right now on andrea mitchell reports, iran says it will not discuss nuclear issues at this week's showdown in geneva. but what could be an attempt to deflect attention from its nuclear secrets, iran will allow swift intermediaries for the first time to see the three american hikers being held in a tehran prison. the latest from the white house and from armed services committee members evan byh next. today he did meet with nato's commander to discuss strategy and troop levels. >> this is not an american battle. this is a nato mission, as well. and we are working actively and

diligently to consult with nato at every step of the way. >> don't make any mistake, the normal discussion on the right approach should not be misinterpreted as lack of result. and with a public option now force its way into the finance committee health care plan? senator jay rockefeller and others are pushing that during the markups today. i'm andrea mitchell live in washington. as u.s. diplomats prepare to leave for geneva, iran will not discuss the nuclear issue when it gets to negotiations tomorrow. the big story at the white house. let's go to white house correspondent savannah guthrie. savannah, first of all, iran says they won't even discuss it and now they're trying to deflect attention by giving the u.s. something that we have been demanding. access through our swiss intermediaries, at least for the first meetings in prison for those three hikers. that's sort of putting us in a

no-win position. we can't say no to that but talk about nuclear power opposed to nuclear weapons. >> the plot thickens, as they say. iran having another one of these gestures that they hope the world will look at as conciliatory giving the swiss hikers and removing the nuclear issue from the talks. so, the talks will go forward, as you well know. i know you're headed there. but the question is whether they will bear any fruit whatsoever. the u.s., of course, demanding unfettered access to this facility and whether or not the iranians will agree to the robust access the west wants to see is an entirely different issue. at the same time you have the diplomatic track and preparing sanctions and the u.s. trying to get some sanctions together and a regime that they could build a consensus about. the defense secretary says it's a pretty rich list of different

sanks you can attempt against the iranians but, of course, the pickle getting the allies to support it. the chinese certainly do in particularly with regards to the oil industry and really getting that all together and putting the puzzle pieces together that is the real challenge for the u.s. >> they have probably already ruled out gasoline restrictions on refined gasoline products because that would be too difficult to pull off and alienate the very part of the iranian public that we have been trying to appeal to. very, very fine line they're walking. when it comes to iran and what their strategy is, seems that they're trying to say to the world, well, we're cooperating and we're letting you see your prisoners in the tehran prison and we're letting the inspectors in, but they're not going to give them the kind of inspections to all the potential sites. i mean, the assumption now certainly from u.s. intelligence is that there are more than this secret site. this is the one that we know about, but could be as many as a

dozen others. >> as you say, in many ways, this is as much about pr and the image that iran is projecting to the rest of the world, potentially countries that have been sympathetic and quite depth in that public relations battle. i think we really saw it last week when iran having discovered that its facility at home had been compromised and took the initiative to write this letter to the iaea disclosing that they had a "pilot project and this is kind of the classic move from the iranians to have the disclosure and from the u.s. perspective, not at all what it needs to feel comfortable about iran's nuclear activities. >> all the national security advisors that white house in a series of meetings today. the pentagon chief bob gates has his normal tuesday meetings with the president and hillary clinton is in and out and they're talking about iran and

the president tomorrow will be briefed by his commanders and just met with the secretary-general rasmussen from nato and what they say is that they're on the same page and they'll talk about the strategy first and the number second. i was really struck by the fact that rasmussen said all the countries are setting general mcchrystal's report and secretary gates as we discussed on sunday, well, i'm not giving it to the president yet. it's not ready to see it. this is so strange. >> that was -- first of all, i noticed the same thing, andrea. my ears perked up when he said we are reading the mcchrystal assessment. as i understand it, he doesn't have the specific gates that he's sitting on. the president doesn't say that. i was struck under your impression of it. rasmussen saying we will be there as long as it takes to finish the job. they were sort of singing from the same sheet of music on strategy first, resources

