captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions >> lehrer: good evening. i'm jim lehrer. a series of attacks rocked cities across iraq today killing more than 50 people. >> ifill: and i'm gwen ifill on the "newshour" tonight. in iraq, margaret warner interviews top general raymond odierno, about what happens next after the u.s. scales back combat operations. >> i think we have a vested interest here. that doesn't mean necessarily we'll have thousands of troops on the ground. it might mean we have to stay invested economically and politically. >> lehrer: then, "newshour" political editor david chalian assesses the winners and the losers in yesterday's primary elections. >> ifill: we take a two-part

look at the latest in mexico's bloody drug wars with journalist ana paula ordorica and security analyst eric olson. >> lehrer: and "global post" correspondent yoan grillo reports on how the mexican media is handling the story. >> ifill: then, judy woodruff gets up close and personal with an ultra light car that promises to get 100 miles per gallon. >> we can be sure this idea is too good and too right and works too well. >> lehrer: that's all ahead on tonight's "newshour." major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by:

this is the engine that connects zero emission technologies to breathing a little easier, while taking 4.6 million truckloads off the road every year. bnsf, the engine that connects us. and the william and flora hewlett foundation, working to solve social and environmental problems at home and around the world. and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.

>> lehrer: 56 iraqis died in more than two dozen separate attacks across iraq today. they appeared to be coordinated. margaret warner has our report from iraq. >> warner: the targets of today's wave of violence: iraq's local government and police forces. no one claimed responsibility. the deadliest attack was in kut, 100 miles southeast of baghdad. a suicide bomber blew up his car inside a security barrier near the town's local council and police station. 19 people were killed-- 15 of them policemen, and 90 others were wounded. baghdad was also hit hard. in the city's qahira neighborhood, a suicide bomber detonated a car bomb near a police station, bringing down the concrete blast wall protecting the building. the explosion killed 15, including six policemen and nine civilians. more than 50 were wounded, many trapped under the rubble of nearby houses.

in central baghdad, a roadside bomb exploded in the karrada neighborhood, wounding three. another car bomb went off in the tobchi area, killing three and wounding a dozen more. local residents expressed frustration. >> ( translated ): i d't know what is going on in the country. where is the protection, where are the security troops? the car bomb passed through many military checkpoints. >> warner: in the northern oil hub of kirkuk, policemen were once again the targets, as a car bomb killed one and wounded eight more. violent attacks have been on the upswing over the past month in iraq, as the u.s. approaches an august 31 deadline for a drawdown of combat forces. just yesterday, the white house announced that u.s. troops in iraq now number fewer than 50,000-- the lowest level since the u.s.-led invasion of 2003. the man who has been in charge

of u.s. troops in iraq, general ray odierno, spoke with us this "did you ever think you'd see

the trauma they've been through? the psychological toll. >> yeah, i mean, i think they've been through a lot and its incredible what the iraqi people have been through a lot, and i think in some cases they see the u.s. presence here as psychological support for their effort and that's why the 50,000

force is important. and that's why it's important for that force to stay through 2011 to provide the psychological support as well as some of the physical support that well continue to give the iraqis so they can continue to develop. i think we can do that with the force that well have here through the end of 2011. >> warner: now they still don't have a government. the election. how dangerous a situation is that to the stability that you and the iraqi forces have worked so hard to bring. >> the lack of a government obviously makes people nervous and it makes it provides some uncertainty. what i've been proud of is iraqis security force have remained neutral. they've done their job according to the constitution. they've continued to try to execute security the best way they can so i think that's a positive sign. but i will say we need to get a government for them. it's time for the iraqis to step forward and do this. not only to reduce this ability for extremist elements to exploit this time where there's no government but so they can start on the new path, the new

path of moving forward economically; moving forward politically; reestablishing relationships regionally. they've got to get on with this so it's really important that they do get a new government established quickly. >> warner: but we've also heard from iraqis here that they're nervous that the political leadership doesn't come from that the security forces that politicians here may decide to use militias again. what does it tell you that people are afraid of? >> well they're... they're afraid of what it once was. and i would tell you i think the probability of that is low because of what i just said, the professionalism of the security forces. i also believe all the different block leaders that i talk to, i talk to all of them except for the saderists, everyone of them says they don't want militias, they want to make sure that we have a security force that is run by the government, that supports the constitution, and there's no extra constitutional forces out there. and so i think they have the right mindset.

