life possible but that we should all do something to right the wrongs we see. good eek evening, i'm erica hill. a lot of new stories happening at this hour, including the president on health care reform. his speech on wednesday looking like it's make or break time. he's still under fire after a top adviser steps down over the weekend. anderson cooper is live is live in afghanistan, hell monday pro helmund province and that's where we begin. anderson? we pay be having a little

trouble with that shot tonight, as you can understand. doing this from a base in afghanistan. obviously, not the easiest feat. we will be getting back from afghanistan, and we'll have a number of report from anderson, michael ware and sanjay gupta. let's see what's happening back home in what is a make or break week for president obama. out on the road today, pushing health care reform, before he tries to sell it to congress on wednesday night. in a speech which sources tell cnn will be forceful in tone. before he get to that much discussed speech, there's the one to america's school kids tomorrow. frankly, none of this has been simple or easy, which pretty much sums up the president's summer. while most of the attacks have come from the opposition, some of the wounds are self-inflicted. the latest happening over the weeke weekend. a fiery aide going down in flames. the raw politics now from candy crowley. >> reporter: the white house special adviser on green jobs, he is out of his job.

critics went after him with bit of his past caught up with him. >> the answer to that is they're [ bleep ]. >> reporter: then van jones gave his video before he got his job. but then came this, a 2004 petition from 9/11trooult.org an immediate inquiry into evidence that suggests high level government officials may have deliberately allowed the september 11th attacks to occur, then jones was petitioner number 46. the white house said the idea the u.s. government let 9/11 happen is not what the president thinks. jones put out a press release, it's not what he thinks either. conservatives on blogs and the air waves step it up. he resigned sortly after midnight saturday. the white house not interested in fighting this one. >> i think from a policy

perspective, it's damaging for the president to go to mat for one individual and there's so much at stake. >> reporter: health care, afghanistan, the environment, the economy. there is no time in the schedule, no room on at again da to get distracted. >> you don't want your president going into what next week will be his big week on health care, to have two embarrassments going into it. both the jones matter and the brouhaha regarding the education speech. >> reporter: it's been an unsettling summer for the white house. the president's poll numbers have slipped steadily to a low 50% average. nearly three-quarters of democrats are opposed to the war in afghanistan that the president has said is necessary. and overall support for what people perceived to be his health care plan has also fallen. some democrats fear major health care reform is slipping away and they've urged the president to step it up, be less cool, less cerebral. here he was today -- >> your voice will get health care passed. your voice will make sure that

the american worker is protected. you can build america. i need your help. thank you, cincinnati. are you fired up? >> reporter: he is for midable, gifted and has more political capital than any politician in washington. now he needs to make some legislation. it's nowhere near over. it's just tougher. last spring's honeymoon is giving way to autumn's reality. >> digging deeper with candy crowley, senior political correspondent, also senior political analyst dave gergen and joe hicks. i want to start with you, candy, strategists on both side of the aisle are saying this is too much of a distraction, the risk is too great but van jones' activism wasn't a secret to anyone so was he not properly vetted? >> as we as we can tell that big long 64-page questionnaire they put out, did you belong to any group that might embarrass the

president? did you write an e-mail that might embarrass the president? the czars, special white house advisers don't have to fill those out. he was certainly well known and was friends with a number of people on the president's staff but he was not vetted at all like cabinet members were. first of all, it would be far to time-consuming. you're right, a lot of those things were out there. certainly the bent of his politics. but the idea of the 9/11 petition, i don't think that's anything they knew about because i think they would have spotted that as trouble. >> david, is the white house reacting quickly enough to some of these issues that are coming up and are they reacting properly? >> well, let me just say this, erica. i've known van jones for a number of years, has seen his good works out of a lefty out of law school instead of going to a luke ra ty job, went out to work with prisoners, creating green jobs, was featured in "time" magazine. i was not familiar with his past

statements. he has done some good work and it's a sad day to see this happen. the white house may -- i don't think force him out. i think he fell on his own sword but it also made no effort to keep him. i think they are genuinely concerned that they need to clear the decks for health care and some of these other fights. but i think it's a sad day to see a man of good work get so little credit. there's no balance to understanding just how many good things he's done. >> joe hicks as a conservative, how harmful is this to the president, to the administration, will it have any impact on, say, health care coming up it week? >> well, i'm not sure the van jones issue will have an affect on them. that depend on what the suspect able to do and how he's able to convince americans about what this plan is, that there seems to be a great deal of confusion over. i've got to say, like david said, a lot of people knew van jones. and knew him from his work around the environment. but, frankly, had they just asked a few questions around the circle of activism in this

country, this guy was well known and well known to be a quite left figure. i mean, it's almost like having a holocaust denier or somebody who believed in the flat earth issues inside, occupying a desk in the wous. this guy was known for some radical beliefs and turning up a few rocks would have revealed that. it's uft they did not. >> well, we'll continue to talk more about this, not just this issue but as candy mentioned at the end of her piece, quite a week coming up for the president. we'll continue that with our panel next. also ahead, we'll have more on the breaking fews out of afghanistan tonight as part of our special coverage there continues throughout the hour. you can join the discussion happening now on the live blog, you know where to find it, ac360.com. just ahead, we will take you where the president's speech to school kids will not be seen even after the white house released the text today and big name republicans endorsed the speech. we head back to anderson, we'll find him with the marines who are trying to build success

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our conversation continues about president obama's message and whether it's drown out in a lot of noise. some of that noise reflecting legitimate concerns, some of it politically driven. whatever the reason the white house seems to understand that noise problem and is trying, albeit, a little later in the game, to overcome it. >> we have never been this

close. we've never had such broad agreement on what needs to be done. and because we're so close to real reform, suddenly the special interests are doing what they always do. just trying to scare the heck out of people. >> digging deeper with our panel, candy crowley, david gergen and joe hicks back with us for you. candy, as we talked about and you talked about in your piece this week described as crucial, the critical juncture for health care reform. what do you expect to hear from the president wednesday when he addresses congress and what does he need to say to both congress and the american people? >> well, what we're told he's going to be just tonally is more aggressive. i doubt as aggressive as he was in that town hall meeting, simply because it's not the forum to be up on capitol hill doing that. but we're told we'll hear a president much more forceful. what democrats want to hear from him and what they expect to hear from him is what do you want and weight expendable here? they want some guidelines. what happens with democrats and has happened to them before, as well as to republicans, is that

you don't want to run to the barricades for your president only to find out he's not behind up. so they're trying to figure out, like what's acceptable, what's not acceptable, and they're looking for, you know, the big "l," some leadership. the president has taken this 50,000 foot view for a while. they want him in the trevennche >> there is the subject of the president's speech to schoolchildren tomorrow. so much controversy last week. the text of the speech was released today online yet there is still some backlash, mainly over the department of education's suggested lesson plan. still, some folks are endorsing it today, including jim greer saying his kids will listen to it. should this continue to be an issue for the president tomorrow? >> well, it never should have been an issue initially, erica. i mean, come on, ronald reagan did the same thing, addressed the nation's school kid. this is about opposition for the

sake of opposition. and i say that as a political conservative. and i said this on a commentary, listen, there's a lot of hyster hysteria, but to have a president sit down and talk to the nation's school kids about funtd mentally important things and deliver what is actually a conservative message, personal responsibility, stay in school, take your studies seriously, the actual importance of education, these are good things. and to have some on the right find ways to oppose this president on this, i think, causes people to scratch their heads and go, what the heck is going on over there? the fringes of this conservative movement. >> you call it the fringes but clearly this on opposition for opposition's sake, as you characterized it, is having an effect on the white house. david, they seem to be constantly on the defensive. this appears to be a particularly rough summer for the president. why has it been so difficult? >> that's a very good question, erica.