second. and, as you mentioned, that big meeting on afghanistan with all the principals, it will take place tomorrow and the principals meeting here at the white house where staff getting ready for that big meeting will meet later today. the next 48 hours really crucial in terms of afghanistan and also iran. >> nice if the president actually got to talk to general mcchrystal in six or seven months. they'll actually talk tomorrow. >> yeah, i was told he was invited so i expect he'll be in attendance either by video teleconference. i'm not sure if he is expected to be here. >> thank you, savannah guthrie, all the latest on iran and afghanistan. just today as we said, iran agreed to grant the swiss access to the detained americans, but experts are warning that escalating tensions could escalate this. evan buy served on the armd

services committee and, senator, thank you very much for joining us. >> good to be with you, andrea. >> where do we go? we sit down at the table, bill burns the number three at the state department former ambassador to moscow and he sits down with members of the other permanent five member ofz the security council plus germany and facing the iranian delegation and iran suddenly says, by the way, we want to let the swiss come in and see the three american hikers and we don't say no because we want access to those prisoners, but they're completely deflecting the nuclear issue. >> we can't let that happen, andrea. they would think we were fools if we allowed their very kind humane tanyon gesture divert us from the program. we have to keep pushing them. if they want to absent themselves then we need to go forward with the economic and financial sanctions to try to get them to change their minds. the iranians respect one thing

and one thing only, that is strength. so, we need to demonstrate strength here in the face of a very grave threat. >> since we did catch them red handed, according to u.s. intelligence and allied intelligence, we still have to face the fact that what the iranian negotiators said today, we are not going to discuss anything related to our nuclear rights, but we can discuss disarmament and discuss nonproliferation and other general issues. the new site is part of our right, there is no need to discuss it. >> they have a right to civilian nuclear power. we offered them that and they refused to accept our offer. you don't repeatedly hide and lie about sufillsies that are within their rights. only if you have something else in mind. a nuclear military component. if they're willing to discuss that, we'll get to the heart of the issue. i don't think we should be naive and let them persuade us from discussing what is on the table otherwise a very elaborate waste

of time for everybody involved. >> do you think our intelligence is correct as was outlined two years ago now in the intelligence estimate on iran that iran did, in 2003, give up attempts to weaponize a nuclear warhead or do you think that the allies who have a different point of view, not only israel, but also france and others believe that they have worked on a nuclear war head? >> that intelligence estimate was very misleading and it did us no favors with regard to rallying world opinion meeting this threat. buried in the footnote, andrea, three components to a nuclear program. number one, getting material. they are going to force ahead to try to generate material. number two is a delivery system. the number three the weapons design. they could afford to put it on the shelf for a while while still going forward on the other

two components knowing if they were successful on those two constructing the bomb itself wouldn't take much time at all. six months or something like that. >> how long do you think we would have at this stage before they could have an effective weapon? >> well, there is this line of thought that they could have sort of a sprint to the goalline and try to accelerate something within 9 to 12 months. that would be highly provocative assuming that we were aware of it. absent that a year to three years is probably a reasonable window. but you don't know it, you don't know it, correct? we were all surprised when india tested their nuclear device. pakistan the same thing. unavoidable element of uncertainty here, andrea. important that we act sooner than later and not let the iranians slow walk us to the point that they achieved the goal that we're trying to prevent. >> now that we know about this one site, which we have known about for quite some time. we have seen the more extensive

construction at this site and we know the configuration and have pretty good intelligence, we're told. president asserts this as do the allies that it is too small to be used for peaceful purposes. that from this configuration could only be used to produce nuclear weapons fuel. we know about this site. but don't we suspect that there are more than this site? we don't, as you just pointed out, we don't know what we don't know. as many as a dozen other secret sites? >> andrea, i think it's reasonable to assume that there are other sites of which we are unaware and that is one thing that complicates the military option. you could strike facilities that you're aware of by definition you could not attack facilities that are hidden from you. you don't know where they are. i think it is reasonable to assume that there are other facilities. that's something the intelligence community works very feverishly on. it is still far from perfect insight and that is a reasonable