they all realize that's not what's best for iraq or the people of iraq. so that gives me confidence that that won't happen. >> warner: you were asked under what circumstances would the u.s. military come back and your response was only on the complete failure of the iraqi security forces, if you have some political divisions within the forces that cause them to fracture. it sounds as if you're saying you do remain invested here even in the military sense. >> first of all we think we have an opportunity here, iraq, if you just look at iraq as geographically, it's such a strategically important place for the phone middle east, not just for iraq. and then you look at the fabric of iraq, you know the shia, the sunni, the kurds, iranians in force you know relationships with kuwait, relationships with syria, relationships with saudi arabia-- it's such an important country in bringing overall stability to the region, so clearly we want to have continued interest here.

again, a re-intervention of u.s. forces would be a decision that would be made you know through our national security policy and, and for me to say we might intervene here or we might intervene there is just inappropriate. because we don't know. >> warner: but it is different. i mean, we would never even contemplate that. for saudi arabia, the u.s. wouldn't get engaged there, what is different about iraq? >> the fact that we came in and overthrew the regime and the fact that when we overthrew the regime we are now trying to redevelop iraq and shape iraq into a new nation. we've poured a lot of our energy into iraq. we've poured our most valuable assets on men and women who've lost lives, who's been injured. we've put a lot of our treasury towards iraq to improve it, so i think we have an invested interest here and so what we have to do is just continue to follow through with that. and again it's not, that doesn't mean necessarily well have mean necessarily we'll have thousands of troops on the ground. it might mean we have to stay invested economically and

politically and pay attention to and help them to continue to develop and frankly that's what i think the way ahead should be. >> warner: last week, went to fallujah, how do you feel about the u.s. draw down. >> well, first i would say that it's important, we respect iraqi sovereignty. and we want them to start to deal with these problems. if they have foreign intel agencies coming into the country it's their responsibility to stand up both politically as well as with other tactics and techniques to say this is not acceptable to us. >> warner: do you think that the iranians are behind any significant debris this uptick in violence? >> yeah, i would, i would just say they continue to be involved

in violence specifically directed at u.s. forces. in direct fire attacks, things like that. they also in some areas where there's some intra-shia issues, i believe they are trying to influence it... influencing some action by intimidation. so they... they are behind this. they are training people, they are supplying people with weapons. they continue to be involved in this, but i would put a big but on that, but what we are seeing is the iraqi people reject this, not only sunnis but shias as well. they do not want iran meddling inside of iraq's business. >> warner: do you think they're meddling in the formation of the government? >> i think they are putting forth their opinion and telling them what they think they, the government should be and what it shouldn't be. i mean, i don't know. i mean, what i would say is that

i think it's inappropriate that they continue to fund and they continue to train individuals who are conducting violence inside of iraq. i think that's wrong. i don't think they should be >> warner: military history, you write and speak about it, how do you think this conflict will shape the way the u.s. approaches, u.s. military approaches. >> i think what's happened is we... we've learned that in this very complex world we now live in, that military operations have become extremely more complex. and it's because of the environment and you have to... you can't just look at who's the enemy and say that's what we have to be concerned about. as a military leader now and developing any kind of an operation on foreign soil, you have to consider many other things. you have to consider the social economic issues, you have to...

you have to understand the cultural issues, because those all play a role in the fabric of security. we don't know if well ever have another major military campaign anywhere. it might be small operations where we're trying to influence and help others to reestablish democracy or to reestablish stability. how we do that is very different today than what it was, so we need leaders who can think broadly about these issues. you can't just think about military combat operations anymore. >> warner: so finally you've been here at least five, nearly five of the last seven and a half years personally, how has it changed you? >> well, it's broadened my horizons tremendously. i mean, someone who had you know spent maybe a month total in the middle east, total time over my previous 30 years in the military or 27 years in the military and now i will have spent almost five years here learning about the culture, learning about this part of the world, learning about american

relationships with these countries and... and how what we can do in the future to work those. it's changed me because of what i've seen our young men and women, their sacrifices. i have a lot of faith in this generation of young men and women for what they've done, what they volunteer to do. their mental and physical toughness their love of their country, their love of their military, their love of the unit that will forever remain with me. and then finally the relationships i've made here in iraq and the people of iraq, ill i'll never forget that. >> odierno informed me this

