the river is rising and rising and rising. look at what some of our friends in the south are dealing with right now. the highest many have seen the river in over a half century. mandatory evacuations have been ordered in several communities. it's not just along the mississippi, however. it's also the rivers that connect to the mississippi. they are also rising. that water has nowhere to go. so now it's starting to go over levees, and it's spilling into streets. give you an idea by looking at this map. an idea of some communities dealing with flooding. one hour ago, the coast guard issued a traffic stop at carrothersville, missouri, that means no river traffic because they are afraid the wake from the ship will add to the flooding misery. shipping could be shut down up to eight days. rising waters also having an effect on traffic, not only on the river but on the ground. look at this. this is little rock, arkansas.

interstate 4 is a major artery through the midwest for trucks. and it runs straight across the state of arkansas. this is the midway point in arkansas. the road is washed out in some places, adding hours and hours to the drive for some folks. some truckers forced to find another way through. let's turn back to memphis, tennessee. that's where we have dave mattingly. he has been keeping an eye on things there for us. you had to take a boat tour to get an idea of what's going on there, dave? >> it's hard to back up far enough to get a perspective on how much damage is being done. this is so slow moving. and it's almost like there's a big lake around us and not a flooding river. but we did go out in a boat. we looked at some areas, industrial areas with equipment in the water, raw materials in the water, a sewage treatment plant with equipment in the water. the water is just inching up. the concern is for a couple of thousands of pieces of property

in the memphis area. officials pinpointed those to figure out the water will come up about two more feet. so we know exactly who will be hit by this. so they're going around right now as i'm speaking to these houses, they're putting these fliers on them. these are clear. the message behind them, evacuate. your property is in danger right now. don't wait. evacuate. that's what they're trying to tell the people, to make sure they know don't be complacent when you see this slow-moving water coming into your neighborhood. it could be a matter of minutes or hours before suddenly you're not able to pack up and get out the way you want to. so they're saying don't wait until it's in your front yard or down your street. make the move now to pack up and move out. again, we're talking about 2,000 pieces of property. these are residential, these are commercial along the river. there's also concerns in some of the tributaries where the water from the mississippi is backing

up into areas there. back in those areas they don't have flood walls or levees like they have here at this park to keep the water back. but this is supposed to be a near historic level of flood here in memphis. just a few inches away, they believe, from the peak of 1938 or 1937. what they're talking about is that flood back then was really bad because they didn't have the flood protection they do now. it went four blocks into the city. now they have levees. they have flood walls. they want to make sure everybody knows they have confidence in this equipment. they think it's going to hold the river back. and they're ready just in case it doesn't. they called in volunteers to start putting together hundreds and thousands of sandbags to be used just in case the levees don't work. they are preparing for every bad thing that could happen now and making sure everybody gets the message don't feel comfortable with this slow-moving water coming in your neighborhood. make plans to get out now. that's what they're looking at

now in memphis. it's only going to get worse down river as the water continues to move down and set high water marks down to baton rouge. this is an enormous disaster. >> dave mattingly, you teased it for us at end this disaster is making its way. we will bring in chad myers, memphis, mississippi, iowa, illinois this thing is make its way. this is what they're referring as a slow-moving natural disaster. >> certainly is. you can certainly get out of the way of this. you can't move your house out of the way or your farm out of the way. you can get your tractors, equipment, cattle out of the way that would be great but this will continue to go up. we are still monitoring wmc. we saw one of the interstates there, the water was still coming up here. look at these numbers. this is above flood stage. flooding starts somewhere in

here, in vicksburg, it will be 14 feet above where that flood starts. natchez, 16 feet. the cities will be protected by the levees. that's part of the problem. all of a sudden what would have spread out in both directions, now it only gets to spread out to the left or to the right, depending on which way you're going down the river. these levees, and especially if they don't hold will be part of the problem. memphis will be fine. we'll talk about 1,000 or so houses, but the city of memphis and shelby county, you will be fine. there are levees that could have problems up and down -- they're made of dirt, most of them. you pile dirt on top, plant grass and trees, hope it stays together. if you get days and days and weeks and weeks of water pushing on those levees, sometimes you can get water coming through.

that's when you need the sandbags. we have warnings from the ohio river, mississippi river, down into the gulf of mexico. here's what will go on for the next couple of weeks. as the water continues to go down, the rain is here. everywhere that is green -- this is from 2010. i will push in to where the blue is. the inundation of the farmland and the flood land. honestly, it's the floodplain that is flooding this has been flooding for hundreds of thousands of years, if not millions of years. right now we just put people, towns, houses, farms and people in the way. that's what we do, we put things in good places. this is the most fertile farmland in america. that's why we grow things there this can happen sometimes. >> seems like disaster after disaster in this country and same area here hit by tornadoes last week. chad, appreciate it. we'll check in with you again. we told through are mandatory evacuations ordered in many

communities in the mississippi and some rivers connected to the mississippi. one of those communities, cotton plant, arkansas. the halfway point between memphis and little rock. floodwaters there starting to top the levees. in 1947, that was the last time they were told to get out because of flooding. cleo smith was just a young boy then when his family refused to go. what is he saying now, 64 years later? that is today's sound effect. >> i'm not leaving. i saw a lot of people leaving. i just laughed. i said they'll be coming right back because the water is not going to get here. >> you know, the national guard, national weather service, they disagree with you. >> yeah. but having lived through one, i have to disagree with them. >> now that is not advisable for a lot of folks. a lot of people look at him and

might applaud his resiliency. but, folks, it's coming. you need to go and get out. that's what a lot of people recommend, including our chad myers. let's turn to other major news from today. a lot of people, as you know, want to see those pictures of a dead osama bin laden. they say that's what they need as final confirmation that he's dead. we know that's not going to happen. the president and whoite house saying they're not releasing his pictures. how about this as confirmation? al qaeda is acknowledging that bin laden is dead. al qaeda released a statement today, an intelligence group that monitors these extreme islamist forums translated it, and in al qaeda praises its late leader and urging pakistan to rise up and revolt. the militant group threatens the u.s. saying bin laden's death is a curse that chases the americans and their agents. they vow to continue on the path of jihad and warn that americans

will never enjoy security until our people, as they put it, in palestine enjoy it. >> we are getting a glimpse of what bin laden was up to while hiding out in that compound. the department of homeland security released a notice on thursday alerting rail systems, remember those hard drive dvds, thumb drives, things taken from the compound. they revealed al qaeda was working on a program to derail trains in the u.s. by putting obstructions on the tracks that was supposed to happen this fall, on the tenth anniversary of 9/11. u.s. officials say this may be only the tip of those plots. coming up, i'm talking with the leader and founder of the nation's largest iraq and afghan war veterans group. we know diamonds. and with an extra 10% off

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rykoff joining me now from new york. good to see you. let's start with the pictures. i won't ask to you agree or disagree with the president's decision not to release the photos of a dead osama bin laden. but for you and members of our group and soldiers who have been fighting for years and years and years, do you just want to see them? >> yeah, i think a lot of folks do. there are mixed opinions throughout the organization but there's always the need for visual confirmation and there's a practical reality. some parts of the middle east don't have the internet and cnn and they need confirmation that he's dead. we believe the president. it's a good day for america. you mentioned it's part of confirmation but is it also a part of closure for you?

