Transcripts For WJLA This Week With George Stephanopoulos 20140831

And were teaming up with facebook, tracking the stories youre turning into trends. Time to reveal our first facebook find of the week. From abc news, this week with George Stephanopoulos begins now. Good morning. Im martha raddatz. There are fastmoving developments in the battle against isis. Including a breakthrough for the iraqi army against the terror group. As the u. S. Launches another round of air strikes and humanitarian drops. Plus, new fears, just 48 hours after the uk warned an attack there is highly likely. Were covering every angle. Lets start with pierre thomas. Reporter good morning, martha. Threat level, severe. Likelihood of a terror attack . High. Thats the blunt british assessment. Signs of stepped up police patrols. Hard evidence that the islamic radicals are a direct threat to the uk, the u. S. , indeed all of the west. This is not some foreign conflict thousands of miles from home that we can hope to ignore. Reporter an estimated 12,000 foreign fighters have gone to syria. More than 100 from america. But 1,000 from europe. Youre not dealing just with isil. Youre dealing with other Al Qaedalinked franchises in syria and potentially iraq. Thats the reason for the threat level change. Reporter american intelligence sources say they have identified no specific plot. But british authorities are likely responding to chatter from inside iraq. Radicals whose travel documents give them easy access to europe and the United States. Theyre the most urgent threat. Just in recent months, an american blowing himself up in syria. Another dying on the battlefield fighting alongside isis. A brit beheading american journalist james foley. The syriabased threat that top u. S. Officials have been warning about for months now tangible. Homeland security secretary jay johnson. Syria has become a matter of Homeland Security. Reporter the fbi director . Theyre coming back. Theyre coming back to europe. To north america. Reporter attorney general eric holder. Its more frightening than anything i think i have seen as attorney general. Reporter we caught up with holder in london as he was sounding the alarm with his european counterparts. How concerned should americans at home be about isis . Its just a matter of time before they start looking outward. And start looking at the west. At the United States in particular. So this is something that we have to get on top of and get on top of now. Reporter those words are now more urgent by the day. And martha, remember, you have two distinct threats flowing out of syria. Al qaedaaffiliated people that want a bomb on a commercial plane. And isis barbarians who appear capable of anything. Thank you, pierre. Now lets go to london. The new terror warnings have a city on edge. Jeffrey kofman is there for us. Jeffrey . Reporter its been called fortress london. Police are deployed to defend the british capital against a terrorist strike. The problem here in the uk is this. What to do if some of the worlds most extreme terrorists carry british passports. As pierre just noted, the uk estimates 500 young british muslims are estimated to have joined isis in iraq and syria. The fear is those militants will come home to the uk to inflict terror here. Its not an abstract concept. Britains well remember what they call 7 7. The july 7, 2005, suicide attacks that saw four british muslims detonate bombs simultaneously on three underground trains and a bus killing 52 civilians and injuring 700. In the london paper today, a fatwa was declared, forbidding british muslims from joining extremist groups. Trorm, the British Parliament reconvenes. They plan to rule on measures to block british jihadis from return lg home. Martha . Lets break all of this down with our expects. Dick clarke directed counterterrorism efforts at the highest levels for many administrations. And Jane Holl Lute was the deputy of security until last year. Britain has not raised its terror alert in almost five years. There is clearly something specific going on. What kind of attacks do you suspect isis could launch . There is something specific going on. Hundreds of individuals have gone and become trained in syria and iraq with isis. In a particularly bloody kind of terrorism, bloody kinds of attackses. They have the freedom to travel back home as we saw in those clips. And they will. So we could see all the kinds of thing that are terribly familiar to many of us. And to many of those in Great Britain what have experienced thri terrorists a tacks. They could bring them home. And britain is also hosting the nato summit later this week. And so everyone is on alert. Dick clarke, you heard the dire warnings. Yet, president obama said the other night at a fund raiser, that were in much less danger than 20 or 30 years ago. Which is it . Well, i think hes wrong. Were much more capable of defending ourselves now. We have the department of Homeland Security. A lot of resources going into counterterrorism. But the threat has also increased. I think the threat has increased more than the defenses. This new group. Isis, is highly capable. It has a lot of money. It has