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This, in response to the attack on Canada's Parliament by a lone radicalized Muslim convert.
Clarissa Ward, on assignment for 60 Minutes, reports why authorities in North America and
Europe are keeping an increasingly close watch on homegrown Islamic extremists.
One of the most shocking things about the recent rise of ISIS in Iraq and Syria has
been the thousands of westerners who have given up everything to travel to a bloody
battlefield far from home and live under strict Islamic Sharia law. But to understand the
mentality of these jihadis, you don't need to travel to the Middle East. Across the West,
ISIS has a committed support base that is actively recruiting young Muslims. We sought
out a man at the heart of that movement, a British preacher who sees no border between
the streets of London and the frontlines of the Middle East. Talking to him and his followers
gives you a window into a world you may find disturbing and difficult to understand.
There are at least 500 U.K. citizens fighting in Syria and Iraq and every week, according
to British police, another five recruits join the fight.
British jihadis have been on the front lines with ISIS from the very beginning. In the
group's recent videos showing the executions of western hostages, the masked man holding
the knife speaks with a London accent.
The spike in western fighters may be in part due to this man, Anjem Choudary, a British-born
lawyer turned Islamic preacher, who lives in London and has for years been asserting
his democratic right to call for an end to democracy.
Anjem Choudary: I believe Islam is superior. And will not be surpassed. So I believe that
the law of God is much superior to man-made law.
Clarissa Ward: So, in that sense, you believe that Islam and democracy are mutually exclusive?
That they can't exist side-by-side?
Anjem Choudary: Allah is the only one to legislate. So, obviously, in that sense it's completely,
diametrically opposed. You cannot have man legislating and playing God in Parliament,
and at the same time believe that Allah is the only legislator.
Clarissa Ward: You have the freedom to come here today. You have the freedom to speak
on television, to worship whichever God you please. But you're advocating a system that
essentially would take away all of those freedoms?
Anjem Choudary: Allah created my tongue to speak. I don't have freedom to come here,
because Allah created my feet to walk. So I walk, and I speak, and I look, and I hear
according to what God says.
Choudary has been accused of inspiring hundreds of Muslims from across the West to join ISIS.
We went to a meeting he held in an east London basement. On the wall was a large picture
of Buckingham Palace turned into a mosque. He described the newly formed Islamic state
in Iraq and Syria as a kind of utopia. Talking about jihad, he sounded at times like a coach
giving a pep talk before the big game.
[Anjem Choudary: When the heavens are with you, when the earth is with you, when the
sea is with you, when the wind is with you. Who's going to defeat you after that? Nobody.]
Choudary has fronted a series of organizations that have been banned by the British government
under the country's anti-terror laws, but he denies that he actively recruits fighters.
Anjem Choudary: You know, the messenger Mohammad, he said, "Fight them with your wealth, with
your body, with your tongue." So, I'm engaged here, if you like, in a verbal jihad.
Clarissa Ward: But what you're actually doing essentially is inspiring young men to go and
fight in these countries, while you stay here and enjoy a comfortable life...
Anjem Choudary: No, I mean...
Clarissa Ward: ...in the United Kingdom.
Anjem Choudary: ...this is a kind of, the rhetoric that the western media come out with.
But, I mean, there are no examples of anyone, in fact, who is in any of the battle fronts,
who actually say, "Well, actually, Mr. Choudary asked me to come here." Or, "He bought my
ticket." You know? If it were the case...
Clarissa Ward: They wouldn't say that you bought...
Anjem Choudary: ...if it were the case...
Clarissa Ward: ...their ticket.
Anjem Choudary: Well, no if it were the case...
Clarissa Ward: But they might say that you inspired them with your message.
Anjem Choudary: There was a report out recently which said that I inspired 500 people, in
fact, to carry out operations here and abroad. And if that were really the case, don't you
think that I'd arrested be? And I'll be sitting in prison.
Clarissa Ward: So if a young man, one of your students, comes to you and says, "Should I
go and fight in Syria or Iraq," what would you tell them?
