affairs. >> plus, woman power from the fortune's most powerful woman's summit, mary shapiro, wendy cox, and that girl, ground brbreakin television personality and best-selling author marlo thomas with her best-selling book "growing up laughing." i'm andrea mitchell live in washington. would-be times square bomber faisal shahzad sparred with the judge and warned the courtroom, brace yourself because the war with muss hymns has just begun predicting the defeat of the u.s. is imminent. in france today police arrested a dozen suspects with ties to islamic fundamentalists. and a u.s. drone strike in pa pakistan killed a number of militants yesterday, part of a stream of what european intelligence officials are describing as young westerners able to return to europe and potentially launch attacks. v veteran "washington post" reporter bob woodward and author

of the explosive new book "obama's wars" now joins us. bob, congratulations, first of all. >> thank you. >> you've done it again. number one, "new york times" bestseller and for all the good reasons because of your reporting and your access and what you've learned about the way this president conducts his wars and foreign policy team. so first and foremost, the way he conducted the afghanistan review and pursued terrorists, let's talk first about what he said about terrorism. he said about pakistan that we need to make clear to people the cancer is in pakistan so the cancer doesn't spread. does that encapsulate their view about where the evil really is? >> all of the intelligence shows the safe havens in pakistan, pakistan safe havens, taliban safe havens, the leadership is there. the problem, the cancer, the poison, the difficulty is how do you get at these safe havens and

get the pakistanis and our drone strikes from the air or on the ground to really eliminate, as obama said, these -- privately -- at these top-secret meetings the safe havens are no longer acceptable. we've got to do something but, of course, they've been struggling with this for 18 months. >> what we've seen is this increasing tempo of cia drone attacks on that region. we've seen two messages from osama bin laden in the last couple of days. the first in seven months but really unrelated because we believe, intelligence analysts believe, it takes a long time to get the messages out from his hiding places. but in any case, this increase in the drone attacks, partly to support the war in afghanistan, partly because of this increase in the stream of intelligence about what's happening or could be happening in europe. >> that's right.

but as i point out here two cia directors, michael hayden, the previous cia director, told the white house, look, drone attacks don't change the conditions on the ground. you're not -- they're tactical. you're not going to win the war from drone attacks. leon panetta, the current cia director who stepped up these attacks and they are quite lethal but it's not enough and he's quoted in the book saying we have to get boots on the ground, either pakistani boots or our boots. and he also notes, which i think is something fundamental, this is a crazy kind of war where you have these safe havens, all of these taliban insurgents are -- go back for r&r, get rearmed, training, go back across the border, waved through

checkpoints to go into afghanistan and kill american and other soldiers from the other countries in the coalition. >> and when we look across the border and the border crossings have been closed because the tensions with pakistan have risen, leon panetta was only in the past couple of days in islamabad and then in india in trying to shore up the pakistani response, when we see what's happening across the border in afghanistan, you reported that a.m. bmbassador eikenberry, a f general, reported about hamid karzai, our alie there. he's on his meds. he's off his meds. that he really has a condition. that this is not just an uncertain ally. >> yes, that's right. and the intelligence shows that he's diagnosed manic depressive, that he's on medication like this millions of others in the world. the problem is ep gehe gets off medication and just last week he

was out crying in public at some ceremo ceremony. we tracked and you very well the things he says. privately he will say things like, hey, this is a british american plot to steal our nuclear weapons or to -- i'm sorry, that is in pakistan. there are no nuclear weapons in afghanistan, thank god, but he really, karzai, sees the forces allied against him. and gets quite paranoid. >> and throughout all of this, the president struggling with the afghan review and feeling the military is ganging up on him, the leaks, the advice that he's getting. he's never getting the advice he really wants. finally colin powell behind the scenes adviser, you report, says to him, you don't have to put up with this. you're commander in chief. these guys work for you because

they're unanimous in their advice doesn't make it right. there are other generals. there's only one commander in chief. >> isn't that interesting to hear powell from the past is brought in by obama as an outside adviser. the problem here was the military would not give the president options and he demanded them in microscopic detail has laid out exactly who said what and the president pushes bob gates, the secretary of defense, and says, look, you promised me another option. yes, mr. president, we owe you another option and he never gets it from gates. so the president designs his own. >> and, in fact, rahm emanuel, who we know is now trying to launch this campaign to become mayor of chicago, but there as the rather profane chief of staff he says that the -- that president obama feels boxed in. he says it's bs that between the

