direct plea. >> i ask for justice to be merciful. >> another american journalist spoke out. >> i had no doubt that so much effort was being expended on my behalf. >> in gaza it is quiet after two months of fighting. >> the key to success is stringent honoring of the ceasefire. >> the way do that is to end occupation. >> we want to make ferguson scot-free. >> pull eming ukrainian forces. >> a counteroffensive is likely underway. >> a nine-year-old girl learning to fire an uzi accidentally shot and killed her instruct. >> waiting to take a shower as to not make his teammates uncomfortable. >> things we know about pandas, adorable, love eating bam a into and seek attention. >> we begin with american reports to craft a strategy and an international coalition capable of taking the fight to the islamic state to iraq, against i.s. in iraq to protect a threatened turkmen community. president is also trying to bring countries including britain turkey and qatar, into a broad coalition to help the moderate coalition. including chlorine gas attacks on civilians, an i.s. of crimes including torture murder and recruiting child soldiers. back in the united states the mother of journalist stephen sotloff, a prisoner of i.s. for the last year made an emotional plea to the group's leader for his release. >> as a mother i ask your justice to be merciful and not punish my son for matters he has no control over. i ask you use his authority to spare his life and to follow the examples set by the prophet mohamed who protected people of the book. >> for more i'm joined by daily beast editor christopher dicky. good to see you. >> good to see you ali. >> some sort of air coverage or surveillance in syria maybe even air strikes in syria what are you thoughts on this? >> i think if they're going to be effective two things. one they need to figure out exactly what they want to hit. we can talk about air strikes in general, they need figure out what they need to hit. the crisis is in aleppo, nowhere near iraq. >> northwestern syria. >> northwestern syria. if i.s.i.s. manages to cut off all the rebel groups from their supply lines which it might do and crush those rebel groups, it's no question, it will be assad or i.s.i.s. whether they're willing to do it is another thing. >> strikes me that assad would like it to come down to assad or i.s.i.s. >> no doubt he would like to do it that way. he would say, he's secular and educated in england and so on. how are you going odeal with the caliphate? you can't deal with them. that's the trap that the united states doesn't want to get caught in. >> but everybody's jumping out in front of themselves in washington saying we're never going to do that, never going to deal with assad. at what point does he get to push his luck on this one? >> part of i.t. is the second aspect of the bombing campaign, if you bomb, who occupies the ground once you've cleared it. let's say you push back i.s.i.s. what are the troops that move into that space? ideally the free syrian army would move into that space or the kurds could move into that space or heavens maybe the iraqi army could move into that space. none of those military options are available because none of those fightsers are capable. >> for the moment, america is providing awr support -- air support, minimal air support, whether the iraq forces or the peshmerga, the kurdish forces. does that strategy play out well, could that be the way we deal with it? >> there aren't many options. obama knows that the american people don't want to see american troops on the ground fighting another middle eastern war. they are sick of it, they didn't want it a year ago, and they totally rejected the idea of bombing syria because of chemical weapons and now we have already got several hundred troops on the ground as advisors. you remember the advisors in vietnam? >> uh-huh. >> and i think people are very worried about that. he has to convince the american people that this is in their interest which is i think one of the reasons that the foley killing was so important. remember that the first time when we started bombing those places in iraq it was to protect the americans the erbil, protect the americans in baghdad. we weren't evacuating them but staying there and protecting them. now we have an american journalist killed in this horrible fashion. then he says we have to move because if we don't fight these guys there we're going to have to fight them in the united states. that's an argument that the american people listen to. >> we are moving into mid term elections. how will the politics of that play out? >> the politics in the united states are so ugly it's hard to know. anything that obama does will be rejected by the republicans and the more successful his military campaign if it is successful, the more they'll criticize it, the more it will be leaving america open for terrorism. he can't win for losing so he better win on the battlefield. >> the americans can insulate themselves by creating these coalitions and there's talk of the ufs doing that -- the u.s. doing that creating a coalition of australia, turkey and even qatar, do you think that's the right approach? >> president obama is always trying to form coalition, either in syria or the u.n, he wants to form a coalition. this should be the business of the region. look turkey has an enormous army, right there on the frontier. why do we talk about american troops when there's an enormous army -- >> qatar has got some involvement, saudi arabia has involvement. this is tricky you're asking for the help of these groups to try push back i.s.i.l -- >> but libya, saudi arabia and the united arab emirates are on one side literally for influence and control and turkey and qatar are on the other side and it duets to be a very complicated -- it gets into a very complicated situation. in fact i.s.i.s. is an enormous threat to saudi arabia. eventually that has to be one of the main targets for i.s.i.s. because that is where you have mecca and medina. i.s.i.s. would love to have that. >> let's talk about the justification of war on terror was because americans were scared. there's been a lot of debate in the last few days about whether americans should be scared of islamic state. they have made threats against america and we are starting to see they are able to finance themselves, they are organized, they can administrato administe. should we be worrying about this as a threat to western government? >> the short answer is yes, we should be worried. this is a millenialist organization that has a lot of territory flch to work. it iin which to work. it is the richest organization in which to work. they've got their own oil fields, enormous resources as a result of kidnapping and extortion. >> and recruits with western passports. >> these idiot kids who buy islam for dummies before they go off and fight. they have all this going for them. this is coming at a time when the united states has particularly been rejecting the kind of intelligence gathering and surveillance that helped keep america safe after 9/11. >> are you arguing for interrogation techniques that we have foresworn? >> i am not arguing for interrogation techniques, they weren't good, they are totally counterproductive. i ax argue questions, for instance, using informers, using people to operate in neighborhoods where for instance you might have -- let's say you have some young british guy coming to new york city, miss he miss he -- where is he going osay? i don't know off the top of my head, but the police want to have some means of figuring out where he would be likely to settle down if he was planning an attack. they used to be able to do that. all that's called into question. >> christopher thank you for being with us. christopher dickey is an editor of the daily beast. saud government' governmentn sponsoring an ultimate conservative version of islam. , council of foreign relations last week he published an opinion piece in the new york times entitled saudis must stop exporting extremism. thank you for joining us. saudi arabia donate$100 million to the united nations two weeks ago to fund a counterterrorism agency. that money could be better used funding a counterterrorism in saudi arabia in itself. >> thank you for having me. firstly, saudi arabia giving $100 million to the u.n. doesn't account for the $10 billion estimated by the u.s. state department that the saudi governors, supporting wahadism. saudi arabia especially the saudi government's more extreme form in-house, the more extreme clerics inside the country those haven't been reined in, they roam freely in muslim holy places, they have control of the muslim holy place et cetera and the public places and a global presence through many of the embassies. saudi arabia's record on this is mixed very mildly and i think the king and his advisors can go much further especially domestically in curbing extremism and therefore winning the battle of ideas at home and by extension allowing muslims 30 million of them who visit saudi arabia, with a harmonious form of islam rather than the controversial form of islam inside the country. >> what would the saudis say their wahabism is a conservative interpretation of islam by a country that sees itself as the custodian of islam or at least islam's holy places that people interpret that as a form of violence or as a you know a calling to do bad things, isn't saudi arabia's problem? >> i wish i could agree with that analysis. i'd agree with it to the extent that saudi arabia and the saudi liquorics have condemned suicide bombings and violence across the board. so to their credit three have done that. but, this is an important but, the mindset that promises the here after in a literalist sense, how you find it, the literalists, that approach to islam is endorsed inside saudi arabia, devoid of history met fors, 100,000 years of muslim philosophy. secondly, many of the crimes we're shocked with conducted by i.s.i.s. inside iraq, ye i.e. be headings, started in saudi arabia in 1932 on wards, thirdly, saudi arabia has not been vocal enough in accepting shia sufis, intolerance towards, encourages others to say we can outdo, after all if you go to mecca and medina, a thousand years of muslim history no longer exists, that's been you know bulldozed by the house of saroud by the encouragement of the wahadi establishment. unless in house inside its own country in its own backyard it's make too much of a demand for many of its own students and many of its own students, who pick up arms for -- another form of literalist islam, out islam, if you like, the saudi form of islam. >> you say the form of islam that is practiced in much of saudi arabia is something the prophet moament mode mohamed wot recognize. you say saudi arabia is not following islam the way it was set out. are they worried if they loose be the grip on the form of islam that they will lose their grip at hoax, especially as they see arabs around the world? >> that is the concern that the road to reform can lead to upheaval, revolution and therefore removal of the house of saud from power. the argument will tell you over and over again that they believe in evolution not revolution. my