er that. at hap last night in canada, on the streets of vancouver, they didn't look like even the most hardcore hockey fans. well, it turns out they weren't. and return to vietnam, for our friend jack jacobs, going back to the battle field where he earned the medal of honor was one thing, meeting the enemy was quite another. one thing, meeting the enemy was quite another. "nightly news" begins now.

captions paid for by nbc-universal television >> good evening. today a member of congress from new york who will be forever known for the seminude photos he sent out over the web walked into a senior citizen's center in brooklyn and ended his career in congress. he also ended the employment of all those who worked for him. as we first said when this story first broke, the era of oversharing has indeed claimed another victim, along with several innocent victims in this case. and today this drama, this national distraction, ended the way it started. like a circus, a sad chapter in the intersection of politics, public trust and social media. we begin tonight in nbc's kelly o'donnell on capitol hill. hey, kelly, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. the lies, the embarrassment, that cost anthony weiner his reputation a couple of weeks ago, but it is the rest of this mess that cost him his job

today. anthony weiner has never worked outside politics. he tried to find a dignified way to leave, but distractions got in the way. the collateral damage of scandals, tracked by cameras and hecklers, anthony weiner and wife seen together publicly for the first time since his career ended. but he went alone to end it. after 12 years in congress. >> i'm here today to apologize for the personal mistakes i have made and the embarrassment i have caused. >> reporter: instead of a press release to quietly announce his resignation, weiner chose a televised exit. it turned into a spectacle, interrupted by a shock radio provocateur. taunts and jeers as unseemly and embarrassing as the scandal itself. the salacious photos and e-mails weiner sent to women, including a dancer who held her own news conference. >> unfortunately the distraction

that i have created has made that impossible. so today i'm announcing my resignation from congress. >> reporter: weiner picked the senior center where he launched his first campaign. back then the youngest elected to new york's city council. over 20 years, he found his voice as an outspoken fighter for liberal causes, with ambition to become new york's mayor. from constituents today, disdain and compassion. >> it was poor judgment and juvenile behavior and we need to look at leaders as leaders. >> i feel like he should have stayed in office. in my opinion, there was no reason for him to resign. >> i feel kind of sorry for him. nobody's going to hire him. >> reporter: today weiner spoke calmly. thanking his neighbors, colleagues and family. >> and of course to my wife, who stood with me through this entire difficult period and to whom i owe so very much. >> reporter: the congressman and his wife are expecting their first child. they've been married 11 months now.

and looking forward for his district, the administrator of the house of representatives will actually take over his office. it will stay open until new york officials figure out when and how they will replace him. to another story in the news this morning, today's announcement read like a press release from a fortune 500 firm announcing a change at the top and the promotion of the number two guy. in this case it was al qaeda. the top job was vacated of course when bin laden was killed. that created a vacancy filled today. nbc news pentagon correspondent jim miklaszewski has more on the new man in charge and the new signs of the tattered relationship these days between the u.s. and pakistan. >> reporter: nearly seven weeks after osama bin laden was killed by u.s. commandos, al qaeda finally picked ayman al zawahri as its new leader. outgoing defense secretary robert gates says zawahri is no bin laden.

but al qaeda is still a serious threat. >> i think it's a reminder that they are still out there and we still need to keep after it. >> reporter: as bin laden's deputy, zawahri was the brains behind the terrorist bombings of two u.s. embassies in africa, the attack on the uss "cole" and the 9/11 attacks on the world trade center and the pentagon. in a videotape released last week, zawahri called for the revenge of the killing of zawahri. >> it's probably tough to count votes when you're in a cave. >> reporter: the most immediate challenge, however, mending relations with pakistan, seriously embarrassed by the secret raid that killed bin laden. in retaliation, the pakistan military shut down three joint intelligence centers and ordered the 50 american military who work there to leave the country. the center provided critical intelligence about the movement of taliban fighters who crossed into afghanistan to attack american forces.

gates argued that's an advantage the u.s. military cannot afford to lose. >> clearly the lines of communication through pakistan are critical for our operations in afghanistan. >> and the white house announced today that the general david petraeus, the top u.s. command never afghanistan has provided obama with several options for these u.s. troops withdrawals set to begin next month and the president could announce his decision as early as next week. >> jim mic miblg on -- anna nico nicole -- jim miklaszewski at the pentagon for us. then there's the air war the united states is a part of in libya and the growing fight here in the u.s. over whether the white house needs approval from congress to be there at all. president obama says it's all perfectly legal, but some leaders in congress say, not so fast, there's something called the war powers act, it was passed for a reason and the president can't just ignore it. nbc's kristen welker has more tonight from the white house. >> reporter: as the fighting in libya drags on, tensions over