>> i think it schlis. i was down at ground zero on sunday night, and we did it with uday ahussein, but we are praising other brothers and sisters for the fine job they did with the operation getting us up to this point. >> will there be a bigger victory than this for iraq and afghanistan war veterans? was this always -- i guess there are bigger things that play and bigger goals to accomplish, yes, he was just one man, but can there ab bigger victory in your mind and some other veterans minds than this. >> i think peace would be an ultimate victory, but this is a big one. and it's been a rough couple of years. the toll on our community and

families have been huge. it's good to get good news, and it's great to have the support of americans behind us. the key for us now is to keep that up. memorial day is coming in a couple of weeks, we want americans to remember this feeling, remember that support for our troops and veterans, carry it over to memorial day, veterans day and throughout the next couple of years, we need folks to stay focused after this event passes. >> you went down to ground zero the night of. why did you go down there? >> i was there working as a rescue worker ten years ago. never thought i would go back and see folks celebrating and cheering in the same spot. i wanted to be around other folks who were there. i wanted to experience it. there were a lot of cops, firemen, veterans, first responders. we were down there reflecting, walking around, seeing the fire houses. it was about closure and also being around other people who understood your experience. you didn't want to just sit home

on your couch. you wanted to within other veterans and you could talk about the experience. >> the debate has begun on what do in afghanistan. okay. we got this guy. we got the guy we were after. let's high tail it out of there what is your thought now on what the mission or how this might change the mission in afghanistan and should this speed up with the drawl of u.s. forces from afghanistan? >> we should always be debating. it's good to have the american public involved in that. we are coming home. the president made that clear. we just want to know what expectation is. we want a clear mission. whatever it is, we will achieve it. and there is still heavy fighting going on in afghanistan. we are preparing for a taliban spring offensive. iraq had the deadliest month in almost two years. we need to make sure the american public keeps their eyes on what's happening overseas and

not making sure some big plug was pulled and everybody will be rolling home. >> the other part of the debate going on now is exactly how much credit goes towards this president this administration, versus the last president and the last administration. in your estimation, is that even fair? is that a silly argument to be having? do you view it as of course it took years of several administrations and a lot of people to make this happen? or do you give a lot of credit to this administration and this president. >> there's a lot of credit to go around. a lot of politicians will want credit but the folks who deserve the credit are our troops. those navy s.e.a.l. operators and everybody else who served since 9/11. those are the folks who deserve credit. we found out this morning the unemployment rate for iraq and afghanistan rate is at 11%, that's two points higher than the national average. we need folks to thank them for their service and victory and

most importantly give them a job. >> that was the next thing i was going to be asking about. that 11% number wh. what do we need to do about that in your estimation? should we also, every time we give the unemployment rate, give the breakdown of veterans, of minorities, of young people? what is your thought and why are we not focused enough on that number? it's a shame to hear some of our veterans can't find jobs. >> i think it's an important number. there are over 200,000 iraq and afghanistan veterans unemployed now. iava is laser focused on that number. we want to bring that number down below 200,000. every american can help. you can hire a veteran, help train veterans, support organizations like ours spending them back to school. we are working with companies to try to hire them. understand what you saw with these s.e.a.l.s, that's the type

of community our veterans are coming from. those are the types of folks you want in your job, whether it's a fortune 500 company or a small business, you want these veterans on your team. >> paul rieckhoff, thanks for joining us. enjoy your weekend. >> thank you. always appreciate it, t.j. >> we want to mention today is military spouse appreciation today. it honors the spouses who play a vital role in the nation's defense it was first celebrated in 1984 during president reagan's administration and later today the first lady, michelle obama and jill biden will host a mother's day celebration for military connected moms, grandmoms and spouses. also militaryavenue.com has an article on 101 ways to thank a military spouse. i was talking to paul about the unemployment rate. we did get new numbers today. the unemployment rate went up.

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thousand jobs in april. how is it possible those two things happened at the same time? let me explain this. yes. the recovery still picking up. picking up speed in the month of april. just got these numbers today. business payrolls added 244,000 new jobs for april. that's up from 235,000 jobs that were added in march. it's more than most folks were expecting. those experts out there, okay? the biggest gains were made in professional services, manufacturing made a good contribution to the number. here is the other number of the day that people pay attention to. the unemployment rate. it went up to 9%. yes, added 244,000 jobs, so why is the unemployment rate going up? this ends four straight months of falling unemployment rates. to put this simply, as the economy gets better, people start to feel better about the economy. they had given up looking for work before, but now they feel

better about things. now they get back into the job hunt. that is what pushes the overall rate a little higher. on "your money" this week, christine romans and ali velshi spoke about the numbers and the perception of the economy. >> look at this, bob, the cnn opinion research corporation poll. 8 out of 10 americans feel the economy is in poor shape. >> right. >> all right? only 18% think it's good. when we break down the most important issues, number one has been unemployment for a very long time. it's been years going on, where unemployment is the number one concern. number two concern is debt and deficit. number three concern is gas prices. that's relatively new because of the run-up in gas prices. we've had a recovery, been in a recovery for two years now. what's wrong with this picture? >> what's wrong with this picture, we tend not to focus enough in the media and the politicians on employment, which is the most critical factor. that's why people think that the

economy is not doing well because so many people are unemployed. nearly 14 million people unemployed. a great number underemployed, working part-time because they can't find a full-time job. a lot of the jobs created in the co-called recovery have not been great jobs. they are service sector jobs, low-paying, without much in the way of benefits. one quick point on the latest jobs numbers 244,000 is an encouraging number. an improvement over what we have seen. we need more but it's an improvement. if i recall, 50,000 or 60,000 of those jobs were mcdonald's jobs. these are jobs that average $8 an hour, sometimes less. some of those jobs are part-time jobs. >> be sure to join christine romans for your bottom line each saturday morning at 9:30 eastern time. you can see the rest of "your money" saturday at 1:00 p.m. and sunday at 3:00 p.m. virginia beach is the home

of the navy s.e.a.l. team credited with killing osama bin laden. our brian todd traveled there. you can imagine some of the locals are proud of their boys. but also he found out that there's one rule of the navy s.e.a.l. team. you don't talk about the navy s.e.a.l. team. to the morning bowl of cereal. and to lactaid® milk. easy to digest and with all the calcium and vitamin d of regular milk. [ female announcer ] lactaid®. the original lactose-free milk. at liberty mutual, we know how much you count on your car and how much the people in your life count on you. that's why we offer accident forgiveness, man: good job. where your price won't increase due to your first accident. we also offer a hassle-free lifetime repair guarantee, where the repairs made on your car are guaranteed for life or they're on us. these are just two of the valuable features you can expect from liberty mutual.

