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tv   CNN Newsroom  CNN  June 22, 2011 8:00am-10:00am PDT

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update in abt an hour. for all the latest political news you can go to our website, 24/7, cnnpolitics.com. we'll see you back here tomorrow morning. now suzanne malveaux. >> tom hank, that was fantastic. >> my heart is still in my throat. i had no idea what i was in for. i am forever changed. >> he answered more questions than any presidential candidates will ever. you went at all angles. >> i'm voting for tom hanks for president. >> let's see if he's going to run. thanks. live from studio 7 i'm suzanne malveaux. want to get you up to speed for wednesday, june 22nd. president obama addressing the nation tonight from the white house laying out his plan to begin drawing down u.s. troops from afghanistan. now, a number of sources tell cnn that the president will announce 10,000 troops will come home by the end of this year. another 20,000 would leave by the end of 2012 leaving 70,000 american forces in afghanistan as 2013 begins.
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a pilot dodges disaster. a jumbo jet speeding for takeoff had to come to a screeching halt when an egypt aircraft turned onto the runway. at takeoff speeds the pilot would have just had seconds to react. american 158 heavy. >> cancel takeoff plans. >> cancel takeoff plans. >> l>> all traffic is stopped right now. in orlando prosecutors in casey anthony's murder trial reveal another odd twist. they're investigating whether anthony crossed paths with another inmate who lost a child. that inmate's story, eerily similar to the ones defense attorneys are selling about
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casey anthony. >> apparently her child died in a swimming pool and was found by the child's grandfather, who immediately administered cpr and called 911. >> bismarck, north dakota, is sending leftover sandbags from recent flooding north to minot. 12,000 residents in minot have until early evening to get out of their homes. forecasters say the river will overrun minot's levee system as early as tonight. a city spokesman says it could break a record set 1881. repair crews say it could take days to get power back on for everyone in chicago and suburbs. 300,000 customers lost electricity when heavy thunderstorms whacked the city. o'hare and midway airport had to canceled almost 400 flights. the storms left hundreds stranded on commuter trains. experts say it will probably
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be mid-july when seasonal rains arrive before crews get a handle on the wildfires in the southwest. 750,000 acres have burned in arizona this fire season. and large fires are raging today in 11 states. from alaska to florida. nationally an area about the size of delaware has burned this season. triple the amount burned last year. amateur video from syria shows antigovernment protesters under fire. activists say security forces killed at least two people in homes. new violence comes as the government orders state workers to take part in rallies to support president bashar al assad. a second night of riots in belfast, northern ireland. police say muss thugs whipped up trouble in a catholic neighborhood.
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a burst of gunfire left a photographer with a gunshot wound. residents say it was one of belfast's worst nights in a decade. first lady michelle obama visited soweto today, the heart beat of south africa's anti-apartheid movement. the first lady compared south africa's struggle to the civil rights movement in the united states. during a speech at a historic church. women from across the continent came to hear mrs. obama. earlier the first lady visited nelson mandela, south africa's first post-apartheid president. and here's your chance to talk back on one of the big stories of the day, that is afghanistan. what do you want to hear from president obama in the pry time speech tonight? cara costello joining us from new york. carol, a lot of people, their lives will be impacted by this.
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a lot of people have loved ones over in afghanistan. >> that's right. one way or another. president obama will look you in the eye tonight and tell you why we're still in afghanistan. he'll likely say we have to stay there so the taliban won't take over the country again. we have to stay until afghan president hamid karzai's government is stable enough to hold its own. the question is, are americans so angry about the state of our economy and so war-weary they'll tune out whatever is the president will say? lawmakers are aware of that. you only had to watch c-span or cnn to know that. listen to democrat joe manchin and john mccain. >> in which we are rebuilding police, in other words, building a country, even at the expense of our own. >> the statements by the senator of west virginia which characterize the isolationist,
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withdrawal, lack of history and attitude which seems to be on the rise of america. >> president obama will tell you tonight he is going to withdraw 30,000 troops from afghanistan over the next year and a half, but 70,000 will remain. the united states will continue to pour billions of dollars into afghanistan. and our troops will continue to die. more than 1,600 so far. so, the talk back today -- what do you want to hear from president obama tonight? face book.com/carolcnn. i'll read your comment later this hour. >> it's so interesting, carol, because under president bush for years they were saying, this is the forgotten war. we have to clean up the mess in afghanistan. there seems to be really a change in public opinion here saying, you know, with osama bin laden gone and some of the other progress, why is the united states still there? it's an excellent question. >> it's an excellent question because people are hurting in this country right now. 14 million americans are
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unemployed. and they're wondering why we're pouring billions of dollars into a country to, in essence, rebuild it when we're not paying attention to rebuilding our own country. and i think that's on the mind of many americans. and i expect that many of of our facebook friends would agree with that. >> carol, thanks. american troops have been in afghanistan for almost a decade now in anticipation of the president's speech, we're taking a hard look at where the war stands now. first, the end game, what would victory in afghanistan even look like? and what are we still trying to achieve there? and lessons from iraq, what the other war can teach us about pulling out of a difficult situation. and the threat now almost ten years after september 11th, are we safer today than when we were american boots first hit the ground in afghanistan? and finally, the human impact. what a decade of war is doing to the people we're trying to protect. with most anti-wrinkle creams. the cream disappears but your wrinkles don't. ♪
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ttd# 1-800-345-2550 and talk to chuck about ttd# 1-800-345-2550 rolling over that old 401k. tonight will mark the beginning of the end. after almost ten years of war in afghanistan, president obama will announce the first phase of troop withdrawals. but to understand how we get out, we first need to understand how we got in. september 11, 2001, al qaeda attacks america, shock soon gives way to anger. >> i can hear you. the rest of the world hears you. and the people -- and the people
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who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon. >> reporter: afghanistan's taliban rulers refused to eject osama bin laden. >> on my orders, the united states military has begun strikes against al qaeda terrorist training camps and military insta layings of the taliban regime in afghanistan. >> reporter: al qaeda's tora bora is destroyed. the taliban restreet to the mountains. over the next two years the u.s. and nato allies try to subdue a stubborn insurgency and then another invasion. >> intense gatherlligence gathes and other governments leaves no doubt that the al qaeda regime continues. >> reporter: within two months, there are 150,000 american troops in iraq. but those weapons are never
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found. as the u.s. military gets bogged down fighting a local insurgency and al qaeda followers, afghanistan becomes the forgotten war. >> the reality is, we won the first afghan war in 2001-2002. we were diverted by iraq. and we basically neglected afghanistan for several years. >> reporter: that's the argument candidate obama makes as he pitches himself for the white house. >> we're confronting an urgent crisis in afghanistan and we have to act. it's time to heed the call for more troops. >> reporter: for much of 200 9 as president barack obama wrestles for a new strategy in afghanistan, opting for a surge in troops. >> as commander in chief i have decided it's in a vital national interest to send an additional 30,000 troops to afghanistan. >> reporter: but progress is slow. gains fragile.