i think in part the white house team is tired. they had a couple of rough, hard challenging years for a kam pin and had to go into the most energetic presidency we've seen in a long time. i think in part they didn't realize how tired the country was of all the initiatives and how the country was really getting very concerned about the growth -- potential growth of government. i must say, i think now, and joe hicks may have a view on this, is that the conservative blogosphe blogosphere, the conservative talk show hosts have shown a power since george bush left power that wasn't fully anticipated by the white house. that is, the republican in the white house they had to be more careful. now they've just unleashed on this white house. there are times i think joe hicks is right, they've gone overboard, as on this school speech. other issues they are digging into and they are causing ka nipgss for this white house. there are whole conversations in

the blogosphere that the mainstream media misses and doesn't see the van jones eruption coming. >> and, joe, just to bring it back to what david just mentioned, you mentioned earlier this is sort of on the fringe, but it is still conservativism. many associate, quote/unquote, quoefshtives with the republicans. is the republican party playing catch-up at this point? >> clearly the republican party has been the ropes since the election and some would argue way before that. there is some catching up to do here. you don't do that. i want to make the argument here that the republican party and some mainstream conservatives, even though there are some who oppose this president's speech tomorrow, some are now backing away from that. but if you listen to some of the voices, there are a lot of conservatives from the very beginning that said, wait a minute, hold on, what is this opposition about here? understanding first president bush did this, ronald reagan did this. if obama's going to deliver a

fundamentally important message, one that conservative in delivering often about personal responsibility, why would you oppose that? but i think, you know, david's hit on something here. i think the white house for some reason's been unable to really defend itself and doesn't seem able to figure out how to come at some of these issues and present them in a way that disarms some of this opposition for the same of opposition. >> candy, it's interesting. we seem to hear a different tone today. you mentioned earlier that the fire we saw in the president today when he was speaking to union members in ohio, i want to take a quick listen to a little more of what he had to say first. >> eye got a question for all those folks. what are you going to do? what's your answer? what's your solution? and you know what? they don't have one.

>> more reminiscent of what you might call his campaign speeches from last year. is the white house getting the message and are they trying to hit back with their own bit of fire? >> they are. they are pushing back now. they're going to push back against the whole school brouhaha tomorrow. we are told again that he's going to be forceful in his speech wednesday. but it has to be more than that. here's the president in front of a very friendly labor audience today. so he had a great crowd. and this is like the anti-town hall meeting thing. here i am and listen, here are all these people with me. but it has to be more than that. because what -- you can't go and do that on capitol hill. you can be forceful. you can say, here's what i want, here's what i won't stand for, here are my bright, red lines but you also have to, you know, knock heads. you have to be lyndon johnson at some level and say, i need on you this, you have to be with me. he needs to get tougher. it's two different crowd here. there's the crowd you saw today.

that was for picture and that for momentum. what you've got to have behind the scenes is a president who is willing to put his political capital on the line with his own party. >> and that, of course, is the big thing everybody is looking to see is whether or not he will do that. candy crowley, david gergen, joe hicks, thanks for being with us. more ahead on the school speech flack. hear from principals and parents why one school will not let the president listen tomorrow. looking for the formula for success. afghanistan possibly at a tipping point right now. more on the growing allegations that the recent election there was rigged. towels, sheets and then there was the stuff he wanted... like a new microwave. and because of walmart's unbeatable prices, we were able to get it all. ...and then some. set them up for success-- for less.

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millions of school kids will head back to class tomorrow but not all classrooms will be full. some parents are choosing to keep their kids at home. their concern, the president's planned speech to america's

school kids. now, some families claim it is an attempt to indoctrinate, including others are changing their tune. >> after reading the text, seeing the department of education have told teachers they are not to leave students in the direction they would have a week ago, my kids will be watching the president's speech as all -- i hope all kids will. >> those comments from jim greer coming today after the white house released an advanced copy of the speech and also after the department of education last week modified its suggested lesson plan, including materials encouraging children to write letters about how they can help the president. something the first president bush asked schoolchildren to do in 1991. for some, those changes are not enough. gary tuchman takes us up close. >> reporter: this north carolina school principal had to decide whether or not to air president barack obama's speech in his school. the pressure was on.

>> it may sound a little strange, but after a flurry of phone calls, my first thing was go in my office, shut my door and have a prayer because i knew i was going to have to make a decision. >> reporter: what was he hearing from parents? mostly comments like those we heard at the county fair, just down the road. do you think the school should play barack obama's speech? >> absolutely not. >> it's getting more like communism. we're going to do this and that. >> i think it should be up to the parents' decision if they want their children to hear that or not. >> reporter: that's exactly what the principal decided. the speech will not be shown at elementary. >> i will not deny the political climate is high. emotions are flying high. i didn't think kids should be put in the position to be singled out, staff members singled out, parent -- >> reporter: singled out because they stayed for the speech? >> exactly.

>> reporter: parent told us they backed the decision. in our research of schools and school districts that lntd be showing the speech live, perhaps most of them, not surprisingly, are in counties where obama bop did not do particularly well dul during the november election. john mccain received 67% of the vote here. >> this is what he's going to say in his speech. 23 you quit if school, you're quitting on your country. isn't that part of what education is all about? >> definitely. we asked our parents again, going back to responsibility, a responsible parent going to sit down and talk to their kids about staying in school. >> reporter: but barack obama's message about it won't even be shown here in an edited form in the days to come. the principal decided if the children are to see any of it, it should only be from their parents. what if president obama calls you up and says, i want to make a live appearance. you would be dealing with the

same thing with these parent, wouldn't you? >> i would, probably. >> reporter: how does that make you feel? >> well, we have a long way to go. and the issues out there today are devises ive issues. but if the president wants to come to claremont elementary school. >> reporter: he put on the word marqu marquee, the price of greatness is responsibility. winston churchill get top honors here, not president barack ob a obama. if you still have questions, logon to ac360.com where we have the full text. live from the battle zone. anderson gives yus up an close look at a marine base that until two months ago was still taliban territory. hi, erica.

in britain three convictions today in the plot to blow up planes bound for the u.s. and canada with liquid explosives. the plan which was uncovered three years ago led to all those strict limits on the amount of liquid. a 360 follow-up. a senior british official admits trade and oil played a crucial role in the decision to include the lockerbie bomber. soon after that decision, libya approved a $900 million deal with oil giant bp. last month the bomber now dying of cancer went free on compassionate grounds and not under a transfer agreement. some politicians admit to the family's claim, it's all the same and it all smells. kcadbury has rekraekted a $7 billion offer from kraft foods. they say it's too load.

and bay area drivers need an alternate route for their morning commute if california. san francisco/oakland bay bridge will still be closed for repair after engineers found a crack while doing other work over the holiday weekend. >> b.a.r.t. will be very busy in the bay jair. anderson cooper joins us live from afghanistan where he talks with marines. it's a new strategy and taken out of enemy hands. anderson shows us how they did it next. michael ware takes you to the most dangerous highway in the world. it is booby-trapped by the taliban. a stretch of roads where frankly every trip could be a driver's last. ♪ yes, you're lovely... ♪ what do you think?