Anjem Choudary: Well, they haven't come to me. And if they come to me I'll think about
a suitable response. But I'm engaged...
Clarissa Ward: What would you tell them?
Anjem Choudary: I don't deal with hypotheticals.
Clarissa Ward: It's a hypothetical question.
Anjem Choudary: I don't deal with hypotheticals. I deal with reality. You know, I mean, there
are many things that could happen, hypothetically. Young men come to me...
Clarissa Ward: Why won't you answer the question?
Anjem Choudary: Because it's a...
Clarissa Ward: It really should be an easy question.
Anjem Choudary: I like to deal with reality. If that happens, you can have another interview
with me, and I'll deal with it.
But one week after our interview, Choudary was arrested "on suspicion of being a member
of a proscribed or banned organization... and encouraging terrorism." Also rounded up
in the raids, was one of his young followers, Abu Rumaysah.
[Abu Rumaysah: We want Islam. We want Islam to dominate the world.]
Talking to Rumaysah, you come face to face with a version of Islam that wipes out every
other aspect of a person's identity. He is a convert from Hinduism but his new beliefs
bar even the most basic human feelings towards his mother and other family members who didn't
convert.
Abu Rumaysah: I don't love them as non Muslims, but I desire for them to become Muslim and
embrace Islam.
Clarissa Ward: But you love her as your mother?
Abu Rumaysah: She's my mother and she has rights over me, so I have to take care of
her. I have to look after her. I have to make sure that, you know, she's protected and secure.
So I fulfill my obligations like that.
Clarissa Ward: But do you feel love for her?
Abu Rumaysah: It's not allowed for me to love non-Muslims. So that's something that is a
matter of faith.
Clarissa Ward: So do you feel that you are British?
Abu Rumaysah: I identify myself as a Muslim. If I was born in a stable, you know, I'm not
going to be a horse. If was born in Nazi Germany, I'm not going to be a Nazi. I mean, this is
just an island I was born in.
Rumaysah and Choudary both live in east London, which is home to one of the largest Muslim
populations in the U.K. In one part of town, Rumaysah and his associates have set up so
called "Sharia patrols" to go out and discourage behavior that they deem un-Islamic.
On this night they stopped to talk to a couple of non-Muslim men who were in a park drinking
beer, which is forbidden under Islam.
[Male voice: So we're just reminding anyway. Reminding the community about staying safe.
And in this area there's a lot of gambling that goes on. A lot of alcohol drinking and
it leads to a lot of problems. So we advise you and we advise anyone we see to stay away
from these things.]
But the patrols are not always so friendly. Online clips give a very different picture.
A woman in a short skirt is abused.
A man the patrol thinks is gay is insulted.
Walking through London with Rumaysah you experience an alternate reality where there is no compromise
and all conversations are one sided.
Abu Rumaysah: Ultimately, I want to see every single woman in this country covered from
head to toe. I want to the see the hand of the thief cut. I want to see adulterers stoned
to death. I want to see Sharia law in Europe. And I want to see it in America as well.
I believe our patrols are a means to an end.
Clarissa Ward: The only thing I would say is that in America and in the United Kingdom,
we have a system: democracy.
Abu Rumaysah: A backwards one.
Clarissa Ward: But it's a system...
Abu Rumaysah: A barbaric one.
Clarissa Ward: ...that allows the people to choose what they want and allows people freedom.
Abu Rumaysah: So why can't I choose Sharia? When in Rome, overthrow Caesar and commit
to Sharia.
Clarissa Ward: In your home, you can do whatever you want?
Abu Rumaysah: But what about in the public? Why can't I tell you to cover up? Am I free
to say that?
Clarissa Ward: Because it would be outrageous. Of course, you're not...
Abu Rumaysah: So where's my freedom? Where's my freedom?
Clarissa Ward: You can say it to me, but you...
Abu Rumaysah: Okay. So cover up. Wear the hijab.
Clarissa Ward: That's absurd.
The thought of Choudary's supporters taking the law into their own hands is deeply frightening
to most British people. This is a group that believes the West is at war with Islam. And
that the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan justify any kind of violence in response.
