nick schifrin has the story. >> schifrin: for a hong kong parent reading to their child, the book's message is solidarity. the good guys are sheep. >> ( translated ): "there were many kind and brave sheep living in sheeps' village." >> schifrin: the bad guy? the big bad wolf and his gang. >> ( translated ): "they took away the sheeps' food, destroyed their homes for no reason, and even spread virus to poison the sheep. big bad wolf wished the most to cleanse all the sheep and take over the village." >> ( translated ): "but no matter how cunning the big bad wolf was, the sheep were defending the village bravely. although the sheep didn't manage to drive the big bad wolf away, the sheep became braver and more unified." >> schifrin: the book is "defenders of sheeps' village," part of a series of children's books where the metaphor is direct. >> the wolves are chinese, and sheep are the local hong kong people. >> schifrin: fan cheung fung works with the hong kong federation of trade unions. the books were written by members of the union of hong kong speech therapists, and fan spoke on their beh

and so, we've t to change our approach. >> schifrin: let's take one aspect of that. air force for years has relied on bases in japan and guam. and, as you've said yourself, the chinese make a lot of missiles relatively cheaply that are relatively effective, and that means our bases are at risk of chinese missiles. so, you're looking to spread out across the pacific. how's that going? >> what i found initially was, the air force, we had a lot of good ideas about it and we did a lot of talk, not much action. there's a lot of action now. and it's rlly-- it's two parts. it's the physical aspect of being able to move, but it's the mindset of our airmen. >> schifrin: but it's not just mindset, right? i mean, japan is resisting more forces on japan. philippines, where the bases would be the closest to the mainland of china, there's political resistance to that as well. how do you overcome that political resistance? because it seems like you have to. >> well, part of this is a long- term relationship that we have with our allies and partners. and so there's these long-term r

nick schifrin explores how these decades of war look to veterans who served there. >> schifrin: the unitedtes will soon complete the withdrawal of almost all military forces in afghanistan. the war in afghanistan has been america's longest. the u.s. invaded in october 2001, nearly 20 years ago. we thought we'd mark the withdrawal by talking with three veterans of the war about their experiences and what was accomplished. major megan pickle evans has been in the military since 2004. in 2013 she led an all female cultural support team who would speak to mostly afghan women in villages. she is still in the army. former specialist izia james was in army connaissance, surveillance and acquisition team outside of kandahar city in 2010 to 2011. he also served two tours in iraq before he went to afghanistan. he was medically retired in 2013. and retired colonel mike jason had a 24 year career in the army. in 2012, he was a battalion commander who worked alongside special operations forces in northern afghanistan. he also served two tours in iraq. he retired in 2019. welcome, all three of you to th

nick schifrin begins our coverage. >> schifrin: as south africa walks through the valley of the shadow of death, the fear is real, and there's little comfort. >> the deaths are now not numbers on a news station. these are people you know, it's family, it's relatives. it's friends. it's colleagues. >> schifrin: dr. kgosi letlape is a physician and activist in johannesburg. he says while the u.s. is normalizing, the world, and africa, are struggling, because of vaccine shortages. >> if it stays like that, not only are we not safe, the world will also not be safe. >> schifrin: on a day like today, it's difficult to comprehend. four million. equal to the victims of every war, everywhere, for the last 40 years. equal to the entire population of los angeles. equal to the entire nation of georgia. back in johannesburg, these covid patients are the lucky ones. they have beds in makeshift clinics, set up by volunteer medics. south africa's public hospitals are overflowing. healthcare workers are overwhelmed. a third covid-19 wave is driven by an expanding delta variant, and shrinking vaccine su

nick schifrin reports on moves that critics call a coup, one decade after the arab spring. >> schifrin: in thbirthplace of the arab spring, a crisis of democracy. tunisian president kais saied says he had to removehe prime minister and suspend parliament, in order to “save the state.” >> ( translated ): today i have taken responsibility. those who claim that this matter is related to a coup need to revise your constitutional lessons. >> schifrin: tunisians have been protesting a covid-19 spike, a failing economy, and called for the actions that saied took. but democracy watchers and the opposition party, called the moves a coup. supporters of the moderate islamist party that holds the most parliament seats, clashed with the president's supporters. >> ( translated ): the decisions by president kais saeid are not correct, against the constitution and reality. >> schifrin: in washington, the biden administration was not ready to use a label. >> a determination about a coup is a legal determination. and we would look to the state department to conduct legal analysis before we make a determ