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well, the price went down, so you're all getting a check thanks. for the difference. except for you -- you didn't book with orbitz, so you're not getting a check. well, i think we've all learned a valuable lesson today. good day, gentlemen. thanks a lot. thank you. introducing hotel price assurance, where if another orbitz customer books the same hotel for less, we send you a check for the difference, automatically. we have solved our technical problems. we want to head back to anderson live in afghanistan. he will be there all week reporting on the war. anderson? >> reporter: yeah, erica. we're coming to you from jaco a

forward operating post in helmand province. the marine strategy here is clear, hold and build. in past years u.s. didn't have enough troops to clear the taliban and hold onto these areas and help build the local government. president obama has sent in 21,000 new troops. there are about 10,000 in helmand. that hasn't allowed the ma reendz to work in all the areas of helmand did has allowed them to move into areas that have been under taliban control for years, like this area. it's a strategy to try to protect the local population and serve them the benefits of life without the taliban. it's a strategy the marines say in this area is showing success. patrol base is a remote, dusty outpost in the helmand river valley. this was taliban territory up until just two months ago. when the first battalion, fifth regiment of the second expeditionary brigade first arrived. how bad was it when you first got it?

>> pretty bad. every day. i was captain heisman's company and my headquarters, when we landed we got shot at as we moved in and for the next ten days every patrol that went out was was destroying the enemy. >> reporter: lieutenant bill and his marines can now openly walk the streets in this district. and they're moving quickly to help rebuild. there's a few road being organized with u.s. funds. dozens of businesses have already reopened. and soon the local school closed by the taliban will reopen as well. some people see this and say this seems like nation-building. is that something -- is that part of the mission, is nation-building part of the mission? >> well, if you call enabling govment, yes. the way to win long term, win for real, you have to build a government that woshgdz. not just a government in kabul but in small areas, local districts that really provide

services to people? >> that's right. >> reporter: to do that, colonel works closely with the governor of the district and with local police. they're trying to restore residents' confidence and spread stability. so the idea is pockets of stability that then spread out and connect? like an oil stain that spreads outward? >> that's right. and those -- how do they connect are through these roads that connect these communities with the other. roads that have to be safe. >> reporter: afghan police man checkpoints on the roads but they need more police here and better trained ones. without u.s. troops, colonel says the taliban who return in a matter of days. >> a lot of marines i talk to make a distinction between big "t" taliban and little "t." what's big "t". >> enablers, people in contact with people from pakistan, arabs, checnyans.

>> reporter: little "t" are more op tunists? >> someone that lives here, didn't have a very good life, never had an education. he aa long-term threat to stability? i don't believe he is. neither does the government. >> reporter: you can co-op little "t" taliban just as was done in iraq with former insurgents? >> sure. >> reporter: you think that can work here? >> it has to work. how do you end the war if you don't -- if there's no place for the former fighters to go, how do you end it? >> reporter: how do you end the war in afghanistan? if what's happening here is any indication, the answer may lie in winning the peace. it is a very fragile peace, however, as you heard in that peace. the marines will say in a matter of days the taliban would return here if they were pulling out. there are setbacks in concert,

reminders of how dangerous and deadly the mission is in afghanistan. michael ware traveled on the road from kabul to kandahar. it is now a taliban death trap. here's michael's report. >> reporter: the cost of the afghan war are staggering. the loss of lives, the billions upon billions of dollars and yet what has it delivered? looking around, talking to the u.s. military, it's clear. it war is not being won. for most ordinary afghans, this perhaps is the simplest, clearest measure of that. this is highway number 1. it's here kabul ends and 300 miles down that road is kandahar and the taliban heartland. i remember when taking the journey from kandahar to kabul was more than 12 exhausting hours, but in 2004 american aid money repaved this road and cut

that down to a mere five or six. now, that journey is back to nine or ten hours. there's at least three known taliban checkpoints on this american-paved highway. people are being pulled over, buses and executed by the taliban. truck driver mohammed runs this taliban once a week. he hauls fuel in this tanker. the road, he says, is in terrible shape, wrecked by explosio explosions. drivers are left completely exposed 37. it's been blown up by land mines and there is no security, he says. a father of three, he has to provide for his children. he takes his life in his hands each time he travels highway 1. i'm compelled, he tells me. how else do we eat? there's simply no alternative. highway 1 looks like this. it is one of the most vital arteries in afghanistan. rebuilt with almost $300 million

in american aid money. its asphalt rolls out from the capital kabul to the west towards kandahar. the nation's second largest city and a political epicenter. this is the other end of that road. kandahar is just a short distance down there. kabul, hundreds of miles that way. but here in kandahar, this is a city surrounded by pockets of taliban resistance. indeed, just a few miles down that dirt road is a taliban-controlled district. a few miles up the highway is the first taliban checkpoint. the fact that the talibans have been able to strangle the life out of this highway is a testament to the fact that there's simply not enough american, british, international or afghan troops to secure it. what had once been an american project, hailed as a sign of

progress, has now become a mark of a mission in crisis. in talking to senior u.s. military here on the ground and others, that crisis is across the board with the mission. militarily the entire u.s. military strategy for the war in iraq right now is under significant review, as one commander put it to me, american commander, we can't move forward, we can't move back. politically the nation is in limbo. the election rums from the presidential runoff last month had been stalled from being released because of a storm of corruption allegations. as one senior american officer said to me, there's going to have to be something dramatic happen here to see a vee ver sal. anderson? >> reporter: we'll have more from michael ware throughout this week as we report to you live from afghanistan. when we come back, we have breaking news on allegations of election fraud. we'll talk to national security

analyst peter bergen and dr. sanjay gupta who's here in afghanistan, looking at u.s. trauma teams treating forces in the field.

we're coming to you tonight from patrol base jaker in helmand province where marines are fighting hard to protect the local population. when we have breaking news tonight. cnn has learned the u.s. ambassador to afghanistan, carl iken berry, met with president

karzai over the allegations. a senior department officials told us those present at the meeting urged president karzai to allow the afghanistan election commission to investigate questions of election fraud and, quote, determine which votes are counted. once that's done election officials will dinner if a runoff is necessary. peter bergen is with me at patrol base jaker. why is this significant about the election? >> karzai has to get 50% of the vote. right now all the votes are in and he's sort of just under 50% of the vote. if there was substantial election fraud, serious allegations that is the case, he won't get to 50%. there will be a runoff. the main other candidate dr. abdullah has a chance to run against karzai. this will delay the whole election process by october, by the time you do the new election and get the results in. >> you came out on patrol yesterday where you're spending

the week with us. what's the significance here in helmand province? >> helmand, 12 districts were controlled by the taliban in july. now only one according to the marines. so a lot of what the military calls kinetic activity, moving taliban out of areas that were controlled. in the areas around, on our walk yesterday, seemed like the taliban moved back although they remain a presence. have they gone underground? did they move out of the area? they had a time to -- >> so it's possible they just faded away into other areas or the ones who live here are laying low to see what happens in the future? >> no doubt. in fact, we've had fairly serious attacks in the north of afghanistan by taliban in the last few weeks. the taliban, they were thinking organization as well. >> admird mimiral mike mullen s war is deteriorating and we're seeing taliban move from traditional strongholds into the north and into the west.

here, though, at least the marines we talked to say they are seeing success in a very short period of time. when everyone in the united states thinks about this war as being eight years old, the marines here will say, it's only 65 days old here because there have not been significant forces here over the last eight years. >> almost none. and i think another factor is the topography in helmand. it's flat. in parts of the country where they can hide in the mountains, that's something that works in their favor. but clearly it has been somewhat successful from a military point of view that's moving into delivery services. >> there's still a huge problem with taliban being able to slip across the border into pakistan. >> right. one of the surprising things we've learned is that al qaeda is not a factor here. most americans think we're in afghanistan to fight al qaeda but in this province, if it were a country supply, you know, the world's leading supplier of her win al qaeda is not so much a

factor what they're doing here is essentially nation-building at a local lowe level. >> president obama sold this to the americans as going after al qaeda. in practice this is more about nation-building which is the right approach. you have to bring more than security. you have to bring jobs otherwise the taliban can pay people, put them on the payroll. you have to get alternative employment for a place with more than 50% unemployment. >> we'll be talking to peter throughout the week in afghanistan. coming up next, though, fighting death in a war zone. dr. san za gupta takes us inside a battlefield hospital where they try to save a 2-year-old. jaycee dugard's childhood friend speaking about her own encounter with phillip garrido. stay any 2, 3, or 4 nights between september 13th and november 22nd, and you can earn double, triple,

