before we go, want to recommend a terrific new book written by robin meade, the anchor at hln's "morning express." it is called "morning sunshine." it will inspire you. check it out. another guy who will inspire you is anderson cooper who goes wherever the action is. he's still in afghanistan. time now for "ac 360." anderson? >> larry, thanks so much. the action is here in afghanistan. we're at marine forward operating base engineer an mow. it's now morning. the date is 9/11, eight years since it all began. the attacks on america, then the war here. the war, of course, continues here. but it's a very different kind of war which is being fought which leaves with americans with a much more difficult battle on their hands. we saw that firsthand today. marines with members of the fledgling afghan army torn away during a visit to a nearby village by reports of a flare thrown. we gave chase. never found the bad guys. they melted away, it seems.

a tough war to fight. back home, house speaker nancy pelosi today, the top democrat for the first time doubting congressional support for the war. even the troops here making the best of a very challenging mission. so too to night all the angles, michael ware on the original enemy, al qaeda. where are they? i'll be on patrol as they try to turn the force into a trust force. and sanjay gupta chantracking t progress of a boy saved by american doctors. back home in washington, though, that's where we begin tonight. president obama who owns this war trying to consolidate ownership of health care reform. the day after his landmark speech to congress, he and democrats over at the white house for some arm twisting. that is not what everyone is talking about. as you know, they're talking about gop congressmen who shouted out two words about the president. you lie. south carolina republican congressman joe wilson who apologized.

president obama quickly accepting his apology. >> the reforms i'm proposing would not apply to those who are here illegal. >> you lie! >> that's not true. >> i'm a big believer that we all mick mistakes. he apologized quickly. and without aquif indication. i'm appreciative of that. i do think, as i said last night, we have to get to the point where we can have a conversation about big important issues that matter to the american people, without name calling, without the assumption of the worst in other people's motives. >> the president saying apology accepted. the controversy still growing. who is congressman wilson? who thinks he went too far?

who actually agrees with him? the raw politics from joe johns. >> reporter: this is republican congressman joe wilson, after last night, he's the man everyone wanted to hear from today. >> last night, we heard from the leadership. they wanted me to contact the white house. and state that my statements were inappropriate. i did. >> reporter: inappropriate? not everyone agrees. ? his health care speech last night, president obama made a debatable claim that illegal immigrants would not be insured in his health care reform plan. it was more than wilson could stand. >> you lie! >> reporter: you lie, that's what he yelled. >> that's not true. >> reporter: democrats up in arms charging wilson had disrespected the office of president of the united states. and suddenly wilson's own office became the center of a storm. the phone lines in his office, twitter and facebook pages all flooded. his office website crashed because so many people offered

opinions. so what were people saying? wilson's staff said calls were three to one in support of wilson. but not so much public support from leaders of his own party, even though he may have articulated some republican anger. >> what about the sentiment? there's anger, frustration. what about the sentiment? >> i don't know. i don't know what sentiment are you talking about? >> reporter: the sentiment that the democrats are shoving health care down the throats of republicans. >> i think everybody's concerned right now about what the next steps are in health care. he apologized. i think we all moved past. that let's focus on getting a good bill. >> i'm not trying to achieve that. there is a frustration in america right now. i think that frustration stems from the fact that president is pursuing policies quite different from what he campaigned on. >> reporter: so who is this guy anyway? joe wilson is not the kind of congressman you see sticking his face in front of a camera at the united states capitol complex. he kind of keeps to himself. comes from a very conservative district in south carolina. known for handling defense

issues. he's also the type of congressman who worked here on capitol hill before he actually ran for congress. he's an attorney as well and a lot of people were surprised at this outburst. but not shocked. he once lit into a democrat on c-span for claiming the u.s. gave weapons of mass destruction to iraq. >> that is absurd. you know, this hatred of america by some people is just outrageous. and we need to get over that. yes, a hatred of america to say something like that. >> reporter: and today after wilson went after the president, some folks back in his home state of south carolina said they didn't like it. a democrat running against wilson even said he got $200,000 in donations overnight. but in a conservative state where wilson is a fixture, he still got support. and to cash in on the feelings, wilson had a fund-raising video explaining what happened and asking for money. so did the president lie about illegal immigrants being insured under the democratic reform

efforts? the answer, technically illegal immigrants would not be prohibited from receiving insurance under three of the plans passed by committees in the house. but they would have to pay for it on their own. the most importantish sue who pays. the bills that have paced the three committees say the illegal immigrants cannot receive any government money, tax credits and the like to pay for health care so several fact checking organizations have said that the president was not lying. anderson? >> joe johns reporting. joe, thanks. a lot more to talk about in washington and across the country. let's send it to wolf blitzer. >> thanks very much. with president obama working on democrats, republican leaders were trying to get past the job of the joe wilson flap. they were trying to fire up their own trips. they and the conservative groups rallying on capitol hill. joe wilson, by the way, was not in attendance. the house minority whip speaking and hearing from wilson supporters. listen to this.

>> last night we heard our president address this country. >> boo! >> we were listening for specifics. we were listening to hear something new. and we did not hear that. >> let's get more with candy crowley and rolin martin and mike williams. he is direct dwror of the polit action committee, our country deserves better. do you share the opinion expressed by congressman joe wilson? >> absolutely. and so many people do. they also share his frustration and his anger. if he did anything wrong, he was the venue. that i have to give him a slap on the wrist for. but he absolutely spoke the truth. everybody seems to be leaving one very important thing out of this. that is the federal courts have spoken with regard to illegal immigrants or illegal aliens getting the benefits, especially health benefits.

we tried to bar them from doing that in california in the '90s. the federal courts slapped us down. even language specifically excluding them is not going to stand a court battle. so whatever obama believes -- and for that matter, i don't even know what bill he was talking about. does he have a proposal? does he have a plan? what's he even talking about? >> let me bring roland martin into this. his heckling does underscore the bitterness toward president obama right now. and this and other issues. is this simply politics as usual here or is there more to play? >> what you have here is you have people who have absolute disdain for this president. and the attitude of congressman wilson was unbecoming of a member of congress, even his own party members recognize that. interesting that he didn't know what he was talking about, i would ask mark this, will he say on national television that senator john mccain is a liar who said today that there is no provision the president was absolutely right.

he even called members of the republican party liars. the fact of the matter is joe wilson was lying about this provision. and so it is ridiculous for a member of congress to behave in this manner. he should apologize to the house because he brought the kind of negative reaction on them from his actions and should not only apologize to the president but also the fellow house members. >> i'll let mark respond in a moment. candy, before that happens, the fallout from what happened last night. does it help or hurt president obama's chances of getting health care reform passed? >> i don't know what it does to his chances of getting it passed. i do know that in these past, what, 24 hours, certainly it helped the president. one of his aims last night, you know, wolf, going into this speech last night there were democrats thinking, boy, where is he on this? why hasn't he really taken leadership of it? why hasn't he hit back against his critics? the polls were beginning to show an increase in people who

thought the president was not reaching out to republicans. and then along come this. and what it has done is really let the president be above all of this. he talked last night about petty partisan politics. and now, you know, today he can sort of say, yes, i accept his apology. it made the president look good. that kent help but help the president. >> stand by, everyone. we'll be back with the panel shortly. first, let's send it back to anderson for a look at the rest of the hour from afghanistan. >> that's right, wolf. let us know what you think online. join the live chat at ac360.com. we'll go back to wolf. we're out on patrol with u.s. marines and members of the afghan national army. remember, that's what the politicians are saying it's all about training the afghan national army. we'll show you how it's going, we'll show you the mission and what happened today. chasing shadows as somebody made some sort of attack on the marines then melted away.