The most shocking example of that logic was the gruesome and very public murder of British
soldier Lee Rigby on a London street last year. On that day the man wielding the knife
was a known associate of Choudary.
Choudary has refused to condemn Rigby's murder. Nor will he criticize ISIS for the beheading
of American journalist James Foley and other western hostages.
Anjem Choudary: You know, I don't know the details about James Foley, but...
Clarissa Ward: I know the details. Let me educate you, because he was a friend of mine.
Anjem Choudary: I don't believe you. I'm sorry, I don't believe you.
Clarissa Ward: You don't believe me that...
Anjem Choudary: The fact...
Clarissa Ward: ...James Foley was a journalist?
Anjem Choudary: I don't believe. No, I don't believe any western journalists, quite frankly.
I believe you're liars until proven otherwise. But let me tell you something, the perspective
of the Muslims of journalists, whether that be James Foley and others, is that they are
the propaganda for the western regimes.
Clarissa Ward: Have you formed an opinion for yourself?
Anjem Choudary: I form my opinion on the basis of what the Muslims say, not on the basis
of what you say.
Clarissa Ward: I'm sensing a double standard here. Because essentially you're very quick
to condemn acts of violence by the West. But you refuse to condemn any act of violence
by your fellow Muslims.
Anjem Choudary: No, I believe that there's a difference between the oppressor and oppressed.
Britain's authorities have struggled with how to handle extremists like Choudary and
his followers. He has been arrested multiple times but never convicted of anything more
than staging an illegal demonstration.
And now the police face a new challenge that is nearly impossible to manage: the spread
of Islamic extremism through slickly produced online propaganda films from real fighters
in real battlefields.
[British jihadi: We will chop off the heads of the Americans, chop off the heads of the
French, chop off the heads of whoever you may bring.]
Those videos have proven wildly attractive to thousands of young people who feel alienated
from the western societies they live in. For them, jihad offers the promise of power and
glory.
Sir Peter Fahy is in charge of a government program called "Prevent," set up to combat
the radicalization of British Muslims.
Sir Peter Fahy: I think the big concern about the current situation is just a huge amount
of material which is available on social media, in the various publications and the various
videos that I think a lot of us are struggling to come to terms with and get a good picture
of.
Clarissa Ward: So in a sense, it's less about preachers radicalizing young men. And it's
more young fighters radicalizing other young fighters from the battlefield using social
media as their recruitment platform?
Sir Peter Fahy: I think you're absolutely right. That is my concern is that what has
changed again over recent months is that you have got local people identifiable as real
people. You've got, you know, a person who's identifiably British who's gone out there
and is absolutely using social media to be able to communicate directly into your son
or daughter's bedroom and to encourage them to come out. And I think that is extremely
worrying as a new development. As I say, I think a lot of families and a lot of parents,
including obviously Muslim parents, are very concerned about that.
Clarissa Ward: Bedroom jihad, they're calling it.
Sir Peter Fahy: Absolutely. It's almost that personal contact which is the worrying aspect.
But, you know, we need to be aware of all different forms of brainwashing and radicalization.
Clarissa Ward: If their parents can't stop it, what can you do to stop it?
Sir Peter Fahy: Well, all we can do is raise awareness. But you're absolutely right. And
we constantly agonize about whether this is a job for the police or not.
Britain's mainstream Muslim leaders are speaking out against ISIS and have discouraged young
men in their communities from joining the fight. But the ongoing U.S.-led military campaign
in Syria and Iraq has stoked anger and raised fears of terrorist retaliation attacks in
the West.
Clarissa Ward: Do you believe that there will be more attacks in the West?
Anjem Choudary: Yes. I believe it's inevitable.
Clarissa Ward: If you believe that, would you ever use your role as a British citizen,
and as a Muslim, to actively dissuade people from launching attacks here in the U.K., in
the U.S., in the West?
Anjem Choudary: Well, I think we need to deal with the root causes. I think it's really
absurd to say, "Well, why shouldn't people react?" The fact is if we don't deal with
the root cause, which is the occupation of the Muslim land, which is the torture of Muslims,
which is the foreign policy of governments like Britain and America, that you will never
be able to stop people.