people from many, many countries. Our fear is it may have people in its ranks that we dont know about. We have the names of thousands of people and we can stop them if they try to get into this country. If we dont know their names, we dont know theyre involved, they can get in. Jane, when you were at homeland, you knew the names of many of those people on the watch list. Just tagging on to what dick said there, how many were where there 80 you worried about . How many so called clean skins, people who could get in without issues . Dick knows more about this than anybody else. There were many that we knew about. Many more we didnt. This is a group with money and a message. Theyre drawing angry, mostly young men from everywhere, who will travel anywhere, because they feel like they belong nowhere. What more can you do to prevent it in the homeland . If you had an unlimited budget, what do you think we could do . I dont think its about unlimited budget. To begin with, in the United States, the public is an asset, not an obstacle, to joining together for problems like this. If you see something, say something. Sure. The other thing the government should do. I was the lead negotiator for the United States with the European Union on passenger name record exchange, a big data agreement. That shares terrabytes of information. We need to expand that system and that process to other countries in the region. Quickly, dick, what do you thing could be done . I think working with the islamic communities in our major cities. As jane said, our best defense are our own american muslims who have been very cooperative. They dont want anything to happen like this again in this country. Thanks to you both. Now to the latest on the ground in iraq. Breaking developments. Word of a big breakthrough for the iraqi army in the battle against isis. Alex marquardt is tracking it all. From the region this morning. Good morning, alex. Reporter good morning, martha. Thats rig. Just a short time ago, iraqs military said it had broken through a more than twomonth siege by isis around a town where the United Nations had warned of a possible massacre. The town of amerly is home to more than 15,000 of a turkish minority. Surround by the radical sunni militants of isis, who had cut off their food and water. The Iraqi Military had been trying to evacuate the desperate residents. Helped this weekend by u. S. Allies. Aid was dropped on the town as well. Despite the setback, isis still controls a huge territory in syria and iraq. Theyve proven theyre a growing, sophisticated, wealthy fighting force, many of the top commanders who were once in the army of saddam hussein. Lets talk to our experts. Colonel steve began ganyard and robert harward. I want to start with you, steve. We talk about the zealotry of isis. Onethird of the leadership are former saddam army members. What do you have here . Is that why its so dangerous . It looks very much like white infantry. They train, organize, and equip much like a regular, traditional military. Al qaeda is focused on the far threat. Western targets. Isis is thinking about creating a caliphate. To do that, you need a conventional military. Ironically, that plays right into our hands. Our strengths are in surveillance, air power, hitting precise targets. So admiral harward, you have done a lot of this in your career. Youve been in iraq and afghanistan. You were the First Special forces into afghanistan. How do you fight this army, lets say for now, in iraq . Well, the first thing you do is go back and republish those relationships we established over ten years. We have deep ties throughout the organization and with the people of iraq. Well go back with those guys who are on the ground fighting, establishing those places. Those providing leadership, how do we mentor them, assess what they need . We have been doing that for eight, ten years. No, remember we left. We left. So you have to start over again. Well, you dont start over. You get back in there, you reestablish the ties. Assess what they need. Share intelligence. Provide capabilities. Do you need special forces . Sure. Just exactly like you did in afghanistan . Yes. Special forces, indigenous personnel and air power . It will take all the capacity that we can. Intelligence, political mentoring to help the new Prime Minister succeed. Operational. Guys on the ground fighting. What can we give them to help them do their jobs. Lets talk about syria. What do you do there . We dont have indigenous forces in syria. Just air power . Does that work . It could work. If we look at iraq. Just step back to iraq. You think about what the admiral did in afghanistan. Using indigenous forces on the ground, special operations, air controllers, u. S. Air power. That model could work in iraq to push isis back out. In syria, the president made it clear he has no intention of working with mr. Assad. The Free Syrian Army is not reliable. We would probably have to do something more like the early part of desert storm. Go in, pick targets, slowly get to isis on the ground. Not quite as effective but air power has a real role to play in both conflicts. Admiral harward, you have heard