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we're back in helmand province. we'll show what you happened when we went on patrol. first, we have breaking news on health care reform back home.

president obama pressing moderate democrats for their support. dana bash catching up with them, getting their late reaction. >> reporter: earlier this evening i talked with several senators who did meet with the president today. it was a group of 17 senators. they were all democrats and all conservative democrats. and that's quite telling that this was the first group the president wanted to meet with after his big speech. he knows that his health care plan really depends on what they can accept. and most of these senators are quite uncomfortable in some cases outright opposed to what the president prefers. now one of the senators told me he really pressed the president behind closed doors to bend on that. and specifically, to hold off on that so-called public option. for several years he said he wanted to do it as a last resort. and only if other insurance reforms don't work. that's the so-called trigger. and several of these democratic senators told me that the president was quite clear, abundantly clear that he is going to be willing to negotiate on that. and several other things. and that's why it was really interesting today. the other thing we saw on the

other side of the democratic divide on health care is a softening from liberal democrats. even the house speaker who said so many times over the last several weeks she can't pass a health care proposal without a so-called public option. she declined to say that in today's press conference. so there's a long way to go here. but we are starting to see a little bit of a softening of democrats and them starting to climb out of their trenches on either side of what has been a very deep democratic divide on health care. >> all right. yeah, the trenches still exist. dana bash taking the pulse of democrats tonight. thank you. a lot more to talk about. wolf? >> let's get back to our panel talking strategy on health care reform and joe wilson's outburst. candy crowley joining us, roland martin and mark williams. we're going to get what dana reported. but, mark, i want to give you a chance to respond to what roland said. john mccain self agrees with the president. nothing in this legislation

would give illegal immigrants in the united states the opportunity to gain from this proposed legislation. >> wolf, i doesn't have to. the courts have already spoken on. that they'll speak again if it happens. but this bitterness that supposedly is directed toward obama, if i learned anything many my work with our country is that it's not bitterness. it's outrage that the socialist policies being embraced by this administration and that goes double for w., by the way. as for the republican party goes, it's no surprise to any of us working stiffs out here that they allowed themselves to be a doormat for what is happening in washington, d.c. the fact of the matter is the republican party as a whole is absent without leave from this debate. and our representatives are -- our elected representatives are falling down on the job. that's why the american people are rising. that's why i had almost 10,000 people outside chicago at aur

tea party the other day. people are sick and tired of 5: being abused. we're the people that pay the bills. >> you just heard what dana reported. that moderate democrats are encouraged by what the president is saying. here's the question. will the liberal members of congress support legislation if it doesn't include the public option? >> i it this liberals and moderates have to give on the issue. but the most important thing is they recognize they're going to have to get health care reform. the democrats -- this is in their plank. this is in their plafrpg for a number of years. there is no way in the world that they are going to allow that this moment when they're so close to slip through their fingers because they cannot blame the republicans. they have to september blame themselves. democrats control the house, the senate, the white house, they can't look to anybody else. they've got to suck it up. come out and pick up their differences to move it forward. >> candy, the political reality

is the president does have decisive majorities. he'll get what he wants but not necessarily the public option. right? >> the public option is the one thing that the people in the white house have looked at and thought that perhaps will have to go. much depends on what happens in the senate. but it is a lot easier to see most of the liberals swallowing this and saying, okay, no public option this go around. maybe we'll see down the road if we need one. then it is to see conservatives and moderates accepting it. it just isn't going to happen. >> mark, anything your organization likes about the plans that the president is putting forward? >> no. where is the tort reform? where is that at? that's the real problem. he doesn't want to take on the trial lawyers. >> he did say last night, he wouldn't let a test go forward on caps on medical malpractice. >> well, that doesn't help the tort reform. that doesn't do anything but hurt me if i'm butchered by somebody not being able to be

made whole. no, he's taking us down a $9 trillion deficit path. we have serious problems in this country. >>, so mark -- >> we have economic issues. we have social issues. we have international issues. we're having problems in afghanistan now. all of these are major priorities. and this administration is watching its approval ratings drop throughout 50s and eventually into the 40s. it woept be abn't be able to ac anything. >> you are telling me you have a problem with the president saying if a pre-existing condition you're now going to get covered? you don't like that? >> yes, i'll find an insurance company that will cover me. >> you're not going to find them, mark. they're not going to cover you. >> there is a reason, it's a bad risk. >> wow! >> if he's going to come to me and tell me that i must have insurance or i'm committing a crime and then fine me, i don't think so. >> i want you to admit -- i'm going to have a right to a gun. i'm not going to give him $1,000

for a gun. i have a right to free speech. >> if your wife got sick and a pre-existing condition and the insurance company would turn her down, you would say, you know what? they have to make money, it's a smart manufacture. you would accept that? >> if somebody has a record of dwis, can they still get insurance? >> if your wife had a pre-existing condition -- >> if there competition reigns, they have to take on that risk. >> they don't exist now. >> thanks very much. certainly we can expect a lot more on health care in the coming days and weeks. for now, though, let's head back to anderson. he's over at forward operating base in afghanistan helmand province. you're doing an amazing job out there. >> wolf, thanks very much. just ahead, a routine patrol. we're going to take you out on it. it was a patrol where routine, frankly, doesn't last very long. the radio crackled, a report. trouble came in.

you'll see what happened. then the story of malik. now homeward bound thanks to american doctors. sanjay gupta is following his journey home when we continue. an eleven sixteenths wrench over here? here you go. eleven sixteenths... (announcer) from designing some of the world's cleanest and most fuel-efficient jet engines... to building more wind turbines than anyone in the country... the people of ge are working together... creating innovation today for america's tomorrow. thanks! no problem!

anything can happen on patrol at any time. we'll show what you we mean. first, erica hill has a bulletin. at least 19 people were killed in iraq because of a bomb. that attack flattened a dozen houses. officials said a second truck packed with explosives was stopped before the driver could detonate them. vice president joe biden and his wife jill will be in new york tomorrow to mark the eighth anniversary of the september 11th attacks. the bidens take part in the memorial service honoring victims. president obama will remain in washington and visit the

memorial at the pentagon. welcome dose gf news about the swine flu. australian researchers have found a single low dose of the vaccine may be enough to protect adults. the side effects, really no worse than those found with the seasonal flu vaccine. that study appears in the new england journal of medicine. u.s. researchers say they have similar findings which they plan to report tomorrow. a bold new guarantee from general motors. anyone who buys one of the vehicles and isn't satisfied, come back for a full refund within 60 days. the promise is part of a major new marketing push. gp says the products have improved so much it can safely make that offer. and the legal victory for jerry seinfeld's wife. a federal judge tossing out a cookbook author's claim that jessica seinfeld was a culinary copycat who stole the other woman's ideas for her cookbook which offers getting more tips into children's diets. the judge said the two books really had nothing in common. they're both best sellers. other than that, they share one

