literally, but i kind of based it on that. anderson cooper starts right now. we begin with news on the growing likelihood that israel is going to hilt iran's nuclear program, and hit it soon, possibly within months. a top source is telling us, defense secretary leon panetta has come to just that conclusion. the news is breaking on a day israel's defense minister is warning iran who's building nuclear facilities under the ground may be close to rendering an air strike.

also today, the iranian revolutionary guards are making a midwest and this week, also saw congressional testimony that iran may answer growing american pressure on it this confrontation is playing out in the strait of hormuz. the question tonight, will israel give sanctions time to bite? the implications in a moment. also remember, there have been a number of scientists that have been detained in iran. what other detail. >> anderson, they're saying that basically a nib of intelligence

all of which came together that led secretary panetta that there could be a strike in april, may or even june. basically the thinking is that israel has concluded that iran has already made the jump in his thought to be per suing the bomb. he also caveated all this by saying that israel does have a history of making some very provocative statements like this, in order to push the west, into taking stronger actions against iran. >> how effective could it be to actually stop them from making a bomb. >> basically it would involve israeli fighter jets, going through all-star break, trying to thread that needle between syria and turkey's air space or just crossing over iraq to deliver their payload. but some of the sources i spoke

with were skeptical, because they said when this has worked, it's been done in a very concentrated area. that's not like iran's programs, irans are spread out in a very wide area, and probably ginobili the tiginobili -- given the time length that israel has been working on this, the biggest part of the problem could be, although you could knock out the facilities, you don't take their know how, in other words iran has the knowledge of how to enrich uranium and you don't take that away. >> which is probably one of the ideas if in fact israel or the u.s. is involved in the assassination of the scientist. thanks also to barbara starr for her reporting on this. let's go to fran townsend, we should point out that national officials have public -- former

cia officer bob bear. so what do you make of this report that secretary of panetta basically tipping the israeli's hands like this? it's obvious it would be leaked. >> this is one of a series. leon panetta has been out there talking about the drawing down of troops in afghanistan, his views on pakistan's counter terrorism relationship with us. all of the seemingly off message. he's in a position to know. he's met with the israelis, we know that's robust intelligence exchange. there seems to be some concept about the ability of iran and the intention of iran to deliver payload, that is the missile part of it, the delivery system. >> and he aniy thinks the dwal

development of a bond could be very far off. when he describes that window, you understand why now he's talking about this three or four months in may, june or july. the interesting things, anderson, is if he understands that from the israelis, why would he signal that, because of course he'll make it much more difficult for the israelis if that's what they intend to do. the answer to that may be that it's a signal to the israelis about just how strongly we don't want them to do this? >> it's making a public statement so that the israelis know very clearly we're not just saying privately to them, we don't want them to do a bombing mission in iran, we're saying, we're committing this publicly and we're making it much more difficult for them to do something. >> what would an israeli strike

on iran mean for the united states? >> i think it would be a significant blow back. the iranians, you can continue on them hitting us in iraq, hitting our industry there. and i think undoubtedly within the borders of this country. >> you think they would strike back to the united states? >> oh, yes. there was somebody in iran who was sponsoring this, whether it was the supreme leader, it or not, what makes sense is to hit the united states where it can. and that would include airliners anywhere. a machine like this on the defense takes actions that are i think are irrational. but they will do it.

how complex an operation is this? >> keep in mind there's two different perspectives, i agree with what was stated so far, that one, there is some disinformation possibly being put out, either to dissuade iran, or to try to keep tabs on israel. and i do believe whatever happens, there will be tremendous blow back either through hezbollah or the republican guards that have iran hats but there's always windows of opportunity and i'm sure israel is looking at a window of opportunity as is the fact, as would be prudent to do so. in their perspective on a threat is different from the u.s. perspective because of where they're located. just like they're an ally of ours which is going to involve the u.s. to some extent whether he like it or not, if it

happens. it's the same thing if you took iraq, iraq is an ally now. so iran is in some type of obligation to support allies in some way. so it does put us in a predicament and i'm sure it's a problem to the department of defense and the nation. >> the question is do they have, if they've got the sleeper cells and the capability here inside the united states, they'll use it. we have seen them use proxies in buenos aries. hezbollah are financially support bid iran. >> i guess the question for a lot of people is it a good idea or not? i mean a lot of people clearly

believer rang to an excitizen shall net. >> they're looking at possibilities and the truth is that they word getting out of two wars, but right now they're saying, you know, you have left us in the lurch, we have got a dangerous iran, we can't predict it and even getting the knowledge is enough to scare the israelis and they have a completely mentality from ours. so how israel hit an iraqi nuclear site 30 years ago, but the iranian sites are very different than that iraqi site? >> absolutely, that was the single target and you have multiple as you hit targets,

