. >> ifill: margaret warner takes the story from there. >> warner: for more on president assad's defiant speech and his fight to maintain his regime we turn to two men who have met and dealt with him. theodore katuf was u.s. ambassador tsyria from 2001 to 2003 in the early years of assad's rule and andrew cable now a fellow at the washington institute lived in syria for most of the last decade and covered assad for an english language magazine he founded there. welcome to you both. gentlemen, let me begin with you, this speech was 100 minutes long. was it as defiant looked at in its entirety as it sounds? >> yes. it continued the pattern of defiant speeches from president assad. he outright says that you must battle terrorism which is what he called the uprising in syria. it must be dealt with with an iron fist and victory is near. this is very bombastic language and something in a speech that we did not expect. we expected some sort of concessions from assad. he didn't deliver. >> warner: what do you make of "victory is near"? do you think he believes that? what does this say about psyc

. >> warner: and i'm margaret warner. on the "newshour" tonight, juliet eilperin of the "washington post" explains the reasons for the decision and what happens next. >> woodruff: we discuss the pressure on g.o.p. front-runner mitt romney to release his tax information in advance of the south carolina primary. >> warner: we debate the risk of sliding into war with iran, as the west tightens sanctions against its nuclear program. >> woodruff: spencer michels reports on how fog and tourism are threatening to destroy the historic murals in a san francisco landmark. >> the quality of art is amazing here. it's really indicative of the time period of the early '30s and for the public art, public mural movement of that time period. >> warner: and we debate the impact private equity firms have on jobs and the economy. >> woodruff: that's all ahead on tonight's "newshour." major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> and by the bill and melinda gates foundation. dedicated to the idea that all people deserve the chan

margaret warner has our story. >> warner: president obama and his family set the day's theme with a volunteer project at a school in washington. >> this is the third year now that we provide or engage in some sort of service on dr. king's birthday. there's no better way to celebrate dr. king than to do something on behalf of others. >> warner: it was the first king hol die since the martin luther king memorial opened to the public on the national mall last august. >> this is the actual birthday of martin luther king jr.. >> reporter: on sunday when king would have been 83 his son martin luther king iii took part in a wreath-laying there. at the memorial today, visitors stopped to read aloud the words of the civil rights leader carved in granite. >> equality and freedom for their spirit. >> and justice anywhere is a start to justice everywhere. >> warner: but another quote chicagoeled into the stone has been a source of criticism. currently it reads "i was a drum major for justice, peace and righteousness." it was taken from a 1968 speech in which king discussed how he might be remembered afte

. >> warner: and i'm margaret warner. on the "newshour" tonight, we have the latest from south carolina with just two days to plus, gwen ifill sits down with former speaker gingrich. i'm here where a spoke with newt gingrich about what perry decision means as the candidates prepare for their final debate here tonight. >> woodruff: then, ray suarez looks at the impact the sluggish economy is having on budget strapped cities with mayors antonio villaraigosa of los angeles and danny jones of charleston, west virginia. >> warner: we talk with king abdullah of jordan, who conferred with president obama this week on what to do about the deteriorating situation in syria. >> i don't see this ending up as a good story. i mean it's great to turn out badly no matter what. when is anybody's guess. >> woodruff: and hari sreenivasan sorts through the chapter eleven bankruptcy filing of photography icon eastman kodak. >> woodruff: that's all ahead on tonight's "newshour." major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: and the

so i... >> warner: the buyer. >> yes, it's mostly bluster. >> warner: so how...t impact are all of these sanctions? we've had four rounds of u.n. sanctions, e.u. ones, who has been the overall impact on first of all let's begin with you, haleh, the economy of iran. the last round of sanctions has been really back breaking for the iranian economy. what one hears from iran is that it's... cost of living has raised five times more, six times more. and it might be exaggeration, there are not exact figures, but people complain about it all the time, number one. number two, i think what these sanctions are doing is that they are also creating a rift, a division, among the leadership, too. there are those who say why do we bring this on ourselves for the first time? and also the population is unhappy with the position that iran is taking. >> warner: and what about the currency devaluation which really... it's been devalued quite a bit since last year but this week with the signing of that bill it's even worse. what... how does that affect an ordinary iranian? >> it is i

. >> warner: and i'm margaret warner. on the "newshour" tonight: deputy secretary of defense ashton carter walks us through the plan to reshape the military while trimming costs. >> brown: then, we turn to florida, where judy woodruff has an update on the g.o.p. presidential primary contest. >> warner: kwame holman reports on a key component of president obama's re-election strategy highlighting the political gridlock in washington. >> president obama says this 112th congress-- as divided and partisan as it is-- should work with him on behalf of the american people. >> brown: ray suarez looks at today's jobs problem and the future role of manufacturing. >> warner: and, we have a conversation with veteran reporter tom edsall about the political landscape in a time of scarce resources. >> the fight now is a much more serious and brutal fight over basically sxhix and how do you cut up a smaller and smaller part? >> brown: that's all ahead on tonight's "newshour." major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> an

margaret warner has our report. >> warner: amid cries of "death to america" today the iranian supreme leader was defiant at a tehran rally. he proclaimed his nation would not give up its nuclear program, despite the economic damage done by international sanctions. >> the strong decision of the sacred islamic republic is based on not being diverted from the path it has adopted, not sur surrendering and resisting against bullying and extreme demands of super powers. >> warner: his declaration came as the international atomic agency in an email to right irz says iran has begun enriching uranium at a second underground site. it had announced its intention to do so on saturday. the existence of the facility near the iranian holy city was publicly revealed by washington and its allies in late 2009. it is very deep underground, unlike a similar plant. the iranian government insists that its nuclear activities are for peaceful energy purposes only, an assertion disputed by the u.s. and its allies. on cbs yesterday, secretary of defense leon panetta repeated international demands that iran sto