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s.e.a.l. team six, that's the special ops unit that carried out the deadly raid against osama bin laden. virginia beach, virginia, is

home to many of the team members, but it's a strangely quiet home. nobody is supposed to know who these s.e.a.l.s are. our brian todd has been following this for us, trying to follow these guys, if you will. a lot of people would love to have them come out do their big interview, give them a parade but it doesn't quite work this way with the s.e.a.l.s. >> it does not. they do want to do those things in virginia beach. they're not able to for security reasons. those s.e.a.l. commandos widely credited with killing osama bin laden are back on american soil. in that town where they're widely believed to be based, you would never know it, that's by design. >> reporter: in a town where the buzzing of fighter jets is constant, where joyful reunions are a staple, america's most fearsome fighting unit goes unnoticed. unofficially called s.e.a.l. team six, they're the navy commandos widely believed to

have killed osama bin laden. s.e.a.l. training takes years. at least 75% of those who try out wash out. despite their elite status, many of s.e.a.l. team six's neighbors here in virginia beach wouldn't know one of those warriors if they fell over him. when the s.e.a.l.s come into a place like this, are they noticeable? >> personally, for me, i don't think they're noticeable beyond any other person in the military. >> reporter: john mcgwire, a s.e.a.l. for ten years, was once stationed near virginia beach. >> if i'm in a bar with a bunch of s.e.a.l.s, am i going to know it? >> hopefully you won't. we're just americans. you can't really put us in a box or a category. we're tall, short, large, not so large. we try to blend in and be americans. >> reporter: s.e.a.l. team six is widely to have reported out of this facility in virginia beach. we couldn't get on base. the unit is covered with such secrecy, the military doesn't acknowledge that it is here or

even that it exists. and that code goes beyond operational security at the base. when city officials here in virginia beach asked if they could honor the s.e.a.l.s with simple recognition at a town festival this summer, the navy declined. this city councilman is not surprised. he's a former naval intelligence officer. >> there's no city, no matter where these individuals are from will be able to confirm or deny or throw a ticker tape parade or anything else. >> reporter: what will the ceremony be like? is it handing you something or say thanks, don't ever talk about this? >> maybe not even that. i might be speculating. maybe a beer and a hoo-yah. >> reporter: then the s.e.a.l.s will simply blend in, going to restaurants, stores, coaching little league, until that next call comes. then, according to navy support group head mary ellen baldwin, their wives or girlfriends won't know much. >> it's tough times, that's for sure. at any given time the families don't know when they will be deployed. could happen in the middle of the night, on a holiday. doesn't matter. >> reporter: a dedication that

could compel these folks to wrap their arms around the s.e.a.l.s, if they only knew who they were. >> we have the creme de la creme in this area, and thank god we have them. >> one local official told us that they are concerned that the osama bin laden might draw too much attention and a heightened terrorist threat to that area, but they say with so many military bases in that region already, they have been dealing with the broader terrorism threat for many years. >> do you get a sense that a lot of folks you talk to there don't know that much about these s.e.a.l.s in town or do they know a lot but quite frankly they want to protect these guys, their identities and keep this going? >> a lot of them, they say, you cannot tell when they walk into a place. the s.e.a.l.s don't group themselves like military people. they might have scruffy beards, longer hair. really almost never wearing their uniforms out in public. so they blend in that way. you can't tell. a lot of the places we went

to -- we want to bars, restaurants, other places they go, the merchants, knowing the s.e.a.l.s were there and frequent there, they tell us we don't want to talk to you. we don't want you filming this place. they are concerned about security but they don't want to lose the s.e.a.l.s business nor trust. that's a big element in the town. >> brian todd dig as much as the town will allow. thank you very much, buddy. >> thanks. coming up it was just last week, these areas were getting hit by historic outbreak of tornadoes. now we're talking about some of those same areas getting hit by historic flooding. i'm back with you in 80 seconds. building up our wireless network all across america. we're adding new cell sites... increasing network capacity, and investing billions of dollars to improve your wireless network experience. from a single phone call to the most advanced data download, we're covering more people in more places than ever before in an effort to give you the best network possible.

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hello again, folks. i'm t.j. holmes sitting in for ali velshi. we are at bottom of the hour now. getting you caught up on some of the stories you might have missed. you can't miss this, flooding in some parts of the south and midwest, memphis we're showing you here, people are being warned this stuff could get worse. one official says rainfall 1600% more than normal. the mississippi river won't likely crest until this weekend well above flood stage. the coast guard says it will close a five-mile stretch of the mississippi to commercial traffic due to the high water. in louisiana, governor bobby jindal says he will enlist the help of the national guard as floodwaters head downstream. a team of rescuers in florida are working franticly now to save a group of pilot whales that stranded themselves in shallow waters.

at least 16 whales stranded in a four-mile area about 20 miles north of key west. despite their efforts, two whales have died. the other whales are being brought into a holding pen where rescuers are monitoring their vitals, trying to keep them wet, out of the sun. the situation for the whales is dire because workers say this kind of mass stranding can be a sign that the whales are actually sick. the employment recovery seems to have picked up speed in april. business payrolls swelled adding about 244,000 new jobs for the month, that's up from 235,000 jobs added in march. it's more than most people were expecting. the biggest gains were in professional services. however the unemployment rate went up to 9% that ends four straight months of declines. that rate often goes up as previously discouraged workers return to the labor force. president obama is expected

to meet with the secretive navy s.e.a.l. team that killed osama bin laden and raided his compound. expecting that to take place in private at ft. campbell, kentucky in a few hours. the president is expected ed e honor and congratulate those men. while the president is at ft. campbell, he will also address troops who have returned home from combat in afghanistan. and former olympic star carl lewis is keeping his political hopes alive. a federal appeals court issued an injunction to allow lewis to remain on the ballot for the new jersey state senate. that's for now. political opponents argued he has not lived in the state long enough to run for office. the court said of whether lewis meets residency requirements should be decided by a higher court. lewis did win nine olympic gold medals. if you have a lot of

preconceived notions about school, forget about them. grade levels, forget about it test scores, don't sweat it. that's what some school districts are saying now. you need to hear this in just a minute.

we won't step too far away from the historic flooding happening in the country, also the new developments on the osama bin laden story, but we want to talk about education for a moment. we often ask kids what grade are you? hey what grades did you get on that report card? some educators now say forget all of that. there's a revolutionary new approach beginning to take hold

in some schools. >> have a good day, guys. see ya. >> reporter: just outside of denver, colorado, something interesting is happening at hodgkin's elementary school. >> they're working on measuring. using a string. >> reporter: kids discovering a different way of learning. >> it's an x-ray. >> reporter: victor peres and dolce garcia are both 11. ask them what grade they're in. you won't get a traditional answer. >> level seven. >> and you are -- >> six. >> what about reading? >> level seven. >> and you are -- >> seven. >> at hodgkin's, there are no grade levels there are no grades period. kids are grouped on what they know. not how old they are. we are talking about a nonfiction book. >> it is so individualized. we are filling in their gaps so

they can move on. >> reporter: it is known as standards based learning. >> every student and every class is learning at exactly the spot they're supposed to. >> reporter: principal scary gould help put the system in place two years ago. >> for the first time every child is getting exactly what they need, when they need it, and how they need it. >> reporter: no one moves to the next level without testing at the equivalent of a "c" or higher. >> 100. >> reporter: and kids move up any time they're ready. >> how many of you have gone up a level this year? the entire school district has been on an academic watch list because of below average standardized test schools. so parents and the superintendent thought they needed to try to to see if it would work. >> the biggest concern is how you would assign a grade point

average. >> reporter: educators say it takes three to five years for standardized test scores to go up. so far 300 schools have tried it. half would not stick with it. >> this is really hard. superintendents last two, two and a half years on average. it's hard to lead systemic change when you have that much turnover. >> reporter: though state test scores here have not gone up, principal gould is still on board. why? she says discipline problems dropped 76% since the change. and students now are more motivated than ever. debra feyerick, cnn, westminster, colorado. >> we'll examine the crisis in our public education system and why america's future is at risk. a cnn documentary called don"do fail me" will air here on sunday at 8:00 p.m. people have been fighting for years trying to find a

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just days now after the killing of osama bin laden, a u.s. drone strike today killed 12 suspected militants in pakistan. pakistani intelligence officials say it happened in the tribal region of north waziristan.

the unmanned drone, perhaps like this one, hit a militant hideout and a vehicle carrying militants. the tribal region is a known staging area for taliban forces fighting in afghanistan. pakistan demanded a u.s. apology after 44 people were killed in a drone strike last month. today's attack was the 21st this year compared to 111 in all of last year. the right-wing political groups and islamic fundamentalists have long used the drone attacks to stoke anti-american sentiments. >> we think in this country of slavery ending a long time ago, but listen to these numbers, an estimated 10 million to 30 million people are held in slavery today. the fight to end it, baseball. might seem like an odd weapon of choice. but not for a young pitcher with the world champion san francisco giants. mark mckay has his story in part of the year-long freedom project aimed at helping to end slavery.