had been six or seven attacks. the picture wasn't entirely clear yet, but he was convinced he knew why it was happening. this is all about the insurgents sending a message to the u.s. and about the u.s., he said. you're leaving, you're saying everything's fine. well, it's not fine. secondly, he said, the insurgents are sending a message to prime minister maliki and the iraqi people. maliki's telling you he's the man who can keep you safe. well, he can't. and by the way, he and the other political leaders haven't even been able to form a government. finally, he told me that in the private meeting, the iraqies had expressed deep concern about the morning's attacks. i told them, he said, these things will happen but you have to look at the broad trends. you have toee them in the long term. the u.s. is clearly hoping that days like today remain the exception and don't once again become the rule. >> lehrer: on tuesday, president obama will mark the end of the u.s. combat mission with a speech to the nation. we'll have live coverage of his

oval office address at 8:00 p.m. eastern time. >> ifill: still to come on the "newshour": yesterday's surprising primaries results; mexico's mounting violence and a car that gets 100 miles per gallon. but first, the other news of the day. here's hari sreenivasan in our newsroom. >> sreenivasan: the head of the u.s. agency for international development was in pakistan today, to see flood devastation firsthand. rajiv shah pledged an additional $50 million from the u.s. for the eight million people who need help. and he said the bulk of a $7.5 billion aid package pledged to pakistan before the flooding will now go toward reconstruction. but shah also warned that assistance is conditional, as long as pakistan's leadership shows how the money is spent. >> the people of pakistan need to know that efforts spent on the relief are generating real results. so i am thankful that minister qureshi and others have validated that and have also indicated their full commitment to making sure that relief efforts are transparent,

resources that go in are accounted for, and there's real verification so that we can all continue to stand by the people of pakistan during this hour of humanitarian need. >> sreenivasan: also today, the u.s. military official in charge of the flood relief mission said pakistan is still committed to fighting insurgents, in spite of the flooding. former president jimmy carter began a humanitarian mission in north korea today as a private citizen, to secure the release of an american prisoner. aijalon mahli gomes was sentenced to eight years in prison for illegally trespassing in the country. today, north korean officials welcomed the former president at the airport in pyongyang. later, he held talks with north korea's second-in-command. new safety questions were raised today about an airport in china where a plane crashed last night. 42 people were killed, but more than half the passengers survived. when the crash happened, visibility was less than 2,000 feet. and fog shrouded the airport that is tucked into a valley. one major airline-- china

southern airlines-- had already judged the runway unsafe for night landings. investigators recovered two black boxes from the wreckage and were waiting to question the pilot, who was badly injured. in u.s. economic news, new home sales declined sharply and more than expected in july. the commerce department reported july sales fell by more than 12% over june. that was the slowest pace on records dating back to 1963. and it followed yesterday's worse-than-expected news on existing home sales. but still, stocks on wall street today managed a slight gain after a late afternoon rally. the dow jones industrial average gained more than 19 points to close at 10,060. the nasdaq rose more than 17 points to close at 2,141. those are some of the day's major stories. now, back to jim. >> lehrer: now, yesterday's primaries. the anti-establishment wave swept up a few candidates, but other insiders coasted to easy victories. the stunner of the night came in alaska, where incumbent lisa murkowski found herself locked

in a close race with attorney joe miller in the republican senate primary. miller leads murkowski by fewer than 2,000 votes out of more than 91,000 tallied. officials still have to count up to 16,000 absentee ballots, a process that won't begin until next week. miller, a tea party favorite, also had the support of former alaska governor sarah palin. murkowski had an 11-to-1 cash advantage over miller and sought to play up her senate seniority. if she loses, murkowski would join utah republican bob bennett and pennsylvania democrat arlen specter as the third senate incumbent to fall this year. four-term arizona republican senator john mccain was able to avoid a similar fate in his primary. the 2008 presidential nominee spent some $21 million on his way to trouncing former congressman j.d. hayworth by 25

points. >> i promise you, i take nothing for granted. i will fight with every ounce of strength and conviction i possess to make the case for my continued service in the senate and the policies and principles i will advocate and defend if i am fortunate enough to be re- elected. >> lehrer: in florida, former health care executive rick scott spent nearly $50 million of his own money to win the republican gubernatorial nomination. he bested state attorney general bill mccollum by four points in a contest dominated by negative attacks from both sides. >> some of you might have noticed that this was a hard- fought race. we've talked a lot about our differences, but tonight it's time to remember those things that bring us together. >> lehrer: scott's victory sets up a general election match-up with democrat alex sink,

florida's chief financial officer. >> now, my opponents have spent the last few months attacking each other, but you and i know what we need is a governor who is going to attack florida's challenges. >> lehrer: spending millions did not guarantee victory however. billionaire real estate investor jeff greene drew on close to $30 million of his own money in a failed attempt to win florida's democratic senate nomination. congressman kendrick meek prevailed instead, overcoming his nancial disadvantage to defeat greene by 26 points. >> there are so many floridians counting on a real leader to be the next united states senator and tonight floridians spoke. >> lehrer: meek will face two opponents this fall-- independent governor charlie crist and republican marco rubio -- in what is expected to be one of the marquee races of the midterms. and to "newshour" political editor david chalian.

