Transcripts For KQED PBS NewsHour 20160909

Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by moving our economy for 160 years. Bnsf, the engine that connects us. Lincoln financial is committed to helping you take charge of t your future. The ford foundation. Working with visionaries on the frontlines of social changeha worldwide. And with the ongoing support of these institutions and friends of the newshour. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Ie thank you. K woodruff north korea is at the epicenter of world attention tonight. It blasted its way there today with a Nuclear Explosion that touched off shockwaves both seismic and political. The test drew global criticism, and raised fresh questions about what if anything can be done. Do well have the full story, after the news summary. The u. S. President ial campaign also echoed today with talk ofal the north korean blast with two months to go till election day. Lisa desjardins has the story. Reporter the north korea news forced both american candidates to respond hillaryo clinton, after meeting with a National Security panel in new york. We are not going to let north korea pursue a Nuclear Weapon with a Ballistic Missileic capacity to deliver it to the United States territory. That is absolutely a bottom line. Reporter donald trump argued its another of what he says were clintons catastrophics failures. He spoke at the value voters summit in washington just today it was announced that north korea performed its fifth nuclear test its fourtl since Hillary Clinton became secretary of state. Its just one more massives failure from a failed secretary of state. Reporter the republican hit on a different Foreign Policy issue last night, when he spoke to larry king on r. T. , a news channel run by the russian government. U. S. Intelligence and Law Enforcement agencies reportedlye are investigating whether russia launched a covert operation to disrupt the 2016 election. T what do you make of that . I think its probably unlikely. I think maybe maybe the democrats are putting that out who knows . Reporter Trumps Campaign said later he didnt mean to gog on russian state tv. He actually did an interview with larry king, and he said he was doing it for his podcast; hh didnt know it would be on russia tv. Reporter meanwhile, clinton in kansas city last night signaled a shift in tone away from trump attacks, and toward her personal side, addressing the National Baptist convention i still remember my late father a gruff former navy man on his knees praying by k his bed every night. Y that made a big impression on me as a young girl, seeing him humble himself before god. Reporter this goingpositive push is multimedia, including this new tv ad, stressing herad message. Weve got to bring people together. Reporter candidates and voters will take a break this weekend. Both trump and clinton havent agreed to suspend campaigning sunday to mark the 15th anniversary of 9 11. For the pbs newshour, im lisa desjardins. Woodruff also today early voting began in north carolina, the first of 37 states that allow the practice. A federal judge today refused to stop construction of an Oil Pipeline Near a north dakota indian reservation. But right after that, threeaf federal agencies asked they pause work voluntarily. The Standing Rock sioux have drawn thousands of protestors to support their cause. They say the project harms Water Supplies and disturbs ancient sites. Wall street took a beating today on fears of higher Interest Rates and lower oil prices. The Dow Jones Industrial average lost 394 points to close at 18,085. The nasdaq fell 133 points and the s p 500 slid 53. The u. S. House of representatives has given final approval to letting families of 9 11 victims sue saudi arabia. 15 of the 19 hijackers were saudis, but riyadh strongly objects to the bill, and the white house warns of a veto. Still, republican congressman peter king of new york andr others say theyre undeterred. This is the most basic constitutional right. This is an obligation. Its an obligation we in the congress have to not allow foreign lobbyists or Foreign Countries or anyone else to intimidate us. Justice must be done. We want to make sure that there are no more 9 11s. This is one more step we can take to show foreign governments they cannot step aside. They cannot walk away if something is carried out where theyre sort of looking the other way making believe its not happening. Woodruff the vote came after house members from both parties marked 9 11 on the steps of the capitol. They paused for a moment of silence and then sang god bless america, in the same location where they gathered immediately after the attacks, 15 years ago sunday. New warnings today on Samsungs Galaxy note 7 phone because the batteries can explode and spark fires. Now, the Consumer Production Safety Commission is telling people to stop using the phones and turn them off. And the federal Aviation Administration warns against bringing them on airplanes. Samsung has issued a global recall. And, a nasa probe is off on a sevenyear first of its kind mission to gather samples from an asteroid, and return them to earth. A rocket launched the probe from cape canaveral, florida on thursday evening. An hour later, the osirisrex spacecraft shot out of orbit. Its heading for the asteroid bennu, to bring back about two ounces of dust. Still to come on the newshour st reevaluating the global approach to north korea after its latest nuclear test, mark shields and david brooks analyze the weeks news, and much more. Woodruff we return to our top story north koreas latest nuclear test. And its reverberations around the globe. Our chief Foreign Affairs correspondent Margaret Warner begins