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we deployed correspondents throughout afghanistan over the

last week and also all throughout it week. you heard from michael ware earlier and you'll hear from him this week. we have dr. sanjay gupta as well as peter bergen. s sanjay has been looking at medical facilities in helmand province. he takes us inside a hospital at camp dwyer. take a look at his report. >> reporter: early morning, kandahar. >> we've been here just a few migts. we're already getting an idea of just how busy this hospital is. the busiest air strip supposedly in the world, trying to get patients to the hospital. we're hearing this is a very urgent case. a patient with a lot of bleeding. possible double leg amputation. >> stay out of the box, please. >> very weak radal pulses.

tourniquet was turn on about 45 minutes ago. bilateral tourniquets. >> reporter: the doctor is communicating to the patient, translating, trying to figure out exactly what happened to him. we don't know much. middle-aged, afghan national. here's something, only a quarter of the patients brought here are u.s. or coalition forces. the rest are locals. >> we'll go ahead and give him some more pain medicine. yes, please, 50 again. he can handle it. >> you have no idea the severity of injuries. checking everything is fine. pak sure there's nothing they missed. >> you can see the tourniquets are still holding. >> yeah. >> reporter: they're putting big ivs in here. there are a couple of tourniquets really holding all that blood from pouring out of his leg. that's why they have to take him to the operating room. 24/7, a battlefield hospital in

the middle of a war zone. like this. surgeons working on a young soldier. ied, improvised explosive device attack. as you watch him wheeled out, his face is torn. his left arm terribly damaged. and underneath that blanket, one of his legs is gone. surgeons tell me his mother received the awful call just a short time ago. >> ready? >> don't move him yet. >> reporter: it's all hard to watch and to process. they are brothers, friends, neighbors, but here is where it gets worse. that sound you hear is the drill being used to remove the skull of a child. a 2-year-old afghan boy. he fell down a cliff while playing. his name is malik and he has a massive brain injury. almost dead.

doctors here are trying to give him a fighting chance. he is one of the cutest boys you'll ever meet. in kandahar, see what's going on behind me. chopper is about to land. very rigid hill. we don't have a lot of information. we just know there are patients. over there, look over there, two ambulances. all the medics over here. starting to run out to the chopper. they just got the all clear signal. we're going to go with them. 30 second later, the patient is inside. >> let's get him -- >> reporter: as you can see, there's a lot of triage going on right now. placing ivs, breathing tube checked. a couple things i noticed right away, he's moving both of his

legs and both of his arms. very good sign. there's a concern about head injury but it's probably not that severe if he's able to do what he's doing now. and keep in mind, in the midst of all this, the young boy, malik, his life still hangs in the balance. i'll tell you, we'll check in on malik all week long. he is alive. he is recovering from that head injury. it is remarkable to see how these doctors go to work. how they brought him from a remote village to helmand province to operate on him. >> sanjay, we'll talk to you tomorrow and you'll be reporting all week from -- live in afghanistan. we're also going to be looking at one of the greatest threats to u.s. forces right now, ieds. one of the eerie things, even in an area like this where marines have been able to clear out the taliban, hard core taliban elements, they know there are still am talibans still living in this area.

they live amongst the community. they're part of the community. and so those taliban can, if they want, still try to lay ieds. that's killing and wounding a large number of the u.s. forces who get injured here. we'll take a look at that throughout the week and other areas of afghanistan. i hope you join us for that tomorrow night. now back to erica hill. >> thanks for your reporting. looking forward to more of that throughout the week. just ahead here in the u.s., sharks on the move. forcing the closure of some peoples. plus, a boyfriend says an nfl player attacked her. she responds back. do you know who they are? you'll find out. ♪

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(voice 2) how bad is it? (voice 1) traffic's off the chart... (voice 2) they're pinging more targets... (voice 3) isolate... prevent damage... (voice 2) got 'em. (voice 3) great exercise guys. let's run it again. other stories. tom foreman joining us with the 360 bulletin. >> thousands turning out today in the california town where jaycee dugard was kidnapped 1 years ago to celebrate her freedom. a lot of happy tears.

one of jaycee's childhood friend says she told her friends a man and woman followed her home from the bus stop just a week before jaycee vanished. >> i remember hearing the tire tracks pull onto the dirt road behind me and freaked me out. i remember walking faster, hearing the tires go faster. that paid me even more scared. and so then i ran home. >> san diego chargers linebacker shawne merriman is back practicing with his team a day after being arrested after he choked and restrained his girlfriend sheila that quill la. he says she was drunk. she says no way, she's allergic to alcohol. that's how she got the name that quee la, because she can't drive. visitors to massachusetts. beaches are closed to swimmers in chatham after three great white sharks were spotted. two were tagged. scientists can study them and presumably the third did whatever he wanted to.

>> and people aren't getting in his way because he's a great white. thanks for clearing up, too, the mystery of who sheila tequila was. >> not sure which reality that reality star is living in. >> may not be ours, but, hey. up next, someone who does live if our reality, a dog. we both love our dogs. check out the dog who shoots pool. president obama fighting to stay on message despite the latest distractions. if you're using other moisturizing body washes, you might as well be. you see, their moisturizer sits on top of skin, almost as if you're wearing it. only new dove deep moisture has nutriummoisture, a breakthrough formula with natural moisturizers... that can nourish deep down. it's the most effective natural nourishment ever. new dove deep moisture with nutriummoisture. superior natural nourishment for your skin. if you get sick, or change jobs.

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or high blood pressure before taking it. my copd often meant i had to wait to do what i wanted to do. now i take symbicort and it significantly improves my lung function, starting within 5 minutes. symbicort has made a significant difference in my breathing... now more of my want to's are can do's. ask your doctor about symbicort today. i got my first prescription free. call or go online to learn more. (announcer) if you cannot afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. tom foreman, the moment you've been waiting for. it's the shot, and it may come as a surprise on this program

but we're going with something out of our comfort simploen. an animal-related shot. >> no. >> yes, dramatic animal video has returned in the form of halo, who's more than just a dog. he's a nasty pool shark. look at him go. who needs a cue stick when you have paws like that. yeah, you show that ball who's boss. i don't know if he's a hustler, but i'll tell you this, if i were some of the folks in this student yoeshgs i'd be worried if he put a bet on the table. >> you know with i think he was? >> what's that? >> i think he was one of those poker playing dogs. >> he might be. >> and he just shifted over. >> he's a multitalented -- >> he does look like one of the dogs from around the table. i want to be on his side. >> look at that face. >> and he's happy. clearly happy. >> happier than most of the pool sharks i've run into in my life. >> a lot more pleasant to deal with, too. just don't get on his bad side, tom. just ahead, coming up at the top of the hour, president obama launching his make or break health care push this week.

and taking heavy fire from opponents at the same time. r ca, and our friends said we should start here. good friends -- we compare our progressive direct rates, apples to apples, against other top companies, to help you get the best price. how do you do that? with a touch of this button. can i try that? [ chuckles ] wow! good luck getting your remote back. it's all right -- i love this channel. shopping less and saving more. now, that's progressive. call or click today.

