Blockbuster details on the benghazi attack, a new book has the untold story. Consider this who knew what when, and the fascinating story of a normal teen turned extremist, who turned as an difficult to fight back against jihaddists. Why america should be fighting back against antiterror efforts. Is the face of alcoholism female . Welcome to christmas edition of consider this. We will talk to the authors of some of the years most intrigginintriguing books. We begin with benghazi. December 11th of 2012, dozens much heavily armed militants attacked the u. S. Mission, in what had begun to be an increasingly lawless city. Diplomatic Security Team fought valiantly to save them. Hours later, cia workers were killed when a nearby cia post was attacked by militants with mortars. Investigating benghazi and security efforts at other posts, criticizing officials for a failure to identify deteriorating security cps in the city, a decision granting security exemptions for Benghazi Mission and approving benghazi as a temporary diplomatic post at all. The department, including blurred lines of authority, serious lack of accountability, no Risk Management model for high threat posts, no onsite intelligence analysts at high risk posts, Inadequate Security training and many vulnerable low risk posts. Fred burton is Vice President of counterterrorism at stratford, a former Diplomatic Security agency and ken,ed from, you both describe in this book, you create this incredible atmosphere of this lawless city, its a den of thieves and spies. Where all sorts of danger was present. Why was the state Department Still there and why was ambassador Christopher Stevens there on that same day . The mystery of why ambassador defense traveled from tripoli to benghazi on that day, was to open up a local event for a community. The decision to move ambassador secretary of defense to benghazi we really dont know the details surrounding that. For example as chief of mission the u. S. Ambassador is the president s rep to that country. And in essence, thats where the buck stops. He is the commander in chief of all official americans in country. This mission was not very well secured. And there is, sam, a very long and tragic events, including the 1979 teheran hostage taking, 1983, bombings at our agencies in nairobi, kenya, given how many recommendations have again . In the book we speak to a former agent who as a young agent on temporary assignment on beirut, caiblgd back to washington during the civil war there, saying our people are being shot at, the embassy is being shelled, we have to pull out. And the cable he received back was, we are in lebanon for a higher purpose. A few days later, the ghoament diplomat and his assistant were kidnapped and assassinated. The odds are this will continue to go on for years. The game here is, this is a chess match, trying to engage each other and match each others moves and figure out and guess where the next strike will come. But in benghazi for example it was a relatively low tech strike. It was men armed with rp47s, material involved in the market in benghazi and ultimate reply they used fire as the most destructive force. You couldnt trust anybody on the ground. Nobody responded. The people who were supposed to help the americans were just not around and not willing to help. That is one of the issues that i dont think people understand in this environment. It is the host nations responsibility first and foremost by the Vienna Convention to provide Adequate Security for all official diplomats in country. It was the libyan s job to country. There is no ability to train quickly enough a loyal force in order to protect your perimeter. How does the state Department Work around that is we put our special agents on the perimeter looking for bad guys, looking for preoperational sphaings activities, to be the surveillance activities, to be the hue and cry if you see something that starts forming. In fact some of the bad guys may well have been some of the people we thought were supposed to help us. Right. And thats just the nature of the business in this line of work. Youre dealing at times, and hostile environments, where youre dealing with Foreign Service national staff, that for the most part is extraordinarily loyal to the americans that theyve been insisting for many, many years. But occasionally you get the bad apples in the group and you move into these volatile areas that have these jihaddist type of networks. We have been talking about that day a broader context, the arab spring had been going on for a year and there were all sorts of riots going on, on that september 11th day, at embassies in other parts of the middle east because in some caress motivated by this infamous film that ridiculed the prophet mohamed, clearly, benghazi was not the place to be and once the attack began, it became clear to the ambassador what was happening and they called for help. Yes, they did. The agents knew immediately, this was a terrorist attack, they hit the duck and cover alarm, which is like a fire alarm, to indicate that everybody should seek safe haven, that the embassy was under terrorism attack. The