our coverage. Reporter north korea touteda its latest nuclear test as a major breakthrough injo deliverability. translated the nuclear test finally examined andly confirmed the structure and specific features of movement of a Nuclear Warhead that has been standardized to be able to be mounted on strategic ballistic rockets. This will enable the nation to produce at will and as many as it wants. Reporter that claim has yete to be substantiated. But todays test was the norths most powerful yet. International observers reported the underground blast had a seismic magnitude larger than any of the four previous tests. South korean officials estimate the blast had a yield of ten kilotons, a sharp increase from the sixkiloton test in january. Just as ominous, north korea has demonstrated growing success with Ballistic Missiles. Is on monday, it fired off three mediumrange rockets. All flew more than 600 miles before splashing down inhi japanese waters. Last month, pyongyang also successfully launched ath l submarinebased missile. E todays nuclear test drew swift condemnation. In seoul, south koreas president charged north Korean Leader kim jong un has gone mad. translated north Koreas Nuclear test, which is already only seen as a challenge to Thee International community. And we and the internationalnt community have reached the limit of our patience. I think the mental condition of kim jong un, who wont listen to the International Community and neighboring countries to stay in power, is out of control. Reporter china north koreas closest ally warned against further provocations. translated any unilateral action that is in the interest of its own will not yield anything, it could onlyyi intensify the situation and complicate the issue. Reporter and president obama, who returned from asia early today, said in a statement the u. S. Will never accept north korea as a nuclear state. But Top Republicans aimed their criticism at the white house. He a statement from House Speaker paul ryan dismissed the president s initiatives, saying y todays test marks the latest setback in a campaign to contain north Koreas Nuclear ambitions, going back decades, and three u. S. President s. North korea did agree to halt its Nuclear Weapons program back in 1994. But the years since then have seen an endless cycle of onoff negotiations, threats, sanctions and ever more advanced tests by the north. A state Department Spokeswoman was asked what happens next we wont stop our effortswo working with our International Partners to increase pressure oa this very opaque regime in reaction to provocative acts like this. Reporter in new york, the United Nations Security Council met yet again in emergency session to condemn the north, and weigh its options. But china which has veto power on the council stopped short of saying it would back new t sanctions. That prompted secretary Defense Ash Carter to say beijing has an important responsibility and r needs to do more. For the pbs newshour, im Margaret Warner. Woodruff for more and to explore the worlds options, we turn to gary samore. He served on the National Security staff during the first term of the Obama Administration as the coordinator for arms t control and weapons of mass destruction. Io hes now at Harvard Universitys Kennedy School of government. And Greg Thielmann was the director of the strategic, proliferation and military Affairs Office at the state department from 20002002. Hes now on the board of directors of the arms control association, a proarmscontrol advocacy group. And we welcome both of you to the program. Greg thielmann, to you first, we just heard this described as the norths most powerful nuclearr test yet. How significant was it . Well, its the latest piecee of bad news in terms of north koreas continuing evolution of nuclear and missile programs. Its the most powerful nuclear test yet, the second this year, and it represents an acceleration of north koreas movement in a very bad direction. Woodruff so what does this say about their nuclear capability, where they can reach, how much destruction they can wreak . Its very hard to answer that question precisely because we really dont know how advanced the North Koreans are in being able to miniaturize their Nuclear Devices so they fit on top of a Ballistic Missile. So theres a lot of guesswork involved. But i think its fair to sayy that, at this point, the North Koreans may have the about the put a nuclearko warhead on a mediumranged Ballistic Missilem and that missile could hit japan, it could hit south korea, and they are probably that far, according to what we t hear from south korea and u. S. Intelligence sources. Ll woodruff gary samore, what are the North Koreans trying to say with this test, do you believe . Well, of course, the specific timing was to celebrate the t 68th anniversary of the foundation of north korea, but i think, more broadly, i think kim jong un is determined to demonstrate that he is not going to be cowed or deterred by u. N. Security council injunctions and the threat of sanctions which are demanding he halt testing and eventually give up his Nuclear Weapons program. So i believe thecl North Koreans are trying to make it clear to the Security Council and the big powers, especially china and the u. S. , that they are determined to retain and expand their Nuclear Weapons capability. Nu woodruff Greg Thielmann, does this represent a failure of american policy toward the world and north korea . I think it represents a failure toward the objective almost all countries in the world agree to which is not to expand the number of countries that possess Nuclear Attack capability. Woodruff so but whats been wrong about that policy ifc has it been too tough . Has