concern, the concern of millions of muslims and policy makers around the world is where is that evolution? if you go to washington, d.c, you see the holocaust museum, which reminds people of the bigotry that led to the holocaust. around the world, they have killed nonmuslims but that memorial museum is yet to go up in mecca, medina that highlights the extremist literal variety that has led to the killings of many muslims. you're right ali that highlighting the fact that the prophet mohamed wouldn't recognize this form of islam, the prophet didn't endorse women wearing black and only men wearing white, the police force, the moral police that they have is not something the prophet encouraged among his generation of people, going around judging other people's beliefs, enforcing a moral code by force. thirdly, we know from hadist literature, they were bare-breasted, that was the norm had society and therefore islam came along and tried to encourage a form modesty, in response to that form of total nudity, in saudi arabia they have gone to such an extreme that no form of relaxation for women is tolerated. so it is a conveyor belt. accept ans and embracing them, if i may say so, when you see saudis coming to the united kingdom, their favorite destination for holiday purposes, we welcome them there, you see saudis doing away with their veils. if they can do here they should do it in their own home country. >> time to tell qatar you're either with us or against us, wee tolerated its duplicity for too long, end quote, is qatar trying to have it both ways like saudi arabia? >> to some extent i think it is. it is very bold of you to ask that question, ali, if we take the justifying cleric who has given a vip treatment inside qatar, that is one indication, qatar saying they stand for modesty pluralism, modernism, but being home of the most extreme cleric, and most saudi liquorics wouldn't go that far. we have the problem with qatar trying to have it both ways, yes being modern, yes wanting more openness but at the same time, being a home to taliban, to hamas and home to al zarqawi. the home to that community, it last to hold that embrace, shedding that baggage trying to bankroll some of the extreme forms of islamist voices out there. >> thank you very much for joining us. >> ed hussein joining us from the council of foreign relations in london. now for some more stories from around the world. we begin in ukraine where officials are accusing russia of a stealth invasion. according to the ukrainian military, russian tanks and military have breached the eastern border and attacked ukrainian forces in an attempt to break the siege of luhansk and donetsk. backed up by the state department on wednesday. >> these incursions indicate a russian directed counteroffensive is likely underway in donetsk and luhansk. clearly, that is of deep concern to us. we're also concerned by the russian government's unwillingness to tell the truth even as its soldiers are found 30 miles inside ukraine. next we head to afghanistan where the country's tumultuous presidential election is in the midst of collapse. despite saying just a month ago, standing alongside his poand and secretary of state kerry, that he will respect the audit process. ashraf ghani was asked to remove his auditors, as the country struggles to overcome ethnic divide. and we end in chengdu china, where the panda has pretended to be pregnant. the six-year-old panda showed the physical sign of pregnancy, in the her handlers realized it was a phantom pregnancy. you can hardly blame her for wanting to escape the heat. that's something happening around the world. what do the palestinians want from israel in a long term deal? we'll ask the negotiator. also a political fight that will be so nasty and expensive it will look the real housewives of new jersey look tame. plus our social media producer, hermela aregawi tracking. what's trending? >> strong reactions to support, espn wrote about michael sam. the network initially defended it, looks like they had a change of heart. i'll tell you coming up. if you don't already follow our social media clips, follow @ajconsiderthis. >> al jazeera america presents >> i'm a big girl now. i know what i want, i know what i have to do to get it. >> 15 stories one incredible journey edge of eighteen premiers september 7th only on al jazeera america >> turning now to the second day of the latest ceasefire in gaza that seems to be holding. prime minister benjamin netanyahu addressed the nation in a speech and included a warning for hamas. >> translator: i take this opportunity to say that if it resumes fire we will not tolerate a sprinkle of shooting at any part of israel. what we did in response now we will respond even more vigorously. >> meanwhile at a meeting of palestinian authority leaders, president mahmoud abbas, plan would call for a u.n. resolution or international conference. demanding a deadline to end israel's occupation of palestinian territory. joining us from jericho in the west bank is dr. saib arakat, the prime negotiator for the palestinian organization. doctor glad to have you back. the costs were huge, 2100 palestinians dead, 1.7 million citizens displaced, the question is how is what was agreed to yesterday any different than what was offered in the first week of the conflict? why all the bloodshed for something we could have had in the first week? >> i think the question is wrong ali, why did israel wage the war? if you recall, we didn't start this war, the war began june the 12th in hebron, then israel decided to begin the bombardment in gaza. and the war