Tonight you can add spain to the list of countries that are demanding answers. The newest details emerge in this spanish newspaper el mundo reporting that phone calls from surveye surveilled. Over the weekend came news that the nsa has been monitoring calls from german chancellor Angela Merkel as far back a as 2002. I think the most important thing is to find a basis for the future on which we can operate, and as i said today trust needs to be rebuilt which implies that trust has been severely shaken, and the members of the European Union share these concerns today. True change is necessary. Reporter when barack obama was running for president in 2008 he went to german and pledged a new era of unity. People of the world look at berlin. Where a wall came down, a continent came together, and history proffered that there is no challenge too great for a world that stands as one. Reporter and as americas top diplomat landed in france last week the newspaper la monde reported that the nsa had monitored communications there. John kerry was on tour to discuss the Syrian Crisis when he was summoned to answer some questions. These kinds of practices between partners that violate privacy are totally unacceptable. We must quickly assure that these practices arent repeated. Reporter united in anger last week 28 heads of the European Union countries gathered for what was supposed to be a discussion about the growing syrian refugee crisis. France and germany announced bilateral talks with the u. S. Over the goal of dispute of electronic surveillance at the end of the year. Once again at the center of a wiretapping supervisor is former nsa contractor edward snowdon. But this is not the first time that snowdon has leaked classified information about tapping ally communications. Just la month brazils president postponed a state visit to the u. S. Over revelations that the nsa has spied on her. But House Committee chairman mike rogers said our european allies should be thankful for keeping them secure from outside threats. If th their citizens knew what it was about they would be popping the shame cork. It keeps the french safe, and it keeps our allies safe. Reporter the question is how will this play out to allies across the atlantic and around the world. Joining us to discuss nsa spying and u. S. Diplomat is are p. J. Crowley former isnt secretary of state now professor of the George WashingtonUniversity School of public affairs. And correspondent for the wall street journey. How shocking are these revelations. Well start with Angela Merkel, head of state. Its different from eavesdropping on the citizens of the nation because its a very targeted sort of the surveillance. Obviously if youre spying on a particular leader youre trying to figure out what is the decisionmaking process going on for that particular leader, and you have probably fairly specific things that youre looking for. If youre looking at the broader citizenry youre probably looking for behaviors or communication that seem out of the order or key that there is a threat under way. The allegation s go to 2002. Well, 2002 might be significant in that the United States was focused on the upcoming invasion of iraq. There was a great debate within the Security Council, and for the United States trying to figure out would it get the vote in the counsel, would it have the u. N. Backing and legitimacy. So you were trying in that context to remember what all the members who would influence the Security Council were thinking, what they would be likely to do when the case was presented. And a vocal supporter of president bush at the time were they looking at the process and you cant help but over things like economy, strategy. Some things come up in particular that friends dont spy on friends. Use of intelligence is about understanding the world, and things that might happen in another country that would profoundly effect your own. If im a senior european official i might want to know what is going on in greece. The future of the European Union as europeans know it depends on whether greece follows its austerity plan. The leaders will tell you that but not necessarily all. Think about what has happened in the United States over the past 30 days. The whole debt crisis and many european leaders or other World Leaders is saying is the United States going to drive over the fiscal cliff and take the Global Economy with it . I really do suspect in washington there are a lot of washington activities trying to answer that question. How surprising is this in terms of the u. S. Trying to gain intel from their friends . Its not terribly surprising. The french are broadly known to spy on american interests, as are the germans. Surely the chinese, russians and israelis have an active spying presence against the United States. A lot of it is even if youre not trying to learn criticalcally new things from a particular leader sometimes you just want to verify that the things theyre telling you in meetings, discussions or saying publicly is what theyre saying to their own staff. So were also hearing about these huge data watched, 60 million phone calls monitored. How can you comb through that information. What is unclear from the documents weve seen in terms of the phone call collection and france and i would believe youre proking seeing a similar thing in spain. It may be just that thats just phone call data. Records that show somebody calling somebody else at a particular time for a particular length of time. Different than eavesdropping. Different from eavesdropping because youre not listening to the actual conference. There is undoubtedly some of that going on as well, but at the volumes that were see going to youre talking about 60 million to 70 million a month it seems more likely that what theyre talking about there is some data. And the documents that have come out so far have been a little bit unclear, and the government hasnt sought to really explain it except they did say that specifically with respect to the french reports last week that the reports were incorrect, and those reports had really focused on interception of phone call conversations which makes me think that were talking about data. How are you doing reporting on this . How are you getting access to the information that is coming from he had car edward snowdon. Well, the documents are he is to get once they post them online. The snowdon revelation has shaken the trees a little bit and has led other people to talk about other elements of the spying apparatus that theyre aware of that raise other types of policy concerns. We did some reporting looking at nsa tapping into the u. S. Internet backbone, which had not been a highlight of the Edward Snowden documents but shows how america is using the information to collect foreign information. P. J. Crowley, european leaders are expressing