bunker penetration type technologies, which is very difficult. i'm not sure that israel has all the capability to do it themselves hole lesically, they can do segregated targeting and i don't know the answer to this, but this is just my assessment. but i do believe they can hurt iran badly. i would wliblg to make one other comment if you don't mind and that is the missiles that iran has. when we went into iraq, you had to understand the mentality of the israelis because of those actions. they didn't have to destroy a lot, it was the psychological impact. if they believe that iran has the ranges and they do, for missiles to be fired in israel, you have to look at the israeli perspective on pre-empting what to happen. they're very concerned, if

you're in israel, which you have been anderson, you understand that they have no strategic depth and they feel that they're up against a wall. and so this is a likely occurrence. if the intelligence or any other kind of threat shows that iran may take some action, i think they will strike. >> so as general green said, they can't hit as wide a targets as they would like, does that mean the u.s. gets involved as well in terms of striking iran? >> if you want to choke us, if you want to retaliate against the united states because you've been hit by israel. saudi arabia has 60% of the oil reserves, mostly along their border which is up against the persian gulf. they can for sure hit there, and if they want to really hurt us, take out the saudy's oil supply. or the qataris with natural gas.

there's a lot they can do close to home where there's a political impact here in the united states. the israelis do have, i agree with general grange, they have a very different perspective. but there's almost no way if there's a military action taken by israel that the u.s. does not in some way get pulled into this. >> we're on facebook, google plus, add us to your circles. i will be tweeting tonight, i already tweeted a question, do you think it's right for israel to do? up next, remember the prediction that president obama made about not fixing the economy in the first term. there's new evidence that the jobs numbers will be terrible on election day. and another shock

development in the the mississippi pardon case, a man got pardoned even though he's a repeat drunk driver. witnesses say he killed an 18-year-old girl so how is he pardonen? >> they're all like, "hey, brother, doesn't it bother you that no one notices you?" and i'm like, "doesn't it bother you you're not reliable?" and they say, "shut up!" and i'm like, "you shut up." in business, it's all about reliability. 'cause these guys aren't just hitting "print." they're hitting "dream." so that's what i do. i print dreams, baby. [whispering] big dreams. and who ordered the yummy cereal? yummy. [ woman ] lower cholesterol. [ man 2 ] yummy. i got that wrong didn't i? [ male announcer ] want great taste and whole grain oats that can help lower cholesterol? honey nut cheerios.

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for politics now, a reality check for the white house or anyone who thinks that just because republicans are astacking each other now that president obama will have an easy time in november. >> the one thing i will be held accountable. i've got four years. and a year from now i think people are going to see we're starting to make some progress, but there's still going to be a problem out there. if i don't have this done in three years, then there's going to be a one term proposition.

>> to the nonpartisan budget office now estimated that the nation's jobless rate that stands at 8.5% will rise to 8.9% in the fall. the point is not being lost for president obama's likely opponent. >> three years ago, a newly elected president obama faced the american people and he said, look, if i can't turn this economy around in three years, i'll be looking at a one term situation. >> president obama is trailing governor romney in key swing states. >> how much trouble do you think the president is in right now?

>> the president is going to have a serious challenge this fall because of two important factions. and the economy is not where they wanted him to be for him to be able to -- he has to face mitt romney who ask a republican who any democrat will tell you because he's not a less controversial background than the other republicans that are running right now. >> if the economy doesn't 14r50id, isn't is that a hurdle for any sitting pretty to clear? >> we're talking about what might happen in a quarter if we don't take more drastic action. i think the american people know that this is a session that the president inherited. it took them eight years to tear

down a piece of prosperity that bill clinton had built up. and we're not going to get out of this in two years and they want to know that the president is steering the country into the right direction. when he put his hand on the bible on inauguration stay, we have now seen positive growth in jobs. we are beginning to move in the right direction. >> candy, do you think the president can continue to use that argument that this is an issue he inherited? >> they understand that they cannot sell the economy being in a good place. so they have to sell number one trajectory and that is, we're moving in the right direction.

