shadi hamid, steven simon, thank you both. >> good to be here. >> woodruff: the u.s. justice department today announced it had settled its investigation into bank of america with a record-breaking financial penalty. hari sreenivasan has the story. >> sreenivasan: under the terms of the deal, bank of america will pay a total of nearly $17- billion for its role in writing and securitizing risky home loans in the run-up to the housing crisis. many of those loans eventually failed. almost $10 billion of that figure will go to the u.s. treasury, six states, and other government agencies. $7 billion is earmarked to aid struggling consumers, particularly distressed homeowners. at a press conference this morning, u.s. associate attorney general tony west said it was an important part of the deal. for a closer look at today's deal and what impact it and other, earlier bank settlements might have-- both on wall street and on main street-- i am joined by lynn stout, professor of corporate and business law at cornell law school and dennis kelleher, president and c.e.o of betterma

joining us now to help us understand this new landscape of the middle east is: steven simon, a formerior director for middle eastern and north african affairs on the national security council staff from 2011 to 2012-- he's now a senior fellow at the middle east institute; and hisham melhem, washington bureau chief of al- arabiya news channel. welcome to both of you. hisham, it's a given, the world has changed, right? help us first by laying out the camps, so to speak, that we face. >> as we know, the uprising that began three and a half years ago unfortunately have morphed into civil wars in yemen, libya and sir. i can't syria is a place where there is a conversion of powers. the camps so to speak, the regime in damascus which is islam supported by iran which is the major region of shiite power as well as by hezbollah -- hezbollah's working for certain iranian interests and also supported by militias from iraq. so you have the shia coalition fighting to save the regime in damascus and in that sense iran and syria are more important in supporting the regime t mos cows. then you have su

on that, steven simon, hishamro melhem, thank you very much. >> sreenivasan: now, our final report inklong series on "rethinking college." tonight, we look at a funding w model used by more and more states for their public universities.moit it's all outcome-based. the institutions receive funding based solely on their graduation rates. ♪ >> sreenivasan: four years ago, educators in tennessee became alarmed by a troubling statistic.as >> candidates please rise... >> sreenivasan: only 51% ofly students enrolled at the state's public universities actuallyhe graduated.ub the disturbingly high dropout rate raised questions aboutai higher education. is a public institution really successful if only half its students ever graduate? it was the big question in 2010 before tennessee's commission of higher education. 2reon russ deaton is the commission's chief financial officer. >> our schools were very good at opening their doors to students, and the financial precious were not on retaining students and graduating them. >> sreenivasan: so tennessee decided to dump the traditional funding model.

i'm joined by steven simon, former national security council senior director of the middle east for the obama administration. now a senior fellow at the middle east institute. steven, thank you for being with us. >> my pleasure. >> some tough decisions. we've seen the president back off. he took action, limited action, in iraq but we've seen him back off in syrian action. it's a very different matter when you look at the syrian air defenses and getting engaged in that. he's been famously reluctant. what decisions do you think he should take as he tries to confront isis? >> i think the decisions that he takes on isis are going to have to depend on how he defines a u.s. interest and objectives. an the one hand. and the precise threat that isis presents to the united states on the other. in the setting of syria -- in the setting of iraq, it's koond of clear. in the setting of syria, it's less clear. and one of the reasons that these decisions, i think, are so hard to make is that the more the u.s. gets involved on the syria side of the line, the more it looks like the u.s. is finally inter

steven simon appreciate you being with us. >> thanks very much. >> now from the kurdish side, karwin sabari. karwin good to have you with us. it looked like i.s. was threatening iraqi, now u.s. fights and the peshmerga fighters have broken the siege around mt. sinjar. are your troops gaining ground? >> absolutely, antonio. they had captured a lot of ground and had momentum going their way. they were able to gain this momentum as a result of the american army that was left behind, i'm sorry, manner arms left behind by the iraqi shooting forces, the four divisions that melted away in mosul on june 9 and 10. they were able to break through some of the peshmerga ranks and capture some of the ground. as a result of these air strikes that are taking place and we are very grateful for the united states and allied forces that are coming in and stepping up this momentum has been halted and now what we have to do is go on the offensive and repel i.s.i.s. advances. >> talking about the allied forces one of the concerns is that the kurdish force he did not have weapons to stand up to those ameri