assumption. >> i know a lot of sirens where you are up on the hill, but let me ask about sanctions. do you think sanctions can work to slow iran down and prevent iran from getting a weapon? >> probably not, but they need to be tried. number one, they might work. if we could ratchet up the economic and financial system and the economy already being weak and divisions within that society and perhaps they could change their minds. what this really comes down to, andrea, an assessment of the character of the regime and this involves psychology more than anything else. will they behave like a sanction state. if so, sanctions have a chance to work. at the people at the very top are driven by concerns and radicals and ahmadinejad, as you know, made highly provocative statements and if there is a small chance that they would misuse a nuclear weapon, that is a risk you simply can't run and

unlikely that sanctions would get us there and then you would have to consider other courses of action, but as i said earlier, those are far from perfect alternatives either. >> not a good scenario. thank you very much, senator. thanks for your help today. >> always a pleasure. now, we go to the white house where robert gibes is being asked about afghanistan and the contact that the president has had or not had with general mcchrystal. >> what is he looking for from this meeting? >> again, this is the beginning of a reassessing of where we are. i think this will be, as we said, take place over the course of several meetings in a number of weeks. as we look at where we are, what's happened in the intervening months since the president made a decision in march and i think, as you heard, the secretary-general of nato key ally, obviously, in our

mission is to evaluate this from a strategic perfective and then have a discussion later about resources, which is what the president intends to do. >> are the principals offering him options to consider? >> well, i don't think we're at that point yet. i think we'll go through the mcchrystal assessment and go through additional ideas and go from there. >> now, iran is saying that they will not discuss this new nuclear plan tomorrow. >> they may not, but we will. >> i was going to ask you. you're going to bring it up. what do you think about this approach that they're taking? >> well, what is undidniable is that a plant is, a plant was constructed in violation of their obligations under the nuclear nonproliferation treaty. something they've signed with the iaea, as well as u.n. security council resolutions. we will demand that ie

inspectors have access to the facility and to personnel, to documents surrounding the facility. there is no doubt this is in violation of their own obligations to which they're a party. i think if -- i think it will be, i think it will show the world and i think the onus is on the iranians to show the world that the program that they have is a peaceful program to create energy, rather than a secret program for nuclear weapons. i think if you're -- if the iranians are unwilling to discuss something that should have been reported to the iaea years ago, i think that's quite telling. but, again, i don't want to prejudge. i'll let, i'll let them do their own talking. yes, sir. >> the president today in the oval office with

secretary-general said that he defined the mission in afghanistan as dismantling and disrupting and destroying the al qaeda network and working with the afghan network to provide security for that country. how would you define effectively working with the afghan government to provide the security necessary for that country? can you explain more of what you mean? >> look, i think you got -- as you've seen in places around the world while we can help the security environment in the short term, there has to be a training mission for police and security forces that that country can use to secure their own territory because we cannot stay there forever. eventually the functions of security and the functions of policing are going to have to be assumed by the afghans so,

obviously, some robust training mission has to happen. >> that's what you mean by open-ended concept of they need to be able to arm themselves. >> they have to be able to, they have to be able to secure their own physical territory. >> that's obviously not the case right now. >> that's why, that's part of, part of what the president ta talked about in march and part of what is in the assessment from general mcchrystal. >> one other question, retired general is reported in the "washington post" today making comments about policy comments including suggestions that his goal is to normalize relations with sudan and a lot of other comments that alarmed groups to object to the genocide in darfur. did you guys have a reaction to that comment? >> my reaction is more to the

story. the policy is being worked on and no announcements of a new policy. obviously, our policy would not include that unless there was significant change on the ground in car tune. >> the president may be perceived as weaker as this policy or strategy review session drags on fueled by the perception that many in his own party are against increasing the troops in the war and when you say drags on -- secretary gates said this weekend it took three months in the previous white house to discuss a policy on a surge of troops in iraq. did anybody, was there a suggestion by those then that the president was dragging this assessment on? >> you all have made a point of saying that there is no time limit on this. >> right, the president wants to get the policy right. if the policy takes time to get right, then that's what the

