Transcripts For KGO This Week With George Stephanopoulos 20140921

And we begin with the war on isis. President obama closing in on a decision to launch air strikes inside syria as Congress Greenlights his plan to train and arm Syrian Rebels fighting them on the ground but even the president s top military advisers question whether we can get the job done without American Military troops. Abc correspondent jon karl starts us off. Reporter with an assist from french pilots who are now flying their own missions over iraq, the u. S. Led air war on isis expanded. More targets, more bombs and strikes in syria only a matter of time. The president heads to the u. N. This week to make the case yet again for a Global Campaign to destroy isis. Hes already made the pitch 5 times over the past 11 days. Each time also making it clear what he wont do. The American Forces that have been deployed do not and will not have a combat mission in iraq or in syria. Reporter the president s top generals seem to disagree. If there are threats to the United States, then i, of course, would go back to the president and make a recommendation that may include the use of u. S. Military ground forces. Reporter the white house insists there is no disagreement, that the president is open to having u. S. Troops embedded with iraqi troops on the front lines. Just dont call them combat troops. These would be troops that would be serving on the ground, these would be troops wearing boots, i assume. They would be combat ready and they would be in the line of fire. How are you not considering these troops that are combat troops . They are not in a combat role. They are in an advise and assist role. Reporter Congress Approved the president s plan to train rebels to fight isis on the ground in syria. The rare bipartisan show of support. But, wait, the pentagon said it will take three to five months to begin the training and that the first fighters wont be trained until the spring at the earliest. It will take about a year to train the first 5,000. That helps explain why Officials Say the campaign to defeat isis will take years and years. For this week, jonathan karl, abc news, the white house. And the success of this long war depends so much on the strength, skill and commitment of the Syrian Rebels the u. S. Will be training and arming, many of them doctors and lawyers. Abcs bob woodruff brings us a rare inside look at the forces fighting both assad and isis. Reporter as the fight against isis in iraq grabbed attention, whats referred to as the moderate rebels in syria have largely been the forgotten story until now. We must strengthen the opposition as the best counterweight to extremists like isil. Reporter three years ago the in a popular revolt, the opposition rose up against dictator bashar al assad. Now theyre taking on the vicious terror group isis too. This week the leader of the moderates, haider al bahra, will address the u. N. General assembly to ask for assistance for a Group President obama once described as blacksmiths and dentists, these arent professional fighters. This statement makes me very proud of my people. This situation remind me greatly with american revolution. Who made this revolution . Wasnt it farmers, doctors . We are the normalcy fighting for our freedom. Reporter now the u. S. Is beefing up efforts to help them with funding and military training, which has led to some concerns. And were told that if there are more weapons that are brought into syria from the United States, that a lot of these people could shift to different groups based on how much weaponry they have. No, i assure you all the aid will go into moderate National Syrian army, the free syrian army, and well be very careful with it. How long do you think it will take if you get what you want from the United States for this peace to come, for this war to end . If its done correctly, it could be done within two to three years at max. Two or three years. Yes. Are you asking the United States to put some troops on the ground . We are not asking anyone to fight our own war. Its not just bahras group in the fight. There are religious rebel groups taking on both assad and isis too. Vice news spent two weeks filming with the islamic front for a new documentary ghosts of aleppo premiering online monday. The cameras capturing syrians clinging to any semblance of normal life during the war. One man tells us what else is there for me to do . They bombed my house. They bombed my house. Thats it. So ive come back to fight. We found people trying to change their country. These were determined syrians. Reporter a determination among all the opposition groups in the conflict where the u. S. Is now getting more deeply involved. For this week, bob woodruff, abc news, new york. And we are joined now by the u. S. Ambassador to the united nations, Samantha Power. Thanks for coming back to this week. And, you know, the president said hes prepared to strike syria. Those strikes could be imminent. Will the United States try to get u. N. Security council authorization first, or do you accept thats just not going to be possible . Well, let me say that secretary kerry just convened a meeting of the Security Council on friday, which showcased just how much support there is on the Security Council and in the broader International Community for the antiisil effort. A russian veto. Russia has vetoed in the past but on very different issues. I think russia has made clear for a long time its opposition to isil. The iraqis have appealed to the International Community to come to their defense, not only in iraq, but also to go after safe havens in foreign countries, and what they mean by that, of course, is syria and theyre quite explicit about that so they have made an appeal to the International Community for collective defense and we think we have a legal basis we need if the president decides without u. N. Authorization. Consistent with the u. N. Charter, we it will depend on the facts and circumstances of any particular strike in syria but we have the legal basis we need. You talk about the support that secretary kerry demonstrated at that Security Council meeting, and there has been a fair amount of rhetorical support, but have any nations yet agreed to join those air strikes against syria . First of all, france for the first time carried out air strikes against iraq. In iraq. Indeed. We have not carried out air strikes in syria, and it will be up to each country to announce for itself whether its prepared to