captioning sponsored by wnet sreenivasanivon this edition for sunday, october 27... >> last night, the united states brought the world's number onebe terrorist leader to justice. abubur al-baghdadi is dead. >> sreenreasan: we'll have analysis and more on the death of the iamic state leader. and in our snature segment, the tree of life comfenity: remembering and healing. next on "pbnewshour weend." >> pbs newshour weekend is madea possible by: bernard and irene schwartz. sue and edgar wachenheim iii. the cheryl and philip milstein famifa. rosali p. walter, in memory of george o'neil.rb

a hope zuckerberg.g. is corporate fundinrovided by mutual of america, designing ividual and group retirement products. that's why we're yr retirement company. additional support has been provided by: and by the corporation for corporation funded by theate american people. and by contributpbns to your station from viewers like you. thank you. ch wnet studios at lincoln center in new york, hari sreenivasan. >> sreenivasan: good evening and thanks for joining uus. bakr al-bagadi, an iraqi who ran the terrorist group knn as isis-- the islamic state-- is dead. >> was the founder and leader of isis, the most ruthless and violent terror organization anywhere in the world. >>en sasan: speaking from the white house this morni, president trp said u.s special forces attacked a compound in northwest syria near the y rder

with tur a two hour overnight operatio >> last night was a great night for the united states and for the world. a brutal killer, one who has caused s o much hardship and death, has violens y been eliminated. heerill never again rm ano innocent man, woman or child. >> sreenivasan: al-baghdadi was rarely seen after an appearance at a sque in iraq in 2014 wedhere he declhe creation of an islamic caliphate. isis quicquy took over a huge section of iraq and syria-- capturing and killing llousands including four amer hostages-- james foley, steven s sotloff, peter kassig, an.kaya muelle u.s., syrian and coalition forcesorced isis out of much of the territory over several years. the u.s. decred victory over the group this march when the last isis-controlled town in syria was recaptured. according to the president, finding al-baghdadi became his

ministration's top priority. yesterday, mr. trump, members of his cabinet and milita leaders gan monitoring theission from the situation room at about 5:00 p.m. once word of al-baghdadi's death and the safe return of all u.s. idtroops came in, the prt eeted a cryptic message attr 9:d 23 p.m. that "something very big has just happened!" taking questions afr his announcement this morning, the president said he watched the military operation in real time-- incding the final momts. mr. trump said he watched al- baghdadi take three children with him as he attempted to escape, but ultimaly detonated a suicide vest killing them all, as u.s. forces closed in. >> he die dlike a dog. d like a coward. he was whimperingcrscreaming and ng. and frankly, i think it's something that should be brought out so that his foows and all of these young kids that o leave various countrie including the une ed states, they shoulddi see how he died he didn't die a hero. he died a coward.

crying, whimperg, screang and bringing three kids with him to die. >> sreenivasan: joining me now from washington, d.c., is nick schifrin, foreign affairs and defense correspondent for newshour. rst let's talk about what happened during that raid. >> y yeah, hari, we saw about eight helicopters, according to the president, full of special operations forces leave from what we believe to be iraq traveelling all the way across syria. took them about an hour and 15 minutes. the president thlked about how was the most dangerous part of this mission. when they landed just outside of the ci of idlib, they had a brief firefight. they blew their way into the compound and evd tually, as you just reported, they chased al baghdadi down into a tunnel that believed had a dead end. and that's when baghdadi blew himself up, taking with him his three children. d there's aftermath video llected by a local journalt and you can see two things. you see one van riwithefight. bullets. and also you see the compound completely destroyed. american jets destroyed the

compound after the u.s. operation concluded. and hari, what's inresting is this was not in an area generally associated with or controlled by isis at all. it's controlled by militant groups that oppose isis. and so it seems that u.s. intelligence officials believe that baghdadi was being hsed dand protected by any l qaeda offshoot that might have beenbe lookinfor some kind of agreement with isis. or at the verleast, thinking securing him. >> sreenivasan: so, how did u.s. forces get this intelligence in thfirst place to figure out that he was in this place, that he probably ought not be? >> reporter: so, president trump was very clear that this was u.s. intelligence. but the syrian kurds, the syrian democratic forces ceu.s. has been fighting with for the last few yes against isis, say that they were part of the intelligence. and so, just like what is happening in northwest syria, there are a lot of, a lot of groups who are part of this. the kurds definitely provided inteigence. the president downplayed that.

