Preschool programs, go to programs that arent good. The standards are so low, its questionable whether you should call it a preschool education. Ifill those are just some of the stories were covering on tonights pbs newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by at bae systems, our pride and dedication show in everything we do; from Electronics Systems to intelligence analysis and cyber operations; from combat vehicles and weapons to the maintenance and modernization of ships, aircraft, and critical infrastructure. Knowing our work makes a difference inspires us everyday. Thats bae systems. Thats inspired work. Ive been around long enough to recognize the people who are out there owning it. The ones getting involved, staying engaged. They are not afraid to question the path theyre on. Because the one question they never want to ask is, how did i end up here . I started schwab with those people. People who want to take ownership of their investments, like they do in every other aspect of their lives. And the william and flora hewlett foundation, helping people build immeasurably better lives. And with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. And. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Woodruff president obama announced this afternoon that 7. 1 Million People signed up for Health Insurance, before last nights deadline. That tops the administrations original goal, and it came despite glitches on the healthcare. Gov website. The president marked the achievement with an event in the white house rose garden. Millions of our fellow citizens know the Economic Security of Health Insurance who didnt just a few years ago. And thats something to be proud of. Regardless of your politics or your feelings about me or your feelings about this law, thats something thats good for our economy. Its good for our country. Theres no good reason to go back. Woodruff there was no immediate word on how many of the enrollees were previously uninsured, or how many have paid their premiums. And beyond those questions, republicans charged again the Health Care Law is doing more harm than good. Senate minority leader mitch mcconnell. All across the country our constituents are having an unpleasant interaction with obamacare whether they can sign up for a policy or not. What theyre discovering is of course higher premiums, higher deductibles. Many of them are losing their jobs and so, it is really a catastrophe for the country, both for the Health Care Providers and the consumers. Woodruff the total number of 2014 enrollees is expected to go higher still. Officials have said applicants who began the enrollment process but werent able to complete it, will likely qualify for an extension. For the first time in more than seven years, no american troops died in afghanistan during an entire month. Casualties have been declining as the size of the u. S. Force dwindles to 33,000 the pentagon said today the last month with no u. S. Fatalities in the afghan war was january of 2007. The official death toll from the Washington State mudslide reached 27 today, while the number of people missing was lowered to 22. Meanwhile, governor jay inslee reported that damage from the slide has reached 10 million. He asked for a federal disaster declaration. Bad weather again hindered the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight. Eleven planes returned to their base in perth, australia without finding anything. And the head of the search effort warned, it could, drag on for a long time. John sparks of independent Television News went out with one of the planes, and filed this report. Reporter personnel and planes from five nations have gathered here. And the recovery of the stricken jetliner, now their collective responsibility. But theyve made little progress still, nobodys giving up. Crew members from this australian orion have already made eight attempts to find debris from flight 370. Yet all theyve found so far is bad weather and plenty of false leads. Theres been multiple sightings of objects, its just, the problem is they havent been able to confirm whether or not theyre related to the aircraft. And thats the difficulty we have. Reporter Flight Lieutenant dawson provided an example, they saw this yesterday. No neither can i. Youve got to try an id them, but its a trade off between identifying something and continuing with the search as well. Reporter these are not ideal conditions to conduct a search operation. In fact, the pilots just called the weather shocking. The visibility is poor. The swell is high. And that doesnt make it easy to find debris. Its a pretty bumpy ride, as well. The aircraft bounced around 350 feet above the water, and the crew did their best, trying to pick out objects on the surface, but they didnt see much, a few fishing buoys, and a pod of whales, once again, there was no sign of mh370. Their work was painstaking and professional but 10 squardrons latest mission offered little in return. No debris no evidence of a boeing triple seven thats disappeared without a trace. Still, the australians and their orion will be back up there tomorrow. For the first time, evacuees from the Fukushima Nuclear disaster in japan will be allowed to live in their former homes. More than 100,000 people fled the 12mile hot zone around the plant after an earthquake and tsunami wrecked three Nuclear Reactors in march of 2011. As of today, 357 people were allowed to go back, to an area where radiation levels are deemed safe. It was unclear how many would decide to make the move. N. A. T. O. Member countries ordered a halt today to all civilian and military cooperation with russia. They also agreed to consider sending more arms and troops to parts of eastern europe. Its a reaction to russias annexation of crimea and troop buildup near eastern