they want to talk about where it's moving, if i thought this would be an indicator as to how much trouble he's going to be in, i'm going to have the consumer confidence index. i had a talk with somebody, a senior in the white house who said we have to get people who feel that the hope of a job is there. the administration, the re-elect economy does not want to talk about the economy and what it looks like, they want to talk about what the other guy might do with the economy. >> absolutely, this is a sort of angel of question, the challenger wants to say that this is going to be a referendum on the incumbent, and the incumbent says, oh, no, this is going to be a choice. it depends on the election, but

there's no question that this time around, you're going to have the republican challenger running to try to get a referendum on the incouple kbent. and president obama is saying don't care me to the almighty, compare me to the alternative, which is an old kevin white saying, who was the late mayor of boston. i think that's going to be the message that you hear from this white house is things are getting better, a and more explosively is that look -- he doesn't appreciate what the middle class is going for, because of his business background and also because of his personal wealth. that's going to be the tough, aggressive sharp, and not so hopey changey message from president obama this fall. >> they have helped us with that narrative over the last couple of months. >> the president would be in big

trouble in some swing states that he easily won last time, right? >> if you look at cnn's own polling go into january of '04. kerry had a five or six advantage over bush. these elections aren't held today. president obama hasn't initially launched his campaign, we haven't spent millions and millions of dollars contrasting it. republicans are out there every day. we haven't begun to order of unfold our campaign, the dyna c dynamics of this, whether it be new or whether it be romney.

>> new outrage with partners -- a teenaged girl died in a car crash t dprooifr who slammed into her was pardoned even though the deadly -- how did he possibly get a pardon? we're investigating. more cheating among doctors trying to pass their crucial board exams. >> i think if you went to any high school student right now and you said to them, if you memorize the exact and you in effect re-created an example, was that cheating or was it not? the answer would be it was cheating. ♪

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keeping them honest tonight, very new questions we would like to ask former mississippi governor haley barbour, we have made more calls today trying to reach him. his staff won't say where he is. we want to ask for charges stemming from favoritism. he gave pardons to people on his way out of office. these four men all worked at the mansion that's under a trustee's

program that's now suspended. these convicted murderers committed crimes of passion. we have shown you that he's wrong on both counts, we can't find experts that actually. >> his own statement his own wor words, it's premedicated, a crime of passion for me is if you -- if a spouse comes home early for lunch or a business trip unexpected and you walk in and catch them in bed with somebody and you beat them to death with a lamp on the side of

the bed. >> he had been unconditionally pardoned and he would be released sunday. i get this letter and not even 24 hours later, i get a phone call and the worst possible thing has happened. i didn't get to say anything, i didn't get to plead my case about anything. my rights have been violated. >> the governor granted about 200 pardons. here's ed lavender are. >> reporter: there's a reason the man in the redshirt looked familiar. this was the second time the

oxford, mississippi police officer had arrested bostik for driving drunk. >> there was an open bottle of champagne on the front seat with him. he had a large cup that was full of red wine. >> reporter: police found he was driving above the legal limit of alcohol. bostick pled guilty, was sentenced to a year of house arrest and four years in an alcohol program. >> as soon as we put the cuffs on he said, don't do this to me. my comment usually is you did it to yourself. >> bosstick asked the governor to pardon bostick. his life fell into a tragic course after the death of his teenaged son after a house fire

and the -- henry no longer drinks alcohol and can now be a positive factor in many lives. bostick had turned his life around. governor barbour agreed. >> the power of pardon in the state is to give people a second chance who have repented, been rehabilitated and redeemed themselves. >> this is quite the artist, this is the gift she gave you. >> and this is how she signed it lt. >> reporter: she signed it with her hand print? >> but don't tell linda smith that he's ready for a pardon. the driver of the car was harry bostick. >> she should still be here with me. she should still be here with me. this should not have happened. >> the sun had just set on on october night and charity was

driving down this gravel road. she had come to this neighborhood to pick up her sister and take her to dinner. they were excited, hay hadn't seen each other in quite some time. charity pulled out into the highway to make a left-hand turn bostick slammed right into the side of her charity was killed, her sister survived. bostick was sent to a -- harry bostick's attorney never returned our it turns out the governor i was and parole board never did a check of bostick's report.