chairman and petraeus everybody's come out and publicly endorsed the notion of more troops. the president hasn't even had a chance. >> i don't think they conspired but i think the senior military leaders out of conviction felt they needed more troops. the 40,000 troop option was the only one. the commander in afghanistan from 2003 to 2005 has written the review of the book on a blog and he says he's very troubled by what this shows and he said here's the military insisting on what he calls the one big option. well, of course, there always are alternatives. the president's job has to put everything in the context of other demands. and they won't give it to him. >> bob, there's a political next

us to this. you have the president's democratic base and particularly on the left the progressive side of the party, really troubled by the fact that he has built up in afghanistan even though he's drawn down in iraq that they do not like to see this built up and a lot of very thoughtful people are saying, where is the end here? >> on both sides but from the progressive democratic left the number of people, a lot of people have read this and said, wait. intellectually obama got it. he realized the down sides of adding more troops, the whole problem with the war is such a complicated war going into a tribal country like that and winning the support of the people, protecting the people when you have a fundamental insurgency with the taliban that are part of the fabric much of the country be like the democrats saying let's eliminate and defeat the republicans, wipe

them out, or vice versa. it can't be done. >> let me ask you about hillary because the team of rivals approach seems to have worked at least in terms of the public face of diplomacy and the team approach between president obama and secretary of state hillary clinton. you don't see any daylight between the two of them. maybe their staffs but not between the two of them. now there's talk by some people you know well in washington that there might even be a job swap in the future between joe biden and hillary clinton with biden getting the job he initially wanted, secretary of state, and hillary clinton being considered for vice president. do you ever see, or do you see the possibility of that? you've been around. >> i think it's possible. maybe unlikely but if, as we head into the 2012 election if obama seeks re-election as people expect him to, he could be in trouble like he is now. and need the support of the groups that hillary clinton did

very well with in the primary elections. bring her on the ticket and make biden secretary of state. they would all go out there and be delighted and happy and it might help obama politically. we'll have to see. >> and the next player to leave this team and the white house is jim jones, the most likely to be next out the door? >> i think he's one of them. secretary of defense gates has one foot out the door, also. >> and replacements for gates? >> no idea. >> to be considered. thank you very much, bob woodward. it's an amazing reporting job and a great book, a great read. a lot of suspense in here. a lot of inside information. >> thank you. >> thank you very much and we have breaking news in connecticut. that home invasion trial, the survivor, of course, the father, about to speak. let's listen.

>> the many people from the state of connecticut and all across the united states that have kept our faith up, cards, prayers, e-mails, texts, donations to the foundation. there's just been a groundswell of support from all over. we did did our best to keep our faith in god that justice would be served. we really thank the jury for their due diligence and careful consideration of the charges and in reaching what we feel is an appropriate verdict. and we hope they will continue to use the same diligence and clarity of thought as they consider arguments in the penalty phase of the trial. >> dr. petit, even though there was a sense of inevitability,

was there any sense of relief when it came down for you? >> there is some relief but my family is still gone. it doesn't bring them back. it doesn't bring back the home that we had. but certainly a guilty verdict is a much better sense of relief than a verdict of not guilty. >> dr. petit, what are jennifer and the girls thinking right now? >> i think jennifer would say that she never prayed to god to ask for a specific thing.

she prayed to god for the vent to handle things that occurred in her life such as the ms and i think probably they were all praying for 0 our strength to be able to be here beginning back in january when jury selection began. [ inaudible ] no, i thought the evidence was fairly overwhelming and i thought mr. dearington and nichols did a nice job in presenting the state's case. [ inaudible ]

i don't know if -- it was a reaction. i think the family thought from the beginning that each of the defendants would point the finger at the other defendant as being more culpable so we sort of expected it three years ago. [ inaudible ] no. >> are you going to be able to do it again? you have a penalty phase, another trial, another penalty phase, three more trials. >> people keep asking that question. why do you do it or how do you do it? i think most of you out here, you know, are good human beings. i think that you probably would all do the same thing for your families if your family was destroyed by evil. i think that you would all try to do the same thing and be there for your family.