for the pbs newshour, i'm nick schifrin. >> woodruff: stay with us. coming up on the newshour: why both parties are behind changing one of the ways congress spends money. david brooks and karen tumulty consider the u.s. role in afghanistan, and the new york city mayor's race. and, can you spell "history?" the remarkable new orleans teen who won the national spelling bee. extreme heat and drought are baking the western u.s. and canada again this week, following hundreds of heat- related deaths in the pacific northwest last week. record-breaking temperatures are expected to return to california over the weekend, including in the san joaquin valley, which is where william brangham is currently reporting. and he joins me now from the city of visalia. he joins me now from the city of visalia where william you are teing us it's something like 109°, another heat wave coming, tell us what it's like and are officials there prepared? >> judy, the technical term is it's unbelievably hod out here. the national weather service has issued a warning, through weekend

nick schifrin begins our corage. >> freedom! >> schifrin: on the streets of havana, thousands of cubans walked to the center of the capital, to demand their“ freedom.” >> ( translated ): we are here because of the repression against the people. they are starving us to death. we have no house, we have nothing, but they have money to build hotels. >> ( translated ): homeland and life, down with the dictatorship, down with the castros, down with the communist dogs. >> schifrin: they filmed on their phones and spread the call to demonstrate via internet they've only recently been able to access. first, in san antonio de los banos, south of havana, and then, to hundreds of cities throughout the country. it wasn't all peaceful. 90 miles east of havana, protestors overturned a cop car. in response, police arrested dozens, and plain clothes officers administered the state's justice. >> ( translated ): state security beat me and my daughter, they beat us because we were walking down the street. >> schifrin: the nationwide release of ange

>> schifrin: the short answer is no. they do not know who, if anyone, set out to target u.s.icials. a panel of medical experts last year found that it could-- could-- be caused by microwave radiation, and that panel pointed out that russia studied that in the past. but senior u.s. officials say they d't know whether this is a foreign actor's actions, or perhaps an inadvertent side effect of overly aggressive surveillance, or something else. part of the problem has been the range of apparent victims. intelligent agents who work on russia have reported these symptom. state department diplomats, including some based in europe, have reported these symptoms. even a white house official, late last year. after that white house incident, the national security council held deputies meetings, and concluded they simply didn't have enough evidence to know what was happening. and that conclusion remains today. take a quick listen to secretary of state tony blinken last month. >> we do not know who, if anyone, is actually responsible: state actor, individuals. this is exactly what we're tr

here's nick schifrin. >> schifrin: the sprawling hub of american operations in afghanistan for nearly two decades, bagram airfield, is now in the hands of the afghan government. defense officials say all american forces outside of the kabul airport and embassy, have left the country. president biden today suggested the country's challenges, are now the afghans' problem. >> we have worked out an over the horizon capacity that we can be value-added but the afghans are going to have to do it by themselves with the air force they will have to maintained. i'm not going to answer any more questions of afghanistan. look, 4th of july. i'm concerned that you guys will ask me questions i will answer next week when i miss the holiday weekend. i'm going to celebrate it. >> schifrin: our jane ferguson joins me from kabul. jane, talk about the mood in kabul, how does the government feel, how does the city field? >> 96, they've spent the last couple of months trying to make sure they could secure the u.s. funding, the $4 billion a year forking av security forces. but they have more concern, whether

nick schifrin reports. ( chanting ) >> schifrin: it started as political protests... ...and devolvedchaos across two of south africa's largest cities, of looting, ransacked shelves, and malls turned into smoldering buildings. some looters admitted they stole, but said their crimes were born from poverty. >> ( translated ): i guess the real reason is because we have nothing, and when you see other people stealing, at some point you realize that shops will close and you will be left with nothing. ( gunfire ) >> schifrin: in response, police and soldiers firednto crowds, and tried to restore order. south african president cyril ramaphosa accuses looters of taking advantage of civil unrest. >> what we are witnessing now are opportunistic acts of criminality. >> schifrin: the short-term spark was the imprisonment of former south african president jacob zuma, for contempt of court. he's accused of fraud, racketeering, and money laundering. but the long-term embers are trenched poverty and unemployment, nearly 30 years after the end of apartheid. >> it is the dehumanizing effect of the ineq

nick schifrin reports. >> schifrin: today all that's left of the hospital built to keep people alive is a site of mass death. dozens of families lost loved ones. their caskets became a solemn procession. iraqi officials say the fire likely started when faulty wiring sparked, and an oxygen tank exploded. firefighters tried to put out the blaze using cell phone flashlights because there was no electricity. they were too late. the bodies lined up, row after row. and the grief, unspeakable. >> ( translated ): the catastrophe that occurred tonight in hussein hospital, the quarantine hospital, is a tragedy, for which there are no words. >> schifrin: but the tears are tainted with fury. >> ( translated ): t whole state has collapsed, and who has paid the price? the people inside here. these people have paid the price. >> schifrin: for years iraq's health care system has suffered corruption and mismanagement. a medic said the hospital lacked basic safety measures like a sprinkler system and fire extinguisher. and the construction was shoddy, with flammable, thin materials. in april, another