stead, the presint up played for lack of a better word, russia, turkey and even e syrian regime, all of whom control some of the airacee that these u.s. troops flew aier. and so, cey u.s. and kurdish intelligence, but a lot of coieunneeded to be informed about this operation bere it started. >> sre>>loivasan: you know, of us remember very vividly when president obama addressed the nation affter the killing of sama bin laden this waabout as opposite as you could be. the language and the ton that the president was using today. >> reporter: yeah, the fact that the president gave so many ddetails, definitely not what president obama or any predecessor have--as done. also the tanguage. we just heard it in your piece, the president calling, uh, al baghdadi a dog. that kind of language will rankle many isifighters, which, of course, is what the president is doing. but i talked to isis analysts this morning, ansawhat they are ing is that this could taunt isis fighters and perhaps

increase their desire f some kind of revenge attack. >> sreenivasan: all right, put is in the context ofhis conversation we've all been having now on whether or not or involved in this area, whether they're gonna be withdrawing or not. >> reporter: yeah, the presint s offered the opportunity basically to say, hey, this is another reason that we shouldn't be in syria and he said, no,ai at is going to happen is that u.s. troops are going to remain to l protect elds. now, those oil fields are in the northeast part of the country, away from the turkish border that we've been talkinabout zone, but these oil fields will be protected by syrisy kurds and by u.ces. f the problem, according to milita commandmas with that plan, is that they are, the u.s. forces, will be a staettionaronta and so that's why they're thinking about sending in things like tanks, really making the u.s. presence more robust. hundreds of u.s. soldiers, perhaps evenp to 1,000 according g to some officials. and that's exactly what president trump dered to withdraw. the other thing that u.s. forces or u.s. officials want to point

out is that those u.s. troops will be able tthkeep fighting isis and the pentagon itself says that isis is not defeated. they say about 18,000 fighters between iraq and syria remain, eating sleeper cells that are largely autonomous, hari. and what that means is that, at baghdadi's death wobably not mean anything on the ground for tactics of an isis group and isis groups. they're really trying to become an insurgency, especially in irq, but also in syria once again. >> sreenivasan: pbs newshour's nick schifrin, our foreign affairs and defense correspondent. thanks so much. >> reporter: thanks very much. >> sreenivasan: for more perspective on abu bakr al- bas,ghdadi and i'm joined here in the studio by jennifer cafarella. she's a research director at th institute for the study of war. to be dead before but an weren't real, how significant it? >> the eli enations of the leader abu bakr al-baghdadi is a very big deal. we have been on theunt sinc

2014 when we intervened to halt isis rampage across the midd mle east and the death-of-baghdadi could vey disruptive effect not only on the ability ice toys reinstitute inside of iraq an sya, but also potentially disrupng isis global expansion which has been a key priority this year up until his death. >> and he was tactically a didn't necessarily want everyone to show up here or show up there, just go ahead and o your attacks wherever you are. >> this has pry toe-- prioritize inspiring attacks, wherever there are muslim populations that could respond to his call. and the problem that the u.s. has faced even before the eliminhaion of baghdadi is isis already diversified its footprint for how it is generating not only the inspired attacks but also the high level coordinated isis ak tas so there are actually four global provinces of the islamic sta that have thus far part in attack plots in the west.

e sreenivasan: in ithat case nsidering isis i diversifying gee graphically, how much does the leadership structure, how much is centrally commanded in control. i heard he had lots of fail safes and high security measmees. does he have a succession plan that is automatically triggeredu ifuys hear that i am dead, you take over. >> i do suspect he has succession plan. we don't yet know. you had fast a successor was named. but he was running a coordinated ond disciplined military organiza again not just in iraq and syria but globally as well. so think one of the key tions is how depend ent was the linkage between the global operatioand the fight in iraq and syria, how connecteced was thr to baghdadi the pheson how much was run by say his deputiesr overall mil mar commanders i don't think we yet know that as tftermath obaghdadidach for death unfolds. >> sreenivasan: how about the fact this happened in north western syria tha al-qaeda is supposed to be dominant in and these are factions that don't

get along. was he trying to create a bigpe bridgeaps. >> this was the big surprise in the death of baghdadi, the location u.s. forces eliminated him. isis had been conducting a campaign f over a year no to expand its presence in idlib to try t undermind the-- to the potential exet tore the islamic statst for that reon actuat y it is whyas sur priesing at baghdadi was there amidst quied.ive operations against al you wouldn't expect him to be colocated with that kind of ae fight buthis location in the al quied aye-- al-qaeda dominated area could indicate a couple of things it is possible al-qaeda doesn't have that stroa hold on that terrain as we spected or alter nationally more most dangerously he may be involved in negotiations with one or more of the al-qaedafa ions operatig there and want to share his passion for attackon the west. >> sreenivasan: what about the taunting or lauage that t president used. does that resonate with his