david, first, alaska. what happened in that republican senate race? >> this is a story we've seen time and again now throughout this primary season on the republican side, jim. what happened there, is that lisa murkowski, an incumbent senator, fell victim to the tea party energy that's inside the republican party on the right wing. remember, these primaries are a certain sect of the republican party, the activist sect of the republican party that shows up in a primary in the off year, and the tea party has a big pull with those groups. so that's part of what happened here. the other thing that happened here was palin power. i mean, sarah palin , who has a long history with the murkowski family-- there's no love lost there. she defeated senator murkowski's dad, frank murkowski, to become the governor of alaska in 2002 and she went out and endorsed joe miller, the tea party candidate. she had her husband out there for him. she put nay big effort, rallied her troops and really put him on the map. between sort of the natural

tea party element out there and then sarah palin sort of injecting her energy up in alaska in there as well,-- and again, it's not over yet. these ballots still need to be counted. >> lehrer: what's the timeline on that? when are we finally going to get a result? >> there were 16,000 absentee ballots. about half of those have been returned. they will start to be continented next week. we're still a week away from getting a final result here but talking to people up in alaska they think it's going to be very tough for lisa murkowski to overcome the disadvantage she already has in the vote count. those absentee ballots will be decisive because there are more of those than there is a difference between the two candidates right now. >> lehrer: now john mccain in arizona, he ran hard and he ran scared, and it worked. >> no doubt about it. and i bet lisa murkowski wishes she had used his playbook. he understood early on what was going on in this cycle across the country. and although j.d. hayworth, the former republican congressman , may never have been a real serious threat,

john mccain said early on-- and you heard it in his speech last night-- "i take nothing for granted." he raised the money-- which is pretty easy for him with the national donor base-- and he went negative early to define j.d. hayworth as a nonserious contender, a huckster, he called him in one of his ads. and that was key. he relentlessly acted like he was in the fight of his life for the republican nomination, shored up his credentials, brought in sarah palin, and convinced the tea party in arizona to stay on the sidelines and not get involved supporting hay worth. it's a lessen for every incumbent in this volatile year you can't take anything for granted. >> lehrer: it's amusing-- i don't know if amusing is the word-- it's interesting that they've said now that mccain has won he will coast back to the center and back to the old maverick john mccain. what's the latest on that idea? >> i think we'll all be

watching his actions very closely when he gets back to the senate next year, assuming he wins in november, which he's obviously is favored to do so. i don't know that that is necessarily true. i think that john mccain may have made a permanent shift here in his character. he'll be looking out for his legacy. it's probably his last term. he'll probably look to do something big, but he has already gone down such a path of opposition to obama that we're a long way from that. do you remember barack obama threw a dinner in his honor the week of the inauguration to try to show that we can come together. >> lehrer: never happened. >> never happened. >> lehrer: never happened. now, florida the governor's race, that was a big surprise on the republican side. >> on the republican side. first, let's, again, look at at a national story that florida helps tell for the night as well. and that is republican enthusiasm. they've got it on their side. if you just look at the number of people that turned out to vote in the republican primary for the

governor's race, versus the number of democrats that showed up for their very competitive senate primary, it's not close, 1.2 million versus 900,000. rick scott, the former health care executive, is the republican there that won last night. he also was a tea party favorite. he has a lot of baggage, though. he ran a hospital corporation that had to settle a lot of medicare fraud, and so there's a lot of baggage there and it's a divided republican party. bill mccollum, the opponent in that race, has not endorsed him yet, so the republican party starts out the general election very divided. >> lehrer: that one got nasty, department it? >> oh, it got really nasty. the ads were ensane back and forth. if you look at rick scott's poll numbers today his negatives are very high. 49% of the people in florida have a negative impression, an favorable view of rick scott. he is going to have to work real hard in a battleground place like florida. reen, a billionaire, was spending $26 million

against--. >> lehrer: his own money. just like rick scott. >> rick scott's $56 million investment worked out. i think he lost the race by 26 points. that's a point per million dollars that jeff green spent in this race that he lost the election by. this is an example, though, of the establishment coming through here, and for kendrick meek, the hard part begins. his big challenge is the three-way race between maroo rubio, charlie crist, the independent, and kendrick meek. he starts out the real underdog in that general election. >> lehrer: david, thank you very much. >> ifill: there were new developments today in mexico's continuing drug war. government authorities discovered the bodies of 72 people believed to be migrants from central and south america dumped on less than a hundred miles from the u.s. border. if, as suspected, the migrants were victims in the continuing