participate, whether in a combat role or to provide military equipment. I think its really important notwithstanding the emphasis on the military effort which gets the most attention to look at this as the multifaceted comprehensive campaign that it is. President obama will come on wednesday and will convene a very unusual head of state summit on the issue of foreign terrorist fighters to try to stop the financing to terrorists in places like iraq and syria to counter violent extremism to involve civil votes in delegitimating the messages theyre putting forward and look at this across the spectrum and as secretary kerry said on friday as the president made clear, every country can contribute something to the effort and theres universal support, i think, for degrading and destroying this group. We might have to do the air strikes alone. Not even Great Britain said theyll join the air strikes. I will i will make you a prediction, george, which is that we will not do the air strikes alone if the president decides to do the air strikes. We will come back and watch that. Secretary kerry also said there is a role for nearly every country in the world to play here including iran. What is the role you expect iran to play . Well, let me be clear, we are not coordinating with iran. We are not sharing intelligence with iran. Iran has said that isil is its enemy, but by the same token, iran has supported hezbollah and the assad regime, an assad regime that has not targeted isil with any sincerity or intensity over the years and, indeed, has been complicit receiving oil revenue from isil or buying oil from isil when they take over the fields so assad is not a reliable partner in the fight against isil for us and we would urge iran actually to use its leverage over that regime in order to change its tactics and bring about the political solution we need to really get at one of the root causes of this crisis. As you know, theres a big question of whether or not the United States can really do this, really can defeat isil without american combat troops on the ground and, in fact, former secretary of defense robert gates weighed in on this question this week. Take a look. There will be boots on the ground if theres to be any hope of success in the strategy, and i think that by continuing to repeat that, the president , in effect, traps himself. Is the president trapped . The president is relying on military advice from chairman dempsey and from secretary hagel. They believe that the strategy the president has laid out can be successful in degrading and destroying isil and there are troops on the ground. There are iraqi troops. There are kurdish troops, there are syrian troops who have been fighting isil at great expense and great sacrifice fighting on two fronts, fighting isil on the one hand and fighting the regime on the other. We think the strategy can succeed and most importantly we have the greatest military in the world. They believe that. How long will this take . I think the president has said it will be over several years. Okay. Ambassador power, thank you very much. I know you have a big weekend. Thank you, george. Lets bring in our chief Global Affairs correspondent Martha Raddatz for more on this right now. Pretty big prediction there from the u. N. Ambassador, martha. There will be other nations joining the air strikes against syria. Reporter very confident about that. I havent heard such confidence before. So they seem to be quite certain others will join in. I would say it was probably very limited. Again, she stressed that there are many other countries who will support military strikes but its actually carrying those strikes out with the u. S. Thats important. Martha, you cover the military so closely. What appears to be a little daylight between the president , his military advisers, the ambassador said the president is following the advice of his military advisers but we did see general dempsey say this week he would come out and recommend Ground Troops if he thought it was necessary. Are we seeing an internal debate go public here . Reporter i think thats exactly what youre seeing. General dempsey is the president s principal military adviser. He also makes a pledge to the senate when he goes up there to tell the truth as he sees it. I think this is all about language, george. You heard a little of that daylight closing this week saying they might put in Forward Air Controllers, those are the people who call in the air strikes. They are on the front lines. I think what the administration really wants to say is theyre not going to send in tanks, theyre not going to send in an invading army into iraq. But what they might have to do is call in those Forward Air Controllers. You need those to carry out strikes, to get accurate strikes. If you dont have them, it really limits the targets and thats what the military is really worried about here and they are also worried if this plan doesnt work and, frankly, the president hasnt explained if this strategy doesnt work what hell do next after saying isis is such a threat. That is a big question. Martha raddatz, thanks very much. Lets take it to the former defense secretary robert gates. Robert gates, mr. Secretary, thank you for joining us this morning. We just showed your clip from this week. You were very blunt this week on the question of Ground Troops, said the strategy cant succeed without boots on the ground, something the president has ruled out. So do you think the president s strategy is doomed or is he not being straight with the American People . Well, first of all, george, i think that he was absolutely right to wait until we had a new government in iraq before taking any steps, one that would be more inclusive. Second, he is right that the primary ground action here has to be by the iraqis, the kurds and the sunnis in north and western iraq. What i believe and what i suspect most military people believe is that given the mission the president has assigned, which is degrade and destroy, that to be able to do that, some small number of american advisers, trainers, special forces and forward spotters, Forward Air Controllers are going to have to be in harms way, and i think that number will be very small. I think martha has it exactly right. What the administration is trying to communicate is that were not going to send battalions. Were not going to send brigades, but there will have to be, i think, to achieve the mission the president has assigned some boots some american boots on