he said, there's much left to be determined in the details, and indeed, that was -- that got a reaction. >> larry: we thank you very much. we're out of time. we're going to do a lot more on this tomorrow. we hope to have all of you back. time now for "ac 360." anderson, live from afghanistan. >> thanks so much. huge stakes tonight. the president's health care plan and the war here in afghanistan. it's morning here in southern afghanistan. patrol base jaker. the marines here fighting a crucial war at a pivotal moment. while their commander in chief only a few minutes ago fighting his historic overall of health care. both efforts costing hundreds of billions of dollars. both costing lives. one is here with us. what the marines are doing here seems to be working. in this area in helmand province. taliban activity is down. but i got to tell you, wherever we go, tension is very, very high. we went on patrol today. there were no attacks. moments after we passed a roadside bomb went off. no trouble in the village we

visited. once we left, taliban fighters paid a visit. it feels like a standoff with millions of afghans waiting to see who bhooeng first. who stays, who goes. tonight, what it looks like, what it feels like through the eyes of marines. day in, day out, very difficult conditions for them. constant danger. yet the troops of this patrol base will tell you they feel they are accomplishing something. michael ware is in kandahar for us where that waiting game is deadly serious. and dr. sanjay gupta is with an elite army chopper team. medics who fly low and fast under hostile fire to save lives. as we mentioned tonight, in washington, president obama went to battle for his vision of health care reform. for the first time he really took ownership of it. he called it his plan, a plan he says will not increase the deficit, and he says would actually save money over the years. we'll check out the facts tonight with the best political team on television. keeping the president and the opposition honest. we'll get your reaction with the cnn instant poll.

but first, an extended sample of the president's health care address tonight to the joint session of congress. listen. >> i believe it makes more sense to build on what works and fix what doesn't. rather than try to build an entirely new system from scratch. the time for bickering is over. the time for games has passed. now is the season for action. now is when we must bring the best ideas of both parties together, and show the american people that we can still do what we were sent here to do. now is the time to deliver on health care. now is the time to deliver on health care. the plan i'm announcing tonight would meet three basic goals. it would provide more security and stability to those who have health insurance. it would provide insurance for those who don't. and it will slow the growth of

health care costs for our families, our businesses, and our government. an additional step we can take to keep insurance companies honest is by making a not for profit public option available. add it up and the plan i'm proposing will cost around $900 billion over ten years. less than we have spent on the iraq and afghanistan wars. and less than the tax cuts for the wealthiest few americans that congress passed at the beginning of the previous administration. it's a plan that incorporates ideas from many of the people in this room tonight, democrats and republicans. and i will continue to seek common ground in the weeks ahead. but know this -- i will not waste time with those who have made the calculation that it's better politics to kill this plan than to improve it. i won't stand by while the special interests use the same

old tactics to keep things exactly the way they are. if you misrepresent what's in this plan, we will call you out. and i will not -- [ applause ] and i will not accept the status quo as a solution, not this time, not now. >> that was the president tonight. the gop responds shortly, polling results as well. people who watched the address on whether they liked it or not, whether they think it will help or hurt the debate and did viewers come away understanding what president obama's vision of health care reform is? we ask did president obama clearly state his health care goals in our survey of people who watched tonight, 72% said yes, 26% said no. with that, i want to turn things over to the best political team on television and john king. >> back to you in afghanistan in just a moment. let's bring in our panel. candy crowley, paul begala, ed rollins, peter bergen.