nick schifrin: and to discuss the events in tunisia and the u.s.m joined by sarah yerkes, a senior fellow at the carnegie endowment for international peace. sarah yerkes, welcome to the "newshour." so, was this a coup? sarah yerkes: from where i stand, it is a coup. i think him if you look at the constitution, the way the president is justifying this there is no way that you read this that looks like it is justified. nick: saied he is an outsider. but while he was campaigning, he did warn that he wanted to direct democracy, rather than a parliamentary democracy. we know what his intentions are? sarah: unfortunately, he is really a black box. you don't know what his long game is. it seems right now that he's looking to consolidate power in the hands of one person, and that person happens to be him. so, i think, in the long run, he's probably trying to turn tunisia into more of a presidential authoritarian system than a parliamentary one. but, unfortunately, he hasn't really told us yet what his long-term plans are. nick: what are tunisian so excited

nick schifrin, thank you. >> schifrin: thank you. >> woodruff: today the biden administration released its first detainee from the u.s. detention camp at guantanamo bay naval base in cuba. as amna nawaz reports, it's an effort to decrease the population, and eventually shut dow the prison complex nearly two decades after its opening. >> nawaz: judy, the biden administration says its goal is to close the u.s. military prison in guantanamo bay. today, they began that process by releasing abdul latif nasser. he was never charged with a crime but remained detained for nineteen years. today he was repatriated to morocco, where he will remain under tight security measures. nearly 800 prisoners have passed through guantanamo since detainees first arrived there in early 2002. now, 39 remain. to discuss this move, i'm joined by thomas durkin, the lawyer for abdul latif nasser. welcome to the newshour and thankers for making the time. tell knee, what was your reaction and his when you learned he was going to leave guantanamo today after nearly two decades? >> well, i can't speak for him, yet i d

nick schifrin reports on his life and legacy.k: a navy veteran and republican congressman, donald rumsfeld was america's youngest defense secretary in the cold war. he was also its oldest defense secretary and oversaw the wars post 9/11. on the morning of september 11, he was a stretcher bearer burying wounded from the pentagon. >> the fact is in this battle against terrorism, there is no silver bullet. nick: he was an architect of the afghanistan and iraq wars and propagated the argument that saddam hussein harbored weapons of mass destruction. >> what do you make of the statement madey the iraqi government yesterday that iraq has no weapons of mass destruction and is not developing any? >> they are lying. nick: rumsfeld was a key proponent of the u.s.'s use of what he called enhanced interrogation. others called it torture. the wars continued, and casualties climbed, but rumsfeld dismissed complaints from troops they were ill-prepared. >> as you know, you go to war with the army you have, but not the army you might want or wish

nick schifrin, thank you.ht, the biden administration released its first detainee from the u.s. detention camp at guantanamo bay naval base in cuba. it's an effort to decrease the population and eventually shut down the prison complex nearly two decades after its opening. amna: the biden administration says its goal is to close wonton amo obey. they begin that process by releasing abdul natif nassir. he was repatriated to morocco. nearly eight to reef -- 800 detainees have moved through guantanamo. 39 men remain. to discuss tod's move, i'm joined by tom durkin. thanks for making the time. what was your reaction and his when you learn he was going to leave guantanamo after two decades? tom: i can't speak to him because i have not spoken to him yet. i did speak to his brother who was absolutely ecstatic. i'm told he's been released in morocco, but i have not heard from him yet. he probably has more important people to see than me at the moment. i was just tremendously relieved. it's like getting a boulder off yo

nick schifrin: yes. milley and other military's fears about what president trump was capable of, about the lack of confidence in his decision-making really accelerated when trump fired secretary of defense mark esper. that was in early november, when trump was threatening to fire other senior officials, including cia director gina haspel, and when he installed loyalists to run the pentagon. current and former officials i talk to say those loyalists pursued policy changes, traveled the world without any deliberation with other u.s. officials, without sharing details of their conversations. and so milley, along with secretary of state mike pompeo and others, really tried to hold the line on policy. they froze out trump loyalists. they feared that those policies would be made on the back of envelopes. they feared that some of those loyalists might start a war even. and they feared that trump could do anything to stay in power, including perhaps creating a crisis in the u.s. that would require the deployment