good evening, i'm erica hill in new york. a lot of new stories happening

at this hour, including the president on health care reform. his speech on wednesday looking like it's make or break time. and even as he deals with that, he is still under fire after a top adviser steps down over the weekend. anderson cooper is live at jaker patrol base live in afghanistan, helmand province. let's start back home in what is a make or break week for president obama. out on the road before he tries to sell it to congress on wednesday night. before he gets to that much discussed speech, there is the one to america's school kids tomorrow. frankly, phone of this has been simple or easy which sums up the president's summer. while most of the attacks have come from the opposition, some of the wounds are self-inflicted. the latest happening over the weekend. a fiery aide going down in flames. the raw politics now from candy

crowley. >> reporter: the white house special adviser on green jobs, he is out of his job. critics went after him with bit of his past caught up with him. >> the answer to that is they're [ bleep ]. >> reporter: van jones, a renowned environmental gave his description of republicans before he got his job but youtube is forever. he put out a press release apologizing and profanity and politics is a bipartisan sport, not exactly a game-ender but then came this, a 2004 position from 9/11truth.org, a call for immediate inquiry into evidence that suggests high-level government officials may have deliberately allowed the september 11th attacks to occur. van jones was petitioner number 46. the white house said the idea the u.s. government let 9/11 happen is not what the president thinks. jones put out a press release saying it's not what he thinks either. conservatives on blogs and the air waves step it up.

jones resigned shortly after midnight on saturday. the white house not interested in fighting this one. >> i think from a policy perspective, it's damaging for the president to go to mat for one individual when there's so much at stake. >> reporter: health care, afghanistan, the environment, the economy. there is no time in the schedule, to room on the agenda to get distracted. >> you don't want if you're president going into what next week, his big week, on health care to have two embarrassments going into, it both the jones matter and the brouhaha regarding the education speech. >> reporter: it's been an unsettling summer for the white house. the president's poll numbers have slipped steadily to a low 50% average. nearly three-quarters of democrats are opposed to the war in afghanistan that the president has said is necessary. and overall support for what people perceived to be his health care plan has also fallen. some democrats fear major health care reform is slipping away and they've urged the president to step it up, be less cool, less cerebral.

so here he was today -- >> your voice will get health care passed. your voice will make sure that the american worker is protected. you can build america. i need your help. thank you, cincinnati. are you fired up? >> reporter: he is formidable, gifted and has more political capital than any politician in washington. now he needs to make some legislation. it's nowhere near over. it's just tougher. last spring's honeymoon is giving way to autumn's reality. >> digging deeper with candy crowley, senior political correspondent, also senior political analyst dave gergen and joe hicks, vice president of community advocates incorporated. candy, i want to start with you. as we heard, strategists on both sides of the aisle saying this is too much of a distraction, the risk is too great, but van jones' activism wasn't a secret to anyone so was he not properly vetted? >> as we as we can tell that big

long 64-page questionnaire they put out, did you belong to any group that might embarrass the president? did you write an e-mail that might embarrass the president? czars, that is white house advisers, these special advisers, don't have to fill those out. he certainly was well known and was friends with a number of people on the president's staff, but he was not vetted at all like cabinet members were. first of all, it would be far to time-consuming. you're right, a lot of those things were out there. certainly the bent of his politics. but the idea of the 9/11 petition, i don't think that's anything they knew about because i think they would have spotted that as trouble. >> david, is the white house reacting quickly enough to some of these issues that are coming up and are they reacting properly? >> well, let me just say this, erica. i've known van jones for a number of years, has seen his good works as a lefty out of law school, instead of going to a lycike luke ra ty jobs, went to work

with prisoners, creating green jobs, was featured in "time" magazine, got awards for it. i was not familiar with his past statements. he has done some good work and it's a sad day to see this happen. the white house may -- i don't think force him out. i think he fell on his own sword but it also made no effort to keep him. i think they are genuinely concerned that they need to clear the decks for health care and some of these other fights. but i think it's a sad day to see a man of good work get so little credit. there's no balance to understanding just how many good things he's done. >> joe hicks as a conservative, how harmful is this to the president, to the administration, will it have any impact on, say, health care, coming up this week? >> well, i'm not sure the van jones issue will have an affect on this. that depends on what the president is able to do and how he's able to convince americans about what this plan is, that there seems to be a great deal of confusion over. i've got to say, like david said, a lot of people knew van jones.

and knew him from his work around environment. but, frankly, had they just asked a few questions around the circle of activism in this country, this guy was well known and well known to be a quite left figure. i mean, it's almost like having a holocaust denier or somebody who believed in the flat earth issues, inside, occupying a desk in the white house. this guy was known for some radical beliefs and turning up a few rocks would have revealed that. it's unfortunate they did not. >> well, we're going to continue to talk about this. not just this issue, but as candy mentioned at the end of her piece, quite a week coming up for the president. we'll continue that with our panel next. also, we'll take you to the preside place where the president's speech will not be heard. we head back to anderson finding him there with the marines, trying to build success in afghanistan by backing some of the best practices from iraq to some very hostile territory. announcer: cialis asks, when is it time

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ask your doctor about cialis today so when the moment is right, you can be ready. our conversation continues about president obama's message and whether it's drown out in a lot of noise. some of that noise reflecting legitimate concerns, some of it politically driven. whatever the reason the white house seems to understand that noise problem and is trying, albeit, a little later in the game, to overcome it. >> we have never been this close. we've never had such broad agreement on what needs to be done. and because we're so close to real reform, suddenly the special interests are doing what they always do. just trying to scare the heck out of people. >> digging deeper with our panel, candy crowley, david gergen and joe hicks back with us now. candy, as we talked about and you talked about in your piece this week described as crucial, the critical juncture for health care reform. what do you expect to hear from the president wednesday when he

addresses congress and what does he need to say to both congress and the american people? >> well, what we're told he's going to be just tonally is more aggressive. i doubt as aggressive as he was in that town hall meeting, simply because it's not the forum to be up on capitol hill doing that. but we're told we'll hear a president much more forceful. what democrats want to hear from him and what they expect to hear from him is what do you want and what's expendable here? they want some guidelines. what happens with democrats and has happened to them before, as well as to republicans, is that you don't want to run to the barricades for your president only to find out he's not behind up. so they're trying to figure out, like what's acceptable, what's not acceptable, and they're looking for, you know, the big "l," some leadership. the president has taken this 50,000 foot view for a while. they want him in the trenches. >> still trying to figure out what the message is, clearly. there is the subject of the president's speech to schoolchildren tomorrow.

so much controversy last week. the text of the speech was released today online yet there is still some backlash, mainly over the department of education's suggested lesson plan. still, some folks are endorsing it today, including one of the biggest critics, jim greer, saying his kids will listen to it. should this continue to be an issue for the president tomorrow? >> well, it never should have been an issue initially, erica. i mean, come on, ronald reagan did the same thing, addressed the nation's school kids. this is about opposition for the sake of opposition. and i say that as a political conservative. and i said this on a commentary, on wpgatv.com. listen, there's a lot of hysteria. but to have the president sit down and talk to the nation's school kids about fundamentally important things and deliver what is actually a conservative

message, personal responsibility, stay in school, take your studies seriously, the actual importance of education, actual importance of education, these are good things. and to have some on the right find ways to oppose this president on this, i think, causes people to scratch their heads and go, what the heck is going on over there? the fringes of this conservative movement. >> you call it the fringes but clearly this opposition for opposition's sake, as you characterized it, is having an effect on the white house. david, they seem to be constantly on the defensive. this appears to be a particularly rough summer for the president. why has it been so difficult? >> that's a very good question, erica. i think in part the white house team is tired. they had a couple of rough, hard challenging years for a campaign and had to go into the most energetic presidency we've seen in a long time. i think in part they didn't realize how tired the country was of all the initiatives and how the country was really getting very concerned about the growth -- potential growth of government. i must say, i think now, and joe hicks may have a view on this, is that the conservative blogosphere, the conservative

talk show hosts have shown a new power since george w. bush left office that i think was not fully anticipated by the white house. and that is, with a republican in the white house, they had to be more careful. now they've just unleashed on this white house. there are times i think joe hicks is right, they've gone overboard, as on this school speech. but there are other issues they are digging into, and they are causing conniptions for this white house. there's a whole conversation going on in the conservative blogosphere that the mainstream media sometimes misses and doesn't see the van jones eruption coming. >> and, joe, just to bring it back to what david just mentioned, you mentioned earlier this is sort of on the fringe, but it is still conservativism. many people do associate, quote/unquote, conservatives with the republicans. is the republican party playing catch-up at this point? >> clearly the republican party has been the ropes since the election and some would argue way before that.