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the taliban have support and resources across the border in pakistan. the u.s. has a prickly relationship with afghan president hamid karzai, who berates his allies over civilian casuals. but the u.s. is also taking casualties. by february 2010, 1,000 american soldiers have lost their lives in afghanistan. there is progress in the south, the taliban's heartland, but much still to be done. and the american public is tiring of a decade of war. >> so many of those weary of this war are going to be listening tonight for specifics from the commander in chief. people who need to know the speed, the scope of his plan, starting to bring these troops home. retired major marks is joining us from washington, thank you for being with us. >> thank you. >> essentially, what is the end game here? >> well, the end state, i would say, the end game, is in
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afghanistan that is friendly to the united states where we have a relationship, we have -- there's a form of stability and security where the afghan people and the afghan government, with forms of governance that take place throughout the country and a security force, both i would say police, border patrol folks as well as military, that can ensure a sustained security so they can move forward and achieve whatever their object e objectives are. we can't allow collectively the afghans and the united states and the coalition of those that want to participate, we can't allow afghanistan to harbor terrorists and to be a terrorist-sponsored state. >> general, how do we know when we've won? >> well, you know, suzanne, i don't think we're going to win this fight at the strategic level. victory will be described as a stable afghanistan. we've already invested a heck of a lot of national treasure,
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commitments of families and the united states and a heck of a lot of money. and what we need to try to envision is an afghanistan that is stable and has partners within the region where there's regional stability and they're a part of that. but every day marines and soldiers are taking the fight to the enemy and they're providing a fire break, if you will, between bad guys and families and local afghans that want to move forward. so, victory at the tactical level is occurring every day in incredible acts of courage, both moral and physical courage that we can see. >> general -- >> at the strategic level it's difficult to define. >> how will we know when this war is over? that 2005 when all international forces are slated to pull out? >> 20 14, international forces by the end of that year are supposed to be gone. well, it's very easy to say it's over if we're not there, not unlike vietnam when we left in the spring of 1975, it suddenly
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was over. over the course of decades our relationship with that rt paf the world has changed and altered. we would anticipate and we could expect the same thing in afghanistan. but it takes place because we're vigilant and we don't let go. we still have an intelligence stare on the region, we still have partnerships. i would argue we're probably going to have a military presence of some form well beyond 2014. >> all right, general marks, thank you so much. obviously, we're going to talk to you in a little bit about five minutes away we want your insights on some of the lessons we have learned from the iraq war as well. of course, cnn is staying on the afghanistan troop drawdown story throughout the day right up to the president's address to the nation. it is scheduled for 8 p.m. eastern/5 p.m. pacific. you can watch it live here on cnn. the casey anthony murder trial takes another surprising turn. the latest twist involves the defense claim about how anthony's 2-year-old daughter died. details coming up in a live report.
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the u.s. has hasn't only invested military might in afghanistan but hundreds of people from the state department have been sent to the country as part of a civilian surge working to win what they say the hearts and minds of the afghan people. jill dougherty joins me from the state department. jill, tell us, first of all, what are these civilians doing on the ground to improve conditions for the afghan people? >> you know, suzanne, my
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producer and i saw that actually on the ground when we were in afghanistan at the end of last year. give you a good example. the areas like agriculture, farmer from the united states helping afghan farmers to learn better techniques so that they can feed themselves. there were also legal experts who were advising lawyers and judges in afghanistan to have a better legal system and courts and jury truials, et cetera. and then you also have people who advise mayors and governors on how to really build a government. you know, a lot of people in afghanistan, unbelievably in the government even, cannot read. so, there were issues like that. very big challenges. but what they're trying to do is build up the capacity of afghans themselves to carry out these basic services that government provides. the whole idea is to wean them away from the taliban, give them the services that sometimes the
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taliban comes in and gives them. >> jill, is there a sense of how long these diplomats and civilian suj is goirge is goingn afghanistan before they pull out? >> when you compare it to the military the numbers are extremely small. but there are about 1300 of them scattered throughout the country. most of them in kabul, but about 400 or 500 in the field. they'll ramp up a little bit. there may be 100 more. then they'll start to diminish, kind of the way u.s. troops are. but they will be in there for a while, just in terms of providing these services. after the military leave, you'll still have civilians working out of the u.s. embassy and the consulates throughout the country, helping to supervise some of these programs they hope the afghans can continue. >> jill, i guess a lot of people are cynical about this but is it a foregone conclusion after u.s. troops, diplomats leave in dig numbers, that afghanistan will
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revert back to the way it used to be? >> you know, that's the issue. nobody really knows. nobody can say. but certainly what they're trying to do is have programs that can help the afghans do this. because the united states, we all know, with the budget considerations that are going on and the debate on capitol hill, don't forget, hillary clinton will be on the hill tomorrow, in fact, testifying on this. you have to make the case. what they are saying is if you don't try to build up the capacity of afghans to have their own government and provide thoiz services, are you guaranteed to have a black hole of problems in to which the taliban can come. >> thank you so much for your perspective. also in planning for successful troop drawdown in afghanistan, many experts say all you have to do is just take a look at the other war, iraq. retired major general james
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"spider" marks joining us from washington. general, there are a lot of things that the united states did right and wrong in iraq that perhaps can serve as lessons learned in afghanistan. what were the things that went right in iraq that we can take away when we look at what's happening in the future in afghanistan? >> suzanne, what happened in iraq is that subsequent to a surge, if we all recall the surge in iraq back in 2007, achieved some significant progress in a number of real thorny areas. there's debate on how that occurred and where specifically that occurred and all the contributing members. but what's important to realize is that after those conditions had been achieved, in iraq we collectively, the iraq people, the military, the security forces, had reached a level of professionalism and the united states and those other coalition members were able to sustain that level of goodness so that the u.s. and some of those other nations could withdrawal in a very orderly way.