for the pbs newshour, i'm nick schifrin. ♪ judy: stay with us. coming up on the newshour...s are behind changing one of the ways congress spends money. david brooks and karen tumulty consider the u.s. role in afghanistan and the new york city mayor's race. and can you spell history? the remarkable new orleans teen who won the national spelling bee. extreme heat and drought are baking the western united states and canada again this week, following hundreds of heat-related deaths in the pacific northwest last week. record-breaking temperatures are expected to return to california this coming weekend, including in the san joaquin valley, which is where william brangham is currently reporting. he joins me now from the city of visalia. you were telling us it is something like 109 degrees, another heat wave coming. tell us what it is like, and our officials there prepared? william: the technical term is it is unbelievably hot. the national weather service issued a warning that starting today through the weekend, there is an extreme heat alert and they are basically advising people

nick schifrin talks to the diplomat who leads the u.s.' diplomatic efforts in afghanistan. >> schifrin: over the last 4 decades, few americans have helped shape afghan policy more, than ambassador zalmay khalilzad. he was born in afghanistan, advised in president reagan's state department, was a presidential special envoy and then ambassador to afghanistan during the george w. bush administration, and has been the special representative for afghan reconstruction, under the trump and biden administrations. ambassador khalilzad, welcome back to the newshour. the taliban across afghanistan have seized dozens of districts. the afghan army is ceding ground and in some places surrendering. an afghan government cohesion is weakening. each of those variables existed before the u.s. announced its withdrawal, but all variables are accelerating. given that, how do you justify the decision to withdraw? >> well, the withdrawal is based on an agreement that was signed almost two years ago, and that agreement had a time line for withdrawal as a part of a

yamiche alcindor at the white house, nick schifrin, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> for more on all this we turn >> woodruff: for more on all of this we turn to leon panetta who served as secretary of defense and director of the c.i.a. during the obama administration. leon panetta, listening to all of this from what is coming from this reporting, what do you make of it? >> well, i think it just confirms that the events of january 6th brought us very close to endangering our dm october see it steph. and that we are now in a process of looking at all of the concerns and suspicions that have been raised about just exactly what president trump was up to in the events following the election, and leading up to january 6th itself. those fears and suspicions are still very much alive. >> and when you, and the reporting of that general milley, again, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, someone, a position as secretary of defense, you certainly work very closely with the joint chief chairman at the time, you were in office. i mean this speaks volumes about the concern at the very t

here's nick schifrin. >> schifrin: judy, today's business advisory says because of the 2020 national security law that beijing imposed on hong kong, americans are at risk of arrest, and businesses are at risk of electronic, warrant-less surveillance; restricted access to information because of a crackdown on the media, and chinese legal consequences if they comply with american sanctions. also today, the u.s. sanctioned seven officials in the chinese communist party'primary office in hong kong. for more on all of this, we turn to michael hirson, the china lead for the eurasia group, an international business consulting firm. michael hirson welcome back to the newshour. how significant ask it that the u.s. has issued this advisory for hong kong? >> i don't think any news in the advisory is going to be shocking. it does represent a deterioration in hong kong's business environment and it shows that you the biden administration is quite willing to push the envelope essentially on this issue even though it's quite sensitive to china. >> reporter: you talked to businesses in hong kong. wh

nick schifrin reports.oday all that is left of the hospital built to keep people alive is a site of mass death. dozens of families lost loved ones and the caskets became a solemn procession. iraqi officials say the fire likely started when faulty wiring sparked in an oxygen tank ploded. firefighters tried to put out the blaze using self rose the -- using self and flashlights because there was no electricity, but it was too late. the bodies lined up row after row. the grief, unspeakable. >> the tragedy that occurred tonight is a tragedy for which there are no words. nick: but the tears are tainted with fury. >> the whole state has collapsed, and who has paid the price, these people have paid the price. nick: for years, iraq's health care system has suffered corruption and mismanagement. it medics at the hospital lacked basic measures like a sprinkler system and a fire extinguisher, and the construction was shoddy, with flammable materials. in april, another 82 people died in hospital after an oxygen tank exp

nick schifrin reports.k: it started as political protests and devolved into chaos across two of south africa's largest cities with looting, ransacked shelves and malls turned into smoldering buildings. some admitted they stole but said their crimes were borne from poverty. >> i guess the real reason is because we have nothing and when you see other people stealing at some point you realize shops are closed and you will be left with nothing. nick: in response, police and soldiers fired into crowds, trying to restore order. south african president cyril ramaphosa accuses looters of taking advantage of civil unrest. >> what we are witnessing now, are opportunistic acts of criminality. nick: the short-term spark was the imprisonment of jacob zuma for contempt of court, accused of fraud, racketeering and money laundering but the long-term embers are entrenched poverty and unemployment nearly 30 years after the end of apartheid. >> it is the dehumanizing effect of inequality and also the reality that south africa