it been too weak . E how do you size it up . Well, of course, u. S. Nuclear nonproliferation policy scoredor some impressive successes, and i think the Iran Nuclear Agreement of last year is a good example of that. In the case of north korea, its one of the most difficult of all challenges we have, and there is certainly reason to criticize the North Koreans for being bad negotiating partners, and they have not been willing to carry out some of the obligations to which theyve agreed. But there are also problems on the other side of the table. One of the problems we have now is there is no table. We are not talking to the North Koreans. There are no negotiations going. Let me turn to gary samore. How do you see this question of flatout this means whats been going on until now has failed . Yes, i think thats right. H i mean, going back to president reagan, when we first suspected that north korea was pursuing a Nuclear Weapons program,a the United States has tried many different ways to slow down or prevent north korea from acquiring Nuclear Weapons, including nuclear diplomacy. Weve had three agreements, threats of preemptive war, economic sanctions. Weve tried many different methods and theyve all failed. As greg said, its an indication of how difficult the problem is. You have a country that feels it has an existential need to have Nuclear Weapons in order to survive, and u. S. Options,p whether theyre diplomatic, coercive, military, are very limited. So the question will be whetherw or not this test of north koreas continuing defiance will create opportunities, in particular for the u. S. And china, to work together, and that will be seene in the u. N. , whether or not the chinese are prepared to support additional sanctions measures. On woodruff well, let me asket you about that because, up until now, the u. S. , as we know, has said there are precon visions. North korea has to meet certain conditions before the u. S. Will sit down at the table and talk. Should that policy go away . Should there now be talks without preconditions . Well, just to be clear, the u. S. Is prepared to meet with the North Koreans, with north korean diplomats without any conditions. Nd the question is whether the conditions for Nuclear Negotiations, for a forming negotiation. And for me, a minimum condition has to be an agreement that the purpose of Nuclear Negotiations is to achieve eventual disarmament. Nobody expects that to happen ip the near term, but in some kind of sequence, series of steps. Secondly, while the talks are going on, north korean refrain r from nuclear and longrange missile testing. So me, thats a reasonable minimal requirement, and i thini you can get the chinese and other major powers involved in the talks to agree to that. Now, the Obama Administrationdm has been asking for more. Mo they have been asking for restraints on north korean fissile material destruction as a condition for starting negotiations. I think that hasnt worked andan we have to look at trying to come to an agreement with china on conditions that are more realistic. Woodruff Greg Thielmann,gr how do you see that . What do you think needs to happeno now . I mostly agree with what gary said that i think we could make a mistake in even trying to get north korea to go back to its previous commitment to a denuclearized korean peninsula. I think right now thats putting the bar too high. We need to negotiate with the North Koreans, and even if the objective the only objective we can agree to is a freeze on north Korean Nuclear and Ballistic Missile testing, ic think that, too, would have value. That doesnt mean we have to abandon our objective to ultimately get rid of all Nuclear Weapons in the korean peninsula, but to require the North Koreans, before entering negotiation, to accept that as the ultimate objective of the negotiations i think is askingsk too much. Woodruff so youre sayingng tell the North Koreans what . We will sit down with you what . We will sit down andd negotiate the terms of a freeze on nuclear and Ballistic Missile testing, and we will make very clear that our objective is to ultimately get rid of all Nuclear Weapons in the korean peninsula, as the North Koreans previously agreed to. Woodruff gary samore, does that sound like the right path . Right now the North Koreans are not prepared to talk about nuclear disarmament, nor are they prepare to accept any restriction on their testing activity, and unless you establish, it seems to me, a basic premise for the talks, or for the negotiations, then youre not going to get anywhee if you dont at least with have an agreement on what its all about. Woodruff its a moment when a lot of questions are l being asked, and we know its certainly what north korea has done has certainly gained everyones attention. Gary samore, we thank you. Ou Greg Thielmann, we thank you. T thank you. Woodruff now we return to woodruff now to ouro continuing coverage of the upcoming 15th anniversary of the september 11th attacks. We begin with a look at theth country where the attacks were planned afghanistan. The u. S. And nato deposed thede taliban government in the fall of 2001, but 15 years later american troops continue toco fight and die there, while trying to help the afghans stand up an army to take on a resurgent taliban. En from kabul, special correspondent Jennifer Glasse reports. Reporter at the Regional Corps Battle School in Laghman Province in eastern afghanistan, these Afghan Soldiers many with years of battlefieldtl experience have been learning leadership skills from Coalition Forces. Its an afghanrun school with u. S. Soldiers and nato troops serving as advisors. Part of the lesson plan u. S. Style military organization. Yl after