president intends to do. i think he owes that to the men and women in uniform that are there. he owes that to the men and women in uniform that could go and he owes that to each and every american. >> sure, but, meanwhile there is probably what you could describe as a rising tide of sentiment against further engagement in afghanistan. and much of it is on his own party. >> the president isn't going to make a political decision. the president will make a decision that he feels is in the best interest of the united states national security. you know, the president is happy to hear the back and forth from both sides on this, but is going to take his time to decide what is right for the american people. yes, sir. >> robert gibbs at the white house being questioned about the afghanistan strategy sessions that are coming up today and tomorrow, most importantly tomorrow with the generals at the white house. and coming up, could a win

in health care also on the plate today boost the president's clout on foreign policy. we'll have "times" joe klein to talk about that and more. ♪ to deliver the technologies... vital to freedom. ♪ to help carry hope to those in need. ♪ around the globe, the people of boeing... are working together -- for what matters most. that's why we're here. ♪

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the way forward in afghanistan is dividing president obama's advisors. just this past hour, another opinion was added to the mix. the head of nato backed the president's approach to rethinking the strategy before committing more resources. that, of course, would fit nato because most countries are reluctant to put up more troops. with us now, joe klein. joe, thank you so much for joining us. as the principals are gathering today and tomorrow at the white house, principally tomorrow but there are meeting today, what are the divisions and the

thought line within the foreign policy team on what to do about afghanistan? >> i think that you, obviously, have the military on one side in favor of an augmented counterinsurgency approach. what i understand is that both the secretaries of state and defense are kind of leaning in that direction, but aren't sold on it. as is the national security adviser general jim jones. on the other side, you have vice president joe biden who is in favor of a more counterterrorism sort of approach of scaling back military effort and using drones and special forces and so on to attack al qaeda where it actually is in pakistan. but, various people who will be in this meeting tomorrow have said to me that the absolute key here, the thing that we don't know is what the afghan government is going to be like when it finally emerges from this lelectoral mess.

if karzai comes out of this as, more intent on reform. if he brings some of his opponents into the government and if he kicks his brother out as the kind of shadow government in kandahar province in the south and then we might have a shot at it. if we don't havery libel partner in afghanistan, both the president is going to be a lot more skeptical about adding more troops. >> and when they sit down and have this meeting, the generals are going to lay out some scenarios, but, basically, they've got to decide on a mission. how much closer are they to deciding what the mission is in afghanistan? >> well, there are two points of view. one is to continue or at least to try and switch the counterinsurgency mission. now, we should always explain the counterinsurgency kind of like community policing and it means protecting the population and using development.

new schools, new, you know, new public works programs and also money to win them over to our side. winning hearts and minds is what they used to call it in vietnam. the other alternative is to say, well, afghanistan is just too rural and too diverse and too poor and too uneducated to do something like that and maybe we should concentrate on where the bad guys actually are, which is across the border in pakistan, which is where al qaeda is. there you use the drone program, which has been very, very successful plus an augmented special ops program and, plus, more emphasis on getting the pakistanis to be more aggressive and to helping develop the pakistani side of the border. >> of course, the counterinsurgency approach exposes our troops because it puts them out there in the villages, in the areas where they are sustaining terrible, terrible casualties now. >> you know, andrea, if you

actually look at the casualties, they're bad. they're worse than they were last year, but, you know, historically they're not that enormous. the number of attacks are fairly low, especially compared to iraq and the other data point you should be aware of is that in 2007 when we introduced counterinsurgency to the neighborhoods of baghdad, there was a huge spike in u.s. casualties during the first six months, eight months of 2007 and then it began to plummet because the community policing worked. >> of course, this weather or not this president has wants to sustain the political incoming of what happens when you have those kinds of casualties, that kind of spike. these are real stories, real people, real families. let me take you to a book review. great book review this weekend in the "new york times" the clinton tapes written by you, joe klein of and what is your bottom line on this book?