people say president did a good job communicating with them. do we have any indication that more americans are for his plan? >> let me caveat this to death. before we do it. and that is that, first of all, these are just people who watched the speech and we know that millions more will get little clips of it and listen to the pun deadry than listen to the speech. it also skews heavily democratic. we think that the democratic sample in this flash poll is eight to ten points higher than the general population. having said that, the president did very well in this poll. when we asked what is your reaction to the president's speech? 56% very positive. somewhat positive, 21%. negative, 21%. that is a great showing obviously. interesting also that he picked up support here for his plan, and we all know that this -- can waver. but before this speech, about 53% of americans were in favor of this, after the speech 67%. as you pointed out earlier, that's about what bill clinton had at the end of his speech on

health care and we all know where that went. also i think we have to understand that these are not -- that polls go up and down, particularly flash polls. this is an interesting look, obviously democrats loved what they saw tonight. >> so a reason to celebrate based on the numbers. but not overcelebrate. david gergen, you're in a room, 535 members of congress, but who is he talking to tonight? >> he's talking outside the room. he has to bring public opinion back in his direction. it was moving favorably for him. the tide receded, started going the other way. was he able to reverse the tide? clearly, democrats have been heartened, independents have been heartened. just in the last minutes since the speech, everything we've heard on television, everybody is backed to their entrenched positions. nobody is willing to open and up say, the president opened my mind in a new way. >> he did embrace three or four republican ideas. he said this is from john mccain. this is an idea you republicans have pushed a long time. a serious effort of bipartisanship and will he get

results from it? >> he'll get results from it. it's nice rhetoric. he can say i tried to do things. bottom line is here he promised a lot and said it's not going to cost anything. everybody's going to have better health care and it's not going to cost anything. doctors, hospitals, everybody is going to be okay. if you're on medicare, you're going to be okay. we just got to be a little more efficient. we're going to have waste, fraud and abuse, which we have all written in speeches over the 40 years we've been around politics. at the end of the day, he has laid a marker down, now this is revenue neutral, it's up to insurance companies. i'm going to prove it's not revenue neutral. >> skepticism from ed rollins. we'll talk to paul begala after the break. and we'll take your questions. if you have a question about president obama's health care plan, text it to us at 22360. but first let's check back in with anderson in marine patrol base jaker in afghanistan. anderson? >> john, thank you very much. breaking news out of afghanistan tonight. a daring rescue of a "new york times" reporter who had been kidnapped several days ago. a helicopter assault on the taliban kidnappers who had taken

him. one soldier was killed in that assault. we'll have details tonight. also tonight, dr. sanjay gupta's live-saving tour of duty with the army's dust-off crew. these are elite medics who make every minute count for wounded troops. a day in the life here at patrol base jaker. the heat, the dust, the danger, the sense of accomplishment. all live from afghanistan in a moment. i don't think you can live the american lifestyle without energy. we have all this energy here in the u.s. we have wind. we have solar, obviously. we have lots of oil. i think natural gas is part of the energy mix of the future. i think we have the can-do. we have the capability. we have the technology. the solutions are here. we just need to find them here.

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we're back with two vital stories tonight. the growing war here in afghanistan, and it is a deteriorating war in the last two months, more u.s. forces have died than at any previous time in the entire eight years of the conflict here in afghanistan. we're also covering president obama's health care message to congress. in addition to laying out his vision, he also promised to call out those who spread falsehoods about the plan. listen. >> some of people's concerns have grown out of bogus claims, spread by those whose only agenda is to kill reform at any cost. the best example is the claim made not just by radio and cable talk show hosts but by prominent

politicians that we plan to set up panels of bureaucrats with a power to kill off senior citizens. such a charge would be laughable if it weren't so cynical and irresponsible. it is a lie, plain and simple. >> did the president change any minds? it doesn't sound like it change physician politicians' minds tonight certainly. let's go back to john king in new york. >> paul begala, did he change any minds? obviously he reached out to republicans but the biggest part of this calculation is democrats. house democrats want the public option. moderate democrats say vote's not there for it. what business did the president do in his own party tonight? >> that's the most important thing. i think he shored up his own party. before this speech, the erosion he had was not with republicans, they didn't vote for him. it was with independents and i think he worked hard to get them back. within that room, those democrats, he has 57 democrats in the senate, presumably massachusetts will replace