i mean, it's the one thing you can do. do i really want to do it? do i look forward to it every day? no. i have a little nausea every time i get off the exit ramp. a little nausea every time i get out of the car and walk across the street. but i think -- i do it for my family but i think all of you would do the same thing for your families. >> how will you spend the next week and a half? >> i haven't really thought about it. i have a couple of golf invitations from a couple of good friends, if the rain stops. [ inaudible ]

well, certainly it's much easier psychologically on us to only have to wait several days than several weeks, but having never been in this position before, i have no idea what to expect and, in fact, our victim's advocate and mr. dearington and mr. ni nicholson didn't know what to expect either, so i had no predictions from anybody as to whether it was going to be hours, days or weeks. >> when you talk about your family -- [ inaudible ]. >> good question. we'll probably sit on the couch and talk and probably have dinner together and try to decide what we're going to do over the next couple of weeks talk with dick and mary belle

hawke, my in-laws, decide whether they'll stay the two weeks and wait or head to florida and then come back for parts -- the second part of the trial because there's been no plan to date as to what exactly their actions would be and when cindy, jen's sister, would come back to the second part of the trial. [ inaudible ] i don't think so. i don't know that i completely understand it. >> dr. petit -- [ inaudible ]. >> i really don't want to comment on that and interject anything at this point that may

affect the second part of the trial. >> he is a convicted killer now. it is official. they've ruled on that. does it matter what happens to him? does he matter anymore to you? >> well, what matters to me most is my family and my memories of my family and trying to do good things through our foundation. i don't know, over the last couple of weeks i've just kept trying to tell myself that good will overcome evil and we'll keep trying to do good things and try to refocus myself on the positive and stay away from the negative. >> thank you, everybody. we're going to try to get home. >> thank you. dr. william petit reacting to the guilty verdict. steven hayes guilty of 16 of 17

counts. only found not guilty on arson. six of these are capital offenses. there will be a second decision by this same jury in another week or so as to whether or not ilt he will be sentenced to death or life in prison. this was the home invasion in the suburb of new haven three years ago killing his wife, jennifer, and his 11-year-old daughter and his 17-year-old daughter. the conviction on charges of rape, murder, everything but arson, horrendous case three years ago. a co-defendant still has to face trial. dr. william petit in reacting, a profile in endurance and courage. hello, a "penny" saved is a "penny" earned. oh, that's 'cause fedex ground helps you save money. that's right, penny. do you know ours? heavens to betsy. dwayne the bathtub. magic wanda. yeah! what's mine? uh, you're a dan fool. oh.

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cracking down on wall street. the obama administration has

successfully pushed for tougher regulations on big business awarding sweeping new powers to agencies like the securities and exchange commission under the new financial reform law. now it's up to the s.e.c. to do the job. the agency says it needs more help. mary shapiro is here of the securities and exchange commission, number three on this year's fortune list of d.c.'s most powerful women, america's most powerful women. thanks so much for joining us, chairwoman shapiro. i wanted to ask you about the dodd-frank bill. how long is it going to take you to write the regulations and get everything implemented that you need to do according to the mandates of the new law? >> well, we have a pretty big task ahead of us with dodd-frank. we have over 100 rules to right, more than 20 studies to conduct, and we even have to create five new offices within the securities and exchange commission but our schedule is dictated by statutory deadline.

the bulk has to be done within the first year which would be by july of 2011 so we're working very hard. we have teams and we're pushing ahead and at the same time seeking as much comment from the public and from the industry as possible so that our rules are well informed and we really work in today's marketplace. >> you're talking 800 more people to help promulgate these new regulations, to help enforce the regulations. how big an increase is that proportionally in terms of expanding the agency's reach? >> well, we've asked for 800 more people over the next several years. we have 3,800 people right now. most of those will go to examining financial institutions for compliance with the new rules, for over the counter derivatives which have never been regulated before and then for supplementing our enforcement ranks so that we're enforcing the new rules put into

