Today is a miraculous day. I am thrilled to be alive, to be well and to be reunited with my family. Woodruff those are just some of the stories were covering on tonights pbs newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by ive been around long enough to recognize the people who are out there owning it. The ones getting involved, staying engaged. They are not afraid to question the path theyre on. Because the one question they never want to ask is, how did i end up here . I started schwab with those people. People who want to take ownership of their investments, like they do in every other aspect of their lives. Supported by the john d. And catherine t. Macarthur foundation. Committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. More information at macfound. Org and with the ongoing support of these institutions and. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Woodruff the governor of missouri ordered the National Guard today to begin withdrawing from the st. Louis suburb of ferguson. They were deployed monday, amid the unrest over the Police Shooting of michael brown. Meanwhile, u. S. Attorney general eric holder urged americans everywhere to address tensions between minorities and police. He spoke a day after visiting ferguson to talk with local residents and investigators. The National Outcry we have seen speaks to a sense of mistrust and mutual suspicion that can take hold in the relationship between Law Enforcement and certain communities. I wanted the people of ferguson to know that i personally understood that mistrust. I wanted them to know that while so much else may be uncertain, this attorney general and the department of justice stands with the people of ferguson. Woodruff the streets of ferguson were relatively calm overnight in a further sign that tensions are easing some. Small crowds demonstrated peacefully and only six people were arrested. Police also announced that of the 163 people arrested to date, only seven live in ferguson. Meanwhile, a Police Officer seen in this amateur video was suspended for pointing a semi automatic rifle at a crowd of protesters tuesday night, and threatening to kill one of them. A friend of the accused Boston Marathon bomber pleaded guilty today to obstruction of justice charges. Dias kadyrbayev allegedly removed evidence from a college room, including a backpack holding emptied firework casings. Under a plea agreement, he will serve no more than seven years. The 2013 bombing killed three people and wounded more than 260. In ukraine, there was no break in the heavy fighting around the eastern cities of donetsk and luhansk. At least 50 people were killed yesterday, as Government Forces pressed their offensive against prorussian rebels. Meanwhile the first of more than 200 trucks in a Russian Relief convoy began clearing customs. Theyre being inspected by Ukrainian Border guards. The red cross has agreed to oversee distribution of the humanitarian aid. The ice bucket challenge sweeping social media now faces challenges of its own. The Campaign Features people being doused with freezing water to raise money for research into a. L. S, or lou gehrigs disease. Today, the Roman Catholic archdiocese of cincinnati ordered its schools not to take part because the research involves embryonic stem cells. And, the state department ruled ambassadors may not raise money for any private cause however worthy. And on wall street the Dow Jones Industrial average gained 60 points to close at 17,039. The nasdaq rose five points to close at 4,532. And the s p 500 added more than five points to finish at 1,992 a new record. Still to come on the newshour a look at the members, the mission and the tactics of the Islamic State group, bank of america makes a record settlement with the Justice Department, former Virginia GovernorBob Mcdonnell takes the stand in his public corruption trial, israeli strikes kill several hamas leaders in gaza, plus, americans treated for ebola reunite with their families and can return home. Woodruff the u. S. State government announced today that it is going after the man who beheaded american journalist james foley. This word came after news that American Special forces tried and failed to rescue the reporter and others from his Islamic State captors. We all regret that the mission did not succeed, but im very proud of the u. S. Forces that participated in it. Woodruff news of the failed hostage rescue brought defense secretary chuck hagel and army general Martin Dempsey chair of the joint chiefs of staff to the pentagon Briefing Room this afternoon. This operation, by the way, was a flawless operation, but, the hostages were not there. So, well do everything that we need to do, that the American People would expect from their leaders, to continue to do everything we can to get our hostages back. Woodruff the raid targeted an Islamic State site in Northern Syria earlier this summer, but found no sign of james foley or any other hostages. The fact is, as you all know, intelligence doesnt come wrapped in a package with a bow. Woodruff in a Statement Last night, the National Security council said it never intended to disclose the operation. Rather, it said, we only went public when it was clear a number of Media Outlets were preparing to report on the operation. The news leaked after the Islamic State group posted a video titled a message