PBS NewsHour full episode August 25, 2017

JUDY WOODRUFF, PBS NEWSHOUR ANCHOR: Good evening. I`m Judy Woodruff.
On the NEWSHOUR tonight:
Hurricane Harvey threatens Texas. With winds at more than 120 miles an hour and devastating
floods, it could be the most powerful storm to hit the U.S. in more than a decade.
Then, rebuilding after ISIS. A look at the challenges facing one Syrian city, as it creates
a future from the rubble of terrorism.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The start of liberation was a challenge. It is
hard to organize a city that was ruled by terror for two years. And after we freed Manbij,
we needed to clear the city from the ISIS ideology.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WOODRUFF: And, it`s Friday. Mark Shields and David Brooks take on a far-reaching week of
news, from the president`s decision on the war in Afghanistan, to his own war of words
with other Republicans.
WOODRUFF: All that and more on tonight`s PBS NEWSHOUR.
(BREAK)
WOODRUFF: Hurricane Harvey is bearing down on the Gulf Coast of Texas tonight, with all
the makings of a major disaster. By early evening, the storm had sustained winds of
125 miles an hour, and could get even stronger.
Lisa Desjardins begins our coverage.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LISA DESJARDINS, PBS NEWSHOUR CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Waves battered Galveston and
the rest of the Texas coast all day, the punishing winds and rain only beginning. From high overhead,
cameras aboard the international space station captured the scope of the storm as it closed
in.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott activated 700 National Guard troops and braced for the worst.
GOV. GREG ABBOTT (R), TEXAS: We are going to be dealing with immense, really record-
setting flooding in multiple regions across the state of Texas. You may think that the
initial surge is something that you will be able to deal with. What you don`t know and
what nobody else knows right now will be the magnitude of flooding that will be occurring
over the coming days, and the aftermath of the initial surge.
DESJARDINS: Harvey is poised to make landfall overnight near Corpus Christi. But, it`s expected
to stall and hover, inundating a wide swath of the state, including San Antonio and Houston,
with up to three feet of rain. Then, another weather front could push it back into the
Gulf of Mexico, to regain strength and strike again near Houston.
Seven coastal Texas counties ordered tens of thousands to evacuate from low-lying areas.
Other areas, like Galveston, only encouraged residents to leave. But the city`s mayor warned,
the flooding will be worse than usual.
MAYOR JAMES YARBROUGH, GALVESTON: That hovering effect will impact us. We`re going to see
high tides come up. The highest tide, we anticipate, will be in the morning. The bad news is, they`re
not going down for three or four days. And so, you get those high tides in the morning,
any of this rain we anticipate is going to stack on top of that.
DESJARDINS: Corpus Christi officials are also anticipating tough times.
JUDGE LOYD NEAL, NUECES COUNTY: When the power goes off, you can expect it to be off, depending
on where you are in the city of Corpus Christi and in Nueces County, three to seven days.
DESJARDINS: With that in mind, one hospital in Corpus Christi airlifted 10 critically
ill infants from its intensive care unit. As thousands of others hit the road for drier
land today, a few took advantage of pounding waves.
But a county sheriff put it plainly: stay at your own risk.
SKIPPER OSBORNE, SHERIFF, MATAGORDA COUNTY: I am not going to send the boat down there
after we ask you to leave. We are not -- I`m not going to put one of my deputies` lives
on the line to go down there and get you out. So, you`re on your own.
DESJARDINS: Some boarded up their homes and hunkered down despite the warnings.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`m scared. So I will do everything I can to protect our little
place down here, and hope and pray for the best.
DESJARDINS: In Washington, President Trump`s homeland security advisor Tom Bossert said
federal disaster preparations are well under way.
TOM BOSSERT, HOMELAND SECURITY ADVISER: Right now, we`re executing and we`re going to do
what it takes to save peoples lives and make their lives easier as they sustain damage.
DESJARDINS: The president tweeted that he`d spoken with the governors of Texas and Louisiana,
and will assist as needed. And later, the White House announced he`ll go to Texas early
next week.
For the PBS NEWSHOUR, I`m Lisa Desjardins.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WOODRUFF: The National Hurricane Center has issued very clear warnings about the danger
of this storm.
Ed Rappaport is the acting director, and he joins me now from Miami.
Thank you so much for talking with us.
What`s the latest on Harvey`s course?
EDWARD RAPPARORT, ACTING DIRECTOR, NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER: The latest is that the center
of Harvey is located about 50 miles offshore between Corpus Christi and Port O`Connor,
Texas. And we think that the center will be moving ashore there by about midnight.
While the center`s offshore though, the strong winds and heavy rain and high storm surge
are already approaching the coast. We`ve seen gusts now of over 80 miles per hour reported
at Port Aransas, and the war levels are beginning to rise. That`s one of our big fears is that
the storm surge associated with the hurricane is going to rise to life threatening levels.
WOODRUFF: Well, that`s what I wanted to ask you. What is the greatest danger? It`s flooding,
is that rain that`s going to hover over the area?
RAPPAPORT: Yes. The greatest danger from hurricanes is always water, 90 percent of lives lost
during hurricanes are due to water. And it`s split, many from storm surge, others from
rainfall.
In this case, we have both hazards in play. First along the coast, we have that storm
surge that could rise to six to 12 feet, above ground level. There will be waves on top of
that.
Then, we also expect rainfall that`s going to be near record levels. Here`s the Texas
coast. This area here we`re expecting at least 20 inches of rain, perhaps as much as 35 inches
of rain.
So, very dangerous conditions both from the sea and from the rainfall.