people say, we have to get in there fast. We have to go. We have heard people on the hill say, we have to get into syria quickly. The president is taking his time. Does it matter that were going slowly now . Militarily . You want to be smart, first and foremost. Are we tied with the right folks . Getting them what they need . We want to be deliberate. Its ironic to think of syria like the fattah. The enemy is using that as a safe haven. Where they know theyre safe somewhere and harder for us to get there. We have learned a lot. In dealing with safe havens the last ten years. Well get them. But you want to be smart in how you go into those areas. Best case in syria, steve . Best case is we go in with a coalition. That will are other countries that need to play. This is not just the u. S. s problem. Thank you for your expert analysis. Coming up, more of our indepth coverage of the isis threat. The jihadist armys surprising recruiting techniques to lure americans to their side. Why is one midwest city a prime target . Plus, the fallout for president obama after those no strategy comments. And later, we kick off our brandnew partnership with facebook. What is our facebook find of the week . Were back in just two minutes. 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Its becoming a Bigger Network of how to recruit young men. Reporter Community Leaders describe them as vulnerable young men who have become angry, often after runins with the law. Like doug mccain who was reported killed this week in syria. A a student in suburban minneapolis in the late 1990s, he became friends with troy castigar, who also became a jihadist with the al qaeda affiliate in somalia. This is the real disneyland. Reporter castigar was later killed in battle, like his friend, mccain. Authorities say social media is a big part of the recruitment. And surprisingly, isis uses rap music appeals to get foreign fighters. Despite its otherwise rigid rejection of all things western. Listen to this american voice. This goes out to all my soldiers, Freedom Fighters equalizers they slaughter us like animals now its time for the beast to bite em black flags we worldwide syria to atlanta reporter with increasing concern about the threats of american recruits should they return home, the fbi in minnesota has issued a public plea for held inspect trying to identify them. A lot of times, these individuals are fairly adept at covering their tracks. Reporter now the recruitment s expanded to include women, who the group says make effective fighters. This week, one family in the twin cities reported their teenage daughter had gone missing and is now believed to be with isis in syria. For this week, brian ross, abc news, new york. Lets take this on with our experts. John cohen just stepped down in july as counterterrorism coordinator for the Homeland Security department. Brad garrett is a former fbi agent who has worked Numerous International terrorism cases. And mubin shaikh is a former jihadist who went on the work with canada to prevent this kind of thing. Theyre recruiting like never before. Your concerns . Is it just social media . Why now . Why is this so huge . I think the tease illustrates one of the reasons were so concerned. Theyre very sophisticated in their use of social media. Theyve westernized their message. Theyre seeking to recruit or inspire westerners and people in that rap music was incredible. They have americanized their message. So, we have to be concerned. And we have to take steps to neutralize that. Its not just countering their message. Its understanding why their message is resonating and what we can do in the community to lessen the impact that that message has. Police are a big part of it. But Police Working with faith leaders, Community Leaders, social service providers. Mental health professionals. So that as we start identifying kids who may be going down the path of reacting to what their hearing from isis and from these other groups that we can come together as a community to keep them from carrying out an act of violence. I want to go to you, mubin. You selfradicalized. 20 years ago . 1995. You went to pakistan. How did this happen . And then you recruited others. What was it about you that was willing to go along with this . I think the same case for many of these individuals. Identity crisis. You dont know. Youre trying navigate the space in the west. How muslim am i supposed to be . How much western am i supposed to be . That will contradict. You go to those that greet you with open arms. Youre dealing with angry, young, disenfranchised, or at least feel theyre disenfranchised. They might not even be discriminated against. But theyll feel that my people are under attack. And you have vicarious suffering. You start to feel that their suffering is my suffering. Brad jump in here. Youve seen this. You know theres a difference between al qaeda and isis. Talk about that. Then once they find these young men or women, what do they do with them . Do they go from computers, they walk into syria. I know they do sometimes across the turkish border. How is this organized . There is a grooming period that occurs. Primarily it starts