>> reporter: from major league baseball pitchers it's all about the strike. throwing that perfect pitch. >> strike. >> reporter: but off the field, san francisco giants pitcher germany affelt is looking to strike out childhood slavery. >> see what they have done to those kids and how they treat people was devastating to me. i wanted to see how i could use baseball to get the word out and fight the injustity. >> reporter: affeldt teamed up with a group called not for sale, founded four years ago by dave batstone. his organization launched free to play, as a way of encouraging professional athletes to support the anti-slavery campaign. >> i think everyone agrees it's wrong to hold someone captive to take away their future. >> reporter: last season,

affeldt donated $20,000. much of that coming from the $100 he pledged for every strikeout he pitched during the season. now he's upping that to $250 per strikeout. he's also raising awareness by recruiting teammates and opponents. tapping st. louis cardinals outfielder, matt holliday. >> you have so many nationali nationalities represented here. some asian ballplayers, the latin guys. all these guys there is slavery in these countries. >> reporter: not for sale has built a medical clinic, safe house and dormitories for former child slaves in thailand. in peru, the group helped launch a surfing program for street kids. last season the giants won the world series. affeldt hopes the buzz surrounding his team will bring attention to a problem which many only rarely think about.

>> wasn't right in the 1800s. it's not right now. and there's more slaves now than there was when it was legal. i don't get that. >> reporter: a baseball player hoping to end modern day slavery, one strikeout at a time. mark mckay, cnn. >> you can read more on cnn's year long freedom project at cnn.com/freedom. imagine you're just walking down the street. you're able to hear stories about the world around you. maybe you hear about a terrible blind date that took place at the coffee shop you're walking by. maybe a marriage proposal on the very park bench where you're sitting. how is this possible? you guessed it. there's now an app for that. i'll tell you about it in two minutes. we were actually thinking, maybe... we're going to hike up here, so we'll catch up with you guys. [ indistinct talking and laughter ] whew! i think it's worth it.

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all right. a lot of you out there and probably gone through a museum before and you can buy that little headset and put it on and then listen to the different recordings about the exhibits as you walk around and can you imagine doing that in your day-to-day life as you walk down the street. maybe you listen to the story of somebody's date that went wrong as you walk past the restaurant that happened, or on a historic

street corner where you are standing what happened. well, there is a app that allows people to record their stories an link it to specific locations on an interactive mapper for anybody to listen. joining me now, scott lindenbalm is a broadcaster and, man, did i explain that right? how does it work? how is it possible i can record something and then how is that linked up to somebody else who is walking down the street in that same location? >> well, thanks for having me here, t.j. i think that you did a great job explaining it. we are all walking around with these things in the pockets, the smartphones, and they are incredible. they are receivers, and they know where we are, and we can tell them what we are interested in. and based on that we can play back stories. so broadcasters is simple, it lets anyone in the world tell something with their own voice and pin it to the map. when you go walking through the world and you get to a place where a story is pinned, it will

automatically playback and stream into your head like a museum tour, but of everything where everyone is contributing. >> now, scott, can everybody do this? i know the app is up and running right now, but anybody -- do you have to sign up? can anybody record a message? >> absolutely, yeah. if you have androidphone or iphone, you can download the application or if not go to web and press on the record button and pin your story, and it is free to everyone. it is a free platform. >> and now, scott, do you screen them to make sure that somebody is not giving some explicit description of something they did at the hotel a couple of weeks back? do you make sure and if a kid tried to listen to that message, do you have a safety method in place? >> yes, if facebook showed us anything about how careful their friend circle is represented, we know that people care deeply

about where they live. when people use the application the first thing they do is to go to the area they live and listen to what is around them, and they can flag it and it is automatically pulled from the system if they don't like it or rate the things they do like up. so we will be telling the world what stories best represent the places where we live. we are working with the 9/11 memorial to do that exact thing at the world trade center site right now. >> but scott, it sounds like you depend on the public to police this thing. >> absolutely. the same people telling the store is are about the world and their lives will be the people to tell us what is the most accurate representation of their neighborhoods. and we think that people will take ownership over their own space. >> and scott, what about the privacy as well? somebody could put on there, that hey, i'm goi past scott lindenbalm's house and he is usually gone at 3:00 a.m. or something like that, and does that fall under the same category of the community has to police that kind of stuff? >> yeah, you know, if something

has not been rated and it is flagged, it is automatically pulled from the service. if it has been rated, it goes up for review, and we are not interested in breaking down privacy or en dorsing hate speeh or anything like that, so we will monitor it to scale. >> do we need this, man? we have facebook and twitter and everything else in our lives and do we need one more, scott? >> yeah, well, you know it is interesting. we look at all of the different platforms, right, and we see text, photos, videos et cetera, and there is no place for the human voice. myself and the co-founder said will the digital future exist without the human voice, the way we have communicated for hundreds of thousands of years and we believe that the answer is no. do we need one more? well, to support the most common form of communication, yes. >> and so scott, i will check this out. it is called broadcaster, and it is a free app and, scott, we

appreciate your being here and good luck with it. we will talk to you more about it,s and for the viewers for broadcaster the app check out cnn.com/ali. having are having building up our wireless network all across america. we're adding new cell sites... increasing network capacity, and investing billions of dollars to improve your wireless network experience. from a single phone call to the most advanced data download, we're covering more people in more places than ever before in an effort to give you the best network possible. at&t. rethink possible. constipated? phillips' caplets use magnesium, an ingredient that works more naturally with your colon than stimulant laxatives, for effective relief of constipation without cramps. thanks. [ professor ] good morning students. today, we're gonna...