WOODRUFF: And, Ed Rappaport, some concern this storm could go out and come back again
and hit Houston twice?
RAPPAPORT: There`s some possibility that down the road, three to five days, that we`ll have
the system move back offshore. But at the moment, the biggest threat, the biggest concern
is for the next three days with the storm surge which will linger through many high
tides, as well as the rainfall, along the Texas coastal area.
WOODRUFF: I want to ask you to put this in context. We were looking at the warning the
Hurricane Center put out just a few hours ago. Catastrophic flooding, life threatening
conditions -- this is very strong language.
RAPPAPORT: That`s right. This at the moment appears to be the strongest hurricane that
we`ve had make landfall in Texas in about 50 years. So, I hope that provides some perspective
at what we`re looking at. The last time we had such a strong storm was actually in the
Corpus Christi area back in 1970 or even before that, 1964, also along the Texas coast.
WOODRUFF: And I know you are continually giving warnings and urging people to pay attention.
Ed Rappaport, we --
RAPPAPORT: Yes.
WOODRUFF: We thank you very much, from the National Hurricane Center.
RAPPAPORT: Thank you.
WOODRUFF: In the city of San Antonio, they`re preparing for heavy rain, winds and evacuees
from the coast.
Ron Nirenberg is the mayor. I spoke with him just a short time ago.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WOODRUFF: Mayor Nirenberg, thank you very much for joining us.
What have you been told to expect from this storm?
MAYOR RON NIRENBERG, SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS: Well, we`re expecting some localized flooding because
of some significant rainfalls that will occur over the next several hours and several days.
But more importantly than that, our area is a coordinated regional emergency operation
center.
So, we`ve spun that up. We`ve been working with our emergency services departments over
the last several days to prepare and we`ve received a lot of resources from the different
parts of the state that are now being deployed to the coastal areas and we`re also receiving
a lot of evacuees from the coastal communities. There`s a couple command tree evacuations
and then, of course, there are people who are leaving which is a good idea, with the
path of the storm going right over them.
WOODRUFF: Well, before I ask you about some of that, I do want to ask you about the flooding,
the rain you`re expecting. What have they told you to expect? I know from historical
experience in San Antonio had some serious rain episodes in the past.
NIRENBERG: Yes. And the projections have changed. As we moved along in the storm and we`re cautioning
everyone to be aware of the evolving nature of the storm that they could change again.
But we know in San Antonio that a small amount of rainfall, falling in a short period of
time can create some flash flooding, significant flooding. We saw that as recently as two weeks
ago.
So, we have been told to expect anywhere from six to 15 inches depending where you are in
San Antonio. The heavy rain will fall east of I-35 and I-37.
But again, that could all change. We`re asking residents to please stay home, use some common
sense, stay off the roadways and if they have to travel, avoid low water crossings and be
aware of their surroundings.
We`re going to have emergency crews operating. Currently, they are barricading known trouble
areas with regard to high water areas, and we`re also asking people just to alert our
authorities if they find areas that are low -- you know, high water over the road.
WOODRUFF: So you`re not asking people in your area to evacuate?
NIRENBERG: No. San Antonio is not under any kind of evacuation. We`re just asking people
to clear path for first responders and to make sure that the roads are clear as evacuees
continue to come here. We`ve had 700 of them come already that are sheltered and we have
many more that are coming through our area or stopping in San Antonio on their own volition
because they have wisely chosen to leave the coastal area.
WOODRUFF: So do you -- do you feel you have what you need to handle the people who are
coming into this city?
NIRENBERG: Absolutely. And we`ve been coordinating resources throughout the week and San Antonio
is ready. No one will be turned away if they need shelter in San Antonio and we certainly
stand ready as we always are in the event of significant storm, you know, rain or winds
here in San Antonio locally.
WOODRUFF: Are residents heeding your advice, the advice they`re getting from city officials
and from weather officials as well?
NIRENBERG: They are. Our residents here in San Antonio have been through this before.
As I mentioned, we`re in flash flood alley, so we`ve seen small rain events turn into
flooding situations. So, they`re aware.
But we want to make sure that also, we`re checking on each other, you know, neighbors
checking on neighbors. But just doing the simple things, preparing for -- staying in
during the vast part of this weekend and into next week, staying out of the way of first
responders. And in the event someone can help, we`re also taking volunteers and doing trainings
through our American Red Cross, all the way through tomorrow, and asking people to call
our non-emergency lines to help with any assistance they can provide. We also are asking them
to download apps and stay aware of the changing nature of the storm.
WOODRUFF: What`s your biggest worry right now?
NIRENBERG: You know, I`m not worried. I`m just presented and working with our emergency
services, our neighbors to our south in the coastal areas.
We`re activated. We`re ready. We know how to handle this.
So, it`s not worry, it`s just making sure that we`re handling everything as it comes
and ensuring that as people who do arrive from the coast who are worried about what
they`re going to arrive back when they go home know that they have a friend and a neighbor
and a safe place and shelter here in San Antonio.
WOODRUFF: Well, Mayor Ron Nirenberg, we certainly wish you the best with this and wish safety
for everybody there. Thank you very much.
NIRENBERG: Thank you, Judy.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WOODRUFF: In the day`s other news, the death toll from monsoon flooding across South Asia
surged again, to more than 1,200. Entire communities across India, Bangladesh and Nepal are devastated,
with many cut off from clean water and food. An estimated 40 million people are affected.
In Afghanistan`s capital, suicide bombers and gunmen stormed a Shiite mosque today,
killing at least 20 worshippers. The four attackers also died. Shooting and explosions
went on for several hours. Emergency workers rushed at least 50 people to the hospital.