. >> schifrin: the numbers are staggering. an estimated 20,000 service members are sexually assaulted, every year. but only 7,816 service members report those cases, and in only 350 cases were perpetrators charged with a crime. 64% of those who report sexual assaults, have faced retaliation for doing so. the independent commission made 80 recommendations, including remove military commanders from adjudicating sexual assault cases. better evaluate commanders for the climate they create. and victim advocates should be independent of the chain of command. lynn rosenthal chaired this commission, and joins me now. lynn rosenthal, welcome to the "newshour". you write that the military has failed america's sons and daughters and service members know it. what do you mean? >> we found that there is this great chasm between what senior leaders say about sexual assault and sexual harassment and what junior enlisted members experience. so senior leaders will say that there's no tolerance for sexual assault and sexual harassment, and yet j

nick schifrin explores how these decades of war look to veterans who served there. united states will soon complete the withdrawal of almost all military forces in afghanistan. the war in afghanistan has been the u.s.'s longest. the u.s. invaded in october 2001 nearly 20 years ago. we thought we'd mark the withdrawal by talking with three veterans of the war about their experiences and what was accomplished. major megan evans has been in the military since 2004. in 2013, she led an all-female cultural support team who would speak to ghan women in the villages. she is still in the army. former specialist isaiah james was in army reconnaissance surveillance and acquisition team outside of kandahar city in 2010-2011. he served two tours in iraq and was medically retired in 2013. and retired colonel mike jason is a 24-year career in the army. in 2012 he was battalion commander in northern afghanistan and served two tours in iraq. he retired in 2019. major, events let me start with you, when you would speak with afghan women, did they give you the intelligence that you w

here is nick schifrin. >> judy, today's business advisory says because of the 2020 national security imposed on hong kong, americans are a risk of arrest. and businesses are at risk of electronic, worthless surveillance. restricted access to information because not crackdown on in in -- on media. and chinese it take comply with american sanctions. today the u.s. sanctions seven officials from the chinese commonest party office in hong kong. we turn to the china lead for that eurasia group, an international business consulting group. michael, welcome back to the newshour. how significant is it that the u.s. forhe first time issue thisdvisory about hong kong? >> i do not think the findings in the advisory will be anything new or shocking to the business community. it does represent, i think, a deterioration in hong kong's business environment. it also shows you that the biden administration is willing to push the envelope on this issue, even though it is quite sensitive to china. nick: you talk to businesses in hong kong. what are ty saying? are they planning on any changes, because of

nick schifrin sits down with general brown and first looks at his history and his priorities. >> when flying and put my helmet on, my visor down, my mask up, you don't know who i am. >> it's an air force recruiting ad, ad-libbed by its top officer. >> whether i'm african american, asian american, hispanic, white, male, or female, you just know i'm an american airman kicking your butt. >> gen. cq brown jr. became air force chief of staff in 2020, and one of his priorities: diversifying the force. during last year's national disquiet following george floyd's death, he called out the military for the racism he experienced. >> i'm thinking about the pressure i felt to perform error-free, especially for supervisors i perceive had expected less from me, as an african-american. i'm thinking about wearing the same flight suit with the same wings on my chest as my peers, and then been questioned by another military member, are you a pilot? i'm thinking about my mentors, and how i rarely had a mentor that looked like me. >> brown says air force priorities are making sure american aircraft can c

here's nick schifrin. >> the sprawling hub of american operations in afghanistan for nearly two decades airfield - is now in the hands of the afghan government. defense officials say all american forces outside of the kabul airport and embassy, have left the country. president biden today suggested the country's challenges, are now the afghans' problem. >> we have worked out and over the horizon capacity that we can be value added. the afghans will have to do it themselves with the airport -- the air force they have which we will help maintain. i will not answer anymore questions about afghanistan. it's the fourth of july. i'm concerned you guys are asking me questions that i will answer next week, but this is a holiday weekend. i will celebrated. >> so what of this moment in afghanistan, and of its very uncertain future? our jane ferguson joins me from kabul. jane, good to see you. ta about the mood on the ground in kabul. >> government officials are trying to make sense of what next coming weeks and months will mean for them. they have spent the last months trying to secure the u.s. f