ukraine. Meanwhile, moscow sharply increased Natural Gas Prices for ukraine. The move puts new pressure on the financially struggling nation. In economic news, u. S. Auto sales picked up last month. Chrysler reported a 13 increase in sales. Ford, toyota and nissan all reported singledigit gains. General motors was up 4 , despite a series of safety recalls. On wall street today, the Dow Jones Industrial average gained nearly 75 points to close at 16,532. The nasdaq rose 69 points to close at 4,268. The sandp 500 added 13, to finish at 1,885. Still to come on the newshour g. M. s c. E. O. Faces questions over deadly defects; allegations the cia hid facts about its harsh Interrogation Program; the push for quality preschool programs; a look inside syrias civil war; plus, new hurdles to a mideast peace deal. Ifill General Motors c. E. O. Mary barra appeared before a Congressional Committee today for the first time to answer some of the many questions about a series of major recalls. She faced a grilling at times. One congressman even told her, we dont trust the company right now. Between 2003 and 2014, gm learned hundreds of reports of ignition switch problems through customer complaints, warranty claims, lawsuits, press coverage, field reports, and even more internal investigations. With all that information available, why did it take so long to issue the recall . Ifill senior lawmakers from both parties made clear, they want answers. At issue why g. M. Took so long, years, to fix vehicles with faulty ignition switches. Theyre now linked to air bag failures and at least 13 deaths. G. M. s c. E. O. , mary barra, has been on the job just since january. Sitting here today, i cannot tell you why it took years for a safety defect to be announced in that program, but i can tell you that we will find out, as soon as learned about the problem, we acted without hesitation. We told the world we had a problem that needed to be fixed. We did so because whatever mistakes were made in the past, we will not shirk from our responsibilities now and in the future. Ifill g. M. Company documents indicate the automaker knew of the problem as far back as 2001, in chevrolet cobalts, saturn ions and other models. Recalls finally began in february, and the total number of affected vehicles has now reached 2. 6 million. Even more recalls are underway for other defects. But barra acknowledged, thats far too late for some. Todays g. M. Will do the right thing. That begins with my sincere apologies to everyone who has been affected by this recall especially to the families and friends of those who lost their lives or were injured. I am deeply sorry. Ifill barra vowed that an internal investigation will find the facts, but Committee Members pressed for details. As far back as 2004, g. M. Conducted problem resolution tracking inquiry after it learned of incident that key moved out of run condition, is that correct . Yes. Thank you, now after the prts inquiry one engineer advised against further action because there was quote no acceptable Business Case to provide resolution at p. R. T. S. Was closed. Is that correct . If that is true that is a very disturbing fact. That is not the way we make decisions. Ifill congresswoman degette said g. M. s own documents showed a defective spring in the ignition assemblies would have cost 57 cents. The Committee Also called David Friedman, acting head of the national highway Traffic Safety administration. The agency first heard complaints about the g. M. Vehicles in 2005. Some of that information did raise concerns about air bag nondeployments. So in 2007, we convened an expert panel to review the data. Our Consumer Complaint data on injury crashes with air bag nondenoiments showed neither the cobalt nor the ion stood out when compared to other vehicles. Ifill friedman pointed the finger at gm, saying it withheld significant details for years. But his testimony drew fire. What specifically did n. H. T. S. A. Ask g. M. Did you ask why would an air bag not deploy in your car . I dont have a record of that. I know our team brought it up but not that specific question. Ifill the questions and answers played out before family members of the 13 victims. They had earlier pushed for answers on the steps of capitol. Ken reimer and his wife jane lost their daughter natasha in a 2005 chevy cobalt accident. The accident report shows that speed was not a factor. Weather was not a factor. Nor Road Conditions or traffic. The ignition system was found in the accessory position by accident investigators. None of this ever had to happen. It could have been easily addressed and corrected. Ifill Laura Christians 16 year old daughter Amber Marie Rose also died in a 2005 crash. Our daughters, sons, sisters, brothers, mothers, fathers, wives and husbands are gone because they were a cost of doing business g. M. s style. Corporate executives made a decision that fighting the problem was cheaper and easier than fixing the problem. Ifill g. M. s barra met with the families yesterday, and after the hearing, she promised again the auto maker will meet its obligations. We were definitely moving to a culture focused on the consumer, focused on the customer, focused on high quality and safety and thats my direction and thats what were doing today. Ifill barra did not say when g. M. s internal probe will conclude. Its been reported the Justice Department is also looking into the matter. Both mary barra and David Friedman will testify before a Senate Committee tomorrow. For more on what came out of todays hearing, we turn again to David Shepardson, who covers the Automotive Industry for the detroit news. And Joan Claybrook, the president emeritus of public citizen, whos been working with some of the victims families. Shes also a former administrator of the national highway