the ground and in harms way. Would you recommend following that mission if you were still defense secretary . I think the way that the president has framed it, if we were given authority to if the mission required it, to accompany, to have advisers accompanying some of the iraqi units with the peshmerga and so on, i think that i would have supported it. You know, in the past though youve warned against warned america against getting involved in another ground war like iraq or afghanistan. And clearly thats not something youre calling for right now. But i want to hear how you respond to the idea that were giving isil what they want, an internal power struggle in the muslim world, we are making ourselves the enemy rather than forcing those regional powers to take them on. This is a very tough problem and i think a little perspective is in order. Syria in a way is the embodiment of four different conflicts going on in the middle east simultaneously. The first is shia islam versus sunni islam. The second is authoritarians versus reformers. The third is secularists versus islamists and then fourth is whether countries like syria, iraq and libya that are comprised of historically adversarial ethnic groups, religious sects and so on can hold together absent repression. Or whether they will end up like yugoslavia. This is a generational conflict and we need to understand that. We also need to be very modest about how we can shape the outcomes here, and i think one of the things we need to do is step back, look at this kind of cauldron of violence and instability thats going to be with us a long time and what is our strategy overall for the region . What do we want as an outcome and is there a path to achieve that . And i think that broader strategy for the region as a whole really has not been discussed by anybody in this debate. But you dont believe that destroying isis is a realistic component of that strategy. Im sorry. You dont believe destroying isis is a realistic component of that strategy. I think that destroying isis is a very ambitious mission. I think our goal actually ought to be first to just set ourselves the objective of pushing isis back out of iraq, getting them out of there. Denying them a place where they can have a permanent foothold, if you will, where they might be able to carry out plotting against the United States. And we also have to keep in mind there are other groups out there that are threatening us, as well, al nusra, al qaeda is still with us so there are multiple terrorist groups. I think destroying weve been at war with al qaeda for 13 years. We havent destroyed it yet. Weve changed it. Weve certainly degraded it in the afghan pakistani area but all you have to do is look around the world and particularly in africa and the middle east to see that its still around, so i think destroying probably is ambitious, at least in the foreseeable future, but it is a realistic objective to try and push them out of iraq and deny them a permanent foothold someplace. Mr. Secretary, thanks very much for your time this morning. Up next those shocking new allegations against the nfl commissioner Roger Goodell. He breaks his silence but did he go far enough to save his job and the sport . Our experts are here. Plus, whats going on in the senate races that has both sides scratching their heads . The roundtable sorts it out and were back in just two minutes. Announcer this week with George Stephanopoulos brought to you by pacific life for insurance annuities and investments. Choose pacific life. The power to help you succeed. Investments. The power to help you succeed. F investments. The power to help you succeed. The future to life. For more than 145 years, pacific life has been helping families achieve lifelong Financial Security with innovative tools and strategies. Talk to a Financial Advisor to protect your family and plan today. Pacific life. The power to help you succeed. Means keeping seven billion ctransactions flowing. G, and when weather hits, its data mayhem. But airlines running hp endtoend solutions are always calm during a storm. So if your business deals with the unexpected, hp big data and Cloud Solutions make sure you always know whats coming and are ready for it. Make it matter. American employers and their workers to go backwards. They want to go back in time and retroactively rewrite the tax laws. So they can impose taxes that werent owed in the first place on american businesses. It sounds crazy. But its true. The white house is on record saying theyre considering retroactive taxation america cant move forward when washington spends its time trying to tax backwards. Join us at fairreform. Com in todays closer look, the nfl in crisis. After days of silence and rising pressure from fans and advertisers, nfl commissioner Roger Goodell finally took questions friday on how the league has handled Domestic Abuse charges against top players, but did goodell go far enough . Heres abcs ryan smith. Reporter two days after that grueling apologyfilled press conference i made a mistake and im sorry for it. We will get our house in order. Reporter some of the reviews have been withering. We needed someone to go up there and be a leader and that wasnt done because i dont think Roger Goodell is the guy that can do that anymore. Reporter goodell breaking his silence friday after weeks of outrage over his handling of a growing list of players accused of Domestic Violence. Starting with that shocking video showing now former Baltimore Raven star ray rice punching his then fiancee janay. Rice originally suspended for just two games. I got it wrong in the handling of the ray rice matter, and im sorry for that. Reporter goodell grilled over discrepancies in punishments for other players accused of abuse and leaving some questions unanswered like how the website tmz was able to obtain the elevator video of rice while the league wasnt. We found out by one phone call. You guys have a whole legal department. Can you explain that . I cant explain how you got the information. Only you can do that. Reporter the best thing obviously in any pr controversy is to have a strong, consistent message and that didnt happen over the last week and a half. What he was trying to do today was to stop the bleeding. Reporter but just hours after goodell wrapped up his press conference, another bombshell in the ray rice case. Sister network espn reporting the ravens had a detailed description of what happened in that elevator only hours after the assault. That