thing, said the judge, the goal of hiding healthy food inside meals that kids like, anderson. and as you know, we've been airing taped messages. >> okay, erica. >> we've been airing taped messages from service members in afghanistan. you've helped collect some of them. among them is lieutenant sarah vergosi. she is from new jersey. and last night she said hi to her husband and her family. good news for sarah and her dad. he was watching. he posted a message where he wrote, you make us all proud, sarah. god bless you and keep you. see you real soon. love dad. and we're happy that we could let dad see his little girl, anderson. >> that's certainly a good connection to make and certainly parents in america have a lot to be proud of what the marines and navy and soldiers are doing over here. a lot of remarkable young men and women doing very, very

difficult job. we'll show you how difficult the job is on patrol next with the marines. mentoring afghan troops and responding to reports of an attack. an up close look at the extreme challenges. later, the face of evil. tomorrow's eighth anniversary of september 11th. it is already september 11th here in afghanistan. question is where is bin laden? where is al qaeda? why is the u.s. in afghanistan? tough questions. we'll get answers from peter bergen and michael ware. snooichlt

we're back in afghanistan. we're at forward operating base geronimo in southern afghanistan. earlier we went along with marines on a joint patrol with afghan troops. it began as a routine operation. you'll see, that all changed very quickly. take a look. i is an odd sight, the afghan army and the u.s. army advisors. what is the purpose of a combined patrol like this? >> the mentorship is the key piece, one. two is showing the people that it's not just us. it's the a & a. it's their own government as well. we didn't come here as an invading force. >> assisting the afghan national army, however, is a slow and often frustrating experience for u.s. forces. it's not just the language barrier which leaves both forces dependent on a limited number of

interpreters, afghan soldiers often lack training and discipline. today first lieutenant zachery ben set bringing a new afghan army lieutenant to a village to meet with elders. an ied went off here just the other day killing one afghan soldier. so the taliban is still around here? >> no doubt about it. it's just a matter of, you know, they come at night. they come during the day when the marines are not around. you ask the villagers, for the most part they tell you i've never seen any taliban or the taliban have been gone since you got here. >> they all say that? >> yeah, that's the usual song and dance. they're kind of on the fence about whether or not to fully support the u.s. or support the afghan government because they don't have -- they don't know if you're going to stick around. >> they've been living here for as long as they've been alive. they know how to survive, which side of the table to play. >> and they often play both sides. >> go with the strongest tribe. >> prayers are called as the patrol enters the village. few people are on the streets

other than kids. one man, however, approaches lieutenant bennett with a summation. we agreed to obscure his face for his own protection. he tells lieutenant bennett that taliban were here just yesterday. two men on a motorcycle looking for places to planned ieds. >> what i'm saying is you need to come tell us when the taliban are in the village so we can stop them before they try to get out of the village. we can arrest them. >> do you trust the marines? >> translator: yes. >> yes, he says. but if the taliban spies knew i was talking you to, they would kill me. >> so there are spies around here? when the taliban comes to the village, he says, they talk first to the children about who gave information to the marines. >> you have eyes on him? >> the meeting is suddenly cut short when lieutenant bennett gets a call on his radio. >> what happened? >> someone threw a flare,

they're saying. we're going to stop pushing this way. >> roger. >> what's up? >> they threw a flare at us. >> roger. >> this may be a joint patrol. but they instantly take charge of the situation. somebody flew a homemade flare at u.s. forces. now they're going to investigate. >> don't let anyone out of the village for the time being. just knock on the door. >> for mat reenz, it's a sensitive situation. they don't want to do anything to alienate the local population. at the same time, they want to investigate that guy's house. so they do a quick search. they didn't find anything. and now they're moving on. it's also got to be a difficult situation. i mean, what you're trying to do here is build confidence with the locals and really win them over, get them off the fence. >> yep. >> you can't go charging in someone's house, you know, knocking down doors. >> yep.

>> that you would otherwise. >> absolutely. >> lieutenant bennett reports the incident may be somebody trying to distract the patrol. >> make sure you're being smart up front, too. i don't know if they placed something on the road. >> on the way back to base, mat reenz are especially caution. one afghan soldier, however, tries to sneak into the village and gets caught. unite afghan soldier seems to have more luck. it's an incident which concerns lieutenant bennett. that's a minor incident. but it's important in a counter insurgency. you don't want to alienate the civilians. >> no. the key is the civilians. that's what it all comes down to. >> getting them on your side. keeping them on your side. >> yep. letting them know that we're going to stay on their side. not that we're going to stay here permanently, but stay here as long as it takes to let the a & a and the afghan national security forces stand on their own two feet. >> it's going to be a while though? >> i can't speculate on that. but it's not going to be next

week. >> as we approach the anniversary to 9/11, already here it is 9/11, we're going to take a look at al qaeda. what's the reason the u.s. got involved in afghanistan in the first place? where is al qaeda today? we'll take a look at that. and where is osama bin laden? we'll talk to michael ware and peter bergen and we'll track malik. i drove my first car from my parent's home

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welcome back. we're at forward operating base geronimo in helmand province. marines are helping retrain the afghan national army. we got involved in afghanistan because of what happened on september 11th. we're a few hours away from the anniversary in the united states. already here in afghanistan it is 9/11. we wanted to take a look at where is al qaeda today. you hear politicians talking about what is happening here as

a hunt for al qaeda. but you don't hear a lot of folks on the ground here talking about al qaeda. we're going it talk about that with peter bergen and michael ware. michael, in washington, you hear this war being presented as a war against al qaeda, as a hunt for al qaeda. here on the ground, you don't hear bch al qaeda. >> well, that's because this is not a hunt against al qaeda. you don't hear the afghans in the combat zones in southern afghanistan or eastern afghanistan talking about al qaeda. that's why america originally invaded afghanistan way back in 2001. because al qaeda was given sanctuary by the taliban. america recognized that as a national security threat. well, that national security threat is no longer here. it is based in park st ed in pa. there is very little al qaeda activity. the day to day fighting, the

bulk of the bombings, the bulk of the shootings, almost all of them are being committed by afghan taliban. so this war now is not so much about osama bin laden and his al qaeda network, anderson. >> and the taliban, peter, is totally different than al qaeda. i mean there are linkages in pakistan. but what's the linkage? >> increasingly the taliban. they were a influential group of people when they ran the country. but the jihad is operating like al qaeda in iraq. they have molded together with al qaeda which is part of the problem. >> but when -- i mean is it accurate that this is a battle against al qaeda? >> certainly not here, anderson. as we heard repeatedly, al qaeda doesn't have a presence here. they are more of a problem in eastern afghanistan. the calculation is international forces left, the taliban will be

back not because they're so strong but the afghan government is so weak. if the taliban came back, they would again offer safe haven to al qaeda. >> michael that, is the argument for politicians. they say, look, if afghanistan, you know, gets weaker, the taliban takes over. then this would be a home for al qaeda. >> well, that is a possibility. but it is assumes an awful lot. it assumes, firstly, that this government will fall apart to such a degree. then the taliban would come back. very few people actually can see that happening in the short to medium term future. and if you read the latest tracking between al qaeda and the taliban, you'll see that there are differences in their messages. and, indeed, one of the most recent taliban messages stress pashtun as the objective. the taliban are fighting for one thing. al qaeda is fighting for another.