to america, showing foley being beheaded. Today, attorney general eric holder announced the Justice Department is going after the killers. We have an open criminal investigation and those who would perpetrate such acts need to understand something this Justice Department, the department of defense, this nation, we have long memories and our reach is very wide. We will not forget what happened and people will be held accountable one way or the other. Woodruff the New York Times reported today the United States rejected an Islamic State demand to pay a multimillion dollar ransom for james foleys release. Other western countries have funneled millions to the militants in exchange for the release of their citizens. Meanwhile, the british accent of the militant in the beheading video raised new questions about the Islamic States reach. We have brothers from bangladesh, from iraq, from cambodia, australia, u. K. Woodruff this video released by the group in june shows militants identifying themselves as british, urging westerners to join them, and saying the cure for depression is jihad. The video was removed from you tube shortly after its release. For more on the attempted rescue of james foley we turn to Karen Deyoung of the Washington Post. Karen, welcome back to the newshour. First of all, what more is known about this rescue attempt . Well, i dont think we got a lot more details today. I think, as we reported this morning, there were at least two blackhawk helicopters on the ground. They discovered very quickly that the hostages werent there. There was a firefighting in which some of the Islamic State fighters were killed. One u. S. Soldier was wounded, not seriously, before they took off. They were not on the ground very long. Woodruff and we just heard defense secretary hagel say it was not a failure of intelligence that explains the fact that this didnt work out. Why do they believe it didnt work . Well, i think that their departure, the militant departure with the hostages from this place took place not very long before the raid happened. Theres every reason to believe that, in fact, they were there, that the intelligence was correct, but that they had left. Its not clear if it was several days to two weeks before the raid took place. Woodruff so it was not known whether they knew this was coming . Correct, i havent heard that suggested, but they certainly had been there. Woodruff what level of confidence, karen, does the administration need typically in order to carry out Something Like this . Well, you know, secretary hagel said today that along with gen. Dempsey said they had undergone a lot of planning for this raid, they had practiced it a number of times. I think it does require a lot of planning, whether weeks or months, i dont know, but i dont think its something that they undertake as we were told yesterday without a great deal of planning and without intelligence from many different sources. They had signals intelligence, they had human intelligence, so they did have good reason to believe that this is where the hostages were being held. Reporter people are familiar with the successful raid to go after osama bin laden. I think some people may get the impression that Something Like this is usually successful. Do we know whether there are many other attempts made like this by special forces that we just never hear about . I couldnt say. I think, in this case, for these hostages, were pretty certain there havent been. But remember, the successful raid against osama bin laden, i think the confidence that he was actually there was far less than it was with this raid. Woodruff huh. And in this case, more confidence, but it still didnt work. I was struck today, karen, in one of the stories i read, that some pentagon officials were quoted saying they were angry that the Administration Made the decision to confirm this, that this happened. What do you know about that . Well, i think as the administration itself said last night and earlier today, there were several news organizations including the Washington Post that were prepared to run stories about it. We certainly were prepared to run a story about it. We had the information that we thought we needed, when the administration decided that they would brief their few organizations that had come to them and said, look, we have this information, i dont think we got a great deal more detail from them and, of course, then they publicly announced it very shortly thereafter. Again, i think that it was something that was going to come out, regardless of whether the administration decided to publicly acknowledge it or not. Woodruff karen, one other thing we have been told the administration of the United Stateshouse a policy of the United States has a policy of never paying ransom in a situation like. This do you get any sense if your extensive reporting that thats something being discussed, rethought or what . I dont. The the administration strongly today came out and said, we dont pay ransom, we dont think its a good idea to pay ransom, that that puts more americans at risk. It actually is against the law for americans to pay ransom to the Islamic State and many other organizations designated as terrorist organizations, and i think the request did not come and was not turned down by the United States, it came to the family of james foley and the globalpost, his