the united states involvement there are mounting. >> the white house says there are no hostilities taking place. yet we have got drone attacks underway. >> we don't think it's helpful for congress to send mixed messages. >> reporter: at issue, does president obama need congressional approval to continue the u.s. role in the nato led military effort. the war powers act, enacted during the vietnam war, says the president has to get the green light from congress for military operations lasting longer than 90 days. >> the executive branch has never really acceded to it's constitutionality. >> reporter: in a 32-page report released on wednesday, the white house asserted the u.s. is only providing support is not legally at war. >> our current actions in libya or in this mission do not fall under the war powers resolution because they do not meet the threshold of hostility that's envisioned by the war powers

resolution. >> reporter: today house speaker john boehner fired back. >> part of an effort to drop bombs on gadhafi's compounds doesn't pass the straight face test in my view that we're not in the midst of hostilities. >> reporter: and on capitol hill, a chorus of voices weighed in. >> i believe the limited nature of this engagement allows the president to go forward. >> the administration made an announcement that i believe will strike most of my colleagues and the americans they represent as a confusing breach of common sense. >> this is about stopping a war now. >> reporter: congressman kucinich is also taking action. he and nine other lawmakers have filed suit against the white house to try to bring an end to u.s. involvement in libya and speaker boehner says he may pursue a path of trying to withhold funds for the mission. >> kristen welker at the white house tonight. if you were watching last night, then you know, the good news from last night was this. the boston bruins are bringing

the stanley cup home to boston for the first time in 39 years. roughly two generations. they won game seven and the cup last night and there was big celebration in that big hockey town. the bad news, there was trouble in canada. when the game ended in vancouver and the hometown canucks lost. violence broke out in the streets. someone in the crowd held up a sign that said riot 2011 and that's what the crowd did. now that the smoke has cleared, across canada today there's anger, sadness and embarrassment. while canadians take their hockey very seriously, this was something else entirely. >> the streets and bars were filled, the game had been on outdoor big screen tvs and then the big melee started. many of the rioters in canuck's hockey jerseys. but officials said today these were not hockey fans, rather

they were anarchists ready for violence. >> they came with weapons. >> reporter: cars were torched, dozens were injured. a few were stabbed. several police officers were injured. many of them treated for human bites. >> i'm so disgusted with the way vancouver acted. i have never been so embarrassed of the city in my life. >> reporter: today we talked to veteran canadian sports caster named of all things brian williams. he's actually more like the bob costas of canada. he is their olympic host and hosted us during the olympics. last night he was leaving the arena after the hockey game with his wife and walked right into it. >> well, i can tell you there's anger in this country, not just here, brian, on the west coast, but right across the country. this is a city that prides itself on being prepared and staging big events, the best winter olympics ever. as i walked down the street, they said mr. williams tell them this isn't vancouver. >> vancouver was just in the

global spotlight as host city for the last winter olympics. and those of us who were there conveyed through our coverage the image of a friendly, liberal, peaceful and polite place. disdain on that image fueled the national anger across canada. >> we understand and empathize with those in our community who are mourning the loss of the stanley cup and those here at home and across the country who are mourning the loss of the reputation we have all suffered at the hands of these criminals. but i now urge every one of us to quickly get past this and help us bring these people to justice. this will truly send a message to the world about what we are and what we believe. >> so while everybody knows they do take their hockey very seriously in canada, this did seem different, it seemed excessive and now we know it was and we know why. volunteers were on duty helping to clean up vancouver today while in the meantime, this was a big day in boston. and a quick note here tonight about concerns building over the

condition of the ft. calhoun nuclear plant near omaha, nebraska. it's totally surrounded by water from the missouri river flood we have been reporting on and now we have learned there was a fire last week that broke out in an electrical switching room. knocked out power to the system that cools the plant's spent fuel rods. but officials said the plant had been shut down for several weeks for a plant refueling and is safe and they are well prepared for floodwaters. when we come back here tonight, the government and economy teetering in grief, if they fall, we'll hear the thud here. we'll go there after the break. and later, they were soldiers once, our own jack jacobs meets the enemy from a long ago battlefield in vietnam.

we told you here last night about the rioting and political turmoil in greece as that nation faces down a possible default on its debt. tonight the situation still hanging by a thread officially. and the outcome could easily cause a serious blow back here in the u.s. cnbc's michelle cabrera is with us tonight from athens. michelle, we're looking at the scene over your shoulder. such a beautiful picture. i understand the situation on the streets was better today, but give us an update of the situation behind the scenes and remind everybody how this could blow back and be felt very acutely here in the u.s. >> reporter: behind the scenes it's still a very desperate situation.