Others told of frantic efforts to escape.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I was trying to escape over a wall when I saw
my daughter, who was wounded, trying to climb the wall as well. There was another girl who
was shot in the head. Finally, I managed to escape with my daughter, and a police officer
escorted us to safety from the back of the mosque.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WOODRUFF: The Sunni-dominated Islamic State group claimed responsibility.
In northern India, a self- declared guru was convicted of rape today, touching off riots
that killed 28 people. Supporters of the religious sect leader went on a rampage, burning cars
and destroying stores. In addition to the dead, more than 250 people were hurt.
There is word that President Trump`s top economic adviser almost quit after the violence in
Charlottesville, Virginia. "The New York Times" reports that Gary Cohn drafted a resignation
letter in response to Mr. Trump`s blaming both white supremacists and their opponents.
Cohn is Jewish. He told "The Financial Times" that, quote, this administration can and must
do better in consistently and unequivocally condemning these groups.
But at the White House, Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders played down the comments.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Gary has not held back how he feels
about the situation. He`s been very open and honest, and so, I don`t think that anyone
was surprised by the comments.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WOODRUFF: Meanwhile, police in San Francisco are gearing up for possible trouble tomorrow,
when a conservative group holds a free speech rally.
The United States has slapped far-ranging sanctions on Venezuela. They bar any funds
for the government or the state oil company, but, they stop short of cutting off imports
of Venezuelan oil. The goal is to squeeze President Nicolas Maduro, as he moves increasingly
toward authoritarian rule.
The head of South Korea`s electronics giant, Samsung, was sentenced to five years in prison
today. A court in Seoul convicted Lee Jae-yong of offering millions of dollars in bribes
to then- President Park Geun-hye and a close friend of hers. Park was removed from office
in March.
President Trump has now formally ordered the U.S. military to reject openly transgender
recruits. It also authorized the defense secretary to decide how to deal with those already serving.
And he ordered the military to stop paying for surgery to do gender reassignments.
The chair of the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank is defending regulations imposed after the
financial crash of 2008. In a speech today, Janet Yellen disputed claims that the Dodd-Frank
law has hindered bank lending. President Trump and other Republicans have pushed to scrap
the law.
And on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 30 points to close at 21,813.
The Nasdaq fell five, and the S&P 500 added four.
Still to come on the NEWSHOUR: the growing controversy over what to do with Confederate
monuments. As war rages around them, Syrians in one city attempt to rebuild. Mark Shields
and David Brooks on the week`s news. And, a novelist explains why fictional characters
don`t always have to be relatable.
(MUSIC)
WOODRUFF: United States history is dominating the headlines by being at the heart of a debate
that has compelled many to take to the streets. How should Americans remember the past and
confront the deep wounds of slavery?
Our William Brangham explores how the events of recent weeks are sparking a national conversation.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WILLIAM BRANGHAM, PBS NEWSHOUR CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It began -- at least according
to the organizers -- as a protest against plans to remove a statue of Confederate General
Robert E. Lee from downtown Charlottesville, Virginia.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it`s a historical monument and it should stay where it`s at.
BRANGHAM: But the events there earlier this month jolted the nation. This week, the nearly
century-old monument was covered in a black shroud, and calls for it to be taken down
continue.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m not going to stop in my efforts to try and get it removed, but
I`m glad the city council recognized that it had to be addressed.
BRANGHAM: This most recent push to get rid of Confederate symbols can be traced, in part,
back to June 2015. That`s when avowed white supremacist Dylann Roof killed nine black
parishioners at a church in Charleston, South Carolina. The next month, a confederate battle
flag was removed from the statehouse grounds.
Earlier this year, the city of New Orleans removed all its Confederate monuments.
Democratic Mayor Mitch Landrieu:
MAYOR MITCH LANDRIEU (D), NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA: To literally put the Confederacy on a pedestal
in our most prominent places of honor is an inaccurate recitation of our full past. It
is an affront to our present, and it is a bad prescription for our future.
BRANGHAM: But in the weeks since Charlottesville, as even more Confederate statues came down
in places like Baltimore, which the city removed, and Durham, North Carolina, toppled by activists,
a new question emerged: what are we to do with monuments that`s on our honor historical
figures who`ve been accused of wrongdoing?
Among the examples cited recently: statues and commemorations for Christopher Columbus,
whose brutality toward native Americans was well documented; Boston`s Faneuil hall, named
after merchant Peter Faneuil, who had ties to slave trading; and the Philadelphia monument
depicting former Mayor Frank Rizzo, who led a police force widely seen as brutal and racist.
It`s a debate attracting voices from every corner -- including President Trump:
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I wonder, is it George Washington next week?
And is it Thomas Jefferson the week after? You know, you all-- you really do have to
ask yourself, where does it stop?
BRANGHAM: The national conversation still largely focuses on the hundreds of Confederate
monuments, most of which were erected decades after the civil war, and others during the
civil rights era.
(on camera): Joining me now are three men who`ve thought long and hard about how we
are to wrestle with this history.
Pierre McGraw is founder and president of the Monumental Task Committee, a group dedicated
to preserving and restoring monuments. He`s in New Orleans.
Peniel Joseph is a historian and professor of public affairs at the University of Texas
in Austin. He`s the author of several books on civil rights.
And, Fitzhugh Brundage is a history professor at the University of North Carolina, Chapel
Hill, with the focus on the south and U.S. history since the civil war.
Gentleman, welcome to the NEWSHOUR to you all.