Clarissa Ward: So, just so I understand, you will continue to refuse to condemn acts of
terror?
Anjem Choudary: Well, as I say, you know, I'm not in the game of condemnation or condoning.
Clarissa Ward: It's really just a yes-or-no question.
Anjem Choudary: Well, I don't want to answer you with a yes-or-no answer.
But Choudary, who is out on bail, will have to give answers when he reports to police
in January. His case is a serious test of the government's strategy to fight extremism.
When we introduced you to the former Navy SEAL called Mark Owen, two years ago, he told
us his riveting first hand account of how Seal Team Six killed Osama bin Laden. It was
the tale that he wrote about in his best selling book, "No Easy Day." He told us that he wrote
the book to set the record straight and planned to donate most of the profits to charities
benefitting families of fallen Navy SEALs. He kept his real name secret expecting to
disappear back into the shadows. But that's not how it worked out. This is the story of
how one of the men who shot Osama bin Laden came under fire from his fellow SEALs, and
his own government, and what he'd like to say now to make amends.
Scott Pelley: You know I wonder how you compare the stress of the last two years to the kind
of work you did as a SEAL.
Mark Owen: I would go back overseas today and deal with fighting ISIS face-to-face rather
than deal with the last two years again.
The last two years were something Mark Owen never trained for. He's been investigated
by the government, excommunicated by the SEAL leadership and inundated with legal bills.
All for writing the first eyewitness account of the bin Laden raid, and for being the first
SEAK to talk about it publically, in our interview in 2012.
[Mark Owen: And then all of the sudden we banked hard 90 degrees and it was very apparent
something was wrong.]
Scott Pelley: What do you say to people who believe fervently that you do secret operations
for the government, and they stay secret until you die? You don't say anything about them.
Mark Owen: How many former secretaries of defense have written books? How many former
generals have written books? How many former SOCOMs, Special Operations commanders, have
written books? I'm a nobody, right? I'm a senior-enlisted guy that did 13 straight deployments.
Nothing else, nothing. I've sacrificed everything in my life to continue raising my hand volunteering
right next to my brothers to continue to go back overseas and do what we could to help.
So it's tough.
Scott Pelley: So if it's fair for the generals, it should be fair for the enlisted men too?
Mark Owen: Absolutely.
Those 13 deployments he mentioned include many to Afghanistan and Iraq, plus the bin
Laden raid and the famous mission that freed Captain Richard Phillips held hostage by Somali
pirates in 2009.
In both of our interviews, we disguised his appearance and his voice for his safety. In
2012 he walked us through the assault on bin Laden's house. Owen told us he was in line
right behind the SEAL who shot bin Laden first.
[Mark Owen: Myself and the next assaulter in, we both engaged him several more times
and then rolled off and then continued clearing the room.]
[Scott Pelley: When you say you engaged him, what do you mean?]
[Mark Owen: Fired.]
[Scott Pelley: You shot him.]
[Mark Owen: Yeah.]
The SEALs were faceless heroes. That's Owen with the president and vice president. Here
he is with the elder George Bush, who's holding a copy of Owen's book, and with the younger
President Bush. But even amid the celebrating, over at the Pentagon, there was growing anger
because Owen skipped a step that's considered mandatory. He didn't clear the book with government
censors. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta fired back on "CBS This Morning."
Scott Pelley: Two days after your first interview ran on 60 Minutes, the Secretary of Defense
came on CBS News and said that your book tells our enemies essentially how we operate and
what we do to go after them and when you do that, you tip them off.
[Leon Panetta: How the hell can we run sensitive operations here that go after enemies if people
are allowed to do that?]
Scott Pelley: Did you do that?
Mark Owen: Did I disclose anything that would've put the guys in harm's way? That's absolutely
not what I intended to do. These are my brothers that I served beside for years. And a lot
of them continue to serve. These are guys I had, you know, lived and died next to. These
are not guys that I would want to sacrifice their security for any reason.