from day one had a political objective. this was israel's response to the formation of the national consensus government. this was israeli response to the fact that we began a reconciliation process. to get back gaza on track. to get back the west bank and gaza unit, the position of the israeli government from day 1 is to destroy the national consensus government, to destroy the palestinian government, because israel knows there will be no palestinian state without gaza. from day 1 we began urging the international community to stop this war to end this conflict to stop palestinian blood being shed and every time around israel was finding pretext and excuses to continue the bombardment. and as a matter of fact, we today, we call upon the international community to make sure that israel respects and sustains the ceasefire. we need to sustain it. we need to begin putting 450,000 people who are without homes, without roofs, we need hundreds of thousands for our boys and girls to begin their school year this year. gaza is with no electricity no running water no sewage system. we urge the international community to begin immediately helping us in transferring the needs, the food needs, the medical needs, the fuel needs, the electricity needs for 1.7 million people in gaza that has been totally devastated in a war. >> let me ask you this dr. arakat. yesterday in announcing the ceasefire mahmoud abbas asked what's next? gaza has witnessed three wars in the last six years and asked how long this can last. i want to get specifics if i can. there's been talk in the last 24 hours about a new initiative that you guys are posing that would bypass the american brokered negotiations, that would call for a u.n. resolution demanding a deadline to the israeli occupation. what detail can you give me about that? >> ali, yes, last night there was a very important crucial meeting for palestinian leadership, the joint leaders of the palestine committee and fatah, and president abbas and his excellency the emir of qatar, and the political bureau on the situation the day after, all i can tell you at this stage ali is that a decision was voted upon last night, passed unanimously that business as usual no more. a status quo no more. we don't want to busy ourselves with all the important needs that we have in gaza. with all we call upon all the international community, i met with the u.n. people today, i spoke with them to the europeans to the japanese today to the arabs, to begin immediately to relieve the suffering of our people in gaza but at the same time the day after concerning our situation in the west bank is jerusalem and gaza, we will not allow the status quo to continue. we will not allow business as usual to continue. so in the next few weeks, actually, i cannot elaborate on what was taken what was decided but, we need to see this occupation end. this occupation is almost 46 years old. this occupation must end 47 years old, this occupation must end and we want to see that the international community do what it takes to end this occupation. we have more people -- >> dr. can you -- >> can you give insurances that you're in charge, that when mahmoud abbas says something that is actually the word of the palestinians? as you said there are many factions one of 26 factions there are you speaking for palestinian people and for gaza? because there seems to have been some confusion in the last several weeks during this conflict as to whether hamas is acting on its own and other factions acting on their own. are you able to control your side of things? >> ali yes we are controlling our side of things. 24th of april of this year there is no more hamas government in gaza there is no more split in gaza. we with the consultation of hamas fatah, this is our address for gaza the west bank and jerusalem, president abbas is the president of all palestinians, the address for gaza, west bank and jerusalem now all the reconstruction we building of gaza, when we speak about the day after politically everyone is on board. president abbas when he announced the ceasefire, in changing the status quo yes speaks on behalf of all palestinians. >> let me ask you this because you said you can't give me much more detail about the meeting that took place last night but that there was a meeting and there is some plan that says there's no taught quo and no more business as usual. some say that mahmoud abbas may go to the international criminal court and pursue war crimes against israel. your name may be more well-known to the world than mahmoud abbas's name is. we have seen you for two decades negotiating. united states will never back the idea that israel gets tried for war crimes. and what are you aiming to get out of that? >> ali, those who worry about courts and those who worry specifically about criminal courts, should stop committing crimes. we're not fond of going to courts. but when you look at faa today, when you look at 12,000 people killed and wounded, mostly women and children, when you look at the targeting of our water system, our electricity system, putting back gaza, the war crimes committed against citizens, the safety of people of the west bank and jerusalem is israel's responsibility as the occupying power. when this popping up power violates all this, it is our full right to defend our honor in the icc and we will defend our people on every human level at every human level possible in accordance with international law and international court of justice. >> you must start with a map you must discuss territories not just hearing these words that we support a two state