rices defense attorney had a copy of the video in april calling it horrible. In a statement, the ravens said the espn report contains inaccuracies, false assumptions and perhaps misunderstandings. Meanwhile, in his statement friday, goodell maintained he has the support of the leagues owners and he hasnt considered resigning. I have not. I am focused on doing my job and doing the best of my ability. Reporter that job, repairing the nfls damaged reputation and putting new League Policies in place including partnering with Domestic Violence groups, education sessions for teams and owners and developing a new personal conduct policy, but the commissioner offered few specifics saying new conduct policies wont happen for months. My goal is to complete this by the super bowl. Reporter for some critics only raising more questions whether goodell is the man to lead the nfl through the worst crisis in its history. For this week, ryan smith, abc news, new york. And we are joined now by espns mike tirico, former nfl running back robert smith also with espn and Christine Brennan from usa today. Welcome to all of you. And, mike, let me begin with you, a lot of critics of that friday press conference. Today the fans weigh in and the big question, are they going to stay away and if they actually watch today, will the advertising pressure let up . Well, thats the Tipping Point question, george, that i think were all trying to find out. We want the immediate answer but we may not be able to get it for a few weeks until we see television ratings, instadium attendance, so many people are invested in the nfl with their fantasy football teams, the tickets theyve purchased. We saw over 7,000 people in Baltimore Turn in their ray rice jerseys, but they turned them in over the weekend for another ravens jersey in most cases in baltimore, so the fans still show they want to be a part of the nfl. The question to me is this league thats been tefloned and not seen controversies stick will they find a way to move past this one because right now that doesnt seem to be the case. That is the big question and, christine, earlier in the week you said goodell was on the right track but was the press conference a detour . It was, george. Theres no doubt about that. The things he could have done in that press conference, bringing out the women that hes brought in, having them speak about the specific things theyre going to be doing to try to help with the terrible problem of Domestic Violence, not only in the nfl, but around the country. A more empathetic view, Roger Goodell is a corporate man obviously. Hes done a great job leading the nfl on the corporate side but he is so methodical in some ways that theres no empathy there, and i think i think it was bad. The fact that hes, of course, apologizing, weve never seen a commissioner in any sport league apologize this much over and over again, but he has a lot to apologize for and that press conference, unfortunately, was not a good thing for the nfl or for anyone in this story. The other big question, robert smith, was he telling the whole truth about that meeting with ray rice back in june . Yeah, and i think thats going to be the key to all of this. People are wondering whether Roger Goodell will survive all this. And you have to remember it takes a threequarters vote from the owners, which would be 24 of the owners to remove him, and i think thats going to be determined almost exclusively by what former fbi director Robert Mueller finds in his investigation. Roger has been adamant that people in his office did not know of this, certainly that he did not know of this, and if theres any information that comes out that he or somebody in the office relayed information to him about the existence of this video with his statements about the ambiguity that he says ray rice exhibited in the interview with him, hes definitely gone. Mike, one of the things you pointed out is that the owners are going to have to step up and take responsibility now, as well. George, i think so. We keep looking at the league and they have a lot of blame that they should be seen for. Things they have not done in the past, especially regarding these issues. But the owners and their general managers, player personnel folks, those are the ones that hire the players. Those are the ones who directly come in contact with the players. I think they need to do a couple of things, one, help set the line now for whats going to happen Going Forward and, secondly and more importantly, i think they have to find the balance. Its always talent in the draft, in free agency, bringing the talented players, the character question comes up, some folks factor it in significantly, some let it slide if theres a lot of talent there. What will owners instruct their personnel folks to do Going Forward . I think thats very important. And, christine, Roger Goodell bringing in a lot of highprofile female executives, top executives now. What difference will they make . I hope they make a lot of difference, george. I think everyone does. The nfl could be a leader in this area. We havent heard from major league baseball, the nhl, nba, we certainly know, logic tells us there are abusers in those leagues right now. Hopefully not and hopefully they wont do anything bad, but this is such a watershed moment, not only for sports, but our country and i think the problem i think so many people have, george, with goodell is that hes talking about what theyre going to do, well, in fact, theyve already funded the Domestic Violence hot line. They announced that the other day but that got lost in the shuffle. Im not for a moment defending the National Football league. Its been a disastrous, what, six, eight weeks for the National Football league. But if this is the league with these women in charge who can move this country forward on this issue, then that is a Huge Positive step. Bottom line, robert smith, will Roger Goodell be commissioner one year from now . I think he will, and i think its important to remember a little bit of perspective in this. Theres some information i saw from a website in boston or from a newspaper in boston that only 12 of corporations in america have some sort of Domestic Violence programs or policies and i think that its also important to remember that when the players are involved, that you have to consider the fact that this is about collective bargaining, as well, and everybody wants this swift and Decisive Action from Roger Goodell but he cant act unilaterally in this but i do believe that this investigation will determine that he has been truthful and i do believe he survives this. We will see. Thank you all very much. The roundtable standing by to weigh in on americas newest war. Is the country truly braced for whats to come, plus some surprising twists in the midterm contest, but first the roundtables big winners of the week. Roundtables big winners of the week. Theyre something thats gonna change the cities we live in today. 