with the recruitment. A very slick multilingual almost hollywoodstyle videos that promote excitement. Weaponry. Empowerment. All of these things. Revenge. And maybe the most important. Community. We have built a new society. Come to us. No matter where youre from. Canada, the u. S. , the brits. Its like every other radical extremist group, whether its a cult or otherwise. They narrow the trough. Thats all you hear, day in and day out. Eventually, that is your reality. Theyre so far ahead right now. 10,000 fighters. More than 10,000 fighters. This seems like a lifelong problem for us. Well, if theres any good news, the fbi, the department of Homeland Security has been working for the last several years with state and local authorities, with fate organizations around the country, with community groups. Interestingly enough, a big part of our National Strategy is locally focused. Supporting efforts at the Community Level to empower the communities. To better recognize. Better detect the individuals that may be potentially a threat. To Work Together to deal with that. Mubin, very quickly. Will it work is this can we stop it . It can work. We can do something. But, the horse has bolted from the farm. Okay. Thank you very much to all of you. Up next, is there a split in the obama cabinet over his response to isis . Then, football season kicks off. And the st. Louis rams make a big decision on michael sams future. Plus, we debut our partnership with facebook. Tracking the top Political Trends youre talking about online. 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Was poised to launch strikes against isis that got everyone buzzing. I dont want to put the cart before the horse. We dont have a strategy yet. Reporter those six words. We dont have a strategy yet, sent the white house rushing the clarify. That the pentagon is still drafting a plan for potential military campaign in syria. It tapped into criticism of the president s Foreign Policy. And republicans pounced. The peace of the free world requires president ial decisiveness, not dithering and debating. Do you think general patton had a strategy before he went to battle . Reporter the president is telling supporters at a fund raiser friday night, things are much less dangerous now than they were 20 years ago. His view of isis far more measured than some in his war cabinet. They are an imminent threat to every interest we have, whether its in iraq or anywhere else. Reporter those mixed messages could complicate an effort to win congressional approval. Liberal democrats and libertarian republicans are skeptical. We caught up with senator chris murphy, one of the democrats who opposed syria action last year. The American Public doesnt have an itchy trigger finger right now. When it comes to military intervention, especially the kind and scope thats being contemplated to take on isis. Reporter for this week, jeff zeleny, abc news, washington. Our thanks to jeff. The roundtable is here now. Abcs political analyst matthew dowd, oklahoma congressman tom cole, former new mexico governor Bill Richardson and our own cokie roberts. All kinds of pushback from the white house this week when all of us said, what . Did he just say theres no strategy . Is there a strategy . I applaud the president for accidentally saying the truth of this. This has been a problem for almost 20 years. Which is we havent really had a real, formal vision and strategy on Foreign Policy. Its all been a debate over tactics. We have had a plethora of tactics. An aposity of vision and strategy in the midst. In the midst of that, both sides debate, should we do this . Do this tactic . I congratulate the president. He said we dont have a strategy. We dont. Part of the problem is were using military action. This has been a problem one of the things he said, he didnt have a strategy for military action in syria. So can anybody name the strategy that we have . The white house says the strategy is that secretary kerry is now in the region and trying to put together the countries in the region who dont agree on anything except that isis is a danger. Is a threat. And that that is the strategy. Its clearly something that the congress is not buying. And the chairman of the Senate Intelligence committee is saying that the president is cautious, perhaps in this case, too cautious. Can you name the strategy . I think the president probably should have said were developing a new policy. A new policy. I applaud him, too. I think this is a potential 9 11 moment. These are serious Foreign Policy issues. Look at the president. Hes been faced with the arab spring. Explosion all over the middle east. Lets do a new policy carefully. Lets learn more about isis. Yeah, were learning more. Theyre bad. What is the goal . Can they reach the American Homeland . Can they zsh are they a Regional Power . Theyre a threat to the kurds. And to iraq. The president s own National Security advisers are saying theyre a terrible threat. They have to be gotten rid of. You have to have a coalition. The good news re is that a lot of entities fear these people. Like hezbollah, the united arab emirates. Like turkey, like iran, like iraq. Theres