completing seven weeks of training these men become non commissioned officers, a rank that had been exclusive to theat United States military. Adam weiner is an advisor. We have a strong leadership in the officer and n. C. O. Side and we see the benefits that that has for our army. And so weve tried to instill that into their training as well to empower their noner commissioned officers to take a bigger role leading soldiers alongside their officer counterparts in their units. Reporter some of these Afghan Soldiers fought alongside u. S. Forces in eastern afghanistan. With only a few american speciaa forces still in the country, afghans must rely on u. S. Airpower when things get tough. translated when the air support comes, every soldier, every fighter, has better morale. They are refreshed and fight with new energy against theew enemy. Also in some districts there are high mountains and we can not go there. So we need the airplanes to target the enemy. Reporter but after 15 years of u. S. And Coalition Efforts on the ground, and least 65 billion, Afghan Security forces are still a development project. The task of building a militaryi here didnt start until 2009, with a commitment from president obama to do the hard work needem to help afghanistan stand on its own, and reducing the need for u. S. Troops. General John Nicholson is the commander of u. S. And nato forces in afghanistan. Hes served here before, but now commands an international forcea far smaller than years past. Were trying to build an airplane while in flight. Okay, so theyre fighting a war while were trying to build an army, this is very hard. And when you look at the histories of any of our western Coalition Force members, who are here. Theyve had a similar long journey to build thehe professional armies that we have today. And so this is primarily the challenge. Casualties, the need to develop leaders, the need to develop systems where none previously existed. So it does take time. Reporter Sergeant First Class philip nixon is serving a second tour here. In 2010 he was fighting in southern afghanistan, now hes the platoon leader of the guardian angels, a mix of u. S. And nato troops charged with protection of the military advisors and their bases across the country. Destroying the enemy is not hisn compared to when i was here in afghanistan six years ago, they afghan army, the a. N. A, theyve come a long way. They are the facilities areey much better, their soldiers seem to be doing a lot. I think what were able to do here with the train, advise, and assist mission has improved drastically from the last time i was here. Reporter a lot has changed in six years. The u. S. Policy in afghanistan remains focused on counterterrorism, but now theyre relying on the afghans to execute most of that mission. American troops on this base are part of the main mission of u. S. Forces here in afghanistan, to train, advise and assist Afghan Security forces. Theres an afghan base just next door and there are bases like this all over afghanistan. Like shoraback in Helmand Province southern afghanistan,n where afghan trainers and u. S. Advisors are putting the afghan 215 corps through their paces. American and British Forces left helmand in 2014. After the taliban made considerable gains in the absence of Coalition Forces,s, hundreds of u. S. Troops have returned. Now with new leaders in the afghan corps, the coalition is teaching them new tactics to fight a resurgent taliban. Within the past year, the taliban briefly captured kunduzn city in the north this summer, besieged lashkar gah in the south and this week threatenedat tirin kot in central afghanistan. When you look at the population and district control the afghans control about 68 percent of the population and about 62 of the districts. 62 the taliban control about 10 of the population and 10 of the districts. 25 of the country is contested. Its in play. Reporter and the fight isnt just on the battlefields, the taliban strikes wherever it canr just behind me is the ministry of defense, just a few minutes ago there were twoe explosions, the police and Security Forces you can see out in full force. Theyre moving the people back. E this is a very busy market area and this is one of the busiest parts of the day as businesses let out, as offices let out, so the streets were very, very full. The police say some suspiciouse men went over there, so theyre moving everybody as far back asy they can. This is the kind of security problem that afghans face on a daily basis. This Taliban Attack in kabul was particularly brutal and deadly. B first a remote controlled bomb went off. Then as help arrived for the wounded, a suicide bomber dressed in an afghan army uniform detonated himself in the crowd of helpers. At least 35 people were killed, including an army general andne three Senior Police officers. More than 90 were wounded. The taliban arent the only threat in afghanistan. Of the 60 designated terrorist organizations that the u. S. Has identified, ten of them reside in this region. Si so our presence here enables us to keep pressure on those organizations and prevent another 9 11. Reporter both al qaeda and the Islamic State are in afghanistan. The u. S. Commander got expanded authorities this year to fight both isis and the taliban directly. So again, u. S. Forces aree fighting here, supported by american planes. But the afghans remain on thee front line. They have a new air force, but it will take years before its at full strength and capacity, and Afghan Ground forces continue to take punishing casualties. Last year more than 5,500 died and 14,000 were wounded. Casualties this year are up an estimated 20 . The price of defending a country they got back from