. >> ifill: margaret warner takes the story from there. >> warner: for more on president assad's defiant speech and his fight to maintain his regime we turn to two men who have met and dealt with him. theodore katuf was u.s. ambassador to syria from 2001 to 2003 in the early years of assad's rule and andrew cable now a fellow at the washington institute lived in syria for most of the last decade and covered assad for an english language magazine he founded there. welcome to you both. gentlemen, let me begin with you, this speech was 100 minutes long. was it as defiant looked at in its entirety as it sounds? >> yes. it continued the pattern of defiant speeches from president assad. he outright says that you must battle terrorism which is what he called the uprising in syria. it must be dealt with with an iron fist and victory is near. this is very bombastic language and something in a speech that we did not expect. we expected some sort of concessions from assad. he didn't deliver. >> warner: what do you make of "victory is near"? do you think he believes that? what does this say about ps

margaret warner has the story. >> warner: it was one of the worst attacks on civilians by u.s. troops of the entire iraq war. blood-soaked rooms, scattered bullet casings, and piles of bodies littered the scene in haditha 140 miles northwest of baghdad in november, 2005. survivors accused u.s. marines of carrying out a massacre. >> the americans knocked at the door. my father went to open it. they shot him dead from behind the door and then they shot him again after they opened the door. then comes one american soldier and shot at us all. i pretended to be dead. >> warner: it had begun with a roadside bomb that killed marine lance corporal miguel. his death was noted on the newshour's honor roll. military investigators concluded his squad went on a rampage of revenge, killing 24 iraqi civilians including three women and seven children. four enlisted marines were charged with manslaughter and other crimes. four officers were charged with a cover-up. defense lawyers argued the marines believed they were in hostile territory and acted properly. ultimately charges were dropped agai

and that would be him. >> warner: andrew, where does this leave the arab league mission? as we heard he totally trashed the arab league in his speech. >> yeah. what's very interesting is that they basically called it non-objective. he referred to some arab countries which he means kay tar. no way that the report.... >> warner: this is the observer mission, seeing if he was living up to the deal. >> he wasn't living up to the deal. he's not going to be able to live up to the deal. most importantly what this is going to do then is that this is going to throw things perhaps out of the arab league and into the security council. the question will be, what will a negative report on syria not complying do with the russian veto on the security council in terms of blocking a western-led resolution there to help try and end the fighting. >> warner: how clear is it that the arab league report will be negative because some of the statements that have come out from them as they've continued this mission have, it seems to strike, you know, criticize both sides and so forth? >> i think

i'm margaret warner. >> brown: and i'm jeffrey brown. we'll see you online and again here tomorrow evening with david brooks and e.j. dionne among others. thank you and good night. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology, and improved economic performance and financial literacy in the 21st century. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> this is "bbc world news america." funding for this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. newman's own foundation. and union bank. >> at union bank, our relationship managers work hard to know your business, offering specialized solutions in capital to help you

margaret warner has the story. >> warner: hundreds of thousands of egyptians flocked to tahrir squaremark the onset of the 18-day revolution that drove president hosni mubarak from office last year. people waved flags and chanted, but unlike a year ago there were no army troops or police present. for many, this was a celebration. >> ( translated ): i came to celebrate what has been fulfilled from the goals of the revolution, i came to celebrate the downfall of mubarak and his corrupted people around him, i came to celebrate freedom. >> warner: but others, from the secular forces who sparked the revolution, protested against continued rule by the interim military government. >> ( translated ): this is not the anniversary of the revolution, it hasn't ended yet. >> warner: in fact, the political divisions were plainly evident-- liberal, secular egyptians massing on one side of the square protesting, islamists on the other side, celebrating. for now, it's the islamists who've won political power. in egypt's newly elected lower house of parliament, the long- banned muslim brotherhood now h

margaret warner has the story. >> warner: last night, after days of controversy, a mississippi judge moved to block some last-minute pardons made by outgoing governor haley barbour. vacating the governor's office this past week, the two-term republican issued pardons to more than 200 felons, 14 of them convicted killers and many others imprisoned for violent crimes. after a furor erupted, barbour's office yesterday issued a statement saying that 189 of them-- roughly 90%-- had already completed their sentences. the judge's ruling temporarily blocks the release of 21 of those who were still in jail. to help sort this out is daniel cherry of mississippi public broadcasting. daniel, welcome, thanks. how did this story just explode? flesh it out for us a little bit. >> well, whenever he, governor barbour had first pardoned five inmates. and that was drawing enough attention. and then came this additional 200 plus. and it really did just create a serious public outcry around here. >> warner: and so some became public right away but then just this week you heard about the nearly 200 others