senator kennedy if the governor's given that power to a democrat. if not they're likely to elect one. so he's got to solidify his party. there was talk earlier last week that maybe democrats should primary barack obama if he commits the apostasy of compromising on the public option. i think you'll hear less of that now. he revved up his party, that he is his job in part. but he reached out to independents and i think he pulled it off as well. >> not the most important moment of the speech, but the president standing there, at one point said that death panel charge was a lie, he used the word lie. then the president was talking about illegal immigrants and the controversy whether they would be covered under the plan. we heard a voice from the floor calling the president a liar. let's listen. >> they're also known to claim that our reform efforts would insure illegal immigrants. this too is false.

the reforms i'm proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally. >> you lie! [ booing ] >> not true. and one more misunderstanding i want to clear up, under our plan -- >> the words "lie" coming up from the floor of the house of representatives. david, this is one of the text "360" questions but eric writes in -- that's our text question, then we can talk about the decorum of that. >> it's been my understanding all along that it does not provide insurance for illegal immigrants. it does provide insurance for people who are legally here who are not citizens but not for illegal immigrants. what we had tonight was town hall comes to capitol hill. and it's been interesting since the speech has been over, john mccain was on larry king tonight, said it was

disrespectful for that republican member to speak out like that and called for him to apologize. >> walled called for him to apologize, that will be interesting. now let's play a clip of the republican response. >> the president had a chance tonight to take the government-run health care off the table. unfortunately, he didn't do it. we can do better with a targeted approach that tackles the biggest problems. >> now, ed, the republicans are saying the president failed their test because he didn't take the public option off the table. couldn't have expected the democratic president to do that. he may do that in private negotiations, wasn't going to do it there. >> you have to argue the facts on the public option. republicans haven't done that, they just say we're against it. what the facts are is the bill, the house bill, you add $2 billion of federal money to set this thing up. can't pay any more than 5% more than what medicare pays, which is 20% less than what insurance companies pay.

it will be cheaper but in the end, it will do in hospitals and doctors and republicans have to make that case. >> he said it's time to stop partisanship. let have a bipartisan conversation about this. but it was a pretty partisan speech. >> it was tri-partisan. he went to the republicans, he praised john mccain, orrin hatch, chuck grassley. ain't one of them going to vote for this plan, not even come close. but he did it. he threw the sop to the republicans, this myth about medical malpractice is driving up insurance. and he said, well, we'll have test cases. we've had one in my home state of texas and health care costs in texas are increasing faster than the national average. that's what he's doing to the appeal the republicans. he revved up the democrats. independents, who in the elections of 2010 are going to determine who controls the congress, he gave them those insurance reforms. liberal group, democracy corps, our buddy carville helps to run it. i want to give them credit. they tested this notion that the

president talked about, about recision. people who pay their premiums but get dumped. like the woman who got dumped for having breast cancer because she had acne. it was off the charts. even with republicans, was repealing this pre-existing condition rule, where your insurance company can turn you down for having been sick. in the past. >> all of those outrageous. but at the end of the day, insurance companies are about risk. i don't have any clients that are insurance companies. but the rates going to go up if you include all of these people -- >> it was hard to see where the cutting of costs in health care was going to come in this speech. it was impossible to find. >> we're checking it. we're asking text questions. tom forman is monitoring reaction online. >> they had a white house online discussion during the speech and it was heated and just like our poll, tilted somewhat toward people who already support the president. they took part more and they focused on this key issue. leslie from new york put it this way, please, please, please, keep the public option. do not listen to the lunatic fringe and the gutless wonders of congress.