there is some catching up to do here. you don't do that. i want to make the argument here that the republican party and some mainstream conservatives, even though there are some who oppose this president's speech tomorrow, some are now backing away from that. but if you listen to some of the voices, there are a lot of conservatives from the very beginning that said, wait a minute, hold on, what is this opposition really all about here? understanding first president bush did this, ronald reagan did this. if obama's going to deliver a fundamentally important message, one that conservative in delivering often about personal responsibility, why would you oppose that? but i think, you know, david's hit on something here. i think the white house for some reason's been unable to really defend itself and doesn't seem able to figure out how to come at some of these issues and present them in a way that disarms some of this opposition for the sake of opposition.

>> candy, it's interesting. we seem to hear a different tone today. you mentioned earlier that the fire we saw in the president today when he was speaking to union members in ohio, i want to take a quick listen to a little more of what he had to say first. >> i've got a question for all those folks. what are you going to do? what's your answer? what's your solution? and you know what? they don't have one. >> more reminiscent of what you might call his campaign speeches from last year. is the white house getting the message and are they trying to hit back with their own bit of fire? >> they are. they are pushing back now. they're going to push back against the whole school brouhaha tomorrow. we are told again that he's going to be forceful in his speech wednesday. but it has to be more than that. here's the president in front of a very friendly labor audience today.

so he had a great crowd. and this is like the anti-town hall meeting thing. here i am and listen, here are all these people with me. but it has to be more than that. because what -- you can't go and do that on capitol hill. you can be forceful. you can say, here's what i want, here's what i won't stand for, here are my bright, red lines but you also have to, you know, knock heads. you have to be lyndon johnson at some level and say, i need you on this. you have to be with me on that. he needs to get tougher. it's two different crowds here. there's the crowd you saw today. that was for picture and that was for momentum. what you've got to have behind the scenes is a president who is willing to put his political capital on the line with his own party. >> and that, of course, is the big thing everybody is looking to see is whether or not he will do that. candy crowley, david gergen, joe hicks, good to have you with us tonight. thank you. >> thank you. just ahead, more on the school speech flack. you'll hear from a principal and parents about why one school will not let its students listen

to the president tomorrow. also, looking for the formula for success. afghanistan possibly at a tipping point right now. more on the growing allegations that the recent election was there rigged.

millions of school kids will head back to class tomorrow but not all classrooms will be full. some parents are choosing to keep their kids at home. and it has nothing to do with swine flu. their concern, the president's planned speech to america's school kids. now, some families claim it is an attempt to indoctrinate, their children while others, including one of the most out spoken critics of president obama's planned speech are actually changing their tune. >> after reading the text, seeing the department of education have told teachers

they are not to lead students in the direction they would have a week ago, my kids will be watching the president's speech as all -- i hope all kids will. >> those comments from jim greer coming today after the white house released an advanced copy of the speech and also after the department of education last week modified its suggested lesson plan, including materials encouraging children to write letters about how they can help the president. something the first president bush asked schoolchildren to do back in 1991. for some parents and schools, though, those changes are simply not enough. gary tuchman takes us up close. >> reporter: this north carolina school principal had to decide whether or not to air president barack obama's speech in his school. the pressure was on. >> it may sound a little strange, but after a flurry of phone calls, my first thing was go in my office, shut my door and have a prayer because i knew i was going to have to make a decision. >> reporter: what was he hearing from parents? mostly comments like those we heard at the county fair, just

down the road. do you think the school should play barack obama's speech? >> absolutely not. >> it's getting more like communism. we're going to do this and that. >> i think it should be up to the parents' decision if they want their children to hear that or not. >> reporter: that's exactly what principal chris gibbs decided. the speech will not be shown at clairemont elementary school. >> i'm not going to sit here and deny the political climate is high. emotions are flying high. i didn't think kids should be put in the position to be singled out, staff members singled on u out, parents singled out. >> reporter: singled out because they stayed for the speech? >> exactly. >> reporter: parent told us they backed the decision. >> it's not something we want to divide our school with. >> reporter: in our reseven of schools and school districts that will not be showing the president's speech live, perhaps most of them, not surprisingly, are in counties where president obama did not do particularly well during the november

election. where clairemont elementary school is located is no exception. john mccain received 67% of the vote here. this is what he's going to say in the speech. if you quit in school, you're quitting on your country. isn't that part of what education is all about? >> definitely. we asked our parents again, going back to responsibility, a responsible parent going to sit down and talk to their kids about staying in school. >> reporter: but barack obama's message about it won't even be shown here in an edited form in the days to come. the principal decided if the children are to see any of it, it should only be from their parents. what if president obama says, i want to come to your school, i want to have a life assembly and make an appearance. you'd be dealing with the same thing, wouldn't you? >> i would, probably. >> reporter: how does that make you feel? >> well, we have a long way to go. and the issues out there today are devisive issues, sensitive issues.

but if the president wanted to come to clairemont elementary school, he's certainly welcome to come. i guess i would go back in my office, shut the door and pray again. >> reporter: this principal believes in the word he put on the school marquee, the price of greatness is responsibility. the leader getting top billing on tuesday will be winston churchill, not barack obama. gary tuchman, cnn. if you still have questions, logon to ac360.com where we have the full text of the president's speech. live from the battle zone. anderson gives us up an close look at a marine base that until two months ago was still taliban territory. first, tom foreman joining us with a 360 news bulletin. >> in britain, three convictions in the plot to blow up planes bound for u.s. and canada with liquid explosives. the plan which was uncovered three years ago led to the strict limit on the amount of liquids that can pass through airport security. a 360 follow-up.

a senior brit ib official admits trade and oil played a crucial part in the decision to include the lockerbie bomber if a prisoner transfer with libya, according to jack straw in the daily telegraph newspaper over the weekend. soon after that decision, libya approved a $900 million deal with oil giant bp. last positive the bomber now dying of cancer went free on come pass yat grounds and not under a transfer agreement. some politicians and victims' families say it all smells. cadbury has rejected almost a $17 billion merger from kraft foods, saying it's just too low. bay area drivers need an although m alternate route for their commute. the san francisco/oakland bay bridge will be closed for repairs after engineers found a crack while doing other construction work over the holiday weekend. >> closed until 5:00 a.m.

wednesday. b.a.r.t. will be very busy in the bay area. >> sure will be. just ahead, anderson joining us live from afghanistan where he talks to the marines. now manning a front line outpost that is until very recently was taliban territory. a few strategy and it's taken out of enemy hands. also tonight, michael ware takes you to the most dangerous highway in the world, booby-trapped by the taliban. a stretch of road where frankly every trip could be a driver's last. (mom) he needed everything for college: towels, sheets and then there was the stuff he wanted... like a new microwave. and because of walmart's unbeatable prices, we were able to get it all. ...and then some. set them up for success-- for less. save money. live better. walmart. ♪