are they just go to consider circumstances of the death. of e >> i think that the language that we all use.o describe the islamist state has uch an effect on those who fight isis. this sayuge morale victory for all of the civilians and military forces across this regi that have risked th lives to confront orscape is organization. i do think it is appropriate fof on this. to take a victory lap this was a signifint accomplishment. although i do not expect that iw actuall break the will of isis fighting forces continuto fight. >> sreenivasan: thank you so much for joining us. >> you bet, thank y.ou >> sreenivasan: to watch president trump's entire addre to the nation about e islamic state leader's death, visit pbs.org/newshour. >> sreenivasan: in his announcement this morning, the president thanked russ, turkeysyria, iraq and the syrian kurds for support of the mission. vali nasr is a former senior advisor in the state department r the obama administration and a middle east scholar and professor at johns hopkins of advanced internationa

studies. he joins us now from washington, group to get-- were the kuds,as tould thi t be another example ir value to the yunted staights, the fact they were able to he provide some of the intelligence on the ground, whet r iraqi kurds or syrian kurd. >> of course. the kurds have been fighting isis for a long time. they have been very critical cin keeping them at bay. they have been important even ii puingal-- al-baghdadi on the run. he in many ways aside from what intelligencehave provided we wouldn't have been here if had not been for kurdish support all along. >> sreenivas: at this point it seems regionally we have ded control that it is an alliance of russia, syria, turkey, do wit you want and we ll be there in some capacity, perhaps to urd ga the oil fields. >> well, i think if guarding thl fields was a throwaway excuse by president trump when he came under tremendous pressure for abandoning syria.

i think largely he made a w decision that hed to withdraw from syria. and he was-- could comwith any number of o exc eu eses. and he got pushed back because people were worried that isis would becomrge reent. that was the most importimant criticism that we receive but the t lling of ago baghdadi relieved a lot of pressoture frm president trump. >> does that clanghat turkey is didding in syria now? >> no, i think turkey's focus is on crushing the 5 60,000 armed kurdh forces that he sees as a threat or at least pushing them sufficiently back from the tur ir-- turkish border so there wouldn't be an imminent teat. turktu has never beents concerned isis oral quiedaal or other ji hadi groups. sort of downgrading ointhe isis threat in the united states as actually a benefit tthem because some pressure would be lifted from even turkey's operations in sya. >> sreenivasan: so wsot does

this s to tength that the united states has in ththe regin and perhaps any sort of long-term kind of moral authorit >> well, i think it will give president trump greater assurance continue what he is doing. you know, he can talk tough but it is res ly withdrawing frome egion. make the case that the united states can do piacn prik a to pactect self like killing of baghdadi without having a very big footprint on the ground. this is a major move back from the doctrine that president george bush put on the ground of a massive u.s. esence in order to protect the united states. and you know frankly, hari, think the g issue here was not isis, was the syrian forces. 60,000 forces, snd militia, 70 shall-- 60,000 that essentially belonged to the united states. and we were maintaid on the ground with fevery american advisors. and it gavus a much bger

footprint in syria and than the 2,000 number of american troops spsgested. and president trump basicveally that away without any kind of a justification from anyofine for what he wa s getting. the criticism has been on relieving pressure on isis but the real cricismci should be on liquidating that kind of an asset without a clear explanation. >> all rigt, vali nas, thanks s. much for joining u >> thank you.>> reenivasan: today marks one inside the tree ofopened fire synagogue in pittsburgh, pennsylvania, killing peoe and injuring six others. in that time, almost 450 more people in the une ed states have been murdered in mass shootings. last m ivette feliciano returneurto pittsburgh to talk with tree of life survivors about pain,

healing and commemoration. few weeks away from the start the jewish new year and the high holidays. it's the holiest time in the jewish calendar. but at the tree of life building in the squirrel hillho neighbor of pittsburgh, there's e'ry little activity. it's been almost a year since a shooting-- the most deadly antisemitic attack in u.s. history-- left nearly a dozen people dead. since then, the building has remained empty, as the expands the space to create a memorial and education center. but all around tree of life and through its windows are sis of a ccommunity trying to heal. >> and everything you see is something that we pulled in o of the heaps of the flowers. ryhistory professor atis pittsburgh's carnegie mellon university and a board member at tree of life synagogue. e was part of an effort to preserve the makeshift memorials that sprang up in the wake of the shooting.

