're going to take a break and come back. our guest is oliver stone, three-time academy award-winning director, producer and screenwriter. among his films, "jfk." this month is the 50th anniversary of the assassination

of john f. kennedy. when we come back, we will also be joined by peter kuznick. did,her they did oliver "oliver stone's untold history of the united states." ♪ [music break]

>> this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. our guests for the hour, oliver stone, many time academy award- winning director, producer and screenwriter. peter kuznick. they co-authored, "the untold history of the united states." it is both in book form as well as dvd. it is a showtime series. i want to go right now to this clip from "the untold history of the united states." call that a close happened october 27, 1962 during the cuban missile crisis when

was ultimately soviet colonel who averted nuclear war. october 27, in the incident occurred the slow center described as not only the cold war, it was the most dangerous moment in human history. the russian ships were heading toward the quarantine line, one of four soviet summer rains sent to protect ships was being hunted all day by the carrier uss randolph. more than 100 miles outside the blockade, the randolph began dropping depth charges, unaware the sub was carrying nuclear weapons. the explosion rocked the submarine, which went dark for him except for emergency lights. the temperature rose sharply. the carbon dioxide reached nearly full levels in people inld -- near lethal levels people could barely breathe. the suffering went on for four hours. did the americans hit us with

something stronger. we thought it was the end. panic ensued. the commander tried without success to reach the general staff. he assumed the war had started and it would died disgraced for having done nothing. you order the nuclear torpedo to be prepared for firing. he turned to the other two officers aboard. fortunately, for mankind, the toitical officer was able calm him down and convince him not to launch. probably single-handedly preventing nuclear war. >> oliver stone near rating, "the untold history of the united states." it was cowritten by oliver stone forour guest peter kuznick professor.yer history continue on this topic. >> it was during this crisis in october, eisenhower told kennedy through an intermediary to bomb,

but we had no concept of what the russians -- there were 40,000 russian troops under the in world war ii. there are rough and tough unit. they had 100 nuclear battlefield weapons. 100. we didn't know that. this later inted his life. the cubans were armed, like two hundred thousand cubans. we would have faced far more significant casualties than we thought. a would have involved into real nuclear confrontation in the caribbean and they probably would have spread quickly. we have bombers armed to go over china and drop bombs on china. off theready to blow soviet union. that was eisenhower's plan, essentially. what he did in his eight years of office was to make nuclear weapons and alternative to conventional weapons. we didn't have the size of

conventional weapons of the soviets, so we were ready to use nuclear. we were ready to go and washington was in the sights. i think the whole world would have gone up. khrushchev and kennedy at the said, no, basically to their hardliners and cost both men dearly. the generals were furious with kennedy. he was raging at the meeting. it was described by mcnamara and others. they said, we lost. this was our moment. criticized by some people, but the soviets were inferior in strength. but they built up after that crisis. so by the late 1970s, there were almost achieving parity. in other words, city and khrushchev saved -- what we're saying is kennedy and khrushchev saved the world a key moment.

>> peter kuznick, this is also the beginning of the cuban ,mbargo that exist to this day 1960 two. explain how that happened? >> the united states policy was really to overthrow the castro government for to do every thing it could to sabotage, undermine, overthrow the cuban government. -- castro government. this thought was you would have similar things throughout latin america. the u.s. policy since that time has been out only to isolate the cuban government, but to attempt to prevent similar kind of uprisings from occurring elsewhere. treated vietnam, episode 7, we put it in a different concept. we wanted to show vietnam was not an aberration. we begin with the overthrow of the government in brazil in 1964, then go to the overthrow

in the dominican republic in 1965. we show the u.s. role in the bloodbath in indonesia in 1965. we talked about the escalation of vietnam, and we also talked about u.s. overthrow the allende government in chile. the concern in the u.s. was not cube itself, but the possibility throughout latin america in our own backyard for a series of communist revolutions and radical movements. we weren't under kissinger with the right-wing governments in latin america for something called operation condor, which is basically an operation set up death squads throughout latin america to kill not only revolutionaries, but reformers and dissidents. we see this policy continues through the 1980s under the reagan administration throughout central america. he was working with the right- wing government in el salvador, the u.s. role in guatemala, the