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We are not about to send american boys 9,000 or 10,000 miles away from home to do what asian boys ought to be doing for themselves. Previous president s did not want long land wars. That is not how vietnam ended up. The question now, is there any danger of history repeating itself. One question for our round table and i am joined by james carville, republican ana navarro, katrina vanden heuvel editor and publisher of the pulitzer prizewinning columnist from the wall street journal. Welcome to all of you. Let me begin with you. Your paper had an editorial that called the president s pledge not to have any Ground Troops in iraq or syria bad military strategy, worst politic. Right, well, bad military strategy because youre hearing maybe sotto voce from all major American Military commanders saying if you want to achieve the president s goal of degrading but destroying isis you need some number of Ground Troops. You dont need tens of thousands but you need hundreds and maybe a few thousand to call in strikes, special forces operations, and i think this is commonly understood in the pentagon among military strategists. Its bad politics because at some point if the president is serious about taking out isis, destroying it, hes going to have to break his own pledge and thats going to come back to haunt him. Brings back the credibility problem. Katrina, you wrote this whole enterprise this week against isis is a, quote, capitulation to bellicose folly. The president articulated what i think was a pretty good Foreign Policy organizing principle which was, dont do stupid stuff. Hillary clinton didnt agree. Hillary clinton didnt agree. I will say no more on that, but he resisted military strikes in syria last august. He said at west point in may that our biggest mistakes have been a willingness to rush into military adventures without thinking through the consequences. I regret i think the president has surrendered to war party in both parties to a media that has lathered up hysteria about a threat that is not an immediate threat to this country. There is a barbarism and a gruesomeness to the videotapes which has moved the American People at this stage to support strikes but the support for Ground Troops is not there. The support is very thin. And you know, george, the main problem is that too often in this country we equate doing something with doing something militarily when, in fact, what is needed now is tough regional diplomacy political solution. Weve spent 13 years of military misadventure in this region. Let us find a different way. Dont do stupid stuff. To quote reinhold nebra, is there a grace in doing nothing here . Look, 13 years ago this october we started bombing muslims in the middle east. Were still bombing them. Does any sane person think that 13 years from now were not going to still be bombing them . Of course we are, and if you listen to what secretary gates said, and maybe we have to be, maybe there is no alternative other than bombing people but were getting in the middle of four, count them, four civil wars here and our congress is too cowardly to pass a resolution. Were brave enough to send air force fighters in that may get shot down. I think this thing needs to be flushed out by the congress. Thats not fair, james. Ana navarro, the president is not asking for that resolution. He is certainly not asking for it and even democrats in congress, i saw the chair of the Foreign Relations committee in the senate, bob menendez say, we need you to be asking for a new authorization of use for military force. And theyre saying, well welcome it but were not going to ask for it. I think part of what the problem is the administration is giving a lot of mixed messages. Were seeing over and over again when one part of the administration says, we dont know if its war, then they know its war, one part says we dont need boots on the ground, were not going to send them, and you start hearing all over the place from military officers from former secretaries of defense like panetta and gates that they will be needing boots on the ground, so i think it becomes very confusing for the American Public and, look, Foreign Policy shouldnt be based on polls. It needs to be based on goals. First of all, we have boots on the ground. I mean, theres a kind of game being played here. We have some 1300 advisers. We have boots on the ground in a lot of places around this world. But i do think there is a measure of the american mood to be taken. I think the establishment is more hawkish than the American People who are not isolationists but theyre not interventionists first, they dont want america to police the world. They want to engage the world. I think it was very important what Samantha Power said. I think she was wrong in saying that america has legal authorization to go do air strikes in syria. They dont have the u. N. Authorization. Ill say president obama is right in not feeling he needs to seek a vote in congress. He has the authority. Hes the commander in chief. We based on al qaeda though in 2001. Yes. Just an important point, george. Were sitting here in new york, just spoke a few weeks ago with bill bratten, commissioner of the nypd. He is now saying that when he looks at the threats that hes facing that hes seriously concerned about, isis is on the list and rightly so because they have hundreds of fighters including scores of people with american passports, hundreds of people with european passports who are part of visa waiver programs who can come to this country, so imagine isis, iraq is a very faraway place, its a tenhour night from here. We shouldnt discount that its a serious threat. Im not talking about its a serious threat. Im not talking about checking visas, im talking about sending United States troops into combat. If its a great idea, let the congress support it. How do you tell somebody that you can go over there and you can fight but we cant have a debate in the United States over this or, you know, some lawyers