war between violent drug cartels, this would be the largest single casualty count since the government decided to take on the cartels in 2006. for more on all that, we go to: ana paula ordorica, a journalist with foro t.v. in mexico city. and eric olson, a senior associate at the woodrow wilson center's mexico institute. welcome to you both. ana paula, tell us a little bit about what you know of the latest of what was found on this farm in mexico, these bodies. >> well, as you say, it was 72 bodies found in tamaulipas. it's a big body count, the biggest we have seen since president calderon started this site and it's impressive. but the most impressive thing is how these victims have been invisible victims, these transmigrants have been invisible victims and suddenly this might put them on the map. these are people that have been

continuously kidnapped. the national human rights commission has a count-- it's a little bit politicized and it is not an official count-- but they say 9,000 kidnappings in the past six months. so it is a huge number. and these are invisible victims because since they come into mexico with no papers , then once they're kidnapped, they don't want to denounce what's been happening. they just want to return back home or they just want to go to the u.s. if they are able to do it, these 72 people, well, they are now more body counts in this fight against the drug cartels that the mexican government has been fighting. >> ifill: eric olson , expand upon this. how does this tie into the apparent kidnappings and murders of these 72 and many others. how does it tie into the drug cartel violence?

>> one of the phenomena that's happened is drug cartels and organized crime has taken control more and more of the smuggling and trafficking in humans. the same ruts they use to move drugs up and down the mexican corridor they can easily use to move people and traffic individuals. so more and more, we see the business model of the drug traffickers expanding into other areas. not just traffickinging of humans, but other forms of trafficking. they use the same routes. they bribe the same officials. and they create these corridors that allow them to move people north and south. >> ifill: president calderon, eric olson, declared war on these cartels in 2006. it's been four years, by some account, 28,000 people dead. is it working, his worry? >> i think it's very hard to say it is working. i'm not saying he's not trying hard, he's not dedicated to defeating them.

but by all measures, it's pretty difficult to say there's success when we see violence continuing to grow, and more importantly than violence, the real power of these cartels is growing and expanding into new areas, and so it's not a very successful experience thus far. >> ifill: we have heard reports of of the mayor of santiago being assassinated by his own body guards. we have heard tales of people found hung by bridges in resort towns. this seems to be spreading rather than being contained. >> yes, and what the government has been saying is that this spreading of the violence is a signal of success . they compare it to what has been happening in colombia. what happened in places in the united states like new york, for example, or washington, when they fought against organized crime. and what they're saying is that it takes at least seven years of continuous and growing violence before you can see some success.

not everybody agrees, and many people think that the strategy is not working, especially -- it's not only something that has to do with body counts. today, we got the news about these 72 bodies. but also, 13 local policed men from tijuana were released because there was not a due process when they got caught because they had links with organized crime. so i think police forces and having become clean agents, working for government , is the first thing the government has to work for. >> ifill: you cover this all the time. how ensecure is this making people who either work , live, visit these regioning at this point? >> well, i think now there are some region where's the thing is -- i would say a code red. you have mont rare, , but especially the northern part

where you can see that there is a fight. the fight that has been the signal to be between the cartels. and they're using civil-- regular citizens to have this battle become more vigorous. so this is ordinary citizens that are feeling this fight against organized crime, and they are really asking themselves is this working and how much longer till we see some good results? >> ifill: eric olson, how much is public corruption a part of this problem and how difficult does it make it for the government to do anything to curb this violence? >> i think it's absolutely fundamental. all the polling suggests that people have very low confidence in their authorities . the latest surveys say nationally, only 22% of crime is actually reported . 78% of people don't report their crime.