al qaeda is fighting a transnational agenda. if al qaeda did get a toehold in afghanistan again, they probably won't be running the country. and it would be such a risk for them to bring al qaeda with them. i'm not sure the taliban goes that far down the ideological road with al qaeda, especially when you talk directly to these afghan taliban. anderson? >> peter, the hunt for osama bin laden, do we know how active it is? do we have any sense of stat yu the status of it? >> it is very accurate. since the battle of tora bora, there is no intelligence. these are basically guesses where he is. they're not intelligence. >> the u.s. has had more success lately in hitting some of these al qaeda leaders in pakistan with drones. >> indeed. the bush administration amped up the drone program. there were 34 attacks under

bush. there have been 36 under obama. obama ratcheted up this program and taken out about half the leadership. they've been effective. >> peter bergen, michael ware, thanks. up next, we want to get you caught up on other stories making headlines tonight including bernie madoff caught on tape giving tips an how to fool the feds. and michael jackson's final rehearsals. great claims service and a 97% customer satisfaction rate. show people really trust us. gecko: yeah right, that makes sense. boss: trust is key when talking about geico. you gotta feel it. why don't you and i practice that with a little exercise where i fall backwards and you catch me. gecko: uh no sir, honestly... uh...i don't think...uh... boss: no, no. we can do this. gecko: oh dear. vo: geico. fifteen minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance.

well, more from afghanistan in a moment. first, erica hill joins us with a 360 bulletin. >> in a newly released audio tape, bernie madoff is heard giving tips on how to outsmart sec investigators. the phone call is with a person who's going to be interviewed by federal regulators about madoff's investment firm. mad yo started the call by

saying, "first of all, this call never took place." and then offered the following advice -- >> a yale university graduate student who is supposed to get married this weekend vanished. anna lee was last seen on tuesday along with her purse, credit cards an money and cell phone were left in her campus office. authorities are asking anyone with information to contact the university police. a 360 follow up, a lawmaker being caught on tape bragging about having sex with lobbyists denies he had an extramarital affair. he talked about skimpy underwear and how one woman likes to be spanked. his only offense is engaging in

inappropriate story telling adding, he regrets the choice of his words. and the preview about michael jackson this sunday, you can see it during the mtv video muse ache wards. janet jackson will open the show. michael jackson's film was put together of 100 hours of rehearsals for the london concerts. the movie will be released next month for a two-week engagement. anderson? >> coming up, the question everyone around here gets asked and you better know the answer, it's our shot of the day. first, malik is going home. the wounded 2-year-old afghan hospital that underwent sturnlgry in an afghan hospital. # was it really for fun, or to save money on heat? why? don't you think nordic tuesday is fun? oh no, it's fun... you know, if you are trying to cut costs, fedex can help. we've got express options, fast ground and freight service-- you can save money and keep the heat on. great idea. that is a great idea. well, if nordic tuesday wasn't so much fun.

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you're looking at some photos taken by photographer tim worthington who is traveling all week with us. all this week dr. sanjay gupta is here in afrghanistan, reporting from trauma centers, talking to doctors, medics, showing you how they're saving lives every day. he is also following the recovery of a 2-year-old afghan boy who suffered a massive brain injury. many of you have been touched by his strength and determination. today he was flown back to a clinic closer to his village. sanjay gupta made the trip with the boy. here's his report. >> this was going to end well. but when we met malik, he looked

like this. bandaged, broken and desperate. a toddler from a remote high mountain village, malik had fallen down a cliff like this when a u.s. special fortses unit found him. >> he fell off the roof and landed on his head, causing a fracture. he started to get a hematoma which was causing the problems he was seriously having. >> army special forces, this is them at work. these guys are the elite, the invisible warriors. and this exclusive video shows how they got malik out of the mountains. by cover of night, would chopper him to a military surgical hospital. it was the boy's only hope. they are special forces, hard core. they have never been filmed before. they wouldn't even tell me their real names. they made saving malik part of their mission. >> didn't seem to get a response from his pupils. so pretty simple case whether we

first came on. obviously he didn't know. >> the special forces brought him here several days ago. he was brain injured, paralyzed on the left side of his body. he was in dire straits. we have seen improvement over the last couple days. but now the mission is to get him home. special forces here will let us in on the trip. here at this military surgical hospital, a neurosurgeon and his team operated to relieve pressure on the boy's injured brain. in time they knew the swelling would go down. and his senses could return. i visited every day as he slowly recovered. he was particled on his left side. but he was gradually coming back. finally, with a little aid from his father, he was on his feet again. now after a week of treatment, he is well enough for the journey back to his village. >> he is now in the back of a helicopter. this is the way they're

transported in the middle of a war zone. he is wrapped in this blanket and headed home. >> i expected a real homecoming. but afghanistan is too dangerous and his village too high and isolated to fly him all the way. instead, we brought him here, to a primative clinic. we were greeted by afghan police who kept a close eye on us the entire time. as for the toddler, malik slept most of the way. my first impression, we're a long way from that gleaming army hospital. here, water pumps instead of faucets, dirty floors, no bed sheets. but malik is on his way home. >> one final exam on malik. still no smile. can you push? >> kick. >> he still needs months to fully recover.

his prognosis is bright. here's the thing, malik's village is high up there. no place to land a helicopter. so his father and their new friends, the special forces, will walk through the mountains to carry the boy home. i'll tell what you, i've seen surgical procedures if lots of different parts of the world, but nothing quite like this. as you might imagine, the key now for him is the care he gets after the operation. that's what the doctors and medics are focusing on. this idea that ultimately they am visit him in these remote villages to make sure he is still cared for as well as he possibly can be. anderson? [ no audio ] save time and save for the future.

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i'm joined by members of the marines. you were in the story that the patrol we were on yesterday. today it's 9/11 here already. eight years into this conflict, what do you think? what's it like being here on 9/11? >> you know, i think for a lot of us it is just a reminder of why we're here in the first place, why we joined. not necessarily why we're here now. but it's a good thing to think about in the back of your head is living day to day out here. >> a lot of people don't understand the mission here very well. a lot of people in the united states. it's not just about hunting taliban. you're really -- it's all about the local population. >> absolutely. it's -- there's more to this war than just shooting guns. it is the people.

it's the people that matter here. and without them, we're not going to win this. and the government of afghanistan is not going to be successful. >> what is your name? >> mark. >> who is this? >> this is my dog. >> and she's an ied dog? >> that's correct. >> so is she specially trained? >> she finds ieds. >> pretty much the only purpose here. >> what is your name? >> kyle campbell. >> how long you been here? >> been here since may. this is my third combat. twice iraq, first time to afrg. >> what's it like for you being here on 9/11? >> something i wanted to do. obviously i wasn't around the marine corps around 9/11. but glad to be here. it is something i always wanted to do. >> shane brandon. >> is the mission different than what you thought it would be? >> no, sir, i thought it would be like this. it is around the population helping the people. >> where are you from?