the talibanom 15 years ago. For the pbs newshour, im Jennifer Glasse in kabul. Woodruff stay with us. Coming up on the newshour 15 what 9 11 memorials mean to victims families in their own words. But first, the analysis of shields and brooks. Thats syndicated columnist marn shields and New York Times columnist david brooks. Welcome to you both. Its good to see you again. Lets talk about the president ial campaign. David, we saw the two candidates together at the same place this week but not at the same time at this televised forum that nbc sponsored. What did you make of their performance and what they had to say . I thought they both lost, i thought america lost, humanity lost, a little piece of my soul died. Woodruff that bad. They both did poorly. I thought she was evasive and cross and looked like she was imperious and angry to be challenged. She had plenty of information but not a lot of relatability and not a lot of humanity and not a lot of vision for Foreign Policy. He, if anything, was a little worse. He is as he has want to do said about six ridiculous things. Ng the admiration for putin is a wrong standing, but to me the thing that really made me think was his claim that in rierk we should have left a core of people to take the oil. Now, that is, first of all impractical, but its also moral idiocy. Maybe youre selfish and think, oh, i have oil and guns, i should taken it. T but if you go through any realm of education, which is what we try to do with people, you learn thats imperialism, plunder,is its morally wrong and ruinsi your credibility. The idea a big country is going to go send troops into some country to they can their resources and the rest of the world will trust us is a ridiculous notion. So he says things that are plainly ridiculous. But so thats why im so depressed. Woodruff so, mark, humanity lost as a result of this encounter this week . Judy, i it was i think davids point about the oil is well taken, valid and true. That is not the United States. St that is pillaging. That is the worst form of imperialism that hes describing. It would mean leaving thousandsa of americans there to protect the oil drilling. I mean, its indefensible on a logistical, moral and political grounds. Youve moderated debates. Ive never moderate a debate for good reason. But wednesday night, partially unflattering press to matt lauers performance, raiseded stakes to moderators and has put on notice all of them that they are not entitled in 2016 to sit there while somebody makes a statement that is factually untrue and can be proven false, as mr. Trump did when he, in fact, said that he had always opposed the United States war in iraq. And i just think thatteth tougho to be a moderator. But the question of integrityt and greats doubt about him is part of the job description. Cr woodruff how do you see the question about the role of moderator. I didnt think matt lauer did terribly. When one candidate does badly, they tend to blame the moderator. As for the role in moderator, ir would say in moderation. If he corrects a fact or two, thats fine. Th an argument between the moderator and the candidate is not what we want. In terms of cognitive science, the idea that when you correct a fact you erase the fact from peoples memories is the reverse of the truth. Ru when you correct a fact, you further lodge the fact into peoples minds and they remember the error. Weve had all the Fact Checking services and we have not entered a more factual era of american politics, we have entered a less factual era. It doesnt work. D woodruff is this about the fact that Hillary Clinton didnt do as well as her supporters wanted her to do . No. I mean, i think there areth people, obviously, who criticize matt lauer on that basis, and im not trying to pile on matt lauer, but i think the difference, judy, between a debate and what we saw wednesday night is that a debate, as you know and our viewers know, is a simultaneous occurrence, whenre the two are there at the same time and they can respond in realtime to each other. And i think that, you know, we get 90 Million People at a president ial debate, there is no question that, in 1980, Ronald Reagan had been portrayed as a war monger, somebody whowh couldnt do anything off a script, and the one debate with president jimmy carter, he stood toetotoe and reassured peoplea he was not bound and determined to start World War Three on the spot and could make a coherent statement. So, i mean, there is a lot more to a debate than there was on wednesday night, and, in 2004, i think its pretty obvious that john kerry won the three debates on debating terms, but, in the final analysis, george bush was reelected because voters chose e like over i. Q. Thats what one gets a sense of the personality, the character, how they treat each other and the moderator. So i think they upped the audience for the next debate. De woodruff what about inut this race the polls are tightened . What do you tribute that to . I dont know. After the stock market drops 300 points, the analysis invents a story, oh, there was a correction. In the polls, we invent a story to go back for it. And they have tightened from maybe a 7point clinton lead to a 2 or 3point clinton lead. So they have tightened. I have not seen donald trump rur a Better Campaign or Hillary Clinton run a worse campaign. As one travels around the country, one is constantly barraged with the upsettedness. People are dispirited. You settle toward parody because theyre dispirtd about everybodr and that would be any only theory but i have not noticed one candidate or another radically altering theirlt performance to explain the fall or rise. Trumps numbers are pretty flat. The variation tends to be in the