Traffic Safety administration. David shepardson, we heard mary barra say not once but several times today that todays g. M. Would not do would do the right thing. What did yesterdays g. M. Do . What was the culture she was talking about which led to this . Well, she found herself in the position of basically disavowing and rejecting many of the decisions g. M. Made, you know, around 2005. She was presented with emails that showed the company had opted not to improve the ignition switches, in one case saying the amount the company would save in warranty costs, only about 10 to 15 cents per switch, was not as much as the 90 cents per switch it would have cost to make the change. She said the new g. M. Does not put a cost on safety, whatever it takes theyre going to fix cars but, you know, in the face of these documents she had really little choice but to say this is not acceptable today. Ifill and she said repeatedly she couldnt answer the question because its still under investigation, right . And that only went so far with the committee and the senate tomorrow is going to push her, too. And part of that is a fair answer, there are a lot of questions they dont know. I mean, g. M. Has amassed about 6 million pages of records in this investigation, but a part of it is still getting to the bottom of how far up the chain do these decisions get made . Was this a lowlevel decision by engineers to not fix this, you know, for what was a very small amount of money . Or did it go much higher than that . Ifill explain one key thing which came up today which is this potential coverup, at least those were words members of congress used, of a safety problem found in 2006. Well, in 2006, the switches that have been recalled or linked to the 13 deaths, the switch was changed to a much improved switch, but the company did not change the part. In fact, it showed in the committee the record from the engineer that signed off on it, they didnt change the part number. Thats very unusual because you would want to change the part, be able to track how the new switch is performing versus the old switch and it wasnt actually till last year that an outside engineer figured out this problem because they couldnt understand why some vehicles were showing much higher failure rates than others, and that is a central question here, why didnt g. M. Change the part number, why didnt they inform n. H. T. S. A. , and was this something that they were eager to hide by not making a change in the part number. Ifill Joan Claybrook as a former head of n. H. T. S. A. And speaking on behalf of the families as the victims families, were you satisfied with the answers you heard . No. I think that mary barra should have been more prepared to give particular answers. General motors has submitted 200,000 pages of documents to the committees in congress, and theyve also submitted a time line, several different versions, three or four of them, i think, to the department of transportation. So she should have been better prepared, in my view, to give answers. I think that she wants to reserve her options for how she frames this when she gets the whole investigation finished inside General Motors. Ifill g. M. Announced today they retained ken feinberg, the compensation specialists, to speak about how to compensate certain victims of the prebankruptcy 2009. So is that what you think . Is that how an internal investigation should look, looking in terms of compensation . Well, thats not the internal investigation i was referring to. Im referring to the hiring of an outside law firm to do an unvarnished evaluation as mary barra said of what happened and why it happened and who was involved. I think its a very positive move to hear that they have hired ken feinberg because consumer groups asked mary barra in a letter to set aside a 1 billion fund to compensate others, people who were injured or killed in crashes that occurred before july 2009, which is the date of the bailout. What happened in the bailout, it was quite unusual, in my view, is that they said any crash that occurred before the bailout is the responsibility of the old General Motors which has no money and, therefore, people are not going to get any money, in i compensation for their injuries. Ifill so theres a liability pre2009, a liability shield . Theres a liability shield, thats right. The fact that shes now talking about having ken feinberg look at this and see if theres a way to compensate these individuals, i think thats a very positive move and i hope that that occurs. Ifill David Shepardson, i want to ask you about the national highway Traffic Safety administration as well, their role, they were also testifying today, they were also pressed on these questions. Did lawmakers seem to believe that they were any way culpable on these . Theyre really bearing down on a decision that n. H. T. S. A. Made in 2007. One of their senior investigators said there were reports of four fatal crashes in these now recalled cobalts and asked his superiors to open a formal investigation. The government did not do that and, unfortunately, in terms of timing, one of these special crash reports came out early the next year which showed that, in fact, the nondeployment of the air bag was tied to the fact the key slipped out of position, but by the time they got that report, the government already decided not to open that investigation. Now, the government says the data was not there and, really, tried to point the finger back at g. M. Saying, if theyd had more information like the part change number, like the fact that, in 2002, the initial part, the switch never met g. M. s own specifications and they told the supplier go ahead and build it anyway. So they argue, the government, if g. M. Had provided more information they could have made a different