>> kansas, sir. >> appreciate all you guys and what you're doing. you have been great with us the last couple days and on the patrol yesterday. getting a lot of e-mails and stuff from people saying thank you for what you're doing. i hope you know that and hope you know how much we respect what you're doing out here. thank you very much. appreciate it. stay safe. members of the 15 marines. we've been with them all week here in afghanistan. first patrol base and now here at forward operating base. we'll have more tomorrow night from afghanistan. our coverage continues right now. we'll show you out on patrol with u.s. marines in the next hour. and we'll also take you to washington where the drama over the congressman who heckled president obama continues today. we'll be right back. ♪ ♪ i got troubles, oh ♪ but not today ♪ 'cause they're gonna wash away ♪ ♪ this old heart ♪ gonna take them away [ quacks ]

the action is here in afghanistan. we're at marine forward operating base engineer an mow. it's now morning. the date is 9/11, eight years since it all began. the attacks on america, then the the war, of course, continues here. but it's a very different kind of war which is being fought which leaves with americans with a much more difficult battle on their hands. we saw that firsthand today. marines with members of the fledgling afghan army torn away during a visit to a nearby village by reports of a flare thrown. we gave chase. never found the bad guys. they melted away, it seems. a tough war to fight. back home, house speaker nancy pelosi today, the top democrat for the first time doubting congressional support for the war. even the troops here making the best of a very challenging mission. so too to night all the angles, michael ware on the original enemy, al qaeda. where are they? i'll be on patrol as they try to turn the force into a trust force. and sanjay gupta tracking the

progress of a boy saved by american doctors. back home in washington, though, that's where we begin tonight. president obama who owns this war trying to consolidate ownership of health care reform. the day after his landmark speech to congress, he and democrats over at the white house for some arm twisting. that is not what everyone is talking about. as you know, they're talking about gop congressmen who shouted out two words about the president. you lie. south carolina republican congressman joe wilson who apologized. president obama quickly accepting his apology. >> the reforms i'm proposing would not apply to those who are here illegal. >> you lie! >> that's not true. >> i'm a big believer that we all mick mistakes. he apologized quickly. and without equivocation.

i'm appreciative of that. i do think, as i said last night, we have to get to the point where we can have a conversation about big important issues that matter to the american people, without name calling, without the assumption of the worst in other people's motives. >> the president saying apology accepted. the controversy still growing. who is congressman wilson? who thinks he went too far? who actually agrees with him? the raw politics from joe johns. >> reporter: this is republican congressman joe wilson, after last night, he's the man everyone wanted to hear from today. >> last night, we heard from the leadership. they wanted me to contact the white house. and state that my statements were inappropriate. i did.

>> reporter: inappropriate? not everyone agrees. his health care speech last night, president obama made a debatable claim that illegal immigrants would not be insured in his health care reform plan. it was more than wilson could stand. >> you lie! >> reporter: you lie, that's what he yelled. >> that's not true. >> reporter: democrats up in arms charging wilson had disrespected the office of president of the united states. and suddenly wilson's own office became the center of a storm. the phone lines in his office, twitter and facebook pages all flooded. his office website crashed because so many people offered opinions. so what were people saying? wilson's staff said calls were three to one in support of wilson. but not so much public support from leaders of his own party, even though he may have articulated some republican anger. >> what about the sentiment? there's anger, frustration. what about the sentiment? >> i don't know. i don't know what sentiment are

you talking about? >> reporter: the sentiment that the democrats are shoving health care down the throats of republicans. >> i think everybody's concerned right now about what the next steps are in health care. he apologized. i think we all moved past. that let's focus on getting a good bill. >> i'm not trying to achieve that. there is a frustration in america right now. i think that frustration stems from the fact that president is pursuing policies quite different from what he campaigned on. >> reporter: so who is this guy anyway? joe wilson is not the kind of congressman you see sticking his face in front of a camera at the united states capitol complex. he kind of keeps to himself. comes from a very conservative district in south carolina. known for handling defense issues. he's also the type of congressman who worked here on capitol hill before he actually ran for congress. he's an attorney as well and a lot of people were surprised at this outburst. but not shocked. he once lit into a democrat on c-span for claiming the u.s.

gave weapons of mass destruction to iraq. >> that is absurd. you know, this hatred of america by some people is just outrageous. and we need to get over that. yes, a hatred of america to say something like that. >> reporter: and today after wilson went after the president, some folks back in his home state of south carolina said they didn't like it. a democrat running against wilson even said he got $200,000 in donations overnight. but in a conservative state where wilson is a fixture, he still got support. and to cash in on the feelings, wilson had a fund-raising video explaining what happened and asking for money. so did the president lie about illegal immigrants being insured under the democratic reform efforts? the answer, technically illegal immigrants would not be prohibited from receiving insurance under three of the plans passed by committees in the house. but they would have to pay for it on their own.

the most important issue is who pays. the bills that have paced the three committees say the illegal immigrants cannot receive any government money, tax credits and the like to pay for health care so several fact checking organizations have said that the president was not lying. anderson? >> joe johns reporting. joe, thanks. a lot more to talk about in washington and across the country. let's send it to wolf blitzer. >> thanks very much. with president obama working on democrats, republican leaders were trying to get past the job of the joe wilson flap. they were trying to fire up their own trips. they and the conservative groups rallying on capitol hill. joe wilson, by the way, was not in attendance. the house minority whip speaking and hearing from wilson supporters. listen to this. >> last night we heard our president address this country. >> boo! >> we were listening for specifics. we were listening to hear something new. and we did not hear that. >> let's get more with candy crowley and rolin martin and mike williams. he is director of the political

action committee, our country deserves better. do you share the opinion expressed by congressman joe wilson? >> absolutely. and so many people do. they also share his frustration and his anger. if he did anything wrong, he was the venue. that i have to give him a slap on the wrist for. but he absolutely spoke the truth. everybody seems to be leaving one very important thing out of this. that is the federal courts have spoken with regard to illegal immigrants or illegal aliens getting the benefits, especially health benefits. we tried to bar them from doing that in california in the '90s. the federal courts slapped us down. even language specifically excluding them is not going to stand a court battle. so whatever obama believes -- and for that matter, i don't even know what bill he was talking about. does he have a proposal? does he have a plan? what's he even talking about?

>> let me bring roland martin into this. his heckling does underscore the bitterness toward president obama right now. and this and other issues. is this simply politics as usual here or is there more to play? >> what you have here is you have people who have absolute disdain for this president. and the attitude of congressman wilson was unbecoming of a member of congress, even his own party members recognize that. interesting that he didn't know what he was talking about, i would ask mark this, will he say on national television that senator john mccain is a liar who said today that there is no provision the president was absolutely right. he even called members of the republican party liars. the fact of the matter is joe wilson was lying about this provision. and so it is ridiculous for a member of congress to behave in this manner. he should apologize to the house because he brought the kind of negative reaction on them from his actions and should not only apologize to the president but also the fellow house members. >> i'll let mark respond in a

moment. candy, before that happens, the fallout from what happened last night. does it help or hurt president obama's chances of getting health care reform passed? >> i don't know what it does to his chances of getting it passed. i do know that in these past, what, 24 hours, certainly it helped the president. one of his aims last night, you know, wolf, going into this speech last night there were democrats thinking, boy, where is he on this? why hasn't he really taken leadership of it? why hasn't he hit back against his critics? the polls were beginning to show an increase in people who thought the president was not reaching out to republicans. and then along come this. and what it has done is really let the president be above all of this. he talked last night about petty partisan politics. and now, you know, today he can sort of say, yes, i accept his

apology. it made the president look good. that kent help but help the president. >> stand by, everyone. we'll be back with the panel shortly. first, let's send it back to anderson for a look at the rest of the hour from afghanistan. >> that's right, wolf. let us know what you think online. join the live chat at ac360.com. we'll go back to wolf. we're out on patrol with u.s. marines and members of the afghan national army. remember, that's what the politicians are saying it's all about training the afghan national army. we'll show you how it's going, we'll show you the mission and what happened today. chasing shadows as somebody made some sort of attack on the marines then melted away. and later, michael ware and peter bergen, finding osama bin laden. 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.