a Great Potential to build a coalition. My point is, lets do it right. Lets get congress involved. And speaking of the congress. Lots of talk that he has to move faster. You heard everybody in all the pieces this morning say, we have to act now. Well, i think, frankly, theres way too much impetus on acting now and doing something immediately instead of being smart about what we do. The elements of strategy are there. We know were going to use air power, special operations. Alliances on the ground. That is a very doable thing, as the governor said. Well probably be involved in training, supplying indigenous forces. Those things are there. Theyre tougher in syria than they are in iraq. We dont have preexisting relationships there. I think at the end of the day, theres a consensus were going to do things. Again, being thoughtful. I want to say this, too. I was in iraq in january. In january, they were talking about how bad things were there. And the danger of isis. It wasnt just january. It was back last year. So why dont we have a strategy . Syria has been going on for years. First of all, i want to say i think its ironic that we have a group now that treats women as second class citizens, isis, and has done horrible things to women and children, but is named after a female deity from egypt. Its funny. I think this is a tragic situation. Theres a bright spot in this for us as a country in our Foreign Policy. For too long, we had war as a concept. A war on terrorism. It never works when you dont have a specific country or enemy. Therefore, you dont know what the definition of victory is. To me, isis is what happens in a room. You put all the cheese in a room, all the rats come in, you know where they are. For the first time, we know where all the rats are. Thats what we heard the experts saying earlier. But congressman cole, what you said sounded so rational. I wonder about your colleagues in congress. They have not been rational of late. We could spend a lot of time pointing over how we got here. I do think the president made some big mistakes. So did former Prime Minister al maliki. Having said that, i think the elements are there to be successful. And i think there can be bipartisan support. If we go into syria. You heard our experts talk about that. Its probably just air power. Probably not more than that. Do we just keep at em . I think we need better intelligence. About their objectives. Their capabilities. How do you get better intelligence if youre not on the ground . That was one of the problems in iraq. I think we have intel capabilities that are substantial. You bring allies into the picture, too, to collect the intelligence. At the same time, you have to be careful. This is a momentous decision. The president was right to say, okay, well, were going do the air strikes. Were doing them in iraq. Do we do them in syria . I would probably advise yes. But lets do it in a targeted way. Lets not help assad. Remember, you dont want to help assad with this. Assad is also against these guys. In many ways you have to take the emotion out of it too. We lost a journalist in a horrible way. Thats when everybody started it made the point. To say the least. I think the important thing for the president here is to move with congress. That is to not do this on his own. To make everybody put their fingerprints on the decision. If they skip doing that, i think hell have missed the chance to get the American People behind him in a bipartisan sense. At least it seemed thats what he was doing in the press briefing. Lots more ahead. Including the debut of our brandnew partnership with facebook. First, our powerhouse puzzler. Were shaking it up this week. Congressman cole has the question. What political figure is the only person to ever be the most valuable player in the orange bowl twice . Got that . Back with the answer in two minutes. Back with the answer in two minutes. You know what i love america . Fine barbecue, good times and zero heart burn. And thats why i take prilosec otc each morning for my frequent heart burn because it gives me zero heart burn. Prilosec otc the number one dr. Recomended frequent heart burn medicine for nine straight years. You can beat zero herat burn prilosec otc one pill each morning 24hrs, zero heart burn this weeks puzzler from congressman cole. What political figure was named mvp of the orange bowl twice . Lets see your guesses. Well, i heard the cameraman. But its also i know. The cameraman kind of gave it away. They were excited. I do remember congressman watts from oklahoma. That was a help. I said steve largent. Congressman . He was not listening to the cameraman. J. C. Watts. And the answer is . J. C. Watts. What position did he play . Quarterback. Quarterback. Quarterback. You got that right. Okay. Former oklahoma congressman j. C. Watts was named mvp in 1980 and 1981 after backtobacking on bowl victories over florida state. He did play quarterback for the oklahoma sooners. 