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-- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com like crunchy taco. we are at the top of the hour once again, and this water, we are setting a new high water mark. and that is what we are seeing along the mississippi river right now. epic levels, this water is now

at the highest level many have seen in over half a century. we have mandatory evacuations ordered in several communities, but it is not just right along the mississippi, but the rivers connecting to the mississippi river that are rising as well. that water has nowhere to go so what is happening? it is going over the levees and spilling on to several streets. here is a look at many of the communities affected by the flooding. it was not too long ago that the coast guard issued a traffic stop at carruthersville, missouri, because they believe that the wake of the ships could add to the misery, so they may be shutting down shipping for eight days. the water is also affecting traffic on the ground. i-40, a major artery through the midwest and major artery for the trucks that you see cuts through the state of arkansas, and this is adding hours to the drive more of the truckers and interstate 40, a good stretch had to be closed down, and people having to find another way, and you see in the picture

what people are always told to do, don't drive through the stuff, no matter how big and bad your truck is, don't drive through it, but it never fails we see someone doing so. meanwhile to memphis where half a million sandbags are placed around memphis, tennessee, in an effort to hold back the rising water. homeowners are told to prepare for more waer in this the coming days. dave mattingly in the middle of it all, literally. hey, again, david. >> t.j., this spot where i am standing was dry a day ago. this disaster is moving very slowly, but it is relentless, moving inches at a time. moving forward every hour. that is what the officials here in memphis are trying to impress upon the people living in the low-lying areas. they are saying that it is moving slow, and you may feel complacent looking at it thinking it is not a danger, but now is the time to start packing up, and to actually think about getting out of its way. right now, in memphis, they have

flood walls. they have levees, and they have all sorts of protection that they didn't have back in the 1930s in the last big flood like this, but they are not taking any chances. there are still area where is the homes are up close to wear, the and yesterday we saw the water encroaching into the area of the houses, and that water getting into the houses today. so they are taking a lot of precautions, and making sure that the people make the best use of this time as the water continues to come up, t.j. >> and david, what areas are we talking about here? of course, the downtown memphis area sits right there on the river. i know that mud island is there and a lot of homes and newer area and upscale area, and what are they are trying desperately of the city to protect? just that downtown area? >> that main downtown area actually has the best protection. that is where you will see the highest levees and the biggest flood walls, so that part of the town is protected.

and they feel very confident that those walls and levees will hold. the sandbags they are putting together and the volunteers they are asking to come help fill the sandbags is a precaution. they are taking those sandbags to shore up some of the levees and taking some of the sandbags to put in place around hospitals and other emergency buildings that might be needed just in case one of the levees fail. again, they have a great deal of confidence in those levees, and they don't expect any problems. they actually think they will be able to hold this near historic level of floodwater back in a way they never would have been able to back in the 1930s. >> david mattingly for us in memphis. david, appreciate you as always. i want to turn to chad myers. chad, we often see the flash flood watches and warnings when the flood water can come up on you, but this is not the case. this is a slow-moving deal and people know it is coming and still they can't do anything about it. >> completely different story. this is a dreadful watching

paint dry while your house is inundated by water type of flood. flash flooding is dangerous when cow don't know how deep that water is, and especially at night. when the water is coming up. this is not flashing. it is just rising. there is nop soing itch the force of the water, no stopping it. here is where memphis and mud island is outside of memphis there. is the pyramid there somewhere. you see memphis a little bit up on a little hill, and bluff, and that bluff will help memphis all of the way out, but if you get north and south of memphis where the levee system does not help you, that is where the flooding will be, and why? why is it so bad? let me show you this. there is new orleans and florida and the carolinas. here is kentucky. here is illinois. here's arkansas right through there. and all of this pink and purple take you over to the key over here, and between 10, 15 or a couple of white spot where is 20

inches of rain fell in three weeks. okay. so you have the water coming down the mississippi anyway because of the snow melting. you have some frozen ground where that rain didn't even soak in. it just ran off and eventually after five inches how much can soak in anyway and then the water began to rise. you add it altogether, and it is at least as bad as anybody alive has seen in at least a 100-year flood and in some spots making the number higher. we won't worry about the number, but it is possibly higher than 100-year flood, and this area here is about 20 feet above where flooding starts so some houses there could be right at the flood stage could be 15 feet of water on top of the houses, over the roof, t.j. this is awful. >> chad myers for us. we appreciate you, chad, as always. there are mandatory evacuations along the river of the mississippi and rivers connected to the mississippi and one of those places is cotton plant,

arkansas. it is between little rock and memphisk and the water there starting to top the levees. 1947 is the last time they were told to get out of there because of the flooding. and mr. smith was a young boy then, and his family refused to go then, and now what is he saying 64 years later? well, our "sound effect" now. >> i'm not leaving tonight either. i saw a lot of people leaving, and i just laughed. i said, they will be coming right back, because the water not going to come here. >> reporter: you know the national guard, the national weather service, they disagree with you. >> yeah. but having lived through one, i have to disagree with them. >> well, yes, the meteorologists disagree with the man cleotis there, and that is his opinion and a lot of things we see in the small communities where we will ride it out again, but a

lot of folks say that is not the smart thing to do. if you want to evacuate, and somebody suggests, it might be time to go, end of story. well, we will keep an eye on the flooding in this hour, but we want to turn to news overseas. in the uk, new evidence tied to the july terror attack on the london transit system. a british coroner is clearing the emergency crews over questions of their response time. you will remember that the suicide bombers hit three tube trains and a bus, but following the claims there were claims that the police and the firefighters were unwilling to get close to the scene out of fear for their own safety, and that people died as a result, but the coroner ruled that the injuries of the 52 people who died were so severe, they would have died no matter the response time. they said that all of the emergency crews did to ensure that lives were saved. back here in the u.s. now, the rail systems are on alert after receiving a notice from the department of homeland security about a plot by al

qaeda to derail trains. now that we found out about this, well, it is coming straight from osama bin laden, from the hard drive dvds and the thumb drives that the navy s.e.a.l.s grabbed from the compound. he was working on a plan to block railways and send them off of the tracks which was to happen this fall on the tenth anniversary of 9/11. officials say this may be the tip of the iceberg. potential plots they are uncovering from bin laden's files. well, al qaeda's plan to attack the u.s. trains is one example of bin laden's direct role of plotting terror strikes from his hideout in pakistan. we are live there next. stay with me. yeah but now i have nothing to eat sure you do. hey! you can have the pop tart! pillsbury toaster strudel. the one kids want to eat

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all right. we are 11 minutes after the hour, and we are watching a couple of interesting pictures here, folks. this is happening live. the picture on the left is air force one, the president of the united states landing at ft. campbell, kentucky, and they will be behave better than that when he walks into the room, but the guys there at ft. campbell, and the president is going to be there to meet with the navy s.e.a.l. team who was a part of killing osama bin laden, but many of the soldiers there at ft. campbell have of course done tours and come back from afghanistan and the president is going to be addressing them, but right now, they are having a good time quite frankly, and this is a victory for a lot of people would say certainly for this white house politically a big deal and a victory for the country, but also a special

victory for the men and women who have been serving since 9/11, and many of them have been signed up just because of what happened on september 11th, and they view getting the bad guy, and osama bin laden was bad guy number one, so we are actually seeing them doing the chicken dance there and just gettinged are di for t-- ready for the pr and he was earlier in indiana, but you can see the president is just landing where he will make his way over to ft. campbell where the soldiers are over there clowning around a little bit, and he will address them and meet with them privately and certainly not a public forum when he meets with the navy s.e.a.l. team 6, and we are told it is not a formal briefing, but he will get details from them about the operation, but part of it is that he wants to thank the s.e.a.l. team and these men as well, and men and women who have