Peniel Joseph, I`d like to start with you first. I know you are a strong proponent that
we ought to take down Confederate monuments across the country. Explain why.
PENIEL JOSEPH, UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS: Well, I think because the Confederate symbols are
symbols of racial hatred, slavery and white supremacy.
So, I think what some critics do is conflate the wish to remove the monuments with somehow
politically correct advocacy of whitewashing or subbing American history. Nothing could
be further from the case. Removing Confederate symbols is not the same as trying to remove
the Washington Monument or symbols of Thomas Jefferson. Those founders owned slaves but
their ideas about democracy and freedom, they were generative ideas that other groups, including
people of color, women, LGBTQ have utilized to perfect the Union.
So, when we think about the Confederacy, that`s something different. There was a civil war
between 1861 and 1865 where over 600,000 people were killed because there was a group that
wanted to abandon our founding values of freedom and democracy, and didn`t want to be a part
of the United States. So, getting rid of those symbols is really honoring the best of our
history and not trying to somehow scrub or efface that history.
BRANGHAM: Pierre McGraw, what do you make of that? You heard what he`s saying that these
monuments to many people are first and foremost, a celebration of the brutal torturous history
of slavery in America. What do you make of that?
PIERRE MCGRAW, MONUMENTAL TASK COMMITTEE: Well, first, thanks for having me on.
I think any time that you`re going to try to edit our history, you`re asking for trouble.
And monuments do mean different things to different people. But it`s really unfair to
judge historical figures by today`s standards.
I think this is all just easy political fodder to go after these monuments. We know now this
argument is much larger than that, having seen monuments to Christopher Columbus smashed.
Just a few days ago, we`ve seen rallies in New Orleans that take down Andrew Jackson,
an American president who saved New Orleans. So, this is a lot larger than just the easy
targets of Confederate soldiers.
BRANGHAM: Fitzhugh Brundage, I wonder if you could give us a bit of context here. I mean,
there is some question as to why they monuments went up, what they are a monument or celebration
of. Who put them up and why? Can you tell us a little bit about that?
W. FITZHUGH BRUNDAGE, UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA: Certainly. I think there`s not just
the question of who put them up and why but also when. So, some monuments were put up
in the first decades after the civil war and I think we could understand those monuments
as being simultaneously monuments to the white Confederates who died for the Confederate
republic, as well as symbols of grieve and certainly defiance. Those monuments tend to
be located in cemeteries and were often put up by small local groups honoring local Confederates
who were buried there.
Then, between 1890 and roughly 1930, there was an explosion of Confederate commemoration.
And those monuments are bigger ones that we typically think of that are monuments of -- monuments
to Confederate soldiers often depicted in military garb, on top of a pedestal or a column.
And those monuments often include inscriptions which honor not just the Confederate soldiers
but the Confederate cause itself.
BRANGHAM: So, Peniel Joseph, I`m curious if you`ve seen this, with the NEWSHOUR and NPR
and Marist recently put out a poll that showed that roughly six in 10 Americans feel that
for their historical value, that Confederate ought to stay up. I`m wondering what you would
say to 60 percent of the nation who seems to believe that. What would you say to try
to convince them of your point of view and what would you like us to do with them?
JOSEPH: Well, I would tell them that these monuments are un-American. I would argue that
these are symbols of white supremacy because one of the other things that happened after
that period of 1930, that Fitzhugh Brundage spoke of is the 1950s and `60s after the Brown
Supreme Court decision in 1954, different states start to put up the Confederate battle
flag as white massive resistance against the idea of civil rights.
So, I would say that it`s un-American. It`s not -- we think about our founding documents,
Constitution, Declaration of Independence, we said that all people are created equal.
Even though the document says all men, we`ve since expanded and revise that to include
people who are gay or straight, Muslim, Christian, atheist, black, white, Latino, Asian, Native
American, we truly are multicultural, multi-racial democracy. And that`s why we are the envy
of the world.
We are only liberty`s surest guardian when we are true to our moral and political values.
The Confederacy was not true to those values. Slavery is not true to those values. Racism,
sexism, none of those things are true core American values.
So I would say we don`t need to honor Robert E. Lee, but we`re on sure ground when we honor
abolitionists, when we honor the founding fathers and mothers, when we honor people
who reflect the values of making America the world`s last best hope for freedom and democracy.
BRANGHAM: Pierre McGraw, what do you make of that? I know that you were strongly against
what happened in New Orleans, which was bringing down Robert E. Le and several other Confederate
monuments. My understanding is that those are down now, that they will eventually end
up in a museum where they will be wrapped in some kind of a context.
What`s wrong with that? They haven`t been melted down. What`s wrong with removing them
from these central places in our cities and towns, put them in a museum and saying, here`s
what they stood for in history but take them out of the center square so to speak?
MCGRAW: Well, I think that`s an amusing concept. I mean, the Robert E. Lee monument is over
70 feet tall in New Orleans. I don`t know where you would put that. But if you have
ever been to New Orleans, it`s a very special city, a unique city.
And we have monuments to all kinds of events and to people. But -- basically and since
New Orleans has more historic districts than any city in America, the whole city is in
essence a living museum and these monuments were designed for where they were placed.
They were put up by New Orleanians. These were not put up by governments.
Mothers held bake sales to raise money. Women want to honor their husbands who didn`t return.
This is a way for the South to grieve and to show that, you know, they were still in
business. They were still a proud people.
The other gentleman mentioned that there weren`t any monuments put up for a little while after
the war and only in cemeteries. Well, that was the case in New Orleans too because the
reconstruction government, it was forbidden to put up any monuments until reconstruction
was over. So, that`s when they launched into these series of putting up these monuments.