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we end up today with about 50,000 in iraq. in afghanistan, there are some significant differences, obviously. iraq has a long history, very modern, very educated. it has an infrastructure. afghanistan mostly is des per rat, tribal, and its borders are defined by its neighbors. so it's very difficult to draw, you know, what i would call a direct causal link between what we saw in iraq and what we're going to see in afghanistan but the conditions have to be the same. there has to be a level of security, a level of legitimacy in the government and those efforts are ongoing right now. and that's been told to the president, obviously, from general petraeus and others. that now is the time to start to make a measured withdrawal of these suj forces in afghanistan. >> general s there anything we did that was really wrong, big mistakes in iraq that we should just not repeat in afghanistan? >> well, the first thing we did in iraq that we didn't do right is we didn't put enough fire power and boots on the ground to help stabilize the country.
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there is no better intelligence collector and no better policemen on the ground than an infantryman or young marine. we didn't have enough forces going in. in afghanistan secretary gates has already indicated a similar pattern. great, quick victory in afghanistan with the taliban dispersed and then a diversion into iraq, if you will. so, we didn't have enough boots on the ground. the key thing is, we've got to measure where the afghan security and military forces are capable and where in terms of governance the afghan government is capable. then we have to ensure we are a welcomed partner moving guard to ensure that those functions can be met and number of forces can be met as well. and we're doing that right now. >> general, real quick here. we're hearing numbers, 10,000 withdrawing this year, that that's what the president's going to be announcing. but you had his -- had you general petraeus, you had the former secretary of defense, robert gates, both saying they
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didn't think that was a good idea. you should not withdraw those many so quickly. is that a good idea, that the president essentially is not taking the advice of those military advisers and going in a different direction? >> i bet you, suzanne, the president would say he is taking the counsel of his military advisers. they give them -- they, the military commanders, always give the president a range of options. all of those options are doable. they can be achieved. so, the president might have taken option two instead of option one. so, he has the -- he has the words and the wisdoms of those commanders on the ground. what you're seeing is the 30,000 that went in by the president, the 30,000 coming out. it still leaves 70,000 on the ground over the course of the next couple of years to determine what that end state might look like and if there's a force going beyond 2014. >> general marks, thank you. appreciate your perspective. as we spend time focusing on
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the thousands of troops coming home next month, we also want to remember the face of those who did not. u.s. army sergeant borgen, just 26 years old, killed in kandahar province and first-time father of a 9-month-old. friends say he could not wait to teach his son his passion for tae kwon do. he was an i.t. computer whiz who organized facebook care package drives for his platoon. army private first class christopher thomas was just 18 when he was killed in a helicopter crash south of kabul four years ago. he was from roseville, california. thomas was the youngest ever member of the elite army rangers and his friends say he had an unusual drive, a sense of purpose and social consciousness. a living, breathing intelligence that's helping drive the future of business. in here, inventory can be taught to learn. ♪ machines have a voice. ♪
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here's a quick rundown of some stories we're working on next. an unexpected turn in the casey anthony trial. prosecutors want to know if this woman ever spoke with anthony. when the two were? -n jail together. then moammar gadhafi's troops are once again shelling misrata. rockets are hitting civilian areas with tragic results. we'll have a live report. the casey anthony trial takes another unexpected twist. testimony resumed today with more forensics experts taking the stand for the defense. but the latest twist involves that the defense claim that anthony' 2-year-old daughter was
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not murdered but drowned accidentally. we're joined looifd from orlando. david, i understand there's a woman in jail at the same time as casey who has a similar story. can you connect the dots for us? >> reporter: that's right. this woman's name is april waylan, in jail the same time as casey anthony back in 2009. this woman experienced a tragedy in her life. her young child, a son, drowned in the family swimming pool. the body was discovered by the child's grandfather. taemps to revive the child were unsuccessful and the child drowned accidentally in that pool. that story is very similar to the one that casey anthony, through her attorney, is now telling the court about what happened to caylee. so, what investigators are trying to do, they're trying to find out if somehow that woman's story reached casey and casey used it to fabricate an alibi of
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her own. so, they are looking into this possibility. it's still a theory. they have not -- they're not prepared to go before the jury with this yet. in fact, they brought this up in court when the jury was behind closed doors. again, investigators have not obtained that definitive link yet but it shows that this investigation is still going on and they're still looking for evidence in this case. >> that would be such an interesting development if they were able to actually make that link. is that the approach the defense is taking? what are they doing today? >> reporter: well, what the defense is doing today is very slowly and methodically going through expert after expert after expert, bringing them to the stand to refute the findings of the prosecution. for instance, we heard from an fbi geologist today in testimony for the defense saying that they tested the dirt on casey anthony's shoes. they weren't able to determine she was ever at the scene where caylee's body was found. an fbi chemist took the stand and said they weren't able to
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find any sort of sedatives in air samples from caylee. so, it's been that kind of testimony that they're bringing forward to have the jury hear as the defense tries to poke holes in the prosecution's case that caylee anthony was murdered by her mother. what they're trying to do is establish the doubt and challenge the credibility of the assumptions the prosecution's making. >> thank you so much. more on the casey anthony trial ahead. criminal defense attorney holly hughes gives us her take on the latest twist and why she thinks the defense is in trouble. that's coming up in the next hour. the newest face in the race for president could use some help in the name recognition department. our jeanne moos investigates jon huntsman. please! [ nurse ] i'm a nurse. i believe in the power of science and medicine.
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president obama's former ambassador to china is the newest republican presidential candidate. and he's not exactly a household name, at least not yet. jeanne moos takes a look at jon huntsman. >> reporter: two-minute stroll across the grass with six of their seven kids felt a little like the von trapp family. ♪ the hills are alive >> reporter: with the sound of campaigning. ♪ a long long way to run >> reporter: this relative unknown has so far to run that he has to keep introducing himself.
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>> i'm jon huntsman and i'm humbled. >> i'm jon huntsman. >> i'm jon huntsman and i'm running for president of the united states of america. >> reporter: and even when he said those words -- >> my kids can't believe i said that. >> reporter: even his own campaign spelled his name wrong on the press pass handed out. j-o-h-n should have been j-o-n. when they realized the mistake, they tried to gather up and take back all the misspelled press passes but they missed a few. we went hunting for someone who knows jon huntsman. who is jon huntsman? >> haven't a clue. >> reporter: jon huntsman? >> no idea. >> no idea. >> good question. >> don't know. >> reporter: does this help at all? >> no. >> no. >> no. >> for president? he's running for president. >> reporter: ding ding ding. >> is he running for the republican party? >> reporter: you're from australia? you know more than americans. >> we do, actually, and we're proud of it. >> reporter: but there was a day when people didn't know this guy either.