they don't trust their authorities. and police officers around the world will tell you their job is immensely more difficult if they don't have the trust of their citizens and the constituents. so i think at some level, that's really at the heart of this. people don't trust the authorities, organized crime has penetrated the police, the judiciary , every aspect of government. and that's really got to be a part of the solution sdplen so is there any discussion being held about changing the terms of this drug war or change the approach on the government's part? i'll ask you this and i'd like to ask miss ordorica as well. >> yes, president calderon agreed to a series of dialogueing to discuss the strategy, invite experts and citizens and international people to provide ideas, to think about how they can impruf the strategy. i don't know, it comes flatt his administration. people would like to have

seen that earlier. it's hard to know if it will improve a change in the strategy. he said for the first time during that discussion that he was open to a discussion about legallivation. he personally has always said he does not agree with legallization, but he was at least open to that discussion. so there's some discussion going on in the media, in the public, about what to do. >> ifill: legallization, ana ordoreeka? >> yes, the president did open the discussion. he wrote in his twitter account that he was open to a discussion, although he himself was against legallization of drugs, and this has opened a whole big discussion where most of the citizens, most of the population is against legallization. but still, the coin is up in the air. and especially so, if we saw what's going on in the u.s., where some states are

talking about legallization or decriminalization, especially a place like california, which is our neighbor. and on some accounts, it would be impossible to ask soldiers and ask policemen to prosecute something that here is a crime and right next door is legal. >> ifill: all right, ana paula ordorica , and eric olson, thank you both very much. as the violence continues to mount, even gathering the news has gotten dangerous in mexico. we have that story-- a caution, this report contains graphic material. >> >> reporter: a mexican reporter tried to do a stand up in the northern city of reynosa. >> ( translated ): it is a >> reporter: gun battles like this have become almost daily affairs in mexico as heavily armed drug cartels fight each other and the government over billion dollar trafficking

routes to the united states. mexican networks and newspapers have to make some tough choices on this drug war. they have to decide how to tell the story, how much blood and guts to show the public and how to protect themselves. milenio-- a serious-minded 24- hour cable news channel available to some three million families nationally-- has broadcast some of the most extensive coverage. it has put out rapid and graphic reports of massacres, mass graves and car bombs. news director, ciro gomez leyva, says viewers remain very interested in the story. >> ( translated ): the story that the country has lived in the last four or five years is the most important story in almost a century. there has not been another moment so difficult, so painful, so bloody and so dangerous as the one we are living today. >> reporter: over the air channels, whose biggest news shows have some two million viewers have also made the drug war the top story. all networks have paid a big cost for their coverage.

>> ( translated ): in the last 14 months, criminals have murdered one of our reporters; they held another reporter and cameraman, beat them up and let them go after three hours; and they kidnapped a cameraman and held him for a week as a hostage. facing this, as the one in charge of milenio t.v., i can't say nothing is happening. they talk about self censorship, well, that is true. where they held our reporters, we haven't sent a correspondent back and we probably won't. who am i to send reporters to this place where they risk their lives? this is a war. >> reporter: during the kidnapping, gangsters forced the channel to show homemade videos in which they tortured police officers. federal agents eventually freed the abducted journalists, shooting one of the kidnappers in the leg. following that, mexican journalists marched to government offices protesting the violence. these photos are of media workers who have been murdered. in total, more than 30 mexican journalists have lost their

lives since president felipe calderon came to power in 2006 and declared a war on drug cartels. such violence has made many journalists shy away from investigative reports and in some towns newspapers even fail to cover certain shoot outs and massacres out of fear. however, most newspapers across mexico still make the drug war the top story. many also publish in their pages so-called execution meters, counting the number of people killed in drug-related violence. mexico has a total of 340 newspapers, which together are read by about 10% of the population. on a recent visit to one of mexico city's oldest and most upscale newspapers, "exelsior"-- which sells about 100,000 copies-- editors were planning the next day's front page. they were leading with the kidnapping and murder of a city mayor. >> ( translated ): we try not just to be a mirror of the violence. we also we want to give the context and explain the

consequences of this violence on the population. >> reporter: beltran says the paper is careful about its coverage of the most gruesome acts such as the severing of human heads. it runs stories that address the violence, but don't try to sensationalize it as some of the other newspapers might. >> ( translated ): we took some time to realize that the gangsters were using murders and beheadings to send a message to rival groups and the government and society. at first, we didn't realize that by photographing these scenes and writing about these scene, we would fall into their game. >> reporter: president felipe calderon recently met with the directors of mexico's big media outlets to urge networks not to give voice to criminals and to support his government crackdown. >> ( translated ): the real threat to society, the true enemy, are the criminals, not the government, at least not in this case. a first step is to recognize who are the bad guys and the bloody ones of the movie, and those are the criminals. >> reporter: calderon urged the

media not to run any videos or written messages by drug gangs. analyst jorge chabat, a professor of international studies who has authored several books on mexican security issues, says the media coverage has been a mixed bag. >> there are some newspapers or tv stations and that have been very responsible. however, there are others i think that have exaggerated a little. they have put images of beheaded persons on the front pages and all this kind of graphic violence, which doesn't help that much to explain what is going on and obviously is going to satisfy the morbid curiosity of people. the criminals make all this graphic violence obviously in order to impact public opinion. the more attention you give to these incidents, the happier the criminals will be.