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we have solved our technical problems, good news so we want to head back to anderson who joins us live in afghanistan. he will be there all week reporting on the war. anderson? >> yeah, erica, we're coming to you from patrol base jaker in a remote region in southern afghanistan's helmand province. the marine strategy here is clear, hold and build. in past years u.s. didn't have enough troops on the ground here to clear the taliban and hold onto these areas and help build the local government. president obama has sent in 21,000 new troops. there's about 10,000 marines here in helmand. that hasn't allowed the marines to work in all the areas of helmand but it has allowed them to move into areas that have been under taliban control for years, like this area. it's a strategy to try to protect the local population and show them the benefits of life without the taliban. it's a strategy the marines say in this area is showing success.

patrol base jaker is a remote dusty outpus in tost in the hel river valley. this was taliban territory up until just two months ago. when the first battalion, fifth regiment of the second expeditionary brigade first arrived in force. how bad was the fight when you first got here? >> pretty bad. every day. i was captain heisman's company and my headquarters, when we landed we got shot at as we flew in and for the next ten days, every patrol that went out was destroying the enemy. >> reporter: lieutenant bill and his marines can now openly walk the streets in this district. and they're moving quickly to help rebuild. there's a new road being organized with u.s. funds. dozens of businesses have already reopened. and soon the local school closed by the taliban will reopen as well. some people see this and say this seems like nation-building. is that something -- is that part of the mission, is nation-building part of the mission?

>> well, if you call enabling governance nation-building, then, yes. >> reporter: so to really win in afghanistan, to win long term and win for real, you've got to build a governance here that works? it's not just a government in kabul but a government here in small areas like this, local districts that really provided services to people? >> that's right. >> reporter: to do that colonel works closely with the governor of the district and with the local police. they're trying to restore residents' confidence and spread stability. so the idea is pockets of stability that then spread out and connect? like an oil stain that spreads outward? >> that's right. and those -- how do they connect are through these roads that connect these communities with the other. roads that have to be safe. >> reporter: afghan police man checkpoints on the roads but they need more police here and better trained ones. without u.s. troops, colonel

says the taliban would return in a matter of days. a lot of marines i talk to make a distinction between big "t" taliban and little "t." what's big "t". >> enablers, people in contact with people from pakistan, arab, checyans. >> reporter: little "t" are more opportunists? >> well, they're somebody that lives here, doesn't have a very good life, never had an education. is he really a long-term threat to stability? i don't believe he is. neither does the governor or the district administrator. >> reporter: you can co-op little "t" taliban just as was done in iraq with former insurgents? >> sure. >> reporter: you think that can work here? >> it has to work. how do you end the war if you don't -- if there's no place for the former fighters to go, how do you end it? >> reporter: how do you end the war in afghanistan?

if what's happening here is any indication, the answer may lie in winning the peace. it is a very fragile piece, however, as you heard in that piece. the marines will say in a matter of days the taliban would return here if they were pulling out. there are setbacks in concert, reminders of how dangerous and deadly the mission is in afghanistan. michael ware traveled on the road from kabul to kandahar. the u.s. helped rebuild that road. it used to be safe. now it is a taliban death trap. here's michael's report. >> reporter: the cost of the afghan war are staggering. the loss of lives, the billions upon billions of dollars and yet what has it delivered? looking around, talking to the u.s. military, it's clear. this war is not being won. for most ordinary afghans, this perhaps is the simplest, clearest measure of that. this is highway 1.

it's here that kabul ends and 300 miles down that road is kandahar and the taliban heartland. i remember when taking the journey from kandahar to kabul was more than 12 exhausting hours, but in 2004 american aid money repaved this road and cut that down to a mere five or six. now, that journey is back to nine or ten hours. there's at least three known taliban checkpoints on this american-paved highway. people are being pulled off buses and executed by the taliban. this truck driver runs this road once a week. hauls fuel in this tanker. the road, he says, is in terrible shape, wrecked by explosions. drivers are left completely exposed. it's been blown up by land mines and there is no security, he says. a father of three, he has to provide for his children.

he takes his life in his hands each time he travels highway 1. i'm compelled, he tells me. how else do we eat? there's simply no alternative. highway 1 looks like this. it is one of the most vital arteries in afghanistan. rebuilt with almost $300 million in american aid money. its asphalt rolls out from the capital kabul to the west towards kandahar. the nation's second largest city and a political epicenter. this is the other end of that road. kandahar is just a short distance down there. kabul, hundreds of miles that way. but here in kandahar, this is a city surrounded by pockets of taliban resistance. indeed, just a few miles down that dirt road is a taliban-controlled district. a few miles up the highway is the first taliban checkpoint.

the fact that the talibans have been able to strangle the life out of this highway is a testament to the fact that there's simply not enough american, british, international or afghan troops to secure it. what had once been an american project, hailed as a sign of progress, has now become a mark of a mission in crisis. in talking to senior u.s. military here on the ground and others, that crisis is across the board with the mission. militarily the entire u.s. military strategy for the war in iraq right now is under significant review, as one commander put it to me, american commander, we can't move forward, we can't move back. politically the nation is in limbo. the election results from the presidential runoff last month had been stalled from being released because of a storm of corruption allegations. as one senior american officer

said to me, there's going to have to be something dramatic happen here to see a reversal. anderson? >> we'll have more from michael ware throughout this week ade w report to you live from afghanistan. when we come back, we have breaking news on allegations of election fraud. we'll talk to national security analyst peter bergen and dr. sanjay gupta who's here in afghanistan, looking at military trauma teams treating u.s. forces in the field.

we're coming to you tonight from patrol base jaker in remote outpost in helmand

province in afghanistan where the marines are fighting hard to not only beat the taliban but also to protect the local population. there have been concerns from washington beyond a voter fraud if recent elections throughout afghanistan. we have breaking news on that tonight. cnn has learned the u.s. ambassador to afghanistan, karl eikenberry, met with president hamid karzai over the allegations. a senior department officials told us that eikenberry and u.n. officials at the meeting urged president karzai to allow the afghanistan election commission to investigate questions of election fraud and, quote, apply high standard to determine which votes are counted. once that's done election officials will determine if a runoff is necessary. peter bergen is with me at patrol base jaker. why is this significant about the election? >> karzai has to get 50% of the vote. right now all the votes are in and he's sort of just under 50% of the vote. if there was substantial election fraud, serious allegations that is the case, he won't get to 50%. there will be a runoff. the main other candidate

dr. abdullah has a chance to run against karzai. this will delay the whole election process by as late as objection by the time you do the new election and get all the results in. >> you came out on patrol yesterday where you're spending the week with us. what's the significance here in helmand province? >> according to a senior marine officer we spoke to, 12 districts in helmand were controlled by the taliban if july. now only one, according to the marines, is controlled by the taliban. so a lot of what the military calls kinetic activity, moving taliban out of areas that were controlled. certainly in the area we're in, in our walk around yesterday, seemed to be -- the taliban have been well back although they remain in presence, did they go underground, move out of the area. the pa reason incursions was widely advertised on they had had time -- >> is it possible they moved into other yaid areas or the wundz that live here are laying