tim from georgia put it in this term of political consequences. no public option, no second term. some supporters took democrats to task for the trouble this plan is facing. ken from new york said, take a cue from bush, he would have passed this ting in a week, democrats have no guts, no backbone. those who oppose the plan primarily think the president can't pay for it. dave in oklahoma said, i hope he gives an estimate of how many jobs will be lost and how many small businesses close due to the cost. curtis from kansas said, the congressional budget office disagrees with the president's assessment of the cost. in the end, there is plenty of talk about nazis and socialism. there was precious little talk of any kind of middle ground on this or any way they might reach that middle ground of what the left says it cannot do without and what the right says it cannot abide. john? >> that is all rather feisty online. we'll continue this conversation in the days and weeks ahead. but for now back to anderson cooper in afghanistan. anderson? >> john, we're going to have more on the dramatic rescue of a

"new york times" reporter kidnapped by the taliban. one soldier was killed in that. details ahead. also, we'll take you out on patrol with the marines. we saw ieds today, small arms fire. the taliban is still out there, still trying to kill marines whenever they can, laying those ieds. dr. sanjay gupta aboard the world's fastest ambulance with the army's dustoff crew and the latest on that little boy malik who was injured. we'll be right back. nothing complicated about a pair of 10 inch hose clamp pliers. you know what's complicated? shipping. shipping's complicated. not really. with priority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service shipping is easy. if it fits, it ships anywhere in the country for a low flat rate. that's not complicated. come on. how about...a handshake. alright. priority mail flat rate boxes only from the postal service. a simpler way to ship.

coming up, we'll show you what life is really like for marines on a daily basis here in afghanistan's helmand province. nothing cushy or comfortable about it. but first erica hill joins us. "360 bulletin." >> mexican officials say a 44-year-old bolivian man is the sole suspect of a brief hijacking today of a commercial airliner in mexico.

the man took control of the boeing 737 enroute, demanding to speak with mexico's president. he claimed to be one of three hijackers and said he was carrying a bomb. it turned out he did not have a bomb and was acting alone. the incident did end peacefully. the flight was en route from cancun to mexico city. fred is now the second major atlantic hurricane of the season. the category 3 storm packing winds near 120 miles per hour. forecasters though, say it doesn't pose any threat to land and predict fred will weaken tomorrow. new york's lincoln center today, friends and colleagues of walter cronkite paying tribute to the former cbs anchor who died july 17th. among the speakers, president obama and former president bill clinton who shared this story. >> but in a very tumultuous summer in our personal lives, 1998, we were up on martha's vineyard and walter said betsy and i want you to go sledding with us. you, hillary and chelsea, we'll

go out and sail around. he said, somebody might take a picture of it, but so what? i'll never forget that. at the time, i could have done with a picture with walter cronkite. >> and there is late word tonight, talk show host ellen degeneres will replace paula abdul as a judge on "american idol" when it begins its ninth season in january. this is especially important for "idol" fans like anderson cooper. she will sit alongside simon cowell, randy jackson. abdul tweeted that she was leaving the show after eight seasons. anderson, i don't have any details whether or not she'll be judging some of the dancing portions. but maybe you could get in on that, just a thought. >> uh-huh. i'm sure she'll do a great job. that's actually a really cool idea. coming up next, the race against time. dr. sanjay gupta rides along with an elite medical crew whose mission it is to save the lives in the midst of combat. what life is like at patrol base jaker for u.s. marines.

we'll get an up-close tour of where the marines sleep, eat, even play. throughout the night, we'll bring you messages from service members to their friends and families back home. >> i'm lieutenant mike mccarty. i'm from iowa. i would like to say hi to my wife sherry, my son brody and daughter hanna. happy birthday, everybody. - oh, come on. - enough! you get half and you get half. ( 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. all around the world, men with erectile dysfunction have asked their doctors about cialis. ask your doctor if a cialis option is right for you

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[ mortar fire ]