solution, you want to see what that map looks like. is your goal to get israel back to the table and once again go back to negotiation? bought we have seen for more than two decades, for more than four decades this hasn't worked. >> ali our goal is to make sure that our people are not being slaughtered anymore. that we don't lose 12,000 of our boys and girls every two years. that we don't see the devastation we have seen in gaza. we don't see our infants being put in ice cream refrigerators for lack of these, these are horrible situations, these are human beings being in the year 2014 in this fashion. you have seen an army with 3,000 tanks, 2,000 f-16s, facing gaza, 1.7 people, no army, no navy, no air force, you have seen this devastation and the day after will not be done in accordance with the old broken record, come back to the negotiations help us help you we will get it. no this time we have a plan, and this plan is, it's yes or no, does israel recognize the state of palestine on the 1967 borders? they haven't done it so far. they haven't done it so far. they continue the settlement activities in the supposed palestinian state. our legal status in the united nations says 2012 in accordance to resolution 6719, we are a state under occupation, we are exactly lie korea, philippines, belgium france under the second world war. so israel has a choice now. the choice is settlements or peace. they can't have both. occupation, or peace. they cannot have both. either they will become the full responsible authority, for palestinians as the occupying power, or they allow this plnan authority to take -- palestinian authority to take palestinians within a very specified time frame agreed to by the international community. >> you say settlements or peace, not both. what as benjamin netanyahu has said in the last few weeks, we are not leaving the settlements, we will not do that. >> okay then he is the occupying power and he will show his responsibilities as an occupying power and i can really not elaborate any further. i can tell you ali no business as usual no more. i'm not in a position to threaten anyone. all we want to do as palestinians today as a palestinian leadership, that we want to make sure that our people are not slaughtered every two years. our boys and girls deserve to go to school every year at the end of august. our boys and girls deserve to sleep without waking themselves, deserve not to be orphans, this is what we have full right to do as people and once again those who worry about international criminal courts should not commit crimes. >> chief negotiator for the palestinian authority, doctor thanks for joining us. last month, he addressed his country on avoiding further conflict. >> there is a concern in the international community, the way to avoid that from happening in the future is to work seriously on preventing hamas from rearming and ultimately to do what the palestinians have committed to do which is to have gaza disarmed. that is opalestinian commitment a signed commitment and it's time for that to be realized. >> hermella aregawi. >> earlier this year 24-year-old michael sam came out as the fir openly gay player on the nfl. jay crawford asked reporter josina anderson you how sam is fitting in. one player said sam was one of the guys and went on to say this. >> another rams defensive player told me that, quote, sam is respecting our space and from his perspective he seems to think that michael sam is kind of waiting to make a shower as to not make his teammates uncomfortable while michael ogletree didn't know that specifically and weren't tracking that. >> reporter: referring to his sexuality, dear espn everybody but you is over it. and jeff fisher said he was extremely disappointed in the piece. on tuesday the network defended the peace, saying, quote, in response to sam fitting in with the team, we brought up the shower topic and relayed that information as part of our reporting. after all the backlash on social media on wednesday the network took different stance. espn regrets the manner in which we presented our report, the standards we have set in reporting on lgbt related topics in sports. did the report cross the line? let us know what you think on twitter and facebook @ajconsiderthis. >> thank you, hermella. >> you're welcome. one governor charlie c-rist. and a nine-year-old, shoots and kills her instructor with a 9 millimeter uzi. and astronauts we'll explain. >> this is a pretty dangerous trip. >> security in beirut is tight. >> more reporters. >> they don't have the resources to take the fight to al shabaab. >> more bureaus, more stories. >> this is where the typhoon came ashore. giving you a real global perspective like no other can. withpective like no other can. >> welcome back to "considerthir antonio mora. florida is set to become the center of another political contest full of controversy this time in the political race, former governor rick scott and charlie crist, let's bringing in michael shore from los angeles. he's an al jazeera political contributor good to see you. >> good to see you ali. >> crist used to be the governor, and scott was a senator. let's talk about what kind of money and what kind of nasty campaign we're looking at. >> you're probably going to see the nastiest campaign. people are always complain it. but these are as you said not well liked candidates. there's a former governor who switched parties, rick scott and then the nasty ads started they kept going and going and going and it's a statistical dead heat as they call it. especially in a place so accustomed to them as florida