decision. Theyre not admitting any wrongdoing at this point. Ifill Joan Claybrook, should the government have had more responsibility for this . Absolutely. I think General Motors bears the basic responsibility because it built and designed and sold and evaluated and had a lot of information about this error in the ignition switch. But the government keeps saying they didnt have enough data, which is really terrifically outrageous. The fact is its a design defect. This problem is a design defect and if you have a design defect, it affects every part that was made, and they knew that there were crashes that were caused by this, but there were injuries that resulted in death. It didnt matter how many Consumer Complaints or warranty claims they had, they did not need any more data. When i was in charge of this agency in the 70s, we looked at things to see whether or not there was a design defect and, if there was, and if it could cause harm, and if the problem arose, that was absolutely, per se, a safety defect. So theyre treating this whole thing as though they have to gather tons and tons of paper in order to make a decision, and i think that thats completely wrong, an its a real failure at the agency, and i hope that they will revise this, and theres a lot of work going on now to try to persuade them to look at this in a different way. Ifill for the record, we did invite representatives from g. M. To appear tonight and declined. Joan claybrook, joa president emeritus of public citizen, and David Shepardson of detroit news. Thank you both. Thank you. Blvrn woodruff a classified report by the Senate Intelligence committee alleges that the c. I. A. Misled the government and the public over aspects of its Interrogation Program for years. A Washington Post story today based on interviews with those who have seen the document says that the c. I. A. Concealed details about the severity of its interrogation methods, overstated the significance of plots and prisoners and took credit for pieces of intelligence that were already obtained from detainees before they were subjected to harsh techniques. We examine the details now with greg miller of the Washington Post. Greg miller, welcome. The newshour received a statement from the c. I. A. A short time ago saying they are not going to respond to this report in the Washington Post until they get a final copy of the study from the intelligence committee. Having said that, 6300page report, why was the Senate Intelligence committee conducting this kind of study of the c. I. A. . Well, this all started a number of years ago, now, and launched largely because there was a debate at the outset of the Obama Administration when obama was dismantling this program about whether it worked. I mean, there were always sort of different categories of debate about this program was it moral, legal, and a question of was it effective. A lot of defenders of the program said after 9 11 we didnt have a choice but to take extreme measures, and it worked, saved lives and prevented attacks. So senator feinstein, the chairman of the intelligence committee, made it a first job to zero in on the question, is it true . Did it work . What did the agencys own records say about that . Reporter . Woodruff so what would you say the Main Findings are here . I know theres a lot to cover, but what would you single out . I think there are to. One is they see very little evidence the enhanced techniques water boarding, sleep deprivation, things like that delivered any significant intelligence in the aftermath of 9 11. In fact, much of the best intelligence from prisoners who were subjected to these techniques came before that ever happened, in other words when they were initially questioned before they were subjected to these harsh measurers. The other one i think is the Committee Concludes that the agency was misleading. Agency officials in washington frequently misled lawmakers and others in government about this program and would conflate the intelligence that was gathered from other means and other sources with what it got from enhanced interrogation. Woodruff kind of stunning, isnt it, they would say that the kind of interrogation they were doing didnt produce significant results . Right, and its add odds with the assertions of senior officials from former Vice President cheney and former c. I. A. Directors on down, and there are a big chunk of this report by the committee looks at assertions like that and compares it to the whats in the cables, the classified correspondence and communications of lowerlevel c. I. A. Employees directly involved in the program. Woodruff we should point out, greg, your story says you say current and former c. I. A. Officials describe this study as marred by factual errors and misguided conclusions. You also say c. I. A. Veterans argue it reflects what they call f. B. I. Biases, and you point out one of the principle authors of the study is an f. B. I. Analyst. So talk about that. Right, and i mean this could reignite this longstanding feud between the c. I. A. And the f. B. I. Because f. B. I. Officials, some of them were agast that the agency and the u. S. Government would embrace these kinds of methods, even after the september 11 attacks and have been very clear about that for a long time. And, so, the fact that one of the principal authors of the senate study is a former f. B. I. Analyst and the Committee Also looked through f. B. I. Documents and notes and so forth has raised that sort of suspicion. I think the committee would say, look, the bulk of this report is based on c. I. A. Documents. They looked at more than 6 million classified memoranda and records from within the agency, and that accounted for 99plus percent of the material that they examined for this inquiry. Woodruff but do these kinds of