As far as spending a lot of money to take down monuments, moving down, spending a lot
of money to put them back up somewhere in public view just does not make any sense.
The people who find these objectionable in the public view do now will find them equally
as objectionable if they`re in a museum context.
BRANGHAM: Fitzhugh Brundage, I wonder if you could take on this idea, that the practicality
of this. I mean, there are enormous amount of these monuments around the country. Is
there any way you could imagine that they might be able to stay up and that context
could be applied in some way to existing monuments that would make them -- to give them context
that you would be comfortable with?
BRUNDAGE: Well, I think there`s necessarily going to be some kind of triage in this process
because as you said, there are so many hundreds of monuments, indeed, more than a thousand
probably, maybe as many as 2,000 scattered all over the landscape. As a practical matter,
it`s a huge undertaking. But I think there are questions as well about, given that these
monuments are controversial, they provoke very strong emotions and we do live in a different
society, a profoundly different society than the one that created these monuments, to continue
to maintain the monuments where they currently exist also entails money and is presumably
going to entail more money in the future.
So, I do think, I would be cautious about allowing a sort of dollars and cents argument
to decide whether or not it`s appropriate to remove the monuments.
With regards to removing them, I certainly think it`s entirely within the community`s
right to move a monument into a new setting and provide it with the kind of historical
context that a monument standing 70 feet in the air that middle of a traffic circle in
a modern city is never going to have. There`s no signage you could put up that is going
to interpret that monument so that people driving past it on tour buses are going to
gain an understanding of it, at least an adequate understanding.
So I think the question of reinterpretation and how you do it is a very good question
to have but I don`t think it`s one that`s going to be resolved by deciding it`s cheaper
to leave them where they are than it is to move them.
BRANGHAM: All right. Fitzhugh Brundage, Pierre McGraw, Peniel Joseph, thank you all very,
very much.
BRUNDAGE: Thank you.
PIERRE MCGRAW, MONUMENTAL TASK COMMITTEE: Thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JUDY WOODRUFF, PBS NEWSHOUR ANCHOR: Tonight, we conclude our three-part series about fighting
ISIS, and life in northern Syria.
The country has been ravaged by war. Many parts now lie in ruin. In the north, the grip
of ISIS is slowly receding. But what happens once ISIS has been pushed out? How does a
community rebuild?
Special correspondent Gayle Tzemach Lemmon traveled to Manbij, a city that was liberated
from ISIS control last year. This story, as well as last night`s story about the role
of Syria`s Kurdish population in the struggle against ISIS, was done in partnership with
the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GAYLE TZEMACH LEMMON, PBS NEWSHOUR CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In a neighborhood that looks
like this, one front door is hard to miss.
(on camera): Why the color blue?
ABDULKADIR ALI ABOUD, MANBIJ RESIDENT (through translator): Because it`s the color of happiness.
LEMMON (voice-over): Abdulkadir Ali Aboud is a construction worker, born and raised
in Manbij, northern Syria. His home in the neighborhood of Hasani (ph) was hit by an
airstrike in the fighting that pushed is out exactly one year ago.
ABOUD (through translator): It`s been two months since we began renovations. When we
first saw the damage, we were sad. But then we realized we`d escaped the injustice of
ISIS, and it was worth it. Everything can be made right.
LEMMON: As the fight to defeat the so-called Islamic State pushes forward, the question
of what comes next comes up again and again. One year on, this town offers a look at the
possibilities -- and the pitfalls -- when it comes to rebuilding and restarting after
ISIS.
Manbij was an ISIS stronghold and saw some of the most-savage fighting of the three-year
fight. But returning life to normal takes time, and pushing ISIS out is just the start.
For the past year, residents have struggled to rebuild.
Ibrahim Qaftan leads the executive council of Manbij, working to get services to residents.
IBRAHIM QAFTAN, MANBIJ EXECUTIVE COUNCIL (through translator): We are done with the military
side. We escaped ISIS at home. But we still need civil services. People are looking for
public services more than anything else.
LEMMON: The challenges remain, the city still has no phone service. But compared to one
year ago, he says, Manbij has made great strides, in health, governance and education. And he
says there are lessons to be learned, as the diverse population of Manbij, both Arab and
Kurdish, has pushed forward together.
(on camera): What is the lesson the world should learn from Manbij?
QAFTAN (through translator): Brotherhood, national brotherhood. For the world to succeed,
we must act like brothers. To us, Armenians, Turkmen, Alawites, Druze, are all part of
Syria. We want them all to be one family. This is our main lesson.
LEMMON (voice-over): But brotherhood is fragile amid the pressure of war. The city`s population
of around 200,000 has doubled, with the arrival of displaced families from across the country,
Qaftan says. And tensions have emerged.
The Aswad family arrived here two months ago after fleeing the ongoing violence in their
home city of Raqqa. They`ve taken up residence here in a relative`s Manbij home. But, they
say they`ve faced discrimination, particularly from other Arab residents, who see that they`re
from Raqqa and treat them like ISIS sympathizers.
NAYEF ASWAD, DISPLACED RAQQA RESIDENT (through translator): When we first arrived and said
we are from Raqqa, they immediately judged us. They accused us of being ISIS. Yes, we
lived in Raqqa, but we were helpless. We didn`t deal with ISIS, we just went to work and that
was it.
ASWAD`S MOTHER (through translator): When we go to the bakery, people complain that
there`s no bread left, because of the refugees from Raqqa. Nothing is like home. We hope
it will be freed and we can go back.