>> that was the sound that woke us up in the middle of the night, illumination rounds being fired, an observation post nearby here thought they saw some suspicious people walking around in the dark of night. so the mortar let loose those illumination flares to give those marines a sense of what was happening around them. the kind of thing you hear an awful lot around here these days. we're learning the details of a daring commando raid to rescue a "new york times" reporter captured by the taliban. the raid played out about 24 hours ago. reporter stephen farrell and his translator were taken hostage saturday in the northern province where they went to cover a nato air strike of two hijacked fuel tankers. the bombings, carried out by u.s. jets, killed at least 90 people -- actually, by german jets, nato jets -- called in by nato jets, excuse me, by german troops. in a pre-dawn raid yesterday, british commandos managed to

free the reporter and his translator. a british commando was killed. a woman and child also died in the crossfire. right now we're going to return to camp dwyer, farther south of where we are. and as we've been reporting, casualties in this region are mounting for americans and afghan civilians. it's one thing to report the numbers, but tonight we want to show you what happens minute by minute when a call comes in someone's been hurt. chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta spent time with an elite medical crew at camp dwyer. every time a call comes in, their job is to beat the clock, just 60 minutes, that's all they get every time. >> reporter: one hour, that's it. minutes began ticking down when word came that two men, both civilians, about 40 miles from here were critically wounded. without help, they could bleed out and die. >> they're an urgent patient. we have timelines where we need to be moving extremely fast, i mean within minutes. we don't mess around. when that bell rings, we run. and we get out here, all geared up and take off.

>> we're on a blackhawk helicopter going as fast as i've ever traveled on one of these, 1,200 feet off the ground. we know there are two patients, they're bad, that's all we know. we don't know how bad off they are. we're going to see. it's what these guys do. i'm with an elite medical dustoff crew. the name goes back to vietnam. it was a radio emergency call signal to chopper in the combat flight medics. they are a go-team. 24-7, they steal moments of time to save lives. >> our job is to get people up and out of here in seconds. because seconds count. >> reporter: for nate and his team, most missions are about rescuing american military. >> they're leaving this gate every day on foot and in vehicles knowing what's out there. and if they can do that, then i'll do anything to make sure that they get back all right. >> reporter: but today, the call came to save afghan locals. it's a critical part of the u.s. strategy to win the hearts and minds of afghan civilians.

we are now into the golden hour. most trauma patients who die of blood loss die within an hour unless we can stabilize them. so we have 20 minutes to fly. 20 minutes to get the patient on the chopper. 20 minutes to get the patient to a hospital. it's one golden hour. >> so when i got on the aircraft, my mindset is airway, oxygen, stabilization of the chest. fine tuning this down to the last second is the most important thing. >> reporter: but with the dustoff teams, the challenge is not just getting to the patients but getting out of there safely. >> this is probably the most dangerous place in afghanistan. couldn't see any security out yet. here we are coming into this area, you can see it when we're going, this six foot high corn fields and water and mud everywhere. not very many ways for us to get out of there real quick if we have to. so i was worried. >> reporter: for so many reasons, that fear is always

looming. dabny surprised me when he pulled out this picture. these are his three boys. >> i discussed it with my wife, i've even written a letter for her to read to them. when it comes to that kind of thing, you hope that they're proud of you. one of the things you try not to think about. >> it must have been a tough her to write, though. >> it was. it probably took me about -- being a dad is the most privileged and most important job you could ever have, no matter what you do. you know this. but at the same time, showing them what being a man is really about, fighting for your country, sacrificing for your country. things that are more important than, you know, staying at home and avoiding this kind of thing. >> reporter: as for today's

mission, dabny and his crew cheated the clock, again. it's now clear the two men they flew in to save will survive their terrible wounds. >> that was an amazing story. those doctors do such incredible work. tell me about that little boy malik, what's happened to him? what's the update? >> it's been a roller coaster over the last couple of days. we've been watching him very closely. some of the video that you're probably looking at now, anderson, he had a fever, which can happen sometimes after an operation like this. the problem is, it set him back a little bit, which made the next couple of days all the more remarkable. take a look at this, he's walking. what's so remarkable here is they thought he was going to be paralyzed on the left side of his body. but with a little bit of help from his father, a little bit of aid, he's able to put weight on that left leg and walk, which is remarkable. even as we're talking right now, we're uncovering more details about what exactly happened to malik and more importantly,