concerns expressed by unnamed c. I. A. Officials undermine in some way the credibility of the report . Well, i mean, i think thats i think were going to see a lot of that Going Forward because none of this has been released publicly so far. At best, were probably going to see an executive summary thats several hundred pages long released to the public several weeks or months away, and theyre already sort of jockeying over how this report is going to be received, so there will be efforts to discredit it and to point out, you know, maybe theres an f. B. I. Bias here, theres criticism of the committee because they didnt interview or speak with any c. I. A. Officials, its based exclusively on documentary evidence, so you will see that line of attack. Woodruff what is going to determine how much of this is released to the public . Well, i think that comes to the white house and the c. I. A. And the ball will be in their court soon. The Senate Committee is supposed to vote this thursday to transmit its executive summary to president obama who has already indicated that hes in favor of release ago portion of this if not all of that executive summary, then it goes to the agency and they have to scrub it for classification issues. So, you know, well have to watch to see how much of this they let go. Woodruff a lot of folks are bracing themselves, im sure. Greg miller, Washington Post, we thank you. Thank you. Ifill tens of thousands of parents in new york city will get a chance to send their children this fall to free full time prekindergarten classes, thanks to a new 300 million state Program Announced jointly by new York Governor Andrew Cuomo and city mayor bill de blasio. Educators hoping to expand prek on the National Level are keeping an eye on cost, and quality. Special correspondent john tulenko of learning matters has our report. The problem is were still not reaching enough kids, and were not reaching them in time and that has to change. Reporter the president is talking about preschool. This year, federal spending on Early Childhood education, which had been around 7. 5 billion , will increase by a billion more. Preschool is also getting attention from big city mayors, including new york city mayor, bill de blasio. We must achieve the tax plan i put forward for fullday prek for every child in this city. Reporter florida, oklahoma, West Virginia and georgia already offer preschool to everyone. And 30 governors are proposing to expand it in their states, so children get a boost. Kids develop better cognitive skills and success breeds success. Reporter Rutgers University professor Steve Barnett has devoted his career to better understanding how preschool affects outcomes for children. Its not just about learning colors, and shapes, and letters and numbers, those things are important, but its also learning about how to control my own emotions, how to get along with other people. And so you put all that together and those things can put kids on a much more successful lifepath than if they dont have them. Reporter but as barnetts research has shown, all that depends on having quality preschool programs. And hes concerned that in some states today, the most politicians are doing is talking up a good game. Most fouryearolds who go to preschool programs, go to programs that arent good. I think its a kind of bait and switch. Its easy to make a commitment and not put enough money behind it. And its very difficult for parents to know that their state is not actually doing what they say they are. Reporter barnett worries in particular about california, texas, and florida. The standards are so low; its questionable whether you should call it preschool education. Reporter what does it look like . You have a teacher with no qualifications requirements. No limit on class sizes or ratios. States pay 2,300 a child, which is less than a quarter what kindergarten costs. Its hard to believe its more than babysitting. Reporter 10 states, dont even offer that they have no public preschool. Among the others, 27 make it free only to families near or below the poverty line. That helps explain why public preschools enroll only about a quarter of the nations eight million threeandfour yearolds. A few of those lucky children go to this preschool center in perth amboy, new jersey. Here, preschool is free, regardless of income. Jeri mast is the director. We are teaching everything, the language, the literacy, the math, so that theyre more academically prepared for school. Reporter children can be here from seven in the morning until six at night, getting more than academics. Most children in our schools will get of their food intake here at school. We can get kids coats and hats, mittens when its cold. Were a full service operation. Reporter classes here are small one fully licensed teacher and an aide for every fifteen children. The center has a wellequipped playroom, technology and other extras. All this costs about 13,000 per child per year, money perth amboy gets from a Class Action Lawsuit it filed several years ago against the state of new jersey. The rest of the country will have to find other ways to pay for preschool. Where will the money come from for that . It comes out of general revenues. Weve been talking about it being expensive, its not a lot of money. The federal tax break that allows Hedge Fund Managers to pay 15 income tax basically, costs 83 billion a year. We could provide preschool to all our kids for far less money than that. Reporter last year, president obama asked for 75 billion, funded by a proposed federal tax on cigarettes, to roughly double the number of children in preschool over the next decade. Lawmakers rejected it. We shouldnt just be grabbing new ideas and creating new programs and adding to the debt. Reporter opponents included republican