there are some fascinating insights. what do you take away from it as to reassessing bill clinton who you covered and known so well? >> well, it's kind of a reminder of what a portable carnival bill clinton was. i mean, he was -- >> great phrase. >> he was completely over the top continually. now, there is a problem with the book because this was 80 tape recorded sessions between taylor branch famous historian, and the president. but taylor branch doesn't have access to those tapes and so he's just working from his notes and his memory of what they are about. still, you know, there is a classic anecdote on just about every page. reminds me of how much clinton just loved the game, including international politics. his evaluation of his international peers is just, is astonishing and, really acute. >> and we saw that even now with

david gregory on "meet the press." any interview with bill clinton is just a rich mind of his knowledge and his assessments and his instincts and i suspect that is one of the reasons why president obama had lunch with him in gren wch village two weeks ago. >> he knows a lot. the other interesting thing the contrast between these two men. clinton is over the top and obama is so button down and makes you realize how little we still know about president obama, even after eight or nine months in office. >> exactly right. joe klein, thanks so much for coming in today. >> my pleasure. >> good to see you. it is class picture day. it's like the first day of oschool at the supreme court with the addition of a new associate justice. sonia sotomayor. the justices, of course, needed a new official portrait. so, the high court now had their picture taken together for the first time. all of them together and they do that any time there is a change on the bench.

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straight ahead, what's at stake. plus, new hope today for the three american hikers still being held prisoner in tehran. but are they being used as pawns in a diplomatic game of chess? the 24-year-old at the center of an alleged terror plot. new york city is ordered held without bail while authorities close in on three of his alleged accomplices. the latest from pete williams next here on "andrea mitchell reports." your only employee. we're gonna start using fedex to ship globally-- that means billions of potential customers. we're gonna be huge. good morning! you know business is a lot like football... i just don't understand...

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here are some top news headlines that we're following at this hour. ahead of thursday's nuclear talks in geneva. iran now says it won't talk about nuclear weapons, but it will allow the swiss government access to three american hikers who have been detained in iran since july. two u.s. servicemen who were killed in the philippines today when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb. their deaths are the first for the united states in that country since 2002. they may have been targeted by al qaeda, an al qaeda-linked group. leaders for roman polanski are debating and they filed a

motion asking he be released from swiss custody. a decision will be made within weeks. the afghan immigrant conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction in new york has pleaded not guilty in federal court. prosecutors believe that zazi was planning to target new york city's mass transit system. this morning zazi's attorney told reporters that he wants to stop a rush to judgment. >> what i've seen so far does not amount to a conspiracy. i don't know the names of anybody else that allegedly conspired with mr. zazi. >> now, investigators think that they know who else may have been involved. so nbc chief justice correspondent pete williams joins us. pete, tell us what they know and what you know. >> well, we know that there were three other people that are believed to have helped him. >> at least three. >> well, three for sure we know. three other people helped him

buy these bulk chemicals in colorado. how do we know that? because in the court documents it says zazi in late august went to the beauty supply stores and we know there are at least three others but, clearly, just knowing them and the federal authorities, obviously, know who they are. that is not enough. it is proving to be a tougher case than many of us suspected at first to charge other people. as zazi's lawyers said in court today until you do, you do not have a conspiracy case. he is not accused of conspiring with anyone else yet. it is not illegal to go to pakistan and buy these chemicals and not illegal to go to new york with a laptop in your car. that may all change for him. today he said until you get other charged, there is no conspiracy. >> the back story, there was some friction among different agencies in new york city and one agency was given pictures by the fbi and went to people in the community and that person supposedly, you know, told zazi