outrage. How much of that is legitimate . How many of them had known that this is happening . Well, there is an intelligence issue, and beneath the surface there is a deep relationship among intelligence that serve american interests as well as european interests, a lot of cooperation and information sharing, which is why there has been progress in combating terrorism. Were in a better position than, say, 12 years ago. The United States has been through this before with wikileaks. You had 250,000 state department documents, many classified cables. Youve got awkward conversations. How could european leaders say how could you call me vain. But obviously at the end of the day interest drive relationships but politics makes relationships. Youre seeing steps being taken politically to try to manage this, and stabilize the situation. It will obviously take some ti time. Mike rogers, chairman of the Intelligence Committee on capitol hill. Hes saying this keeps everyone safer. What is your response to that . Well, i think there is probably some truth to that. There are a lot of terrorist plots that the u. S. Officials have pointed to that have been thwarted they claim, which are in europe as well as in the u. S. The claim from the u. S. Government is that the information that nsa is collecting particularly as it has to do with Counter Terrorism is benefiting a broader swath than just the United States. But there is a substantive difference here. Its not all politics. European and americans look at privacy a different way. They probably look at security and how you draw that line between privacy and security a different way. That is going to be debated. Its already being discussed among nations and there will be adjustments made as this process goes forward. Talk to us about tiers of allies and relationships. There is a group of five is, great britain, the u. S. Canada , new zealand, australia. How is the treatment of those country different than germany, france, and what is happening in spain. Well, thats under view. The socalled fiveis there is sort of a in spying agreement. Since the revelations from Edward Snowden, the white house initiated an interagency review when they discovered that there was all this monitoring of european leaders and others. And they put a stop to some of it, were told, including chancellor merkel at the time and were told theyre looking at another set of those leaders that they maythat theyre going to try to stop monitoring as well. So thatsits something that the u. S. Is revaulting. But there is no agreement per se between the u. S. And germany that theyre not going to spy on each other. Part that have is simply because over time the nospying is based on a commitment to share everything, and these are countries where there is a broad understanding that our interests intersect and merge and overlap to a very significant level. If france or germany or other countries want the same understanding, that can be negotiated but there are political and strategic implications. Who is watching the watchers . The nsa is collecting all of this data. Revelations coming out with the snowden revelations. Its getting more scrutiny than it did before. What is interesting is it wasnt until the white house launched this interagency review that they started figuring out what was going on. There has been this call for nsa transparency but probably the first place they should start with transparency should be within the government a little bit. What has been interesting, the revelation versus led to more transparency, but some of that has been forcing the government to also put out more information far beyond what mr. Snowden has put out. In crawlly, you served in the state department is it possible that the white house didnt necessarily know what the nsa is doing with their collecting and whether or not theyre spying on World Leaders . Its absolutely like i he didnt know. The president said he didnt know. The president provides strategic guidance but the tactical decisions of how you go about getting the information that leaders know, thats done at lower levels. Its a good question of how much knowledge there was within the white house, but i dont think this is the kind of decision that youre going to bring into the oval office. Thank you so much for talking with us. Well take a break. When we come back well change topics and talk about life and legacy of rocknroll famer lou reed, who passed away at the age Al Jazeera America. Introduces. America tonight. A fresh take on the stories that connect to you. Grounded. Real. Unconventional. An escape from the expected. vo Al Jazeera America we understand that every news story begins and ends with people. The efforts are focused on rescuing stranded residents. vo we pursue that story beyond the headline, past the spokesperson, to the streets. Thousands of riot Police Deployed across the capitol. vo we put all of our Global Resources behind every story. It is a scene of utter devastation. vo and follow it no matter where it leads, all the way to you. Al jazeera america. Take a new look at news. The most important money stories of the day might affect your savings, your job or your retirement. Whether its bailouts or bond rates this stuff get complicated. But dont worry. Im here to take the fear out of finance. Every night on my show i break down confusing financial speak and make it real. Welcome back to inside story. Tonight were remembering the rock legend lou reed. Perhaps no other artist so thoroughly embraced his darker shades with songs about dog abuse, and seedy side of life in new york city and turned it into something a generation of rockers to follow. Reporter lou reed leader of the band velvet underground passed away after suffering ailments of a liver transplant earlier this year. He was 71. North worthy for songs such as he heroin and sweet jane. Although the band never achieved commercial success reed sprang to worldwide fame. He credited much of his success to artist andy warhol. Everything that i do from the outside. If it hadnt been for andy, who knows whether we would have had a chance to do anything. So i think i owe everything to mr. Warhol. Reporter although the velvet underground enjoyed an alternative cult following reed launched a solo career in 1972. His First Release was walk on the wide side. [ singing ] reporter his solo work continued for more than three decades including a show at the white house in 1998. [applause] reed was inducted into the Rocknroll Hall of fame as part of the velvet underground in 1996. Despite getting sober in the 1980s decades of hard drinking and drug abuse took its toll. He underwent a liver transplant in april. Hes survived by his third wife, musician laurie anderson. Joining us to discuss lou reed and his lasting influence is david markaze and Ryan Mitchell. Thank you both of you