in some sense some of the media are playing the role of supporting the criminals, they are playing this same game. >> reporter: back at milenio tv, director gomez leyva says he would love to have newscasts with no reports of bloodshed, but has to keep reporting the conflict that rages on daily. >> ( translated ): i have to cover it. these are the big stories. the country is living through a violent narrative. i can't understand when people blame this on the media. we are not the ones who brought this violence, and we are not the ones who can stop it. >> reporter: until there is peace on the streets, these journalists say, the mexican drug war will be televised. >> lehrer: and finally tonight, the story of a small band of engineers and mechanics trying to change the cars we drive. judy woodruff has our report.

>> reporter: located in the heart of rural virginia, lynchburg is 600 miles from detroit. but inside this converted textile plant, a handful of car enthusiasts are working on what they claim is a revolutionary new energy-saving automobile, one that gets 100 miles per gallon. >> what we are suggesting is a leap in efficiency, really a tripling or quadrupling, really that is a pivotal moment. >> reporter: a real estate developer who has owned and driven race cars, oliver kuttner and his team didn't initially set out to change the cars we drive. they just wanted to win $5 million. >> dangling the big carrot is what did it. it was the money. once we started digging we learned a lot and it is not the motivating force anymore. >> reporter: the goal for kuttner's team: to win the progressive automotive "x" prize with the main focus to design and build a car that seats four passengers, gets the equivalent of 100 miles per gallon on

average in all driving conditions, and can travel at least 200 miles without refueling. it is the latest in a series of "x prizes" that aim to spur innovation by offering a lot of cash. the first "x prize" was for a viable vehicle for commercial space flight. currently, the national fuel average for new u.s. cars is 32 miles per gallon. by 2016, government rules will require 37.8 miles per gallon. >> initially, we were convinced like the rest of america that it had to be an electric or hybrid solution. we think the real deficiency must be from the efficiency of the car itself with the chassis and the aerodynamics. and as such we have taken a completely different approach. >> reporter: with the focus on electric power, kuttner named his team "edison 2." but they quickly realized

today's batteries were too heavy, even an impediment to reaching their goal. racing veteran ron mathis is the team's chief designer. >> there is so much propaganda out there about how wonderful these cars are. as we began to do the numbers, we began to see it differently. >> reporter: what happened? >> we looked at the facts and the facts told us very light weight was one of the keys to real automotive efficiency. >> reporter: so, they came up with "the very light car," which was just that, very light. it weighs under 800 pounds compared to the average car now on the road, which is over two tons. instead of batteries, their car is powered by an ethanol based gasoline. its diamond shape is meant to maximize aerodynamics and optimize fuel efficiency.

>> we don't waste energy accelerating it and we don't waste energy keeping it at cruising speed. because it is light and has such very low drag it is very easy to push. the fact that you can do that makes it efficient. >> reporter: but such a light weight raises safety concerns. >> safety is the biggest hurdle. >> reporter: kuttner's team answers from a race car perspective. >> we used a lot of the technologies you would expect in an indy car or formula 1 car to protect the passengers in our car, by having the suspension inside the wheel we create all this other distance that becomes an impact absorbing structure. in a normal car, all that is taken up by rigid suspension parts. in our car it essentially becomes a pillow and this pillow is what saves you your life. >> reporter: still, on american highways with 40 ton trucks, and s.u.v.s hurtling at speeds over 60 miles an hour, the very light car looks very vulnerable. >> we want to maintain the

safety of the vehicle so you have a balance there of downsizing versus, down- weighting versus safety. so that is a real important balance you have there. >> reporter: mike stanton is president and c.e.o. of the international automobile manufacturers association. >> when you are producing a vehicle for mass markets there are some concerns you have that you might not have on a one of a kind or two of a kind vehicle. it has to be affordable, but you look at aerodynamics, which was a big part of it. you look at the light-weighting, i think we will see continued light-weighting in the vehicles of tomorrow. the issue we are going to have, is to maintain and improve safety as well. >> reporter: these are questions kuttner lives with-- as he has grown his ambition-- from the "x prize," to mass marketing an efficient car of the future. he believes the public is ready for change. >> we are willing to take a leap, jump to a completely different model of a car and let it walk before it can run. there is no doubt in my mind

when the general motors of the world work on a car like that for 10 years they are better cars than you can buy today. >> reporter: indeed, with its unusual shape and exterior wheels, the very light car looks very different from anything on the road now. >> how much of making a car is going in the direction of what consumers are used to and how much of it is getting consumers to come in your direction in order to make frankly a greener car, a more economical car? >> i think that is both. i think this can be built almost identical to what consumers are used to, but then you pay the price. you might get 75 miles per gallon or 80. >> reporter: instead of 100? >> instead of 100. or you can build an extreme ecological car and get to 110 or 120, but that is the limit. so it is a new envelope. it is a new range and we have the same thing today. you can buy a prius and get 50 miles per gallon and you can buy a chevy suburban and get 14.