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It helps keep dentures firmly in place. With a smooth formula, free of flavors and colorants. So you get a closer feeling to natural teeth. New fixodent plus true feel. Fixodent. And forget it. Now the debut of our brandnew partnership with facebook. Our facebook find of the week. Were excited to team up to track the biggest political stories that youre talking about online. Each week, well spotlight one of the top topics starting to trend on facebook pages. This week, its a shocking video reigniting the sharp debate over gun control. Trending right now. Our facebook find of the week. Whats burning up news feeds . The firestorm over kids and guns. A debate tonight. Prompted by a video of a 9yearold girl at a gun range in arizona learning to shoot a powerful at mattic weapon. Reporter a tragedy captured on video. All right. Go ahead and give me one shot. Reporter this girl, firing an uzi at a shooting range. She loses control of the gun accidentally killing her instructor. No federal law prohibits kids on gun ranges. But now, new calls for restrictions on the weapons hthy should be handling. Is a 9yearold too young to fire an uzi . Lets take on our facebook find of the week. And the roundtable is ready to weigh in. I want to start with you, matt dowd. Should a 9yearold be able to handle an uzi or touch one or any gun . The obvious answer is, no to the uzi. I have shot one on fully automatic. I had a hard time holding it steady. And its the recoil . It automatly pulls up and over. But i have also shot a gatling gun, and thats a whole different story. I wouldnt recommend a gatling gun to a 9yearold either. I have boys. I trained them on bb guns. And then on. 22s. Theres no purpose in an uzi. No hunting or target purpose in an uzi. This place called bullets and burgers. Which is an amazing thing. Its on the side of the road. Its like a fireworks they said they were going to give gun safety and gun education on that. Its like going to a fireworks stand on the side of the road and expecting safety regulations. I think this is a tragedy for her and the guy killed. Everyone agrees. Its a terrible, terrible trage tragedy. Will i be viewed as an accident that will never happen again . This gun control debate is not happening in the country. Its just not. We have new mexico, oklahoma here, they can tell you, its not happening this their states. And, i think its outrageous. For a 9yearold child to have an uzi in her hands. At the same time governor . I think there are a lot of questions. Im a westerner. Nraendorsed when i was running for office. Its reached the point where its not just common sense. Youre not going to deal with this issue nationally. The congress isnt going to touch it. So it has to be states. Now, arizona wont do a thing, i can tell you. Connecticut has a limit on kids using firearms. But i think theres some more basic questions. Number one, where were the parents in all this . Secondly, this entrepreneur. Apparently they were right there. They were right there. My point is, where were the parents . Why would they permit this . Should a child at 9 have access to an uzi . Its a free market. You cant get on a ferris wheel in a lot of places. A tragedy. I agree with the governor. This is probably dealt with at the state level, local level. I think youll see people doing best practices at gun ranges. And probably stopping this sort of thing. I dont think this is an opening for some big, sweeping, national, federal gun control. I want to move on. President obama, it looks like, may be putting the brakes on on using executive power, changing immigration laws in any big way until after the midterms. And Bill Richardson, this may the why. Look at the quotes in the post from democrats. In tight senate races. To me, securing our borders has to be the priority. And that should be the president s focus. Senator hagan, i think this should be addressed legislatively and now through executive order. Is this whats behind the potential delay . I think so. I want to see all those democrats reelected. But i also, not just because im hispanic, i feel the president should move with the executive order to halt deportations or at least reduce them. I think he kind of made this commitment. I think it will also, policywise, it makes sense. The congress has been unable to pass comprehensive immigration. Not just pass it but not even consider it. Some elements but politically politically it also makes sense. The people who are going to vote against democrats on the basis of liberal immigration are already going to vote against democrats. Youre not going to change a vote on this. What you might do is get voters out who are disillusioned with the president on the issue of immigration. That, to me is the smarter thing to do. This is a longterm political problem for the republicans. They may win the small battle of nothing happening this year. The long battle of this country and the growth of the latino population presents itself in a very bad we for republicans in the midst of this. What i think will happen, i think it will happen for many voters on a lot of things. I think it will be like kids excited around christmas. They wake up on Christmas Morning after election day and realize they didnt get what they wanted. The damage to republicans is 2016. The hispanic voters will remember