Scott Pelley: One of the things you said in that book was, "If you're looking for secrets,
you won't find them here."
Mark Owen: I tried my best, yes, sir.
But now, his lawyer tells us Owen is the target of a criminal investigation under the espionage
act - looking into whether he gave away valuable secrets. No charges have been filed but eight
weeks ago he was questioned for ten hours about the book and our interview.
Scott Pelley: Mark Owen is a member of the team that killed Osama bin Laden. And now
he faces criminal investigation. How does that happen?
Bob Luskin: Well, it happens because he got some bad legal advice. He should have submitted
the manuscript for "No Easy Day" for prepublication review and he didn't.
Bob Luskin is Mark Owen's current lawyer.
Bob Luskin: And folks in the Defense Department were concerned that it disclosed classified
information. And so they're conducting an investigation to see whether he did it with
the wrong intent.
Scott Pelley: Was classified information disclosed?
Bob Luskin: Well, I can't discuss that. You know in the Catch-22 world of classified information,
you can't talk about what you can't talk about.
And the government won't talk about the investigation either. But we've learned that one area of
concern deals with the existence of the SEAL's special night vision goggles, mentioned in
the book. Anyone can find the goggles on the manufacturer's website, but just because a
secret is out, doesn't mean it isn't still classified.
Owen told us that he skipped the prepublication review on advice of his former lawyer, who
had helped other retired Special Operations troops with their books.
Mark Owen: Those books had never, nobody had ever gotten in trouble for them. I went to
him and said, "Okay, hey, look, what are my legal obligations?" He said, "Look, you have
no legal obligation to get it reviewed. You're a civilian now. I can review it for you. I
had no reason to believe otherwise."
Scott Pelley: What do you know now?
Mark Owen: That you're absolutely supposed to get your, any type of manuscript or book
reviewed.
Scott Pelley: In this interview, you've acknowledged not following the procedures properly. And
I wonder why you think you should not be prosecuted?
Mark Owen: From the beginning, I've always tried to do the right thing. Had we purposely
tried to go around what my obligations were, absolutely I should be held accountable. But
the fact is I didn't. I hired a lawyer with my own money off to the side because I wanted
to do the right thing. I got horrible advice and I've dealt with that for the past two
years.
Owen's previous lawyer who helped with the book denies that the legal advice was faulty
but he won't comment further. It turns out that the criminal investigation is just the
half of it. There is also been an anonymous campaign of retribution apparently from inside
the military. One piece of indisputably classified information revealed at the time was Owen's
real name - leaked to the media before our first interview by persons unknown.
Scott Pelley: What did you have to do for your own personal safety once your name came
out?
Mark Owen: Let's just say I fly a little further underneath the radar than I ever have before.
I don't want anybody to know where I live. That's not the important piece. I want to
be very cautious - security wise. Obviously the world is a crazy place right now: ISIS
and plenty of other bad guys out there.
Scott Pelley: When you tried to reach out to your former commander to explain yourself
when the first book came out, what happened? How did he react?
Mark Owen: The first thing I wanted to do when I figured out that, "Wow, whoa, this
is going to be a little bigger than I thought, There's going to be some issues here," then
I want to reach out to my former command and say, "Hey, look, sir, let's discuss. I have
nothing to hide. I, you know, let's talk about this." I got a text message back just simply
saying, you know, "Delete me."
Scott Pelley: Delete me? What did that mean?
Mark Owen: I take that as he did not want to hear from me or talk with me anymore.
Owen appears to be the only one under investigation even though several people have talked about
the raid. Someone, unnamed, revealed details to the New Yorker magazine. There's another
well informed book by author Mark Bowden. And then there's the movie, "Zero Dark Thirty,"
which also depicts those night vision goggles, by the way.
The moviemakers met with the acting director of the CIA, senior White House officials and
the Pentagon's Under Secretary for Intelligence Mike Vickers. According to this Pentagon transcript,
obtained by the group Judicial Watch, Vickers says he will give the screenwriter someone
who, quote, "was involved from the beginning as a planner; a SEAL Team Six operator and
commander ...The only thing we ask is that you not reveal his name because he shouldn't
be talking out of school."