what's going to happen to a boy like this in a war zone. we'll have that for you tomorrow it's really special. >> u.s. medics and doctors here work on afghan civilians as well as u.s. military personnel in need. sanjay, we'll talk to you tomorrow, thanks. i talked to sanjay a short time ago, we recorded that a short time ago. when we come back, in case you think u.s. marines are living on fancy bases here with the comforts of home, we'll give you a reality check and show you what life is like for the marines here. later, we go to taliban country. michael ware returns to kandahar to see how the enemy is thriving and how the city he used to live in is under siege. michael's report coming up. >> my name's lieutenant j.g. sarah tyeroosi. i'm from new jersey. i want to say to my husband nick on the west coast and the rest of my family on the east coast. i miss you guys and i'll be home soon. [dejectedly] oh. [screeching] [barks]

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driving anywhere in he helmand province these days is a painstakingly slow process. the taliban are still here and still planting deadly ieds. we're returning to base along the same road we came down. after a long patrol. so any taliban who have been watching us know we'll be using this road. so we have to be very careful. we're in the lead vehicle, of a multi-vehicle convoy. driving very slowly down this road, scanning the road ahead for anything that looks unusual. that was the end of our patrol earlier in the day. it looks so calm around here and all of a sudden you realize the road we had just gone down, an ied was exploded on it a short time later. an area that we passed through, which seemed calm a few hours later there was small arms fire, taliban entering the town. we head home in a couple of days. the same cannot be said of the marines stationed here at patrol base jaker. it's a small forward outpest in helmand province. it's their home for the last two points or so, it will be some

time to come before they get home. we want to show you behind the scenes, we've been showing you a lot the last couple of days about what it's like out on patrol, outside the wire. we want to show you what it's like in this camp living here under difficult conditions. take a look. patrol base jaker may not be much to look at. for the marines of the 1st battalion 5th regiment it's become a home. you may have heard stories of troops living on bases with all the comforts of home. movie theaters, convenience stores, fast food restaurants. patrol base jaker is nothing like that. there are about 50 marines here at any given time. and the conditions they face are extremely difficult. temperatures here can reach 120 degrees. but there's no air conditioning in tents. no respite from the heat and dust. first thing you notice when you get into camp jaker is this dust. the marines call it moon dust. it's a fine powder that coats everything and gets everywhere, in weapons, clothing, even food. there's nothing you can do about it. how do you deal with the dust?

>> it is what it is, i think. really. you can't beat it, so you go with it. you surrender. >> nothing seems to bother this sergeant. he's had to deal with a lot more than just dust. you've been hit by two ieds? >> yes. >> does that make you lucky or unlucky? >> i go with lucky. >> lance corporal james stevens wasn't feeling quite so lucky. we met him burning excrement, a dreaded assignment, especially in the heat. of all the jobs, this is the worst one here. >> yeah, the smelliest one. yeah, it stinks. >> did you anger somebody and they assigned this? >> no. i was just coming over -- >> just at the wrong place at the wrong time? >> yeah, wrong place, wrong time. >> around the clock, patrols come in and out. marines move supplies. there's constant movement at jaker. >> do your work, that's it. go to bed, wake up, do your job. >> that's what it is like?

24 hours a day, seven days a week? >> yes. no burger king. no coffee king. >> there is food, of course. but it's all prepackaged. meals ready to eat. as for leisure activities, a few old weights and a sledgehammer is the gym. for golfers, the whole place is a sand trap. there is no privacy here. no place to simply take a break. the bathroom facilities here are primitive to say the least. there are pipes in the ground which are -- well, it's obvious what the pipes are for. and the toilets, there's four of them, they're communal. up in the guard tower, tim meyers admits he often gets frustrated. but being here, being a marine, is a dream come true. >> i just wanted to do it since i was a little kid. >> do you feel like you're doing some good here? >> yeah. >> despite all the hardships of life on a small combat outpost, there is a feeling of accomplishment. and the bonds of brotherhood.