clinton numbers. Mark, do you have anyo explanation for whats going ono i do, i have an explanation because i think thats part of our responsibility, to come up with explanations, whether valiw or not. Or laughter no, judy, i think americans dont like powerful figures who punch down that is, who pick on someone less powerful and less able to speak for themselves than they are, and i think donald trump was guilty of that on a sustained basis after the convention, the time of the democratic convention, on his abuse of a federal judge whose parents had emigrated from mexico, and in particular his picking on and really abusing mr. And mrs. Khan, the gold star parents. He hasnt done that recently and that reaches the bar of president ial end behavior. But the problem isal this ia a changed election. Ge americans dont like the way washington operates. They dont like washington. N they dont like the way things are going. In they like the president but they do not like washington, d. C. , and Hillary Clinton has becomeec the status quo. By a twotoone margin, voters believe that donald trump would change business as usual in washington, but by almost as large a margin they believe Hillary Clinton would b be bettr in a crisis and less of a decisive margin she cares about people like them. L so you have a changed election where he is represents change that is really threatening to people, and i think thats the election. But theres noat question that e has not come across as she started opening up this week to the press, but if you think about personal Hillary Clinton,u you have to go back to the primary day ino signature when she showed such vulnerability, appealing vulnerability, whenli she reached out to the girl being bullied during the Iowa Caucuses this year. T other than that, shes been a private issues and position paper, and i dont think thatst going to be enough. Woodruff just quickly, character issues, questions, david, back and forth between the two candidates on an hour by hour basis. Yesterday the Washington Post editorialized its time for the press to lay off Hillary Clintons emails. What about that, a. And quickly, b, the story this week about donald trumpsu Foundation Giving money to the Florida Attorney general that was looking whether to investigate trump university. At how do we assess this. For him, there is a virtue of shamelessness and he was controlled b by influence. So he gets less of a wrap than clinton who denies shes in the game and she clearly is. I think the emails are baked ia the cake. It would be interesting if they would talk about what the next president will have to do. Healthcare reform will have to be done. It would be interesting if one said the obamacare has to be fixed and heres how to do that and they emphasized that. That would go over big because people are dispirited about the contentless post policy tone that marked the campaign. Woodruff the candidatesd have been giving a speech here and there about policy and putting papers out, i know secretary clinton has. Secretary clinton has, judy. I think mr. Trumps are in the works and we can look for them before halloween. David put his finger on it whenh donald trump is shameless about it. He was asked why he contributed to both democrats and reps, he said when i want something, i get it, and when i call them, they kiss my as. Not found in bartletts under most president s famous quotations, and i think that belies a cynicism and probablybl comports with the cynicism that voters feel right now. They dont believe washington,gt and hes not being punished for it or paying a penalty for it. It you know, i think that remains a problem. Whoever wins, youve got to give a sense of what two things youre going to do specifically to make things better, and i dont think even the partisans of both candidates could say right now what two specific things their president would do in his or her first 90 days. Woodruff inda the last 45 seconds, david, passing this week of someone who was an icon and conservative movement phyllis schalfly, she left an important mark. A she was in an era where theth human rights issued dominated and she started to exemplify that and created a new right that fueled the republican party. I happen to think she passes at a time when those cultural wars, sexual revolution issues are fading from the scene and the coming generation has basically settled them and not necessarily in her way. Woodruff mark . Phyllis was that and she was more. She almost became a political kingmaker. I mean, her endorsement, her support was sought eagerly and coveted by the leading republican president ial candidates, and she had an enormous influence. Woodruff mark shields, s thank you very much. Y david brooks. Vi have a great weekend, both of you. Woodruff now we return to the monthslong standoff over the building of a controversial pipeline in north dakota. Its intended to carry oil from the States Bakken region, across south dakota and iowa to an existing pipeline in illinois, which is on hold after conflicting government rulings. Lisa desjardin has the story. Reporter the protests began in april when members of the Standing Rock sioux tribe complained that a spill from the pipeline would contaminate the Missouri River and lakes near their lands. The sioux also have said construction would harm sacred tribal grounds. In recent weeks, they have been joined by other native american tribes and environmental groups. The company and some local officials have said it willoc create jobs and boost Energy Production in the u. S. Our William Brangham is reporting near the Standing Rock reservation. I spoke to him a short time ago and asked him what the Immediate Reaction was like today. Brangham yes, this