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>> barrack. >> never heard of him. >> reporter: if you google it on google images look what comes up. the huntsman spider. at least its bite isn't considered dangerous. american comedians have a duty to introduce this latest candidate to the public. >> former utah governor jon huntsman is running. >> reporter: we'll get to know jon huntsman become a recurring bit? >> there's actually no reason to get to know jon huntsman. this has been get to know jon huntsman. >> reporter: conan is helping, too. >> there's a picture of him. it looks like he's interrupting a lunch conversation. hi. couldn't help but overhear. >> reporter: huntsman's already been mistaken for somebody else. >> the shirtless twitter guy? >> reporter: actually it was
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craigslist but there is a certain resemblance and we advise this rel ty unknown not to become overexposed. jeanne moos, cnn, new york. well, revved up and ready to run, republican michele bachmann sets the date for her big formal announcement. we've got details in our "political update."
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she's actually been running for a while. now michele bachmann is ready to make her formal announcement. kate baldwin, part of the best political team on television is live from capitol hill. kate, what have we learned about her plans now? when are we finally going to get the official announcement? >> caller: finally. people may scratch their head saying, wait, hasn't she already? michele bachmann is set to formally announce her presidential bid on monday. and this comes as no surprise to our avid cnn viewers, our lovers of politics that we all are as she said as much at the cnn debate when she filed the papers, the appropriate and necessary papers and would be making her announcement soon. so that apparently is coming monday. she's making the announcement in waterloo, iowa. why waterloo, iowa, you ask? not only is iowa home to the politically famous and important
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caucuses but also the birthplace of one michele bachmann. there you have it. >> oh, a two-fer. sarah palin get a lot of publicity and press for what she's doing. we're hearing her daughter bristol palin has a book out, right, that's hitting the stores now, it's not just sarah palin, but bristol? >> reporter: i guess we can coo call this politics light. bristol palin, daughter of sarah palin, at 20 years old already has a memoir. yes, do you feel like you have not accomplished enough? >> i feel a little old. >> reporter: or that. not intended, though. so the book hit shelves tuesday. i will acknowledge that i have not yet read it but she does dish on everything from the presidential campaign of 2008 to even her experiences as a young teenage mother. of course, this book would not
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be complete without her talking about levi johnston, the father of her child and the on again/off again romance that's continued between the two of them. don't worry, levi johnston apparently has his own book coming out in the fall. >> we'll are to see how both of them do. i met bristol palin at white house correspondents' dinner. she was a very nice, very lovely woman. we'll have to see what she has to write about. >> reporter: exactly. >> thanks. for the latest political news, go to cnnpolitics.com. small businesses created more than half the new jobs over the past 15 years. according to the small business administration. and women started many of those businesses. our cnn's alison has top tips for women who would be entrepreneurs on how to actually start smart. >> hi, suzanne. more than 8 million businesses in the u.s. are run by women and when it comes to breaking it
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down by gender, between 1997 and 2011 the be if number of female firms increased by 50%. by contrast american express of women owned businesses report says male-owned firms grew by just 25%. ladies f you're out there and thinking of starting a business, first do your research. we have some great advice, the founder and president of count me in, an education group for women entrepreneurs. she also created take our daughters to work day. she says google is a girl's best friend, so put in your different configurations of your idea and see if there's an approach you have that others don't. then figure out how you can make money from it. and start small. try to sell your product or service at a flea market or a local fair. also, she says even if someone else has your idea out there, network with them, try to partner up. then work on building your brand. katherine, author of "the female
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brand" says you need to have a creation story and elevator speech in 60 seconds or less to sell yourself and your business. people want to know how it all came together. next, the digital worlgd is the easiest, lowest cost way to get your bran name out there. so she says blog, tweet and have a facebook profile for your business. finally, ask for help. 70% of all women business owners make $50,000 or less in annual revenue, so to make your business thrive, she says, hire employees, think of it as an investment. she says, don't look at hiring as an expense but, instead, a way to grow your business. she says that if women hire an employee in the first six months of business, they're much more likely to reach $1 million in revenue. suzanne? >> thanks. check this out. commotion outside the walmart. why is this woman jumping on the hood and windshield of this car? ♪ hello sunshine, sweet as you can be ♪
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you've been sounding off on our "talk back" question. what do you want to hear from president obama? our carol costello is joining us from new york. carol, what are folks saying? >> overwhelmingly, suzanne, they want to bring all the troops home. want all the troops home. our talkback question, what do you want to hear from president obama tonight? this from rusty. he says bringing all the troops home now won't happen but we need to stop wasting irreplaceable lives on the pit full excuse of a country. and this is from joanne. i want to hear obama say we did what we could so the troops will be returning home on an organized quick and official schedule, and want him to keep his word. and this from ken. when are we going to use money to help their own people. and this from michael.
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mr. president, it's time to face the realities of domestic issues. you have done well and the villain is gone and now we need a hero here at home. and this from kara. i would like to hear after my husband finishes up his current deemployment, he won't have to turn around and go back again. i will check back with you in, oh, about 15 minutes or so. >> carol, you know we always have to save the best stories for you, so you know there is one coming. you have to stick around for this one. this is one of our favorites. >> i'm ready. >> you never know what will happen at the walmart. this is monique. she saw a couple guys shoplifting beer. take a listen. >> i told the cashier, do something. they're leaving. she could not do anything. so i told her, watch my purse. >> so watch her purse. and that's when the two guys leaving the store on the right, beers in hand and they rush out
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to the car parked in the fire line, and here comes monique to the rescue. she rushes out of the store. she takes a leap and landing on the hood and stomping on the windshield. listen to this. >> he started the car and i knew i needed to get off, and they were laughing at me the whole time on the car and i hit my face and i have -- i don't think my nose was broke but it swelled up really big. >> you know, she has a swollen nose. but her commotion, she got the attention of the police and they nabbed the beer thieves. would you do that, carol? >> no, monique, monique, don't ever do that again. it could have ended so badly. oh, my gosh. i cannot believe she did that. >> really amazing. >> i applaud her for trying, but it was just beer, monique. only beer.
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>> she feels good about it, and her last name was lawless so she was compelled to get involved, right, carol? >> maybe so. i admire her, but please don't do that again, monique. >> word to monique, not again. once is enough. we'll have more after the break.