this. Theyre growing. The president s never going to get immigration legislation when he acts unilaterally. First of all, hes undercutting congressional authority. Hes breeding distrust on the other side. Thinking if you make a deal with him, he wont keep it. So i think the president is wise to pull back here. Hes clearly doing it for shortterm tactical reasons. If he wants a bill before the end of his presidency, he wont act unilaterally. And some final thoughts on senator gillibrands new book. She has a new book. A People Magazine excerpt includes this while i was on the elliptical machine, many of my older male colleagues felt compelled to offer advice such as this gem, good thing youre working out because you wouldnt want to get porky. Im starting with you, cokie roberts. Could that happen on the hill . This just in, men are sexist op capitol hil a brandnew reve. Im surprised they would say anything about her weight. But does that surprise you . Astonished. I mean, really . These guys are so lucky. She could have ended about half a dozen political careers, and probably shod have. If thats going to be the attitude and the rhetoric. Should she name them . No. I think so. I think so because it impugns when she doesnt name them i think it shines a great lens on the institutions of the country. We think weve grown so much. Were past all this. Were not past all this. Some of the worst criticism. Its women on women. You sit in a room and watch how they talk about other women. Come on. Come on. Thats not true. Come on, sister. She should have named names. Things are a whole lot better at least their hands werent on her knee when they were saying it. Coming up, a Court Strikes down new restrictions on Abortion Clinics in texas. Both sides weigh in on whats next. Its a heated debate across the country. And this week, the focus turned to texas. A federal judge ruling new restrictions on Abortion Clinics there are unconstitutional. Both sides weigh in on what happens next. After the background from alicia menendez. Of our sister network, fusion. Reporter thanks to strict new texas laws, this san antonio Abortion Clinic was preparing to be one of the handful open in the state starting tomorrow. That changed friday when a federal judge threw out the new rules. Calling them unconstitutional. Writing the overall effect of the provisions is to create an impermissible obstacle for women seeking abortions. A victory for this woman. This is an operating room. Reporter her organization was forced to close two clinics that did not meet the standards. She showed us some of what was required. Vacuum pumps. Boiler. Generator. Surgical area. Reporter the house bill 2 was passed last year. It had two parts. All clinics had to be outfitted as ambulatory surgical centers. The clinic doctors had to have admitting privileges in hospitals. In 2014, 41 clinics in texas. That number dropped to 20 when the first part of this was put in place. Had the law stood, the state was looking at seven clinics remaining. She said the costs were overwhelming. To operate an ambulatory surgical center, youre talking about an increase of 40,000 a month. Reporter a lot of people would say, 40,000, that must be going increased quality of care. Are they right . Absolutely not. It does nothing for safety. Reporter the restriction sparked a heated political debate where state senator wendy davis shot to prominence with her fillibuster trying to block them. A National Legal debate, too. Judges blocking similar restrictions by prolife supporters in four states. Dr. Joe pojnar says theyve been watching other states closely. Were moving forward, little by little. Its baby steps. But were consoled by the fact that abortions are on the decline. Were seeing that like never before, there are enormous numbers of prolife Pregnancy Resource Centers. That is a big advancement in the prolife movement. Reporter he said the goal of the new rules was safety for women. The motivation for house bill 2 is to assure that women are not treated at a lower standard of care than a woman who has a surgical procedure for a miscarriage. Reporter prominent medical groups like the American Medical Association and the American Congress of obstetricians and gynecologists disagree. Its absolutely about restricting access. Its not about safety. Reporter abortion providers say limiting access is a problem for women. Are they selfinducing . Are they looking for drugs in the market . Looking for providers that could do these procedures illegally . Right here. Reporter the san antonio clinic sees patients from three states. We asked one patient what if the clinic wasnt in the town where you live . It just wouldnt happen. It just wouldnt happen. I have two children. One a toddler. One in elementary school. Regardless of anything that i have a job, a fulltime job. Reporter dr. Pojman says his organization will continue to push for stricter clinic rules. My goal is that in five years, far more women who are pregnant are choosing childbirth because they know its the best option for them. Reporter for this week, im alicia menendez. Thank you, alicia. Joining us, carol tobias, president of the national right