>> they didn't know about her, why would they do it if they knew about her? she is a person, she wasn't just some name on a piece of paper. >> charity smith was saving mon money. >> mourned by a mother with a broken heart. >> ed, has anyone from barbour's office explained how they would grant a pardon to somebody who was in jail for killing somebody else?

they just didn't know that? >> they said the governor was unaware of what has been going on. did the governor say he's sorry. has anyone in the office called up that grieving mother who can't even speak because she's who heard broken, has anybody apologized to her? >> she hasn't gotten any kind of information, like she told us, she feels lying her daughter has been forgotten in all of this. he's wait forgive a pardon and while he's waiting for that pardon from the governor, he kills this woman's daughter in another drunk driving incident? >> right. and just to be clear, the circumstances as to who's at fault in that accident is still

under investigation. but at the end of the day, it won't really matter, because it sounds like authorities are convinced that he was driving under the influence, so all of that kind of stands, he was sitting in jail, awaiting what was going to happen with that charge when all of this came down. and that's where we're at now. >> ed lavendera, we keep reaching out to governor barbour. if he wants to be on the show, maybe he would explain this and apologize to her. radiologists cheating to pass exams. turns out they're not the only ones. also at least 900 people injured in new violence from egypt. ements... that are right for you. so visit nutritionpossible.com.

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>> which 120e8d you about doctors who strained to be radiologists, but to pass the exams to prove that they have mastered this critical area of expertise. turns out that radiologists aren't the only ones cheating to get certified. >> they're all recalls, years of written exam questions and

answers, combined and shared by rad yolg testing. >> it's cheating, it's a violation of our policy. >> in the wake of our story, the chorus in the medical community is growing, plain and simple, recalls should not be used. the american board of medical specialties which oversees 24 boards including radiology is condemning the practice in a statement on its website, it should be made bauchbtly clear that recalling and sharing test questions from channels violates exam security, professional ethics and patient trust. but our investigation has now uncovered another form of cheating among residents. cnn has confirmed the american board of dermatology is concerned about the use of what the board calls airplane notes, exam questions remembered and

then written down by residents on their flights home after the exam, to be shared later with other residents. residents say it's an open secret that's been going on for years. one resident in anonymous e-mail to the board wrote that immediately after the test, a feverish and collective effort is made by examinees. now the dermatology board has issued warnings that cheating violates our professionalism and professional stan dads. dr. antoinette hood said we really try to do something to prevent it from happening. it's not just radiology and dermatology. 100 doctors in 2010 for sharing

or soliciting copy righted questionses. as we discovered, it's a problem that's also been going on in radiology for years. >> we're doing everything we can to protect our exams. >> about half of the questions in the raid yol has been -- revamping its exam, beginning next year, but many radiologists feel that it's not cheating at all. they say it's outrageous to will labelled as cheaters, especially since the written exam is only part of what's required to be certified. the american college of radiology which does not administer the exam, the most troubling aspect of this the

actually of cheating smears the entire specially with a broad and unjustified brush. the group says radiologists must undergo years of training besides taking that written exam. the american board of radiology's president elect says that just because the recalls have been around a long time does not make it okay for radiologists to cheat to pass a test. >> i think if you went to any high school student right now and you said to them, if you memorize the exam and you re-created the exam, would that be cheating? they would say it would be cheating. >> they are already had this redo of the test underway, they're going to make a more secure test from now on, they hope it's going to start next year, but they have also taken a lot of heat from doctors and

they had to basically issue an apology on their website about this story. let me read you what it says. it says the abr regrets that anyone's impression of radiologists may have been diminished by this report. most radiologists are well trained and qualified, even though they may have cheated. >> the bigger picture, is this happening in other medical fields requiring board certification? like the use of airplane notes in dermatology. >> according to the college of dermatology says it's flat out cheating. but these boards are really nervous after our story. the executive director antoinette hood has stopped answering our e-mails.

that's true, why do they need these. >> i appreciate you keeping on it. coming up a year after egypt's revolution, deadly violence in the streets, we have a live update. you know when i grow up, i'm going to own my own restaurant. i want to be a volunteer firefighter. when i grow up, i want to write a novel. i want to go on a road trip. when i grow up, i'm going to go there. i want to fix up old houses. [ female announcer ] at aarp we believe you're never done growing. i want to fall in love again. [ female announcer ] discover what's next in your life. get this free travel bag when you join at aarp.org/jointoday.

. in egypt the revolution is on the ropes drowning in blood. a year ago egyptians electrified the world when they rose up and brought down a dictator. take a look at egypt now. tear gas, fires, protests in the streets of cairo, nearly 900 people injured in the new violence. 900 people. this is the soccer riot that touched off the latest round of protests. 79 people died. while many witnesses say police simply looked on and did nothing to stop it. some protesters believe

authorities actually encouraged the violence. tonight there are new demands on egypt's military run government. what's the latest on what you're seeing and hearing, ben? >> reporter: we're seeing that they are dead from these clashes, two dead in suez and we're getting unconfirmed reports of two dead in cairo. we have seen hundreds of these demonstrate fors, many of them fans of the football team from cairo that was involved in that violen violen violence. some are theying they even encouraged the violence. and those clashes are ongoing as