they now appr in the synagogue windows. >> i rea rlized that we're livig through a historical event. we needed to make sure that the reonse of the community, which was so beautiful and unequivocal gets recorded, and that thatthat stays part of the story. >> reporter: another part of that story is told in the fence around the building. a in the immediaermath of the shooting, it was covered by large blue tas. >>e realized that this reall kind of dismal, abandod-looking vista here didn't reflect who we e. and it certainly dn't speak to the characters and the spirit of the victims. and at some point, we realized that those long, blue tarps were like a long, blue canvas. and what do you do with a blank

can >> reporter: eisenberg and put the call out on for artwork by students. thr y received ove200 submissions from schools all over the country. many now hang over the fencing around tree of life. over 100 pieces came from stunts attending marjorrj toneman douglas high school in ploarkland,da-- the site of another mass shooting just eight months before the attack on tree of life. >> we have been unwillingly and forcibly inducted into a club no one wants to belong to. and you think that's, like, a metaphor, right? and what that 's actually a real, tangie fellowship. >> i've had contact, a ctt of contact, with some of the parkland famies. ouey came up here and you hcoe an instanection. >> reporter: michele senthal her during her mourning process.

she lost her heothers, david and cecil rosenthal. >> and when there are other shootings, we reach out to each trigger.t is a huge >> rorter: and there have been many such triggers in the past year. they include e attack on two mosques in christchurch, new zealand inmarch, and nearly simultaneous shootings in el paso, texas, and dayton, ohio, in august. rosenosal says the el paso shooting was particularly arrd for her. >> i turned on the news, which i probably shouldn't have done, and just watched a woman who was looking for her mother and i just-- fi relived that day trytrg to figure out if mt brothers were dead or alive. there's nothing worse.eling. >> reporter: in mid-september, rosenthal appeared with other family members and religious aders, addressing urw pittsburgh's jewish community was faring in the run up to the h holidays its ps anels included

representatives from ththree congregations who were housed inside the tree of life building: tree of life congretion itself, new light congregation, and congregation dor hadash. althe lost members in the shting. some spoke of trauma and survivors' guilt.gu >> i-- i go through these scenarios in my mind, as i heink a lot oftherth victims do too, about, you know, i could have done more, i could haveve people. why did this pe irson choose too y, and z? , why didhey turn the other way? um, and, u- it's p'st of the traumayou know? it's part of being human. >> reporter: as the community entered the first new year sinae thck, stephen cohen, co-president oyf new light congregation, said hwas feeling anxious. what's on your nd? what areyou thinking right now? >> i'm afraid.

i'm afraid because the high holidays are a time of reflection, of introspection, of asking god for forgive fss, and to write us in the book of life. how do you relatthat to what happened last octobe future when you have a past hanging over you? >> reporter: mental healthrv professionals g the community since the attack are questions.help answer those jordan golin and stefanie small itf jewish family and co services say the people they treat are b emotional as the one-year mark approaches. >> their anxiety is heightened. they're not sleeping. they're becoming more irritable. and a lot of times they don't owhy. they don't realize this is a-- traumatic stress reaction. >> people who experienced trauma desperately want to turn the clock back and go back to lif

as it was before.sp and the reality is that it's not possible. it's not possible to go ba to where we were before. the st that we can hope foe is what we ca integration, and try to integrate the traumatic experience inty o our lives, return to a sense of- oof normal ningfuo but we-- what happened, td, trauma tha tt we've experienceds it's something t st we're gonna carry with us forever. >> reporter: michel srosenthal sa was feeling anxious about observing the new year without her brothers for the first time. but she wants thfocus to main on them. what motivates you to sit down with the media and talk about this? >> wt happened that day was just so hateful and so horrific d i don't want that be what the story is about. instead of this story being about what hatpened, focusing more on my brothers and how

special they were. i want t of those lives.t all they were at the syn wogue doing whathey loved with thehe people that-- were another family to them. and-- and that's what i want the focus to be on, is just thoseau iful stories. and how much those people cared about each other. >> sreenivasan: finally tonight, california's governor declared a statewergency today as wildfires continued to spread. fire officialsn northern california doubled evacuation orders as wind gusts reached 80

mileper hour near the massiv arncade fire and another fire broke oue he city of vallejo. and late today word that former reprtive john conyers of michigan has died. coers represented the detroit area for forthan five decades befoanre resigningn 2017. d.he was 90-years- that's all for this edition of" pbs newshour weekend." i'm hari sreenivasan. thanks for watching. have a good night. captioning sponsored by wnet captioned by media a access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> pbs wshour weekend is ma possible by:

bernard and irene schwartz. sue and edgar wachenheim iii. the cheryl and philip milstein family. rosalind p. walter, in memory of george o'neil. barbara hope zuckerberg. c forporading is provided by mutual of america, designing customized individual and group retirement products. that's why we're ur retiment company. additional support has been provided by: d by theorporation for public broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the american peop. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. be more. pbs.