congressman john kline, who did vote yes on the far more modest, 1 billion increase in federal funds for preschool, as part of the budget that passed in january. Wed like to see preschool that work because there is growing evidence and its recognized on both sides of the aisle that Early Childhood learning is worthwhile, but lets not just grab a new program and start trying to fund it. Reporter but preschool might actually save taxpayers money, according to Steve Barnett. Kids who went to preschool, they need far less special education. Theyre far less likely to fail and repeat. You add all that up and thats going to outweigh the cost of the preschool program, by itself. Reporter and, he says, thats just the start of the savings. The big part comes later on because kids are less involved in crime, delinquency. Theyre more productive in the workforce, they have lower healthcare costs, those are the big longterm savings. Reporter but critics argue the longterm gains rest on thin evidence. And shortterm gains have come under scrutiny too. Kids are really not ready for school and you know theres a famous study that says by the time you get to third grade, it doesnt matter anyway. Reporter klines referring to a 2012 study of headstart, the federal preschool program. It found childrens early gains in language and reading had virtually disappeared by the end of third grade. The reason for that, the authors say, is that many children who didnt go to preschool quickly catchup. But its also possible the children who did go are slowing down. With overcrowded classes and fewer support staff, the lingering affects of the recession, instructional quality in many Elementary Schools has suffered. Its like a relay race. You cant say i ran a really good 1st lap so now i can walk the next one. Youre going to lose the race is you do that. Well, preschool is the same way, its a really good first lap, you have to keep running hard. Reporter barnett hopes the improving economy, and bi partisan support in many places, will keep up the momentum and public monies for high quality preschool and beyond. Woodruff we turn now to syria, where three years of civil war have left more than 140,000 people dead. The city of homs was once seen as the capital of the revolution. Now, its mostly controlled by Assad Government forces we take a look inside the besieged city, with a report from Lindsey Hilsum of independent Television News. Everyones a suspect. So the soldiers search each car before letting it through. Theres not much beauty near the frontline in homs. Maybe thats why theyve decorated their checkpoint barrier. The left tennant walked me through the neighborhood of bab sparr. He didnt want to show his face. The last battle, he told me, will be very soon. Theyre ready for it. The soldiers say that this is as far as we can come, the frontline is just beyond those buildings, less than 50 yards away. Its quiet now during the daytime but theres still fighting every night. What the soldiers say is the United Nations has taken the civilians out, its only fighters in there so they want to go in and finish the job. Today the soldiers are relaxing, they seem pretty confident. Two years ago Government Forces pummeled rebel held suburbs in homs with artillery. Then they starved them out, when the u. N. Evacuated civilians from old homs in february scores of hungry rebel fighters came too. Less than a thousand are believed to be holding out. translated the best thing is if they give up their weapons and take advantage of the amnesty. If they surrender their weapons, they can return to normal life. Reporter in a centre for displaced people, i met rebels whove surrendered. In other cities similar young men disappeared into president assads jails. But in homs, the Authorities Say theyll be freed after checking their criminal records. With soldiers listening no one was going to criticize the government. But theres no doubt theyre weary of war. translated in the beginning, we asked for simple justice. Things everyone should have. But then it became something much bigger, and they brought heavy weapons and when foreigners intervened they started to play off one religious sect against the other. Reporter a mile or so away, on al hadara or civilization street, you wouldnt even know there was a war on. The rebels never made any inroads into this area where most people are from president Assads Alawite sect. But in babr amr, a sunni quarter which rebels controlled for two years, Government Forces showed no mercy. Noone knows how many lost their lives here, civilians and fighters alike living month after month under constant bombardment. A few people have returned to start again. Growing their own food because everyones been impoverished. The kids are hard at work, they lost a brother in the bombing, their fathers been missing for eight months, their mothers struggling to look after them. translated i swear to god were crying everyday about the empty houses and the people who fled. We dont know where they are. I pray to god we can return to the way things were before. Reporter how to make a living . Ibrahim juma used to get ten customers a day at his bicycle repair shop, now hes lucky to get two. translated theres sadness everywhere, a bad feeling, a sense of loss because we used to see our neighbors in the morning but now we dont. Its sad, we dont know where they are. Our neighbors were like our brothers and i miss them. Reporter the government believes its won in homs and must fight not negotiate to win elsewhere. This then is the face of victory in syria. Ruined cities, ruined lives, and the prospect of many more years of conflict to come. Ifill online, we have a report on the latest numbers of the death toll from syrias civil war. A british Monitoring Group found despite official counts, the