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as fighting continues in libya pressure is mounting at the u.s. capital. house republicans want to limit
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the u.s. involvement to a noncombat role. and senators john mccain and john cakerry are opposing the legislation that would allow the president to continue without that approval. and then the violence in libya is raging on. civilians now are getting caught in the cross fire. we have a report from misrota. >> reporter: this boy is burned and in shock, and somehow he manages a weak smile from his hospital bed. and earlier in the week a rocket slammed into his district. his 14-year-old bother was not a fighter but died like so many others in the last four months, without rhyme or reason. he was killed here instantly while washing his hands at the sink before evening prayers. his uncle rushed to the scene
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when he heard the blast. i found this place was on fire, he recalls. he was here. i threw water on him and then took him to the ambulance, but he was already dead. dinner from the night before is still on the stove. a family's life frozen in time by a missile that shattered the calm and their lives on a june evening. when the war impacted on wednesday evening, it sprayed hundreds of metal balls in every direction. this is distinctly a civilian area. three rockets hit misrota in the evening, in quick succession, and all packed with the medal balls. the message from the shelling is clear nowhere here is safe.
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be his father, shocked. we were sitting at home, the whole family, he says. he didn't know what happened. his mother was also injured in the attack. >> she has second-degree burns. both on her limbs and the face. luck aly, she has got a first-degree burn on the face, but the condition when she was brought here, it was a little bit critical. >> the day before the attack, one woman gave birth to a son, and they named him after his dead brother. the latest grave mt. city's growing cemetery was the brother. >> and that ed joins us live from misrota.
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as you know, what is taking place here, stateside, congress is debating whether or not the united states should be in libya without approval from capitol hill, from congress. what do you think an interruption would mean if we did not get involved and it stopped for those people who are there? >> reporter: well, let me put it in perspective, suzanne. this city is surrounded on three sides by gadhafi forces. the only window to the world is the sea. every day the city is bombarded by missiles. today nine of the missiles landed here, and most of them are using the anti-personnel weapons. the fear here is that if the nato cover were to be removed from libya, from misrota, gadhafi forces would come in and it would be a bloodbath. a british newspaper captured
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documents from the gadhafi forces, and they were ordered to turn the sea red with blood if they were to take the city over. again, the consequences for the people here are very clear. they would be punished, punished harshly, severely, for their revolt against moammar gadhafi. we have already seen thousands of people who were killed during the city during the siege. according to some sources, according to as many as 1,000 women were raped by gadhafi forces. if nato's cover is removed, it could be just like that but far worse. >> thank you for the sobering report. thank you, ben. i am suzanne malveaux. want to get you up to speed. a pilot dodges a kau ligs at new york's jfk jumbo jet.
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an egypt air flight turned on to the run way. at takeoff speeds the pilot would have had seconds to stop his jet. >> tonight is the night president obama outlines the beginning of the end of u.s. military involvement in afghanistan. sources tell cnn the president will announce 10,000 american troops will be coming home by the end of the year. and another 20,000 will be followed by 2012. and that leaves 70,000 forces. most are out by 2015. 12,000 residents of minot,
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north dakota, are scrambling to get out by evening. it's predicted the river will overwhelm. it's likely to break a flood record set back in 1881. major wildfires are burning today across 11 states covering an area about the size of delaware. fires in texas have now burned more than 3 million acres this season alone, and that makes this season the worst fire year in texas since the forest service began keeping records. in arizona, they say it will be mid july before they wrangle the state's major fires. whps seasonal rains should roll in to put out the flames. and michelle obama delivered an inspiring message to the women of south africa today. the township, the center of the movement of the 1970s and the '80s.
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>> if anybody ever tells you that you shouldn't or you can't, and i want you to say, with one voice, the voice of a generation, you tell them, yes, we can. what do you say? >> a familiar phrase. this would be a first. an american aircraft carrier hosting an ncaa basketball game, a thank you to u.s. service men and women. talks are under way for the university of carolina tar heels will play. it could happen live from the deck of the u.s.s karl vicinity. in the anthony trial, the defense claims that the 2-year-old daughter of casey
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anthony drowned accidentally. explain to us the latest scenario. there was a woman in jail at the same time as casey with the similar story. connect the dots for us. what does this mean? >> well, suzanne. this is a story the jury has not heard yet. they told the court that investigators are looking into the possibility that casey anthony fabricated her story about caylee drowning in the family swimming pool after possibly hearing the same story from another woman in jail the same time she was back in 2009. that woman's young child drowned in her family's pool and the body was discovered by the child's grandfather and they tried to revive it but to no avail, and that is sounding similar to the one casey anthony's attorney is telling to the court. investigators are still trying to find that definitive link to see if they can prove this in court. >> david.
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thank you. want to bring in criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor, holly hughes. explain to us why would that be significant here if the story sounds very similar to what she set up as her own defense? >> wow. this would not be significant. this would be game, set, match, suzanne. they might as well pack up their toys and go home. i'm talking about the defense here. because we know that casey is a big liar. her own attorney, jose baez, said that in opening. yeah, she lies about everything. she stole the kidnap story from "one tree hill," the nighttime show. she borrows other peoples' stories and weaves them into her own life, and if the jury hears she used another woman's tragedy, because this woman lost her 2-year-old boy on christmas,
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on christmas, and if they learn casey anthony is this cold-blooded to steal her story and use it as her own, as well as throwing her father might as pack it up. >> how is the defense doing? are they able to adequately defend her or have there been mistakes? >> huge mistakes. this shows the experience of jose baez. this is a lawyer that had only been prag three years. what we have seen repeatedly is judge perry is hot. he is so mad about the discovery violations but has done a good job keeping it in check. he is saying at the end of the proceedings, the florida bar will have to address the violations and i will have a contempt hearing to hold you in
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contem contempt. and judge perry said he found it to be intentional. you're hiding the ball. you're trying to do trial by sabotage, and i'm not having it. >> thank you so much for your insights. i will talk with you a little bit later as well. here is the chance to talkback on the question of the day. the big story in afghanistan. what do you want to hear from president obama's primetime speech tonight. carol costello joins us from new york. >> president obama will look you in the eye tonight and tell you why we're still in of a dpan stan. he will likely say we have to stay there so the taliban won't take over the country again, and we have to stay until karzai's government is stable enough to hold its own. but the americans may tune out whatever the president will say
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and lawmakers are aware of that. listen to democrat, joe mansion, and republican, john mccain. >> it's impossible to defend the mission in afghanistan in which we are rebuilding schools, and training police, and teaching people to read, in other words, building a country. even at the expense of our own. >> the statements by the senator from west virginia, which characterize the isolationists withdrawal lack of history attitude that seems to be on the rise of america. >> president obama will tell you tonight that he is going to with draw 30,000 troops from afghanistan over the next year and a half, but 70,000 will remain. the united states will continue to pour billions of dollars into the country, and our troops? they will continue to die. more than 1,600 so far. the talk back question today. what do you want to hear from
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president obama tonight? facebook.co facebook.com/carolcnn. and here is one story. >> there is no god, but the real message is simple, we, the taliban are back in power here. >> what a troop drawdown could mean for the future of afghanistan. and a 7-year-old's joy ride. he swipes keys and takes off. and airline fees climbing higher. what can you do to avoid the costs? >> the first lady, on a historic trip to south africa. [ male announcer ] your favorite foods fighting you? fight back fast with tums. calcium rich tums goes to work in seconds. nothing works faster. ♪ tum tum tum tum tums
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now,listen to a magazine,aper, curl up with a movie, and see a phone call. now, we can take a classroom anywhere, hold an entire bookstore, and touch the stars. because now...there's this.