been a part of the operations ov the past several years and many of them playing important roles to track down osama bin laden. and quite frankly, we don't get to see this a lot or enough. our american men and women in uniform who are actually enjoying themselves, and celebrating a little bit, and taking a little down time with the president of the united states coming to see them. he is on the ground, and when he steps out, and begins to address them, you will see the president's comments i do believe live, but a private moment he will have later with the members of the s.e.a.l. team who were responsible for hunting down and killing osama bin laden. now, bin laden may have been in the compound in pakistan for years, but he was still calling the shots for his al qaeda terror organization. u.s. officials poring over the computer files and documents seized at the compound after bin laden was killed, shows that he was plotting future strikes against the united states, including one on the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. in a statement confirming bin laden's death today, al qaeda

warned that his death won't be wasted in vain, and promised more attacks against the u.s. nic robertson joins us from that area where bin laden was found, and a lot of these people are wanting a picture of dead bin laden, and they wanted it as confirmation, and this al qaeda statement, is that further confirmation now? >> it is certainly confirmation, and if p the pictures were ever going to convince anyone who was holding out and believing this, then it was clearly going to be that they were used to convince al qaeda, but they have now volunteered this statement, a statement of revenge and avow for continued attacks on the united states and here in pakistan calling for pakistanis to throw out americans here. they say it is a stain on pakistan's reputation, the traitors in pakistan led to the killing of osama bin laden. so, those photographs, if they were going to convince anyone,

al qaeda now already believes, confirms that it believes that he was dead. so the pictures that we can see perhaps would have been used by al qaeda now as part of the campaign that they are using bin laden's death really to try to motivate their followers and calling for revenge. you can see that they certainly would have tried to use any photograph to their best advantage, t.j. >> how is the story developing there, nic? maybe from the people on the street or the officials in the government of pakistan, and how it is possible that the pakistanis did not know he was there? >> well, certainly, we are getting the clearer idea here that there is a lot of embarrassmentt at the senior levels of the military and the intelligence services of the government about what has happened here. we are sort of seeing now a horse has bolted the stable door being closed here. there are a number of arrests here in the city, and some close to bin laden's compound and

others around the city. the course that we talked to here said that tens of people have been arrested and arrests are still going on. anyone who had a connection with the compound, with the people in the compound, even if it was commercial selling meat or milk to them, all of the people are arrested, because the government wants to drill down on those connections and see if anyone had anymore nefarious dealings with the people in the compound. are they al qaeda sympathizers and were they supporting bin laden, and do they belong to al qaeda? so that the government is now belatedly going after anyone who had a connection with bin laden, and the compound there, t.j. >> all right. our nic robertson in abottabad, pakist pakistan, and we appreciate you always. it was last hour i spoke with paul reichoff, and he shared his organization's feelings about president obama's decision not the release the photos of bin laden's body.

take a listen. >> there are mixed opinions throughout the organization, but i believe there is a need for visual confirmation and a practical reality, too, because there are parts of the middle east that don't have are the internet or cnn and they need a visual confirmation to tell people on the ground throughout the middle east he is dead. we believe that for the president, and it is a good day and week for america, and the veteran and intelligence community who have been working so hard for this moment. >> and paul reichhoff fights for the veterans and he said that they need jobs. we are hearing about the unemployment rate in the country going up to 9%, but some 11% of veterans are unemployed, and his organization is working to turning those numbers around. a lot more to come, including that you will be hearing from the president. we told you not too long ago that the president was going to speak, and we will bring that to you. but, here, one man is bringing truckloads of

compassion brought to one town in georgia hit by the largest tornado outbreak. but we told you, we are waiting for the president of the united states to step off of air force one. he is in ft. campbell, kentucky. he is going to be greeting the men and women who have been serving in afghanistan. and also on this trip, the president will be meeting with the s.e.a.l. team, the navy s.e.a.l. team 6, the ones who hunted down and killed osama bin laden. we are watching all of this for you, and you will hear from the president live when it happens. quick break and i'm right back.

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you never forget your first subaru. this is what we were watching and this happened moments ago, the president of the united states stepping down the steps of air force one and being greeted by the vice president there in ft. campbell, kentucky, and the president there of course to meet with the s.e.a.l. team who carried out the strike on osama bin laden, and h he will meet privately with them and not a formal briefing, but he wants to thank them and take a moment to make some comments to the members of ft. campbell, and those men andm women who have been eagerly

anticipating the president's arrival. many of them are just getting back from afghanistan and making comments to them. you will see that live when it does happen. but we are keeping a close eye on things happening right now at ft. campbell, kentucky. back to the south now and all of the destruction left behind by last week's tornado outbreak. six southern states hit. in the northwest, in the georgia town of ringo, half of the towns were demolished and half of towns gone. they had limited number of resources until 2008 cnn hero tadd and his first response team rolled into town. >> when a disaster strikes, you don't really know what you are going to need. that's why we have packaged up four tractor-trailers loaded with just about every type of tool and gear and piece of equipment. >> we have the generator moving to power up the church. we roll the rigs all across the

country. we decided to come to ringgold, georgia, because it is a small community and they would not have the resources they need. most all of the homes are destroyed. my team has been to 38 mega storms to this point, but we have never seen anything like this before. it is gone, and almost like the whole city went through a blender. when we first got here, we started powering up the shelter and clearing up the roads, and we wanted to help stabilize the situation. we will have him come in and straight grab the trees right off of these two stones right in here. >> they went over and cleared the cemetery, and that is why i am able to bury my father today. >> we will keep working until this is done. >> and he came over to offer his services, again. >> we joined with the family members on the hands and the knees and look for things. there is more over here. >> we found a picture of my dad and mom. thank you so much for your team. >> when we see people who are suffering and struggling, it is

our responsibility to come and help, and this is part of being human, to see a need and to do something about it. >> well, since 2007, tadd and his team have helped 39 communities around the world and haiti free of charge. if you know someone like tadd who is making a difference in the world, tell us about them. all of this year's cn heroes are chosen from people who you nominate at cnnheroes.com. as we know a lot of families lost everything when the tornadoes slammed their state last week, but maybe has the attention of the country and the world been in other places here lately because of the new cycle? we will make sure we keep a close eye on what is happening with the friends in the south. stay here. ♪

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some families in alabama lost everything when powerful storms ripped through the area last week, but thanks to something called operation prom dress some girls will still get to go to the prom. our rafael romo is in birmingham with us. hey, there. >> well, t.j., we are in the city of birmingham and what you see around me is this pile p pof debris. this used to be the house belonging to the archie family here in birmingham. 16-year-old renarda, before the tornado hit last week, she wanted to go to the prom, but as

you can see, all of the belongings are gone. everything was destroyed and she thought that she was not going to be able to go to the prom this friday, tonight, but some adults came together and had a brilliant idea. >> that is where the door and the breezeway was. >> as soon as we landed on the couch, it hit. >> reporter: bernarda archie says she barely had time to escape. it reduced to rubble the only home that her family ever knew in birmingham. >> and we were running down the steps and you could hear the glass in the house, and i was thinking, it is tearing up my house. >> reporter: bernarda's father moved everybody into the basement seconds before the house and the entire neighborhood were swept away by the devastating winds. >> it was like waking up from a bad. it is unbelievable. >> the tornado also destroyed a dream. as a junior at jackson high school in birmingham, she wanted

