Season 2

Is the US already at war with Iran? In "America's Secret War", Vanguard correspondent Mariana van Zeller travels to the Iraq-Iran border to investigate claims that the United States is supporting militant groups that are attacking Iran. In the rugged Qandil mountains, she meets with up with anti-Iranian guerillas who have been launching deadly raids against the Islamic Republic. A good percentage of the fighters are women, and Mariana accompanies a small group of them through what many believe has become the frontline of the US's secret war with Iran.

Global warming is having a greater impact in the Arctic than anywhere else in the world. Greenland, the cold, harsh land that defeated the mighty Vikings is now facing a force that may destroy its defining feature -- ice. But while Greenland's melting ice sheet may mean chaos for the rest of the world, Adam Yamaguchi finds Greenlanders have some surprising reactions to this climatic upheaval.

The 18-34 year-old demo is one that grew up on great wealth and what we're facing could be the first real financial jolt we've seen. Sixty-five percent of college seniors plan to live with their parents after they graduate. When you consider that they also have an average of three credit cards and 73 percent will graduate with student loan debt, that makes sense. From a college student who has no savings, to a recent graduate trying to move out of his parents' house, to young people who are trying to stay afloat living on their own, this half-hour takes a look at the personal side of our economic crisis.

In "Chinatown, Africa", Vanguard correspondent Mariana van Zeller travels to Angola to investigate China's rapidly growing presence in Africa. While many welcome China's investment, others see reason for concern. Chinatown, Africa is revealing look at a growing superpower's adventures abroad.

Laura Ling follows several young inmates out of prison and into the often losing battle to keep from going back in. With a record two million Americans behind bars, hundreds of thousands of inmates are released on parole every year, and most of them end up going back to prison. Laura takes us through the entire system, from the moment of release, to the first days out of freedom, to the struggle parolees have to resist going back to the lifestyles that originally put them behind bars.

Japan, the world's second largest economy, is facing a demographic crisis that will shrink the population dramatically. The Japanese aren't having babies, and the country won't accept immigrants to help bolster the population. But Japan may have a unique solution --- Robots!

The debate on gun control rages on in the US. Kaj Larsen investigates the issues of guns and crime in America, from the gun nirvana of Knob Creek, Kentucky to one of the most dangerous cities in the country, Camden, New Jersey.

While the families of 9/11 victims want the Guantanamo Bay detention camps to remain open, President-elect Barack Obama and many other critics believe the military prison is a failure of the American government. After working for a year and a half to arrange media access to the camp, Adrian Baschuk reports from the controversial detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Vanguard producer Cerissa Tanner takes us to the streets of Oakland, CA where teen prostitution is on the rise as drug dealers shift from selling dope to selling young women. Hot SexXxy Young is an intimate portrait of the girls caught up in the trade. Ashley, a 14 year-old who "is tired of having sex with all these men," wants out, but Aisha and Mercedes, both veterans of Oakland's streets, explain that leaving prostitution isn't that easy.

Once the ultimate globalization success story, the island of Saipan now faces one of the fastest economic collapses in history. After suffering a harsh history of military struggles as well as a temporary economic boom after becoming a U.S. commonwealth, the island now stands devastated. Scores of factories remain empty, rotting shopping centers litter the country, and former factory workers turn to the sex industry for survival. Adam Yamaguchi visits Saipan to document the rise and sudden collapse of a tiny piece of America.

Ruthless drug cartels in Mexico are battling against each other and against the government for control of the drug trade. 2008 was the most violent year in Mexico, with around 6,000 drug-related murders. 2009 looks like it could be even worse. And there are fears that Mexico's narco-violence could spread north of the border into the U.S. In this one-hour Vanguard report, Laura Ling travels to the border towns of Juarez and Tijuana, Mexico where drugs gangs are fighting for control of the drug routes into the United States. Ling also goes to the city of Culiacan in Sinaloa State, a region that's known as the birthplace of narco-trafficking in Mexico. Despite the 40,000 federal troops that are patrolling cities across Mexico, violence is increasing and the methods of killings are becoming even more brazen and grotesque. Ling speaks with gun dealers in El Paso, Texas and U.S. officials about the illegal smuggling of weapons into Mexico--90% of the weapons seized in Mexico have been traced back to the U.S. She examines the culture of corruption and lack of public trust in a police force that has become known for working with the cartels.

Vanguard correspondents Christof Putzel and Kaj Larsen first ventured to Somalia in the summer of 2006 during a brief period of fragile stability. They discovered that peace reigned in the capital for a few weeks after 15 years of bloody civil war in what the world labeled a failed state. Shortly after they left the country, however, Ethiopian forces backed by US air power invaded Somalia to drive the ruling Islamic Court Union out of the capital, Mogadishu. Somalia plunged back into war.
Threatened by renewed violence and devastating poverty, countless Somalis once again fled their homes in search of peace and security. Tens of thousands try to escape in small boats across the dangerous Gulf of Aden. As Christof and Kaj found on a return to the region, many don't make it, and those who do face an uncertain future in the vast, alien desert of Yemen.

During the boom years, no place in America boomed more than Las Vegas. But when the economy collapsed, Vegas fell hard. Laura Ling tours the wreckage of Sin City, from unemployed strippers and half-built, abandoned casino projects, to hospitals turning away cancer patients and ambulances, to one of the few remaining boom industries--evicting people.

As American manufacturing went into decline, factories rose in China, and it quickly became the manufacturing center of the world. In some ways, China's workers were our employees, since they were making stuff for us. That is, until our economy collapsed. Adam Yamaguchi travels to China to look at how we've outsourced our unemployment.

For young Americans, the U.S. recession is a major bummer on our bank accounts and future. Where can we look to for advice? Enter Argentina, a country that went through its own economic crisis in 2001, and where we might be able to learn a thing or two -- even if it is 5,000 miles away from Wall Street.