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major countdown under way. eight hours from now president obama unveils his plan to withdraw troops from afghanistan. chris lawrence is joining us. chris, it's very clear a lot of americans want out. what is the plan for ending the country's longest running war? >> first off, suzanne, to keep the taliban from coming back into the population centers in the south, and redirect some of the forces to the east where it has been under manned. we flipped that question around and we will tell you what the taliban's goals are for the rest of the year. not all attacks are created equal. the taliban attacks in the north are meant to pull resources away and distract the forces, and down in the south where you see the red, that's where the surge
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pushed the taliban out to the fringes, and their goal is to regain influence. to the east, a little bit further to the northeast is where you have al qaeda cells. and there are the high profile attacks you have seen in kabul. if you flip the question around, the u.s. goal is to stop the taliban from doing many of the actions. >> and we're told the drawdown schedule will allow for two more fighting seasons. what does that mean? >> that's a good question. when you look at afghanistan, mountainous, and winters can be harsh. during the winter, hard for helicopters to fly and to get through the roads and it dies down, and the money is coming from the poppy harvest and opium. and that is harvested in the spring. many are tied up in the harvest through may or so and as that
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harvest comes out in june, the fighters come out and start to fight, and it also provides them the money that they use to fund some of their fight. >> and, you know, chris, americans have paid dearly for the war. blood, money. all of this. the resources. how much are we talking? >> it's amazing. when you look at the casualties, it's just stunning. when you look back in 2001, where we had a limited presence in afghanistan, the numbers are almost the same, even up to 2008, for seven years. and then as we put the surge in, as we start taking the fight to the taliban, they spike to over 300, and then last year, almost 500 troops. the deadliest year of the war. and then as we put more troops in, it has gotten more expensive. we are spending more than billion a week to fight the war in afghanistan. it's why some are calling for a reduced presence there saying
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the war on this scale is unaffordable. >> and we're talking about nearly ten years of war. the united states and other western nations going after the balan taliban and al qaeda. what does victory look like in afghanistan? what is the winning scenario here? >> what it will look like and what they hope to get is to leave afghanistan where the taliban do not control the government, and that does not sponsor terrorism, and basically, that can coexist with some of its neighbors, like pakistan, iraq, iran, some of these areas around here that afghanistan can coexist in the region. if you look at al qaeda's presence, you know, you can look at some of the countries like cambodia and thailand and singapore and then come back up in this area. the orange and the red is where you see the highest concentration of al qaeda, and really from a lot of military folks that i have spoken with,
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yemen, and somalia, this is an area that is becoming more and more dangerous when it comes to al qaeda. they think the al qaeda group posted in yemen is the greatest risk in terms of the united states right now trying to stage an attack here in the homeland. >> thank you for laying all that out for us, thank you, chris. >> the taliban retreated to the mounz tons when the u.s. invaded afghanistan but have been coming back every since. but in some towns, the extreme religious group appears now to be taking over once again. >> in this quiet mountainous village near the border, one of nato's worst fears is realizing this is a government building in wake yoe, mostly diverted. but above it is the white flag. there is no god, but ala, and muhammad is the message.
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the real message is simple, we, the taliban, are back in power here. and to the men that call themselves the new administration, they showed a local cameraman cnn commissioned division of afghanistan is back in the taliban's hands. now they are the local council, the local law. it's like nato was never even here. >> translator: the peoples' problems are solved under saw real law. the tribe welcomed us and bring us their problems and we deal with them. we understand implementing shria is one of their duties. >> reporter: they said they captured the area in late march, and one official confirmed this is a government building and the area is still held by the
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insurgency. this is under increasing taliban influence since nato withdrew. >> translator: smoking is forbidden here, and our religious department will punish those who shave and intaux indicate themselves. schools and hospitals are open under shria law. >> reporter: they show a softer side showing the bridge is allowed to be rebuilt. we don't fear thieves like we did before. another says, business now is not as good as we had before, but we're fine with the taliban. it's not clear how genuine the smiles are, but the small taliban system opened up while nato surge is at full strength leaving many wondering what they
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will do as nato starts to leave. >> our cnn's nick walsh. nick, obviously might be concerned when they see the resurgence of the taliban. any comment from nato when they see the flag from taliban is now flying again? >> reporter: well, nato, to be honest, say videos like this are often part of a taliban propaganda machine, and they are not there in the numbers they suggest and they don't have that kind of control or certainly the government functionality which that video seems to suggest. we have heard from some officials that the taliban have been in control of that area since march. there are remote parts of the country where the taliban are locals and will be there in the future, and it makes some wonder
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what will happen when nato pulls back. >> do we have any sense whether nato sees the withdrawal of nato troops as a win for them now that they are pulling away? >> reporter: well, i think the taliban -- there has always been the saying here, while nato has an expensive watch, the taliban has the time. that's the time to wait nato off. they know nato does not have an inexhaustible budget. but they have a strong potential of public opinion to turn gerns the war. they will wait it out, and i think perhaps what we are seeing with the speech today the first signs the america is heading for the exit, and that will make the taliban think the wait is over.
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the speech is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. eastern, and 5:00 pacific. you can watch it here on cnn. first, bag fees, and now one airline is charging passengers to print out their ticket.
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time to go cross-country for a story cnn affiliates are covering. the first stop new york.