information was conveyed and telephone texts were placed to the u. S. Embassy in tripoli letting tripoli that the special compound in benghazi was under attack. And it was conveyed to foggy bottom that the compound was under attack. Your belief is that people who received this information must have understood that it was a terrorist attack and in not just a spontaneous demonstration. You have to understand that the demonstrations in cairo frex were massive, violent, there were fires set around the u. S. Embassy, tunis and rabbat, Embassy Grounds were breached, there were feelings that there were these sorts after tacks. When news came of this attack in benghazi there was very little detail, very Little Information conveyed it got confused with all the other things happening people are shocked that there could be confusion in government. To save ambassador stevens and getting him out of there at great risk to himselves. When a Police Officer needs help he calls swat, they could be minutes away or a mile away. For many of the diplomat security agents that are in assistance around the world, assistance is 6,000 miles away, and agents learn to live by their wits, to survive, to plaques miez their surroundings and to buy time. The whole embassy philosophy of security is all these doors and windows that are blastresistant that buy time, so that they can wait until help comes. And there were military assets that werent that far away. But the reality is, there was no way they could scramble quickly enough or was there some resistance from washington especially when it came to a team in spain that could have got be there within hours and maybe help the team at the cia . You had the issue of sovereignty, you had the issue of optics, of the United States invading a foreign country. A bureaucratic mess when you have to formally try to request permission in order to go into Different Air spaces. The notion that there was no response is incorrect because once news of the attack reached the embassy in tripoli the caa contractors as well as certainly jsock operators who were in the embassy did not hesitate and they volunteered immediately they suited up grabbed their gear and they made plans and arrangements and coordinated their trip to benghazi, benghazi being lawless and chaotic they were held up at the airport for almost four hours but they were the only good guys in that country that consummonned. And by some account they killed 50 militants and injured 100 others and two of them then of course died hours later on the roof of the encampment. Our social media producer hermella aregawi has the night stevens was killed why werent security agencies in the compound . Thats one of the questions that remains unanswered. We need help from congress to call cia personnel up for testimony. So far theres only been one cia officer testify behind closed doors, benghazi. It is my assessment having worked in this environment and worked in a lot of terrorist areas like this, this is a cia base, they had watched the case officers backs. Theyre multitasking, training in emergency medical gear and equipment and first aid. Theyre looking for man pads and some of the surface to air missiles that had been lost when the gadhafi regime fell. Id like to close with a quote, you say the true story of benghazi is not the story of failure, but inside the most dangerous and volatile locations in the world. Do you see the dedication, the courage, the commitment of these Diplomatic Security officers as the true legacy of benghazi . I do. And i think it was a very honorable move on the part of the department and the administration to award the agents that were involved there for their courage and their heroism. They did it very quietly but the agents are going to have to live lives. Thank you. Its a very compelling read and its a terrific work. Thank you very much for being here tonight. Trip. Goal was a worldwide muslin califate. Four 14 years of my life i considered america my enemy. I worked diligently to recruit Army Officers and institute military coups around the world. Four year term in egyptian prison, nawas emerged a changed man, a founder of a counterextremist think tank. Im pleased to welcome, the author of my journey out of muslim extremist, an absolutely fafnlgtin fascinating story. You came from a family that wasnt fundamentalist, your monday was born and grew up in britain. But you were by all accounts, as normal as possible, you loved happened. What happened . As a teenager i experienced extreme racism, hammer attacks, machete attacks. Growing up in essex, a county next to london, they would hold me back and force me to watch, as they stabbed my white friends, they considered them blood traitors for befriending me. The u. K. Is no longer as racist as it used to be, there was the bosnia genocide, that is the first time we saw white blond haired muslims slaughtered because of their faith. We were forced to consider the bosnia situation. And extremists decided across the board if you are attempting to wipe out muslim presence in europe, we are all muslim. Up to that point i had been agnostic. It was at that vulnerable