may say, well, its not congressional authorization. Other lawyers, by the way who are pretty doggone good lawyers say the we should ask. It doesnt matter. He should meet you need the command er in chief to make the request and he is unwilling to do it because the politically hold off. Stop. The front page of the New York Times has a story about a new militant group. The Intelligence Community says this group may be even more threatening to our security, poses a more immediate crises, the department of Homeland Security and intelligence Officials Says isis does not pose an immediate crisis. The major problem is is if we keep treating this like a war instead of robust diplomacy ending the financing, other measures, we are going to be in an endless war, which will deplete americas attention from Real Security challenges, proliferation of nuclear weapons, a broken global economy, a catastrophic climate crisis, which the pentagon has called a clear and emerging danger. There are 100,000 people marching outside this studio this today because of that. Quick response, Bret Stephens . Look, we face an immediate threat and understand al qaeda and affiliated groups pose a direct threat to this country. It is amazing to have a debate suggesting that americans at least dont get that. Iraq may be a different story. Other middle eastern imbroglios may be a different story. They understood we had to take the war to them. What is happening now is the result of six years of a vacuum of American Leadership getting out too completely from iraq. Moving too quickly out of afghanistan. Got to take a quick break. More roundtable coming up. Top trend, Constitution Day in honor of its 227th birthday on wednesday. The white house celebrating this post, congressman darrell issa sharing the preamble to the constitution, even liberty the penguin weighed in and that inspired our powerhouse puzzler. Heres our question. The original constitution is now kept at the National Archives in washington but after the bombing of pearl harbor it was temporarily moved to what super safe location . Were back in two minutes with the answer. Answer. [ male announcer ] over time, youve come to realize. [ starter ] ready [ starting gun goes off ] [ male announcer ] its less of a race. Yeah [ male announcer ] and more of a journey. Keep going strong. And as you look for a Medicare Supplement insurance plan. Expect the same kind of commitment you demand of yourself. Aarp Medicare Supplement insurance plans insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. Go long. Okay, where was the constitution kept for safekeeping during world war ii. Lets see everyones guesses. Ooh. Ooh. James didnt guess. Ft. Knox. Ft. Knox. A lot of ft. Knoxs. It should have been hyde park. There was a nice assist from the crew today on that one. Coming up, new twists in the race for the senate. Well have the latest forecast from nate silver at fivethirtyeight. And im here to tell homeowners that are sixtytwo and older about a great way to live a better retirement. Its called a reverse mortgage. Call right now to receive your free dvd and booklet with no obligation. It answers questions like. How a reverse mortgage works, how much you qualify for, the ways to receive your money. And more. Plus, when you call now, youll get this magnifier with led light absolutely free when you call the experts at one reverse mortgage today, youll learn the benefits of a governmentinsured reverse mortgage. It will eliminate your monthly mortgage payments and give you taxfree cash from the equity in your home and heres the best part. You still own your home. Take control of your retirement today transit fares as in the 37 billion transit fares we help collect each year. No . Oh, right. Youre thinking of the 1. 6 million daily Customer Care interactions xerox handles. Or the 900 Million Health insurance claims we process. So, its no surprise to you that companies depend on todays xerox for services that simplify how work gets done. Which is. Pretty much what weve always stood for. With xerox, youre ready for real business. Back now with our politics buzz board. At the top this week a stunning poll in the state of kansas showing independent greg orman with a big lead over republican pat roberts. And after a judge allows no democrat on the ballot, roberts calls in kansas legend bob doyle for help. In kentucky democrat Alison Lundergren Grimes hopes breaking with president obama and pulling out her shotgun will close the gap with mitch mcconnell. Mitch, thats not how you hold a gun. Mitch still holds his lead but the gop is struggling a bit in north carolina. Im kate hagan. Kate hagan staying ahead in that state and why the folks at fivethirtyeight led by nate silver losing momentum and chances of retaking it down to 55 right now. Okay, lets talk about this on our roundtable. Now, let me start with you, james carville. A lot of these forecasting models like nate silvers do show a little bit of Movement Towards the democrats away from the republicans in the last week, but the oldschool analysts charlie cook, stu rothenberg still predict the republican wave. I dont agree with charlie on a republican wave but i do say that more things can go wrong for the democrats than can go wrong for republicans and thats never a kind of Playing Field that you want to enter in a cycle like this. Would i be shocked if the democrats won . No, but i would be surprised somewhat on the upside and theres a lot to be going on. Ive seen a lot of encouraging things for democrats around the country but still too many things have to go right for us and too many things go wrong for them. Ana, what about that republican race in kansas . Something has gone wrong and you see all the big guns coming in now to try to save that seat for pat roberts. Thats right. You see bob doyle is getting involved but also seeing some of the National Republicans are sending the a team to run that campaign and be involved with that campaign with pat roberts but the interesting part is who is this guy pat roberts running against. Hes an independent. The kansans know very little bit. They dont even know who he is going to caucus with should he win. Thats a question that keeps coming up for him and i think hes going to need to answer to the people of kansas before they vote. Something tells me the Koch Brothers will come in with a lot of money to define him in the next few weeks. Katrina, the democrats the last two election cycles have made a lot on this issue of what they call