and his father that they were being targeted and they had to spring sooner than they wanted to. >> they had to go quickly but i don't think it is sooner than they wanted to. they wanted to go ahead and move, that was a precipitating event. they wanted to go ahead and move if he was going to be back in new york again. one thing happening again here, andrea. the fbi is now sending out notices and bulletins to anybody who sells the kind of chemicals that he was after. home improvement stores because he was after different kind of acid and beauty supply stores and all that saying, if people are coming in and buying large quantities and they don't have a beauty shop, ask them why. ask for identification. not illegal to buy these things, but the government is saying you should be, you know, a little more up on who your customers are. this is the same kind of thing that we saw the government do after the oklahoma city bombing after saying you ought to ask who wants to buy fertilizer if

they don't have a lot of land to fertilize. >> what is zazi's explanation for wanting all these beauty products. >> >> according to some of the people in these stores he simply said he had a girlfriend. >> girlfriend needing vats and vats of these chemicals. >> what is known in the hair care world as developer. that's what they referred to it as. >> gee, how would i know that? what about the alert level or the sense that there could be other people still out there beyond the three that have been named and other thoughts. >> that's an interesting question. you know, i have been told that initially there were reports that there were lots of people that they were going after, dozens or maybe as many as 20. i have been told that those numbers are incorrect. that, in fact, it is a relatively small number of people that they're looking at. i think they're still trying to get to the bottom of this plot, but beginning to be indications that it was not as far along or as wide spread as some of the early reports suggested.

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iran's parliament is now considering dropping out of the nuclear nonproliferation treaty if thursday's talks don't go their way. let's bring in democratic strategist and former congress ben weber. thanks, both. ben, iran is positioning itself going into these talks now saying it will permit the swiss to visit our american hikers in their prison, they're not going to talk about nuclear issues. how do the american diplomats take this on? >> well, the question is, is there any way in which it can

possibly persuade them from moving towards the development of a nuclear weapon or has this already been decided at the top levels of the iranian government for many, many years, maybe even decades. we don't know that. we have to negotiate, we should. we certainly want to get the hikers out, but at the end of the day we don't know if anything will persuade them to move towards a nuclear weapon. if we're not dissueded of that, the israelis are certainly not dissueded of that. >> the last thing the administration wants is for israel to take action. bill, it seems that we're in a lose-lose situation. we have an edge on them diplomatically and i was interviewing evan bayh and he said sanks would not work. madeline albright said they always leak and bob gates said it won't work. what will work? >> well, that's a good question and we don't know how much of this is for domestic, political

c and now we see the domestic upheaval in iran and what they say seems to be largely directed at their own home audience. we don't know what any of these utterances mean. >> we see a tightening of the grip of the government. the reaction of the government is to tighten control. so, we're dealing, if anything, with a more repressive government in iran right now and, again, one that seems to be intent on marching to a nuclear weapon. >> now, just for fun, let's switch to politics. >> the opposition still seems to be energized in iran and they're still out there with great risk to their life protesting. so, we don't know what the domestic situation is and we don't know how much it

influences what they're saying and what we hear on the world stage. >> and, of course, the last thing that the u.s. wants to do is to undercut the opposition or help ahmadinejad unite his fractured regime and the populous by going into heavy handed with sanctions. >> little known fact but we are still popular, we, america, with the iranian people than with most of the general populations of the middle east. >> now, just for fun, as i say, let's switch to sarah palin. >> okay. >> her new book, the publisher, has moved up the publication date. >> bill is real happy to talk about this. >> let's give bill a shot first. the title, released november 17th and the title is "going rogue" which is what the mccain folks famously said about her win towards the end of the campaign. going off in her own direction. bill, do we expect this will be in terms of the shots she makes against the john mccain

handlers. not john mccain, personally, but some of the people around him. >> some of the people in the mccain campaign better duck because she's going to be thrown at them. no question about that. very angry about her treatment in the campaign and also, she's become sort of a celebrity phenomenon. so, i think the book will probably be quite reckless and geared to try to just be sensational and produce a large sale. that seems to be much of what she's doing seems to be financially. >> and they've printed a million and a half already. let me show you -- >> that's a lot of books. >> that's a lot of books. >> sure is. >> let me show you a little clip from our last interview with her in alaska when we went fishing. >> okay. >> you haven't finished the job, some would say. >> you're not listening to me as to why i wouldn't be able to finish that final year in office without it costing the state millions of dollars and countless hours of wasted time,