simon e. chamberlain of company k., the 25th new york calvary, the first calvary to deploy here on july 11th here at fort stevens when early's troops arrived. with mr. -- i'm sorry, would mr. chamberlain please stand. [ applause ] we will close the benediction, but we do hope each of you will come over and join us. just across the street you'll get some instructions. it's the moment to join us for the first fine of the civil war here in the district of columbia since 1864, 150 years ago today. fire a canon, yes. >> please welcome again reverend louis as he leads us through the benediction. >> please stand. now lord we ask for our blessings that as we leave this place, that the street fellowship of the holy communion will rest, rule and abide with us now and forever more and all god's people said -- amen. >>> american history tv in primetime continues wednesday with the civil war battle of the crater, which took place during the siege of petersburg, virginia, on july 30th, 1864. the battle failed with heavy losses for union troops. at 8:00 p.m., the national parks service commemorates the 150th anniversary of the

simon e. chamberlain of company k., the 25th new york calvary, the first calvary to deploy here on july 11th here at fort stevens

simon e. chamberlain of company k., the 25th new york calvary, the first calvary to deploy here on july 11th here at fort stevenss the moment to join us for the first fine of the civil war here in the district of columbia since 1864, 150 years ago today. fire a canon, yes. >> please welcome again reverend louis as he leads us through the benediction. >> please stand. now lord we ask for our blessings that as we leave this place, that the street fellowship of the holy communion will rest, rule and abide with us now and forever more and all god's people said -- amen. >>> american history tv in primetime continues wednesday with the civil war battle of the crater, which took place during the siege of petersburg, virginia, on july 30th, 1864. the battle failed with heavy losses for union troops. at 8:00 p.m., the national parks service commemorates the 150th anniversary of the battle and honors the role of u.s. color troops. at 9:20, emanuele dabny discusses how the attack failed and why u.s. color troops were unjustly blamed. and at 10:15, author kevin la vigne discusses how color troops were remembered immediately

simon e. chamberlain of company k. the 25th new york calvary, the v first calvary to deploy here on july 11th in ft. stevens us for the first firing of a cannon in the civil war here in the district of columbia since 1864. 150 years ago today. >> firing cannon, yes. >> please welcome again reverenr louis as he leads us through the benediction. >> let us stand. now, lord, we ask thy blessings as we leave this place. f that fellowship will be with us. >>> tonight american history tv's look at the civil war continues with the battle of the crater, occurring during the siege of petersburg, virginia, union forces detonated explosives under the confederate lines. the attack failed with heavy losses for union troops, here's a preview. >> one regiment in the area, was the 48th pennsylvania infantry. some troops were coal minors, they thought they could mine underneath the confederate battery, fill the end of the mine with gun powder, and literally blow a hole in the confederate lines. the digging began june 25th. the total length of the mine would be about 586 feet, they removed 18,000 cubic feet of earth in the co

simon e. chamberlain of company k., the 25th new york calvary, the first calvary to deploy here on july 11th here at fort stevens when early's troops arrived. with mr. -- i'm sorry, taylor chamberlain please stand. [ applause ] we will close with the benediction, but we do hope each of you will come over and join us just across the street. you'll get some instructions. it's the moment to join us for the first fine of the civil war here in the district of columbia since 1864, 150 years ago today. fire a canon, yes. >> please welcome again reverend louis as he leads us through the benediction. plz >> let us stand. now, lord, we ask for your blessings that as we leave this place, that the street fellowship of the holy communion will rest, rule and abide with us now and forever more and all god's people said -- amen. >>> american history's look at the civil war continues tonight with the battle of the crater occurring during the siege of peters burg, virginia. the attack failed with heavy losses for union troops. tonight watch as the national park service kmem rates the 150th anniversary of the battle. we'll amgs ta