employer, and the request was for about 132 million, and i think that neither they nor the u. S. Government whom they informed about this thought it was a serious offer. It was far, far more than anything we know has been paid for some of the other european hostages that have been released. Woodruff Karen Deyoung with the Washington Post, we thank you. Youre welcome. Woodruff now, we learn more about the threat the Islamic State poses and how theyre recruiting westerners, from steven simon, who served as a senior director for middle eastern and north African Affairs on the National SecurityCouncil Staff from 2011 through 2012 and shadi hamid, a fellow at the Brookings Institutions Center for middle east policy. Hes also the author of temp takes of power islamists and a democracy in the middle east. Welcome to the newshour. Steven, we have been reading so much about i. S. I. L. , Islamic State recently. How are they different from these other extreme groups and particularly al quaida . Theyre different in terms of their tactics and i think in terms of their overall strategy. Their tactics, as weve seen, are savage. They deploy savage rias a tactic. This is a tactic that has been repudiated by core al quaida, you know, the al quaida leadership in south asia and zawahri, the current leader for al quaida and the replacement for bin laden. He has specifically enjoined the leader of i. S. I. S. From doing the kinds of things he is doing because, from an al quaida point of view, it aliennates most muslims, and thats a serious defect in the strategy. Woodruff shadi hamid, is that the main difference . That this is an extreme group far more willing to take extreme actions . Thats a key difference but it goes beyond that. Theyre not the terrorists mid to early 2,000s blowing things up and killing innocent civilians without any vision of how to build something. Whats scary about i. S. I. S. Is they have a governing program. They control and hold territory, provide social services, run local government, provide some modicum of law and order so they actually are able to obtain some local support in iraq and syria precisely for those reasons. So the viciousness along with governing. Woodruff steven simon, is that one of the reasons they have been able to retract the supporters attract the supporters, the young men who have come not only from the middle east, from that part of the world, but we also know westerners from europe, even from the United States . Well, this successful Muslim Movement challenging the west, in particular, challenging those who are perceived to want to kill muslims is a galvanizing thing, i think, for muslim young men in many places including europe. In iraq, in particular, though, i. S. I. S. Is benefiting from the mismanagement of Iraqi Affairs by the iraqi government. The exclusion of sunnis from public goods, the disregard for sunni interests in the wake of the massive dislocation that followed the American Invasion of iraq in 2003, theres a lot of unhappiness among the sunni majority population, especially those sunnis who are concentrated in the areas where i. S. I. S. Has gotten a foothold, so i. S. I. S. Has been able to join forces with the baathists, former saddam people and other disaffected individuals to gain a pretty serious grip. Woodruff what about in syria, shadi hamid . I mean, they were clearly able to swell their forces, draw more adherence in syria and, again, from the west, from europe, from the United States. Whats the appeal . We saw in the video, the terrible video with james foley, the man who was there with him had a british accent. This actually worries me were focusing so much on iraq and Senior Administration officials focus on that part of it. They barely mention syria, obama clearly doesnt want to talk about that. But the rise of i. S. I. S. Is more directly tied to syria than iraq, and syrian experts were warning this administration ayear and a half ago saying if this power vacuum continues and we cant support the more main stream rebel forces, extreme groups like i. S. I. S. Are going to gain ground. So i think we have been kind of asleep at the wheel. Americans are waking up to the threat right now that i. S. I. S. Has been beheading arabs and muslims for over the past year. Woodruff so why is that an appeal . Whats the appeal to young people to join . I think part of the problem with the kind of arab spring is that peaceful protest didnt work, working within the democratic process didnt work, so we had Peaceful Protesters in syria but they were being shot down and slaughtered by the assad regime, we had extremist movements like the Muslim Brotherhood trying to work within the democratic process yes, we americans dont share their values, we were deeply conservative and liberal but there has to be a process. I. S. I. S. Says you can have an Islamic State through brute force and you dont have to wait and be graduist about it and theres kind of an appeal for radicalized europeans, they see a purity to their vision. Woodruff lets pick up on that, stevennen, for young men who are muslim living in europe and the United States, what is the draw . I think they see themselves engaged in a noble and virtuous endeavor. Theyre doing something they feel is a fight for a really good cause, and its interesting because they dont see themselves as going to join a terrorist movement