was. >> in fact charlie crist wasn't nearly as unpopular as rick scott. they are now both negative. what does the negativity have impact on voter negative tirt and who does it hurt more? >> i would say it hurries scott more. in both primaries rick scott drew about 100,000 more voters. and there are a lot of people progressives who are democrats who are probably grudgingly vote for charlie crist who don't trust the emperor's new carlos s as they say. some people will turn out to vote against charlie crist and maybe not many will vote for him. >> the change of parties, from being a republican to a democrat was not that big a zeal if you got memory and you remember that there was a time when centrist democrats and liberal republicans existed but these days this is serious stuff. >> it hasn't happened a while. two governors, and somebody who's as dorky and nerdy as i am, fob james came back who was a democrat and ran later as a republican. claude kirk, as a republican lost his election ran many years later as a democrat in a primary and four years later never ran again. he would be the first who did it if he did it. especially in a state got to remember here ali that barack obama won the state by less than a percentage point over mitt romney and that matters. >> it doesn't matter if you ever switch parties, john boehner is in a tough spot, ten of 12 house republicans who did not support his election last year have sailed through their primaries, they're coming back to congress. a whole bunch of other republicans who are not in favor of boehner. it is atypical to see the bash lark against the speaker. >> it is atypical but republicans have matured since four years ago or even two years ago. you see the republicans have turned back every chance they can at are senate primaries, turned back the tea party, they are the party remember that sends john mccain to be the nominee, robert dole to be the nominee. many speculate that it looks like it will change today, john boehner has a different kind of power, he has mitch mcconnell maybe as his cohort in the senate. there is an entitlement that john boehner last, i don't think it's going to be as hard to hold on to his speakership as other people do. >> eric cantor was thought to be his successor he's not around now does that help him? >> i think if anything it helps him because what it shows is, if you doesn't toe the party line you -- if you don't toe the party line you get had trouble. i think it's an anomalous result there. the notion that eric cantor is not there, that is one person that doesn't seem sort of the eeg are usurper of power -- eager usurper of power. he's got kevin mcthy in place his band of merry men and they are going to help him. i don't think it is going to matter. they have very short memories in washington, also very long memories. if you mess with something it could come back to bite you. i don't think people are even thinking of eric cantor. >> thanks so much for coming. >> ali thanks for having me. >> first a nine-year-old girl accidentally kills her gun instructor with an uzi but no charges will be filed. we'll tell you why in our data dive next. >> one year later, correspondent christof putzel returns to the streets of chicago. >> i don't like walk out no more... >> why is that? >> a lot of shooting and stuff... >> a community still struggling against violence. >> i did something positive... >> have people lost hope? >> this is a grown man that shot a little kid. >> or have citizens made a difference? >> glad that somebody that's at least standing up and caring about us man... >> america tonight only on aljazeera america >> today's data dive looks at gun laws for children. on monday in arizona a nine-year-old girl was learning how to use an uzi when she lost control of the gun. the recoil sent the dpun over her head and her -- gun over her head and her instructor was struck in the head, killing him. yes, a nine-year-old girl was handling an uzi but no there will be no charge. this was all perfectly legal and the gun range is a licensed operation. they were actually strange kids as young as eight to use automatic weapons but they've changed the rule since monday's accident. kids must be at least 12 years old or five feet tall to better handle the gun's power. laws gopt apply on private property or if the child is accompanied by a parent or licensed instructor. laws, are more confusing. there are no federal restrictions on the rifle version. the uzi would be classified as either a handgun or a long gun. the washington post reports 30 states still have no age minimum for long gun possession. those are the darkest colors on the map that you see there. montana has a minimum age of just 14. many states don't have age requirements for possession of automatic weapons. however their sale or transfer to minors is illegal. also the overwhelming majority of states actually allow children to fire guns at shooting images ranges. they just neat need a consenting parent there. some states require a licensed instructor. that hasn't stopped tragedy before. eight-year-old christopher pasile shot himself in the head with a mini uzi. that's an instructor on the left. even in a gun friendly country like switzerland automatic weapons are banned. coming up. critics who say our space program is lacking in vision may have a point. long time space travel is causing eye trouble for astronauts. >> hi everyone i'm john siegenthaler in new york. coming up right after "consider this." the mother of an american hostage gets personal with the islamic state group. appealing for the life of her