>> this place is actually a nice home. >> what do you like about it? >> about here? >> yeah. >> all the marines we met are an impressive group. it's been a privilege to be here at camp jaker the last couple of days. i've been here with peter bergen. national security analyst. let's talk about the cost of this war. some $200 billion so far over the course of eight years. $4 billion every month being spent here. is it money well spent, is it worth it? >> you know, part of the problem is the initial funding of the war was so underresourced. this was the least resourced post world war ii the united states has been involved in. per capita. you get what you pay for. we did it on the cheap and we're paying the price now. >> did it on the cheap, both in terms of money and in terms of troops, not enough troops on the ground? >> 6,000 troops here two years after the fall of 9/11. that's the size of a police department in a city like houston. this is a country the size of texas, it's not enough. >> there are going to be 68,000 by the end of this year. it's likely though there are

going to be requests at least for more troops in order to be able to clear, hold and build in all the areas the taliban is currently operating. they're certainly on the move. the situation is deteriorating. $700 billion is the cost in iraq cost, the war cost there. do you think it's going to reach that kind of level? >> i don't think it's going to reach that kind of level. historically, iraq cost five times more than afghanistan. serious resources being put in. afghanistan is not a country that needs the same amount of resources that iraq, a much more modern place, needed. i don't anticipate that the political will for the effort that was made in iraq. >> we'll talk with peter more throughout the week. we've got a lot more ahead tonight. we're going to show you michael ware's experiences in kandahar, a city he used to live in. we'll show you how life there has changed. a city controlled in many parts or at least many parts the taliban are moving freely there. also tonight, the lighter side of our reporter. dr. sanjay gupta getting some shut-eye.

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the situation on the ground here in afghanistan is deteriorating.

u.s. officials admit that. the last two months have been the deadliest for u.s. forces here. the taliban has been on the move, into areas traditionally they haven't been in, in the north and in the west. the fight for afghanistan is happening all across this country. the city of kandahar is a prime example. a place where citizens are terrorized by taliban members, and where attacks are launched against u.s. and nato forces. michael ware spent some time there recently. take a look at his report. >> reporter: how does that make people feel here in kandahar? i wanted to see what had happened to this place since i left. kandahar, the birthplace of the taliban and the capital of the south, the fiercest combat zone. i once lived here, before iraq and after the fall of the taliban. so much has changed here in kandahar. there's new buildings, there's new roads, there's new tree lines. but there's also a new taliban. there's a taliban here that

wasn't here just a few years ago. and this city now lives in the shadow of the taliban. the taliban control neighborhoods here. in fact, this is a taliban neighborhood. these police are from a police station right in the midst of the taliban stronghold. they're much on the front line, guarding the gates to kandahar. in fact, here in this marketplace, the mood among shopkeepers is anxious. everyone in kandahar is saying the city is surrounded, this businessman says. there's something like 200 men standing here. go, ask them. is there taliban or not? here, the sense of a city under siege goes much deeper than just hurting business. even here in the city, you cannot speak out against the taliban. those who do speak up face a terrible conclusion, this shopkeeper says. i found for many, these fears are growing. even though a major u.s. and

canadian base is located at kandahar's airfield, just outside the city limits. their vehicles are in the city streets. so for more answers, i turn to some old friends. one is ahmed walid karzai, brother to the afghan president and now patriarch and leader of the family's tribe. >> pockets of taliban. that's what it is. it's not a major force to i should be have a fear sitting here they come attack us tonight. this is now surrounding the city. >> reporter: but it also seems small pockets of taliban are turning to old and highly successful tactics. they're using the same valleys, mountain passes and many of the same old commanders who defeated the soviet army. this man, another old friend, was a guerrilla's hero in the war against the soviets here. he's now head of a massive tribe tied closely to the taliban.