we speak. and it is -- >> explain what the soccer stadium was about and why would police encourage one team's fans to attack the fans from cairo? what do they have against those people? >> it's a little bit of insight basically or football, you could see, anderson. the fans who went from cairo to port saeed are the fans of the goliath club of egyptian soccer. and traditionally, these fans, a small group of them known as the ultras have fought the police for years, in football clashes, or rather soccer clashes but increasingly since the revolution, they have become politicized and they have led some of the dmen straight fors

in the glen strait fors in november and december. so there's a lot of bad blood between the fans of this club and the police and many of these fans are now -- all the trouble that they have caused to the police over these years. so it starts, it seems to have a political veneer to what is otherwise a soccer rivalry. >> ben, appreciate the reporting. the heat is on attorney general eric holder again today over the so-called fast and furious grun running operation. they allowed weapons to fall into the hands of criminals. brian terry was killed in 2010. the house committee hearing, congresswoman andrea berkle who

called for him to resign pressured him to take responsibility. >> how many more border patrol agencies would have had to die as part of operation tags and furious, in order for you to have taken responsibility? >> is that the way in which you want to be seen? you want to be known? i should be held accountable for certainly my role in whatever i did or didn't do in connection with the supervision of fast and furious. but i'm attorney general of the united states and i should also be held accountable and perhaps even give them some credit, given some credit for some things that this justice department has done under my leadership, whether it deals with national security, i revitalized anti-trust. so one has to balance all of these things. >> well, the senate has a possible bill on insider trading. the bill makes it clear that it's illegal for lawmakers to

use information they use on the job to buy or sell stock. and anderson, the graffiti artists that painted murals on the walls of facebook's first offices is about to get very rich indeed. the "new york times" reported that david coe decided to be maid in shares instead of cash. those shares are expected to be worth more than $200 million when facebook's stock trades publicly, it's worth pointing out at the time he said facebook? that sounds like a pointless idea. but he took the stock anyway. >> they could have called me, i would have painted the offices, had i known. >> you would have gotten your overalls on and get your brush. >> i'm with you, anderson, we're in the wrong game, mate, we should be out there spraying graffiti on walls. tonight more on the growing threat between israel and iran.

what it would take to keep america safe. plus rick santorum on god and politics and what president obama said in a national prayer breakfast today and a man who's no strange tore craziness or politics. jerry springer, former mayor. >> coming up, punxsutawney and the ridiculous. we'll be right back. ♪ [ smack! ] [ smack! smack! smack! ] [ male announcer ] your favorite foods fighting you? fight back fast with tums. calcium rich tums goes to work in seconds. nothing works faster. ♪ tum ta tum tum tums have 46 grams of whole grains... mmmm. ...and a touch of sweetness. you'll be delighted to discover how good they taste. get your free sample of quaker oatmeal squares

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now time for the ridiculous. tonight we're adding duelling

groundhogs. groundhog day, a big event in western pennsylvania where crowds gather in the pretty sun rise to wait the appearance of the world's most famous groundhog. there's dancing, revelry, maybe a little bit of drinking, we're not sure. it's a day that draws rodent enthusiasts from near and far. >> what brings you up to punxsutawney this time of year? >> we got to rock 'n roll with phil. >> the spectators don't actually get to rock 'n roll with punxsutawney phil, the guys with the top hats get the real action every year, they pull that groundhog out for a lot of pomp and circumstance. >> phil proclaim as i look at the crowd on gobblers knob, many shadows do i see.

six more weeks of winter it must be. >> gobblers knob. the groundhog has spoken. in wisconsin, jimmy the groundhog predicted an early spring, as did general beauregard lee. staten island chuck didn't see his shadow either. don't even get me started on connecticut chuckles. he said winter is cancelled entirely. not since how much wood could a woodchuck chuck, there -- so with all these contradictory groundhog predictions, what are we supposed to believe? i would be inclined to go with punxsutawney, but i would ask an expert. >> if you believe a rodent, i have something else to tell you.

>> i listened closely to nose top hatters, it's not necessarily whether we see the shadow, it's if the rodent sees the shadow. >> gobblers knob. this is actually another time honored tradition where meteorologists imitate bill murray in "ground hog day." >> this is pitful, 1,000 people, freezing their butts off waiting to worship a rat. this is one time where television really fails to capture the true excitement of a large squirrel predicting the weather. >> meteorologists of america take heart. maybe nobody puts on top hats or drinks predawn which is whisky when you do your job. next year we should ditch the groundhog and present an animal that can pull it together and present a