The meeting with the commander was apparently called off after critics accused the administration
of revealing too much.
Scott Pelley: I wonder if Mark Owen is being singled out here.
Bob Luskin: Look, the folks on the other side, I think, are honest and well intentioned.
And they're trying hard to do a difficult job. But having said that, there's clearly
something outlandish about a process as a whole in which people are free to leak classified
information to the person who wrote the New Yorker article, to Mark Bowden, to the folks
who produced "Zero Dark Thirty." And at the end of the day, the only person who's held
accountable is the person who risked his life. It's not fair at all. It's an absurd result.
The best result that Mark Owen can hope for now is to avoid prosecution and reach a settlement
that would give the government most of the profits from "No Easy Day." Profits that Owen
intended to donate to Navy SEAL charities. Such an agreement is still being negotiated.
Scott Pelley: Was an apology part of the agreement that you wanted to strike with the government?
Mark Owen: Sure. And it's not that they needed to ask me to get on the media and say, "I'm
sorry."
Scott Pelley: Would you like to make that public apology right here right now?
Mark Owen: Yeah, sure. Absolutely. I did not set out to bypass any rules, regulations.
I felt that I was doing everything the right way, legally. Obviously, that was a mistake.
So no, I'm very sorry about that. And I've proven that we can do things a different way.
Which is what we've done with "No Hero."
"No Hero" is his new book, which he did clear with the Pentagon and the censors struck part
of it out but the reader can infer this is about Captain Phillips - also the subject
of a movie. And then there's "SEAL team blank." Owen is not allowed to use the number "six."
The prologue of the book, called forty names, is a vivid reminder of how much the SEALs
have sacrificed in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Mark Owen: They're 40 names in my cell phone contact list that are no longer here.
Scott Pelley: Forty names of people who've been killed?
Mark Owen: Yeah.
Scott Pelley: Why do you keep them in your cell phone contact list?
Mark Owen: How can I delete them? Right? These are friends of mine that I served with, next
to, ate dinner with, had a beer with, you name it. And they're no longer here. How can
I delete that name out of my phone? I can't.
Scott Pelley: It's like losing them forever.
Mark Owen: Sure.
"No Hero" is about the lessons that Owen learned as a SEAL, usually from failing at things.
The most important, he says, came during a rock climbing trip, when he froze 300 feet
up. The instructor made his way over to him.
Mark Owen: And he's like, "Hey buddy. Stay in your three-foot world." "What are you,
what the hell are you talking about?" He says, "Look, you can't affect anything outside of
three feet around you, can you?" I'm like, "Well, no." "So stay in your three-foot world.
Look inside your three-foot world, find the next hand hold, and climb your way out." I
climbed my way out, and I've applied that analogy to so many things in my life. If I
can't affect them, don't worry about it. You can't. People waste so much of their time
and-- and effort worrying about things outside of their control. Learn from them, move on,
and don't worry about it.
Staying within his three-foot world has helped Mark Owen these last two years. He would still
have written "No Easy Day," he told us, but now he says he would have done it by the book.
Scott Pelley: If you are able to reach a settlement of this criminal investigation with the government,
what will that mean to you?
Mark Owen: A huge weight off my shoulders. I don't feel as if I've officially moved on
and out of the military because I still feel like I'm somewhat under the thumb of this
issue. And I would love more than anything to just move past that, move on with my life
and figure out what life has in store for me.
Blake Shelton has one of the top country albums in America and a grin that won't go away.
He's country music's most recognizable star and that's saying something, since 80 million
Americans listen to country music every week. Songs about hook ups, pickup trucks and solo
cups. And that's just fine with the 38-year-old Shelton, who grew up in Oklahoma, wears jeans
and alligator-skin boots everyday and as you'll see, has enough personality to fill out his
six-foot-five country-boy frame.
Norah O'Donnell: What is it about country that's so popular?