low to see what will happen in the future? >> no doubt. in fact, we've had fairly serious attacks in the north of afghanistan by taliban in the last few weeks. the taliban, they were thinking organization as well. >> admiral mike mullen says the war is deteriorating and we're seeing taliban move from traditional strongholds into the north and into the west. here, though, at least the marines we talked to say they are seeing success in a very short period of time. when everyone in the united states thinks about this war as being eight years old, the marines here will say, it's only 65 days old here because there have not been significant forces here over the last eight years. >> almost none. and i think another factor is the topography in helmand. it's pretty flat. in parts of the country where they can hide in the mountains, that's something that works in their favor. but clearly it has been somewhat successful from a military point of view that's moving into delivery services. >> there's still a huge problem with taliban being able to slip across the border into pakistan. >> right. one of the surprising things we've learned is that al qaeda

is not a factor here. most americans think we're in afghanistan to fight al qaeda certainly president obama has said that. but in this very important province, if it were a country supply, you know, the world's leading supply of heroin, al qaeda is not so much a factor. >> what they're doing here is essentially nation-building, at a local level. >> president obama sold this to the americans as going after al qaeda. in practice this is more about nation-building which is the right approach. you have to bring more than security. you have to bring jobs otherwise the taliban can pay people, put them on the payroll. you have to get alternative employment for a place with more than 50% unemployment. >> we'll be talking to peter throughout the week in afghanistan. coming up next, though, fighting death in a war zone. dr. sanjay gupta takes us inside a battlefield hospital where doctors race to save a 2-year-old boy kaut caught in the cross fire of fighting. jaycee dugard's childhood friend speaking about her own encounter with phillip garrido.

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we deployed correspondents throughout afghanistan over the last week and also all throughout this week. you heard from michael ware earlier and you'll hear from him this week. we have dr. sanjay gupta as well as fashl security as peter bergen. sanjay has been looking at medical facilities in helmand province. he takes us inside a trauma unit

at camp dwyer in helmand province. take a look at his report. >> reporter: early morning, kandahar. we've been here just a few minutes. we're already getting an idea of just how busy this hospital is. the busiest air strip supposedly in the world, flight landing all the time, trying to get patients like this to the hospital. we're hearing this is a very urgent case. a patient with a lot of bleeding. possible double leg amputation. >> stay out of the box, please. >> very weak radial pulses. tourniquets were put on about 45 minutes ago. bilateral tourniquets. >> reporter: the doctor is communicating to the patient, translating, trying to figure out exactly what happened to him. we don't know much. middle-aged, afghan national.

here's something, only a quarter of the patients brought here are u.s. or coalition forces. the rest are locals. >> we'll go ahead and give him some more pain medicine. yes, please, 50 again. he can handle it. >> reporter: you have no idea of the severity of injuries. checking everything is fine. make sure there's nothing they missed. you can see the tourniquets are still holding. they're putting big ivs in here. there are a couple of tourniquets really holding all that blood from pouring out of his leg. that's why they have to take him to the operating room. 24/7, a battlefield hospital in the middle of a war zone. like this. surgeons working on a young soldier. ied, improvised explosive device, attack. as you watch him wheeled out, his face is torn.

his left arm terribly damaged. and underneath that blanket, one of his legs is gone. surgeons tell me his mother received the awful call just a short time ago. >> ready? >> don't move him yet. >> reporter: it's all hard to watch and to process. they are brothers, friends, neighbors, but here is where it gets worse. that sound you hear is the drill being used to remove the skull of a child. a 2-year-old afghan boy. he fell down a cliff while playing. his name is malik and he has a massive brain injury. almost dead. doctors here are trying to give him a fighting chance. he is one of the cutest boys you'll ever meet. in kandahar, see what's going on behind me. chopper is about to land.

a very rigid hill. we don't have a lot of information. we just know there are patients. over there, look over there, two ambulances. all the medics over here. starting to run out to the chopper. they just got the all clear signal. we're going to go with them. 30 seconds later, the patient is inside. as you can see, there's a lot of triage going on right now. placing ivs, breathing tube checked. a couple things i noticed right away, he's moving both of his legs and both of his arms. very good sign. there's a concern about head injury but it's probably not that severe if he's able to do what he's doing now. and keep in mind, in the midst of all this, the young boy, malik, his life still hangs in the balance.

i'll tell you, we'll check in on malik all week long. he is alive. he is recovering from that head injury. it is remarkable to see how these doctors go to work. how they brought him from a remote village to helmand province to operate on him. >> sanjay, we'll talk to you tomorrow and you'll be reporting all week from -- live in afghanistan. we're also going to be looking at one of the greatest threats to u.s. forces right now, ieds. one of the eerie things, even in an area like this where marines have been able to clear out the taliban, hard core taliban elements, they know there are still many taliban still living in this area. they live amongst the community. they're part of the community. and so those taliban can, if they want, still try to lay ieds. that's killing and wounding a large number of the u.s. forces who get injured here. we'll take a look at that throughout the week and other things here in helmand province

and other areas of afghanistan. i hope you join us for that tomorrow night. now back to erica hill. >> thanks for your reporting. looking forward to more of that throughout the week. just ahead here in the u.s., sharks on the move. forcing the closure of some beaches. we'll tell you exactlier what it's happening. she says her boyfriend, an nfl player, attacked her. she responds back. do you know who they are? you'll find out. ( chirp ) team three, boathouse? ( chirp ) oh yeah-- his and hers. - ( crowd gasping ) - ( chirp ) van gogh? ( chirp ) even steven. - ( chirp ) mansion. - ( chirp ) good to go. ( grunts ) timber! ( chirp ) boss? what do we do with the shih-tzu? - ( crowd gasps ) - ( chirp ) joint custody. - phew! - announcer: get work done now. communicate in less than a second with nextel direct connect. only on the now network. deaf, hard of hearing and people with speech disabilities access www.sprintrelay.com.

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at walden university. where advanced degrees advance the quality of life. some of the other stories. tom foreman joining us with the 360 bulletin. >> thousands turning out today in the california town where

jaycee dugard was kidnapped 18 years ago to celebrate her freedom. a lot of happy tears. and chilling memories. one of jaycee's childhood friend says she told her friends a man and woman followed her home from the bus stop just a week before jaycee vanished. >> i remember hearing the tire tracks pull onto the dirt road behind me and freaked me out. i remember walking faster, hearing the tires go faster. and that made me even more scared. and so then i ran home. san diego chargers linebacker shawne merriman is back practicing with his team a day after being arrested on charges he choked and restrained his girlfriend, reality tv star sheila tequila. he says she was drunk. she says, no way, she's allergic to alcohol. that's how she got the name tequila, because she can't drink. and surprise. visitors to massachusetts. beaches are closed to swimmers in the cape cod town of chatham

after three great white sharks were spotted. two were tagged. scientists can study them and presumably the third did whatever he wanted to. >> and people aren't getting in his way because he's a great white. thanks for clearing up, too, the mystery of who sheila tequila was. >> not sure which reality that reality star is living in. >> may not be ours, but, hey. up next, someone who does live in our reality, a dog. we both love our dogs. we've got a straight-shooting puppy tonight. check out the dog who shoots pool. it's our "shot of the day." no problem. ♪ mind if i take a shortcut? yeah, sure. ♪ i knew the subaru legacy was the smart choice... what i didn't expect... was the fun. the all-new subaru legacy. feel the love.

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it joos the shot." it may come as a surprise on this program but we're going with something out of our comfort zone, an animal-related shot. >> no! >> yes, dramatic animal video has been returned in the form of halo, who's more than just a dog. he's a nasty pool shark. way to go. yeah, you show that ball who's boss, halo. >> very good. >> i don't know if he's a hustler but i tell you this, if i were some of the folks in this studio i'd be worried if he put a bet on the table there. >> you know what i think he was. >> what's that? >> i think he was one of those poker-playing dogs. >> he just might be. >> he just shifted over. >> he's a multi-talented dog. he does look like one of the dogs from around the table. i want to be on his side, that's what i know. and he's happy. clearly happy.