stage, tender age of 16, i came across a medical student in london who peddled an ideology. Lets call it ht for convenience. You joined ht and became a serious leader of the group. I cofounded the group from three other countries, i ended up in egypt and i was a part of essentially a drive to spread the revolution abroad. And you were arrested in egypt and put in hosne mubaraks jails. You saw a lot of torture. They electrocuted, people died before our eyes from their wounds inflirkted upon them from the torture and then we were put into solitary confinement and sentenced to five years in prison. You were five months in solitary confinement. Yes. Yes. How was your treatment . I wasnt electrocuriositied. I was i was not electrocuted. I was beaten and subjected to solitary confinement but luckily not electrocuted. Normally, the people who go through that are radicalized, you are going to come out angrier, and be more of an extremist. Instead you had a total conversion. Two things happened, Amnesty International adopted us as prisoners of conscience. At the age of 24 it was the first time that i began to seriously engage with a human rights discourse because amnesty began campaigning for our release. They took the principal response that though we deemed them our enemy and we deemed human rights generally as the enemy of at the time i believed was my people, muslims. Amnesty international, said we may disagree with what these people say, we agree with their right to say it, amnesty starts therefore impacted me, in the heart. Where the heart leads the mind can follow. I spent the next four years engaging with the other political prisoners, the whos who, the assassins of the former who killed the anwar sa sadat. Essentially i grew up. That growing up is interestingly portrayed in the book by the way you reacted to 9 11 and years later 77, the terrorist attacks in london. Youve done your research. [ laughter ] i was still on the outside, and indifferent. Ive spoken at the 9 11 memorial and i visited the site just the last vary was there visiting. A lots changed. I was indifferent to any suffering. That is an inhuman stance to take but thats where i was at the time. 77, while i was in prison, antiwar protests think they failed in the sense they didnt stop the invasion of iraq. But what they did succeed in doing was impact someone like me who at the time was in prison full of rage and anger, wanting to take revenge against the world, i saw the largest protests werent in iraq or pakistan, but in fact were in the united kingdom, posing their own countrys invasion on iraq. That had a profound impact on me. Humanized what i had defined as the other. You are perceived as a hero by ht but then you realize thats not for you. And not only do you leave the group you then go and you found groups in pakistan and in england, to fight islamism, is what you refer to it. Essentially islamism is briefly the desire to impose any given interpretation of the faith over society as distinct from the religion of islam however anyone wants to practice it individually. The politicization of the faith, i had come that islamism was one of the many grievances, up to that point i was aggrieved by Foreign Policy by bosnia whatever, islamism was the largest obstacle that prevented muslim societies from progressing. I wanted to continue to seek for justice but that would necessarily entail challenging the islamist ideology as well, to the advance of the of muslim societies. So we founded quilliu murvetion. We have a question from a viewer. Hermella. Is reduction of drone warfare an effective countermeasure against new extremist recruitment . So ive been critical of uav unmanned air integral vehicle strikes, commonly known as drone strikes. If bushs policy was democracy at the barrel of a gun, obamas policy, if he decapitated the leadership of al qaeda by surge karl strikes, drone strikes that he would deal with the problem. What were dealing with is an ideology not just an organization. The phrase they used in the Obama Administration is al qaeda inspired extremism. And al qaeda is actually the end of a decade long strategy in the middle east. You quote from the book, you cant kill an idea, idea are bullet proof. Can there be more organizations like quillium to hit on this struggle . You hit the nail on the head. Al qaeda achieved more since the death of bland sinc basha bin laden than during his lifetime. Havent wanted to achieve what we wanted to achieve. Our job should be to make the ideology of islamism as unattractive as soviet communism has been today and thats the idea of the debate. We wish you well, its an incredible debate. Doing. Thank you for your time. Here is more. Beneath the fluorescentsun in a former meat packing plant is the latest trim in farming. They call it vertical farming. These fields grow on floors on at Industrial Park and farmer john adel and his staff agrees user. My shipping proceed did you say 1500, 2,000 miles to get are. The plant of the indoor as the indoor formers call it doesnt grow corn or soybeans but mustard, high end micro greens on the plates of whitenapkin restaurants. These fish supply the vert