for being here. Ryan, you were a 15yearold punk rocker covering songsly lou reed, covering songs by the velvet underground. What is the appeal . Youre 40 years younger than he is. Youre hearing music like sweet jane, and hes talking about listening to the new york station late at night and trying to get to new music something really avantgarde and growing up in the suburbs and being around everything that youre sick off. You think, i live in a boring world, and in this old time new york you have lou reed making these songs about drug use, privates or transvestites. Things that would still be pushing it today. I think as a 15yearold kid playing punk music it struck a cord with everybody. Okay, yeah, im mad at the boring old world out there, too. Reporter david, he was credited with influencing a whole new generation of rockers including ryan in our studio, was really influenced by that. What is it about his music that has done that . I think love of it was based on what ryan just said. There is a feeling that with lou reeds music hes introducing you to these ways of living which is beyond normal existence and hes pulling back the curtain on the seedier side of life and telling you about people and experiences that you wouldnt normally come across especially in rock or pop music. The thing that we really dont want to overlook when were talking about lou reed is that the music is well crafted. Like ryan said, the melodies are amazing, the chord progressions and he has the esthetic message wrapped up in this compelling sound. More with these guests in a moment. Stay with us, this is inside [[voiceover]] every day, events sweep across our country. And with them, a storm of views. How can you fully understand the impact unless youve heard angles you hadnt considered . Antonio mora brings you smart conversation that challenges the status quo with unexpected opinions and a fresh outlook. Including yours. Determining using some sort of subjective interpretation of their policy as to whether or not your particular report was actually abusive, because if it doesnt contain language that specifically threatens you directly or is targeted towards you specifically, they may not consider it abuse. They may consider it offensive. And in that case they just recommend that you block that person. I dont want to minimise this, because i mean, theres some really horrible things that are on line, and its not its not just twitter, what has happened through social media and the anonymity of the net is that you see websites, hatefilled websites targetting all sorts of groups, popping up. There has been a huge number of those that exist as well. On august 20th, Al Jazeera America introduced welcome back to inside story. Were talking about lou reed and the Lasting Impressions of his music. With us, David Marchese from spin magazine of new york, and Ryan Mitchell here in d. C member of the band shark week. Lou reed talks about this version of new york that seedy, its seamy, intense, does it still exist today . If it does, i dont know where it is. I think thats part of the appeal of whypart of why lou reeds music is going to last for a long time. Sort of no matter when he was writing, if it was in the late 60s or 70s, it was giving you a picture of new york to those listening to his music. And the luridness and the details made it seductive. As time went by the things that he was seeing in new york that he was singing about, its further and further away from reality. Its a nostalgic longing of something well never experience. Is it nostalgic to talk about seamy new york city. It probably wasnt all that glorious to live in. Were adding a golden age lens to t but im sure its true for david or myself or for a lot of people. Lou reed tells a story about migration to new york to take a walk on the wild side. Its the story of move to go new york, to live a dream, living in a seedy world, performing seedy acts, whatever it is. Its the story were all doing or a lot of musicians, a lot of artists in brooklyn are trying to live that. I doubt its really as rugged or dark as it was then, but its kind ofthis nostalgia that were looking for. You mentioned in the late 60s and early 70s people think of peace and love. This is counter to the current counter culture. Thats exactly right. Thats where a lot of appeal lies. More now than back then, the underground with lou reeds music, it was never wildly popular but there are people who the peacelove doesnt really resonate, and with someone like lou reed hes showing you the harder aspects of life and the alienation and dissatisfaction that is attractive and romance. There is a romance to those feelings of alienation particularly in rock music. You see that filtered to punk and indie rock today where it seems a lot more of it is influenced to the things and attitudes of lou reed rather than beatles. As you watched his career as he went from the velvet underground to being a solo artist to being involved with artistic process, reviewing other artists did he stay influential . If were talking about lou reeds influence, were probably talking about the first decade of his recording career 1967 to the middle of the 70s. One thing that is interesting about his legacy as he got older into his 40s and deep Center Middle age he found ways to be provocative and to challenge his audience and to challenge himself. His last album a couple of years ago was lulu with metallica, an incredibly abrasive album based on a german play from the 1901900s, even as he got olderd the idea that people are to age graceful,ly i dont think he wanted to age gracefully, and the terms of how to age as a rock musician will get stronger, but it will take time to get there. Sure, i think you see his influences through the 90s , the 80s, and you see his guitar work on metal music, and you see stuff like juno taking some of his pop acoustic hits from the 60s, and youre seeing a lot of influences in so many spectrums of music. Gentlemen thank you so much. Thats all we have time for today. Thats it from the team in washington, d. C. And from me, libby casey. Thank you for watching. Good night. Welcome to al jazerra america. I am stephanie sy. Here are the top stories. Al jazerra has learn congressional lawmakers plan to draft legislation cutting down on the nsas power. If passed the bipartisan bill would end the security agencys ability to collect u. S. Phone records and restrict who the nsa can spy on. Fighting in syria has blocked u. N. Inspectors from accessing two chemical weapons facilities. Its a crucial setback in their attempts to rid the countries rivets a chemical weapons. The inspectors did not say whether Syrian Rebels or the government was responsible for the delay, just that negotiations for access are still underway. Abortion rights supporters in texas are celebrating a legal victory after a judge found