has been a day nobody here reallyll wanted to see happen. I dont know if you can see behind me, but this is the camp, the main area people have been gathering for weeks, and this is the worst possible news, initially. Interestingly, the word is slowly starting to trickle out. In fact, many people i talked to this afternoon, i was the one telling them the news about the hearing because the Cell Phone Service here is really bad so people are not getting the news as quickly as some of us are. But the general sense was that people were really disappointed. Theres been a sense of resignation. Many feared this would be the judges ruling, they felt the corps would be allowed to do this and the Energy Company would be allowed to put the pipeline in. When the news came that the Justice Department was thinkingw of stepping in and putting a stop to this gave people a certain level of hope. P the people i talked to said they think this will be an ongoing, protracted battle. Reporter what is the tribes complain . Brangham the standing argument is the construction of this pipeline is going to destroy a lot of very, very v important cultural sites to them. Burial grounds, historic meeting places for their people. Number two, that the pipeline, though it is not going through tribal lands, it is a short distance away, the pipeline will go underneath the river and many are concerned if a pipeline carrying hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil goes under the river, there could be a rupture and spill oil into their primary source of drinking water. Thats a main source of concern, that the construction of the pipeline will destroy lands important to them and the potential for contamination is enormous. This would be ata very significant pipeline carrying half of current oil production, how is the company responding . The company says they followed the rules, filled outle the permits, got the permissions, did the propersi surveys and they have broken no laws whatsoever. Thats not been the allegation. A the trains main concern is with the army corps ofi engineers who granted one of the main permits for the pipeline to go in. The corps says they did all the properer consultations. The company says they this is important for the airy, there will be jobs and construction of the pipeline, jobs in maintaining the pipeline andne they say we still live in an oilbased society and if oily needs to get from the bachen oil fields to the market, this pipeline is the delivery for that. Explain what happens now in the protests. Th with regards to the courts, who knows how thats going to play out. The Justice Department may step in forcefully on. Y this well have to wait and seee as far as what happens on the t ground, weve heard from some people whove said, regardless of what happens with the courts, with the rulings, with the army corps, there is a Certain Group of people that argue they will do everything they can to not let the pipeline going forward. Weve heard people talking about the possibility of physically putting themselves in the way of the construction equipment, inon the way of the workers camps and how widespread that sentiment is, i dont know. I well see in the next days and weeks if the construction really does take off, whether or notot those actions come through. But there is a minority of people here at least that will do everything they possibly can to stop this from going forward. William brangham speaking to us from north dakota. Thank you and well look forward to your reports in the coming days. Woodruff and finally, someuf thoughts as we approach, on sunday, the 15th anniversary of the 9 11 attacks. There are National Memorials at three sites. In new york city, the World Trade Center memorial attracts millions of visitors. Two reflecting pools inscribed with the names of the nearly 3,000 people who died in all of the attacks sit in the footprint of the original twin t towers. Theres also a museum and a park. The pentagon memorial is off the beaten path, located directly behind the building. It has small benches poised above lighted pools, to remember the 184 people who died at the pentagon, and on American Airlines flight 77 that crashed into it. In shanksville, pennsylvania, the memorial is in a remote field, set upon the crash site of flight 93. We have a collection now of voices, including family members, visitors and writers who share their thoughts on the meaning of these memorials. I think its a memory well carry with us all our lives. I know my parents generation, they thought of pearl harbor,ha that was a signal moment for them. For my generation, it was this tragic event that happened here on 9 11. From the devastation to how it looks right now, its a meditation for me, and im just in my space of gratitude that im here. The most powerful thing of all about the site is the void, the sense that there were these incredibly tall, strong buildings stood is just emptiness now. W. But there are also the names. Am the names are a remembrance. They are a sign that those people who are gone will be remembered permanently. And then there iser water, which is a sign of renewal and nature. The sound of the water fall drowning out the sounds of the city is also very, very important because it helps take you into another place when youre there. Im so proud of the city for not, you know, putting something new, like, right in this spot. I understand that the fact that there needed to be another building. I understand lifer goes on. But i am just so proud this memorial is not only here but its this big. In new york, the memorial ata ground zero had a particular challenge of allowed that entire 16 acres to have been a memorial. While it might seem, on the