liser that number issues the on july 14th, 2003, a column in the Washington Post revealed the identity of valerie plane, effectively ending her career with the cia. She wrote and autobiography, and has worked with global zero. Now she has authored a new spy novel called blowback. Joining us is former cia agent valerie plame. Valerie. Thank you for having me. Your work with the cia, now at global zero, all have connections to iran. The number of countries that now have Nuclear Weapons have grown since you left the cia. Are you hopeful that proliferation will stop . I am hopeful. I think more and more nations are realizing that Nuclear Weapons belong in the dust bin of history, that they no longer provide the security that they once did, where we have the nexus of Nuclear Technology and terrorism, the proliferation will continue unless we take really Strong International steps, which is who global zero is support which is what global zero is supporting. Which is to say enough, i think weve just been lucky so far. There is the real belief that iran is trying to despite their denials to get neublg weapons. Do you think their talks will stop, will get to a aplace where iran will not develop a weapon . Im cautiously optimistic i think i can term it because maybe there is a window of opportunity. President rouhani has clearly showed a moderation of tone, from all his tweets, wishing happy rosh hasrhana dom all his jewish friends, and meeting in geneva in high level meetings. This is amazing that this is the first time that they have been this level of talks since the iranian revolution. And i believe that diplomatic relations should not be reserved just for friends. I believe america is a great enough country that we can speak with our enemies as well as our friends. And we need to have begin to have this conversation with them. And i think iran definitely wants to reenter the community of nations. These sanctions are biting, and i am, as they say, optimistic that maybe we have a moment here. Maybe even of more concern, while at the cia, you monitored a. Q. Khan, the scientists who helped other countries develop Nuclear Weapons. That biggest concerns, Nuclear Weapons falling into terrorist hands, what do you think the likelihood of that is . I think its very high, and its something that we need to have very Strong InternationalIntrusive Inspections and begin to move towards starting with United States and russia, reducing our nuclear arsenals, and we cant continue on the path in which were going. Unfortunately this continues to be areally dire threat. Thats what i developed my expertise in at the cia, its what i continue to do with global zero and as you point out i made it the pop point of blow back. Thats what were talking about, valerie plame, Vanessa Pearson, who lives in sy press t cypress toyou. She is younger than i am, smarter than i am. I was always irritated with how female cia ops officerser portrayed in popular literature. I was given an opportunity to write this book along with sarah lovitt, and make a character real isity but entertaining. In movies and tv shows we are seeing more female cia agents in those including claire danes character in home land and Sarah Jessica parkers character in zero dark 30. Are they not part of the past . In that they are not highly sexualized. But they tend to be for the most part cardboard characters. Claire danes, notice she doesnt really have any friends. And for that, with an ops officer not to have very good interpersonal skills you wouldnt go so far. Jessica chastain did a beautiful job in zero dark 30, she was nominated for it. As i understand, that character was a compilation of several officers and there is always a team effort that goes into a Successful Operation which always seems to go by the way side because its more dramatic to focus on one character. On one individual. While you were at the cia you were a deep cover officer. How much of what you write in this novel is true to what a cia covert officer might do and how much is more novelistic . I took out all the waiting and all the rabbit holes you go down that come up with nothing. Because you cant keep a reader very long if you put that in. And there is a lot of waiting for your assets whether youre in a restaurant or a park and so fort. What is very genuine is all the trade craft, thats very accurate. How you communicate cla clan clandestinely. The locations are all that i have been or worked or traveled to. So i tried and her interactions at headquarters and so forth. I tried omake that as realistic as possible and still make it entertaining. The book starts with the main character with Vanessa Pearson meeting in vienna with an informant. Those meetings, cloak and dagger, technology so many ways happens . Believe it or not, yes. Despite all the technology, what really matters is a Human Interaction. Im biased, but human intelligence is what is going otell you the intent. All the technology and spy satellites and everything thats available to the Intelligence Community in technological terms, that all is helpful but it really is only with that Human Interaction that there is a certain