actual toll was likely closer to 220,000 People Killed in the last three years. Thats on our rundown. Woodruff the fate of u. S. Led peace negotiations between israel and the palestinians hit new hurdles today, and the very future of the talks might be in jeopardy. Woodruff secretary of state john kerry had been all set to resume his middle east shuttle diplomacy, amid talk of possible progress. Then came word from palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas that hes resuming a campaign for u. N. Recognition. translated we will apply to 15 agencies and conventions immediately. Woodruff abbas blamed israel for stalling an agreedupon release of palestinian prisoners. The last of 104 prisoners were to have been freed in march. translated we have been promised nine times that the fourth batch of prisoners would be released. This afternoon was the latest promise that the Israeli Government would be convening to approve that. This did not happen. Woodruff with that, kerry canceled a return visit to the region, scheduled for tomorrow. He spoke at n. A. T. O. Headquarters in brussels. This is a moment to be clear eyed and sober about process. Its difficult and emotional. All i can tell you is we are continuing even now to be engage with both parties to find best way forward. Reporter earlier, it had been widely reported the u. S. Was working to win the release of those palestinian prisoners. The prospective agreement did not include a freeze on israeli settlement expansion, long a demand of the u. S. And palestinians. Instead, it reportedly involved the possible release from prison of american Jonathan Pollard. The u. S. Navy Intelligence Analyst was convicted of spying for israel almost 30 years ago, and is still serving a life sentence. Successive Israeli Governments have echoed strong public sentiment there in asking for his release. Reporter pollard was interviewed by Israeli Television in 1998, after israel acknowledged hed been spying, and granted him citizenship. For israel to have admitted that i was an agent, was a precondition for an equitable resolution of my affair. Reporter pollard waived a parole hearing scheduled for today according to prison officials, as diplomatic wrangling continued. Earlier, White House Press secretary jay carney said president obama had made no decision to release pollard. But he did not rule it out. The need for and benefits of a peace between the israelis and the palestinians, a peace that provides the palestinians with their own state and provides security to a democratic, jewish state of israel transcend this issue and many others that are part of the discussions that we have. Reporter secretary kerry had hoped to have a framework Peace Agreement by the end of this month. Now, if a deal can be salvaged, it might simply ensure that peace talks continue into next year. Woodruff joining us now to discuss all of the latest developments and the prospects for continuing the talks are aaron david miller, a former Senior State Department advisor on arabisraeli negotiations. Hes now a scholar at the Woodrow Wilson center. Shibley telhami is the anwar sadat professor of peace and development at the university of maryland and a senior fellow at the brookings institution. And david pollock, a former Senior Advisor on the middle east at the state department. And now a visiting fellow at the Washington Institute for near east policy welcome to the newshour to all three of you. Pleasure. Shibley telhami, let me start with you. Why is today Mahmoud Abbas saying hes going to go to the u. N. Seeking recognition for the palestinians. Why now and why are the israelis so opposed . Probably two issues. One, if you look at it from his point of view and his constituents point of view, hes being asked to extend negotiations without getting ruts, something he said he wouldnt do. He needs to look tough to constituents. It in some ways makes it easier for him to agree tomorrow or the next day to extend the negotiations, but the second thing is, palestinians always feel like theyre being taken for granted. Theres an asymmetry of power favoring israel, and in this case there was the recent prisoner which had been agreed upon from the beginning. Its interesting. Theres a little symmetry here because when secretary kerry asked both sides to come to the negotiating table, he asked for gestures. Israeli made the gesture on prisoners. Palestinians made the gesture of not going to International Institutions to essentially fail cases on israel. Not that the israelis are not fulfilling their part of the prisoner release, the palestinians feel they have one little lever that they can send a signal they have something to go back on. Woodruff aaron david miller, how do you read what he did . Money is betting on israeli piece. John kerry went into a semiomission impossible in a process where there were gaps on all the core issues very deep. And theres an absence of urgency and ownership. Abbas finds himself in a position where not only are the appetizers off the table that is to say the fourth tranche of prisoner releases the prospects of actually eating the main course, a Framework Agreement by the end of april or even the end of 2014, seems actually quite dubious. And my own conviction is, you know, its like rock and roll. Its never going to die, but this process right now is coming to a critical moment because, if people abandon the faith that talking can get them what they want, then the obvious implications and consequences are prohibitive. Woodruff i should say, coming to you, david pollock, secretary kerry said, after president abbas made this move, he said its completely premature to write off the process, said the parties are in touch with each other and will continue b but how do you read this particular development by president