u.s. support for the contras in nicaragua. cuba is only a small piece of it. oliver is saying, the cuban missile crisis is a crucial turning point in kennedy's mind and the mind of khrushchev. afterwards, khrushchev tried him -- writes a letter to kennedy in which he says, evil has done some good. our people have felt the flames of thermonuclear war. let's take advantage of this. he said, let's removed every possible area of conflict between us that can lead to another crisis. let's stop all nuclear testing. let's removed all the problems between us. khrushchev then says, let's get rid of the military blocks, get rid of nato, get rid of the warsaw pact. he reaches out to kennedy. this is a moment, as he says that, evil can bring some good. what kennedy and khrushchev

both understood from the crisis, despite all of their efforts to prevent a nuclear war, when a crisis like this occurs, they lose control. they came close to nuclear war despite the fact both of them are doing everything they could to avert it at that point. khrushchev says, let's get rid of anything that could cause another conflict. what happens over the next year until kennedy's assassination is they do begin to cooperate on a number of issues. as all of her was saying before, kennedy had a lot of enemies -- oliver was saying before, kennedy had a lot of enemies. that to the establishment time after time. they reach out. we conclude the test ban treaty. they were furious. he begins to reach out to cuba at the end of his life.

castro was very disappointed when kennedy was assassinated. he talks about pulling u.s. forces out of vietnam. troopsed to pull 1000 out by the end of the year, get all out by 1965. the signature initiative in many minds was, kennedy says, why should we be competing with the soviet union for who is going to be first to get into space? we should work together jointly for a joint mission of space exploration and putting a man jointly on the moon. in his commencement address, he basically calls for an end to the cold war. in response to the person who posted on facebook, kennedy in 1963 was really very much of a visionary. oliver and i believe this was the last time we had an american president who was really willing -- wanted to change the direction of the country, stand up to the militarist and the intelligence community, and take

the u.s. in a very different direction. so the travesty -- tragedy of kennedy's assassination is not that we just lost this one man, but the u.s. and the soviet union were both looking to take the world in a very, very different direction. bynedy's is assassinated christopher is asked to the next year. as we say -- kennedy is assassinated and khrushchev is ousted the next year. the torch has been passed back to the generation of johnson, and the worldwer goes back heavily into the cold war. >> i want to turn to a clip from "the untold history of the united states." you look at the transition from jfk to lbj. >> the ascension of vice president lyndon johnson, it would be important changes in many of kennedy's policies. particularly toward the soviet union in vietnam. .> i will do my best

that is all i can do. >> in his inaugural address in the morning of that decade in january 1960 1 -- word go forth from this time and place to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of americans. >> but with his murder, the torch was passed back to an old generation, the generation of johnson, nixon, ford, and reagan. leaders who would systematically destroy the promise of kennedy's last year as they return the country to war and repression. though the vision khrushchev and kennedy had expressed would fall with them, it would not die. seeds they had planned it would germinate and sprout again long after their deaths. >> oliver stone narrating the

"the untold history of the united states." >> yes. perhapsrs of my life, the most ambitious project. >> why is this so important to you? it actually begins in 1898, the year after my grandmother was born. >> the spanish-american war and the first effort overseas by america to expand. we take the philippines and basically take cuba. this whole series from 1898-2013 , in a sense, it is a mourning for a country that could after world war ii taken another direction. if roosevelt had lived a longer, it may well have, or if henry wallace had been the real vice president. are doing isd i after george bush had been in office for two terms in 2008, we said, is he an aberration or continuation of a pattern? we went back to the 1940s and studied this whole pattern.

if you look at all the chapters together quickly in 12 hours, you feel the dream, see the dream, the aggression, militarism, racism toward the third world. it doesn't and. the explication. there are good things, too. we try to point out the hopes. >> deniz project starter ronnie wanted to tell the story of henry wallace? didn't this project start out with you wanting to tell the story of henry wallace? >> is a wonderful character, but not the only character. i was born right after the atomic on. i had excepted, like i accepted the story of kennedy's assassination, i accepted we needed to drop the bomb for world war ii. we have to go back to that myth. we explored in depth. we show our use of the bomb was criminal and immoral. and we proved to the soviet union as well as to the world that we could be as barbaric as the nazis were. >> explain why you think the

world would be a very different place if this vice president in the 1940s, henry wallace, had actually continued to be the vice president under fdr? >> well, because he was a peace seeker, a man of international vision. he spoke of the century of the common man. it was a counter to "time" magazine about the american century. no,ace countered with, america should stand for the common man throughout the world. she was very much internationalist, woman's rights, labor rights, hated colonialism and the british empire and all that winston churchill was fighting for in world war ii. sickening and weakening and the country was becoming more concerned with postwar issues. wallace hung in there, although he had been robbed of the vice