Blake Shelton: You know, it's not just our music, I think, that people feel like they
can relate to. But it's us. It's the artists that they feel like they can relate to. I
know for me when I go home, I hunt, and I fish, and I plant corn and I drive back roads.
I literally do the things that I sing about.
Norah O'Donnell: What about the criticism that country music, a lot of it sounds the
same?
Blake Shelton: Gosh dang, man, I hear about it all the time. You know, "It's the same
subject matter over and over again," and, "All y'all sing about is, you know, pretty
girls."
Norah O'Donnell: There's a lot of songs...
Blake Shelton: And...
Norah O'Donnell: ...about drinking too.
Blake Shelton: I like pretty girls.
Norah O'Donnell: And dr...
Blake Shelton: And I like drinking. And I like singing about it. So get over it. That's
my take on it.
On tour in Little Rock last summer, Blake Shelton's point of view was on full display.
His concerts across the country are filled with people who see things the way he does.
Seats at Shelton's shows are usually holding more beers than behinds. His audience prefers
stand-up-sing-alongs.
Norah O'Donnell: Here's one of my favorites from one of your biggest hits, "Boys 'Round
Here": "Backwoods legit, chew tobacco, chew tobacco, chew tobacco, spit."
Blake Shelton: You can't tell me that doesn't speak to your soul. And...
Norah O'Donnell: "Chew tobacco, chew tobacco, chew tobacco, spit."
Blake Shelton: See, you almost tear up when you say that. It's because it's striking a
nerve. It's just fun. I don't know how you let loose and just have fun if you're having
to think too hard about it. And then when it's time to be serious, I have songs that'll
take you down there. Some will take you too far down. It hurts for me to even listen to
some of my own songs sometimes. But when I want to have fun and not think about it, I
want to sing, you know, "Chew tobacco, spit."
Shelton comes by his country credentials naturally. He was raised in Ada, Oklahoma, a town of
less than 20,000, an hour-and-a-half from the nearest big city.
Blake Shelton: So that was the drive through town.
Norah O'Donnell: That lasted two minutes.
His father sold cars here and his mom ran a beauty parlor. He started singing to the
radio as early as he can remember.
Blake Shelton: Any time Mom walked by my bedroom, it was like, "What in the hell is he doing
in there? It's loud," you know, "Turn it down."
Norah O'Donnell: And she had you performing at beauty pageants...
Blake Shelton: She knew she had a kid that she wanted to get on stage and she put me
in the damn pageant and let me, "They have a talent part. He can sing in there," you
know?
Norah O'Donnell: But wasn't it mostly girls?
Blake Shelton: Oh, God, yes. Mostly all girls. I mean, because what boy from Ada, Oklahoma
would want to be in the Miss Valentine Pageant, right?
But there was a lesson he learned on stage at an early age that Shelton believes is central
to his success.
Blake Shelton: I learned that it was more to it than just coming up here and singing
a song and walking off. I knew I wasn't a good enough singer for that just to be the
thing. You got to perform but you also got to entertain. You got to make people laugh.
You got to tell a joke or a story. Make the most of the time that you're out here so that
people remember you when you walk away.
Blake grew up the youngest of three Shelton children. Older sister, Endy, and brother,
Richie, who Blake remembers looking up to for all the usual big brother reasons.
Blake Shelton: His bedroom was right across the hallway from mine when I was little. And
he was listening to Hank Williams, Jr. or Waylon, Lynyrd Skynyrd or Bob Seeger. I just,
whatever was popular really, Richie loved all music. And I would be sitting there going,
"Man, that guy's my hero. That's the coolest guy. He's my big brother."
But the music stopped when Blake was just 14 years old. Richie Shelton was killed in
a car accident.
Norah O'Donnell: How did you deal with the grief?
Blake Shelton: I don't know, you know? I remember picking up the phone to call him a week after
he was dead, to tell him something. And it was like, you think about what I, you know,
I was picking up the phone to call him, to tell him something I just saw on TV or, and
it was like constantly a shock to me that he was dead. It was just...
Norah O'Donnell: You don't ever get over it?