abbas . I think it is premature to write it off. I think they will find a way at the last minute to resuscitate at least the talks. Not an agreement, but an agreement to talk. I think what abbas is trying to do here is to insist that the preconditions for even sitting down at the table be fulfilled, and i think he is responding to and israeli decision to delay a prisoner release but theres also a complicated technical issue about which prisoners exactly will israel agree to release. The israelis say that they did not agree to release palestinian citizens of israel as part of the preconditions for these peace talks, and abbas is insisting they do exactly that. Woodruff youre saying he did this because this is one piece of leverage . I think hes using it as leverage, but hes trying to demonstrate that he, too, has an alternative in case the process does fail, not just to get talks started but to show theres a plan b for the palestinians. Woodruff lets talk about another interesting piece in all of this, the disclosure a few days ago that or the understanding that, Shibley Telhami, that the Obama Administration is considering the release of Jonathan Pollard. Thats woodruff how do you read that . That came as a surprise to me, in part, you know, because not every white house has been reluctant to do so for over 20 years. The National Security agencies of the u. S. Are opposed to it. They see it as a traitor who has betrayed america and the u. S. Has paid a price. They didnt want to link him to negotiations in the peace process. I always felt that he could be used as a card, but only when there is a real major crisis, because its a big price politically for the president , or at least internally, not so much politically, but more within the National Security bureaucracies, and i think that the fact that they appear to be considering it, maybe even using it, tells you that there was a real crisis. I think it tells you something about how at least secretary kerry led the immediate situation there, that he needed to use this particular card now. Woodruff aaron david miller, youve written you think its a terrible idea. I do. I think that, look, if youre going to tell me that were prepared to release Jonathan Pollard, at least up for parole in 2015, for something significant and consequential, an agreement on borders for releasing pollard, fine. At the end of the road pollard will be thrown into the deal. The palestinians have their own benefits and something the israelis want, fine, but to trade Jonathan Pollard for extension of the talks or settlement freeze that will be observed more in the breach or practice, makes it look weak and desperate. Its a bad idea, unwise, makes a miracle look bad and wont advanced it. Woodruff you believe there are no circumstances under which he should be released . If the president of the United States makes a judgment that Jonathan Pollard, ill, mentally unwell, having served a long time wants to be released on humanitarian grounds, do it, but dont conflict it with peace and undermine the intelligence in the process. Woodruff what about it . I think if theres a humanitarian reason to release Jonathan Pollard, it makes sense for the United States to get something for it on top of that and to use this card, which is a wasting asset becausel because s eligible for release within the next year or so anyway, and is ill. So i think it makes sense, if the United States has enough legal grounds to do this, if the president decides that its okay after having served so long in prison for a very serious crime, then we should also play the card for something thats worth doing, which is preserving the peace talks. Woodruff just to keep the talks going, you would say that absolutely. Because i think they can do it without this. I dont agree. I think if youre going to get something for pollard, get something consequential and significant. Extension of talks which fail to close the gaps on core issues is going to simply prolong the problem that we face and, two or three months from now, he will ask for Something Else without sufficient progress. Woodruff briefly. On this issue, if you are getting a real total settlement freeze, thats one thing because that would make it possible to have real negotiations, but if youre only getting some restraint and settlement goes on, its too h heavy a price to pay. Woodruff thank you all three, aaron david miller, Shibley Telhami and david pollock. Thank you. Ifill again, the other major developments of the day. President obama announced that 7. 1 Million People signed up for Health Insurance, before last nights deadline. And lawmakers pressed General Motors new c. E. O. Mary barra on why the automaker took ten years to recall vehicles with faulty ignition switches. She vowed it wont happen again. Woodruff on the newshour online right now, Many Americans dream of retiring to the sunbelt where they can enjoy their work free years on the golf course or in the swimming pool. But financially, seniors may want to consider trading their sunglasses for mittens and head to alaska, based on data from the National Institute on retirement security. See where your state ranks for overall Financial Security for seniors. Explore an interactive map on our health page. All that and more is on our web site, newshour. Pbs. Org. Ifill and thats the newshour for tonight. On wednesday, judy has an exclusive interview with christine lagarde, head of the International Monetary fund, on ukraine, russia and more. Im gwen ifill. Woodruff and im judy woodruff, well see you online, and again here tomorrow evening. For all of us here at the p. B. S. Newshour, thank you and good night. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by moving our economy for 160 years. 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