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surveillance video catches a tire flying off a city bus and rolling on the sidewalk and bouncing off a building. the tire weighs about 400 blames. the mechanic blamed an overheated issue. a boy managed to drive his stepfather's car before police pulled him over. once the child figured out how to see over the steering wheel, he was a really good driver. nebraska, baseball fans had to run for shelter. a strong line of thunderstorms shut down monday night's college world series game in omaha. police told people they could not stay in their cars and had to wait out the weather in a convention story. greece, more pain ahead. the prime minister has to pass the deep-cut measures that
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inspired violent protests. and then the dow jones down about 8 points or so, and we're following another story. a travel story you will want to hear. this is another new airline fee. sure to stir up controversy. felicia taylor. baggage fees? now we have something else that spirit air is dealing with? what are they hitting us with? >> it's like never ending. they will charge you if you ask the agent at the ticketing desk to print your boarding pass. it will cost you 5 bucks. it begins on november 1st. you can print at the airport kiosk for free, just don't ask somebody to do it for you. the way to avoid the fee is to print your own boarding pass online. it will be tough for older people. maybe they don't have the computer at home, or perhaps you're vacationing in a row motor location and cannot get to
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the computer. i think they should give a break to people over 65. >> give us all a break here. how are they justifying this? how are they depending the asking of an agent to print it out? >> well, spirit basically said it's about letting customers select what they want to pay for. it's lowering the fares when it goes into affect. they offered $9 fares, and then charging fees for everything else. and some of the spirit customers are used to this, and it may not come as much of a surprise. >> it's a totally new reality, i guess. give us a sense here. i know the federal reserve has a decision is that supposed to go down. do we know how the stock market will react? >> basically, all morning long we have seen the markets
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churning to the downside, although it's well off of the earlier lows as we wait to hear from the federal reserve chief, ben bernanke. they will stay between zero and a quarter of a percentage. the focus will be on what happens later today when there is a press conference scheduled to start in two hours. we will look at hints about the economy. right now, holding steady. defending casey anthony, the mom accused of killing her daughter. we will talk with an attorney who says the defense now is in big trouble. [ waves crashing ] ♪ ♪
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here is a quick rundown. some of the stories we're working on next. the judge in the casey anthony trial slams the defense. we will ask a former prosecutor what its all about. has laugh has improved for the people in afghanistan. and then power is out in chicago after strong storms slam that city. the defense in the casey anthony trial called more experts today to try and poke
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holes in the forensic's evidence. anthony is accused of killing her 2-year-old daughter, caylee. how is the defense doing? not so well, according to former prosecutor, holly hughes. thank you for your perspective very much. we have seen the witnesses the defense has brought forth here, and how are they doing in defending the woman in very serious charges? >> this is a death penalty, and they are going down in flames. the prosecution manages to turn the defense witnesses around and making them a prosecution witness. this is not the expert's fault. there are very republic utahable experts. this is a lack of experience on the part of the defense team, and they are not properly preparing their witnesses.
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they should have prepared the witnesses ahead of time and saying this is what we need to testify to, and find evidence that backs this up. these poor witnesses get on the stand and they have not been properly prepared and the direct examination is sloppy and on cross-examination the prosecutor plays with them. it's like watching cat and mouse. it's embarrassing for these people. they will not perjure themselves so they agree with the prosecution, saying, yes. poor dr. jane balk, and she ends with, you know, the body could have been out there as little as two weeks. so the prosecutor says to her, but it could have been out there as long as six months? yeah, i guess you're right about that. and how about the fact that there was a leg bone buried four inches under the debris, and she says to him, well, i guess a dog could have done it, or maybe a
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coyote. do you have coyote's here? are you kidding me. this is a death penalty witness and this is what your witness is coming up with? what they are trying to do is step by step, take apart the forensics and the science because if the jury believes the science that there is a dead body in that trunk, then it's all over. clearly that takes away the crowning and the fact that george, casey anthony's father, allegedly put the body away, because it puts the body in cas casey's car trunk. if they want to prove anything they said in opening, they will have to put, casey anthony, the admitted liar on the stand. >> where is this going? there's a couple more days before they wrap this thing up on the defense side. will they put her on the stand? >> they will have to if they want to have any credibility. we know that the defense
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attorney never has to prove anything. they don't have the burden of proof, and that's all on the state. when you stand up in your opening statement and you bark out all of these accusations, and you say george the father abused her and lee, the brother abused her, and this is an accidental drowning. we have not heard any of those facts. if he wants to argue that in closing to the jury, they have to have somebody take the stand and say it's so and she's the only one that can do it. 10 years after september 11th, are the afghan people better off? we will talk about the people there and their future. [ bell chiming ]
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tonight will mark the beginning of the end. almost ten years after the war in afghanistan, president obama will announce the first phase of troop withdrawals. to understand how we get out, we first need to understand how we got in. september 11th, 2001, al qaeda attacks america. shock soon gives way to anger. >> i can hear you and the rest of the world hears you, and the people -- and the people who
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knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon. >> afghanistan's taliban rulers refuse to eject bin laden. >> on my orders the united states military has begun strikes against the reseam in afghanistan. >> the taliban retreat to the mountains. over the next two years, the u.s. and its nato allies tried to subdue a subearn insurgency, and then another invasion. >> intelligence gathered by this and other governments leaves no doubt that the iraqi regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most recent weapons. >> the weapons are never found. as the u.s. military gets bogged
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down fighting a local insurgency and al qaeda followers, afghanistan becomes the forgotten war. >> the reality is we won the first afghan war in 2001-2002, and we were diverted by iraq, and we basically neglected afghanistan for several years. >> that's the argument candidate obama makes as he pitches himself for the white house. >> we're confronting a urgent crisis in afghanistan and we have to act. it's time to heed the call from the general and others for more troops. >> barack obama wrestled with a new strategy for afghanistan, and eventually opting for a surge in troops to take on the taliban in their own heartland. >> i have determined that it's in our vital national interests to send an additional 30,000 u.s. troops to afghanistan. >> but progress is slow. gains are fragile.