to life and david brown from the center for reproductive rights. He was also an attorney on the texas case. David brown, you were part of the legal team. Governor rick perry pledged an appeal right away. What are your chances . We think theyre good. We know that for the past 42 years, the federal courts have consistently reaffirmed the rule laid down in roe v. Wade that abortion is a fundamental right for women in the country. We expect the rule of law to be applied. Theyre arguing this is an undue burden on the women. It is an undue burden, at least thats what they would see it as, on the abortion facilities. They dont want to meet the minimum of safety standards. You heard in the piece. The American Medical Association and the American Association of obstetrics and gynecologists, these standards are not needed for safety. But its not up to the state or at least it shouldnt be up to the sate to make it easier for women to kill their unborn children. Thats whats happening here. And this is about restricting access, is that what you believe is happening here, restricting access . Or is it about safety . Its about both. We want to protect unborn children from death. We want to protect the women who are going to be harmed by abortion. It might not be an immediate physical reaction. There are longterm physical consequences. Longterm mental and emotional consequences to abortion. This is about protecting women and children. Is there a link between closing the clinics down and stopping abortions . David . Absolutely there is. You heard carol say it. The goal of the laws is to shutter Abortion Clinics. As your introduction made clear, theres no medical reason behind this law. Carol, your own medical director said at your annual conference the year that abortion is one of the very safest medical procedures that a woman can have. She was pointing out figures they would use go ahead and rely on. Youre using figures that she was referring to the information that you would use. She is not referring to the immediate the longterm consequences, physical and emotional. Do you worry that if people cant get abortions that theyll go elsewhere that are less safe . There are thousands of Pregnancy Resource Centers in the country that will help a woman, free help, during a difficult time in her life. The abortion advocates are trying to shut them down. For trying to help the women. None of these resource options provide abortions. So by shuttering clinics where women can get safe, legal abortions does this end up in the Supreme Court . David, quickly . Its difficult to say. There are many cases they can take regarding abortion. Were confident that if one of these cases ends up in the Supreme Court that the court will do what it has done consistently, reaffirm the right to choose abortion. It will probably end up there. We think the texas law has a very good chance of being upheld. Were back after this from thats the dramatic video that sparked so much outrage. Baltimore ravens star ray rice shown dragging his thengirlfriend out of an elevator after punches her in the face. Rice was suspended for just two games. This week, nfl commissioner Roger Goodell said that was too short. The roundtable is back to weigh in. Bill richardson, does the nfl have to make the change because of the outrage . They had to make that change. Sports, you know, sometimes they get behind the times on a lot of stuff. On Domestic Violence, this seems to be a persistent problem. I think the commissioner was right to say, i didnt go far enough. Not a man who usually admits mistakes readily. Really, really fell on his sword. A major mistake. It was a major mistake. This was absolutely outrageous. And, it is absolutely also true that too many people get away with Domestic Violence in this country. Women are killed every single day in this country by their partners. And the idea that sports figures just get a slap on the hands gives other men permission to go ahead and do this. Was this also always maybe to appease female fans . Its about 50 now. The Fastest Growing part of the nfl who watches it are female fans. I think the commissioner has been slow to act on a whole bunch of things. He was slow to act on head injuries. Very slow to act. Very little he did until forced to do it. This was another one. Sexism in the senate. Sexism in the nfl. And he needs to do much more. Congressman, just quickly. Michael sam was cut by the rams. I think hell be picked back up. Hes a great player. That team just deep at that position. Hes got a future. I think the redskins should pick him up. That would totally complicate the political correctness. If michael sam got picked up by the redskins. That would be a tough one. Thanks to all of you. And now, we honor our fellow americans who served and sacrifice. This week, the pentagon released the name of one soldier killed in afghanistan. Thats all for us today. Thanks for sharing part of your sunday with us. Dont miss our friend, david muir, make his debut as anchor of world news with incredible reporting from the syrian border. The children caught in the crossfire. Thats tomorrow. Well see you right back here next week. Have a great day