the taliban are walking in the steps of the mujahadin who fought the russians, he says. if the taliban hear the government is coming to an area, they escape to a safe place to spend the night. and it's not just in the villages. just one week ago what's said to have been a massive truck bomb detonated just here, right in the heart of kandahar city itself. on this side of the road was the offices of an aid agency and houses. you can see the blast absolutely leveled the buildings. on that day, over 40 afghan civilians lost their lives. and you can see the size of the blast, a week later, they're still cleaning up. on this side of the street was shops and businesses, and a reception hall for weddings. convoys carrying american trucks are passing by on this very street.

and as i'm standing here speaking to you right now in this devastation, just a few suburbs away over there, less than a mile, is a taliban-controlled district. and local police commanders say there's no hint of improvement. the major u.s. military offensive in helmand province, they say, is killing taliban fighters, but the taliban keeps evolving. and finding new ways to wage war. all of which leaves the view from kandahar one of a taliban war machine that shows no signs of slowing. a taliban war machine that's ever-growing. while the situation on the ground continues to deteriorate, the country is in a national political limbo. they don't even know who their president is because of corruption allegations plaguing the presidential election results. and militarily, the american war plan is also in limbo.

the generals have to go back to d.c., they need more troops. they need to look at how they're fighting this war and they need to rethink it. so all of this while the taliban is growing stronger. it's know all eyes on the white house. is president obama ready to step up to fight this war, anderson? >> yeah, a classified strategy assessment has been given by general mccrystal to president obama for him to look at. very likely in the coming months, or maybe even weeks, there may be a request for increased u.s. forces here in the country. we'll har more from michael ware throughout the week. we're letting you hear from american troops here in afghanistan. we posted other messages from them on our website. logon to ac360.com to see those right now. ahead on "360," we showed our living quarters here at camp jaker. we show you what it's like for mat reasons here. now it's dr. sanjay gupta's turn. we'll snow you where he and his team try to get some rest. between their shoots.

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coming up, we'll give you a look at how dr. sanjay gupta has been living while on assignment here in afghanistan. some pictures he doesn't know we have. but first, erica hill joins us again with a "360" bulletin. there is news just in to cnn. the congressman who shouted "you lie" during president obama's health care speech tonight has

called the white house to apologize. republican joe wilson of south carolina speaking to chief of staff rahm emanuel. he also issued the following statement tonight. "this evening i let my emotions get the best of me when listening to the president's remarks regarding the coverage of illegal immigrants in the health care bill." the congressman goes on to say, "while i disagree with the president's statement my comments were inappropriate and regrettable. i extend sincere apologies to the president for this lack of civility. a republican state lawmaker in california resigning after he was caught on video bragging about extramarital affairs. mike duvall wasn't shy as he talked about having sex with two women, one of them a lobbyist. his comments were picked up by a microphone. you'll hear some of them in a moment. first, a warning -- if you have children in the room with you, they definitely should not hear this. here's the outspoken politician. >> i begin spanking her. yeah, i like it.

>> does she? >> yeah, yeah. she goes, i know you like it. i said, yeah, because you're such a bad girl. >> let's head to deep space now. lighten things up a bit. new photos taken by the hubble telescope. the ten images of galaxies and nebulas are sharper than previous hubble photos thanks to its billion dollar upgrade. melody oudin's magical run at the u.s. open is over. the unseeded 17-year-old from georgia who knocked out three top players in the open lost tonight 6-2, 6-2 in the quarterfinals. oudin never expected to get this far. turned out she had to switch hotels after her reservation ran out. she moved to the hotel next door. still, a fine showing for that georgia girl. >> it was, indeed. still ahead, "360" m.d. sanjay gupta at work in afghanistan. we'll show you where he caught a few winks after he had some down time. how does president obama's

make or breaking health care reform speech go over with americans? did he get his message across?