degree of trust and you understand what the intent is, that thats where really critical intelligence dmoms so yes. Vanessa pearson meeting her asset in vienna that would happen. A big part of what happens today. You had issues with the cia vetting it and not wanting you to write certain thing. Book . When you join the cia you are obligated to stein secrecy document, to protect sources which i support, and with blowback, happily they recognized it was fictional, i wasnt revealing sources or methods. So unlike fair game which had quite a bit redacted this one there are no black marks. Oh, good. Going back to what happened to you in 2013 you were outed as a covert agent, you had to resign a couple of years later, you can could go nowhere at the yay, you came from a secret agent to being a household name. How was that for you . It was difficult. It took me several years to come to terms with it. I was a very private person, secrecy is paramount. You dont do the job without that must have made it harder. It was really difficult both my husband joe wilson and i went through the wringer. And it took me a while to realize that at least if im going to be a public person, i can use my voice and speak out about things which i care about passionately like global zero, for instance. Unfortunately we have to go but i hope that there has been a Silver Lining in all this for you, that while you had dedicated your life to something it must have been very hard to lose that, that at least everything you have done since your autobiography, your novel, and the movie made about your autobiography, i look forward to finishing your book tonight, i really enjoyed it and i look forward to more in the series. The book is blowback. I think the essence of the American Dream is that anybody who is willing to work hard is able to get that good education and achieve their dreams. That was president obama speaking this morning as part of his twoday bus tour to promote his plan to lower the cost of college education. But consider this, education is not the only portion of reform, last year the u. S. Ranked 17th in the world in education, well behind first placed finland and second place south korea. Should we take a cue from countries who are doing better than we are as we consider how to reform our schools . Joining me is amanda ripley, author of the book, the smartest kids in the world and how they got that way. Thanks for joining me. Thanks for having me. Pretty much faced a pretty serious shock when they got there. Why are those systems so different than ours . You know finland is considered the utopia of education right now, where kids are getting outstanding results in math reading and science without doing ahuge amount of work like koreans do. They work night and day. These are two very different places but they have both managed to get to the top of the world in education. When you look at the difference between u. S. And theirs not only how hard the kids work, 60 years adding , many of them were illiterate. Now, finland has a 93 graduation rate, much better than our in the u. S. What changes did they make that makes them so very much different . The smartest countries in the world were not always so smart. Sometimes it feels like a feudal stagnant problem that we cant fix. More rigorous on every level, particularly on all cases they made it harder to get into Teacher Training College so they elevated the quality and rigor and the prestige of the profession from day 1. You write about a teacher in south korea, make extra money, not something that unfortunately happens here. The demand for education in korea like much of asia is out of sight. Its really hard to imagine. But there are a lot of facinating things to be learned from that fierce competition, that free market for education out there. But seeing those star tutors in korea and hong kong, some of the numbers are scary. In some caitses 70 of the kids are some of the cases 70 of the kids are using tutors out of school. Isnt that the case that the Public School system isnt doing had a well anyway, and the tutors are getting rich and the wealthy people are the ones that can afford that . You have hit on a huge problem and a risk potentially in the United States. Once people lose faith in the mainstream public system they will eventually look elsewhere, when education becomes more and more valuable. You want to pick up that faith and pick up the tricks of that competitive after School Tutoring market so you dont lose the loyalty and faith of parents. You dont see it as a union issue because there are unions in some of those countries for teachers. Its pretty hard to go anywhere on the planet particularly in the developed world and find a country that doesnt have a teachers union. It is hard to dismiss a teacher anywhere in the world for u unacceptable training. Definitely hurt us in many places around the u. S. The rigor you mentioned, you talked about the south korean kids can work just ridiculous hours. Theyre not being able to engage as much in sports, theyre not being able to have hobbies. Do you see that as a bad thing in the long run . I think its about