effect. >> one of the things that i understand is you're going to be testifying on thursday. in supporting a waiver from some of the rules under dodd-frank, some of the rules that would require you to release pro-p proprietary information, explain to the public, because there's so much suspicion, frankly, and anger at regulators for what has happened in the past, why do you feel you still need to keep secrets of some of these wall street firms in order to properly regulate them? >> well, we don't want to keep any secrets at the s.e.c. and, in fact, in my time there the agency has increased its transparency with the public significantly. the testimony a couple of weeks ago went to the issue of whether we can get all the information we need from the firms we regulate in order to effectively regulate them without having some of that information, which is of a proprietary nature. for example, the algorithms that are utilized by trading firms,

made public through third-party subpoenas or litigation. we're not going forward on that basis obviously after the last couple of weeks but we have been highly transparent and it's my commitment we will continue to be so and fully subject, of course, to the freedom of information act and all the open government requirements. >> but in terms of the pushback that you've had from chairman frank, how will you work this out? >> well, what we're going to do is see if we can work out with congress over time some way to have very limited protection for very highly proprietary information not because we want to protect the information but because we want to make sure there's no reluctance on the part of those we regulate to give us that information. if it's not worked out, it's not worked out. we'll do the best we can to get that information, utilize it in our examination and in our enforcement programs. but our goal is and i believe

congress' goal for us is to be the best regulator we possibly can be with access to all the information that could conceivably be necessary for the s.e.c. to be a tough and aggressive regulator. >> mary shapiro, thanks and congratulations on your top ranking in the fortune 500's most powerful women. thanks for joining us today. >> nice to be here. >> thank you. and still ahead, can democrats count on hispanic voters? president and ceo of the national council of laraza joins us. the day marches on, back to more pills. and when he's finally home... but hang on; just two aleve can keep arthritis pain away all day with fewer pills than tylenol. this is steven, who chose aleve and 2 pills for a day free of pain. and get the all day pain relief of aleve in liquid gels.

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welcome back to "andrea mitchell reports." according to a new poll 65% of hispanic voters say they are firmly behind the democratic party. that's far above the national

figure. but the problem is for democrats an enthusiasm gap. far below the percentage nationwide say they are planning to vote. janet murguia is president of la raza. you, of course, are not partisan but in terms of political activism what does this tell you about hispanic voters and also what their issues are? according to this poll immigration is not the big issue, it's economic questions and jobs and housing and the other problems facing all americans. >> well, and i think that's rig right. when you look at the latino community and in particular latino voters, they're no different than a lot of the other voters out there. they're affected dramatically by the downturn in the economy, high unemployment, high foreclosures. i think all of those issues are affecting them. and affecting latinos more acutely. we're at a 12% unemployment rate

and for for us, for african-americans and about 10% for latinos. so, for us, we want to make sure that we are doing everything we can to make sure that folks know what is at stake in this election but it's not surprising that latinos would be supporting democratic candidates right now because republicans haven't really given them much of a choice in this election. and so for us i don't think those numbers are surprising. i do think the immigration issue you do see the fact that latinos have had conversations about immigration in the last year and for those who have been concerned about immigration there is a 60% factor that we know motivates them to go vote. >> it's a wedge issue. it gets people excited. >> it's a catalyst, a wedge issue, and i think until both

parties deal with that issue, there may be some folks who decide to sit on the sidelines this election but we know that it's important for -- immigration is an important factor for latino voters. and so people who -- elected officials who have a responsible position supporting comprehensive reform dealing with real solutions, i think they're going to see a very motivated latino registered voter electorate out there making a difference in these rac races. >> it could make a difference. we focus so much on arizona because of the controversial law there but this could really make a difference in the close race in nevada where there's such a large hispanic latino population and in california we're now seeing it driving this debate. between jerry brown and meg whitman, it has become a potential game changer. here she spent $120 million plus dollars and what everyone is remembering is nikki sanchez. >> that's right. and i think what we're finding

is that the latino electorate, registered latino voters, could make the difference especially in these close races in nevada and arizona and in california. and the fact is the fallout from no immigration reform and the fact that there's no solution there is making all latinos feel like second-class citizens and i think for republicans this is an alarm to get out there and have a thoughtful solution to this issue. and for democrats, don't take the latino voters for granted. they are looking for folks leading on the issue. >> janet murguia from the national council of la raza, thank you as always. today president obama called community colleges the unsung heroes of america's education system. to reduce the dropout rate, the bill and ma linda gates foundation pledged almost $35 million. here's melinda gates on the "today" program. >> we have today over 8 million students in community colleges and these are students that you don't think of, nontraditional