it is your choice. people make that choice everyday. >> reporter: with that in mind, kuttner has focused on two other factors: first, cost-- they want to sell the car for $15,000 to $20,000. >> we always wanted to make a cheap car because the only car that can make an impact on our world is a car that people can afford. i mean, our entire engine transmission unit costs less than most electric car batteries by far. we can probably deliver an entire car for the price of some of these battery backs. >> reporter: and second, domestic production: the very light car has been entirely made in america, a fact the kuttner team argues was crucial to their success. >> it is all very well having stuff made in china, but when it comes to making a prototype, you need it just down the street because you need it today, tomorrow, or the latest next week. this is one of the reasons we are in lynchburg because there is the legacy of the manufacturing industry here and that enables us to do lots and lots of things. >> reporter: but first edison 2

has to win the "x prize" which they have chased all the way to the finals. 111 teams from 11 countries started out in january, but as the last stage is now underway, kuttner's team is the only one left in the four passenger category. still, they'll have to continue to meet the prize requirements to win. their very light car got the equivalent of 110 miles per gallon in the final track tests last month in michigan and edison 2 is confident they will prevail. >> i think with almost 100% certainty we are on that track. i think i can say that comfortably. what i can't tell you is if in ten years there will be 10 million of these sold or 40 million of these sold or 40,000, but you can be sure this idea will not be still born. it is too good. it is too right and it works too well. >> reporter: for now, the very light car heads to a lab for its

final evaluation. the "x prize" will announce if kuttner and company win in september. >> ifill: again, the major developments of the day: army general ray odierno told the "newshour" he believes iraqis will be able to take over security responsibilities eventually. in iraq, at least 55 people were killed in two dozen attacks that spanned the country. police and iraqi soldiers were the primary targets. and, a mexican drug cartel was suspected in the massacre of 72 migrants whose bodies were discovered within 100 miles of the u.s. border. the "newshour" is always online. hari sreenivasan, in our newsroom, previews what's there. hari? >> sreenivasan: on iraq, read margaret's blog on her experiences embedded with the u.s. military in mosul. that's on "the rundown." we've launched a new page on our site to mark the five years since hurricane katrina. tonight, find an interview with "pro publica" reporter a.c. thompson about his investigation

of the new orleans police department in the aftermath of the storm. his reporting is part of a collaboration with "frontline" and the "times picayune." also this evening, another documentary produced by louisiana public broadcasting. it chronicles the lives of six people who survived both the hurricane and the gulf oil spill. here's an excerpt. >> i'm a chef, coowner of what's left of this place here. every morning i get up and i look out there. for a long time it was just nothing. i could see nothing happening. and it was to me so slow. the biggest challenge was getting this work done. i thought i could never get it done. a lot of people helped me get to this point. so i can't sit down and wait. i have to prove to these people they they didn't

waste their time helping me. everybody helped me. and so i can't afford to die because i owe too many people. >> i'm preston dory. i've been fishing along louisiana's coastline for most my life. we started cleaning up and we started making repairs and stuff. and along came mike, and it was just-- you can only take so much, and now the oil spill, you just want to put your head down, and, i don't know, give up. louisiana has a lot of unique culture. they seem to persevere, even the worst of storms. and even with this oil spill, somehow or other, we're going to make it.

>> sreenivasan: both documentaries-- "law and disorder" on "frontline" and "washing away: after the storms" can be seen on many p.b.s. stations tonight. all that and more is on our web site, newshour.pbs.org. >> ifill: and that's the "newshour" for tonight. on thursday, we'll look at new fears in the wake of the pakistan flood: the growing potential for an epidemic of waterborne diseases. i'm gwen ifill. >> lehrer: and i'm jim lehrer. we'll see you on-line and again here tomorrow evening. thank you and good night. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> and by the bill and melinda gates foundation. dedicated to the idea that all people deserve the chance to live a healthy productive life.

and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org