presidency by fixed convention in 1944. he held and under truman for as long as he could, fighting for peace after the war. he was called a communist and all that stuff, but he was really a liberal. >> he ran for president in 1948. in 1944, he was knocked out and truman was the vice presidential candidate. >> and wallace was the most popular man at the democratic convention. they almost won the first night, but the convention was closed down, fire exits were close or something like that. he had 65% of the vote and truman had to bang percent. 2% of the vote. >> and after fdi died in office? he is the one who dropped the bomb. >> he insulted the soviet foreign minister. within 11 days, our policy toward the soviet union shifted and stay that way. if you read all of the revision

from historians who have written about this in depth, the united states took a hostile -- roosevelt had a vision and it was a grand alliance between the soviets and the british. perhaps that was hard to maintain. it takes a big man. kind oft was that thinker, wallace was, and we're seeing kennedy was. he was aw said warmonger. please, re-think kennedy. this is a big issue. we have lost that grand alliance. we have lost that leadership that is bigger than simply ideological economic factions, which is what we have in the united states. we have given in to what peter called militarism. as you know very well. >> when we come back from break, i want to ask you about this next chapter of american history, about surveillance and drones, about president obama and where you think he stands. and also about this next project that you will be working on around dr. king. we are with oliver stone and peter kuznick.

stay with us. ♪ [music break]

the hour,st for academy award-winning director, producer and screenwriter oliver .tone he has a 10 part series for showtime called, "the untold history of the united states." it is now out in dvd form with two extra chapters. our guest also, peter kuznick, who cowrote the book and co- authored the series, history professor at american university. peter kuznick, what this next chapter looks like today. what we're expensing today in the united states. >> is a continuation of the trans that oliver and i were

talking about from the 1990s up to present. we have a lot of hope for obama when he was elected in 2008. i guess we were somewhat naïve. because obama, rather than breaking with the patterns of american empire and american militarism, has continued most of them. ari fleischer, the press secretary for bush, this is actually george w. bush's fourth term we're expensing now. in some ways that is true and disappointedly so. obama from the beginning surrounded himself with very conservative advisors. an economic team was considered a constellation of reubenites. his military team, his foreign- policy, mostly hawks. people like hillary clinton, robert gates, general jones. and his policies have reflected that. i see him as a more

efficient manager of the american empire him and not somebody who is breaking with the empire. he doesn't even think in different terms. for example, he recently called for 13-year commemoration of the vietnam war, in which we are going to reposition our understanding of the vietnam war. that is very dangerous. of 18nt poll showed 51% to 29-year-olds now think the vietnam war was worth fighting. as an american interest. those people our age, about 70% said the vietnam war was a mistake or even worse. but the fact that younger people are not learning history and are seeing the vietnam war and more positive light is symptomatic of what oliver and are concerned about, that people's understanding of history is distorted in such a way as to perpetuate the trends that we find very, very objectionable.

oliver stone, talk about this next project you are involved with. >> i've been writing the screenplay for the martin luther king story, the cooperation of the estate. i can't say for sure it will happen. i really hope so. jamie foxx is very interested and i have worked with them before. i think he can do a hell of a job. i want this tell a story about a man who is a great american. handi, believed in nonviolent, a strong resistance. he spoke out not only for civil rights, but when he crossed over, he spoke out against and thesm in greed vietnam war. he made many more enemies. he became a strong and important mergingr because he was this huge civil rights movement with the anti-vietnam movement. he pointed out clearly that

colored soldiers were fighting in disproportionate numbers in vietnam and killing colored people over there, whereas they could not get decent treatment or education at home. he made that famous quote about spending $320,000 to kill every card thattnam soldier is what it cost us. we were spending $50 at home for anyone who was poor. a nation that has these priorities is doomed to spiritual death. >> so you had king doing with kennedy fifth year's ago in the 1963 march on washington, then moving on to deal with lbj to get the voting rights and the civil rights act passed. >> right. i think we have to give -- not much credit is given to kennedy, but his death did motivate a lot of that feeling we had to pass that, the civil rights act and the voting rights act. ,ing fought for it and johnson

that was his best side. we have to give him credit for backing him on that. >> sadly, it was robert kennedy fulton really approved a wiretap on dr. king. maybe we can take from that moment decades ago to what we're seeing today, not just leading dissident figures, but on all americans, and it looks like on most world leaders -- enemy or ally. >> you have to say pre-robert kennedy. hadgar hoover, the fbi, been interested in civil rights leaders going back to the 1930s. he bugged them. he always thought the civil rights movement was controlled by moscow. he thought the vietnam students who are protesting against the war were controlled by moscow. yet importance in all of these groups. -- he had informants in all of these groups. hoover goes back to 1919, the wilsonld row