we're back in helmand province. we'll show what you happened when we went on patrol. first, we have breaking news on health care reform back home. president obama pressing moderate democrats for their support. dana bash catching up with them, getting their late reaction. >> reporter: earlier this evening i talked with several senators who did meet with the president today. it was a group of 17 senators. they were all democrats and all conservative democrats. and that's quite telling that this was the first group the president wanted to meet with after his big speech. he knows that his health care plan really depends on what they can accept. and most of these senators are quite uncomfortable in some cases outright opposed to what the president prefers.

now one of the senators told me he really pressed the president behind closed doors to bend on that. and specifically, to hold off on that so-called public option. for several years he said he wanted to do it as a last resort. and only if other insurance reforms don't work. that's the so-called trigger. and several of these democratic senators told me that the president was quite clear, abundantly clear that he is going to be willing to negotiate on that. and several other things. and that's why it was really interesting today. the other thing we saw on the other side of the democratic divide on health care is a softening from liberal democrats. even the house speaker who said so many times over the last several weeks she can't pass a health care proposal without a so-called public option. she declined to say that in today's press conference. so there's a long way to go here. but we are starting to see a little bit of a softening of democrats and them starting to climb out of their trenches on either side of what has been a very deep democratic divide on health care.

>> all right. yeah, the trenches still exist. dana bash taking the pulse of democrats tonight. thank you. a lot more to talk about. wolf? >> let's get back to our panel talking strategy on health care reform and joe wilson's outburst. candy crowley joining us, roland martin and mark williams. we're going to get what dana reported. but, mark, i want to give you a chance to respond to what roland said. john mccain self agrees with the president. nothing in this legislation would give illegal immigrants in the united states the opportunity to gain from this proposed legislation. >> wolf, i doesn't have to. the courts have already spoken on. that they'll speak again if it happens. but this bitterness that

supposedly is directed toward obama, if i learned anything many my work with our country is that it's not bitterness. it's outrage that the socialist policies being embraced by this administration and that goes double for w., by the way. as for the republican party goes, it's no surprise to any of us working stiffs out here that they allowed themselves to be a doormat for what is happening in washington, d.c. the fact of the matter is the republican party as a whole is absent without leave from this debate. and our representatives are -- our elected representatives are falling down on the job. that's why the american people are rising. that's why i had almost 10,000 people outside chicago at aur tea party the other day. people are sick and tired of being abused. we're the people that pay the bills. >> you just heard what dana reported.

that moderate democrats are encouraged by what the president is saying. here's the question. will the liberal members of congress support legislation if it doesn't include the public option? >> i it this liberals and moderates have to give on the issue. but the most important thing is they recognize they're going to have to get health care reform. the democrats -- this is in their plank. this is in their plank for a number of years. there is no way in the world that they are going to allow that this moment when they're so close to slip through their fingers because they cannot blame the republicans. they have to september blame themselves. democrats control the house, the senate, the white house, they can't look to anybody else. they've got to suck it up. come out and pick up their differences to move it forward. >> candy, the political reality is the president does have decisive majorities. he'll get what he wants but not necessarily the public option. right? >> the public option is the one thing that the people in the white house have looked at and thought that perhaps will have to go. much depends on what happens in the senate. but it is a lot easier to see most of the liberals swallowing this and saying, okay, no public option this go around. maybe we'll see down the road if we need one. then it is to see conservatives and moderates accepting it.

it just isn't going to happen. >> mark, anything your organization likes about the plans that the president is putting forward? >> no. where is the tort reform? where is that at? that's the real problem. he doesn't want to take on the trial lawyers. >> he did say last night, he wouldn't let a test go forward on caps on medical malpractice. >> well, that doesn't help the tort reform. that doesn't do anything but hurt me if i'm butchered by somebody not being able to be made whole. no, he's taking us down a $9 trillion deficit path. we have serious problems in this country. >>, so mark -- >> we have economic issues. we have social issues. we have international issues. we're having problems in afghanistan now. all of these are major priorities. and this administration is watching its approval ratings drop throughout 50s and eventually into the 40s. it won't be able to accomplish anything. >> you are telling me you have a

problem with the president saying if a pre-existing condition you're now going to get covered? you don't like that? >> yes, i'll find an insurance company that will cover me. >> you're not going to find them, mark. they're not going to cover you. >> there is a reason, it's a bad risk. >> wow! >> if he's going to come to me and tell me that i must have insurance or i'm committing a crime and then fine me, i don't think so. >> i want you to admit -- i'm going to have a right to a gun. i'm not going to give him $1,000 for a gun. i have a right to free speech. >> if your wife got sick and a pre-existing condition and the insurance company would turn her down, you would say, you know what? they have to make money, it's a smart manufacture. you would accept that? >> if somebody has a record of dwis, can they still get insurance? >> if your wife had a pre-existing condition -- >> if there competition reigns, they have to take on that risk. >> they don't exist now. >> thanks very much. certainly we can expect a lot more on health care in the coming days and weeks. for now, though, let's head back to anderson.

he's over at forward operating base in afghanistan helmand province. you're doing an amazing job out there. >> wolf, thanks very much. just ahead, a routine patrol. we're going to take you out on it. it was a patrol where routine, frankly, doesn't last very long. the radio crackled, a report. trouble came in. you'll see what happened. then the story of malik. now homeward bound thanks to american doctors. sanjay gupta is following his journey home when we continue. radar to help watch for the unforeseeable. infrared to help protect. satellites to help guide. electricity to adjust how powerfully or efficiently you drive. someday we'll all drive like this.

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coming up, we take you on patrol with u.s. marines. anything can happen on patrol at any time. we'll show what you we mean. first, erica hill has a bulletin. at least 19 people were killed in iraq because of a bomb. that attack flattened a dozen houses. officials said a second truck packed with explosives was stopped before the driver could detonate them. vice president joe biden and his wife jill will be in new york tomorrow to mark the eighth anniversary of the september