students, and the idea is to not have just 25% of them today complete with some sort of certificate or degree but to get so many more of them through the system, make it easier to complete community college to go on and get a job in the economy. >> wendy kopp joins us, from fortune magazine's most powerful women's conference. teach for america has been really front and center in the reform debate and community colleges, of course, are participate of this debate. but in terms of primary and secondary education, how do you break the cycle and bring teachers in who are from higher percentage of achievement? you've done that and been more selective. how do you deal with the pushback from unions and others resisting this kind of broadening of the recruitment for teach eers in america.

>> we worked in partnership with unions. we're on campuses across the country and beyond. sending the message that we need this country's future leaders to step up and do something about what we believe is our country's greatest social injustice which is just the fact that still today where you're born determines your eldcational prospects and, in turn, life prospects. i think the reason -- i think there are many reasons this message is resonating maybe more today than ever before and i think a lot of it is what we've learned in the last 20 years of this effort in urban and rural communities. what we've learned is giving us such optimism that actually we could make this happen. we can, to use your phrase, break the cycle of poverty by investing in education. and i think people want to be part of that. >> you've had an extraordinary increase in recruit lt, perhaps some of this is the economy but 46,000 applicants.

take the top 10%. that is really a highly selective acceptance rate but at the same time how do you keep these young people after the first couple of years, the third year, there is an attrition rate which some would say is too high, for these very active, very enthusiastic young teachers. >> you know, i think it's important to understand, i guess, what teach for america is working to do. we're really a leadership fin h initiati initiative, working to fuel the larger movement to ensure that all of our kids have an excellent education by enlisting our future leaders in the effort and the idea is that these are people with extraordinary leadership ability. they commit two years to teach in our highest poverty communities, teaching successfully in this context in urban and rural schools is an act of leader shship. we invest a lot in their training and support, so in the

short run we're one more source of very committed teachers. many will continue teaching beyond their two years. others will decide, and this is the second part of what teach for america is working to do, you know, to fuel a leadership force of people who will work at every level of our education system ultimately at every level of policy and across our professional sectors to affect the systemic changes we need to see in order to truly solve the problem. some of our people will decide i want to become a principal. we have 600 who are running schools in urban and rural areas right now. others will decide i want to be a school superintendent or, you know what, i want to run for state senate and ultimately higher forms of political office. we think all that have is important. ultimately teachers alone going above and beyond to try to make up for all the weaknesses of the system doesn't ultimately solve the problem either. >> wendy kopp from teach for america, the founder, innovator, thank you so much for joining us. and coming up next, what makes funny funny? that girl herself, marlo thomas joins us next.

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reflected the independence and toughness of those who decided not to take it's a man's world for an answer. now she has finished a memboir about her experience of growing up funny called growing up laughing and it is all about life growing up as the daughter of famed comedian and philanthropist danny thomas. it's great to see you, marlo. >> thanks, andrea. >> you were at the pour tune magazine's most powerful women conference. you were at the forefront of the women's movement with gloria and i remember covering it all back then and that girl really was inspired by you and by, of course, your famous television father, danny thomas. >> he didn't inspire the show of "that girl." it really came from my life and my need to be independent and find a whole lot of other independent girls out there. so it was an exciting time.

we all kind of found each other and rode a wave together. but the book really is about my life growing up with my funny dad and milton berle doing card tricks at our birthday parties and finding the funny in our lives. i tried to write my memoirs as seen through the lens of comedy and then i interviewed people like jerry seinfeld and jon stewart and whoopi and leno and a lot of women as well, where did they find the fooin funny? all 20 of them had a funny person in their family. so that's where it comes from. it's handed down. >> it's really wonderful to see the insights that you've gleaned from all of these great comedians, but when you were first starting, i was thinking about lucille ball because you said that your uncle tony -- you write lucille ball was our landlord at desilu studios where we rented our sund stage. she had real power. she owned the studio. and tony told me years later whenever anyone was looking for