to attend this year's prom. and she was one perhaps hundreds of thousands of girls and boys whose prom plans were blown away from the tornado, until somebody took notice at a nearby school district. >> we got a phone call from one of the principals that had gotten an e-mail that kids needed a prom dress and lost everything, and they still wanted to go on with the prom. >> reporter: several schools got involved and suddenly, a movement was born. operation prom dress was inspired to make people like melinda huckaby make a difference. >> i thought, wow, for girls not to have a beautiful dress to wear to prom, and what a shame when you have lost everything. so that is what started it. >> reporter: it started with a specific request from a school for prom dresses, and the first day they received 300, and so far they have collected 1,200 and people are still showing up bringing more. >> we have had, you know, people contacted us from georgia and texas and all over the united

states wanting to know if they could ship dresses here, so it has been incredible to see. >> i didn't think that we would have this many dresses. >> reporter: the dresses have been delivered around the high schools in the area, including renarda's. including the shoes. >> those go well with it. >> it is amazing the dresses and the shoes and everything, like i never thought that somebody would do this for me. and it is like amazing. >> reporter: in the end, a cinderella story. a powerful need to help that wiped tears away and made renarda's dream come true. and now you look like a princess. >> thank you. yes. >> reporter: and she definitely looked like a princess. her prom is tonight, and actually her date is going to be her cousin who also lost everything, his house included in the disaster. t.j. i was talking to the

organizers of the operation prom dress and also officials at the sibling county schools, and they have told me that they have receive sod mad so many dresses they are el thing people, thank you for the generosity, but enough already. >> well, rafael, that is great. how were they able to stay organized enough that there is so much damage around and do they have the resources to have a facility and can people still get to the prom, because they are busy doing other things trying to pick up their lives? >> well, a lot of the people donating the dresses, t.j. are people who live a little bit south of here. they didn't experience the powerful tornadoes that made all of this damage, and so they wanted to find a way to cheer people who had been in this situation, so they decided to donate and we saw that lady melinda huckaby with a dress from her daughter that had been used only once, and it was in

perfect condition, and she came out to donate it. >> all right. rafael, good to see you as always and that is a nice story there. we appreciate that one, rafael ro romoings in birmingham. a live picture there with a massive effort under way. this is a live picture here, but what you are seeing here is rescuers and what they are trying to rescue, whales. this is just outside of -- and not too far from key west, florida, where 16 of the pilot whales stranded themselves, and they are worried about their health. you see that a lot of people have come out to try to help the whales out and get them in this particular pen to keep them moving and going, and we have seen these stories over the year, and this is not a good thing when often times the whales strand themselves, and nobody knows why, but the area, you are looking at is 20 miles north of key west. it is about a four-mile stretch, a four-mile area where we are talking about where at least 16 whales have turned up.

fortunately, we can tell you that two of them unfortunately, have died. but the issue here is that they don't know why these whales happen to strand themselves in some of the shallow water, but with so many doing so, they worry that there may be some kind of illness or sickness related to the whales. they don't exactly know, but the effort is going on out there, and you see the folks out in the water desperately trying to save the whales. we don't know how much the efforts will pay off, but they are at least trying. we have been watching the story over the last couple of days now, and we don't know when they will be able to nurse them back to health and another story that we are keeping a close eye on as we look at the live picture outside of key west where there are at least 16 whales who have stranded themselves and the people right now desperately trying to save them. [ banker ] mike and brenda found a house that they really wanted. it was in my sister's neighborhood. i told you it was perfect for you guys. literally across the street from her sister. [ banker ] but someone else bought it before they could get their offer together.

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all right. a human rights group in syria says that 21 people were killed today in clashes of anti-government protesters and security forces. we are about to show you images here and video and we want to warn you that some of it is a bit graphic. this is after prayers today. protesters flooded the streets of several cities across the country in what they called "a day of defiance" against the government of president bashar al assad, and they say that four police officers were killed by

what they call criminal gangs. and also protesters took to the streets of damascus and they blocked roads and threw stones and started fires. both local and international human rights group say that more than 400 people have been killed in seven weeks of protest. the u.s. government has called the violent crackdown barbaric. and now back to pakistan, days after the killing of osama bin laden, a drone killed militants in pakistan. they say it happened in the region of north waziristan, and the unmanned drone like the one you are seeing here hit a militant hideout and a vehicle carrying militants, and it is a known area to be a staging area for taliban forces in pakistan. pakistan demanded a u.s. apology after 44 people were killed in a drone strike last month. today's attack was the 21st this year compared to 111 in all of last year. some political groups and islamic fundamentalists have long used the drone attacks to

stoke anti-american sentiment. and listen to this, in asia, especially thailand, they have become the hot spots for ufo sightings with everyone from fund managers to diplomats saying this is the century of asia and the extraterrestrial are taking note as well according to the "wall street journal." we don't know if what they are seeing is anything like the white dot in this video, but a harvard-educated official in asia says they have been coming for decades, but they sense a change. also, we don't know if what they are seeing and other asians are seeing in thailand and other places say that they are seeing what looks like the ufo drawings in pictures that the people in britain said they saw. but since the slump of the banking system, the sighting of u ufo has taken off and some folks

blame them for shutting down airports and lighting up the night sky in myanmar. and most americans feel that the economy is in bad shape, but exactly who do they blame? mark preston will tell me after the break. nderloin, don't you? nderloin, don't you? you inspired a very special dog food. [ female announcer ] chef michael's canine creations. chef inspired. dog desired. oh! [ both slurping ] ♪ [ female announcer ] the irresistible taste of cinnamon toast crunch. crave those crazy squares. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

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well, time now for the cnn political update and for that we turn to our cnn political editor mark preston joining me from washington. good to see you, buddy.

what is going on? >> well, t.j. i have good news and bad news regarding the economy and president obama. start off with the bad news. the new cnn opinion research poll just released today shows that 82% of americans believe that economic conditions in the country is poor. now we should not be too surpriseded by that, t.j. because we have gone through tough times in the last couple of years and tough economic times and things are seeming to get better and we saw a new jobs report today and i guess it was about 244,000 new jobs added to the roles today, but still, not what it was. and let's talk about the political angle when it comes to president obama. who is to blame for where we are right now. let's look at the numbers. again, the new cnn opinion research poll. president bush at 55%, and a majority of the americans believe that we are here because of president bush's policies and only president obama, only 30%, and 3 in 10 americans believe it is president obama's responsibility. and what do you, the voters, the

viewers out there think are going to be the number one issues heading into the 2012 presidential election? well, look at those as well, t.j., with some of the top issues heading into 2012, no surprise, unemployment right now, 38% of americans say that is the number one issue on their mind, followed be i the federal deficit of 28%, and gas prices at 21%, and housing 6%, and taxes 4%, and the stock market 2%. so, yes, a lot of talk about president obama and his leadership on foreign policy over the past week with the killing of osama bin laden, but look, t.j., heading into 2012, it really does have to do with the economy. >> of course, it does. mark preston, thank you, and good to see you as wulalways, a the next update from the best political team on television is an hour away. sgloot a and a group of aldermen in chicago want to honor the men who carried out the killing of

osama bin laden, but that ticker tape parade is not going to happen, and we will find out why. an accident doesn't have to slow you down. introducing better car replacement, available only from liberty mutual insurance. if your car is totaled, we give you the money to buy a car that's one model year newer, with 15,000 fewer miles on it.