sociological. plus, a instruction goes wrong. a nine-year-old kills her instructors with an uzi. all that and more coming up right after "consider this." >> it is time to bid farewell to a buy gon bygone era. a shuttle, a surprising number of stroantsdz are coming -- astronauts are coming back to earth after long stays on the international space station with permanent vision problems. what impact might there have to future missions to mars and beyond. joining us is dr. derek pitts, chief astronomer at the franklin space and science plume a place i enjoy quite frequently. dr. pitts great to see you. >> great to be here thank you for having me. >> nasa says, 21 astronauts who spent significant time on the space station have developed farsightedness, blind spots, blurry vision some even show signs of swelling on their optic nerves which could lead eventually the blindless -- blindness. how serious are these symptoms and how dangerous is it to the space program? >> scientists are very concerned about this because they realize that there are a number of different responses of the body to being in space. this is -- this of course would be one of the more serious ones. and it's a recognition of things that they have to try fix or correct, if we're really considering taking longer trips out to space. so we know that this is caused mostly by the fact that the fluid in the body tends to move to the head in a micro-gravity environment such as you find on board space station. but the really interesting catch about there is that it is only found in astronauts that have been on the international space station for six months or more. if we look at missions like the lunar mission, we don't see this kind of problem with the apollo restaurantastronauts because tht up long enough. >> this is meant to help us understand this better. >> yes, this is what is going to help us, scientists are going to take very close examination of the eye while in microgravity to try figure out what are some of the other contributing factor. another contributing factor is thought to be the carbon dioxide, slightly higher than what you would find here on earth. there is question about the kind of exercise they're doing to try to minimize both muscle mass loss and bone loss. that exercise about two and a half hours a day is also increasing pressure to the head because of the microgravity environment and there's also question about vitamin b being a problem causing this with carbon dioxide as well. >> do we know if there's a way to reverse the damage that we've seen? >> we haven't come up with a way to reverse the damage just yet. it turns out some of these astronauts come back finding they need to use glasses once they're on earth, when they didn't have to wear glasses committing their mission, there will be a mission in which two astronauts will spend a year in space. and that year in space will allow scientists on earth to begin to measure some of these problems including trying to figure out what's happening with the vision so that wit will be y to try mitigate some of the issues going forward when we consider applications to mars which would take years of travel. >> let's turn to a nostalgic note for a second. we say good-bye to one of the last artifacts of the space program, the item that placed it atop a 747, that's the spaceship era official one for the books now. >> that's true. one of the pieces around that needed to be di dis disassemble. mounted on top of the 747. what we are really seeing here is the change in technology. we're moving from old technology of space exploration to new technology of space exploration. really we're getting on the track of new adventures coming up and for the new adventures we need new launch vehicles, new capsules, new astronauts, these old tools are being put aside and we're developing new tools to help us delve further into space exploration. >> i keep saying, there isn't really a space program at the movement, part of that is there's no possibility of us getting our own people to places in space. we rely on the russians to shuttle us up and down to the international space station. how long does the u.s. have to have the basic able to take people into space and bring them back? >> if everything goes on schedule it will probably be about five years to do that. but in that five years' time we're developing a very, very good capability to do that over a couple of platforms. it will be a robust system to be able to ferry restaurants from earth to international space stations. let's not forget that our good friends the russians providing us with taxi service now really do want to stay in the game. so they'll continue the provide us launch services as long as they need it so they can keep the foot in the door at the international space station too. >> derrick thank you for joining us. >> thanks for having me. >> that's all. but coming up on are "consider this," and after nine years after hurricane katrina, commanding general in charge of the military relief, will join us. and the story continues on aljazeera.com @ajconsiderthis. you can also tweet me @alivelshi. see you next time. hi, everyone. this is "al jazeera america." i am john siegenthaler in new york. coming up, a mother pleas for her son's freedom from the islamic state group. we will hear from a prominent emam about the growing threat the group poses to americans. a not orous columbian hit man who con fessed to killing hundreds. how the killer known as popeye got out home. microphones for the homeless. cities are making it possible for

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