LEMMON: Shervan Darwish, of the Manbij military council, has witnessed these internal divisions
and challenges, ever since the battle that liberated his city.
SHERVAN DARWISH, MANBIJ MILITARY COUNCIL (through translator): The start of liberation was a
challenge. It is hard to organize a city that was ruled by terror for two years. And after
we freed Manbij, we need to clear the city from the ISIS ideology.
LEMMON: The fate of Manbij has also been complicated by another factor: geography. The town sits
just 25 miles from its watchful Turkish neighbor. It lies on a fault-line within Syria: the
regime of President Bashar al Assad to the west, U.S.-backed Kurdish and Arab forces
to the east, and an ISIS insurgency, that is on its heels, but far from gone, Darwish
says.
DARWISH (through translator): Turkey is trying to destabilize us. The regime also wants Manbij.
ISIS is still here and also working against us. For a year, we have not had any internal
disorder or attack from inside, but we have had attacks from outside.
LEMMON: Despite a year without ISIS, Turkish military incursions remain a threat. Turkish
air strikes killed Syrian Democratic forces near Manbij last year, and the city remains
a flashpoint between the U.S. and Turkey. U.S. forces now regularly patrol the city.
Back in Abdulkadir`s neighborhood, talk of war amid the renovations.
Rafiq Fouad Ali, Abdulkadir`s cousin, is mourning his younger brother, killed last month on
the Raqqa battlefield. He shows us pictures.
RAFIQ FOUAD ALI, LOST HIS BROTHER FIGHTING ISIS (through translator): I am proud my brother
was killed by ISIS, I`m proud of him. We want to defeat injustice, and remove the ISIS name
from everywhere.
LEMMON: He says he will shortly leave Manbij, and return to battle himself.
ALI (through translator): I don`t mind being killed, if it gives the young generation proper
life and education. It is not about ourselves. We must improve the future of the next generation,
not ours.
LEMMON: Abdulkadir, too, focuses now on the next generation -- doing his part to restore
their future, and paint over their past.
ABOUD (through translator): ISIS would hang people for three days in the circle, and the
children would see them. I tried not to let them see such things, and I painted the walls
blue, so they would forget about the black darkness. I want happiness and joy for my
children and neighbors.
LEMMON: He says restoring his house helps him share that joy, and create new memories.
(on camera): You have paint on your hands, you`ve been working all day, how does it feel
after this day`s work?
ABOUD (through translator): Life is going well, thanks be to God. My greatest joy has
been overcoming ISIS. And we hope for a bright future. As long as we are over these thugs,
we are doing well.
LEMMON (voice-over): One year on, he says, he and his city have both made a good start
at something better. And as the fight against ISIS nears its end in Raqqa, the story of
Manbij is one many will look to for inspiration.
For the PBS NEWSHOUR, I`m Gayle Tzemach Lemmon, in Manbij, Syria.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WOODRUFF: The week began with the president`s scripted speech on Afghanistan, followed by
a raucous rally in Phoenix that helped widen a rift between Mr. Trump and top Republicans
in Congress. That`s the backdrop as we turn to the regular Friday analysis of Shields
and Brooks. That`s syndicated columnist Mark Shields, and "New York Times" columnist David
Brooks.
Gentlemen, it`s so good to see you both together. Welcome.
So, Charlottesville, it`s been almost two weeks since the tragedy there. It has risen
in the headlines again this week, David. The president`s in Phoenix, he makes this passionate
speech unscripted, defending the way he handled Charlottesville, bringing on even more criticism.
Are we in the clear now on what this president believes about racism, about white supremacy
and all of it?
DAVID BROOKS, COLUMNIST, THE NEW YORK TIMES: I think we`re a little clearer on where the
Republican Party is. You know, the Trump campaign began really seriously with the Muslim ban.
It continued with a series of racial things about the wall. It continued Charlottesville
and the reactions. And what`s happened is the racial winking and content, the identity
politics has become a rising motif in the Trump administration, especially as everything
else including economic policy and economic populism has fallen away.
And that`s meant the Republican Party or at least some portion of it, and I don`t know
how big, has become more of a white ethnic party, ethnic nationalist party. That has
made life impossible for a lot of people who signed up as Republicans but didn`t sign up
for this. And we`ve had fights within Republicans on a lot of different issues on taxes, on
wars and things like that.
But this is upon which parties break apart because you can`t Republican -- if the Republican
Party becomes a party aligned with bigotry in some overt way or in any way, you can`t
be a Republican and try to be a decent person and be a part of it. And I`ve watched within
my friends here in Washington, friendships ending in a way I never really seen before.
And friendship ending I think in the evangelical world, friendships are ending.
And Senator Danforth had an op-ed today and Gary Cohn is put in this position. And so,
what you`re seeing is a hint of a rupture the likes of which I really haven`t seen before.
WOODRUFF: And I was going to ask you both and David brought it up, Mark, this column
and today an interview by the former Republican senator from the state of Missouri, John Danforth,
saying if the Republican Party doesn`t disassociate itself from Donald Trump over his handling
most recently of Charlottesville and the race question, but he lists other issues as well,
he said the party sunk,.
MARK SHIELDS, SYNDICATED COLUMNIST: Yes. Jack Danforth comes with credentials as a senator,
as the Senate sponsor, personal endorser of the only African-American ever nominated to
the Supreme Court by any Republican president, Clarence Thomas, who had worked for him. So,
he is -- he is someone who has certainly street cred on this issue.
Judy, it`s quite I think obvious at this point that the president does not understand what
the job is. I mean, the job of the president of the United States is to be the voice of
compassion, is to be, to provide equanimity in spirit, is to provide magnanimity of view.