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well, another detail about the osama bin laden raid that a lot of people are finding fascinating. reportedly one member of the

u.s. elite team that took him out has four legs. yes, man's best friend was used in the raid on the terrorist leader's hideout. man's best friend, of course s the dog. and that's the subject of today's big breakdown. canines and combat. it is not surprised to learn that a dog was learned in the mission, because dogs have been fighting alongside u.s. troops for hundreds of years and playing a pivotal role in the u.s. operations. from being in combat zones to comforting soldiers in the aftermath of duty. new york times quoting david petraeus as saying that the dogs are useful because of the capability they bring to the fight cannot be replicated by man or machine. so, how exactly are they so useful? h well, they are intelligent, alert, and they have heightened senses, especially the smell, an endurance and run faster and jump higher than humans and they can get into smaller spaces with a camera attached to their head to feedback video, and just like

the navy s.e.a.l.s, the four-legged fighter has not been identified. it is most likely a german shepherd or belgian shepherd, but in this specific raid, the dog may have been used to sniff out people or explosives and also lowered from a helicopter down to a compound, but some do question the dogs in combat, and in fact, dogs do die, but they save human lives as well. they do things in a mission that have people looking for friends and not part of machines, but they often do become part of teams in their retirement at hospitals. and the meeting of the president and the navy s.e.a.l.s who underwent the assignment to

kill osama bin laden, but if you are one of the public members who wants to honor them publicly, that is not going to happen says eric greitens, author, and explain to us why this honoring of these men and seeing them is not going to happen. >> ell ell, t.j. these men have been involved in the war at great personal sacrifice and the sacrifice of the families and they will stay involved in the fight, and in order for them to stay involved at that level, it is just really important that they, their unit, the tactics and the techniques and procedures they have remain classified to continue to bring that fight to al qaeda. >> would you be in support of or maybe a conversation happening behind the scenes to make an exception of any kind in this case? this one was different, and this is historic, and the american

people want to see these guys. >> i know that the american people absolutely want to see these guys. i personally consider them all to be heroes. they have done a fantastic job for all of us. i think that it is very unlikely though that they would make an exception here. and i think that it is very unlikely that the men who conducted the operation would want an exception to be made. it is -- i think that, you know, in the coming years, it is unlikely that we will know who these men are, but perhaps a decade from now the information may come out and they may come forward and we can publicly recognize them then. >> and i hear you say even a decade later, it might come out, and do you think it is possible that we may never know who these men were and who actually put the bullets into the body of bin laden? >> it is possible that we may never know. i -- with the most great secrets and who was deep throat and things like that, eventually we find out that information, but for the foreseeable future, we

have to be content knowing that it was a highly trained very dedicated warrior who did this on all of our behalf, who is probably going to remain announcement. >> and eric, what kind of stress and strain and life is this for these men? we had a report from brian todd of the hometown that were believed to be home of the navy s.e.a.l.s and they say when you walk into the room, you would not know who they were most times. what is that like to be in the hometowns with the wives and the girlfriends and you can't even talk about what you do? >> well, one of the things that is important to recognize is that these guys do live with both the heart and the fist. there's that fist of physical courage and tactical proficiency and great strength, but they also have a heart, and they come home, and they are fathers and husbands and sons and baseball coaches and cub scout leaders and they are welcomed home back into the communities, and they take on those roles as citizen

warriors, because they really are, they are both citizens and warriors, and they live with both the heart and the fist. i am sure that the communities an all of the families are going to be glad to have them home now. >> any way that the s.e.a.l.s guys are trained to the "t" like nobody's business here, but as part of them as part of the profession l a unal unit as the when they heard that the target was osama bin laden, i heard supports that there was a bit of a cheer and more excitement, but is it difficult still when you hear that is who you are going after and that the adrenaline gets going more? >> i understand that there was a great cheer that went up when they heard it was osama bin laden. and i'm sure that this was a very important target for them, because you have to keep in mind that over this fight over the course of these 9 informer yoos, the -- over these 9 1/2 years, they have lost friends and colleagues and i have personally lost friends who went through

s.e.a.l. training with me, and so for them to conduct this mission it was not just important on the war of terrorisfor americans, but for them, it was a mission that was personal and about justice. >> good way to put it, personal. eric, people of this country would love to shake their hands and love to see them sitting down the do some big interviews at the time, but we understand. and good to see you and author of "the heart and the fist." it is good to have you on with us. have a good weekend. >> thank you, t.j. >> well, in two and a half minutesly talk to the governor of tennessee about historic flooding taking place in his state. he is on the line with me and he is standing by to be on with us right after this break. do you have an english menu? no english. [ speaking chinese ] [ gasps, speaks chinese ] do you guys like dumplings? i love dumplings.

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is warmth, redness, itching, or tingling of the skin. ask your doctor about niaspan. fight back. fight plaque. niaspan. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com fight back. fight plaque. all right. before we hand the newsroom over to brooke baldwin, i want to talk to governor of tennessee bill haslem, and he is from humboldt, tennessee. i know that you and your state have been going through it over the past several weeks. first tornados and now flooding. first, flooding, what part of the state is being affected the most and you describe how bad it is. >> well, the mississippi river is the western border of the state, and so it is historic flood levels. it was a huge flood back in 1937 that is still kind of in the history books, and this is probably going to surpass that. the mississippi is fed by everything in the central part of the country, and all of the waterways, and we aare feeling

the brunt of it. when you see the mississippi river and it is two miles wide, because it has lost the borders, it is sobering. >> governor, are you considering and we are hearing about evacuati evacuations, but are any mandatory at this point? >> well, one or two smaller mandatory evacuations of areas that we thought necessitated that. that's been it so far. we are obviously monitoring it. we have everything from, you know, a state prison to nursing homes that could be endangered by the flooding, so we are along with help from the national guard and the emergency management association, we are staying on top of that, because it is, like i said, we are dealing with somebody that something who is alive today has ever seen in terms of this level of water. >> governor are you asking for and will you get or need federal help? >> we have. we have declared several counties, and we have asked for to be declared federal disaster

areas and several have been granted. in the eastern part where we had 40 tornadoes last week and this is like the second front of the two-front war in western tennessee. and with the flooding, we have asked for and do expect for at least two or three of those counties to be declared. >> sir, at this point, do you know of any loss of life associated with these, with this flooding or also any injuries associated with it? >> well, we have, and you know, the river kind of just, it is -- it's incredibly gradual process, so hopefully if everyone is smart, we won't have loss of life and people do the normal common sense things, so so far, no, we have been blessed that we haven't had -- we have had 37 fatalities with the tornados last week. but the flooding so far we have not, and hopefully won't see any loss of life. >> governor, the most important thing here is protecting human life, but at the same time, states across the country have been strained financially and here you are trying to deal,

like you said a two-pronged war, and dealing with one part of the state hit by tornados and this part of the state with flooding. how do you plan on managing financially in the near future and maybe even down the road with these disasters that you have to pay for some kind of way? >> well, you have not only the cost of the recovery and cleanup, but loss of business in this time, and the states live on the sales tax revenues, and we are making the adjustments and fortunately, we have had some pretty prudent budgeting practices in tennessee, and we have a good rainy day fund and days like this is what you have them for. >> all right. governor bill haslam of tennessee, and dealing with it with historic tornadoes and now historic flooding. good luck to the good folks there, and we will continue to check in with you. all right. i willand it over now as we get close to the top of the hour to brooke baldwin as the newsroom continues right now. brooke, a lots of folks going through it.