11th attacks. the bidens take part in the memorial service honoring victims. president obama will remain in washington and visit the memorial at the pentagon. welcome dose gf news about the swine flu. australian researchers have found a single low dose of the vaccine may be enough to protect adults. the side effects, really no worse than those found with the seasonal flu vaccine. that study appears in the new england journal of medicine. u.s. researchers say they have similar findings which they plan to report tomorrow. a bold new guarantee from general motors. anyone who buys one of the vehicles and isn't satisfied, come back for a full refund within 60 days. the promise is part of a major new marketing push. gp says the products have improved so much it can safely

make that offer. and the legal victory for jerry seinfeld's wife. a federal judge tossing out a cookbook author's claim that jessica seinfeld was a culinary copycat who stole the other woman's ideas for her cookbook which offers getting more tips into children's diets. the judge said the two books really had nothing in common. they're both best sellers. other than that, they share one thing, said the judge, the goal of hiding healthy food inside meals that kids like, anderson. and as you know, we've been airing taped messages. >> okay, erica. >> we've been airing taped messages from service members in afghanistan. you've helped collect some of them. among them is lieutenant sarah vergosi. she is from new jersey. and last night she said hi to her husband and her family. good news for sarah and her dad. he was watching. he posted a message where he wrote, you make us all proud, sarah. god bless you and keep you. see you real soon. love dad. and we're happy that we could let dad see his little girl, anderson. >> that's certainly a good connection to make and certainly parents in america have a lot to be proud of what the marines and

navy and soldiers are doing over here. a lot of remarkable young men and women doing very, very difficult job. we'll show you how difficult the job is on patrol next with the marines. mentoring afghan troops and responding to reports of an attack. an up close look at the extreme challenges. later, the face of evil. tomorrow's eighth anniversary of september 11th. it is already september 11th here in afghanistan. question is where is bin laden? where is al qaeda? why is the u.s. in afghanistan? tough questions. we'll get answers from peter bergen and michael ware.

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call or click today. we're back in afghanistan. we're at forward operating base geronimo in southern afghanistan. earlier we went along with marines on a joint patrol with afghan troops. it began as a routine operation. you'll see, that all changed very quickly. take a look. i is an odd sight, the afghan army and the u.s. army advisors. what is the purpose of a combined patrol like this?

>> the mentorship is the key piece, one. two is showing the people that it's not just us. it's the a & a. it's their own government as well. we didn't come here as an invading force. >> assisting the afghan national army, however, is a slow and often frustrating experience for u.s. forces. it's not just the language barrier which leaves both forces dependent on a limited number of interpreters, afghan soldiers often lack training and discipline. today first lieutenant zachary bennet is bringing a new afghan army lieutenant to a village to meet with elders. an ied went off here just the other day killing one afghan soldier. so the taliban is still around here? >> no doubt about it. it's just a matter of, you know, they come at night. they come during the day when the marines are not around. you ask the villagers, for the

most part they tell you i've never seen any taliban or the taliban have been gone since you got here. >> they all say that? >> yeah, that's the usual song and dance. they're kind of on the fence about whether or not to fully support the u.s. or support the afghan government because they don't have -- they don't know if you're going to stick around. >> they've been living here for as long as they've been alive. they know how to survive, which side of the table to play. >> and they often play both sides. >> go with the strongest tribe. >> prayers are called as the patrol enters the village. few people are on the streets other than kids. one man, however, approaches lieutenant bennett with a summation. we agreed to obscure his face for his own protection. he tells lieutenant bennett that taliban were here just yesterday. two men on a motorcycle looking

for places to planned ieds. >> what i'm saying is you need to come tell us when the taliban are in the village so we can stop them before they try to get out of the village. we can arrest them. >> do you trust the marines? >> translator: yes. >> yes, he says. but if the taliban spies knew i was talking you to, they would kill me. >> so there are spies around here? when the taliban comes to the village, he says, they talk first to the children about who gave information to the marines. >> you have eyes on him? >> the meeting is suddenly cut short when lieutenant bennett gets a call on his radio. >> what happened? >> someone threw a flare, they're saying. we're going to stop pushing this way. >> roger. >> what's up? >> they threw a flare at us. >> roger. >> this may be a joint patrol. but they instantly take charge of the situation. somebody flew a homemade flare

at u.s. forces. now they're going to investigate. >> don't let anyone out of the village for the time being. just knock on the door. >> for the marines, it's a sensitive situation. they don't want to do anything to alienate the local population. at the same time, they want to investigate that guy's house. so they do a quick search. they didn't find anything. and now they're moving on. it's also got to be a difficult situation. i mean, what you're trying to do here is build confidence with the locals and really win them over, get them off the fence. >> yep. >> you can't go charging in someone's house, you know, knocking down doors. >> yep. >> that you would otherwise. >> absolutely. >> lieutenant bennett reports the incident may be somebody trying to distract the patrol. >> make sure you're being smart up front, too. i don't know if they placed something on the road. >> on the way back to base, the marines are especially caution. one afghan soldier, however,

tries to sneak into the village and gets caught. unite afghan soldier seems to have more luck. it's an incident which concerns lieutenant bennett. that's a minor incident. but it's important in a counter insurgency. you don't want to alienate the civilians. >> no. the key is the civilians. that's what it all comes down to. >> getting them on your side. keeping them on your side. >> yep. letting them know that we're going to stay on their side. not that we're going to stay here permanently, but stay here as long as it takes to let the a & a and the afghan national security forces stand on their own two feet. >> it's going to be a while though? >> i can't speculate on that. but it's not going to be next week. >> as we approach the anniversary to 9/11, already here it is 9/11, we're going to take a look at al qaeda. what's the reason the u.s. got involved in afghanistan in the first place?

where is al qaeda today? we'll take a look at that. and where is osama bin laden? we'll talk to michael ware and peter bergen and we'll track malik. metabolism. a complete women's multivitamin plus more for metabolism support. and that's a change i feel good about. new from one a day. upbeat rock ♪ so i could hear myself myseas a ringtone ♪hone ♪ ♪ who knew the store would go and check my credit score ♪ ♪ now all they let me have is this dinosaur ♪ ♪ hello hello hello can anybody hear me? ♪ ♪ i know i know i know i shoulda gone to ♪ ♪ free credit report dot com! ♪ that's where i shoulda gone! coulda got my knowledge on! ♪ ♪ vo: free credit score and report with enrollment in triple advantage.

welcome back. we're at forward operating base

geronimo in helmand province. marines are helping retrain the afghan national army. we got involved in afghanistan because of what happened on september 11th. we're a few hours away from the anniversary in the united states. already here in afghanistan it is 9/11. we wanted to take a look at where is al qaeda today. you hear politicians talking about what is happening here as a hunt for al qaeda. but you don't hear a lot of folks on the ground here talking about al qaeda. we're going it talk about that with peter bergen and michael ware. michael, in washington, you hear this war being presented as a war against al qaeda, as a hunt for al qaeda. here on the ground, you don't hear bch al qaeda. >> well, that's because this is not a hunt against al qaeda. you don't hear the afghans in the combat zones in southern afghanistan or eastern afghanistan talking about al qaeda. that's why america originally invaded afghanistan way back in 2001. because al qaeda was given sanctuary by the taliban. america recognized that as a national security threat. well, that national security threat is no longer here. it is based in pakistan. there is very little al qaeda activity. the day to day fighting, the bulk of the bombings, the bulk

of the shootings, almost all of them are being committed by afghan taliban. so this war now is not so much about osama bin laden and his al qaeda network, anderson. >> and the taliban, peter, is totally different than al qaeda. i mean there are linkages in pakistan. but what's the linkage? >> increasingly the taliban. they were a influential group of people when they ran the country. but the jihad is operating like al qaeda in iraq. they have molded together with al qaeda which is part of the problem. >> but when -- i mean is it accurate that this is a battle against al qaeda? >> certainly not here, anderson. as we heard repeatedly, al qaeda doesn't have a presence here. they are more of a problem in eastern afghanistan. the calculation is international