me the joke was, she's having a meeting in the men's room with lucy. because lucy really was the boss. >> that was the climate. that was the climate in those days that if a woman had power -- i had my own television series. i was the producer. lucille ball was the owner of the studio. so that gave us a male attribute kind of personality. that's over, thank god, because of women like you and diane sawyer and katie and all the great women that are now anchoring on television shows, young girls and young boys alike get to see that difference. it was a bad climate in those days. >> the other wonderful thing about reading your story, it's an american story, a story of a large lebanese immigrant family, the success story, but really the hard scrabble roots of that story. >> yeah. my dad really -- one of the reasons st. jude's children's research hospital was created is my father grew up in a poor immigrant family. the whole neighborhood were immigrants and none of them had any money.

none of them ever went to the doctor. children died in his neighborhood of rodent bites and influenzas. my dad never went to a dentist. he had false teeth. it's an amazing story and when he grew up he had a front seat at the inequities of health care and he really wanted to do something about it. and, god bless him, he did. he built the finest research and treatment center in the world for children with catastrophic diseases and there he is singing and dancing with me. >> i know. it's wonderful to see these shots. i know you've start this had community of women on line, marlothomas at marlothomas@aol.com. we encourage everyone to visit it and read the book "growing up laughing." it takes us back and forward at the same time. marlo thomas, great to see you. >> thanks, andrea. and what political headlines will be making headlines. trust me. trust me. ya i like that. trust me.

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cillizza. we are talking now about democrats and what they can do in the next four weeks. chris, can they make enough progress in the four weeks, or are they just spinning their wheels? and let's take a look at chris o'donnell and her attempt to remake her image. >> sure. >> i'm not a witch. i'm nothing you've heard. i'm you. none of us are perfect, but none of us can be happy with what we see all around us, politicians who think spending, trading favors and backroom deals are the way to stay in office. i'll go to washington and do what you would do. >> well -- >> well, that's it. >> and we have a new "washington post" poll which shows a real narrowing. is that a real amount of progress for the democrats, or is this just the normal seasonal adjustment. >> first on christine o'donnell. that's probably the first and last ads in a campaign that will

begin, i'm not a witch. history has been made. i city think she's a long shot, andrea. she's very likely to not win. "washington post" poll. democrats are making up some ground. i think their base is coming home for them a little bit, to be expected, but don't -- we can't overstate this. republicans have a 13-point lead in the generic ballot in the early september poll. it's six now. six still likely means that republicans win the house. so the celebrating for democrats might be a little bit premature. trend line in the right direction, but it's not a done deal, anywhere close to it yet. >> and paladino in new york, he comes out with a campaign video that says this campaign is not about affairs. it was he who first accused andrew cuomo without any evidence of all sorts of stuff. how does he now clean up his act and get above it when he's been down in the gutter? >> andrea, this is a side show in which the establishment of the party was hoping to avoid.

they didn't love rick lazio, but they liked him better than paladino because they thought this sort of thing could happen. andrew cuomo is going to beat rick lazio. andrew cuomo is going to beat paladino. does paladino drag down the independents? that's the real problem. >> and, of course, chris in the next 24 we'll be watching president obama going to new jersey. but that does it for us, for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." i'm going to have a bumper sticker. i m a not a witch. author of the new book "disintegration" and tamron hall as a look at what's up next. >> so christine o'donnell is not a witch. but will her strategy work? this sensitive appearance, the pearls, the soft music, is she onto something? and as andrea mentioned, carl

paladino also trying to soften up his images. we're going to talk to an expert on messaging. four weeks until the midterm. plus this story is absolutely outrageous. not sure if you saw chief olbermann last night. a house burned to the ground because the homeowner hadn't paid $75 in fire protection fee. the mayor of the town not backing down despite national outrage. micha michael smerconish will join me with his reaction. and should a product that increases your risk of cancer be allowed to promote cancer aware with pink ribbons? or is this one just crossing the line? est deal on my refinance loan, or pay me $1,000? that would be nice, not getting swindled. um...where are we? don't just think about it. put lendingtree to the test. get the best deal, or $1,000. to stay fit, you might also want to try lifting one of these. a unique sea salt added

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i'm tamron hall. captured and killed. five german nationals killed in a drone attack. nearly a dozen suspected terrorists arrested in france. and the makeover.