the european press is calling this the continent's lehman brothers moment. government officials are worried that if greece fails to pay its debts, it could have a blow back here in the united states. and we felt those deep economic painful effects afterwards in ways that we didn't expect because the world economy is now so interconnected. financial experts here aren't convinced that will happen but they don't want to find out. what's happening right now is that the greek government is working desperately to try to pass a budget with deep budget cuts. but those cuts are so painful, that has led to rioting in the streets. they are in a race for time to pass those budget cuts in order to qualify for a loan from the imf. they need billions from the imf

just to pay their bills through the summer. but why are they rioting in the streets here? because that government's new federal budget means deep, deep layoffs. more than 100,000 people could lose their jobs in the government. those that are left with jobs are going to lose 30% of their salaries and they're going to have to pay higher taxes as well. and everybody in the country will be facing higher taxes. >> michelle, we'll be going back to you, we're glad you're covering the story. when we come back, remembering a great american life. in fact the man who changed the supermarket check out forever.

in a bad economy, this has to be good news, especially in the seattle area, boeing says by

2014, they expect to be building 737s at the rate of 42 planes per month, up from the current 31 planes per month. we haven't turned out big planes at that rate since world war ii. it's remarkable considering the 737 has been around in various versions since 1968. over 6,000 have been built and while there have been bigger jets and fancier jets, it's a dependable workhorse for the airlines, and boeing plans to hire more workers to keep up with demand. >> alan haberman has died and if you don'don't -- who pushed through the bar code as the national standard for how we buy things, how we track everything from hospital patients to overnight packages. it's official name of course the universal product code or upc. haberman was a harvard educated

grocery executive who pushed for that bar code on everything. it was up to somebody else to invent that beepy thing at the checkout. alan haberman was 81 years old. prince harry is going back to afghanistan. the prince has genuinely taking to military service and has wanted to go back as he puts it to his brothers in arms for some time. his official title as lieutenant wales of the army air core. he served before in helmand province. he says it's a huge honor to fly the apache in combat. his father and brother are both pilots. up next the extraordinary thing that happened when our colleague, colonel jack jacobs, decorated vietnam veteran came face to face with the enemy.

last night here we took you on a journey with one of our nbc news family. our military analyst, retired army colonel jack jacobs happens to be one of the 84 living recipients of the medal of honor, awarded by president nixon after jack sustained grievous wounds on a battlefield

in vietnam. he recently returned back to that battlefield and last night we watched as he found the exact spot where everything briefly went blank one day in combat 40 years ago. tonight we see him meet the enemy, the former north vietnamese commander who was responsible for that incoming withering fire that day. with him on this journey, nbc's chris downtown. >> reporter: retired colonel jack jacobs is looking for answers to 43 years of questions. not far from the vietnam battle field where he fought and bled and endured the transformative experience of his life. in a modest home, an unlikely reunion with a retired brigadier general, the man who gave the order to attack jacobs battalion, killing or wounding half of them. but even war wounds heal, the sharp edges of combat with time fade and the adversaries of 1968 find common ground. >> the emotional part is meeting

for the first time again. somebody who also fought for his should -- soldiers. that's a bond that's impossible to break, no matter what country you belong to. >> reporter: even though you were enemies? >> even though we were en -- we were enemies on paper. i was right here actually. >> reporter: making rough sketches, colonel jacobs, now a west point professor of military strategy wants to know -- >> how many days before we got there did he know we were coming? >> three days in advance. >> reporter: it was an unrelenting ambush, seen from the air by the helicopter pilot he radioed for help. >> don't bother, he said. it's too hot down here, it's really bad. i said all right, tell me where the enemy is. and he says, they're all around us. >> and seen from the ground by a

vietnamese farmer who heard the helicopter. i remember the day in march 1968, bombs exploded over there. two americans were hit badly. were you injured general hung asked? >> yes, my head. my last surgery was last year. so i have a lot of surgeries. >> reporter: but this is a story perhaps better told not in words but gestures. the traditional sign of goodwill in vietnam, a clutched hand, a laugh, and time and again, spontaneous hugs. >> you know, it's good that we, after all the fighting we both survived, to meet each other in friendship. >> reporter: in just an hour, two old soldiers who battled fiercely in combat, find understanding, respect and in the end, true affection, making peace with the enemy and with themselves. chris jansing, nbc news, the mekong delta. >> you know, it's an honor to

come in here to work every day with our friend jack and you can see much more of his story along with chris jansing's superb reporting on our website, that's nightly.msnbc.com. that is our broadcast for this thursday night. thank you for being here with us as always, i'm brian williams and we hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. and we hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. good night. good evening. thanks for joining us at 6:00. >> how did he find them? investigators still trying to piece together how an accused child molester tracked down a girl he's accused of molesting and shot her and her mother. jerry steel then killed himself near crescent city. a gps based company in southern