forces left, the taliban will be back not because they're so strong but the afghan government is so weak. if the taliban came back, they would again offer safe haven to al qaeda. >> michael that, is the argument for politicians. they say, look, if afghanistan, you know, gets weaker, the taliban takes over. then this would be a home for al qaeda. >> well, that is a possibility. but it is assumes an awful lot. it assumes, firstly, that this government will fall apart to such a degree. then the taliban would come back. very few people actually can see that happening in the short to medium term future. and if you read the latest tracking between al qaeda and the taliban, you'll see that there are differences in their messages. and, indeed, one of the most

recent taliban messages stress pashtun as the objective. the taliban are fighting for one thing. al qaeda is fighting for another. al qaeda is fighting a transnational agenda. if al qaeda did get a toehold in afghanistan again, they probably won't be running the country. and it would be such a risk for them to bring al qaeda with them. i'm not sure the taliban goes that far down the ideological road with al qaeda, especially when you talk directly to these afghan taliban. anderson? >> peter, the hunt for osama bin laden, do we know how active it is? do we have any sense of stat the status of it? >> it is very accurate. since the battle of tora bora, there is no intelligence. these are basically guesses where he is.

they're not intelligence. >> the u.s. has had more success lately in hitting some of these al qaeda leaders in pakistan with drones. >> indeed. the bush administration amped up the drone program. there were 34 attacks under bush. there have been 36 under obama. obama ratcheted up this program and taken out about half the leadership. they've been effective. >> peter bergen, michael ware, thanks. up next, we want to get you caught up on other stories making headlines tonight including bernie madoff caught on tape giving tips an how to fool the feds. plus, michael jackson's unseen video. the pop star's final days of rehearsals. details on the upcoming documentary. gecko vo: you see, it's not just telling people geico

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well, more from afghanistan in a moment. first, erica hill joins us with a 360 bulletin.

>> in a newly released audio tape, bernie madoff is heard giving tips on how to outsmart sec investigators. the phone call is with a person who's going to be interviewed by federal regulators about madoff's investment firm. mad yo started the call by saying, "first of all, this call never took place." and then offered the following advice -- >> a yale university graduate student who is supposed to get married this weekend vanished. anna lee was last seen on tuesday along with her purse, credit cards an money and cell phone were left in her campus office. authorities are asking anyone with information to contact the university police. a 360 follow up, a lawmaker being caught on tape bragging about having sex with lobbyists denies he had an extramarital affair. he talked about skimpy underwear and how one woman likes to be spanked. his only offense is engaging in inappropriate story telling adding, he regrets the choice of his words. and the preview about michael jackson this sunday, you can see it during the mtv video muse

ache wards. janet jackson will open the show. michael jackson's film was put together of 100 hours of rehearsals for the london concerts. the movie will be released next month for a two-week engagement. anderson? >> coming up, the question everyone around here gets asked and you better know the answer, it's our shot of the day. first, malik is going home. the wounded 2-year-old afghan hospital that underwent surgery in an afghan hospital. has two ingredients by to block and relieve the pain.

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all this week dr. sanjay gupta has been in afghanistan reporting from trauma centers, air mobile medical units, doctors to medics, showing you how they're saving lives. sanjay's been following the

recovery of a 2-year-old afghan boy who suffered massive brain injury. many of you have been touched by his strength and determination. today army special forces flew malik back to a clinic closer to his village. >> reporter: this was going toened well. but when we met malik he looked like this. bandaged, broken, desperate. a toddler from a remote village, malik had fallen down a cliff like this when a u.s. special forces unit found him. >> he ended up falling off the roof and landed on his head. causing a fracture. then he started to get a hematoma, which was causing the problems he was seriously having. >> reporter: army special forces. this is them at work. these guys are the elite, the invisible warriors, and this is how they got malik out of the mountains. by cover of night they would chopper him to a military

surgical hospital. it was the boy's only hope. these guys are special forces. hard-core. they've never been filmed before. they wouldn't even tell me their real games. but they made saving malik part of their mission. >> didn't appear to see anything, wouldn't track with his eyes. couldn't get much of a response from his pupils. so it was a pretty simple case when we first came on. it was obvious what needed to be done. >> army special forces brought malik here safrl days ago. he was brain injured, paralyzed on the left side of his body, in dire straits. we have seen him improve over the last couple of days. now the mission is to get him home. special forces invited us along for a special look. here at this kandahar military surgical hospital a neurosurgeon and his team operated to release pressure on the boy's injured brain. in time they knew the swelling would go down. and his senses could return. i visited every day as he slowly recovered. he was paralyzed on his left side. but he was gradually coming

back. and finally, with a little aid from his father, he was on his feet. again. now, after a week of treatment, he is well enough for the journey back to his village. this is the way patients are transport transported. his father's got him wrapped in this blanket. i had expected a real homecoming. but afghanistan is too dangerous and his village too high and isolated to fly him all the way. instead, we brought him here to a primitive clinic. we were greeted by afghan police who kept a close eye on us the entire time. as for the toddler, malik slept most of the way. my first impression -- we're a long way from that gleaming army hospital. here, water pumps instead of faucets. dirty floors. no bed sheets. but malik is on his way home.

>> one final exam of malik. you still don't smile. can you push? got asthma resistance. how about the leg. can he kick it? kick. he still needs months to fully recover. his prognosis is bright. here's the thing. malik's village is high up there. no place to land a helicopter. so his father and their new friends in special forces will walk through these mountains to carry the boy home. i'll tell you what, i've seen neurosurgical procedures in different parts of the world but nothing like this. as you might imagine the key now for him is going to be the care he gets after the operation. that's what these doctors and medics are focusing on, they'll visit hill in remote villages to make sure he's still cared for as well as he possibly can be.

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for "the shot" i'm joined by members of the 1st battalion 5th marines. zachary bennett, you were in the story from the patrol yesterday. today it's 9/11 here already. eight years into this conflict, what's it like being here on 9/11? >> i think for a lot of us, it's just a reminder of why we're here in the first mace. why we joined. not necessarily why we're here now. but it's a good thing to think about in the back of your head as you're living day to day out here. >> a lot of people probably don't understand the mission here very well. a lot of people in the united states. it's not just about hunting taliban. you're really -- it's all about the local population. >> absolutely. there's more to this war than just shooting guns. it is the people. it's the people that matter here. and without them we're not going to win this. the government of afghanistan's not going to be successful. >> what's your name? >> mark skillser.

>> who's this? >> my dog isabella. >> she's an ied dog? >> that's correct. >> what is she specially trained to do? >> find ieds. different types of odors she's trained on. pretty much her only purpose out here. >> what's your name? >> kyle campbell. >> how long you been here? >> since may. this is my third combat. twice iraq, first time to afghanistan. >> what's it like for you being here on 9/11? >> something i wanted to do. obviously i wasn't around the marine corps around 9/11. but i mean, glad to be here. it's something i've always wanted to do. >> your name? >> shane brown. >> is the mission a lot different than you thought it was going to be? >> no, sir. i thought it was going to be sit around, assist with the population, helping the people, secure. >> where are you from? >> kansas, sir. >> all right. appreciate all of you guys, what you're doing. you guys have been great with us the last couple of days and on patrol yesterday. as we're