He, in a scripted, teleprompted address, he can give a coherent speech as he did on Afghanistan,
a colorless, energy-less but nevertheless coherent speech as he did for veterans.
But he only thrives, he`s only alive, he`s only authentic when he unleashes his indictive,
when he stirs up the basest instincts of his supporters, and he responds only to cheers,
cheers and jeers of those whom he opposes, whom he`s still running against some 10 months
after the election he`s still running against.
So, it`s a sad, sad time. It has to be sadder for those who work in this administration
to learn as the Quinnipiac University poll, a respected poll, show this week that Americans
by two to one believe that Donald Trump is dividing the country rather than writing the
country. That solid majority, 3-2, they believe the press, the dreaded media over Donald Trump
to tell the truth. And they believe -- three out of five Americans believe he is giving
aid in comfort to white supremacist and encouragement.
So, it`s a truly sad -- I don`t -- I can only say to Republicans, I mean, it is a time you`re
going to be asked about this. You`re going to be asked where you stood. And what you
did on Donald Trump. And I thought Gary Cohn -- it only took him two weeks to come to it
and --
WOODRUFF: This is the president`s economic adviser, yes.
SHIELDS: Yes, and then he came to the decision of conscience that Janet Yellen made a very
candid statement today, recognition statement at Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where she announced
that she, in fact, the regulations imposed on the big banks after the collapse of 2008,
the financial crisis, were necessary, were wise and should not be repealed.
So, Gary Cohn holding on, slimly, perhaps to the hope of becoming chair of the Federal
Reserve swallowed his misgivings, and the odor of anti-Semitism that smacked Donald
Trump`s remarks and agreed to continue as a patriotic man to serve and I guess we could
only salute him.
WOODRUFF: It`s a zigzag course, David. I mean, as both of you said, when the president is
reading from the teleprompter, the message is that we reject racism, we reject white
supremacy, neo Nazis, but it`s in these speeches where there`s another message that seems to
come out. I was just reading the radio address that the White House is going to put out tomorrow
from the president. He`s back to the scripted lines, rejecting everything that smacks of
racism.
BROOKS: To his credit, he`s incapable of insincerity and hypocrisy. He can -- he can keep up for
an hour, for a day, for 24 hours, he`ll say what they want him to say, but then within
24 hours, he`s got to come back to be himself and he`s going to explode beyond those barriers.
We`ve seen that again and again and again.
I just think the Trump administration is going to wander into these fields more and more
in the months and years ahead, simply because they don`t have an economic agenda, there`s
very small chance of tax reform, they don`t have the populist thing they can bring to
people. And so, what they have is this ethnic nationalism. And they are frankly going to
be helped sometimes by Democrats or by radicals on the left who are going to deface the Thomas
Jefferson statute or do something like that. And then that`s it for Donald Trump. He can
say they`re defacing Thomas Jefferson.
So, then the identity politics of the left and identity politics play off each other
and you get this war of people who think that white and black are the only two categories
in life and they should have some sort of political war over this and it begins to look
like the Sunnis and Shiites. And as I say, that`s a Republican Party that decent people
don`t want to be a part of, frankly.
WOODRUFF: And, Mark, the president meantime is firing tweets against fellow Republicans.
I mea, today, Senator Bob Corker. It`s been the Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell,
House Speaker Paul Ryan. You go down the list, five, or six or seven different Republicans
he`s going after. What`s the strategy, the rationale?
SHIELDS: I`m glad to be able to explain it.
It was deemed -- prior this week, it was deemed impossible to make Senate Majority Leader
Mitch McConnell into a sympathetic public figure. And Donald Trump has achieved that.
He -- it makes no sense. Politic is a matter of addition not subtraction. And I`m sorry,
Mr. President, you cannot distance yourself from your own administration. I mean, saying,
oh he`s going to blame the Republican Congress for the stalled programs, the non-programs
as David`s pointed out and the non-achievements is their fault. It just won`t wash.
I mean, no president has ever attempted to do that before. To say I wasn`t involved in
my own administration. It`s these guys in my own party up on the Hill who have done
it to me.
So, it makes absolutely no sense politically. One explanation offered by some people in
the White House in "The Washington Post" today that he sees looming disaster and so, he`s
going to distance himself.
You cannot distance yourself as a president from your own administration.
WOODRUFF: Well, but again, I`m referring to this "Washington Post" story, David, the theory
is that the president`s going to be able to point the finger at those Republicans who
messed this up, didn`t get the job done.
BROOKS: Yes, I don`t think theory or strategy would be worse (ph). I think it makes him
feel good to get into a shouting match with Mitch McConnell over the investigation of
Russia. There`s no strategy here.
The biggest -- aside from the legislative agenda, the biggest event looming in Washington
these days is the Mueller investigation. And if there`s some sort of bringing impeachment
of the U.S. Senate who he`s working really hard to offend, they are the jury at the end
of the day. And so, it`s just craziness to offend those people. And -- but yet he`s doing
it a short term. It`s a matter of not strategy but psychology.
WOODRUFF: In the meantime, his administration is moving in a conservative direction. Lisa
Desjardins had a report, Mark, this week on these many steps that Jeff Sessions is taking
--
SHIELDS: Right.
WOODRUFF: -- at the Justice Department to roll back what we saw during the Obama administration.
Just tonight, the president has finally signed an order telling the Pentagon not to admit
anyone, any individuals who are transgender, not to pay for the surgery that some of them
choose to have. So, there are steps being taken to carry out the conservative agenda.