balance, right . You dont want to go totallyto access in academics or in sports. Interestingly, the way American Parents and kids think about sports this high school, you transfer that mentality, even the words and the rituals to academics, thats how korean parents think about academics. It is literally is the exact vaim craziness around craziness. We have a tweet coming in, hermella. Viewer c. Miller says, in south korea students that are High Achievers are considered heroes, and sometimes in the u. S. They are considered losers, we need to change that narrative. That might not apply across the board but how would you respond to that . There is no concept of the nerd in south korea. That just doesnt exist. Cool thing is academic achievement is seen as mostly a product of really hard work. So failure is a routine part of learning. The attitude is if you fail at something its because you didnt work hard enough. Not that youre abd at math or dumb or whatever. This routine of elevating the prestige of academics and plus the mentality of its how hard you work, as opposed to innate skill, something we could learn from although we obviously dont want to get too crazy and be exactly like the korean model. A different story for children, the u. S. Is in 10th place when it comes to graduation among americans between 25 and 34. According the a study, americans lacking in math science and reading, we were 14th in reading, we were 17th in science, 25th in math, is the issue that the american system mass stagnated, that its fallen off, that we just havent evolved enough and the other people have gotten better and if so what did they do that we havent . We basically have stayed the same and other countries have changed around us. It is pretty unusual to stay the same but we have. Other countries have dramatically improved, in some cases gotten worse. There is all this movement all around the world. And one thing you see is its hard to get series about education unless you are up against it economically. The education superspowrs right now were at powers right now were at a exist tension crns. If you look also on the money side, the percentage that those countries of the budgets of those countries that go to education dont seem to be really that much of a factor. If you compare to the u. S. , i think the u. S. Is at 13 , south korea, 15. 7 , finland, 12 earns . Is this another argument thats been made too that the amount of money going into education isnt an issue . Its amazing. The United States spends more on kindergarten versus fourth grade education than all three countries at this point. Past a certain baseline, you dont see spending really predicts learning the way we wish it would. We tend to spend money on thaings arent directly related to learning. We do not pay our teachers a ton of money, and believe it or not, the kids in their classrooms abroad there they were very old school. There were not digital white boards. Not as focused on the technology. We only have 30 seconds. Jeb bush has tried to push a National Common core standard. Is that something you agree with . Yes, 45 states have signed on to those new standards, they are definitely more a move in the right direction. Kids should think for themselves and choose, i hope that moves forward. Amanda ripley, called was Prince William was dating kate middleton. Ross shimabuku is here with sport. Dennis rodman is in north korea to train basketball players for an upcoming player. He wants everyone to know hes not a joke. This is the same guy who dressed up in a wedding gown and will rite a book with his bff, kim jong un. The 52yearold rodman, who never shies away from the spotlight arrived in north korea of a man. But that might be changing. Do women have a drinking problem . From 1999 to 2008, the number of young women admitted to Emergency Rooms dangerously about intoxicated shot up. The problem reaches women of all age. 24 of women who bin binge drink are college age. The new book, drink, the intimate rich between women and alcohol takes a intimate look at the issuing. Dr. Navu cutby is a division chief, assist professor of psychiatry at wile cornell medical group. You dont fit the profile of what people would consider a alcoholic. Probably the Top University in canada, mcgil. As you research this book how common was your story . How common do you see other people like you . My story is very common. In fact im probably the poster girl, high functioning, unlike my mother who mixed valium and alcohol during the day. Very high profile and the gender gap is closing right around the developed world. Why . Three reasons, i think. A lot of selfmedicating of depression and anxiety. Number 2, i ask if its the modern womans steroid, allowing women to just l all the roles, in a very stressful world, i think thats the case. And number 3, i think heavy marketing. The Alcohol Companies have pitched very heavily at women as a way for them to catch up with beer and theyve done a really good job. Alcapops were born in the 1990s and young women drink alcohol and tequila. Ill address those things later but doctor do you agree with what ann is saying in your teaching . I do agree. Two decades ago it was about three times less. Three times more alcohol within men than women and the gap is definitely changing. And even now, we see different patterns of alcoholism . Binge drinking, we see more in women than men. I think there are multi it is a multifactorial, social changes, cultural changes around women, women are more in the workforce, theyre more powerful, in powerful positions, so a lot to be considered and i agree with ann about what she said. So there are a lot of factors going into it. One of the things interesting you mentioned that men and women drink for Different Reasons. Men typically when they get in trouble with drinking they go to a bar and drink with friends. Women medicate, drink at home, loneliness, depression, many things that trouble us to get rid of negative feelings, as opposed to men drinking . Ill give you the example of childhood sexual abuse, a very big driver of people getting into alcohol problems. It happens for men and women, but typically women isolate when they drink, they drink alone and its not a pretty sight. The National Institutes of health say that women who drink, are likely, susceptible to heart disease, women who have a drink a day have a 10 higher chance of getting Breast Cancer than women who do not. Thats just the beginning of the right. There are Different Reasons for that. Women, for instance, physi physiologicallalogical reasons, alcohol is dispersed by water, women have less water in their body pound per pound. There are some studies that suggest that the enzymes that breaks up your body, alcohol dehydrogenate, is less in women. So women get a higher blood alcohol level than men. And i dont see i dont there is definitely these alarming results. Its not just Breast Cancer, its colo rectal cancer, gastric cancer, cardiovascular that leads to a whole host of things like strokes. And things like that. But just to go back to anns comments about how men why men drink, whats the pattern, men also drink for enddiagnosed anxiety, for depression, its just that women, thats a fact, swroms high likelihood, twice as much to be more to be anxious and more depressed as men. Well aside from all these physical problems that the doctor pointed out, theres also all sorts of issues for women, real dangers, we just did a town hall a couple of weeks ago on Al Jazeera America about the Sexual Assault on campuses. And found out that the overwhelming number of women w. H. O. Had been sexually assaulted had been drinking. This issue spans the whole gamut of a womans life. We know alcohol is the number 1 date rape drug, it is just the fact. Young women i met in treatment, will say i was raped when i was drunk and therefore it doesnt count. I will say, it does count. We have seen high pro file suicides of women who have been out and on facebook which is alarming. What responsibility does the Entertainment Industry have on this . We saw fun drinkers, sex and the city, chelsea handler. Is that an issue . Spl i think we live in an a alcagenic situation, are bridesmaids, if john belus hrveghtsi were alive today he would be female and throwing up. I drink because i can, i drink because men request and i can. As the doctor was saying, democratically were equal but met bol cli we ar metabolically we are not. Historically, if you go back to the generation of our ploghts, people who had problems, they referred to them as mothers little helpers. It was believed that 20 of women were taking valium. Why the push from those drugs to alcohol . Its cool to be outside and to mingle, as opposed to stay with your pill. And again, the alcohol industry has a lot to do with it. You have mentioned alcopop drinches marketed to younger people. What i was read going your book was that one lobbyist in washington per every two members of congress on the alcohol industry, thats amazing. You get an expert like david jernigan, he shakes his head and thinks, this cant be turned around. Why . Because the alcohol business is involved in social media, to such a degree, theyre flying under the radar in terms of marketing to young people. On facebook, on youtube, tweeting and tweeting is not expensive. A young person sits at the computer and seeks out that alcohol brand, seeks out then all of a sudden that alcohol brand is communicating with them like a person, like a friend. Powerful personal story in this book. How are you doing now with your addiction . Im really proud and humbled and grateful. I am five years sober. My life is completely different. Happy, fulfilling and im the most ann ive ever been and i think thats a wonderful feeling. The most your self. The book is drink the intimate relationship between women and alcohol. Thank you for talking about this important issuing. The show may be over but the conversation continues on aljazeera. Com, you can find us this is aljazeera. Theme , come to the news hour. Coming up on the program, dozens of arrested in egypt over linking to the muslim brotherhood. A Police Officer is killed as protestors try to stop elections. The news in europe, including refugees refused entry into britain. The u. K. Government is criticize after