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the u.s. has a brickbly relationship with karzai. but the u.s. is also taking casualties. by february 2010, 1,000 american soldiers lost their lives in afghanistan. there is progress in the south, the taliban's heartland, but much still to be done, and the american public is tiring of a decade of war. >> well, since the u.s. first invaded much began stan after september 11th, we asked what kinds of gains have been made and how the everyday lives of afghans improved. we wanted to focus on the people there. how have their lives changed? >> there have been improvements in the daily lives for many afghans since september 11th. a lot of gains in the educational area for international development. the number of kids have gone
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from 900,000 in '01, to 7.3 million. there were zero girls in 2001 going to school, and now 2.3 million girls who are going to class. that's a good thing. roads and hospitals have been built with aid money. 1,100 miles of road. the head of the usa says the economy is growing for the last several years since 2011. and there is some level of health care. so there are positives. >> so it sounds like there have been improvements made, but you and i were talking, and afghanistan is so so poor. almost like one of the poorest countries in the world. they have so far to go. >> yeah, a long way to go. i have been there four times now. there are a lot of negatives to life in afghanistan that has not
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been improved by the billions of dollars of aid. not even made a dent. and because of the war in some places it's worse because of all the fighting. 1 out of 3 live in absolute poverty. they do not have adequate food or shelter. and then another third are slightly above poverty. listen to this, their life expectancy, 44 years old. 1 in 4 people can read. and so you have those sorts of statistics. it's only 23% of afghans have access to safe drinking water. it's a land lock country and hard to get access to water as well, because it's in the mountains, and the irrigations, and expensive to build roads. i interviewed a guy there in a village back in '02, and he looked to be 70 years old.
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and he was 38. i swear to god that he looked like he was 70 years old. >> that is hard, hard living. as a country, we put in billions of dollars. other countries have put in lots and lots of money to help the afghan people. is that money going to the people themselves where they need it? >> in a lot of cases, it's not, actually. corruption is part of the problem. when it comes to distributing, a report to the high commission in 2010 says three quarters of the aid since '01 has got to the people so far, and out of that there has been -- we'll call it inadequate allocation of the funds. 40% of it goes back to the donor countries through consultant fees, and over head, and corporate profits involved because they are buying services and equipment. so there's -- there's a lot of money but not a lot when you look at the amount being
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donated. they are getting the economy back up, and as i said, the political corruption. this government is rotten from top to bottom. i have to say that and i have seen it with my own eyes. when some of the money gets to the villages, it's pocketed by the elders and stuff. i did a story on cops there last year, and the guy who is running the police station said i am trying to get the cops into work here and i sent them down to the town to get their permits and the guys in the office say you have to pay $200 for your permit. there is no $200 fee for the permit. it's just skimming. >> and you brought it up, it's a beautiful country. it would be ripe for tourism if conditions were different. >> you go to iraq, and there's a lot of desert. and afghanistan, parts of the country are spectacular. and a lot of it is green.
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a beautiful lake area. it has great tourists potential if it was not quite so deadly. >> such a lot of work to be done there. >> yeah, a sad country. >> thank you so much. of course, cnn is staying on the afghanistan troop drawdown story throughout the day right up to the president's address to the nation that is scheduled for 8:00 a.m. eastern and 5:00 pacific, and you can watch it live here on cnn. damage, debris, and a lot of people with no power. chad meyers has the latest on the aftermath of the powerful storms that hit chicago. (screams) when an investment lacks discipline, it's never this obvious. introducing investment discipline etfs from russell. visit russelletfs.com r a prospectus, containing the investment objectives, risks, charges, expenses and other information. read and consider it carefully before investing.
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u.s. forest service says wildfires across the country burned more than 2,100 square miles, and that's an area almost as big as delaware if you can believe it. this video is a fire near big spring, texas. crews managed to save one building in the video. it's not fire, but water is that causing trouble for folks in minot, north dakota. the river is expected to overwhelm the city's levees by tomorrow. authorities have ordered about 12,000 people to evacuate. it could be days before all the power is back on in chicago after severe storms knocked out electricity for thousands of
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folks and caused headaches for travelers as well. chad, i mean, i used to live in chicago for three years and that's unbelievable when you -- those storms can just knock out so many peoples' electricity all at once. >> 300,000. that's a lot of power lines down. those are big areas. chicago, the city itself, probably less than 25,000 now still without power. but the northern suburbs had two things happen. one storm come up from the south and another from the west and they merged over chicago. like two waves coming from two different directions that merge under your boat and you have a ji beganic wave, called rogue waves. back you up to 6:00 last night. a series of storms coming this way and another series of storms coming that way, and then there is a v. all the wind funneled itself. 350 flights were canceled in
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chicago. and that is right there. and even at that time, i will take you to this, this is the same picture at 10:00 last night, but the weather was not only chicago, it was all the way to detroit and cleveland and back through flint. look at all the terrible weather over there last night. there are people without power. we know that you are out there, because you cannot see us today because there are hundreds and thousands of other people that cannot have power either with all the storms that rolled through the upper midwest yesterday. a lot of you are sounding off on the talk back question. what do you want to hear from president obama tonight? >> justin writes, the people are sick and tired of the war. the government needs a major makeover, and obama can't cut it. period. some more strong opinions up ahead.
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you have been sounding off on the talkback question. when president obama makes the speech tonight about u.s. troops in afghanistan, what do you want to hear? angel rights, i like the guy but nobody will hear what they want
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to. i would like to see our troops come home and a plan to heal our economy and dirk says, i want to hear that the united states government will do anything in their power to keep us safe and root out extremism. the u.s. was and is trying to go back to the core of religious extremism and destroy it if possible. we better have the stomach for it or it will come back to haunt us one day. brian says, it's time to wi withdrawal. too little progress has been made. as long the poorest border with pakistan exist we will never completely eradicate the taliban. tyl tyl tyl tyl tyl tyler writes, president obama, just tell us how it is and how
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it has to be. thank you to all of you for sending us your thoughts. well, first lady, michelle obama, makes a special visit in honor of the leaders of tomorrow. it's the latest stop in her week-long visit to the african continent.
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michelle obama made a
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special top today. we go to our reporter traveling with the first lady. >> nelson men delia's wife called her the queen of the world. she says the first lady of the united states redefined womanhood in the 21st century. her speech received a huge and positive reaction. she managed to inspire and paid tribute to those that fought for democracy in the country, and she also challenged the youth of africa. >> you can be the generation that makes the discovers and builds economies. you can be the generation that brings opportunity and prosperity to forgotten corners of the world and banishes hunger from this continent forever. you can be the generation that ends hiv aids in our time.
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the generation that fights not just the disease, but the stigma of the disease. the generation that teaches the world that hiv is fully presentable and treatable and should never be a source of shame. >> she is, after all here to reiterate her husband's policy. >> the world is looking to africa as a vital partner. that is why my husband's administration is not simply focussed on extending a helping hand to africa, but focusing on partnering with africans who will shape their future by combating corruption and building strong democratic institutions. >> her speech comes at a crucial time here on the continent when more an

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