wasted -- we have true, worthy, public causes. my son over there fighting in iraq right now with the troops that are fighting for the freedom of the press and free speech and fair elections, all those things that near and dear to america's heart. those things. that is a worthy cause and that's where our public resources should go. not in this superficial blood sport that is being played. >> so, she's going to have her time to talk about her time. but she's out there making six-figure speeches in hong kong to business groups. this is a whole new career for her. >> absolutely. she'll make a lot of money. the book will sell 1.5 million copies and she has an enormous grassroots following. a strange following in the sense that the more she is attacked and the more her supporters are dedicated to her. my view is, personally, she is not going to run for president, ultimately, but she's got a huge base in the republican party and she'll make a lot of money and when she speaks on an issue, a lot of people out there

listening. >> thank you very much. >> bill will be disappointed, he wants her out there now. >> very disappointed. >> stay tuned. megwittman in california, is this a big turning point for her? here she is running for the republican nomination for governor and they discovered that in more than two decades she didn't vote until this last cycle. >> you know, there's what her opponent her opponent steve posener now has an add up. in polling that is always a more devastating hit on somebody than you would think rationally as you just think through it. the voters don't like the fact that somebody has never voted for so for 28 years she didn't vote. this is going to be a tough time for her. how does she get by this? i'm not quite clear. >> it's a tough issue. she does have a great story to tell other than that. >> she sure does. >> ebay and technology and

everything like that. i think she can get by. bill's right. this has proven in the past to be a serious hit against people. she does have to have a strategy for getting past it. she can't just ignore it. >> she's a great business leader who, of course, was an adviser to john mccain. what political story will be making headlines in the next 24 hours? that's next on msnbc. geico's been saving people money on car insurance for over 70 years.

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what political story will be making headlines in the next 24 hours? "washington post" white house reporter ann cornblood joins us now. what are you looking at? afghanistan. >> exactly. there's no question the meetings the president is having today with the nato secretary general of the white house with the vice president later today, tomorrow with many of the principals on afghanistan, they're going to be talking all about this change in strategy if there is to be one that he is considering as he takes into account the mcchrystal report and tries to figure out whether they want to have an increase in troops or not going forward.

>> we see he met today with the nato secretary. they're talking about we're going to have success, we're going to put in what we need to have success. they haven't defined what success is, what the strategy is. >> that's correct. we did see the secretary saying he endorsed obama's overall approach to this. and that taking his time to consider what's happening is fine with them. we've seen the white house say it's going to take weeks for this to happen. they weren't happy we all get a look at the mcchrystal report early. they're trying to dial that down some, they're thinking about it, but they're not going to get an answer right away. which i think rejects a legitimate split within the white house for what to do next. >> wouldn't you love to be a fly on the wall in those meetings. thank you. that does it for me this hour. i'm andrea mitchell in washington. be sure to join us tomorrow live from geneva where the united states will be holing those talks on thursday over iran's nuclear program. we'll be traveling with the delegation tonight. see you back here at 1:00

eastern only on "andrea mitchell reports." contessa brewer and melissa francis will be picking up our coverage from here with "it's the economy." you're watching msnbc, "the place for politics." mean... tdd# 1-800-345-2550 when my broker said, "i make money when you make money," tdd# 1-800-345-2550 he neglected to mention tdd# 1-800-345-2550 he also makes money when i lose money, tdd# 1-800-345-2550 withdraw money or do nothing with my money. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 tdd# 1-800-345-2550 vegetables are naturally low in calories. v8 juice gives you 3 of your 5 daily servings. it's a tasty, nutritious way to make this number go up... and help this one go down. v8. what's your number?

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