surface, to be a way to honor the dead even more by giving them and their memory all 16 acres, it actually would have been a terrible mistake because it would have carved a huge holo in the heart of americas largest city, and restoring the life of the city was an important part of the mission. I view the memorial as a place that family members can come whenever they need to reflect or gain some hope or some renewal, they can come anytime. My name is jim laychek. Im president of the Pentagon Memorial Fund and i lost my brother david here on 9 11. I think of my brother david a lot, so i dont have to be somewhere to think of him. A song will come on, my kids or his kids will do something that reminds me of him, and ill have a memory of growing up, but i think this is more for those who lost friends here and really need it when they need it. Last year we went to new yore and saw the 911 memorial for the first time, so we felt we needed to come here and almost complete the journey to see exactly what happened here. The challenge to make in some ways because it included both people at the pentagon including military personnel and including civilians on the plane who died. So they looked for a way to memorialize both groups of people. Im actually sitting on my brother daves bench, and the significance of it for me is they found the 1961 age line, the year dave was born, and youu come up to the bench and read, you will see the pentagon in the background which signifies thati he was working in the pentagon. The plane that went down at shanksville had passengerons itn who actually resisted. They chose to act. They fought back. Gh they breeched the cockpit and fought for control of that flight and, in doing, so they saved countless other lives and perhaps saved the capitol building. It was one of theap very powerful moments of 9 11, because it was perhaps the onlyt moment in that day in which the terrorists werent writing the narrative, and, so, the passengers on that plane behaved heroically. And much to the credit of the design of shanksville, its noto a bomb bassic memorial, its not about exaggerating theex importance of the heroism as important as it is, its really about the loss of the people and truly a sense of healing, more than most memorials, because its in a rural landscape. This is where my brother is. S this is where i choose to remember his last moments in this world and talk to him, tell him, you know, how proud, you know, that hes missed and that hes loved. Whats happened, i think, is the natural progression as the event proceeds farther intoto history, there is a tendency to divide those people personally connected with the events from the rest of us who remember them increasingly as historical events. You see people wandering througi who are looking at it as an object, an historical mar marker, and you see people who engage, to touch, feel, sit, contemplate. There will be more people who were not around on 9 11 who did not experience it, who will come there to plern about it, and we hope to feel some emotion that is not connected to their own memories but to what this place brings to them, what it confers, what it inspires inside them. It speaks us to who werent there then and who transcend time. Woodruff one postscript to all of this an american flagla that was part of an iconic photo taken on september 11th, 20011 and then went missing for years is being returned. Three new york firefightersw grabbed the flag from a nearby yacht in Lower Manhattan after the attacks. The picture of them raising it at ground zero was seen around the world. For reasons that are still unclear, it disappeared from the site in days. It has been found in everett, washington. A man who said he was a retiredh marine turned it over to a local fire station after saying it was given to him as a gift. Many questions remain, but forensic Scientists Say that they have confirmed it is indeed the missing flag. Online, we continue our remembrance of the attacks. One woman whose high school is just blocks from ground zero explains how she is teaching a new generation of students about the attacks. And a quick news update before we go tonight. U. S. Secretary of state john kerry, and his russian counterpart sergey lavrov, announced a ceasefire to halt the violence in syria, after multiple failed attempts tots reach a similar deal. The new plan is scheduled to go into effect on monday, and it aims to reduce the bloodsheded after more than five years of war. And republican Vice President ial nominee and indiana governor mike pence released ten years of tax returns. They show he earned an adjusted income of 113,000 last year, and paid an effective tax rate of 12. 4 . His running mate donald trump has not released his own returns, so far. Gwen ifill is preparing for special edition of Washington Week, which airs later this evening. Gwen . Ifill hi, judy. After a week of debate aboutf National Security and potential commanders in chief, were here in colorado springs, the home of five count them, five military installations, to see how the voters are taking it. On air, and online, tonight on Washington Week colorado edition. See you monday, judy. Woodruff and well be watching, see you then. On pbs newshour saturday ourou look back at 9 11 15 years later continues with a report on how the five men accused of plannine the attacks remain at the u. S. Military prison in guantanamo bay, cuba and still have notan been brought to justice. And well be back, right here, on monday, where we kick off a week long special series, rethinking college. Ll thats the newshour for tonight. Im judy woodruff. Have a great weekend. A thank you and good night. 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