Blake Shelton: No, that's what my dad told me, too. He said, "Look, you will never, ever
get over this happening. You're just going to have to learn to get used to it." He was
absolutely right.
He wrote about the loss, even acknowledging his dad's warning,
[Blake Shelton: They say I'll be OK but I'm not going to ever get over you...]
Blake Shelton's childhood wasn't easy. His parents were divorced and for a time, he lived
with his dad in this apartment. They lived simply and very country.
Blake Shelton: I went fishing or hunting every day after school. And whatever I had ended
up on that porch. We were bachelors. We had a lot of chicken chow mein.
Norah O'Donnell: Yeah. I bet.
Blake Shelton: In that house and deer chili.
Norah O'Donnell: Deer chili?
Blake Shelton: That...
Norah O'Donnell: Did you make the deer chili?
Blake Shelton: Oh God, yeah. All that dead stuff I dragged up on that porch, we ate it.
Two weeks after barely graduating from high school, Blake left for Nashville. Five years
later, he had a record deal and in 2001, landed his first big hit.
But having staying power in Nashville is about as easy as making it in L.A. as an actor.
And Shelton was known as much for his hairstyle as he was for his musical chops. But his career
and his life changed in 2005 when he was asked to perform on this TV special with an up-and-coming
singer from Texas named Miranda Lambert.
Norah O'Donnell: A lot of people who were there say they saw you falling in love at
that moment.
Blake Shelton: I guess so.
Norah O'Donnell: And when you look back at it, you think?
Blake Shelton: I mean, I guess so. It's hard to argue with what I'm looking at. I'm trying
to play the guy card here like, 'By God, no' but I mean, that's pretty pathetic right there.
Norah O'Donnell: But you were married at the time.
Blake Shelton: I was married. That was easily the toughest thing that I've, you know, been
through. I put my divorce up there with my brother's death and that was a tough, tough
call to make.
Shelton eventually married Lambert.
And started to string together hit after hit.
And in 2011, was approached about a new music competition show called "The Voice." Turns
out the boy with the "aw shucks I am from Ada, Oklahoma" personality was about to go
Hollywood.
Blake Shelton: I have absolutely no problem with making an ass out of myself.
Actually, he's made a name for himself. When it started Shelton was probably the show's
least known star, but today, he's known as the unpredictable judge with the quickest
wit.
[Adam Levine: Can I talk?]
[Blake Shelton: Yeah, go ahead.]
[Adam Levine: Oh my god, Aw man, I...]
[Blake Shelton: Well that's a good point. And I'm glad that you took this opportunity.]
[Adam Levine: Why don't you hush up.]
[Blake Shelton: OK.]
And the deepest drink, usually vodka.
Norah O'Donnell: Showtime.
Blake Shelton: You ready?
Norah O'Donnell: I'm ready. Are you ready?
Blake Shelton: I better be.
Because of his TV schedule, Shelton performs less than other country stars, even though
the demand for him is huge.
He hosts the Academy of Country Music Awards and holds a unique country music record: 12
consecutive number one singles, so far.
Norah O'Donnell: You don't write too many of your songs.
Blake Shelton: I don't. If I've written 200 songs in my life or 300 songs, I probably
have 15 of those that I'm proud of. That I truly go, man, I did something there. And
I can't imagine me convincing myself that I'm a better songwriter than some of these
people in Nashville. I just want the song to be the best song it can possibly be.
His other priority is getting home as often as possible. When his TV shows or concerts
wrap, he heads immediately to the nearest private airport.
Blake Shelton: I am leaving Hollywood. Thank you, God.
To get back home to Oklahoma, close to where he used to hunt and fish with his dad. He
lives with his wife Miranda Lambert on a 1,200-acre ranch. They say it's their last private place
and we weren't invited in. When we drove around town with Shelton he was proud to show us
the shop where he gets his boots re-soled. And that he still knows his neighbors
[Blake Shelton: Tell Steve, Pattie, David, I say, "Hi."]
But no matter if we were in Oklahoma, L.A. or Manhattan, the country boy and the country
star seemed to be the same person: polite, funny and completely comfortable in those
cowboy boots.