era. we have always had a fear of communism disproportionate to what the real threat to us was. revolution, the property classes always feared labor. >> what has replaced that now? this term national security that justifies the mass surveillance of americans and people all over the world. this is under president obama. >> absolutely. historically, terrorists -- harry truman in 1947, the truman doctrine, he declared boldly on the floor of congress that we had to invest $409 in greece and turkey to defeat outside forces including terrorist and communist for destabilizing greece. these are people who fought for the independence of greece

against the nazis. they became terrorists right away. the word terrorist has been described loosely for any enemy. always terrorists in the woodwork. yes, they are vile. we should track them down. glenn greenwald has been very articulate about this. if you know someone or has connection to terrorism, i think most people would back that. but when you put the whole thing out over the web and you say everybody in the world is potentially suspect, you're making a different kind of world. you're making that horrible world. >> but either way, you're being surveilled. >> yes. you have to prove your innocence, so to speak. i worry about my children and my future. an intelligent manager, as peter said. i don't believe he is an unreasonable man. i don't think he knows exactly what is going on. i fear situation if we have

another terrorist attack, what is going to happen? what if we have another bush as a president or right-winger? >> would be very different? the spokesperson for president , the former spokesperson for president george w. bush, president obama is a continuation of what president bush was doing. aboutt i said earlier vision with roosevelt and kennedy and wallace, he is a bigger man -- i don't think obama was given a mandate in 2008. he could have been a roosevelt. people were comparing him to roosevelt at that time. he didn't run with it. as peter said, he put clinton in and gates in current the ake his moment?rom rubin. so many people campaigned for him and he disbanded the organization. was a grassroots

organization that he disbanded. each of the hope away from those who believed that democracy was still possible. you call the show democracy now! pointve an exclamation and i think it should be a question mark. >> would you do a film about snowden? >> he is done the best under most difficult circumstances. >> oliver stone, thank you for being with us. we will continue this after the broadcast and post it on democracynow.org. this month is the 50th anniversary of the assassination of dr. king. oliver stone and peter kuznick -- >> of martin luther -- of john f. kennedy. 50th anniversary of the march on washington. "the untold history of the united states." that does it for the broadcast. democracy now! is looking for

feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693 new york, new york 10013. [captioning made possible by democracy now!]

tavis: good evening. from los angeles, i am tavis smiley. nenight a conversation with an lamott. her book deals frankly with how to find answers to life's most ethical westerns. she does so with insight and with humor. we are glad you have joined us. a conversation with the always wonderful anne lamott emmy up right now. -- coming up right now. ♪

>> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. tavis: they are the big questions that confront all of us. how to find meaning in chaos, how to start over in the face of devastating loss. how to cope with suffering. lamott began writing "stitiches" following the

newtown connecticut shootings. good to have you on this program. >> give me your state of mind after those shootings. stunned, i was speechless. i felt i did not understand how we would go on from there because what i teach my children , they are loved and chosen and safe. i would say who is wearing a black suit with a lewd tie with white stripes? ok, you are loved and chosen. you are safe. how can you tell children after -- that after 20 of their fears have been slaughtered by someone who have -- has one of the 3 million guns in this country. i thought it would show up and tell them i am 59 and the light still shines in the darkness and not once has the darkness extinguished that.

i have a four-year-old grandson periods goals are supposed to be sanctuaries i was grief struck. i always told my students to write but they would like to come up upon. i would like to come up upon someone making some sort of sense or casting a little bit of light on this. >> i will come back to the shooting itself and the guns and other issues you have raised in that one answer. let me start with this age-old question because you have insights that make me think. what do you say to young people, what do you say to yourself in answer to that age-old question about why good things, why bad things happen to good people? >> this is a violent place and we are a violent species. cain is still killing abel. we saw that at lax.

i do not think god caused the shooting. i do not think god caused the swami. i loved what mr. roger said. he said his mom always said after tragedies, look to the helpers has the helpers after crisis, you will see the love of god. i do not know if we can understand the question except god does not cause the stuff. he comes in and pushes back his sleeves and says we have some healing to do here. tavis: it is hard to ugbir ignoe that issue. what is your take on this notion of the explosion of guns and our society?