the republican war on women. It seems to be falling flat this election cycle. Ill tell you why its falling flat because the republicans are bringing out their etch a sketchs and theyre erasing the record on women. The republicans extremist positions on access to contraception, on pay equity, on a livable minimum wage for women, theyre stepping back from this. Theyre trying to erase their record. I still think single women will be the key to determining these midterms, and on the core issues, republicans talk a good game, but theyre not walking the walk. I mean in kentucky where the nation obtained this audiotape of senator mcconnell talking at a Koch Brothers gathering of billionaires, mcconnell was contemptuous of the 70 of kentucky women who need an increase in the minimum wage if theyre going to do well so hold on a second. Bret, katrina says etch a sketch but it does appear at least the republicans have put forward candidates who arent easily attacked cory gardner in colorado is a perfect example of that. Thats why i think mark udall is in trouble in that state. Its just very hard to attack the guys and sort of out a, you know, neanderthal republican when hes talking about making prescription pills available over the counter. The thing is no one single issue, women arent single issue voters and i think thats why its a little tired. It was always a slightly absurd always a bit of a stretch on the part of the democrats to suggest republicans were going to wage a war on women that roe v. Wade was going to be overturned and i think thats just becoming its becoming shop bored. Im a prochoice conservative as it happens and people understand that theres a universe of issues out there that go beyond views on abortion and contraception. Im sorry. One Supreme Court court away from being overturned. Not a theoretical issue were dealing with. Thank you. In over jumping roe v. Wade. I think this is a very tired issue because women understand that, you know, its not about a bumper sticker. Its not war on this, war on that. And you want to talk about war on women. Why dont we talk about the war that democrats waged this week against the woman who heads the dnc. You saw all sorts of gossip and you saw all sorts of innuendo against Debbie Wasserman schultz. Lets talk about let her at least make her point and then answer. Let me tell you something, if a republican had gone out and talked about how somebody wanted to spend all this money on clothes and say all the gossipy they said about Debbie Wasserman schultz with the white houses fingerprints all over it, you all would be screaming bloody murder. I think one of the first of all, turnout is going to be a big issue. No denying the democratic base, latino, africanamericans, single women, young people are not in great form and not that happy about whats going on but rigging the vote has become a republican hallmark. When we talk about kansas, i dont look at greg orman or pat roberts. I look at that secretary of state who manipulated the ballot in registration and limiting the voting access means cutting out large parts of our community, africanamericans, single women we got tens of millions of women living at the poverty line that need the minimum wage, that need the health kcare coverage and all this, and were going to talk about one story about a dnc chair in washington as being some evidence of a war on women. You have republicans willing to cut medicaid people lie about that. Thats what democrats have been doing the entire time. Well, you know, you have maybe some crazy todd akin say some stupid remark and you pick on that one remark thats a oh, for gods sake. America understands that were six years into a lousy recovery being orchestrated by a democratic president and air democratic president. Were out of time. I want to ask you a quick question. You declared yourself prochoice conservative. Hold on. You declare yourself prochoice conservative. Do you believe a republican can get the nomination for president saying those words . No. Simple answer. That was a great roundtable. Thank you. Coming up, why one top doctor says he hopes to die at 75. 5. Americans are living longer than ever but not necessarily better than after. Old age often means painful durst orienting klein harrowing for families and expensive. In a provocative essay one doctor says how old is old enough and Richard Besser has the story. She looked at me and said something is happening to me, rachel. Rachel bennett has spent the last decade watching her mother shawna fade slowly into the fog of alzheimers. A good day with my mom is when she knows me. On not so good days, she can be veriage stated and anxious and worried and say over and over again where am i . Every one minute and seven seconds someone is diagnosed with alzheimers in the u. S. Thats one in every nine americans over 65. Numbers scary enough to make one of the nations Top Health Care experts plan on what some say is a shocking solution. Opting out of old age entirely. I dont anticipate wanting to end my life actively. What i am arguing about is not prolonging, not taking medications, not having surgery that where the goal is to save your life, to give you more life. So im not going to do that. Dr. Ezequiel emanuel outlined why he hopes to die at 75 in a provocative piece in this months issue of the atlantic. I look at the data on disability, i look at the data on alzheimers disease. I look at the data on loss of creativity, and 75 seems to be the right moment where the chance of disability, physical disability is low. Youre still not in the high alzheimers risk of 30 or 50 . And creativity has sort of come to an end. Back in 1960 the age distribution looked like this. A pyramid with a lucky few living into their 80s. By 2060 the pyramid will look more like a rectangle with so many People Living longer nearly the same number of elderly and the young. Kent russell of the new republic has looked at the options for those who suffer from dementia. Rather than clinging to a control or what i think my story is until the end, we need to start thinking of it more as kind of a parabola where what goes up must go down. Reporter Life Expectancy has increased but then again so have the years seniors are living disabled. This week the institute dying in america recommends sweeping changes and more planning forego end of life care including more training, discouraging some expensive hospital stays and procedures with the goal of giving patients the final days they want, comfortably