SHEILDS: Conservative agenda, Judy, I don`t -- you know, among issues I haven`t heard
pollsters report or volunteered by those interviewed was statutes being removed which the president
greatly moved after are transgender service members. I mean, the Navy SEAL who served
20 years did 13 overseas deployments, seven combat deployments and earned one Bronze Star
and one Purple Heart and is transgender, is now a woman had more deployments and more
days in uniform than Donald Trump, Mike Pence, Secretary Tillerson or Secretary Mnuchin,
Secretary Price, Secretary Carson, go right through it. I mean, he proved his patriotism,
she proved her patriotism, that they`re 100 percent American.
I don`t understand this. I commend chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Joe Dunford,
for as soon as it comes out today, came out originally in his tweet that those who serve
honorably in this service will be respected and continue to be so.
WOODRUFF: Just 20 seconds.
BROOKS: Yes. As I understand that, the important thing here was when he made the order, the
generals decided that`s Trump being Trump, let`s just ignore it. And so, that was the
right thing to do. What`s disturbing here is he actually followed through on his own
statement. And so, a lot of people in the administration are saying let`s just let it
pass, let it pass, let it pass, in a lot of ranges. If he`s going to now start following
through and actually behaving, that puts them in a much tougher decision.
WOODRUFF: And this is after saying in the campaign, he was going to be supportive of
those LGBTQ.
David, Mark, we thank you both.
SHIELDS: Thank you.
(MUSIC)
WOODRUFF: In the age of social media, there is an elevated emphasis on so-called "likes".
Novelist and creative writing teacher Charmaine Craig sees a disturbing trend. She explains
in tonight`s "In My Humble Opinion".
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHAIRMAINE CRAIG, AUTHOR, "MISS BURMA": In addition to being a novelist, I teach fiction
at a university. And something that drives me crazy is students rejecting a piece of
writing because it`s not relatable," or because its characters aren`t likable. Recently, I
was teaching "Anna Karenina," and one of my brightest graduate students wrote off the
novel because she found the characters` thinking to be too different from her own.
Well, maybe literature isn`t here to hold a mirror up to our own way of thinking. The
word relatable is relatively new, and it strikes me as more than a coincidence that its rise
correlates with that of Facebook and its culture of likes. When we say we like something, we`re
really describing ourselves more than the thing we like. That character, that photo,
that idea reflects my preferences, my outlooks, my tastes, me.
There`s nothing wrong with liking or disliking, but when we only like things we find relatable,
or we are only interested in people we find likeable, we`re implicitly holding up narcissism
and conformity, and we`re critiquing difference.
I grew up in this country, and there`s no way that my peers would have described me
as relatable when I was young. I was shy to the point of extreme awkwardness, this height
5`8" at age 11, terrible at team sports, and impossible to categorize racially or culturally.
My father was a descendent of people who arrived on the Mayflower, and my mother, a mixed-race
refugee from the country now called Myanmar, also known as Burma.
Partly because I`m culturally and ethnically kind of anomalous, I`ve rarely related to
people in my life. But that doesn`t mean I haven`t learned from and respected and felt
for them. And that`s really what I want to say: that there`s a difference between relating
or liking, in our current sense, and being curious and empathic.
Would I rather people like my novel or be affected by it finally? To be moved or affected
by a piece of literature isn`t necessarily to see ourselves reflected in it or to like
everything about it, we might disapprove of or want to fight with its characters; we might
never have been exposed to the kinds of social settings or modes of thinking it describes.
And yet, if we open ourselves to such a piece of literature -- to a novel like "Anna Karenina"
that attentively describes other human beings, with all their passions, foibles and insights
-- we might find it opening itself to us, in turn. We might even feel something like
love emanating from its pages, a love that comes with an author`s feeling for humanity,
for readers, and for characters that, in life, might at first be very difficult to relate
to or like.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WOODRUFF: A news update before we go, South Korea`s military says that North Korea has
fired another projectile into the Sea of Japan. It could be the latest in a series of missile
launches this year, as the South and the U.S. continue military exercises.
And, a conservative group has canceled a free speech rally in San Francisco that had been
planned for tomorrow. Officials had warned of possible violence.
Tune in later tonight to keep up your political fix. Join Robert Costa and his panel on "Washington
Week" here on PBS.
And tomorrow, "PBS NEWSHOUR WEEKEND" will continue to follow Hurricane Harvey as it
makes landfall on the Texas coast. Plus, Nick Schifrin reports on a controversial new law
in Russia that decriminalizes some forms of domestic violence.
Throughout the weekend, stay with us, where we will be tracking Harvey online. That`s
pbs.org/newshour. And we`ll have the very latest, right here on Monday.
That`s the NEWSHOUR for this Friday night. I`m Judy Woodruff. Have a great weekend. Thank
you and good night.
Watch Live: Hurricane Harvey batters Galveston, Texas Shields and Brooks on Trump’s contrasting speeches, GOP ruptured relations Hurricane Harvey strengthens to Cat 4, Texas prepares for 'life-threatening storm' CNN Tonight With Don Lemon 08/25/17: GORKA OUT, TRUMP PARDONS ARPAIO The problem with only liking things we find relatable Google Censored Jordan Peterson, Tucker Carlson Ask Is Google Too Powerful Rachel Maddow Show 8/25/17 Arpaio Pardoned, gorka Resigns, New RUSSIA ubpoenas Hurricane Harvey Makes Landfall How one Syrian city is rebuilding life after ISIS Why America is wrestling with Confederate monuments

PBS NewsHour full episode August 25, 2017

Latest Posts