at home and making health care more affordable. To some, controversial steps, but not to dr. Emanuel. If i lost mental functions, if i became severely disabled and homebound, that would be very, very tragic for me, and i dont want that to happen. But rachel says being with her mother as vulnerable and dependent as she may be has been a gift and the lesson in how to live her own life to the fullest. What would you say to someone who says this kind of life is not worth living . Id say think again, and i would, say open up your heart and your mind for the lessons that are there. Why would my mothers life be less of a value . My mom has such happy moments with me. And doctor besser joins us now. Of course, this issue hits every American Family and, you know, one of the things were talking about now is that so much of the funding, medicare funding goes to those last few months of life so that it encourages a lot more of this Palliative Care and planning, but the minute you Start Talking about that, you hear the words, death panels. I cant stand that term. We have to be able to talk about that end of life care. Right now so many people are getting care that we know doesnt work that they dont want but that term means we cant even discuss it. So whats the single most important piece of information you would give and advice to the families as they start to think about these issues and start to plan . Yeah, i mean we all know know what dr. Emanuel wants for the end of his life but most people dont know what they want. He reserves the chance to change his mind. He reserves that right but we have to start that conversation. Right now after the show ends people need to sit down and Start Talking about it. What do you want at the end of your life so that your loved ones, your parents or kids know when you cant make that decision for yourself, what kind of care, what you see as the end of your life. Such an important conversation. Dr. Richard besser, thanks very much. Were going to be back with a new look at in our sunday spotlight, echoes of vietnam still resonate in todays debates about war, and now a striking documentary, the last days in vietnam, offers a new take on americas exit. The filmmaker is Bobby Kennedys daughter rory, and jon karl spoke with her about the drama she uncovered after all these years. The soldiers behind me are firing at vietnam units. Reporter it was americas first televised war, but somehow filmmaker rory kennedy managed to uncover stunning moments never before seen. The footage is so grainy and beautiful. Reporter in americas dark final days in vietnam. Theres real drama. The vietcong are coming in and we have to get not just u. S. Personnel out, our diplomats, our military personnel, but those who have been our allies. The government said, we just got to get the americans out. Its falling too fast and this handful of americans on the ground said not so fast. You know, if we leave our vietnamese friends and allies and comrades behind, theyre going to be killed and theyre going to be tortured. Reporter the last personnel serving in vietnam risked their lives to help as many of their vietnamese friends and allies escape. Among the most desperate were south vietnamese helicopter pilots. They came to this ship, the uss kirk. They started hovering above. Kirk didnt know who they were, if they were enemy or not, took the risk, brought them down, landed on the boat. Took the vietnamese out who were so grateful but then there were more helicopters hovering overhead, and they said what do we do . We dont have room for more helicopters. Pushed the helicopter over. They pushed these helicopters into the sea, the next one came down. The larger helicopter that came, the chinook helicopter, couldnt land on the kirk. It was too big and would have destroyed the ship so waved the guy away. He had his family on board. He was running out of gas. So we hovered over the kirk as the kirk is moving, and he throws his family including a baby. Including an 8monthold baby, a 2yearold, 5yearold, throws them off of the deck of the helicopter onto the deck of the uss kirk but then, of course, helicopter pilot is still in the helicopter and cant land. So he goes off to see he goes over to the starboard side of the ship. He leans the helicopter over to the right, and he jumps off of the left side. The helicopter goes into the ocean, explodes, the guy drops into the ocean, nowhere to be seen, and then he pops up 30 seconds later. These amazing images had never been seen before. The film sat undeveloped in a former shipmans attic for nearly 40 years only coming to light as kennedy started putting together her documentary, the last days in vietnam. The ambassador, unfortunately, is no longer alive but seems like virtually every other major figure in the film youre able to talk to and i mean even the very last the very last marine who got out juan valdez there on the roof. The helicopter pulls up and they count, there are only 10 of us. There should be 11, so they go back down and, you know, they look behind, juan valdezs hands are gripping onto the helicopter lifting off so, you know, the drama of these moments is really extraordinary. For this week, jonathan karl, abc news, washington. I would love to know what happened to that little baby. And now we honor our fellow americans who serve and sacrifice. This week the pentagon released the names of two Service Members killed in afghanistan. And that is all for us today. Thanks for sharing part of your sunday with us. Check out world news tonight and ill see you tomorrow on gma. And ill see you tomorrow on gma. Up next, developing news in the east bay where police are investigating an apparent stabbing at a lightnight house party. Also, a deadly intersection. The warning after a woman was killed crossing a busy San Francisco street. Good morning from our roof camera. Plenty of gray here and across the bay area. A little peak of sun in concord right now, but delays at sfo, nearly an hour. Ill tell you how warm its going to get and a return to rain showers coming up next on the abc 7 m huh, fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. Everybody ows that. Well, did you know you that former pro Football Player ickey woods will celebrate almost anything . Unhuh. Number 44. Whoooo fortyfour, thats me get some cold cuts. Get some cold cuts. Get some cold cuts whooo gimme some geico. Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. Whoo fortyfour ladies, thats me whoo. Gonna get some cold cuts today